Earth Girl (38 page)

He pulled a face. ‘I’ve been asking myself how I’ll feel if I do that. How will I feel tomorrow, and the next day, and in the weeks and months after that? After the anger and resentment wears off, I’m going to remember just how good we were, and I’m going to wish …’

He shook his head. ‘Jarra, I thought you were a crazily brave Honour Child from a Military family, who could throw me across the room, and take me places that were utterly zan. I thought you shared my love of history, and enjoyed my stupid jokes, and you cared about me. Now, despite the lies, aren’t just about all of those things still true?’

‘Yes, but I’m …’

‘You’re an Earth girl,’ he said. ‘You’re Handicapped, so you can’t walk through a portal and go off world. That does change the situation. It causes some problems, and solves others. I’ve wasted a lot of time worrying what happens if you decide you want to go combat Military and join Planet First. It’s quite funny when you stop and think about it.’

‘I’m afraid I still can’t see it as a joke. What about your family?’

Fian shrugged. ‘My sister exists off in a mental universe of her own, concentrating on wave particles, so she won’t care. My parents won’t like it when they find out you’re Handicapped, but they didn’t like me going history either. They know me too well to think they can stop me when I’m determined to do something. Did I mention I was stubborn?’

‘I don’t think you’re stubborn, I think you’re insane,’ I said. ‘What about the rest of the class? Do you really think I can keep lying to them?’

‘No, I don’t think you can keep hiding your Handicap. Thinking back, you really weren’t very good at the lies, Jarra. You constantly made mistakes, and I would have guessed the truth if it hadn’t been so unbelievable. Even if you didn’t tangle yourself up in the lies, you’re probably right that someone would find out because of you being a pilot, but it doesn’t matter because I want Playdon and the class to know the truth.’

‘What? Why?’

‘Because I’m not risking you having any more fantasy spells and thinking you can walk into off-world portals. You may have faith in the alarms going off and stopping you, but I don’t want even the remotest chance of you dying.’

I frowned. ‘I’m not going to do that again, Fian. My parents’ death hit me like … Well, it was like being buried by rocks, and going into impact suit blackout, but I’m fine now.’

‘It’s still best if we tell the class.’

‘Seriously? Just stop and think what they’ll say.’

Fian shook his head. ‘It can’t be that bad. They’ve already been through something similar with Lolia and Lolmack.’

‘That’s different,’ I said. ‘Lolia and Lolmack kept things hidden, but they didn’t tell a lot of deliberate lies the way I did. I told the class all those things about being from a Military family.’

‘But as it turns out, you really are from a Military family. You’ve got a brother and sister, rather than just a brother, but I expect I’m the only one who was interested enough to remember details. Your parents really were on Planet First, and they’ve just been killed. You didn’t tell the class immediately that happened, but no one will yell at you because of that.’

I pointed out the obvious. ‘They’ll be too busy yelling at me for being an ape.’

‘They may say a few things in the initial shock, but when they calm down I expect the fear of being thrown across the room may make them watch their words. I’m pretty sure Playdon will be on our side as well, and threaten them with code warnings.’

Fian really seemed to mean it. He was sticking with me despite the lies, and despite me being an ape. If it wasn’t so hard to believe, and if I hadn’t been so exhausted, I’d have jumped up and down to celebrate. If we’d actually been alone in the dome, I might have done even more.

Fian was studying me intently. ‘You do still want us to be together? Liking me wasn’t just part of the fantasy was it? You do still care?’

I blushed. ‘I do still like you.’

‘You wouldn’t like to upgrade that statement?’ asked Fian. ‘There’s another word you could use.’

I’ve never been good at making declarations of affection. Back when Cathan and I were boy and girling, he’d try to push me into saying stuff, but he never managed it. I’m much better at expressing hostility than affection.

‘Not just now …’ I said. ‘It’s … not the right place.’

I was a bit relieved when Rono picked this moment to stand up and call across to us. ‘Time to start getting suits on.’

Fian sighed heavily, stood up, and pulled a face at me. ‘I know I’m not much to look at …’

I stood up as well, groaning at the effort, and stared at him. He really seemed to mean it. He looked like Arrack San Domex, and he didn’t think he was attractive? How nardle brained was that?

‘A lot of us on Hercules are slim and blond,’ Fian said sadly, as he struggled with his impact suit. ‘I know girls find that boring.’

It’s a mistake to giggle when you’re putting on an impact suit. I nearly fell over. ‘We do? Maybe the girls on Hercules find blond men boring, but personally I like them.’

Fian didn’t seem entirely reassured. ‘There’s the muscles issue too. Hercules is at the low end of the gravity criteria for Planet First. I know that’s only three percent less than Earth standard, but I still feel whoever chose our planet’s name was poking fun at us, and when I came here …’ He pulled a face. ‘I barely noticed the higher gravity when I was just walking round the dome, but then I put on an impact suit and …’

I felt horribly guilty. ‘I knew Planet First excluded planets with a higher gravity than Earth, but I didn’t think it through. Stupid of me. No wonder everyone was complaining about the impact suits so much. I’m sorry.’

‘Oh I’ve adjusted to wearing an impact suit now,’ said Fian, ‘but there are still times like earlier today. We were in a dome packed full of people, and it was really demoralizing seeing the men take off their impact suits and show off their muscles. Just look at Rono.’

We both managed the final tricky phase of getting our arms into our suits, then did the easy bit of sealing the front and pulling up and closing our hoods. I glanced at Rono. ‘What about him?’

Fian turned to look towards Rono, as he answered. ‘Well, he’s really good-looking, and he’s got all those amazing muscles. I could understand if you preferred someone like Rono to me.’

The echoing sound of Fian’s words in my ears, told me the hideous truth even before Rono’s amused voice spoke over the team circuit. ‘I’m deeply flattered, but would like to point out I’m not only already tagged, but also scared of Jarra and the way crashing spacecraft follow her around. It’s a terrifying thought that Solar 5 aimed for New York Dig Site because it’s where Jarra had her Honour Ceremony. By the way, Fian, you’ll find that a couple of years working on a dig site in an impact suit will do wonders for your muscles. At 18, I could barely lift a glass of Fizzup.’

Fian made a sort of strangled noise, and spoke in horror. ‘I said that over the team circuit?’

Rono laughed. ‘It’s frighteningly easy to put your suit on and forget that you’ve left it set to speak on a channel.’

Keren’s voice spoke on the team circuit. ‘Don’t worry, Fian, we’ve all done the same thing. Rono once declared undying love over the broadcast channel.’

Rono groaned. ‘It’s been seven years, you might let me live it down.’

Keren continued mercilessly. ‘“My heart is yours until the end of time itself.” Not only did the whole of London Dig Site hear him, but Ruth was duty Dig Site Command Officer that day and she said …’

There was a chorus of Cassandra 2 voices. ‘This is Dig Site Command. Tempting though the offer is, Rono, I’m afraid I’ll have to stay with my husband for the sake of our children.’

Rono sighed. ‘My only consolation is that it wasn’t as bad as what happened last time we were at the California Rift. That couple from Thor 2 …’

Keren laughed. ‘Yes, that was unforgettable. Just like a Beta vid soundtrack.’

The dome door opened. ‘Your Achilles 1 ferry service awaits,’ said a familiar, chirpy voice.

We headed outside, and rode on the transport sled back to the crash site. The centre area had been nicely flattened out while we were away.

‘This is Site Leader,’ said Pereth’s voice on the broadcast channel. ‘Welcome back to the first shift. We’re moving back to the middle circle to do some more work there for a while, and after that the second shift will take their rest break.’

We spent five minutes getting everyone positioned and settled, and then started work again. As I was tagging rocks, I noticed a lone snowflake, followed a moment later by two or three more. I didn’t like the look of that. It would be impossible to work if it really started to snow.

I was just wondering whether to mention it to Rono, when Pereth’s voice came over the broadcast channel.

‘This is Site Leader. Yes, thank you, I’m aware of the snow. Earth Rolling News have struggled on through the interference and organized a weather watch for us. Selected settlements across the continent have been messaging emergency priority weather reports every half an hour. I was expecting slight snowfall about now. It shouldn’t last long, and we can expect clear weather for at least six hours after that.’

I relaxed and ignored the snow. Pereth was right. The sporadic snowfall stopped within fifteen minutes, and just after that there was a call on the broadcast channel.

‘This is Earth 19. We know this isn’t our main purpose today, but we’ve accidentally found a stasis box.’

Everyone laughed.

‘This is Site Leader. If you think Solar 5 is inside then open it, otherwise a transport sled will be over shortly to collect it.’

We moved from the middle circle to work on the inner one after that. At least, those of us who’d already rested started work on the central circle, while the others went for an hour break. While we were moving sleds, I had a good look at the crater we were making. It looked as if we’d finished work on the outermost circle now, and just needed to dig deeper at the middle and centre. It was strange working at the centre, knowing somewhere beneath my feet was a spacecraft.

The other teams returned after their hour, and we worked the middle circle again. After about twenty minutes there was a call on the broadcast channel. ‘This is Earth 19. Unfortunately, not a stasis box this time. We’ve found a young mountain of what seems to be a very tough diamene compound.’

‘This is Site Leader. Sounds like I’d better come and take a look.’

Pereth presumably took a look and didn’t like what he saw. He moved the teams on even numbered clock positions to work on the central circle, while the rest dealt with the problem chunk of diamene.

So I was back working directly above Solar 5, tagging rocks, when something dazzling white and spraying sparks seemed to streak across the rubble in front of me. About three sensor sled alarms went off, I felt Fian’s lifeline yank me backwards, and there was an explosion.

The next thing I remember was that my suit was totally rigid, I was struggling to breathe, and my left leg was hurting like chaos. The suit started relaxing, and Fian was yelling in my ear.

‘Jarra? Jarra?’

The broadcast channel was urgently talking as well. ‘This is Site Leader. Everyone out of the central circle and stay out. I’ve reports of five injured tag leaders. Earth 1, Asgard 6, Earth 19, Beowulf 4, Hera 6. Medical advice is do not remove their suits. I repeat, do not remove their suits because we expect electrical burns. Our doctor is coming round on a transport sled to assess and move casualties.’

‘Jarra?’ asked Fian again. ‘Are you all right?’

‘I’m in slight discomfort,’ I said, calm and stoic in the face of agony. No, to be honest, once I got my breath back I screamed.

‘This is Hera 6. Our tag leader is in a lot of pain. Can we give painkillers?’

This seemed a good question to me. I was in a lot of pain too.

‘This is Site Leader. Our advice is open the suit enough to give one standard painkiller shot. Make sure you don’t open the suit near a burn.’

‘Where does it hurt, Jarra?’ That was Rono. I still had my eyes closed, in the strange theory that it would make my leg hurt less, but it sounded like Rono was next to me. There were several other people talking in low voices as well.

‘Left leg,’ I said. I somehow wasn’t in the mood for long conversations.

‘Nowhere else?’

‘No.’

I felt someone take down my hood and open the front of my suit a fraction. Amid the chill of New York winter air, there was the slightly different chill of an injection, and then they closed my suit again. I’m not normally keen on meds, but I was that time. The pain in my leg stepped down several levels from acute agony to merely hurting quite a bit.

‘I got you out as fast as I could,’ said Fian, miserably. ‘It wasn’t fast enough.’

‘You did great,’ I said. ‘It would have been a lot worse than just my leg otherwise. What happened?’

‘We’re still working it out,’ said Rono. ‘The storm induced a current in some wiring, which triggered an old power storage unit, but the explosion was somehow magnified by Solar 5’s shields being so close.’

‘This is Site Leader. I think we have to thank our tag support people there. We have five nasty injuries, but it could have been much worse. Tag supports had better accompany their injured tag leaders to base camp. We’re getting close to Solar 5 now, so the rest of us can proceed extremely slowly and carefully to remove hazards and complete the dig. We need hospital treatment for both Military casualties and our own, so once the rescue is complete, we’ll drive in convoy to the nearest settlement with medical facilities.’

A strange female voice was talking to me. ‘Jarra, where does it hurt?’

‘Left leg.’

There was the sound of a scanner and I felt something odd. I finally opened my eyes to see Fian, the hood of his impact suit down, and his long blond hair in tangles round his anxious face. Next to him, was the purple and silver figure of Rono, and a yellow clad stranger who was writing on the front of my suit.

‘Hey! That’s a new suit.’

‘You can wash it off with solvent later, Jarra.’ Rono sounded amused. ‘It’s the best way to make sure a record of your treatment stays with you at all times.’