‘But the danger!’ Petra wailed.
‘We all know you aren’t really worried about the danger, Petra,’ said Steen. ‘It’s just an excuse to carry on your stupid vendetta against Jarra. I bet you wish the bombing had killed her.’
‘No, I don’t.’ Petra seemed to hesitate for a moment, then gave Playdon a defiant look. ‘I don’t believe in cruelty to animals, I just don’t think humans should marry them!’
‘That remark is completely unacceptable!’ said Playdon. ‘You’ve already been given a final red warning for abuse of fellow students, Petra, I therefore …’
Petra raised her hand to stop him. ‘Don’t bother throwing me off the course. I’m leaving. I hate Earth. It killed my boyfriend!’
She turned back to the watching class. ‘I know the rest of you don’t believe I really cared about Joth, but I did. He wasn’t my first choice of boyfriend, and I wasn’t his first choice of girlfriend, but most people have the relationship that’s within their reach rather than the one of their dreams. We had a fight, but every couple in this room has had fights, even our precious star-crossed lovers!’
I exchanged embarrassed glances with Fian. Yes, we’d had plenty of fights. Everything from major arguments, to trivial squabbles over which vid programme to watch.
‘On any other world, Joth and I would have been friends again the next day,’ said Petra, ‘but Joth did something silly and Earth killed him. I was a fool to study history in the first place. I only chose it because I thought …’
Petra suddenly swung round to face me. ‘You keep whining for sympathy, Jarra. Telling everyone how 92 per cent of parents abandon their Handicapped babies. You’ve never spared a second to think what it’s like for people on the other side of that situation.’
‘I didn’t to start with,’ I said, ‘but I’ve learned a lot. Abandoning me wasn’t easy for my family.’
‘You’re still talking about yourself,’ said Petra. ‘I’m talking about me. I’m talking about my mother dumping my father and me to go to Earth with a throwback baby. I thought that studying history, suffering being on Earth, I’d at least …’
She broke off and struggled for a moment before she could speak again. ‘But no. I’ve been on Earth for six months now, and my mother still hasn’t suggested us meeting. When she does bother to send me a message, she just talks about my ape sister, her new husband, his throwback kid, and the new baby they’re expecting. It’s like I don’t exist any longer.’
I stared at her, shocked by her words. Petra had been in the same situation as my brother, Jaxon. He’d won his battle to stop his mother going to Earth and lived with guilt, but Petra had lost and lived with anger. ‘Your mother could be scared of saying the wrong thing, Petra. She’s probably waiting for you to suggest a meeting.’
‘Well, that’s never going to happen,’ said Petra. ‘I’m going home to Asgard, where I can forget about my mother, my stinking ape sister, and this whole nuking planet. I’m packing and leaving right away.’
She stalked out of the hall and Playdon hurried after her. As the door closed behind them, there was a babble of excited conversation from the rest of the class. Dalmora, Amalie and Krath joined in with it, but I stood there in silence. If I’d known about Petra’s sister earlier, would it have made a difference, or …?
‘Is something wrong, Jarra?’ Fian asked.
‘I’m just very tired and a bit stunned.’ I looked across at where Steen was noisily celebrating Petra’s defeat. ‘I should be thanking the class for wanting us back, it’s totally zan of them, but that seems heartless when it’s made Petra leave.’
‘I’m pleased she’s going,’ said Raven. ‘Life will be much easier for everyone.’
‘Yes, but …’ I sighed. ‘It was easier when I didn’t understand Petra, just hated her.’
Fian pulled a sympathetic face. ‘Everyone else seems fully occupied gossiping, so let’s take our bags to our room and unpack.’
We headed out of the door, with Raven dutifully trailing after us as always. We left him on guard in the corridor and went into our room. Fian immediately started unpacking, but I sat on the bed and stared gloomily down at my Military forearm lookup. I’d been allowed to keep it for security reasons, but it was designed to attach to a Military uniform or impact suit, so it kept slipping around on my civilian sleeve.
I sighed and sent a message to my history teacher, thanking him and explaining the Military would be replacing the borrowed equipment I’d lost in the fire. I sent another message of thanks to the kids at Home E161/8822, and then Fian and I stayed up until midnight watching the newzie channels. Drago had said that Beta sector would unite against the court order because it insulted the Fifty, but I was still grazzed to hear a Beta Veritas presenter declaring support for our betrothal. He even kept pointedly referring to me as Commander Tell Morrath. Amaz!
Eventually, Fian and I went to bed. When we turned out the glows, things got … awkward.
‘I’m sorry,’ I said.
Fian turned the glows back on and sat on the edge of the bed. ‘There’s no need to apologize. It’s not your fault our Twoing contract has been cancelled. One of the first conversations we ever had was about Issette’s relationship with Keon, and how you’re a nice contract girl. I accept there are boundaries you don’t want to cross without a Twoing contract.’
I sat up as well. ‘It’s silly when we’ve been together for months, but …’
‘I’m having some problems as well,’ said Fian. ‘You haven’t reached your personal eighteenth birthday yet. Back home on Hercules, some things that are legal with a Year Day age of 17 are still socially … Well, a personal age of 18 is regarded as important in certain areas.’
It was pretty obvious what he meant. I buried my head in my hands. My Military status and rank had been suspended because I was 17. Playdon had told me I mustn’t go outside the dig site dome until he’d got official instructions from University Asgard about how to deal with having a 17-year-old on his course. Now Fian was admitting to being uncomfortable about the idea of tumbling me because I was only 17.
Since I’d been an 18-year-old adult for six months now, I was finding it pretty nuking frustrating to be treated like a kid again. At this rate, they’d send me back to Next Step!
I’d tried, and failed, to ignore my own qualms about the Twoing contract situation. Ignoring Fian’s feelings wasn’t an option. ‘I know you said you wouldn’t let anyone put a wall between us, but …’
‘I agree, but we keep remembering this is only for a few weeks. Once you’ve reached your personal birthday, you’ll be Military again and we can sort out the contract situation.’ Fian sighed. ‘This is all my fault.’
‘What? Why?’
‘Because I kept avoiding any discussion of ages. I was the youngest in my class at school, born only just before Year Day, and I was teased a lot. I knew you could be nearly a year older than me, so I kept extremely quiet about the whole thing. Ironic really. Even seeing you with your friends from Next Step, I never guessed you were all only 17. Cathan was a bit childish, but …’
We got dressed. Fian was obviously trying not to look at me. I was trying not to look at him. This situation stank far worse than being covered in skunk juice.
I’d forgotten Raven was sleeping in the corridor. When we opened the door, he was out of his sleep sack and brandishing a gun with startling speed.
‘We’re moving a wall,’ said Fian.
Raven instantly nodded and put his gun away. He obviously realized why we were moving a wall, and knew we wouldn’t welcome any discussion of the subject. ‘I’ll help.’
We tried to be quiet moving the furniture, but every sound seems a lot louder in the middle of the night. Amalie, Dalmora and Krath had the closest rooms, so they were the first to come and see what was happening, but the rest of the class soon followed them, dressed in a motley collection of robes and sleep suits.
Once Krath had established we were moving furniture into th
e corridor so we could put the wall back between our rooms, he started offering Fian some helpful advice. ‘I’m sure you can persuade Jarra not to be such a prude about tumbling you. She usually gives in if you’re stubborn enough.’
Fian hadn’t been in a good mood to start with, and he’d just dropped a wall on his foot. He left Raven in charge of the wall, strode out into the corridor, and glared at Krath. ‘What goes on between Jarra and me is none of your business!’
‘But …’
Lolmack stepped forward, looming menacingly over Krath. ‘Clanless one, show due respect to the nobility of Zeus or I will give you a lesson in manners!’
‘I believe I give the lessons here, Lolmack,’ said a calm voice. ‘Please back away from Krath.’
People moved aside to let Playdon through. Typically, he’d got fully dressed before coming to investigate the reason for the thumping noises and loud conversation.
‘Back away,’ repeated Playdon.
Lolmack ignored him and looked at me. ‘Noble born?’
‘Ignore Krath,’ I said. ‘He’s just being an idiot as usual.’
Lolmack instantly bowed and took a step backwards.
‘If we were on my home planet, Miranda,’ said Amalie, ‘we’d send Fian and Krath out to the shed storage dome and let Fian beat some common sense into the nardle.’
‘We aren’t in Epsilon sector,’ said Playdon. ‘This course is run by University Asgard, and monitored under the Gamma sector moral code. I remind Krath that members of this class are from a huge variety of cultural backgrounds. It’s completely unacceptable for any of them to be subjected to comment on their chosen personal relationship boundaries.’
He paused. ‘I must also point out the rules on freedom, equality and respect mean it isn’t appropriate to bow to a fellow student. I’ll have to research the exact implication of addressing someone as noble born before I can decide if it’s acceptable or not, but I very much appreciated Raven requesting no one should bother using his formal titles.’
I hastily responded to the heavy hint in Playdon’s words. ‘Fian and I would rather not bother with formalities either. Lolmack, you and Lolia don’t need to bow to me or to Fian. You defended me when that man threw skunk juice at me, and … It’s not just Fidelis. You’re our friends.’
I saw the glow of pride in Lolmack’s face. ‘In that case … Thank you, Jarra. You honour us.’
Playdon looked round at the watching class. ‘If they wish, Dalmora and Amalie can stay and help Raven, Jarra, and Fian. The rest of you go back to bed, except for Krath. I want to have a discussion with him about respect.’
The class reluctantly accepted the entertainment was over for the night and drifted back to their rooms. An apprehensive Krath was led off into the hall by Playdon, while Dalmora and Amalie joined the wall moving effort.
‘I think Playdon’s telepathic,’ I said, as I watched Amalie expertly deal with the tricky job of locking the wall into place. ‘Even when he’s off in his room, he always appears when there’s trouble.’
Raven laughed. ‘Telepathic? You know this dome is a standard Military training dome?’
‘Yes,’ I said.
‘Well, all Military domes have a monitoring system to automatically check a whole range of conditions in the dome. Playdon’s obviously doing the same thing my Military Academy lecturers did, getting the monitoring system to send a message to his lookup if sound levels get too high.’
We clueless ones, who’d gone a whole six months without figuring this out, exchanged glances acknowledging the fact we were total nardles, then started dragging furniture back into my room.
‘What made you decide to join the Military, Raven?’ asked Fian.
Raven shrugged. ‘There are only two possible careers for an Adonis Knight, politics and the Military. After completing the trials of Adonis, I took the Adonis Knight oath. “Knights shall demonstrate nobility, honour, grace, valour and perfection in all virtues, and be champions of justice.”’
He pulled a face of self-mockery as he quoted the words of the oath. ‘Politics involves a lot of compromises. I’d seen my uncle making bargains with people he didn’t like, to support things he didn’t approve of, in exchange for them voting for things he wanted. That didn’t seem to fit with the oath I’d taken, so I joined the Military. I expect that sounds naive and idealistic, but …’
‘I think it’s wonderful that you take the oath seriously,’ said Dalmora.
Raven blushed. ‘Thank you.’
When all the furniture was back in place, Fian turned to me. ‘I suppose I’d better go now.’
I pulled an unhappy face and nodded. Fian, Raven, and Dalmora went out of the door, while Amalie paused to make a last check on the newly moved wall.
‘You know, Dalmora and Raven would make an ideal couple,’ I said.
Amalie laughed. ‘There are three major problems with that, Jarra. Firstly, Dalmora has a crush on Playdon. Secondly, there’s a huge social divide between an Adonis Knight and a girl from Danae. Thirdly, Dalmora is far too young to have a serious relationship.’
‘No she isn’t. Dalmora is 18, exactly the same as we … you are.’
‘But they’re Alphans, Jarra.’ Amalie sighed. ‘Dalmora has the same problem I do, but in reverse. I’m one of the first generation born on Miranda. With far more male than female colonists arriving on frontier worlds, there’s a lot of social pressure on girls to marry young and have big families. One of the reasons I decided to go to university was to escape that pressure. I love and admire my mother, but I don’t want to marry at 18 and have eleven children the way she did.’
Eleven children! I’d been vaguely aware that Amalie had several brothers and sisters, but …
‘Things are exactly the opposite for Dalmora,’ continued Amalie. ‘On her world, you don’t start having relationships until you’ve graduated from university. Dalmora’s been having a very hard time on this course. If she was studying with University Danae, all the girls would be in the same situation, giggling in corners about which boys they’d like to be formally introduced to one day, but here … Dalmora’s not just in a class where couples are pairing off, she’s got you two legendary star-crossed lovers right in front of her nose.’
‘I hadn’t known about …’ I broke off my sentence. ‘Anyway, if Dalmora and Raven did decide they liked each other, I think it would be nardle to let anything stop them from being happy together.’
Amalie gave a despairing shake of her head. ‘If you think it’s nardle to let cultural values interfere with a relationship, why did we just put a wall back?’
She didn’t wait for me to try to think of a good answer to that, just headed out of the room.
I sighed, changed back into my sleep suit, and sat down on my single bed feeling deeply depressed. I tried to focus on the good things. I’d joined my clan, the grandson of Lucius Augustus Gordianus would join the wealthy, powerful, and prestigious clan August, and Lolette would join a disreputable plebeian clan cluster that made sex vids. Other Handicapped kids would have the chance to join their Betan clans in future, and Beta sector would probably request a specialist planet for the Handicapped.
Those were all utterly zan things, but they didn’t change the fact I was sitting in a room alone. What should have been our first night as a betrothed couple had ended up with Fian and me on opposite sides of a flexiplas wall.
I wondered what Petra would do now, and if there was any hope of Raven and Dalmora ever getting together. The more I learned about Alphans, the more they confused me. In different ways, Dalmora and Raven both fitted the dignified aristocratic Alphan stereotype, but then there was Rono. He was from Cassandra in Alpha sector, but he’d laugh if anyone described him as either dignified or aristocratic.
My lookup chimed softly for an incoming call. I answered it, and Fian’s face appeared.
‘I was thinking,’ he said. ‘We can’t share a room, but would a holo be all right?’
‘I’m not sure wh
at you …’
‘Like this.’ The image juddered wildly as he lay back on his bed, and then stabilized showing him lying on his side and smiling at me.
‘Oh.’ I lay back on my bed and set my lookup to project Fian’s holo image next to me.
‘I thought we could leave the channel open during the night,’ he said. ‘I know you’ll say it’s silly and sentimental, but I’m finding this difficult. I’d had other plans for tonight.’
‘No, it’s … It’s a good idea. Very good.’
I turned out the glows and lay watching the holo image of Fian until I fell asleep.
23
It was oddly embarrassing meeting the real Fian at breakfast after spending the night with his holo image. I hoped Fian wouldn’t mention the holo image thing because it had meant a lot to me. Dalmora and Amalie wouldn’t say anything tactless, but Krath …
When Raven and the rest of team 1 had joined us at the table, Krath spoke. ‘I apologize for my shockingly disrespectful comments. My regrettable conduct won’t be repeated.’
‘How long did Playdon spend training you to recite that?’ asked Fian.
‘It felt like twenty years,’ said Krath.
Both my lookup and Fian’s chimed to signal incoming mail. Over at the next table, two more lookups chimed, and Lolia and Lolmack stood up.
I read my message. ‘Our clan is making a statement.’
Fian turned on the wall vid at the end of the hall and set it to Beta Sector Daily. It showed an image of a massive crowd gathered in front of the steps of the Parthenon.
‘Look at the banners at the top of the steps!’ Lolmack hurried forward and pointed at them. ‘Unbelievable! The Military alliance and August alliance banners haven’t been united since … They’re coming out!’
The image on the screen zoomed in as two toga-clad figures came out of the huge doors and stood in front of the twin banners.
‘That’s General Dragon Tell Dramis and Lucius Augustus Gordianus,’ I said.
Lucius Augustus Gordianus spoke in the ringing tones of a practised public speaker. ‘I am not here to tell anyone of the events yesterday, because you know them. I am not here to explain the offence, for you understand it. I am not here to ask what you feel, because I share your outrage. The banners of Beta sector have been challenged by outlanders!’