‘The Delta Sector Parliament wishes to express its disapproval of the recent intervention by a few individuals in a Betan betrothal ceremony. The people of Delta sector understand and share the feelings of outrage in Beta sector at such disrespect for its traditions and culture. The Delta Sector Parliament is meeting in emergency session to rectify the unfortunate omission in current legislation.’
‘Zan!’ said Fian.
Raven still looked worried. ‘Everything depends on Lucius now, because he’s got Beta sector in the palm of his hand. If he’s a reasonable man he’ll accept that response from Delta sector, but his ancestors were emperors of the Second Roman Empire. He may have ambitions to join them in wearing imperial purple.’
‘Lucius Augustus Gordianus is a good man,’ I said. ‘He gambled his political career to help his Handicapped grandson.’
Fian nodded. ‘I don’t believe my father would let the Military alliance support a bid for personal power.’
‘What’s your father got to do with it?’ asked Raven.
‘Dragon Tell Dramis is my adoptive father,’ said Fian.
‘Oh yes.’ Raven nodded. ‘That must mean Drago’s your brother.’
Fian groaned. ‘That’s a terrible thought, but yes. The sickeningly handsome Drago Tell Dramis is my brother.’
I saw the image of Lucius Augustus Gordianus appear on the wall vid. ‘Shhh!’
‘Beta sector welcomes the support of Delta sector,’ he said. ‘There has been a wall between us and other sectors for far too long. Let us hope this signals the start of a new era of mutual understanding.’
Raven made a noise of relief that was somewhere between a sigh and a sob. ‘Thank chaos!’
After that, something even more incredible happened. Delta Sector Vision showed an interviewer talking with some of the Handicapped! Pre-recorded of course, because a live link to Earth would have meant the audience being constantly bored by delays as questions and answers were relayed through the series of comms portals between Earth in the centre of Alpha sector, and Isis in Delta sector.
‘Award committees won’t consider my work because I can’t travel off world to collect an award in person,’ said a professor from University Earth.
‘And I have to pretend I live in Alpha sector and use an off-world agent to sell my paintings,’ said an artist. ‘People wouldn’t buy them if they knew they’d been painted by an ape.’
‘Don’t you prefer to describe yourself as Handicapped?’ asked the interviewer.
‘No I don’t,’ said the artist. ‘It may be the official polite term, but I think it’s just as insulting as ape.’
When the recorded interview ended, Dalmora gave me a worried look. ‘Would you rather we didn’t use the word Handicapped, Jarra?’
I shrugged. ‘The real problem isn’t the words people use, but the sneer in their voice when they say them.’
I still didn’t like Earth Registry’s tactics, but they’d achieved something in one day that no one else had managed in centuries. Handicapped voices were finally being heard on other worlds.
It was almost midnight when the class’s Twoing couples arrived back, led by Amalie and Krath.
‘Congratulations and mutual joy on your Twoing contract,’ I said.
Krath shook his head. ‘There’s a lot less mutual joy than you might think. Amalie’s still refusing to share a room with me.’
Amalie reached out a hand and hit him on the back of his head.
‘The Cassandra 2 team members kept making jokes about the things that happen around Jarra,’ continued Krath. ‘Crashing spacecraft, alien artefacts, and social revolutions! Rono says he’s surprised Lecturer Playdon doesn’t have to spend every other week in a rejuvenation tank to recover from the strain of having her in his class.’
Playdon came over to join us. ‘I’m hoping to struggle on until my first scheduled rejuvenation cycle next year. Have Cassandra 2 gone on to Epsilon sector?’
Amalie nodded. ‘They’ll probably be there by now. When we arrived at Alpha Sector Interchange 4, things were quite peaceful. The real problem was getting off Earth.’
‘I don’t understand why that was so difficult,’ said Krath. ‘Earth gets masses of people off world quickly whenever Solar Watch warns an incoming solar storm is going to bring down the portal network.’
I kept carefully quiet. I was sure the staff of Earth’s Off-worlds could have locked open more portals and got everyone to Alpha sector a lot faster, but they’d wanted to maximize the delays to get publicity.
‘At one point,’ added Krath, ‘the queues stopped moving entirely for nearly an hour while thousands and thousands of kids came pouring through. I’ve no idea why.’
I laughed. ‘That was the Earth America kiddie commute coming home at the end of their school day. The normal born kids of Handicapped parents go to orientation schools on Alphan worlds. It’s supposed to help them join “real society” when they grow up.’
‘I suggest you all get some sleep now,’ said Playdon. ‘The dig site will still be closed tomorrow, but there’ll probably be more exciting events to watch on the newzies.’
Everyone dutifully headed off to bed. Fian and I walked together to the door of my room, and exchanged an awkwardly self-conscious kiss, aware that Raven was, as always, on guard nearby.
‘Goodnight, Jarra,’ said Fian.
‘Goodnight,’ I said.
He looked as if he didn’t want to go. I didn’t want him to go. He went.
The next morning, we all ate breakfast while watching Earth Rolling News show a series of vid clips. Sometime during the night, there’d been announcements from both Gamma and Epsilon sectors that they were rushing through legislation, and Lucius Augustus Gordianus had made another speech in response. Then a presenter started explaining Kappa sector didn’t have a problem. Its fledgling colony worlds were still running under the Colony Ten charter, which specifically recognized relationships from any of the worlds of humanity.
‘I hope no one can argue about Earth being one of the worlds of humanity,’ I said.
‘So that just leaves Alpha sector then,’ said Krath.
Playdon started giving lectures after that, but it was obvious from the way he kept checking his lookup that he was keeping an eye on the news feed from one of the newzie channels. He suddenly stopped in mid-sentence, and turned on the wall vid to show Alpha and Omega channel. An excited announcer was talking.
‘The Adonis Knights are to deliver a petition for justice to the Alpha Sector Parliament. This is the first time this century that …’
We all turned to stare at Raven. He looked dreadfully embarrassed.
‘I couldn’t say anything until the public announcement, but Colonel Leveque is letting me portal to Adonis for a few hours to join the procession.’
The usual team of four Military Security officers arrived a few minutes later, to take over bodyguard duty while Raven was away. We had a couple more hours of lectures, ate lunch, and then sat watching the vid coverage on Alpha and Omega newzie channel.
‘Can anyone see Raven?’ asked Krath, as the vid image slowly panned along the procession of ornately clad figures with their scarlet and gold cloaks.
‘The trial knights, the ones who’ve completed the trials of Adonis, will be leading the way,’ said Dalmora. ‘Look, they’re going through the Arch of Remembrance into the Courtyards of Memory now.’
The vid image changed to show the leading figures in the procession passing under a huge ceremonial archway.
‘I still can’t … Oh, there’s Raven!’ yelled Krath. ‘Third row from the front.’
‘Do you think the woman walking next to Raven is his mother?’ asked Amalie. ‘She’s about the right age and she looks a bit like him.’
‘Amaz.’ Dalmora’s eyes were rigidly fixed on the wall vid. ‘Just amaz.’
The knights solemnly presented their petition to Aadi Quilla Amarion, First Speaker of Alpha sector, and marched off again. Alpha and Omega return
ed to the studio presenter, and Playdon turned off the sound. Dalmora gave a soft regretful sigh. I was sure she’d be replaying the coverage of the procession the second she was alone in her room.
My lookup chimed with three forwarded messages from the Dig Site Federation. The first was a message from University Asgard referring the issue of my age to the Dig Site Federation. The second was the Dig Site Federation’s aggressive reply, saying Jarra Tell Morrath was a legally adult citizen of Earth and had far more right to work on Earth’s dig sites than any off-worlder. The third was a grovelling apology from University Asgard, explaining their question had been a mere administrative formality, with no offence intended towards Jarra Tell Morrath, to Earth, or to Beta sector.
I showed them to Fian and he laughed. ‘After what happened over our betrothal contract, I think University Asgard were worried the Dig Site Federation would throw every off-world team off the dig sites.’
‘University Asgard is obviously scared to death of you, Jarra,’ said Krath. ‘I bet you could pass this course without doing any more work.’
‘I bet she couldn’t,’ said Lecturer Playdon.
A few minutes later, Raven entered the hall and nodded at the four Military Security officers. They headed off, and Raven came to join us.
‘We watched the procession,’ Dalmora told him. ‘Living history. Truly fascinate!’
‘It was a …’
Fian jumped to his feet, knocking over his chair in his haste. He hurried across to the wall vid, and turned up the volume. A presenter stood in front of an image of the flag of humanity.
‘General Marshal Renton Mai, commander-in-chief of the Military, has just requested Parliament of Planets to approve a change to Planet First selection criteria. This would allow the Military to select at least one colony world in each sector with a higher level of solar activity than the current allowable range. Scientists advise such a world would be subject to the same solar storms and portal outages as Earth, but it would also be compatible with the Handicapped immune system.’
25
‘Drag net to clear the small rubble please,’ I said, and hovered away from the nearby building to give the heavy lifts space to work. I hadn’t got my hover belt set to a high enough height, so I caught my foot on a big piece of concraz and felt like a nardle. I hoped no one had noticed, but the background note on my comms changed to that of a private channel and I heard Playdon’s voice.
‘You’ve been making a few careless errors today, Jarra.’
I groaned and replied on the private channel. ‘Sorry, sir. I’ve been a bit distracted. Fian and I have been waiting over a month to sort out our betrothal. It’ll be my birthday tomorrow, I’ll be 18 and Military again, and …’
Playdon’s voice sounded amused. ‘I understand, Jarra, but you can’t afford to be careless on a dig site. You don’t want to have an accident and spend your birthday in hospital, so I think you’d better just sit and watch for the rest of the morning.’
The background note on the comms changed again as Playdon spoke on the team circuit. ‘Team 1 finish your drag net, then team 4 will take over.’
I gave my tag gun and hover belt to Steen, went across to sit with Raven on one of the bench seats of the nearest transport sled, and unsealed my impact suit hood. I spent a moment enjoying the wind cooling my face. Blizz!
Fian came to join us, opening his own hood with a sigh of relief, and I tapped my lookup to check my mail.
‘Issette is starting her two weeks practical experience in a Hospital Earth America casualty unit. She says if anyone throws skunk juice at me again, I mustn’t go to her unit.’
Fian and Raven laughed.
‘And Keon says the holo caterpillars in his latest test turned blue.’
‘I suppose that’s a test on the signals from the alien sphere,’ said Fian. ‘Is blue good or bad? Do you think they’re finally getting somewhere?’
‘I’ve given up hope of them ever getting anywhere with that light sculpture,’ I said gloomily. ‘Anything happening on the newzie channels?’
Fian tapped his lookup. ‘Everyone’s still arguing about how big a problem it would be to have more worlds with portal outages. Some politician in Gamma sector made a speech, saying the needs of the many must outweigh the needs of the few. Lucius Augustus Gordianus replied, saying humanity has chosen twelve hundred colony worlds for the convenience of the many, and can now afford to select a handful for the survival of the few.’
He paused for a moment. ‘Ah, the latest winner of the Physics Nobel has joined in the argument. She says if humanity keeps expanding, we’ll reach the point where it’s impossible to relay the portal signals of Handicapped babies directly from the frontier to Earth. We’ll have to do this eventually, so we should do it now.’
Amalie, Krath and Dalmora arrived, and sat on the next bench facing us. ‘Still no news from Alpha sector?’ asked Krath.
Fian shook his head.
Krath sighed. ‘The Adonis Knights dressing up in their fancy outfits didn’t achieve much, did it?’
‘Krath!’ Amalie frowned at him, and gave a pointed look in Raven’s direction.
‘Sorry,’ said Krath.
‘Give the Alpha Sector Parliament time,’ said Dalmora.
‘They’ve already had a whole month,’ said Krath. ‘Other sectors only needed a day.’
Raven laughed. ‘But Alpha sector isn’t like the others. Many of the planets were settled directly from different regions of Earth, and their cultures still vary hugely, so it’s always a struggle to get the planetary representatives to agree on anything. There’s an old joke that the Alpha Sector Parliament once voted on whether two plus two equalled four. The motion passed with 755 in favour, 648 against, and 200 abstentions.’
I grinned. ‘Lucius Augustus Gordianus had a meeting with Aadi Quilla Amarion, and seems to be fairly happy about whatever’s going on.’
‘Lucius may be happy, but Rono certainly isn’t,’ said Krath.
I giggled. The whole class had been by the pool yesterday when Rono was watching an Alphan newzie channel on his lookup and totally lost his temper. By the time Playdon managed to shut him up, we’d all learned some very creative Cassandrian swear words.
‘You can’t blame him for being frustrated,’ said Fian. ‘He and Keren have got remarried, but they want their original marriage reinstated.’
I sighed. I was still feeling horribly guilty about everyone’s marriages and Twoing contracts being cancelled.
‘The Planet First amendment must surely pass,’ said Amalie. ‘Four sectors are on our side now.’
I shook my head. ‘The sectors are changing their relationship legislation to conform with the treaty of Artemis. It doesn’t mean they’ll support the Planet First amendment as well.’
‘And it’s a very different sort of vote,’ said Fian. ‘Anything to do with the Military has to be agreed by full Parliament of Planets. Even if a sector is generally in favour, some of its planetary representatives are bound to vote against, and the Alphan vote is always vital because they have so many representatives.’
‘It’s unfair that Alpha and Beta sectors have far more planetary representatives than Gamma, Delta and Epsilon,’ said Krath. ‘Each sector has about two hundred planets, so they should all have the same number of planetary representatives.’
‘Do you really think it would be fairer for every world to just have one planetary representative, whatever its population?’ asked Dalmora. ‘Should the huge population of a world like Adonis only have the same voice as the ten thousand citizens of a frontier world that’s newly out of Colony Ten?’
‘Well …’ Krath pulled a face. ‘No, but the system does mean the older sectors get to decide everything, and …’
He was interrupted by my lookup chiming. Everyone gave it a startled look. When we were on the dig site, we kept our lookups set to only chime for emergency messages.
‘What’s happened now?’ asked Krath.
‘I do
n’t know yet.’ I anxiously checked the display. ‘It’s Maeth!’
‘Who?’ asked Krath.
‘A friend from Next Step.’ I stabbed my lookup with a finger to accept the call, and saw it display Maeth’s face. She looked as if she’d been crying. What the chaos had happened?
‘Jarra,’ she said, ‘I … You know when we were 14, I got information about my parents, but never contacted them.’
‘Yes.’ Of the nine of us who’d gone through Nursery, Home and Next Step together, seven had taken up their option to get information about their birth parents at age 14. Maeth was the only one who’d done that, but not actually tried contacting her parents afterwards. She’d never told me why.
‘My parents were from Beta sector,’ said Maeth. ‘All I knew about Betans was they made sex vids, so I couldn’t face … There’s been a lot about Beta sector on the newzies lately. It wasn’t what I’d imagined, so I decided to contact my parents and … Jarra, they’re coming to Earth to see me!’
I was grazzed. ‘Maeth, that’s totally zan!’
‘They want me to join their clan, like you joined the Tell clan.’ Maeth gave a tense, shaky laugh. ‘I don’t know if … My clan won’t make sex vids, will they?’
‘It’s unlikely,’ I said. ‘What’s their clan prefix? The bit in the middle of their names?’
‘Ston.’
I tapped my lookup, requesting information on the Ston clan. ‘You’ve no need to worry, Maeth,’ I said. ‘They’re a very respectable clan of the middle rank. They manufacture medical equipment.’
‘So that’s all right then.’ Maeth covered her face with her hands. She was crying again.
The image on the lookup screen swung wildly for a second, and then Ross’s face appeared. ‘Jarra, they’re talking about betrothals and adopting me into the clan. There won’t be any legal problems, will there?’