He shook his head. ‘It’s the Military who do all the dangerous jobs. Every Remembrance Day, they list the names of the people who’ve lost their lives giving new worlds to humanity. For the civilians, those are the names of strangers, but for the Military they’re relatives, friends, people they love. The Military are a family, and they aren’t going to just sit around and let members of that family die unnecessarily. Sometimes there’s nothing they can do, your parents were beyond any help, but …’
Fian shrugged. ‘The Military take the view that things aren’t always black and white, there are grey areas too, things that can do good as well as harm. The Military keep it quiet, but they regularly cross the line into the grey areas to save lives. I agree with them doing that. Raven’s implant doesn’t bother me, I’m deeply glad he has it, because it means my friend is alive instead of dead. Don’t you feel like that?’
‘Of course.’
‘And I feel exactly the same way about your web.’ Fian paused. ‘I think it’s time for you to show me your face, Jarra.’
I reached up to unseal my hood, but pulled my hand away at the last minute. ‘I do look very … different now.’
‘I don’t care what you look like, Jarra. I care about the person you are.’
‘Yes, but …’ I indulged myself with a last delaying action. ‘My hair will be a mess. I need to shower and change.’
‘Your hair will be a mess.’ Fian repeated, and startled me by bursting out laughing. ‘Jarra, how many times have I seen you work yourself to death on a dig site, and then happily yank down the hood of your impact suit? You’ve never, ever, worried about your hair being a mess.’
I looked round at our room. It wasn’t ostentatiously grand like the clan hall, just a quietly comfortable bedroom. The only sign this belonged to the Tell clan, was a painting on the wall showing a formation of fighters. ‘Have we got a bathroom?’
‘We’ve got two bathrooms, so we can both shower and change.’ Fian went across to the hover bags in the corner of the room, opened mine, grabbed a sleep suit and tossed it towards me. ‘You’ve got fifteen minutes. If you’re still hiding in there after that, I’ll break down the door.’
I hugged my sleep suit against my chest. ‘You can’t smash up a Tell clan guest room!’
‘Watch me do it,’ said Fian.
The Cassandrian skunk meant it. I retreated into a bathroom, and carefully peeled off my impact suit and skintight. My skin instantly felt a lot less sore, and it felt even better after I’d showered on hot jet and then on dry cycle. Finally, I put on the sleep suit and checked myself in the mirror. The sleep suit seemed very skimpy, showing far too much glimmering skin.
I could hide in here for another five minutes, but it was better to get it over with. I took a deep breath, opened the door, and went out.
Fian was already in the bedroom, wearing a sleep suit himself. He’d been frowning at the painting on the wall, but he span rapidly round to look at me. ‘Nuking hell!’
His words would have scared me if I hadn’t recognized the expression on his face, and known exactly what it meant. He stood there for a moment as his mouth slowly widened into a grin.
‘Jarra, are the … the flickering lights under the sleep suit too?’
My fears and my panic had vanished like a chimera running from sunlight. I grinned back at him and nodded.
‘I really think,’ said Fian in a solemn voice, ‘I should get this terrible experience over with all at once. Show me the rest of you.’
I giggled, and slowly peeled off my sleep suit while he stood there staring at me.
‘You’re completely crazy,’ he said. ‘I’d love you whatever you looked like, but … don’t you realize you’re even more beautiful than before?’
‘All my life, I’ve heard the jokes on the vids about the Handicapped being ugly. Even knowing I was no different from norms, it still had an effect. I really am different now. People will look at me and see …’
‘They’ll see you’re stunningly lovely.’ Fian took my arm and tugged me across to a mirror. ‘Look at yourself, Jarra!’
When Dalmora dressed in her finest clothes, with her face made up and her hair adorned with lights, she looked like a dazzling vid star. I’d had a wistful moment once, watching her and knowing I would never, ever look like that, but the girl in the mirror … Her skin shimmered in a myriad intricate patterns, as mesmerizing as the light sculpture displayed by the alien probe.
I gave a shaky laugh. ‘The doctors of Hospital Earth promised they’d do their best for me, and they did. I may not be normal or ordinary, but …’
‘You never were ordinary, Jarra. If anyone doesn’t like the way you look now, it’s because there’s something wrong with them, not you.’ Fian paused. ‘Can we turn the lights off?’
I nodded.
‘Room command lights off,’ said Fian.
The room went totally dark, except for the flickering lights under my skin.
‘Nuking hell.’ Fian repeated the words in an awed voice.
The shining girl in the mirror looked indescribably lovely now. I saw a shadowy figure step up to her and kiss her, and then I was too occupied with reality to spend time thinking about reflections.
39
It was 14 November 2789, the day of the Planet First vote. Fian, Raven and I had stayed on Zeus for a couple of days. I’d explored the Tell clan hall, and wandered its gardens and surrounding countryside, stunned to see some familiar plants and birds of Earth casually mingling with the native wildlife of Zeus. I’d met a bewildering number of my relatives. I’d spent a disturbingly emotional hour laying flowers at the memorial to Major Rayne Tar Cameron. I’d even visited my mother’s clan hall, and joined in their celebrations of a distant cousin’s triad marriage.
Somewhere in the middle of all that, I’d finally dared to look at the Tell clan family tree, which included Tellon Blaze’s ancestry back to before Exodus century. I’d been startled by the details of my grandmother’s marriage, and even more shocked when I saw the names of some of my ancestors.
Last night I’d hardly slept, worrying about the Planet First vote. Now we’d portalled back to Earth, and I was standing outside the hall door of a Berlin Main Dig Site accommodation dome, being a coward about opening a door and facing my own classmates.
‘It’ll be fine,’ said Fian. ‘The Military statement said your appearance had been significantly affected, and the newzies have been speculating about it for days. The class will probably be expecting something dreadful, but you look amaz.’
Raven nodded. ‘You’re beautiful, Jarra.’
‘She’s literally a glowing girl,’ said Fian, giving a teasing look at Raven.
I took a deep breath and forced myself to open the hall door and go inside. The class were sitting at tables, eating breakfast and talking noisily, but there was a sudden silence as everyone turned to stare at me. I had a mad urge to run and hide, but then a voice spoke.
‘Amaz! Jarra, are the lights everywhere, even your …’ Krath’s words ended in a yelp of protest as Amalie hit him.
I giggled. ‘Mind your own business.’
Playdon came forward, obviously struggling not to stare at me himself. ‘Krath, please remember that intrusive personal questions display a lack of respect that breaches the Gamma sector moral code. Jarra, Fian, and Raven, welcome back to the class.’
‘Jarra,’ said Dalmora, ‘you look totally, totally zan. We’d no idea …’
There was another long silence, with everyone looking at me, and I felt myself grow hot with embarrassment. Fian is an amaz tag support, and stepped in to rescue me.
‘Can we put on the wall vid to watch the final debate before the Planet First vote, sir?’
‘Of course.’
Playdon turned on the wall vid, and set it to show Earth Rolling News. A couple of presenters were pointlessly explaining what their listeners must already know, that today’s vote in Parliament of Planets would decide whether there were new plan
ets for the Handicapped or they would remain confined to Earth.
Suddenly the presenters vanished, replaced by the live link feed from the Parliament of Planets session on Concordia. It was early afternoon there, the vast hall was filled with people, and the symbol of humanity on the wall was glowing amber to show a vote was in progress.
‘They’re already voting?’ I shook my head. ‘They weren’t scheduled to go to the vote for at least another two hours. What’s going on?’
The rest of the class abandoned their breakfasts and came to stand around us, alternating between watching the wall vid and watching me.
Raven checked his lookup. ‘Lucius Augustus Gordianus proposed the amendment. Desper Valden made the speech of opposition. The moderator called for a show of hands in the hall, ruled the final debating period unnecessary, and directed Parliament to move to an immediate formal vote.’
I still didn’t understand. ‘I wish I’d paid more attention to politics. Why would the moderator do that? What does it mean?’
‘It means opinion in the hall seemed decisive, so the moderator felt further debate couldn’t change the result,’ said Raven.
Was that a good or bad sign? I’d soon find out because the symbol of humanity had just turned red to show the voting period was over. As the automated voice of the voting system started speaking, I felt Fian’s arm go round me and leant gratefully against him.
‘Amendment 2789/1 of the Planet First Charter,’ said the voice. ‘4462 of 4490 planetary representatives cast their vote. Votes in favour 3570. Votes against 892. Amendment 2789/1 of the Planet First Charter has been carried.’
The last few words were drowned out by cheers and applause from the rest of the class, while I just stood there like a nardle. The Handicapped would have their planets, and that was … I buried my face in my hands for a second.
Fian guided me to a seat at a table, and Raven, Dalmora, Krath and Amalie came to sit with us.
Dalmora smiled at me. ‘There was no need to worry, Jarra. The vote was bound to pass. The whole of humanity saw the live vid coverage of the missile attack at Adonis, so there’s widespread public anger against both the Isolationist Party and those prejudiced against Novak-Nadal syndrome sufferers.’
Raven was staring at his lookup. ‘The sector vote breakdown … Every Beta sector representative voted in favour. That’s incredible!’
‘That’s Fidelis, the united heart of Beta sector.’ Fian turned to me. ‘You must eat something now, Jarra. You’ve been so nervous about this vote that you haven’t eaten in twenty-four hours.’
I shook my head. My stomach was still churning with the aftermath of tension. ‘I’m really not hungry.’
Fian reached under the table for a moment, straightened back up, and plonked something in front of me. ‘Eat!’
I blinked at the label on the yellow carton in front of me. ‘Is that really cheese fluffle?’
Fian grinned. ‘By now I’m used to you starving yourself when you’re worried about something. I came prepared.’
I ripped open the carton, there was the glorious smell of cheese fluffle, and I grabbed the spoon and ate a mouthful. Blizz! Pure blizz! I didn’t know if Fian had smuggled the carton in here himself, or if Raven had helped him, but either way …
‘Fian Andrej Eklund,’ I said, ‘you are totally zan!’
He laughed. ‘I know I am.’
I stuffed myself with cheese fluffle until I reached the bottom of the carton, then leant back in my chair while Dalmora and Raven talked politics. Krath joined in with some nardle remarks, but Amalie was silent.
We’d won the Planet First vote! I drifted off into a daydream of a future with new worlds for the Handicapped. It wouldn’t happen overnight, but in five or ten years time those worlds would be moving into Colony Ten phase, with the first colonists going to live there.
I could picture my friends, Maeth and Ross, among those first colonists. Issette would never want to live anywhere other than Earth, but she might visit another world for a holiday. Candace would love to see the birds and flowers of another planet. Cathan would only go so he could complain about all the things that hadn’t been built yet.
The scraping of chairs brought me back to the present. Playdon was standing in front of the wall vid, waiting to start talking to us. I guiltily hurried to help the others finish stacking the tables away and lining up chairs. Everyone sat down, and Playdon began speaking.
‘Tomorrow won’t just be Wallam-Crane day, but a historic occasion for Earth, so all Earth dig sites have begun a three day closure for the celebrations.’
There was a loud cheer from team 5 on the back row, which Playdon ignored. ‘I remind everyone that I need your degree course applications by the end of today, so I can process and submit them by the day after tomorrow. Two weeks ago, I sent each of you individual reports with your predicted grades for both the theoretical and practical sides of this course, highlighting any areas of concern that you should work on.’
‘You can’t have sent one to Jarra,’ said Krath. ‘She was in a tank and …’ He turned to look at me. ‘Playdon didn’t?’
I grinned. ‘Yes, he did. It said I’d already been issued with the highest practical grade for the course, but had missed a large number of theory lectures which I’d need to view before Year End if I wished to improve my predicted theory grade to the one he would expect from a student of my ability.’
The class burst out laughing. Playdon waited for them to calm down, and started talking again. ‘I’ve also sent everyone details of the various history degree courses being run next year by University Asgard. I understand Lolia and Lolmack won’t be continuing to do a full history degree course.’
‘No,’ said Lolmack. ‘We only joined this course because we needed an excuse for being on Earth. Now our daughter isn’t just openly acknowledged, but a clan member, we no longer need to pretend to be interested in history.’
‘We have learned some very useful things from our course though,’ added Lolia hastily.
‘I wish you and your daughter the very best for the future.’ Playdon returned to addressing the whole class. ‘Some of the rest of you won’t be submitting degree course applications either, since they’re choosing a different option. At the start of next year, the Military will be sending archaeological teams including both civilians and Military officers to the alien home world, Fortuna. I’ve been invited to lead one of those teams.’
There was a startled reaction from those members of the class who hadn’t been told about this.
‘I’ve spoken in confidence to some members of the class to offer them the chance to join my team,’ continued Playdon. ‘Our work on Fortuna will be accredited by University Asgard, and should lead to a new degree in xenoarchaeology, but it will obviously involve unknown hazards. I asked all those considering places on the team to think deeply about both the commitment and the risks involved. If any of those people wish to apply to one of the standard University Asgard history courses instead, then please just remain seated. Those of you who wish to go to Fortuna, please stand.’
There was a shuffling of chairs and a scattering of people stood. No one would be surprised that Fian, Raven, and I were standing, but there were startled glances at a couple of the others. I was only interested in the fact the whole of team 1 were on their feet.
Playdon’s eyes went round the standing figures as if he was checking them off against a mental list. ‘Thank you, please sit down again now. I …’
He broke off because there was the sound of voices out in the corridor. I twisted round in my seat, saw the hall door open, and Rono lead in the Cassandra 2 team.
‘Playdon, the teams on Fortuna will be working in pairs, the same way as on the California Land Raft. Would you …’ Rono’s voice trailed off, and he stared at me. ‘Chaos take it, Jarra!’
‘I think our teams pairing up would be an excellent idea,’ said Playdon, ‘but please stop staring at Jarra. You shouldn’t embarrass my students.?
??
‘Sorry.’ Rono shook his head. ‘I just wasn’t expecting anything so …’
Keren folded his arms and frowned at him. ‘Should I be getting jealous?’
Rono gave one of his huge laughs. ‘Oh no. Jarra’s very decorative now, but she still scares me to death.’
‘You’re all coming to Fortuna then?’ I asked.
Stephan grinned at me. ‘Chaos yes! We aren’t civilians, we’re xenoarchaeologists!’
I laughed.
‘We’ve been there for the crashing spacecraft, alien artefacts, and social revolutions,’ said Rono. ‘We aren’t going to miss the alien planet.’
Playdon started discussing the Fortuna arrangements with the Cassandra 2 team, so I took my chance to speak to Dalmora, Amalie and Krath. ‘I don’t want anyone to feel forced to go to Fortuna just because they’ve been on the same class dig team as Fian and me.’
Dalmora had her idealistic, shiny-eyed look as she answered me. ‘It’s an amazing opportunity, Jarra. The chance to join the first excavation of an alien civilization! I hope to make vids of our work. Obviously, we’d need permission from Military Security before any of those vids could be shown, but …’
I couldn’t argue with Dalmora’s decision. Playdon had chosen to accept a unique professional opportunity that gave him the chance to continue the work he loved away from ruins that held too many memories of his dead wife. Dalmora was making a career decision too in her own romantic way. Working together on Fortuna, perhaps she and Raven might …
I abandoned that thought and looked at Amalie. She was the one who really worried me. ‘Amalie, you were so determined to get your degree and return home to teach at University Miranda. We may end up with a degree, but it will be in xenoarchaeology. Will that still let you do what you want?’
She shrugged. ‘What I want doesn’t matter anymore.’
‘Of course it matters!’
Amalie sighed. ‘No it doesn’t, Jarra. There’s a new plaque on the Spirit of Man monument, listing everyone who helped contact the alien probe.’
‘Yes, I’ve seen it on the newzies, but I don’t understand why …’