Two hundred years since the great unification of Earth. Two hundred years since humanity had embarked on the single greatest and most critical mission in history; to save all life on Earth. The distant profusion of life busying themselves elsewhere, endlessly busy, so many tiny lives, so many tiny spots of light.
Another distant firework star-burst interrupted her reverie and she directed her attention back to the patch of tubers that she was busy digging up. Looking sort of like a yellow carrot, the tubers grew in abundance on Diana and formed an important part of the Dianians’ diet.
The fields she worked stretched downstream from the main town of Atlas, carved in sections from the low-lying forest over successive generations. The river, which supplied Atlas with water, meandered deep, slow, and silent through the fields. Periodically, straight sided irrigation channels diverted water into the fields. They spread like silver branches reflecting the constant light from Proxima Centauri, Diana’s sun. The furrowed soil undulated between the silvery veins, rich and black from thousands of years of uninterrupted composting leaf litter and forest detritus.
Grains imported from Earth such as barley and wheat flourished along with a variety of native and non-native legumes, brassicas, and root vegetables. Fruit trees, both local and imported, tended to be planted on the forest fringes where the trees shaded the fruit from the perpetual sunlight. The majority of Earth fruit trees did not survive on Diana because of the absence of seasons. Those that did survive required intense labor to keep them healthy. Lacking local pollinators, the Dianians were required to pollinate blossom trees by hand, as a result edible fruits native to Diana formed a much larger portion of the local diet than those of Earth origin.
She wondered if the new arrivals due today would like the food. Already three large baskets were filled, and she wondered whether they would need a fourth. Today was an important day for Earth, two hundred years since the various governments began the great EARTH-NET program. Today was also the day chosen for the program to pass from collective government control into private ownership. The Centauri Deep Space Exploration Company, or CDSE, were to become the new owners.
The CDSE logo was a familiar sight to at least two generations of Dianians, as the company supplied the majority of hardware and complex optotronics and electronics that arrive from earth via space. The ungainly remotely controlled tugs, hardy refueler shuttles, and gas jets used to maneuver and trim the nets were all CDSE and had been for as long as anybody could recall. CDSE also supplied the G-Port 3D printers that the Dianians used to fabricate mechanical parts and tools out of micronized or evaporated materials G-Ported from Earth.
The anniversary and change of ownership were naturally important topics of conversation and cause for celebration on Diana, but the day held additional significance for an altogether different reason. Today was the first day that natural humans would set foot on Diana. Twenty-five CDSE scientists, geologists, net specialists, and associated security detail were due to shuttle planet side from the interstellar vessel Golden Hind in approximately nine hours. They were coming to foster relations with the colony and audit EARTH-NET operations as part of the changeover.
Min-654MilGr was currently working gathering additional food for the welcome party to honor the newcomers. The humans would probably be pretty hungry after almost twelve years in hypersleep. Hypersleep was a relatively recent Earth invention that made the long journey survivable for humans. Twelve years was by far the longest period of hypersleep ever attempted, therefore, the ship’s arrival was big news on both sides of the net.
Min-654MilGr looked up at the sound of rapid claps and clicks as her work mates, Rose and Dane approached. Conversing as they trundled a simple four wheeled wooden trolley back from the kitchen block. Rose’s blond hair had partially escaped the loose bun she favored, and wisps were curling over her tanned shoulders, the neck of her dress possibly a little more open than was strictly necessary.
At 5’4” Dane was a couple of inches taller than Rose and whip thin. He possessed the easy gait of a young man familiar with traveling long distances on foot. Rose’s attentive blue eyes followed Dane’s rapidly moving hands and she smiled easily. Min-654MilGr envied her confidence. Her dress, by contrast, was buttoned up to the neck and a wide brimmed hat shaded her fair, freckled shoulders. Pale skin was rare among Dianians and red hair was thought to have been impossible.
Min-654MilGr watched the pair approach and smiled inwardly at Dane’s efforts to entertain Rose. Even buck naked she would have struggled to tear Dane’s gaze away from Rose’s winning smile and fuller figure.
Rose’s CDSE name was Kai-756JunHr. A name computer generated the second her birth was registered with EARTH-NET Dianian asset management. Since she could crawl though, her sign name had been Rose because of her natural beauty and sunny disposition. Dane was named after the earth Nordic race for his height and blond hair. Min-654MilGr had been called Ray since the moment of her birth because of her bright orange-red hair. Ray, as in Ray of Sun, after the oranges and reds found in the Diana sky around the Sunset Ring.
The name was formed by pinching the right-hand fingers together then pushing forward and opening the fingers like a ray of light emanating from the hand.
As the pair approached, Dane was signing one handed, his other hand grasping the trolley handle. The Dianians had initially been taught deaf sign language, the only non-verbal language universally used on Earth. Having perfect hearing however the Dianians had rapidly assimilated hand slaps, finger and tongue clicks and various other sounds.
After two hundred years in isolation the language had diverged significantly from Earth sign language into something uniquely Dianian. In fact, Earth based linguistics scientists had made entire careers out of studying and recording the evolution of a new language occurring in relative isolation.
“Imagine if the frozen breaks,” Dane signed.
Ray picked up that they were speculating about the newcomers due to arrive today.
Dane saw Ray looking on, grinned at her and directed the pointer and middle finger of both hands towards the ground, “Coffin”. Still grinning he followed with his right-hand waving in front of his nose above his left bicep. Biceps often indicated meat and the waving hand stinking or smelly.
“Coffin full of rotten meat”.
Ray grinned back and playfully lobbed a tuber in his direction. Dane deftly stepped aside and the vegetable dropped neatly into the trolley. Dane thumped his chest eliciting a solid slapping sound and held his hands out, loudly clicking his tongue, clearly inviting an invisible audience to check out his incredible vegetable avoidance skills. This drew a slightly bigger grin from Ray and an eye roll from Rose.
“Don’t be a moron,” Rose signed, “We would have heard by now if something had gone wrong and besides, they were defrosted a week ago.”
Ray interjected with clicking fingers, “Mum says twenty-four are healthy and one is not doing so well. One of the soldiers has something wrong with his…” Ray paused, internally searching for a way to convey lungs. Nothing coming to mind she simply indicated her chest moving with both hands, “Breathing.”
The trio stood letting the last word, “Breathing” hang in the air as Ray’s hands returned to her side. Rose’s slight frown reflected the sudden disquiet they all felt.
Humans were coming!
In the six months they had known about the imminent arrival of humans. At least once per day Ray had the feeling that her gut was trying to rise up and choke her. She couldn’t escape a persistent vision of standing before an eight-foot giant who extended a huge hand, smiled toothily and spoke to her in the voice of the humans on the media feed.
Throughout her entire life, humans had occupied the same space in her imagination as Goldilocks or Cinderella. She could read about them, enjoy stories about them, and see them on the monitors or media screens. Every day she could see their world superimposed on the Diana sky. She had spent hours speculating about them with her friends. But Cinde
rella, she thought, was not supposed to leave the ball by spacecraft and descend onto Diana by shuttle to pay a visit.
Ray suddenly feeling faint sat down somewhat harder than she expected. She flapped a hand in front of her face trying to clear the tunnel of static threatening to strangle her vision. It didn’t help. Panic welled up painfully and the rush of blood to her head caused her ears to ring. She could see Dane’s concerned face disappearing as static crowded in from the edges of her vision.
Vestigial muscles in her abdomen and throat strained uselessly to hyperventilate as her lung implant failed to cope with the rising panic. Forgetting a lifetime of training, she grabbed at Rose and tried to haul herself to her feet. Dane and Rose grabbed her arms and shoulders and wrestled her down. She struggled for a few seconds before her vision failed completely and lack of oxygen laid her flat on her back, floating thoughtless in blackness.
Ray sat up blinking and looked for Rose and Dane.
“How long?” she queried with her eyes. Dane shrugged and held up ten fingers twice. Ray nodded. “About twenty seconds.”
Fainting was a fairly routine event among Dianians as their implants often failed to cope with oxygen debt. Children were taught early to lie down immediately if they felt even remotely faint. Ray grimaced apologetically and held the expression for an unnatural length of time. Rose looked on concerned as Ray’s eyes widened in panic for a second time and her hands reached to grip handfuls of the loose soil she sat in. She felt her chest starting to constrict as if she might cry.
Ray hated to cry. It was one of the few times when she was painfully aware that some parts of her were not natural. A compromise that the geneticists and bio-engineers who designed her relatives had decided were acceptable flaws. All froze for what seemed like minutes before Ray won her internal battle for control. Ray forced the feeling down, swallowing it like a lump of lead.
How bad could it really be? She was being irrational and needed to get a hold of herself. She had found out just an hour ago that she was going to be on the front line dealing one-on-one with a human and she needed to make a good impression. She could not embarrass herself or her people by panicking.
Dane picked at the dirt between his knees and looked uncomfortable, waiting for Ray’s focus to return.
Rose cupped Ray’s face in her hands, a clear question in her raised eyebrows. Ray shrugged and stared at Rose with a confidence she was fighting hard to feel.
“The sick one,” Ray finally signed, “Mum is going to be looking after him and I have to help. I’m going to have to sit and make sure he doesn’t die.”
Rose and Dane frowned in unison.
“Is that all?” Dane queried.
Ray’s hands flashed angrily, “Is that all? What do I know about humans? What if he tries to get away or to grab me like they do on the movies? What if he wants to talk and ask me questions? What if he dies? Everybody will think it’s my fault.”
Dane couldn’t help grinning.
Ray glared at him angrily. “You think I’m stupid?”
“Nobody thinks you’re stupid.” Rose signed and placed a hand on Ray’s shoulder. Ray slapped it away angrily.
“I think you’re stupid.” Dane signed grinning. “You are the first Dianian since the first ones to spend actual time with a real live human. If I knew anything about medicine I would swap with you in a heartbeat. I would love the chance to talk to one. Ask what Earth is really like. See if he’s got a V.I. I’d kill for one of those. Besides, he might look like Jason Crillion.”
Ray’s anger subsided a little. She didn’t want to lose face but always appreciated the way Dane could diffuse a tense situation. She wiped a patch of dirt away from her eyes and stood up.
At 14 years of age Ray was considered fully grown. Dianians’ bodies matured rapidly. Part of the genetic alterations that made it possible for them to survive extended space travel. Ray had also developed a sudden interest in boys and currently had a rather intense crush on Jason Crillion, the moody Earth movie star famous for epic romance dramas, in particular old English classics. A favorite of hers.
Living in tight quarters with so many young Dianians, it was almost impossible to keep any kind of secret. Ray looked accusingly at Rose who answered with a non-committal shrug.
“Maybe he will look like Mitch.” Rose smirked.
Mitch was a boy in their class that Ray had once confessed she considered good looking. Ray grabbed a handful of dirt and flung it at Rose’s chest. Rose grinned gleefully and jumped up and back, the bulk of the dirt bouncing off her work dress. Ray clambered up and chased Rose down the track clutching a second handful of loose soil. Rose was fast, but lack of oxygen soon ended the chase. They sat back down in the dirt to recover, the first creases of a smile on Ray’s flushed cheeks.
Dane clapped to get their attention. He raised his hands, palm up, and looked pointedly at the cart.
“Are we going to finish this?”
Ray and Rose clambered up and ambled back to help Dane to load the baskets onto the trolley.
CHAPTER 5
With the Tubers delivered to the cooks, Ray and Rose headed back to their sleeping barracks. Their quarters were nestled in the central compound of Atlas, named for the Greek Titan who carried the world upon his shoulder. Atlas was arranged somewhat like a wheel with a large central circular building surrounded by long oblong barracks radiating out like spokes. The buildings were constructed from large adobe blocks arching from straight-sided walls to form domed roofs. They had all been built by habitat builder robots delivered years before the first Dianians arrived. The robots collected water and mud and compacted the mixture into large bricks penetrated by vertical holes to help them dry and harden. They were arranged in layers. Left for weeks to allow them to harden. The method was time consuming but very effective.
The Dianians affectionately referred to the central building as Town Hall but, it served as ground zero for Diana based operation of the nets. Some of the more jocular among the Dianians referred to Town Hall as the Raspberry because of its resemblance to the fruit. A spiral of interconnected hemispherical roofs culminating in a grand central dome that bristled with antennas and satellite dishes. It arched over the ranks upon ranks of control stations associated with net operations.
Outside the perimeter of the radiating barracks, Atlas had grown to include a scattered assortment of other structures, dotted haphazardly. Many were constructed from the same large brown adobe blocks as the central structures, but wooden buildings were also apparent. Some of the wooden structures featured gabled roofs like those popular on Earth during the 20th and 21st centuries.
Having never had the resources to pursue production of concrete or bitumen the township lacked paving, hence, well-trodden dirt roads connected the buildings. If it weren’t for the glittering solar collectors glimmering on at least half the surface of every roof, one could have easily mistaken Atlas for a Wild West movie set.
As it was, the simple construction and dirt roads rising naturally from the terrain contrasted starkly with the CDSE communications equipment and other roof mounted technology. Ground vehicles and large spans of metal were in short supply.
Complex electronics and machines could only be provided via space transport and the extreme cost and severe weight limits meant that almost all equipment delivered by spacecraft was delivered into orbit to service the nets. Equipment shuttled to the surface of Diana was almost exclusively advanced communication boards for ground based control of the orbiting assets. Thus, Dianians walked when they needed to travel, and manual tasks were generally accomplished without mechanical assistance.
The kitchens resided in one of the oblong buildings radiating from Town Hall, so Ray and Rose had just a short walk to get to their sleeping Barracks. Ray sat down on her bunk kicked off her plastic work sandals and rested her aching feet on the cool earthen floor. Rose, more used to the farm work, fussed about with the items stored on their shared metal shelves, collecting her wash kit and a
change of clothes.
In the constant daylight of Diana’s bright side sleeping was sometimes difficult so the barracks were windowless to help keep them cool and dark. At fourteen Ray was second eldest among a group of twenty who bunked in one end of three identical, military style barracks, reserved for young women and girls. Rose was older than Ray by a couple of months and occupied the bunk directly above her.
Like all the school age children, their barracks was designated as a day barracks. Though Diana did not experience day and night, they still operated on a twenty-four-hour clock synchronized to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). Day barracks had a sleep cycle between 8 pm and 8 am GMT and operated on a Monday to Sunday week with weekends, just like much of Earth. The seven-day week only had relevance to the school age Dianians who all enjoyed the same weekend days, Saturday and Sunday.
All the adult workers operated on a five on two off, night shift or day shift, rolling roster in teams with teams sharing two days off together. Night barracks, where the sleep cycle was from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., were on the other side of Town Hall to reduce noise for the workers trying to sleep. The upshot of adhering to Earth’s clock was that the Dianians still used the terms morning, noon, afternoon, and even night to keep track of time.
Other barracks were reserved for the young men and the workers who spent most of their time in Town Hall. Each barracks was divided into three even rooms with five double bunks along each wall. Ray had the bottom bunk against the outward facing end of one barracks where the wall curved up and over into the domed ceiling. Beside Ray’s bunk squatted a simple bent metal chair and a desk with one roughly hewn wooden leg. Ray had patched a power supply into the mains and rigged a monitor and Com-Port pilfered from a scrap pile. With these she could access Earths Com-Net via Diana EARTH-NET coms.
This wasn’t strictly within the rules but operations on both sides of the nets tended to turn a blind eye, particularly the operators on the Diana side. For the most part, they sympathized with the lack of ready entertainment Dianians enjoyed, compared with their counterparts on Earth. Even so, Ray kept her searches pretty clean and restricted the Com-Port use to education and generic entertainment. A common sight in the barracks was groups of girls clustered around Ray’s desk, watching a show, reading gossip about media celebrities or looking at clothes and accessories that they would never own.
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