Earth-Net

by David J. Garrett

  “What did they want?” Rose inquired looking in the direction Aymes and Prudence had gone.

  “Just checking in.” Ray signed and gestured for Rose to come in. Rose did, pulled a spare chair out from under a desk and plunked herself down.

  “What a night,” She signed still grinning. “Isn’t the captain gorgeous, old but still good looking, did you see his scar?”

  “Of course, I did,” answered Ray, “did you see how upset Dane was?”

  Rose looked unrepentant. “Dane is a child compared to those guys. Did you see how tall they all were?” Rose suddenly seemed to notice Jonah lying in the bed. “What’s he like, has he talked to you yet?”

  “No, he’s sedated, we might wake him tomorrow though.”

  “Don’t you love the sound of their voices?” Rose interrupted, “so weird, just like in the movies huh?” She looked over at Jonah again. “Why does it smell in here? I hate sick people, they give me the creeps.”

  Ray stared at Rose’s profile for a while and felt too exhausted to respond. “Sorry Rose,” she signed, “you are not really allowed in here, better go before you get me in trouble.”

  Rose bit her lip looking at the back of Jonah’s head, still looking wired. “OK,” she added eventually. “I suppose I better go talk with Dane, can’t have him sulking at me all week, don’t wake me when you get in.”

  “I’m going to sleep at Mums,” Ray replied, “quieter out there.”

  Ray kissed Rose goodnight and ushered her out the door, returning the room to blissful quiet, she settled into the chair beside Jonah. What a night indeed she thought. She couldn’t help agreeing with Rose that suddenly Dane did seem like a child but then so did Rose when compared to Aymes. Jager made everybody seem, not so much childish, but sub-human, it was like he was the next stage of evolution or something.

  “Things are going to change, aren’t they?” She signed to Jonah’s passive face, then swept back a lock of hair that was threatening to fall over his eye. She held her hand on his forehead for a while noting the drop in his temperature. He stirred a little, reacting to the relative cool of her hand. His eyelids flickered, and Ray froze, suddenly terrified his eyes would open. She didn’t feel ready to face him awake just yet. Thankfully he quieted, and she withdrew to her chair, regathering her fallen book. What a night indeed.

  CHAPTER 11

  Bones arrived early in the morning for her shift and sent Ray back to her home on the outskirts of town where sleeping would be easier. Ray wobbled a little on the way there, feeling the effects of 24 hours without sleep. Yawning, she stomped up the wooden steps and knocked twice on the door before letting herself in.

  Bones’ parlor was typical of the new raft of wooden Dianian homes. They had simple wooden walls with the roughly sawn boards exposed on the inside. A small printed metal pot belly wood burning stove squatted at one end of the room, radiating heat. Well-watered barley porridge sat on the stove, still simmering gently. The walls sported simple shelves, a work bench, a wooden table and chairs, and a single rippled window made from glass G-Ported from Earth. Two doors lead directly out of the dining room, one to Bones’ room and one to Sparks’.

  Ray groggily spooned out a bowl full and sat at the table. She raised her hands to the First Child and stared at the food for a second wondering if she had the energy to eat it. She definitely wanted coffee, but couldn’t face the rigmarole of drawing and boiling water. She finished her bowl just as Sparks shuffled out from his room scratching the back of his neck and yawning. He sat himself opposite Ray and sat staring at nothing for a while.

  “How is he?” he inquired looking not at all interested.

  “Better.” Ray replied, “Mum thinks he will be awake this afternoon. She’s going to wait till I get there to wean him off the sedative, so I can learn how to do it.”

  Sparks didn’t respond at all, he was still staring at a spot on the wall. Eventually he levered himself up and moved to grab himself some porridge.

  Ray suddenly noticed an absence in the corner of the room. “Where is the data terminal I made you?” she asked accusingly.

  Sparks glanced at the corner and answered a little too quickly, “I traded the parts for some new woodworking tools. Mum wants a porch out front and some more chairs.”

  Ray stared at him frowning. Sparks busied himself with his breakfast avoiding Ray’s eye. She had known him all her life and she knew immediately when he was trying to hide something. She clicked her fingers to get his attention. “Do you realize how long I had to wait to find those parts? How long it took me to get that working?”

  “Of course, I do,” he retorted breaking from the porridge pot, “But…you know, I needed the tools and what else am I going to trade. It’s not like we have hardware stores here. Or money for that matter, even if we did have stores.”

  “That was a gift, you can’t give away a gift, you used it all the time. And Mum, did she agree to this?”

  Sparks looked back at Ray, hands frozen. ” No but…” he trailed off looking towards the bedroom and then back at Ray. Eventually he appeared to make a decision. He lifted his hands to say something but was interrupted by Nettle emerging from the bedroom. Nettle caught his guilty glance at the corner where the data station used to be, and Ray thought she detected the barest hint of a head shake from her.

  Nettle turned and smiled at Ray. “Did the CDSE guy die?”

  Ray flushed angrily, “Of course not, and he’s not CDSE, he’s UN Navy.”

  “Same thing” signed Nettle, plunking herself down next to Sparks who had returned with a full bowl. She wore an overly big, blue work tunic that hung loose off one shoulder, probably Sparks’ work shirt, and a look of bored ambivalence that she employed when actively trying to annoy people. The shirt finished upper thigh. Probably with nothing underneath Ray speculated to herself. As Nettle sat, it gaped open giving Ray an unwelcome eyeful of Nettle’s breasts, complete with Nipple piercing. Nettle caught Ray’s eye line and grinned holding the pose so the top stayed open. Everything about Nettle annoyed Ray it seemed. She forced herself not to react.

  “You having coffee?” she asked, looking exclusively at Sparks.

  Sparks nodded while spooning porridge into his mouth, apparently unaware of the tension in the room. Ray turned her back on Nettle and searched for the jar of roasted beans on Bones’ high shelf. She tipped a conservative quantity into a mortar on the bench.

  Coffee grew pretty well but it was still a luxury. She started grinding with a solid stone pestle. It was heavy enough to act as an effective club she thought, looking at Nettle out of the corner of her eye. Forcing a neutral smile, she turned back to the table, almost catching the last word of a rushed conversation between Nettle and Sparks. Directly to Nettle she asked, “Are you eating or do you need to get going … right now?”

  “I never eat Breakfast.” Nettle responded easily, ignoring Ray’s blatant efforts to get rid of her, “makes me feel ill. I’ll have coffee though. Better have something so I can dance my way through another fantastic day, driving a piece of shit tug, for a piece-of-shit company for shit food and no pay.”

  Ray held her neutral smile and met Nettle’s challenging stare, “coffee it is then,” she responded. “Did you guys get to the party last night? I didn’t see you.”

  Nettle made a vomiting motion, “Those bloated corporate slaves couldn’t lie straight in bed. I doubt if they even know why they are here. And if they do, they aren’t about to share it with us. Have you asked yourself why they brought the muscle? Marines are not usually required at a business meeting. Why do they think they need that kind of protection?”

  “Not everything is some giant conspiracy,” Ray retorted, annoyed at how quickly Nettle always got under her skin. “They all looked pretty normal to me. Mostly scientists.”

  Sparks joined in, swallowing his last mouthful and dropping his spoon in the bowl. “This first lot are just the pretty faces. As soon as the speeches finished last night CDSE on Earth announced
that another five super cruisers will arrive in two years. Who’s going to be on those ships? And why didn’t we know anything about them until today?”

  Sparks’ last comment hung in the air, the implication was obvious. If the cruisers were only two years out, then CDSE had launched the vessels over nine years ago. That cast doubt on the official line that the Golden Hind was a scientific and diplomatic mission one of the scientific aims being to assess the effects of extended hypersleep. And the CDSE deal must have been pretty much sealed for at least that long if not longer.

  “So, what?” said Ray. “So, they already have hypersleep nailed down. They wouldn’t have sent Golden Hind if they hadn’t.”

  “Then, why lie about it?” Nettle interjected. “I don’t trust them. I’ve never trusted them. They keep us around as long as we serve their purpose. Keeping their fucking air clean enough for them to survive another stinking week or two.

  Sparks and I have been talking with people on Earth, you know and CDSE don’t have the best reputation up there. They are involved in everything. Terrestrial and astro-mining, real estate slum lords, blood farming, and everything in between. CDSE care about one thing, money. Why do you think they bought the Earth-Net program?”

  “We know about all of that, already, “Ray signed. ”And besides, they didn’t exactly lie, they just didn’t advertise it. They were probably waiting to see how the Golden Hind went first. The governments wanted out of Earth-Net fifty years ago. The bureaucracy of running the program is such a nightmare that I’m surprised they didn’t sell it sooner. But now they will all pay CDSE to manage it. Simple as that-there’s your money.”

  “Nobody knows how much though,” Sparks responded. “It’s all a big secret. We know that CDSE bought the whole operation but what they paid was kept secret, along with the ongoing contributions that nations will need to make to CDSE to manage the program. I bet it’ll be like private vs government prisons. Conditions for us will take a back seat to profit margins.”

  Nettle turned from Sparks to stare at Ray, challenging her to argue. Ray didn’t argue, she just sat and stared at the pair as they sat staring at her.

  “Why do you two always imagine the worst? Earth won’t let anything happen to us. The Captain said it last night. We saved Earth, without us they would all be dead, and they know it.”

  Nettle held the stare momentarily then unfolded herself from the table and made her way over to the kettle that was now merrily whistling. Ray tipped the coffee she’d been grinding into the coffee pot and slid it across for Nettle to fill.

  “Look,” Ray added, “I get your point, OK? We never had any choice about any of this. We are born, we grow up, and we work for Earth-net. What is going to be different? Just a new logo, right?”

  “I think that depends,” Nettle signed after pouring the water.

  “On what?”

  “On what is in those cruisers,” Nettle signed, holding Ray’s gaze again.

  Sparks broke the spell by noisily pushing the bench back as he stood, gathering his breakfast bowl. “We should just ask, see what this Captain has to say.”

  Ray smiled, “Exactly, and I’m sure Stone is going to do precisely that.”

  Nettle looked skyward, “That useless tit, if that bastard Captain offers him a proper office with a desk and big mirror he’d suck the man’s dick like it was a goddamn toffee apple.”

  “Stone’s alright,” Ray countered. “His speeches suck but he’s a good administrator. He’ll make sure we have what we need out of this new deal.”

  “That’s if they ever tell him what the deal actually is,” Sparks added, flexing his back. “We won’t find out today in any case, Nettle pour me a coffee please, I’ve got to get dressed.”

  “Me too.” Nettle passed the job on to Ray, “Pour for both of us,” she threw over her shoulder before stalking after Sparks, hips swinging and butt cheeks poking out just below where the shirt finished.

  Ray stared after them for a second then turned back to pouring the coffee. They were definitely hiding something. But what? New porch my ass, she thought to herself, Sparks loved that com-port.

  Nettle and Sparks eventually headed out for their shifts and Ray was left alone in the quiet house. Despite her overwhelming urge to sleep, she lay awake staring at the rough wooden beams in Bones’ small but functional bedroom. An absence of windows kept the room dark and cool. Light filtered through where the boards did not quite meet.

  Shadows from the roof trusses and created a web against the wooden ceiling. In patches, she could see the deep grain in the wood and imagine where branches had protruded when the wood was alive. Above this, most of the ceiling was shrouded in inky shadow. Her tired mind imagined there was a metaphor there but right now it slipped around the edges of her consciousness and refused to focus into anything. She enjoyed the delicious humming of her overtired limbs sinking into the welcome bed as her waking mind tumbled into sleep.

  CHAPTER 12

  Ray visited Rose on her way back to her evening Medbay shift to check that she had at least made some effort to patch things up with Dane. She had slept like a dead thing but, unused to messing with sleep cycles, still felt she could use more.

  As it turned out Dane was visiting the girl’s barracks when Ray arrived, the pair were lounging on Ray’s bed watching a talk show on the Datacom. Rose smiled as Ray entered and beckoned her over. She pointed at the monitor

  “This guy is part of a group who are campaigning to set up a human colony on Diana. That woman is a CDSE spokesperson who has just said that CDSE is exploring all possibilities for the further development of Diana. The worst thing is they are all nuts. The guy reckons that the redder light from Proxima Centauri will have a rejuvenating effect on Humans. He thinks they will live forever down here.”

  “I could take him to the hospice as soon as he gets here. Look at the old folks.” Ray replied smiling, “He would see that that is not even remotely true.”

  “It would be cool though, huh?” Dane joined in looking much recovered from his bad mood the evening past. “More people. A proper town with shops and places for us to go. I would love to go to a proper Nightclub.”

  Ray watched the zealot ranting for a while without really concentrating, then said her goodbyes and continued towards the Medbay. She was happy that Rose and Dane were back on speaking terms for now at least.

  Bones was fussing about when she got there. Clearing mess away and prepping for weaning Jonah. Ray could hear immediately the improvement in Jonah’s breathing. He breathed deeper and the crackle was now only evident at the very end of each breath. Prudence waited out of the way in the corner and gave Ray one of her friendly smiles as she entered.

  Bones put Ray to work getting restraints ready in case Jonah flipped out when he came around.

  “I’ve never seen it happen,” Bones reassured her, “but better safe than sorry. He will be disorientated for a while when he wakes and may say some strange things. Just get Prudence to keep talking to him. Keep telling him where he is. Keep him oriented as the Earth doctors say.”

  Bones pressed the page button on the monitor as they continued, eventually summoning Melanie Kravitz, also back on shift at Harvard Medical on Earth.

  “Hi Bones,” Melanie said as she appeared. Bones typed “Hi” on the keyboard and gave Melanie some time to review the day’s vitals. “Looks good,” Melanie said, looking up over the rim of her reading glasses, an affectation that was still popular among some professionals. “Reduce the Sedamorph by tens over the next hour, maintain the AB for 48 hours. As usual, any problems just call.” Bones and Melanie smiled, and Bones waved goodbye as the screen flicked back to the user interface. Bones turned back to Ray.

  “Well here we go then. We’ll be good for the first half hour then we had better grab Prudence and one of the guys from the hospice in case he gets confused.”

  Bones talked Ray through reducing the sedative, noting the changes in Jonah’s breathing as his consciousness began to re
turn.

  He came back to slowly. The man Ray had commandeered from the hospice stayed for about twenty minutes until Jonah was present enough to stop pulling at his tubes and trying to get up. Prudence turned out to be very helpful. She had a calm reassuring voice and was able to keep Jonah quiet and non-combative. He started answering her questions around the time the day shift was eating dinner.

  “Jonah do you know where you are?” she asked

  “Not really,” Jonah replied looking distractedly at the walls. “I was going into hypersleep.” He spoke in what Ray recognized as a posh British accent.

  “You came out of hypersleep a week ago, Jonah, you were not well. You are on Diana now, in hospital.”

  “Did I fall down?”

  “No, you got an infection in your lungs.”

  Ray came over to try and move his hand away from his nose tube which he was reaching for again. Jonah flinched noticeably as she approached and tried to block her hand as she reached towards him. His face changed from confused and fearful to a smile as Ray’s face moved into his field of view. He turned back to Prudence.

  “Why is my cousin here?” he asked. He turned back to Ray. “Hello Beatie” he said. “Beatie is my favorite, favorite” he said to nobody, staring up at the roof with goofy smile spread across his face. “So pretty…pretty red hair…showed me her boobs.”

  Prudence couldn’t suppress a laugh and looked at Ray who was blushing furiously. Jonah’s face went deadly serious and he looked back at Ray “Don’t tell Aunty May, she won’t let you come and play anymore.”

  “This isn’t your cousin Jonah, this is Ray. She is looking after you.” Prudence explained patiently. “Do you remember where you are now?”

  “Yes,” said Jonah confidently. “I’m at Beatie’s house and she’s going to show me her boobs again.”

  Prudence rolled her eyes at Ray and Bones. “What is it with guys and boobs huh?”

  “I’ll show you mine,” Jonah offered helpfully.