She suddenly stood up and reached forward. The image changed to a recording of some sort of newzie. We watched the news report from four hundred years ago, and then the data recording ended.
‘She didn’t want to go,’ said Amalie. ‘Her husband did, but she didn’t.’
‘They went to Demeter,’ said Dalmora. ‘She must have liked it there. It’s a beautiful world.’
‘But she didn’t want to go,’ said Amalie. ‘Poor woman. She went because she was scared to stay, and was frightened for her children. Everyone in Epsilon sector came because they wanted to build up new worlds.’
I didn’t know what to think. I’d watched several of these messages before, with people full of excitement about going to a new world. That was the first I’d seen with an exo who hadn’t wanted to leave Earth.
‘I’ll send the artefacts and the data chip off to the experts for preservation and analysis,’ said Playdon. ‘No more classes today. Our normal daily pattern will be to work the dig site in the morning, and have classes in the afternoon.’
He paused for a second before continuing. ‘Jarra, Fian, Dalmora, Amalie and Krath seemed to work effectively together today, so they’re our team 1. For the next few days, they’ll be working areas while the rest of you watch and learn. After that, we’ll gradually start building up our other dig teams.’
I instantly forgot about a long ago Issette who hadn’t wanted to leave Earth. I was tag leader for team 1! I was an ape girl, but I’d still made key spot! I contained myself while Playdon collected the artefacts and tools and went out of the dining hall, and then I looked round for the others. Fian was nearest, so I grabbed him and swung him into a jubilant victory dance.
‘What?’ Fian looked startled, then saw my grin and smiled back.
‘You heard him! We’re team 1! Hoo eee!’ I yelled.
8
It was our third day working New York Main. We’d found nothing on our second day, but team 1 had worked smoothly together and Playdon had given us a few words of praise at the end of it. Heading out again today, there was a feeling of excitement among the class. Working a city dig site was like a treasure hunt. You never knew if you would find a stasis box, or what might be inside it, and even the Betans seemed caught up in the mood and stopped whining about the impact suits.
We’d just reached our working position, and I was on the sensor sled with Dalmora and Playdon. I was sorting out the sensor spikes ready to set up the net when there was a faint rumbling sound. I looked up, a sensor spike still in my hand, and spotted a lump falling from the skeletal remains of the nearest skyscraper.
‘Everyone stay on the sleds.’ Playdon’s urgent voice came across the team circuit. ‘Move them back onto the clearway.’
‘What’s the problem?’ asked Lolia.
‘This is Asgard Team 6, Sector 22,’ said Playdon. I could tell from the different background note he was on the broadcast channel. ‘We’re seeing tower breakaways at nine o’clock. Either one or two Sectors out.’
A new voice came over the broadcast channel. ‘This is Dig Site Command. Thank you Asgard 6. Teams in Sectors 21 through 27 move to safe ground.’
Our six sleds had pulled back at varying speeds, and now formed a ragged line on the clearway.
‘So what’s the delay?’ It was Lolia again. The girl had the patience level of the average 2-year-old in Nursery, but a lot less brain cells.
‘Quiet,’ said Playdon on the team circuit.
I was watching the suspect skyscraper, looking for more breakaways, but it was the one next to it that folded over sideways. It seemed to happen in slow motion, as the huge mass of concrete and metal finally lost its battle with time and fell with a long drawn out dying scream. A dense cloud of dust billowed up to mark its grave.
Even before it landed, Playdon was on the broadcast channel. ‘This is Asgard 6. Tower down! Tower down!’
‘This is Dig Site Command. Status check, teams respond please. Sector 21, Earth 19.’
‘Earth 19 secure.’
‘Sector 22, Asgard 6.’
‘Asgard 6 secure.’ Playdon called it in.
‘Sector 23, Cassandra 2.’ Dig Site Command waited and tried again. ‘Sector 23, Cassandra 2, respond please.’ Still nothing. ‘Sector 25, Beowulf 4.’
Beowulf 4 responded, and then the teams in Sectors 26 and 27.
‘This is Dig Site Command. We have a team down in Sector 23. Sectors 21, 22 and 25 assist please. Sector 22, Asgard 6, you are first response.’
Dig Site Command was sounding nicely professional and calm when he said it. Me, I was close to panicking.
‘What’s that mean?’ asked Lolia.
‘Nuke it, Lolia!’ said Playdon on the team circuit.
There was a sort of collective gasp across all our six sleds. Hoo eee! Playdon had said the nuke word! I have to admit it was effective though. With one crude phrase, he shut up Lolia and communicated just how serious things were to the rest of the class.
‘Sleds move out. Stay in a close line.’ Playdon tapped Dalmora on the shoulder, and she practically leapt out of the driving seat to let him take over our sled.
Playdon started our sled moving and I saw the other sleds tagging on behind. I was anxious to ask something, but I didn’t want Playdon swearing at me next, so I had faith and held my tongue.
‘This is Asgard 6,’ said Playdon, back on the broadcast channel. ‘I have a Foundation course team, with only one experienced member. Who is in Sector 24?’
Yes, that was exactly what I’d wanted to ask.
‘Sector 24 is allocated to Earth 8, but they had a sled problem and are not on site today,’ responded Dig Site Command.
Oh nuke that! I nearly joined Playdon in the profanity club, but fortunately I thought it rather than actually saying it out loud. I knew the system. They deliberately scattered novice teams between experienced ones on sites like this, to try and avoid the situation we were now in. It should have been Earth 8 leading this rescue, not us. Earth was for the triple H, and one of those was History. University Earth had a large number of highly qualified dig teams.
‘Team Leaders Asgard 6, Earth 19, Beowulf 4, please utilize emergency channel to co-ordinate rescue,’ said Dig Site Command.
Playdon’s voice came across our team circuit. ‘My team can open emergency channel to listen in, but don’t transmit on it unless ordered to.’
I already had the channel open to eavesdrop on it. Dig Site Command were giving out the last known location of team Cassandra 2. They were a research team of ten, and they’d been working close to the tower that collapsed.
‘This is Asgard 6 team leader,’ said Playdon. ‘Our arrival estimate is twelve minutes. Novice team of thirty-one. Six sleds including two heavy lifts.’
Playdon was taking us round by the safe clearway route. I couldn’t fault that. We might save five minutes by going in a straight line across the rubble, but we couldn’t afford to take the risk.
‘This is Earth 19 team leader,’ said a woman’s voice. ‘Our arrival estimate is sixty-six minutes. Experienced team of twenty-nine. Nine sleds including three heavy lifts.’
‘This is Beowulf 4 team leader. We have a team of sixteen, and eight sleds including three heavy lifts, but we have a problem,’ said a deep voiced man. ‘We’re the wrong side of that tower group. We need to skirt the remaining two, as well as the fallen one, to reach the rescue zone.’
Dig Site Command cut in, ordering Beowulf 4 to stick to a safe route clear of the remaining towers. That seemed a good call to me. The other towers might well be unstable as well now, and we didn’t need a second team in trouble.
‘By a safe route,’ Beowulf 4 continued like it really hurt him to say it, ‘our response time is about 100 minutes. Sorry, that puts us close to the two hour deadline, but we’re coming anyway in case the rescue teams hit trouble themselves.’
‘This is Asgard 6,’ said Playdon. ‘Thanks for that Beowulf 4, we’d appreciate you covering our backs.’
Playdon heard her. ‘I’m busy. Explain things to them, Jarra.’
I spoke on the team circuit, so our class could hear me on the other sleds. ‘One of the other teams on the dig site isn’t responding. We can assume they got caught in that skyscraper collapsing. There are ten people missing from University Cassandra, probably buried in rubble. Their suits may have kept them alive, but impact suits can only take heavy pressure for about two hours. We need to dig people out by then or suits start failing.’
There was silence. I don’t think any of the others dared to say anything on circuit.
I did a few mental calculations. ‘After we get there, that gives us about an hour and forty minutes to get people out. Earth 19 will arrive nearly an hour later than us.’
‘Will apes be any use?’ muttered someone. This was followed by an oops noise, as he realized he was broadcasting to our whole team.
‘A lot more use than we are!’ said Playdon savagely on the team circuit. ‘Earth 19 are the experts, but we have to make what progress we can until they arrive.’
‘This is Dig Site Command, we’ve contacted the Cassandra 2 team. All team members are alive but buried.’
That was good news, though it upped the pressure. Cassandra 2 team were alive and it was our responsibility to reach them and keep them that way. I wondered if Playdon was feeling anything like as panicky as I was.
There were a few minutes of silence as we headed on towards the rescue site. The two remaining towers were getting closer now, and I looked at them nervously. I didn’t fancy joining the University Cassandra team under tons of rubble.
‘We’re heading off the clearway now,’ said Playdon on the team circuit. ‘Drive slow and careful. Jarra, stand by with sensor spikes. We’ll be setting up a sensor net to locate the casualties. Dig Site Command will give you the locations for the spikes.’
Dig Site Command was reeling off sensor positions. I coded them into four sensor spikes. Our sled had lurched off the clearway across a mound of rubble, and the other five bobbed along in our wake. We were heading directly towards the towers, and I was deeply relieved when Playdon stopped the sled. We were still probably within the fallout zone if one of the other towers fell, but we would stand a chance.
‘Team 1 go to your working sleds,’ said Playdon. ‘Everyone else get on the transport sleds and stay there. I’ve got the sleds on the flattest, safest looking area I can find in working range of the casualties, but remember this isn’t a clearway. Even the transport sleds are in a hazard zone. Jarra, get your lifeline beam locked on, and set up the sensor net. Watch your step out there. That rubble is highly unstable.’
I activated my hover belt, and went across to Fian on the tag support sled. Once my lifeline beam was locked on, I swooped out across a jagged landscape of rubble, carrying my armful of sensor spikes. There were huge twisted lengths of rusted metal, tangles of wire, and fragments of concrete scattered in all sizes from pebbles up to blocks as large as our base dome. Dust was still thick in the air and I was thankful that my impact suit saved me from having to breathe it in.
The first sensor spike bleeped as I reached my correct position, and I thrust it downwards to activate it. Sensor spikes two and three were easy too, but the last one was a problem because a huge block of concrete was in the way.
‘Our closest position for sensor 4 is about four metres above optimal,’ I reported.
‘Compensating for that,’ said Playdon. ‘Go for it.’
I gained some height to reach the top of the concrete block, and activated the sensor. ‘How’s that looking?’
‘In the green,’ said Playdon. He switched from team circuit to the emergency channel. ‘This is Asgard 6. We have sensor net in place and I can see ten suit signals. They’re buried deep, and they’re scattered across a large area, so we need to start shifting rubble. We don’t have time to wait for Earth 19.’
Dig Site Command acknowledged that, and Playdon swapped back to team circuit. ‘Back to the sensor sled now, Jarra. I want you and Dalmora monitoring the sensors. I’ll be tag leading. I’ll help you get a good understanding of the sensor images of the site before I start work, then I’ll need you both watching out for developing dangers. That rubble’s newly fallen and still settling, so keep a look out for underground cavities opening up, power storage units, chemicals, anything strange suddenly showing up. If you think I’m tagging anything that could cause a landslide then you warn me. Amalie and Krath are on heavy lift sleds as usual. Fian you’re on my lifeline.’
I was heading back to the sensor sled as ordered, but I had to challenge this. ‘With respect, sir,’ I interrupted, ‘the sensors need a lot more experience than either Dalmora or I have. We’ve got unstable rubble and people buried down there. We need you watching sensors and guiding the team. I should be tagging the rubble.’
‘It’s true that I’d be better on the sensors,’ said Playdon, ‘but it’s going to be dangerous down there. It’s my responsibility to take the risks not yours. You’re sure about this, Jarra?’
Sure? Not really. I was terrified that I’d mess things up and get the Cassandra 2 team killed, but I knew I was far more likely to make mistakes on sensors than on tagging. I reached the sensor sled, and the chaotic images on the displays were enough to convince me I was right. I could see some patterns that had to be rubble sliding, but I didn’t have a clue what others were. ‘I’m sure, sir.’
‘Right,’ Playdon said. ‘Jarra is tag leader. Fian, you’re on her lifeline. If you see any rubble moving round her, or anything you don’t like, don’t wait or ask questions, pull her up!’
‘Yes, sir,’ Fian answered, clearly catching the Military response off me.
‘Jarra, set your comms to default to broadcast on emergency channel.’ Playdon handed me the tag gun. ‘Take a look at the sensors before you start. Ignore everything but the buried suit signals and major landmarks.’
I took a look at the screen. The locations of the buried members of the Cassandra team were marked by green dots. I tried to memorize their positions relative to a massive chunk of concrete that was nearby. There were two groups of three, and four solo dots. One of the solos must have had a very narrow escape from being crushed by that concrete. Impact suits could take a lot but they had their limits.
‘Ready,’ I said, and floated out over the rubble.
There’s an old children’s game, dating from pre-history. You have a heap of sticks and you have to pull a stick out of the middle without making the others move. Being tag leader was rather like that. I had to tag rubble that could be moved by the lift teams without making other lumps fall. With unstable heaps like this, there could be a major landslide if I got it wrong. There were people down in that rubble who could be killed by my mistakes, but would run out of time if I did nothing. No pressure. No pressure at all.
Before I did anything, I gave myself a couple of minutes to float over the site and work out where to start. Then I took it easy, tagging a few isolated rocks that were unlikely to affect any others. There were occasional random rubble collapses happening in some areas, and I wanted to let things settle down as much as possible before I did anything drastic.
I swooped back out of the way. ‘Lifts go! I want the rubble moved over towards sensor 3. You can drop it into that dip.’
It was weirdly embarrassing hearing myself on the emergency circuit. I could imagine the Earth 19 team listening in and hoping like chaos that I didn’t do anything terminally stupid before they arrived to help. I was betting their team leader was biting her tongue to stop herself from ordering us just to wait and do nothing. I’d have really liked to do that, but the Cassandra team were buried deep and they were scattered across my work site. The Earth team would only have about forty minutes after they arrived. However expert they were, that wasn’t enough time to dig everyone out.
Amalie and Krath started locking lift beams onto my tag mark
ers and shifting lumps of concrete out of the way. The first two lumps moved painfully slowly, the lift operators clearly nervous, but the next few went faster.
That was the easy ones out of the way. Now it got tricky. I’d decided to work across from a hollow in the rubble, clearing a horizontal section across the top of the buried people. It’s always safer to keep a level work site, and especially in a situation like this. The buried impact suits were already stressed to their limit. A landslide on top of them could be fatal.
Once I had my area nicely levelled, I could gradually work my way down, layer by layer. I tagged two more lots of rubble and the lift teams moved them away. I was tagging a third when Playdon’s voice stopped me.
‘Jarra, I could be wrong but that big rock worries me. The one next to it is just as big, and they’re leaning against each other with a cavity underneath. If you move one, then the other will fall.’
I took another look at it, and the equally large lump next to it. ‘We need to shift it. Can we take the two as twins?’
‘We can try. Amalie and Krath, you’ll need to lock on to a tag each but don’t move them until I give you the word.’
I tagged the second rock and moved back well out of the way.
‘Amalie, Krath, you have them locked?’ asked Playdon.
‘Yes,’ said Amalie.
‘Locked,’ said Krath.
‘I’ll count you down to moving them. Three, two, one, go!’ said Playdon.
The two rocks soared upwards in beautiful unison.
‘Nice job!’ I moved back to take a look at things. Now I could see the cavity Playdon had warned me about, a massive hole going deep into the rubble. Nearly as deep as the trapped people, but naturally not in the right place to help that much. If anything it made things worse, since everything around it was unstable.
I tagged more lumps of concrete and got them shifted out of the way. ‘There’s a huge metal girder right across where the people are. I’m trying to get it cleared so we can shift it,’ I told my listeners on the emergency channel. ‘Oh chaos!’ The words slipped out as I floated round the other side and got a better view.
Earth Girl Page 9
