Earth Girl

by Janet Edwards

  ‘Deltans often marry when they’re still at university,’ said Fian. ‘I suppose that fits Quin’s ideas.’ He looked at me. ‘What’s the Military custom?’

  A gale of laughter swept the dome. Even Playdon looked amused.

  I hoped I wasn’t blushing as I replied. ‘Ninety percent of Military are born into Military families, but we also recruit from all sectors, even Beta. We don’t have our own marriage law, so the law of the sector where the marriage takes place applies. Generally Military marry relatively young, and often in Epsilon sector.’

  ‘Because it’s close to Kappa and the Planet First teams?’ asked Dalmora.

  ‘No,’ I said. ‘Lots of the Military are on solar power arrays nowhere near Kappa. It’s because Epsilon allows instant marriages without prior Twoing contracts. Military marriages often happen at short notice, because people want to marry when family are on leave from Planet First, or they need to marry quickly to get posted on the same assignment.’

  ‘It sounds like the elope to Epsilon jokes,’ said Krath.

  ‘If you may not see your family again for a year, or face being on different assignments for a couple of years, then it might be a sensible thing to do,’ said Dalmora.

  ‘Of course, anyone can do that sort of thing,’ I said. ‘Once you’re married, that marriage is legal in any sector. It’s just the Military are more used to moving between sectors, so it’s quite natural to pick a sector with marriage law that suits us. There’s nothing to stop any of you portalling over to Beta and having any sort of marriage you like.’

  Playdon had changed back into his impact suit. ‘I’m just taking a sled down the clearway to call on Earth 3,’ he told us. ‘I should be back in an hour. Please don’t do anything dreadful while I’m away. Jarra, keep Krath in line!’

  We all shivered in the brief icy draught as Playdon opened the door, went outside, and closed it again.

  ‘Playdon picks on me because of my father’s work,’ complained Krath.

  We all thought about this for a moment.

  ‘Playdon doesn’t like garbage collectors?’ asked Fian.

  I giggled.

  ‘My father doesn’t just have a refuse collection and recycling business,’ said Krath. ‘He helps run a newzie channel.’

  ‘He does?’ Dalmora looked interested. ‘Which one?’

  ‘Truth Against Oppression,’ said Krath. ‘He’s a founder member and he has his own programme every week.’

  ‘Forgive me,’ said Fian, ‘but I’ve never heard of it.’

  ‘Well, it’s a small channel,’ said Krath, ‘and of course the government try to stop people listening. They want to limit everyone to hearing official propaganda.’

  There was a thoughtful silence. Finally Joth spoke. ‘This is one of those nardle channels isn’t it?’

  ‘It isn’t nardle,’ said Krath. ‘Of course the government say rude things about it, because we tell people the truth that the official lies try to cover up.’

  ‘Such as?’ Fian had a big grin on his face as he asked the question.

  ‘That whole business about Artemis,’ said Krath. ‘That never happened, you know. It was a cover up. No power beam ever touched the surface of Artemis. What really happened was the Military invaded Zeus. They forced Beta sector to surrender and rejoin the other sectors.’

  ‘How can you possibly believe that?’ I asked. ‘You can see the scars on Artemis from space!’

  ‘There aren’t any scars,’ said Krath. ‘Only the Military go into space, and they fake all the photographs.’

  ‘Excuse me,’ said Dalmora, ‘but the Military kindly allowed my father to go to the Artemis solar array when he was making the vid I showed you. He took the images of Artemis from space himself.’

  ‘Well, I can understand your father going along with the lies,’ said Krath. ‘I don’t blame him. He would have a lot to lose if he stood up and told the truth.’

  ‘My father is not going along with any lies,’ said Dalmora.

  ‘Well, naturally you believe him,’ said Krath, ‘but …’

  ‘I believe him, because I was there too!’ Dalmora stated, her usual calm voice becoming rather aggressive. ‘I saw the scars myself.’

  ‘Well … Maybe they faked the scars by digging trenches or something,’ said Krath.

  We all burst out laughing.

  ‘You shouldn’t laugh,’ said Krath. ‘They’re covering up lots of things. That planet in Epsilon sector. Miranda. The Military messed things up terribly in the Planet First checks. There are no children on Miranda, because every baby born there is Handicapped and has to be portalled to Earth.’

  Amalie stood up. ‘My home planet is Miranda. I was born there, and grew up there, you brainless scum! Your father may believe all this rubbish, but you could at least try and think for yourself.’

  ‘You called me a scum!’ Krath gaped at Amalie in shock. ‘That isn’t polite.’

  Amalie glared at him. ‘Being polite isn’t on Miranda’s planetary development plan until next year!’

  I stood up as well. ‘Playdon said I should keep Krath in line, and I think it’s time I did that.’ I grabbed Krath’s sleep sack and stuck it over his head, while the class cheered.

  Fian decided to start a new and much safer topic of conversation. ‘When will we hear about the paintings we found?’

  ‘It’s usually a few weeks before you get the report back on a family memorial box,’ I said. ‘On something important like this, we should get an initial report faster than that, but the details could take ages.’

  ‘It will be amaz to see the images of the paintings we found,’ said Dalmora.

  There was a muffled noise from Krath. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but I could guess.

  ‘Yes, Krath,’ I said, ‘the bounty payment might be sizeable, but it’ll take ages for them to work it out. First they’ll need to search through historical images and do a lot of analysis to work out who painted the pictures. They can’t estimate a value until then.’

  ‘I have to admit,’ said Amalie, ‘that any bounty payments would be very welcome. My family can’t afford to pay my degree fees, so I’m facing a lot of education tax later on. I chose history rather than literature partly because I’d heard bounty payments can really help towards your degree costs.’

  There was some more mumbling from Krath. I leant forward to hear it. ‘Krath says that’s why he’s going to specialise in pre-history,’ I reported.

  Everyone laughed.

  When Playdon got back, he found Krath with the sleep sack still over his head, while Fian and I sat on him. Playdon sighed. ‘Let him out.’

  Fian and I stood up, and Krath yanked the sleep sack off his head and looked round angrily.

  ‘What did you do?’ asked Playdon, looking at him.

  ‘He was a nardle,’ said Amalie. ‘His father helps run some vid channel, and he was telling us ridiculous stories about Military conspiracies.’

  ‘They aren’t ridiculous stories.’ Krath turned to give me a wounded look. ‘You shouldn’t have treated me like that, Jarra. I’ve been keeping your secret, haven’t I?’

  I giggled. ‘Keeping what secret? I haven’t got any secrets.’

  His eyes narrowed. ‘Oh yes you have, and I’ve worked out what you’re hiding. I wasn’t going to tell anyone, even my father, but if you’re going to …’ He turned to face the rest of the class. ‘You’re all laughing at me, but you’re just too blind to see what’s right under your noses. You think Jarra’s just another student, but she’s been telling us all a pack of lies.’

  Fian took a step forward. ‘This isn’t funny any longer, Krath. I suggest you shut up right now.’

  ‘I refuse to shut up,’ said Krath. ‘It’s time I told you all the truth. Jarra’s an undercover agent from Military Intelligence, and she’s infiltrated our class!’

  ‘What?’ I stared at him in disbelief.

  ‘It’s obvious, isn’t it?’ Krath looked round at the class. ‘Jarra
knows far too much to be just a student from Military school. Think how she handled the Cassandra 2 rescue. Not only that, but she’s a pilot. I did some checking up, and they don’t teach kids to fly at Military school, so she must have been to the Military Academy. Admitting she was a pilot was a mistake, but she had no choice. She needed to fly an aerial survey of New York Dig Site because the Military are looking for something there. Fian wouldn’t let me go up in the plane with her, so I don’t know what she was looking for, but …’

  An agent from Military Intelligence? Krath was truly crazy. I looked at Fian to share the joke with him, but he was staring at me with a very odd expression on his face. I looked round at the crowd of grazzed faces. They actually believed the idiot. Honestly, civilians have no sense at all!

  Playdon finally broke the silence. ‘No, that can’t be right. It still doesn’t explain why Jarra applied via …’

  ‘I’m not an undercover agent from Military Intelligence,’ I said, wearily. ‘I didn’t get my pilot’s licence at the Military Academy, but on New York Fringe last summer. If you don’t believe me, just give them a call and ask. This secret agent is now going to bed.’

  The class reluctantly abandoned thrilling daydreams of covert Military Intelligence operations and joined me in heading for sleep sacks. We all stayed awake for a while as we tried to find the Truth Against Oppression newzie channel on our lookups. Normally, it seems entirely wrong to be out in the wilds watching vids, but this was a special occasion. Sadly, the channel wasn’t broadcasting at the moment, though breathtaking news about a government cover up was promised tomorrow.

  ‘Pity,’ said Fian.

  I shook my head at him. ‘You actually believed the idiot Krath. You thought I was from Military Intelligence. How could you be such a nardle?’

  Fian blushed. ‘It was just for a minute.’

  I put away my lookup and prepared to sleep.

  ‘So,’ Fian whispered, ‘it would be in keeping with Military tradition for us to elope to Epsilon.’

  I giggled. ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Military Intelligence agents elope to Epsilon all the time. We could take Krath with us, and I could have a triad marriage with both of you.’

  ‘I’m going to sulk now,’ said Fian. ‘Just like your ex, Cathan.’ He pulled a face. ‘Sulk, sulk, sulk!’

  Playdon turned the lights out.

  The next day, Playdon didn’t rush us into getting up early. He let us have a leisurely breakfast and then got us to pack our bags. This seemed a bad sign to me, because it probably meant he wasn’t going to let us have a break out of our impact suits between the morning’s work and heading back to the dome in the afternoon.

  We headed outside, clutching bags and sleep sacks, and I stopped as I saw the sky. ‘That’s looking a bit …’

  ‘Something wrong?’ Fian asked.

  ‘I just saw the sky. If I was Playdon, I’d …’

  Playdon spoke over the team circuit. ‘Team 1, I’d like you to start packing the mobile dome. I didn’t like the look of the weather yesterday, so I went to have a chat with Earth 3 in the evening. We’ve had a run of good weather for several weeks, but we think there’s snow on the way. We don’t want to risk having to abandon equipment and use the emergency evac portals, so we’re packing up to head off site. Earth 3 had an hour or so of work they wanted to finish this morning, but they’ll be along soon and we can drive out together in convoy.’

  All right, I thought, Playdon was definitely good at his job.

  We’d just finished loading sections of mobile dome onto its special transport sled, when the hover sleds of Earth 3 appeared. Half of them went ahead of us, and half followed behind, so that we novices were safely shepherded along the clearway. That seemed to be rather overdoing things to me, but Playdon obviously wanted to play safe with snow coming.

  I giggled suddenly.

  ‘What’s funny?’ asked Fian.

  ‘Playdon popping down to the neighbouring dome to ask them what they thought the weather might do next. In pre-history, they had lots of space satellites monitoring and predicting weather patterns on Earth. That’s all gone now. No weather forecasts. We all just message the Earth Rolling News about any extreme weather where we are, and pop down to the neighbouring dome to see what they think.’

  ‘Well, the weather doesn’t usually matter that much now,’ said Fian. ‘People wouldn’t live anywhere with dangerous weather, and you could just portal out anyway. Dig sites like this are one of the few places affected by weather, and we could use emergency evac portals if we had to.’

  I laughed. ‘Playdon doesn’t want to leave his sleds and mobile dome behind, and I don’t blame him. It would be a lot of effort to collect them afterwards.’

  We’d been driving along the Grand Circle for about half an hour when a voice came over the broadcast channel. ‘This is Dig Site Command. Earth Rolling News has reports of heavy snow moving in our direction and New York Dig Site is now closing. Pull out your teams now, please. I repeat: we have heavy snow incoming. Pull out your teams. New York Dig Site is closing immediately. New York Fringe is closing and will be evacuating domes. All teams, clear the area now!’

  ‘Sounds like the snow is definite then,’ said Fian. ‘Why are they evacuating the New York Fringe domes?’

  ‘New York Main is for the professionals,’ I said, ‘but New York Fringe is for amateurs, clubs, schools, that sort of thing. There won’t be many people working Fringe in winter, and most of those will go home when the site closes for snow. They don’t want to have to keep Fringe Dig Site Command manned just because half a dozen people are stubbornly sitting in a dome, so they’re evacuating.’

  After ten minutes, the voice came on again. ‘This is Dig Site Command. I have five teams who have not confirmed departure, and their sled signals are still stationary on our screens. New York Main Dig Site is closing, team leaders please confirm you’re on your way out.’

  After another five minutes, the voice was back again and faintly aggressive. ‘This is Dig Site Command. I’ve still got two teams pinpointed on my screens that aren’t moving out. Ajax 3, Prometheus 1, I’m waiting.’ There was a pause. ‘Ajax 3 is confirmed and moving. Prometheus 1 has a problem.’

  I frowned. Snow was coming, and most of the teams must already be nearly out of the dig site. If Prometheus 1 had trapped team members, they would be in real trouble.

  Another voice cut in. ‘This is Earth 22. I think we were working near Prometheus 1, should we turn back and assist?’

  ‘This is Dig Site Command. Thank you Earth 22, but Prometheus 1 have now made it to emergency evac portal 39. They are abandoning sleds and portalling out. It appears they forgot to recharge their sleds’ power overnight before entering the dig site.’

  I burst out laughing.

  ‘Did that mean what it sounded like?’ asked Dalmora on the team circuit.

  ‘Oh yes,’ said Playdon. ‘Their team leader is never going to live this down. The entire dig site knows he forgot to plug his sleds in. Even now, his team are arriving in a Hospital Earth Casualty unit, suffering from a chronic outbreak of embarrassment. I’m just thankful it wasn’t one of University Asgard’s teams …’

  By the time we turned off the Grand Circle, on to the clearway that led to our base dome, snow was starting to fall. Just a few tiny flakes at first, but they gradually grew thicker and more numerous, until the landscape was lost in whirling snow. The glows marking the edge of the clearway were suddenly very welcome.

  Fian and I were riding on one of our transport sleds near the front of the convoy. Peering ahead through the snow, I could just see the leading sled turn its lights on. The brightness echoed down the line, as all the other drivers turned on their own lights in turn.

  ‘This is incredible,’ said Fian. ‘I’ve never seen snow before. I had no idea …’

  ‘This is awful,’ muttered Joth. ‘I’m scared I’ll lose the clearway.’ He was driving our sled, and grimly concentrating on following the one ahead of us.<
br />
  Playdon’s voice came over the team circuit. ‘Earth 3 have kindly offered to escort us all the way back to our base. I’ve invited them in for refreshments, but they say that given the rate it’s snowing they’d better not stop. They’ll carry on and circle round outside the dig site to reach their own dome. I’ve told them we’re very grateful for the escort, and I hope you all appreciate it.’

  ‘I don’t know about the others, sir,’ I said on the team circuit, ‘but given the visibility at the moment, I’m very pleased to have Earth 3 guiding us.’

  26

  Next morning, there was a mail on all our lookups from Playdon. Heavy snow had continued to fall overnight and New York Dig Site would be closed for at least two days.

  I’d been expecting that, and hoping I could spend the morning in bed, but I couldn’t. Playdon was giving us extra lectures instead. Oh joy.

  Since we didn’t have any windows in the dome, Playdon promised us a peek out of the dome door so we could admire the snow before we started lectures. ‘I normally don’t allow this without everyone wearing impact suits,’ he said, ‘just in case some fool wanders off alone, but I don’t think anyone would get far in this.’

  He opened the dome door with a dramatic flourish. A wall of waist high snow blocked the doorway, and a few flakes were still falling.

  ‘Is it safe to touch it without an impact suit?’ asked Fian, wide eyed. ‘We’ve never had snow on Hercules. It doesn’t get cold enough for it.’

  ‘We’ve got Winter in Gamma sector,’ chorused several voices. ‘All of the schools have annual trips to Winter so we can play in the snow.’

  ‘That’s a really confusing name for a planet,’ said Krath, the perpetual critic. ‘Winter is a season not a place.’

  We ignored him.

  ‘Why did Gamma sector get a planet that was so cold?’ asked Amalie, staying well back from the dome door. ‘Surely Planet First couldn’t have made that big a mistake.’

  ‘They wanted a cold planet for some special manufacturing processes,’ said one Gamman.