by Ruth Morgan
‘You wouldn’t understand,’ Robeen said, jutting her face at mine. With eyes ablaze, she jumped up and made for the exit without another look at me. I stayed where I was. Yes, I probably didn’t understand: when had I achieved a double distinction in anything?
For the next few days, Robeen and I barely spoke.
‘What do you think caused the War for Earth?’ Halley was in a reflective mood one afternoon and the question seemed genuine. He’d been robbed of the fun of stirring up trouble between the other two because Robeen had taken her virtual cello elsewhere.
‘Hmm. Probably a combination of things,’ said Nisien. He’d joined us on the viewing deck. ‘They wouldn’t have needed much of an excuse, they were an excessively warlike people. Look at the weapon they created, the dragomansk. Very nasty, very nasty indeed. It seems that most of their wars were about tribal ideas. You know, this lot believed one thing, that lot believed another. The irony being, it was all stuff that could never be proven scientifically.’
‘They had wars about what they believed?’ To me this seemed incredible.
‘I read about that,’ said Halley. ‘It wasn’t that simple though, was it? The tribes wanted what each other had a lot of the time, too. All those resources Grace talked about. We want them now, don’t we? We’re going to be taking resources away from creatures still living on Earth.’
‘We won’t be taking them from human beings,’ Nisien said.
Should that make a difference? I wondered.
This was a discussion we definitely couldn’t report as part of our broadcast to school later that day. That our Great Quest and Purpose meant stripping Earth of its resources and leaving it barren, was forbidden territory. Earth was still the much-loved motherplanet and I guessed the government must be struggling with how they would get the idea accepted by the population.
‘Of course, unlike us, Earth humans were barbarians,’ Nisien went on. ‘Just look at their weapons and look at the mess they made of keeping them under control! The dragomansk spit acid, for goodness sake! Those filthy beasts rule the whole planet now, while their creators died out long ago. Bad planning if you ask me.’
‘Although it’s strange we don’t know more about the War for Earth,’ observed Halley. ‘That’s the biggest mystery, how come we know so little… Obviously when it was all going on, communication between Earth and Mars broke down and no one from our planet made the journey back for centuries, but still you’d think we’d have found some record by now. Our archaeologists have been at it for years. By the way, do you notice how they’ve only sent two archaeologists on this mission? It’s almost as if they’ve given up. The survey’s changing to something else now.’
Halley was making some interesting points, but I still wanted to rebut Nisien’s earlier comment. ‘You can’t just write Earth humans off like that,’ I said. ‘We’re their descendants after all.’
‘Barbarians, that’s all they were.’ Nisien shook his head at me patronisingly.
‘Well, perhaps we’ll get a little closer to the truth by the end of this mission and perhaps we won’t,’ said Halley.
‘Perhaps we never will,’ I sighed.
The arrival date, 15 May (B) was soon upon us. I’ll never forget my first sight of Earth, the motherplanet, the blue planet with an atmosphere all its own. It was breathtaking. While the Byd was set in orbit around Earth, we were allowed to spend some time in the second recreation room, gazing in wonder at the different continents and oceans passing below us while Nisien explained in hushed tones how we were going to land, even though we all knew anyway, how the rest chamber became the landing pod rotating from its section of the ship, elegantly like a card from a deck, before beginning its final descent. Nisien was just as overwhelmed as the rest of us; carrying on explaining was his way of coping with it. Only two technicians would remain aboard the Byd to close down the craft in the orbit it would maintain for the next six months. For the rest of the mission, these technicians would spend most of their time shuttling back and forth between the Earth and the Byd, refuelling itfor its homeward flight.
The landing wasn’t half as bad as the launch, with the heat shield protecting our entry into Earth’s atmosphere. We landed smoothly and bang on target, in a field to the west of Cardiff. The clapping and cheering went on for ages before Captain Calamus unbuckled herself from her seat and stood up, raised her visor and made the salute: ‘Our Great Quest and Purpose…’ she began and we saluted back with tears in our eyes.
We kept our hoods and visors on to disembark. Although the air on Earth is breathable, we were supposed to wear them outside because of the dragomansk. Along with everything else, this still seemed a little unreal. Were the creatures really as dangerous as we’d been told? I could only hope that if I ever had to use my sauroter, all the training I’d received would kick in, because at that moment I couldn’t remember a thing.
It was bizarre, going down such an ordinary set of steps, as though we’d just made a journey across town on Skyrail. Despite the enhanced gravity on board and our fitness programme, I felt heavy. We were wading through thigh-high, boggy grass carrying large packs of belongings, and movement took effort. When we halted a short distance from our landing pod, I was already panting, but at least I wasn’t the only one.
Looking up, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Even through the visor and the mesh of my hood, it was extraordinary.
The sky!
The sky had opened up overhead, either that or someone had taken the top of my head off. It was impossible to judge its colour through the visor, but it didn’t appear to be as blue as I’d been expecting.
Even more extraordinary was the huge sun hanging like a pale disc in the west. After three months on board the ship, its brightness was insanely intense. The air was thick with the insects we’d been warned about, but they weren’t too great a distraction; I could have stayed there in that field for the whole six months, just staring up at the immense, open sky. There were a lot of ‘Wow!’s and Pico, a veteran of two previous expeditions and the senior archaeologist, patted my arm.
‘Incredible, huh?’
I nodded although ‘incredible’ was too small a word. Could any word do it justice? I could see identical rapturous expressions on my fellow students’ faces and I was tempted to take a photograph of Robeen’s face. I could keep it as evidence the next time we got into an argument about her stupid cello practice. Wasn’t this worth the pain of forgoing a double distinction in an exam? Wasn’t it worth … everything?
‘Doesn’t matter how many times I see it.’ Pico whistled.
‘Come on, we can’t stay long in one place,’ Captain Calamus started to walk and we followed.
The air seemed thin. Breathing oxygen-depleted air on a planet with three times the gravity of your own was certainly going to be a strain.
‘How’s everyone feeling?’ Doc Carter asked, but I noticed how he’d positioned himself next to me again. In the corner of my eye I saw his gaze straying to the back of my head, but when I turned his way, he looked at the sky like everyone else.
I’d told Nisien and Robeen about the celephets the day before, having shared the secret with Halley weeks earlier. Nisien had only shrugged his shoulders but Robeen had looked even more sour than usual. I’d guessed the news would make her jealous – it meant that handsome Doc Carter would make a bigger fuss of me than anyone else. Since our silly cello argument I didn’t care. The irony was, I didn’t welcome the attention I got from Doc Carter. I’d have preferred him to treat me exactly like the others. It was hardly flattering: his interest in me wasn’t really about me at all, but his invention, which happened to enjoy being on the back of my head.
A sudden mechanical whirring made us all turn. I didn’t recognise what I was looking at, but whatever it was, it was flying straight towards us like a gigantic clockwork toy. I realised what it was, as everyone began shouting at once, ‘Dragomansk! Run! Quick, run.’
I did run, as fast as I could,
which wasn’t very fast at all, to a clump of trees – an unfamiliar species standing to one side of the field. We’d been trained to spot the best sheltering places and these trees were perfect. The giant creature came to a halt, hovering just beyond the branches, its huge eyes level with our heads. The way it peered at us suggested that there was an intelligence at work behind those huge, domed, multi-faceted eyes. The whirring wings became faster and higher pitched, making the creature sound annoyed. Its wings were barely visible, a blur, but its dangerously sharp, clashing mandibles were clear. Our first sight of a dragomansk and the pictures we’d been shown at the SSO didn’t do this terrifying spectacle justice.
‘Get back,’ a voice yelled and I was dragged backwards. Two astronauts stepped out and fired their sauroters, hitting the dragomansk squarely between the eyes. It crumpled as though an invisible hand had screwed it up, and fell to the ground with a dull, weighty thud.
‘To the amphibical.’
‘The amphibical now!’
Doc Carter steered me after the others. We began to run across the field to the road where I could see a super-sized amphibical, the multi-terrain vehicle used for getting about on Earth.
‘Dragomansk!’ someone shouted. Another one was hovering above the trees. It flew straight for us and started spitting brown liquid, which scorched the grass on either side, as we zigzagged our way to the vehicle, the way we’d been trained. I hoped this craft would start, I knew nobody would have driven it since the last mission, but there was no time to worry about that now.
The last pair of astronauts hung behind, firing their sauroters into the air. With their visors lowered, I couldn’t see who they were. The sky was full of flashing lights. The dragomansk darted back and fore, high and low, in a bewildering sky dance and as the amphibical’s doors opened and we climbed in, the two astronauts stayed outside, defending us and trying to get a clear shot.
‘Is everyone alright?’ shouted Captain Calamus. ‘Was anyone hit?’
I looked down. A streak of brown dragomansk spit bubbled on my sleeve. Before I knew it, Doc Carter removed a small canister from his belt and sprayed the white neutralising powder up and down my arm. When the air around us cleared, he brushed away the neutralised gunk. I had a powder canister in my own belt, we all did, and I cursed myself for not reacting quicker.
‘Thanks,’ I said.
‘It’s all right.’ He examined my arm. ‘There’s no damage to your suit but this stuff’s corrosive. It’ll dissolve organic matter in seconds. Are you sure you’re all right, Bree?’
‘Yes, yes, I’m fine.’
A couple of the others had also caught some of the spit on their suits and had to be treated with neutralising powder. The battle continued outside. All at once there was a loud bang and a large dent appeared in the metal roof. Bubbling brown liquid trickled down the window next to me and I flinched.
‘It’s dead and it’s on the roof,’ shouted one of the astronauts.
A face appeared at the doorway – Cole Huxtable, one of the senior exploratory scientists aboard the Byd. ‘Captain,’ he panted. ‘Permission to secure the thing to the roof. We can take it to the base for dissection.’
‘Permission granted,’ replied Calamus. ‘Now let’s get out of here. All operational?’
‘Operational!’ came the cry and the lights snapped on all around the cabin.
Our first encounter with a dragomansk had been terrifying. What had seemed unreal before was now hard and sudden reality.
The mood aboard the amphibical was subdued. I found myself wedged between Doc Carter and the window. When I turned and caught Halley’s eye, he mouthed the words ‘best friends’ and did a little hand-holdy mime whilst nodding at the back of the Doctor’s head. Halley’s ability to make a joke after what we’d just been through made me wish I was sitting next to him. I smiled and shook my head, but then I spotted Robeen on the other side of the aisle watching us through narrowed eyes. I turned to face the front again.
‘You sure you’re okay?’ asked Doc Carter. I was sick and tired of him asking me that.
‘Great,’ I said. ‘And hopefully all the excitement has given you some good results on the celephet.’
‘As long as you’re okay,’ he repeated
It felt like an odd anticlimax to our amazing journey, to be stuffed aboard the amphibical as though we were taking an everyday ride across town. From time to time, the thing on the roof shifted and when we rounded a corner, one of its wings came loose and flopped down outside my window. I had a good view of its translucent hexagonal panes as it beat time against the glass. The waving wing was as horrible as it was fascinating. Still, my attention was mainly focused beyond the wing: at an alien world which stretched in every direction as far as the eye could see, with barely a trace of visible human activity. A world lit by a bright suffusing light from the enormous sun. There was too much to look at and my eyes wanted to be everywhere at once. I had to remind myself that these were natural hills, the first I’d ever seen, and the trees covering them hadn’t been deliberately planted but had simply grown there. A wild world unedited by humans.
I spotted several more dragomansk and got my first view of an enormous metamansk, the group flying together in perfect synchrony. It was a chilling sight. Grace hadn’t exaggerated their numbers. Fortunately, as Doc Carter was quick to remind me, the dragomansk only recognised and attacked humanoid shapes, so if you were sitting in a vehicle or under cover, you were generally safe, although you were still encouraged to wear your hood and visor as a precaution.
We were detained several times on our journey into Cardiff. The Doc explained that this was always the way; with the long gaps between missions, they always returned to find problems. The extreme weather on Earth caused cracks and holes in the road and there were other hazards too: landslides and fallen trees, for example. We came across two horizontal trees blocking our path at different points in the journey and it took time to clear them, even with all the equipment on board. Technology on Earth was a peculiar mixture of old and new and a lot of it was clunky. Night had fallen by the time we finally arrived at the Cardiff Earth Base – the CEB. We couldn’t see much outside and were too exhausted to be as excited as we should have been.
The four of us were instructed to stay in a reception room for an hour before bed, where we stripped off our kit and were given something to eat. We were all tired and grouchy.
‘It’s hard to believe we’re finally here,’ said Halley, dropping his backsack.
‘I expected … I don’t know what I expected,’ I said. ‘But not this.’
‘A welcoming party perhaps?’ said Robeen. She’d hardly spoken since our arrival and was sitting at the table, staring at nothing.
‘Er … no.’
‘Those dragomansk,’ said Nisien. ‘That’s one welcoming party I could have done without.’
‘They are incredible though,’ said Halley. ‘Just like a beautiful machine. So streamlined.’ He caressed the air as though he were running his hand over the sleek, elongated body of the beast.
‘You’re joking,’ said Nisien. ‘Its whole reason for existing is to kill us.’
Halley shrugged his shoulder and smiled.
‘It is so dark out there,’ I said, putting my face up to the window, trying to screen out the reflections of the room with my hands.
‘It’s what we call night,’ said Robeen.
‘You don’t get what I mean.’ I couldn’t let her have the last word. ‘Cardiff, it’s so featureless like this. You can’t get a sense of what it’s like. If only it wasn’t so cloudy.’ The clouds had piled in since our arrival, huge swirling masses which probably held a lot of rain. The first rain we would ever see, perhaps. I was just about to make this point to Halley, when Robeen rose, pushing the table away from her, its feet scraping the floor.
‘Tell you what,’ she said. ‘If it bothers you that much, Bree, why don’t you go and have a chat with Doc Carter about it?’
‘Mean
ing what?’ I spun round to face her.
‘Meaning you hardly leave him alone.’
‘Me? It’s him!’
From the corner of my eye, I noticed something: a single drop of what must be rain hitting the window, then another, then another. But I was simply too cross to pay attention. Robeen was ruining what should have been a wonderful moment for me.
‘Hey, Robeen.’ Halley stepped in between us. ‘You know that’s not true. Doc Carter pays her a lot of attention but only because her celephet’s still working. She can’t help that, can she? She’s saved his whole experiment for him.’
‘Then I guess there was some point in her coming.’ She said it under her breath but it was still audible. Not waiting for a reaction, she turned on her heel and left the room. My mouth fell open.
‘I can’t believe she just said that.’ Halley shook his head at me. ‘Are you okay?’
‘She’s overwrought,’ said Nisien.
‘And jealous,’ added Halley. ‘She needs to go and cool off.’
I said nothing. From the very earliest stages of our training, probably from that first morning at the SSO, Robeen had stuck her knife into me. Ever since, she’d taken every opportunity of giving it a nasty little twist, taking bitter pleasure in reminding me how undeserving I was of my place. Halley was right: she was jealous but that was only part of it. I wanted to scream and shout at her, call her pathetic and unfair – something I wasn’t allowed to do, of course – but I also wanted to show her how very wrong she was. I did deserve to be on the mission, every bit as much as her. Somehow I’d prove it.
‘Just ignore it, Bree,’ said Nisien. ‘If you get into an argument and they find out, you’ll be punished and it’s just not worth it. Not after everything it’s taken to get here.’
‘He’s right,’ said Halley.
‘I know.’
