by Ruth Morgan
‘Come on, let’s have a turn at driving. We’ve all had lessons,’ said Halley.
‘Don’t forget who’s senior,’ Lana laughed. ‘You’re only allowed to drive the class ones and this is a class three. Get in.’
Reluctantly, I climbed in beside Robeen in the rear while Nisien and Halley sat next to Lana. She waved her hand and the roof closed over our heads.
‘That drago – drago – what’s its name again? Those big things we’ve seen fluttering about all morning.’ This was Halley being funny.
‘Drago-mansk,’ Lana sighed. ‘You’d better remember its name. Or at least remember what to do if you spot one.’
Halley laughed.
‘We know what to do,’ said Nisien in a sing-song voice.
‘Oh yes, drago-mansk,’ said Halley, ignoring him. ‘Only one thing worse, right? When they all gang up together. By the way, that one that dropped on the roof yesterday, do you know when they’re going to dissect it?’
‘I don’t know and if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.’
Lana rotated her finger expertly in the steering zone, the amphibical turned one hundred and eighty degrees and we started off through the marsh although it wasn’t long before we were back up on the service road.
‘What’s the point in dissecting it?’ said Robeen. ‘We’re not going to find out how to kill the dragomansk by dissecting one; its genetic code is corrupted now, isn’t it?’
‘We’ve tried all sorts of ways to get rid of them,’ said Lana. ‘I guess we just have to keep trying. They’re such a menace. Whoever finds a solution will be an international hero, that’s for sure.’
‘A galactic hero, surely?’ corrected Nisien. ‘How about it, Halley? Halley would really like to take a look…’ From where I was sitting I couldn’t see exactly what Halley did to Nisien, but he immediately stopped speaking.
‘I’d like to take a look at Cardiff,’ Halley cut in. ‘I think we all would, right?’
He leaned over and raised his eyebrows at Robeen and me. Robeen said nothing but I muttered, ‘Absolutely, yes.’
Halley went on, ‘We arrived yesterday in the dark and today we were straight out into the field. The very wet, boggy field. We haven’t exactly seen much of the place yet.’
‘Remember, that is why we’re here,’ Nisien said. ‘To assist with the archaeology.’
Halley muttered something under his breath.
‘Well, you’ll get your chance to look around this afternoon,’ said Lana. ‘You’re lucky, you’re getting some free time with the class ones.’ These were the two-seater amphibicals.
‘Great,’ said Halley.
‘Keep your sauroters ready at all times,’ said Lana. ‘Seriously, this is no joke. I know you’ve been told time and time again, but you can’t be told enough: as long as you stay in the amphibical you’re usually fine, it’s humanoid shapes they’re programmed to attack, but don’t take any chances. If even one flies over your vehicle, just park, undercover if possible, and wait till it’s gone. They never stay anywhere long. Be careful. Look, we’re at the Castle.’
Lana slowed the vehicle and turned it to face the famous, ruined tower. Although our training should have prepared us, I wasn’t ready for the shock of seeing my beloved Castle in such a sorry state. I could have cried. It was ridiculous to imagine it might ever be rebuilt: who would bother when the whole Earth was being stripped back to nothing and abandoned?
‘We can get out briefly because I’m covering us but remember, you mustn’t do this on your own, not this afternoon or ever! Not unless one of us is with you. If I raise the alarm it’s straight back to the class three, right?’
We all agreed. Lana reminded us to prime our sauroters and we activated the dragomansk alert on our tiles. Climbing from the vehicle, we began to pick our way through the soggy marsh, taking care not to stray too far from the amphibical. It was slow going because the water came up to our knees and I was still adjusting to feeling so much heavier on Earth. I did manage to scramble up a rubble mound and near the top I noticed what looked like an eye peering out of a shadowy gap between the stones. Intrigued, I started removing the stones and brushing the dust and grit away from the flowing-haired figure before I realised exactly what it was. Only the upper half was visible and its left hand held the top of what looked like a round shield carved with spiky patterns, but of course, it wasn’t a shield, it was the sun. I shuddered. Here was Sol, one of the statues I had gazed at so many times on our own Castle tower back home, except that while ours was richly painted, this one was bare stone with crispy, silver grey lichen spreading across it like some disfiguring disease. Sol’s features were worn and softened but his face still wore the same cool and remote expression, his heavy-lidded eyes gazing past my shoulder, lost in thought. Without really thinking what I was doing, I pulled off my gloves, reached out and traced around the statue’s nose and lips with the tip of my finger.
‘Don’t do that.’ A sharp voice behind me broke the spell.
I turned. Robeen looked at me as though she’d forgotten to clean the toilet plumbing of her spacesuit.
‘You’re contaminating a cultural artefact.’
‘I’m brushing off the dust,’ I replied. ‘That’s hardly going to damage it.’
‘You are actually contaminating it,’ Robeen gave a very condescending sigh. ‘Remember our lessons at the SSO, Bree? You’re not even wearing gloves.’
I stood up, furious with Robeen but more so with myself. I knew she was right but I wasn’t about to admit it and the worst thing was, I had handed her a perfect excuse to criticise me. Contamination of artefacts was lesson one in the preschool guide to archaeology.
‘Rubbish,’ I said. ‘We’re traipsing all over this stuff. You could be doing damage right now treading on those stones, have you thought of that?’
‘I’m not deliberately rubbing my hands over precious artefacts. Acids from my skin aren’t contaminating them, Bree.’
‘Oh shut up!’ I said. ‘Go away and practise your cello.’
Robeen’s eyes narrowed and her voice dropped. The others were nearby, after all. ‘That comment’s about all I’d expect from you,’ she sneered. ‘How you ever got chosen for this mission is anyone’s guess.’
‘And you,’ I said out loud, ‘do you know why you got chosen, Robeen? Core Panel thought they’d do the whole school a favour and get your miserable face out of the way for a bit. Everyone’s sick to death of you thinking you’re so much better that anyone else.’
‘I don’t think I’m better than everyone else.’
‘Oh, and what could you mean by that, I wonder?’
‘Hey,’ Lana called over. ‘What’s going on?’
‘It’s Bree,’ Robeen said calmly. ‘She was touching that statue with her bare hands and contaminating it. I advised her to stop and she started yelling at me.’
‘I wasn’t yelling, I was only…’
‘Bree, you’re still raising your voice,’ warned Lana. She stumbled over to us.
‘But did you hear what she said to me?’ I protested.
‘No, but I heard what you said to her and that was enough. I’m going to have to report this matter when we get back to Base. You’d better make friends, right? Or at least keep out of each other’s way till you’ve calmed down. Bree, you know as well as I do why we have to get along on expeditions. If we all fell out, the work wouldn’t get done and the mission would fall apart! You need to think about that. Anyway, Robeen’s right, you shouldn’t be touching anything without gloves on. Put them back on, that’s an order.’
Halley and Nisien were staring at us and a disdainful smile tweaked the corners of Robeen’s mouth. I cursed myself for taking the bait. As Lana said, arguments amongst an expeditionary team were really frowned upon, even more so than at school, and now I’d gone and landed myself in trouble in the most pathetic way possible. I guessed I’d be losing my free time that afternoon at the very least. If anyone thought Bree Aurora didn’t deserve a plac
e on the mission, she’d just gone and proved them right.
Rain began falling from the sky, real rain.
We all looked up and watched the cool, gentle rain patter on our visors. Halley spread his arms wide, even though there was no chance of him actually feeling the rain on his skin. The lumps of stone we’d clambered over began to stain a darker grey. There were plenty of gasps and ‘Wow-wows!’ all around, even from Lana.
There weren’t any from me. It was the second time Robeen had managed to ruin what should have been an incredible moment. Even Sol was crying.
Back at Base, the argument was reported to Doc Carter, or at least he was the one who came to our quarters to investigate it. Yet, reclining in a chair with his feet bare and a drink dangling in one hand, he seemed surprisingly relaxed about the whole matter.
‘So, I’ve heard all about it and all I’m going to say is it shouldn’t have happened and it better not happen again, right? You don’t really need me to go into the reasons why we don’t fight and argue on these missions, do you?’
He looked at each of us in turn and we shook our heads. Outside, the rain fell steadily, striping the windows and obscuring the view. It hadn’t stopped since we’d left the Castle.
‘Bree, is that all right?’
‘Yes.’
‘Fine. Investigation over.’
He rose to leave. I couldn’t believe that he wasn’t going to say any more. I’d escaped a punishment but I wasn’t really satisfied. Why was he treating the matter so casually? Would it have been the same story if one of the others had got in trouble? Robeen looked shocked and something else too: as though I disgusted her. Well, I decided to show her I didn’t expect or want special treatment.
‘Um, can I say something?’ I said.
The Doc stopped and pinned me with a quizzical smile. ‘Of course.’
‘I was expecting you to at least ask me to apologise to Robeen.’
‘I don’t think that’s necessary.’ He wrinkled his nose. ‘From what I hear, things were said on both sides. Just don’t let it happen again.’
‘I’d sooner apologise properly.’ I turned to Robeen, looking her squarely in the face. ‘Robeen, you were right, I shouldn’t have taken off my gloves. I only did so because I … well, I just wanted to touch the statue, I found it so beautiful. I did it but I shouldn’t have.’
‘That’s all I was saying,’ Robeen said warily, like I’d caught her off-guard.
‘I know and I’m sorry.’
‘That’s very, very good of you, Bree. Commendable, I would say. ’ Doc Carter rested his hand on my shoulder like a proud uncle, then gave it a little squeeze. I froze. It felt awful to be so patronised by him and in front of the others. Why was he being like this?
Another smile and he turned to leave a second time.
‘I don’t think it is “good” of me,’ I said. ‘It’s just what I ought to do.’
This time he paused in the doorway. ‘Well, that’s wonderful. There’s poetry in your soul, Bree. You know, I even understand why you took your gloves off. I might well have done so myself. Just … not again, okay?’
Damn!
‘Now…’ Doc Carter held up his finger as though he’d remembered something. ‘What are your plans for this afternoon?’
‘A bit of a wander, maybe?’ Nisien chirped up. Robeen said nothing.
‘Okay, just no wandering outside the specified range and stay in your pairs, yes? Nisien and Robeen, Bree and Halley. The class ones are outside ready for you. So where are you going?’
‘Oh, here and there,’ said Nisien. ‘I was hoping to take a closer look at the amphibicals. I’ve an idea how I might construct a device to deal better with objects that block our way, like the fallen trees that held us up when we arrived. I’d like to do it for my project.’
‘Sounds great.’ I noticed the way Doc Carter ignored Robeen completely. ‘And how about you, Bree and Halley?’
Halley let me go first. ‘Well, Halley says he’s happy to come to the Museum with me,’ I said. ‘If that’s all right still?’ I looked at him for confirmation.
‘Sure,’ said Halley.
‘Wonderful.’ Doc Carter raised his eyebrows at Halley.
‘Oh, but before we go,’ said Halley. ‘My project’s going to be about insects and I was wondering if Bree and I could take another look at the dead dragomansk down in the lab? We’re both interested in seeing it again, aren’t we?’
It was my turn to nod.
Doc Carter smacked his lips. ‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘We performed the dissection this morning and it’s gone.’
‘Gone?’ Halley frowned.
‘The body’s been discarded. It didn’t tell us anything. We didn’t really expect it to. We’re more interested in pursuing other methods of countering the dragomansk threat at the moment.’
‘Where was it discarded? We could still see it, couldn’t we?’
‘Couldn’t we?’ I echoed.
‘No. No means no.’ Doc Carter seemed a little irritated. ‘It’s unsafe. It’s been taken away. You don’t think we’re going to take chances with you, do you? We couldn’t let you near that thing, so forget it. Instead, just go and enjoy the Museum this afternoon.’ Turning my way, he switched back to automatic smile mode before leaving the room.
Halley bared his teeth and swung the amphibical round so fast we nearly overbalanced. A great arc of water sprayed up on his side and there was a loud mechanical rasp of protest beneath our seats. I lurched across and swiped my hand across the steering zone, righting the craft with an even bigger splash.
‘Do you want me to drive?’ It was difficult to sound sufficiently angry when your visor flattened everything you said.
‘No.’
‘Halley, I know you’re annoyed but we could easily tip up and then what?’
‘It’s infuriating,’ he said. ‘We’re grown up enough to travel all this way to Earth but – did you hear Doc Carter? All that stuff about protecting us and not taking chances. It was obvious how much I wanted to see the dragomansk, but there are some secrets they just aren’t going to share with us. I reckon they just sent us on that boring dig this morning so they could get rid of the body without us seeing.’
‘I doubt it.’ I thought Halley was being paranoid. ‘Not everything revolves around us, you know. We’re supposed to be helping out in the field. That’s what we’re here for.’
‘Don’t, you sound like Nisien.’
We travelled in and out of the marsh, over water and mud, with Halley still driving far too fast. The heaps of rubble were so smothered in plant life, they looked like small hills. It was like a game, the way Halley steered straight at the rubble mounds, and only swerved away at the last possible moment. I didn’t like it. He shouldn’t have been driving in the mood he was in. Our navigation panel showed that we were heading for the Museum but nothing outside would have told us that. We rounded a corner and thanks to Halley’s chaotic steering, found ourselves at the mouth of what looked like a canal, winding its way between rows of ruined buildings. The entrance to the canal was completely hidden in the shadow of a huge rubble and mud mound, so we could easily have missed it. It looked intriguing and keen as I was to get to the Museum, I didn’t protest when Halley brought the vehicle to a standstill.
‘It says “Queen Street”,’ he said, pointing at the navigation panel. ‘The Castle’s just over there. Why didn’t we notice this when we were driving back with Lana this morning?’
‘It’s so well hidden, I guess.’
Halley was silent.
‘Let’s!’ I answered the curiosity written all over his face.
We cruised slowly down the canal. The gentle motion seemed to placate Halley and in no time he was back to his old self. There was something stately and ghostly about the place, as though we’d stumbled across a secret grove undisturbed for hundreds of years. When we slowed the amphibical and gave the rocking water time to still, we noticed strange insects skating about on the water, th
eir long legs spread out and their feet making the smallest possible indentations on the surface. These were the first indigenous animals we’d seen anywhere in Cardiff other than the airborne insects we were used to by now. High above, I could hear birdsong, strange echoes of recordings I’d listened to back home, which were sometimes piped into the corridors of Mackintosh Avenue and Keppoch Court. I dug my elbow into Halley and pointed at the sky. It took him a moment to tune into what I could hear, and when he got it he smiled and nodded.
The old street was a corridor lined with tall buildings still standing or possibly just their facades, hemming the water in on either side. Light bounced off the water, casting undulating shimmers on the slimy green marble and exposed brick, and also across the enormous roots of ancient trees rising from the water. On these incredible root systems sprang colonies of ferns and startlingly bright flowering plants. The variety of plant life was amazing – any one of those roots would have provided more than enough study for one of our student projects. It was the best example yet of how rich and diverse, how interesting life was on Earth, probably how uncontrollable too, although I was beginning to realise how much I didn’t mind that. Most of the people I knew would have feared this uncontrollable aspect, so alien to everything we were raised with. How many kinds of plants could there be on the face of the Earth, if a single root could be home to so many? How many species of animals? It was nothing like our controlled and perfectly regulated Martian ecology.
Thick curtains of furry stalks, attached to the branches above our heads, hung down over the roots. They resembled the strings of a harp held by one of the statues on top of the Museum. High above us, the leafy canopy acted as a ceiling to the canal corridor, blotting out the sky and completing this feeling of enclosure, of privacy.
It was frustrating, having the glass roof of the amphibical between us and all these sights and sounds.
‘Can we retract this?’ I asked, giving it a tap.
Without answering, Halley waved his hand and the whole roof section rotated back into the shell of the craft. I removed my visor and then peeled back the hood of my suit. If I’d stopped to think I wouldn’t have done it, it was so expressly forbidden, but I just reacted. It was ridiculous really. The extreme heat and moisture hit me full in the face, but the noise of the insects struck me more. Their sound was louder and more echoey in this enclosed space, as though I could feel the air vibrating with the loud yet fragile and papery hum.
