Earth Star

by Edwards, Janet

  I blinked. I was on a History team? I could think of a good reason the Military would want a History team, but Fian and I were only pre-history students so why …?

  ‘Earth is in a period of very high solar storm frequency,’ I said. ‘Not only does the interference from a solar storm bring down the portal network, but we can’t keep ships or solar arrays manned because of the radiation hazard in space.’

  Stone nodded. ‘We’ll have to pull out our personnel during a major solar storm. Since Planet First selects colony worlds with low solar storm frequency, Earth is our only inhabited planet with this problem. Threat team are considering the possibility the aliens have chosen to come here for this reason, and are planning to attack during the next major solar storm when we’re at our weakest. Portals won’t be able to transmit from Sol system during a storm, but we can still portal in fighters and crew for the Earth Africa array from Alpha sector. Equipment will be affected by the solar storm, and shields will only protect our people against the radiation for a few hours, so we’ll have to deal with the sphere rapidly.’

  She paused. ‘When the situation is stable, we will portal in lifeboats from Alpha to pick up our people and land them on Earth.’

  ‘Lifeboats?’

  Stone smiled. ‘After the Solar 5 incident, we modified some spaceships to be able to enter planetary atmospheres in an emergency and land safely rather than depending on portalling to their destination.’

  I sat down. The next question was from a nervous, sandy-haired lad in Lieutenant’s uniform, who gazed frantically up at the ceiling when the computer announced his name and team assignment.

  ‘If this base is destroyed do we have an Echo base?’

  Stone nodded. ‘We are being echoed by bases on Adonis in Alpha sector, and Zeus in Beta sector. They have continuous data feeds, and Echo base Adonis is standing by to take over command, cascading to Echo base Zeus if necessary.’

  I’d thought losing Earth was bad enough for a worst-case scenario, but the Military had contingency plans if we lost Alpha sector as well. Where would that leave us tactically? I frantically pictured the three concentric spheres of humanity, all centred on Earth. The innermost sphere was Alpha sector. Beta, Gamma and Delta sectors clustered around it to make up the middle sphere. Of the many sectors in the outermost frontier sphere, we’d only begun to settle Epsilon and Kappa sectors.

  I grimaced. If we lost Alpha sector, the heart of humanity’s space, all three of Beta, Gamma and Delta sectors would be exposed on a warfront. What chance would we stand after that? The Military would try, but …

  It wouldn’t be my problem. I’d go down with Earth, like all the rest of the Handicapped. Fian might make it out alive, and the rest of our class back at Eden Dig Site, but …

  Eden! I madly stuck my hand up again. I shouldn’t have asked about how they’d cope during a solar storm. The Military would obviously have thought of that, but they wouldn’t have thought of this. How could they? Sector and Military schools focused on modern history. I might not be given a chance to ask a second question, but chaos take Military protocol. If necessary, I’d stand up unasked and yell.

  Nia Stone must have noticed the frantic urgency in my face, because she gave me a puzzled look and a nod. I shot to my feet and the computer announced me again.

  ‘In the event of an attack,’ I said, ‘the Handicapped can’t portal off world, but have you considered using Ark?’

  She frowned. ‘Can you explain what Ark is for us, Captain?’

  I gabbled a hasty explanation based on the official Ark tour information. ‘In the twenty-third century, they had portal technology, but didn’t believe it could ever reach across interstellar distances. They started three ambitious projects to build new habitats for humanity on Earth itself. Eden was a super-city built from scratch in Earth Africa. Atlantis was underwater off the coast of Earth America. Ark was underground in Earth Australia.’

  ‘Underground,’ Stone repeated. I could tell I had her full attention now. ‘Details, please.’

  ‘Both Atlantis and Ark were intended to be closed, self-sufficient habitats. Arcologies protected from pollution and climate issues. Ark would be underground, carved out of solid rock, accessible only by portal, with its own recycled air and water. It would grow its own food and manufacture everything it needed. They built Eden, they got as far as carving out the caverns for Ark and shipping the rock out by portal to form the Atlantis reef system, then we got interstellar portals so the whole thing was abandoned in 2310.’

  ‘That was over four and a half centuries ago,’ Stone said. ‘Ark still exists?’

  I nodded. ‘I’ve been on an Ark tour myself. It’s just endless bare granitoid caverns. They built the air purification system as they went along digging the caverns because they needed to breathe, but nothing else was ever installed. Ark was intended to house over a billion people. If we were to use it as a refuge for the Handicapped, they’d have to take lights with them, but the rest … In the twentieth century, there was the Berlin airlift. For about a year, they used aircraft to fly in all the supplies for an entire city. Surely we could do something similar and portal everything in from Alpha sector worlds?’

  ‘Who has full information on Ark?’ asked Stone.

  ‘University Earth Australia maintains the air purifiers and takes people on tours.’

  ‘Right.’ Stone glanced around the hall. ‘If there are no other urgent suggestions, I have to get this moving.’

  She was out of the door within seconds.

  5

  Fian and I headed back towards our quarters, getting what seemed to be more than our fair share of salutes on the way.

  ‘I’d never even heard of Ark,’ said Fian.

  ‘Of course not,’ I said. ‘Eden was completed, people actually lived there, and we excavate the ruins to find their stasis boxes. Atlantis is a forgotten artificial reef system. Ark is just empty caves. Why would off-world historians, even pre-history specialists, be interested in them?’

  ‘But you’ve actually been to Ark?’

  I nodded. ‘My class went there on a school trip when I was 16. Lots of schools go to Ark. The caverns are all manmade and perfectly safe, so they just give you the introductory talk, hand out special helmets with lights, and let you go exploring in the dark. Our school was in Earth Europe, and Ark is in Earth Australia time zone, so we went there in the middle of the night.’

  I grinned. ‘It was totally zan. We got to stay up all night, roaming around pitch-dark caverns. Our teacher kept yelling at us to stay together, but of course we didn’t. Issette thought it was spooky, and Cathan kept sneaking up on her and making ghostly noises to make her scream, so I stole his helmet and left him without a light. He had to sit on his own for an hour until someone came by and rescued him.’

  Fian laughed. A few weeks earlier, I’d taken Fian to meet all my friends from Next Step, and Cathan kept talking about how he kissed me when we were boy and girling. I said that was a year ago, it was as pleasant as kissing a Cassandrian skunk, and Cathan should shut up about it or I’d throw him across the room. I’d actually done that to him once after I did some unarmed combat classes, but Cathan just smirked and said I couldn’t attack people in public or I’d get arrested. That was when Issette tipped a jug of frujit over his head, Fian called him a rude word that a nice Deltan boy shouldn’t even know, and we all got thrown out of Stigga’s MeetUp.

  ‘Maeth and Ross went off by themselves,’ I continued, ‘and made the most of being alone in the dark until the teacher caught them and sent them home early in disgrace. It was the best school trip ever.’

  We went into our quarters, and I checked the time on the Military lookup attached to my forearm. ‘It’s 17:30 now. We’ll need to change into …’

  I broke off as I heard a faint, sad, chiming noise. I’d abandoned my civilian lookup on the table when I changed into my Military uniform, and it was crying for attention. I went over to take a look. ‘Oh chaos!’

&nb
sp; ‘What’s wrong?’ asked Fian.

  ‘Mail from Candace. I forgot I was supposed to call her at 18:00 hours.’

  ‘Well, you’ve still got time to …’

  ‘18:00 hours Earth Africa time, Fian! I’m over six hours late!’

  Candace is my ProMum. When I became a ward of Hospital Earth as a baby, they allocated me a ProMum and a ProDad, to be mine for two hours a week for life. Candace was still mine for two hours a week, but my ProDad gave up on me after the fights about the school history club trips to dig sites.

  I was always interested in pre-history, so I signed up to spend four weeks on the New York Fringe Dig Site when I was only 11. I’d done my gold safety award, but the club were worried about my age and insisted on my ProParents giving their consent.

  I talked Candace into agreeing, but my ProDad called up one image of the New York ruins on his lookup and absolutely refused. I explained all about New York Fringe being much safer than New York Main Dig Site, but he still said little kids couldn’t go somewhere so dangerous and maybe when I was 16 he’d consider it. I was spitting furious, so I forged his consent and went anyway. He ignored me for weeks after the argument, so he didn’t find out until the day before we came back.

  After that, he tried to get me thrown out of the history club, but was outvoted because I’d got glowing reports for my work on the dig site and Candace and the teacher were on my side. The next summer, I signed up to go to London Fringe Dig Site with the club. There was another huge argument, and my ProDad said he washed his hands of the whole business and me as well. I told him he could nuke off, and I’ve hardly seen him since then. When I got my leg fried, he showed up at the hospital, but only because he wanted to keep getting paid for being my ProDad.

  Anyway, I didn’t care what my ProDad thought, if he thought anything at all, about me vanishing when Alien Contact grabbed me. Candace was a different matter. She really cared about me, and I didn’t want her to be worried.

  ‘I’d better call Candace right away, it’s past ten o’clock at night in Earth Europe and …’ I stopped. ‘Well, I’ll call her right after I change out of Military uniform. It wouldn’t be easy to explain why I’m suddenly a Military Captain.’

  ‘You do that,’ said Fian, ‘and I’ll send Playdon a mail to reassure him the Military understand you can’t portal off world.’

  I grabbed my civilian lookup, and dashed into the bedroom to change before calling Candace. She’d probably be busy or in bed by now, but if she didn’t answer I could leave a message.

  She did answer, and frowned anxiously at me. ‘Jarra! Are you all right? I’ve only known you miss your appointment with me twice, and both times you’d been taken to hospital.’

  ‘I’m fine,’ I said. ‘I’m really sorry I didn’t call. We had to pack our bags and move in a hurry. There wasn’t any warning and …’

  ‘So long as you’re all right.’ She smiled, and looked her usual calm and relaxed self again. ‘Why has your class moved? You’d only just arrived at Eden Dig Site.’

  ‘It was a complete shock,’ I said. ‘I can’t explain the reason. It’s classified.’

  ‘Ah.’ She nodded. ‘Like when they evacuated New York Fringe?’

  I remembered the time she meant. Some buried stasis box must have had a containment field failure and released some very nasty contents, because there was a big radiation spike and Fringe Dig Site Command got everyone to evacuate at top speed. Our school history club were working on site at the time, so we left through the nearest emergency evac portal and ended up in a Hospital Earth America casualty unit getting checked for radiation exposure.

  ‘Not exactly like that, but yes.’

  ‘You’re sure you haven’t had a dose of radiation?’ she asked.

  ‘Perfectly sure,’ I said. ‘We had a whole batch of medical checks.’

  ‘So where have they sent you?’

  I evaded her question. ‘I’ve got a room, but it may just be for tonight. It’s not clear what’s happening yet.’

  The bedroom door opened, and Fian stuck his head cautiously into the room. He was still in uniform, but safely behind the lookup where Candace couldn’t see him. He came in and leaned against the wall, watching me.

  I could see Candace looking around her limited view of the bedroom. ‘Your room looks much better than the ones you get in the dig site domes. Did they give you a larger room because you’re sharing it with Fian?’

  I froze.

  She laughed at my expression. ‘I don’t know why you’ve been trying to hide it from me, Jarra. You’re both 18, legally adult, and you’ve a Twoing contract. I’d have no justification for objecting, even if I didn’t approve of Fian, and I do. I’m very happy that you’re in a relationship with someone so dependable.’

  Fian had his hand over his mouth, obviously finding this incredibly funny. I tried to ignore him.

  ‘I know you like Fian, it’s just …’

  ‘You’re always very defensive about your private affairs, Jarra. I understand if you aren’t comfortable discussing this with me.’

  ‘It’s not just that,’ I said. ‘We have to keep quiet about sharing a room, because Fian’s parents are from Delta sector and attitudes there are rather strict.’

  ‘Oh.’ Candace considered this. ‘I didn’t realize that. How does Fian feel about it? I hope you didn’t push him into anything.’

  Fian slowly slid down the wall and sat on the floor, his hand over his mouth, struggling not to burst out laughing.

  ‘Fian makes his own decisions,’ I said.

  He pulled a face at me and cowered, indicating that I terrorized him. There are times when Fian is utterly impossible.

  ‘It’s very late in your time zone, so I’d better go now,’ I said to Candace. ‘We can talk about Fian and his parents next week. I’ll mail you about what times I’ll be free.’

  I turned off the lookup and glared at Fian. ‘Get up off the floor and stop laughing! How dare you pull faces at me when I’m talking to Candace?’

  He grinned happily. ‘She approves of me. I’m dependable. I’m a nice Deltan boy who you forced into sharing a room with you.’

  I sighed. Candace and my friends all think I bully poor downtrodden Fian. They have absolutely no idea. I’d have more luck trying to bully a concraz wall.

  ‘You’re a shockingly badly-behaved Deltan boy, who only kept pushing for a Twoing contract because he wanted to tumble me.’

  He grinned. ‘That wasn’t my only reason, but it was definitely one of them. I behaved very badly while you were talking to Candace. I think you should throw me across the room and teach me my place.’

  With Fian dressed up as Arrack San Domex, the thought was very tempting, but I shook my head. ‘There isn’t time to indulge you by playing Stalea of the Jungle games. We have to change into dress uniforms and go for dinner with the Colonel.’

  Fian sighed and got out his dress uniform. ‘Maybe after that?’

  I watched Arrack San Domex taking off his clothes. ‘Definitely.’

  6

  I was scared stiff when we arrived at the door of Colonel Riak Torrek’s quarters. I’d seen vid scenes of formal Military dinners, with tables large enough to land a fighter on, covered with gleaming genuine glassware and surrounded by hundreds of officers. My own dining experience was limited to the chattering chaos of eating with the other kids in Commons at our Next Step, and with my classmates in our dome hall.

  Once inside the door, I was hugely relieved to find only three officers lounging in comfortable chairs. There was a table, but it was tucked away against a wall, and just held drinks, a stack of flexiplas plates, and some trays of food. I’d been a nardle to panic. The Colonel wouldn’t be holding fancy dinner parties when Alien Contact programme was active.

  There might only be three other officers in the room, but Fian and I were in very select company. One Colonel and two Commanders. Colonel Riak Torrek looked extremely tired, and was wearing a rather crumpled standard unifor
m. As commanding officer, he could wear whatever he liked of course.

  The two Commanders were in dress uniform. One of them was the woman from the briefing, Commander Nia Stone. The other was a dark man with an angular, thoughtful face.

  Fian and I saluted, Colonel Torrek pointed at a couple of empty chairs, and we sat down.

  ‘Jarra Tell Morrath and Fian Eklund, I think you know my deputy, Nia Stone, already. This is her husband, Mason Leveque, our Threat team leader.’

  We exchanged nods to acknowledge the introductions.

  Colonel Torrek looked at me with amusement. ‘Jarra Tell Morrath causes as much chaos as her grandmother. Since your suggestion at the briefing, we’ve created an Ark team, and we have any number of people working on preparations to portal the civilian population into Ark if the situation worsens. You’ll notice I haven’t had time to shower or change.’

  ‘Sorry, sir.’

  ‘Don’t be. I was having nightmares because we couldn’t portal the Handicapped off world. In the event of hostilities, they wouldn’t just be vulnerable to alien attack, but there could be casualties from our own weapons’ fire. Ark has its own self-contained atmosphere and a shield of solid rock. If you have any more bright ideas, I want to hear them.’

  He paused. ‘What’s your situation analysis, Jarra?’

  I was grazzed by the question, and needed a moment to organize my thoughts. ‘In theory, Earth is the best defended of all our planets, because it has five solar power arrays instead of the usual one. If the sphere’s hostile and came here deliberately, it must have defences that can stand up to planetary power beams.’

  He nodded.

  ‘It may not be hostile though,’ I continued. ‘The sphere could be a random exploration probe. Perhaps it isn’t trying to communicate because the aliens don’t expect there to be other intelligent life in the universe.’

  Colonel Torrek leaned forward in his chair. ‘No one has suggested that before. Is it credible? Surely if they’re exploring space they’d realize there’s at least a possibility of meeting another civilization.’