Earth-Net

by David J. Garrett

  Ray was too tied up with dancing to see much of what happened at the human tables, but she did notice that Prudence was the first CDSE employee up trying to learn Dianian dances, followed a short while later by a couple of the medicos and geologists.

  The marines had all disappeared soon after the speeches had finished. Prudence ended up near Ray during one of the dances. She clearly had a great grasp of the Dianian language which Ray commented on.

  “I have been studying your language my whole life,” signed Prudence. “There are University courses dedicated to your language and culture. I teach one of those courses at Combined University Colleges London. This is the greatest honor, coming here, for me.” Prudence grinned and wheeled off into the crowd.

  CHAPTER 9

  Dinner was an extravaganza by Dianian standards. Everything that grew on Diana was represented from the salty bark of the Dianian Walnut to the tubers that Ray had dug up that morning. With no local animals, meat was grown in incubators. Primary cultures of bovine and porcine muscle and fat cells were frozen and sent from Earth with the regular Dianian shipments. These were grown in incubators forming a slurry of living tissue that could be filtered and pressed into sheets.

  The same method of meat production dominated on Earth due to the lack of space for farmland. Ray had heard that real meat from animals was still available to the very wealthy, but the practice had become contentious many decades ago. Live animal meat farms were often the target of protests. The meat produced on Diana was highly nutritious but not exactly aesthetically pleasing. Ray had also heard that the muscle cells on Earth were often printed with veins of fat resembling old fashioned steaks.

  The unfamiliar sound of human speech and laughter drifted over the music as the evening wore on. Ray, tired from too much dancing, sat with Dane. Relaxed, she passed the time people watching and gazing over the festivities.

  A bunch of children were engaged in a game they had invented that involved catching the drifting forest seeds that floated past on their little parachutes of silk, and then stuffing them into a small hole that one of the bigger kids had dug with a stick. Ray smiled at them remembering when she and Rose had made up similarly strange games out of nothing.

  Rose and Prudence had started up a conversation earlier and Ray watched as Prudence dragged her over reluctantly to meet some of the CDSE crew. A few of them had learned some basic signs but most required Prudence’s help to understand Rose’s answers to their questions. Rose must have made a joke because the group suddenly erupted into laughter. Rose, unused to the noise, colored visibly. One of the men grabbed a glass and poured Rose a shot of the amber spirit they had been enjoying for most of the night.

  Diana had many brewers but only one, a woman, who had managed to patch together a rudimentary still. Children of Rose and Ray’s age were monitored closely and were generally not permitted to drink beer. Ray had certainly not tried spirits and was pretty sure Rose hadn’t either. Another swell of laughter rose from the group as Rose sipped at the liquid and recoiled wincing. She plonked the tumbler down and shook her head, sliding it back to the man who had offered. Prudence intervened and shepherded Rose away before the bawdy group got too boisterous.

  Ray noticed Rose’s hand grip Prudence’s elbow, her head nodding pointedly in the direction of Captain Spiranos. Prudence nodded understanding and they walked over into his view. Ray could not see or hear the exchange but after a short conversation the Captain stood up and escorted Rose back onto the now well-trodden soil that doubled as a dance floor.

  Ray saw Dane lean forward, visibly tense. The Captain, not the most fleet of foot, struggled gamely as Rose guided him through one of the slower dances. Rose was all smiles, blushing so hard that the back of her neck was slightly blotchy. By the time Rose and the Captain were on their second repeat of the dance, every eye in the room, including the CDSE employees, was on them.

  Ray looked at Dane who stared intently, looking ill.

  “She’s just being friendly,” Ray consoled. Dane didn’t respond so Ray looked back to the dance floor. As the song ended the Captain bowed to Rose, shook her hand then turned towards his seat. Released, Rose bustled back over to Ray and Dane, flushed with excitement. I can’t believe I did that she signed as she sat, smiling wide.

  “No one can,” responded Dane, indicating the crowd who were animatedly chatting and glancing at Rose far more than was natural.

  Rose made a slapping motion as if to swat their eyes away.

  “Let them look,” she signed. “If the humans are going to be coming, we might as well start as friends.” A new song started, and Dane stood and turned to Rose, offering his hand like a challenge.

  “Sorry, too tired,” Rose signed, at which Dane turned on his heal and stalked off towards the barracks. Ray shook her head at Rose who looked confused. “What,” she asked with her eyebrows.

  “You know how much he likes you,” Ray signed.

  “Of course, I know,” Rose retorted, “but he doesn’t own me.”

  “You don’t need to rub it in.”

  “And you don’t own me either,” Rose added angrily.

  Luckily, Gift chose that moment to stroll back from the dance floor.

  “Hey twinkle toes,” he directed at Rose, “Where’s Dane?”

  “Don’t know and don’t care,” Rose replied then channeled Dane by stalking off to the buffet table.

  Gift look wide eyed at Ray and raised his hands, “What did I say?”

  Ray simply shook her head and turned back to watching the dancing.

  Gift joined Ray and they watched together for a while.

  “When do you take over from your Mum?” Gift eventually asked.

  “When I get there. Mum didn’t want me to miss out on the party, so she’ll look after him until I leave here.”

  Gift shrugged and returned to unfocused staring over the dance floor.

  “I feel a little better about it after seeing them all tonight,” Ray added after a pause. “They are not so different from us.”

  “Not so different to look at maybe but I bet they will find it hard to live out here where life doesn’t come so easily,” Gift opined. No Internet, no streaming media, no connectivity for their VIs or any of their implanted media gear.

  “I bet they have more than that to worry about,” Ray offered. “Sometimes, I think we have it pretty good here. There is always a job, food, water. We don’t have to think about where to live. Even what to wear is decided for us most of the time.”

  “True,” Gift agreed, “But don’t you ever imagine what it would be like to live on Earth? Don’t you ever get bored?”

  Ray watched Rose pour herself another drink from the buffet and pick at some of the leftover food. “Sometimes,” she signed. “Sometimes I think I would like to be…I don’t really know. Something different.”

  Gift nodded, paused and then stood, tipping his head at the dance floor. “One more turn?” he queried.

  “Why not.” Signed Ray and they headed into the throng to join the next dance.

  CHAPTER 10

  The Med bay was dark, cool, and quiet when Ray finally arrived and swung the door shut behind her. The earthen walls were covered with a thick transparent plastic sheeting to make them easier to clean. Apart from the patient, the monitors and infusion pumps, a sterile looking steel desk and two chairs were the only things of note in the room.

  Bones’ head lifted as Ray approached and she gave her a tired smile. She held up her hands, offering a hug which Ray gratefully accepted. Ray stepped back and nervously adopted her ready for work stance putting her hands on her hips with thumbs facing forward. Bones joined her and moved around the bed a little into Ray’s view.

  The patient lay flat on his back, a tube protruding from his nose and needles sticking into his arms.

  “This is J O N A H,” Bones spelled out. “Something went wrong when he was coming out of hypersleep and he got some fluid trapped in his lungs. He has developed a nasty case of pne
umonia.” Bones nodded towards the monitor on the wall.

  “Your doctor tonight is Melanie Kravitz. Not one of our Dianian expert doctors, a human doctor. She will be on call for the next eight hours if anything goes wrong, he is still heavily sedated, but he has tried to move a few times. We are doing the sedation, Bones pointed to a retort stand and bag connected to the patient, we don’t need to do much in all honesty. This bed tracks all of his vitals and can even run blood tests; they can control that from Earth. If there is something that the docs want to give him that the bed can’t do, they will G-Port it to the drug dispenser like normal.”

  “Is that his hypersleep pod?” Ray guessed. The Plexiglas shield was gone, and the young man lay cocooned, his blanket replaced with a light sheet.

  Bones nodded. “He’s still plugged into it though he’s been warmed up and the hypersleep fluids replaced with plasma. They don’t actually freeze them, but I understand they are cooled quite a lot.”

  With the coming of humans, hypersleep technology had been a topical discussion in school, so Ray had at least a rudimentary understanding of how it worked. Seeing it in person though, it looked thoroughly alien.

  “Do they completely stop in hypersleep?” Ray asked.

  “Not quite. There is still circulation,” Bone answered. “Just very slow. There is a small amount of waste produced but not much. They go in completely empty of food. The bed pipes it all away.”

  Ray noticed a plastic bag hanging from the bed with small amount of brownish liquid in it.

  Bones walked Ray through the notes. The mask was there to help with oxygen saturation and keep his lungs open. Luckily, he had come with the mask and the oxygen bottle. Having no need for breathing support on Diana, Bones would have struggled to make one otherwise.

  His crackling breathing was shallow and strained hence the positive pressure was there to give the drugs time to fight the infection and to support his damaged lungs as they healed. The antibacterial, saline and sedative infusion pumps hung beside the bed. Ray would need to mix another dose of antibacterial in a few hours by using the micronized powder collecting in the G-Port dispenser recessed into the wall. Ray nodded diligently, frowning down at the black hair on the back of his head, scrunched into a crow’s nest where he had moved a little against the pillow. Bones stopped the handover and watched Ray for a while.

  “Come around here,” she beckoned.

  Ray snapped back into focus and took a second to catch her Mother’s meaning.

  Bones smiled, “It’s OK, you don’t need to be scared, come and have a look.”

  Ray stepped around the bed to where Bones stood by Jonah’s head. Bones gently peeled back the sheets. They stuck slightly to his skin from the fever sweat. Jonah was young, his face shiny, with a lock of black hair clinging to his forehead. He had a long lean nose with a bump half way up, probably from an old break. A naso-gastric tube snaked up his left nostril, underneath the mask. Bones took Ray’s hand and placed it on his forehead.

  “Hot,” Ray signed looking up at her mother. She looked back at her fingers lying against the tanned skin of his forehead. A pattern of spots of noticeably whiter skin radiated around her fingers and covered his forehead and his cheek bones. They looked sort of like pale freckles but too regular to be natural. Ray indicated them to Bones.

  “Sensors?” she queried.

  Bones nodded, “He has a lot of bio-enhancements. Most of them do. Something we will have to get used to, I suppose, if we are going to look after them.”

  “What do they all do?” Ray asked.

  Bones shrugged, “I don’t know. It hasn’t been part of the discussions I’ve had with the Earth doctors. They have pretty much just talked about lungs which is weird enough without having to deal with bio-enhancements too.”

  She removed a stethoscope from around her shoulders and gave it to Ray. “Melanie has been talking me through how to listen to his lungs.” She showed Ray how to listen to the various parts of the lungs. “Hear that crackling?” she questioned. Ray nodded. “That is not normal. We want that to go away.”

  Ray eyes stole back to Jonah’s face as she listened to the slow rush and crackle of air traveling in and out of his lungs. She could see some of his hair stuck at the side of his mouth moving as the air moved in and out. Ray put her free hand in front of his mouth to feel the air gently brushing against her fingertips as he exhaled. The width of his shoulder slowly rising and falling inside the sheets.

  “Amazing,” she signed, one handed.

  Bones nodded smiling, giving Ray time to investigate.

  “He is over the worst of it. It was touch and go there for a while but as soon as we got him on the positive, he started to improve. Melanie thinks he is going to be Ok… Grab that basin over there and some warm water. He needs a wash.” Ray obliged.

  Ray watched fascinated as Bones peeled back the sheet and washed down his pale, muscular back. He was extremely lean. Probably from the hypersleep and now that he was awake, the few days without food.

  “He will be very weak when he wakes and will take a while to get his strength back,” Bones commented as she washed. Do you want to do his face? “Bones asked after a pause.

  Ray took the cloth and started washing, nervously at first but eventually with increasing confidence. Breath from his exhalations pushed out through the holes in the mask and felt cool against her hands which were slightly damp from the water on the cloth.

  Such a weird thing. Ray wondered if it felt the same inside his throat with the air swishing back and forth all the time. Ray finished up and just looked for a minute. Apart from the breathing he looked normal. Just like anybody else, albeit taller and with more muscled. Ray guessed that was likely to be a marine thing.

  Ray stowed the cloth in the wash bin and sat down in the chair Bones had vacated. It had been a big night. She had listened to human voices all her life, in comms at Town Hall and in the media feed, but hearing them in person in the clean Dianian air, they sounded different, louder and more out of place. Ray certainly felt excited, but she couldn’t shake the knot in her stomach that reminded her that the balance of life on Diana had permanently shifted. Just as Spiranos had said, “they were not alone anymore.”

  Almost reflexively, Ray bought both her hands up beside her face and faced her palms and fingers towards Jonah. The sign was as old as the first Dianians and had arrived with them on the Arcs. On Earth, the sign translated as sacrifice but on Dianian it meant “First Child.” Every Dianian knew the story. The sign was made before meals, at the start of meetings and many made it before they started their work each day. Bones noticed and frowned slightly. Eventually she repeated the sign back to Ray but followed with a caution.

  “Nothing has changed Ray. The First Child is still a story just for us. We do not share it with the humans. She reminds us of who we are. Why we are here and our sacrifice. She is not for the humans Ray.”

  Ray nodded her acceptance.

  Later, after Bones had left to sleep. Ray let her mind drift as she sat and watched Jonah breathing. The book she held in her hand had failed to keep her attention and now it lay closed over her thumb, resting on her knee. Some of her fear had crept back when her mother had left but Jonah hadn’t moved for hours and his vitals were stable, so she was gradually relaxing again. A quiet knock on the door made her jump and the book clattered to the floor. Ray rose and opened the door finding Prudence and Master Sergeant Aymes waiting there.

  “Sorry to interrupt,” Prudence signed, “Master Sargent Aymes wanted to check on the young man before going to sleep.”

  Ray stepped back and Aymes entered looking over Ray’s head to where Jonah lay. She had to duck slightly to get under the door frame built for Dianians. Ray was forced to take another step back as Aymes brushed past, her eyes about level with Aymes’ bicep.

  Prudence stayed near the door offering Ray a friendly smile. Aymes leaned over Jonah and watched him for a minute before turning.

  “How is he?” sh
e asked looking directly at Ray.

  Ray, wide eyed, looked to Prudence who translated, “Much better, once he got the mask on, he could relax, and the drugs started working better. We may be able to wean him off the sedative as early as tomorrow night.”

  Aymes simply stared at Ray as if assessing her, finally she seemed to reach a verdict. “Good,” she stated, turning back to the bed. After a pause she inquired, “The other woman?”

  “Her Mother,” Prudence translated, “she is assisting.” Prudence informed Aymes with a nod in Ray’s direction.

  Aymes simply nodded. “Inform me if anything changes,” she stated, turning to leave she paused just inside the door and pinned Ray again with her stare, “and you are?” she asked.

  Ray spelled her name out for Prudence, the translation earning another curt nod from Aymes. Prudence shadowed Aymes out the door offering Ray a small wave on the way out.

  Ray closed the door and leaned her weight against it, hands still on the door handle. The room felt huge now that Aymes had vacated it. It occurred to Ray that her heart was beating fast and she could feel the tingle of extra blood in her cheeks from the fright and Aymes’ direct and intimidating presence. “What a terrifying woman,” she thought.

  Ray had never experienced anybody that was clearly so totally and completely in charge. She did a little mental exercise trying to guess what Aymes might have meant by “if anything changes.” and wondered how she would find both Aymes and Prudence to report it if they did. Would Aymes blame her if the news was bad? Ray shook her head realizing she was being ridiculous. The door handle moved in Ray’s hand and she nearly jumped out of her skin a second time. A quiet knock followed. Ray took a second to compose herself before answering, expecting Aymes again. Ray’s shoulders slumped in relief when instead she found Rose smiling merrily in the doorway.