Earth Rolling News had been repeating advice on coping with the solar storm, and announcing it was going to sound only. Now it finally went back to the story of the Military ships. I forgot my own concerns and listened.
‘… landing at White Sands …’ said the Earth Rolling News through the interference. ‘… launching Solar 1 in three minutes … closest settlements … lose contact during entry …’
We stood under a lurid green sky and waited.
‘… launched. Solar 1 launched … Solar 1 …’ said the voice of Earth Rolling News, drifting in and out of the static. ‘… lost. Contact lost. Contact …’
‘They’ve crashed then,’ said Rono, his voice harsh with emotion.
‘I hope it just means they’re entering the atmosphere,’ I said. ‘We’d lose contact during that.’
We waited for what seemed ages.
‘… Sands. Solar 1 reports … landed at White Sands, with …’ the Rolling News commentator said.
‘What’s he saying?’ asked Fian.
‘… Sands, they report seven injured … sleds to assist. Solar 1 has landed at White Sands, they report … settlement sending sleds to …’
‘They made it!’ I shouted.
We all cheered.
‘Did anyone see anything in the sky?’ asked Rono. ‘I might have seen a white streak, but with the aurora …’
‘… 2 is launching. Solar 2 is …’ the Rolling News said.
‘One made it,’ said Fian. ‘Let’s hope …’
‘Even one person making it down would have been a victory,’ I said. ‘It sounds like most of a ship load made it.’
‘Five ships all together,’ said Rono. ‘So about seventy people on each.’
We waited again, struggling to hear the words of the Rolling News.
‘Did they say Solar 3 had launched?’ asked Fian. ‘Solar 2 isn’t down yet.’
‘I don’t think they can afford to wait,’ I said. ‘They’d want to let the first ship land in case that gave them extra information, but they may not have time to send the rest one by one.’
‘… Solar 4 … launching Solar 4 … still working on … working on Solar 5 …’ said the Rolling News.
‘They’ve launched three more ships, but they’re still working on Solar 5,’ said Rono.
‘They must be running out of time,’ I said. ‘When the shielding up there fails, the solar radiation …’
‘… landed. Solar 2 has landed …’ Earth Rolling News vanished under a torrent of crackling sound for several minutes before we got another clear spell. ‘ … ships landed. Four ships landed. 2 deaths. 27 injured. 2 deaths. 27 injured … sleds to medical … Alamogordo. Solar 5 still … further …’
‘Will Solar 5 make it in time?’ asked Rono.
‘It’s not looking good,’ I said. ‘If they launched the others so close together, it was because they had to.’
‘… 5 launching now. Solar 5 …’
The voice of Earth Rolling News was conquered by static, and we waited, tensely listening to meaningless crackling and hisses.
‘Look!’ Fian pointed upwards and yelled the word.
I saw the white bolt shooting overhead across the green sky. ‘It’s too low, much too low …’ I broke off as I saw flames flare up among the black ruins of New York.
There was dead silence for thirty seconds, before the static of Earth Rolling News vanished and was replaced by Dig Site Command talking on the broadcast channel.
‘This is Dig Site Command. This is Dig Site Command. Solar 5 has crash landed on New York Dig Site.’ There was a long pause. ‘We think they’re out near intersection 3 of the Grand Circle and the Loop. If that’s right, then we can expect that they’ve hit some towers. We’ve got someone trying to contact them now. Teams willing to assist in rescue please call in. Be aware the solar storm will affect equipment and conditions will be extremely hazardous. Keep this off broadcast channel; we don’t want anyone feeling pressured into volunteering.’
‘Are we in?’ asked Rono.
‘Yes!’ I said.
‘Not you two,’ said Rono, ‘you’re only on your Foundation course. I meant my team.’
‘We’re in,’ chorused the rest of Cassandra 2.
‘I am the Honour Child of Jarra Tell Morrath,’ I said, ‘and I’m in.’
‘You’re not as experienced as us,’ said Rono.
I wasn’t being left out of this. My parents were dead, and I could do nothing to change that, but I could try and help the Military in Solar 5.
‘With respect, sir, who was it that dug you experienced people out from under that tower block?’ I asked, fiercely.
‘You know,’ said Rono, ‘I have to admit that argument is hard to counter. Playdon will kill me for this, but if you want it …’
‘We’re both in,’ said Fian, quietly. ‘Your team 2 need a tag leader and tag support, and we’re it.’
‘Fian, you don’t have to do this,’ I said. ‘It’s different for me.’
‘Fian, you’re sure?’ asked Rono.
‘I’m in,’ said Fian. ‘The solar array crews stayed at their posts to save us, and now it’s our turn to save them. If you’re taking Jarra, then you have to take me as well. She’s totally crazy, and I’m the only one who can possibly keep her under control.’
Rono laughed. ‘I’ll let Dig Site Command know.’
He called in. We were all standing close together, so I could hear his side of the conversation. ‘This is Cassandra 2. We’re in. Jarra and Fian from Asgard 6 insist on filling the gaps in our team 2, so we can run a double team.’
Rono paused for a moment. ‘Yes, I’ve already been through that with them, but you try telling the people who rescued you that they aren’t experienced enough to …’
He paused again and then spoke on the team circuit. ‘Dig Site Command say we’re to take two sensor sleds, two tag support sleds, three heavy lift sleds, and the special transport sled with the mobile dome.’
We were halfway through getting sleds out, when Dig Site Command started talking again. ‘This is Dig Site Command. We have contact with Solar 5, and they have 67 people aboard, 21 of whom are injured. They’re definitely near intersection 3, and they seem to be buried.’
Rono groaned. ‘If they’re buried, we’ll never reach …’
‘They have ship shields protecting them, which they estimate will last for between 18 and 27 hours,’ Dig Site Command continued, ‘so we stand a chance of reaching them. Thank you everyone for volunteering to help. We’ve had the whole dig site calling in, even Achilles 1. We appreciate the courageous offer, Achilles 1, but we feel a Foundation course class had better stay in their dome during this.
‘We have a lot of partial teams out there,’ continued Dig Site Command. ‘We know a couple of teams have already arranged substitutes. Remaining partial teams call in on channel 9 and we’ll help you fill gaps. We’re giving individual instructions on what sleds to bring, but also pack anything else that’s useful. Food. Medical supplies. Spare impact suits. We expect to have equipment failures due to the solar storm, so take your time packing and bring as many spares as you can. Drive slowly because the storm may affect the hover sled controls, and head to intersection 3 by your safest route. We’ll be setting up a base camp there. Call in as you arrive at intersection 3, and don’t try heading directly for the crash site. We’ll be selecting a couple of teams to make the first site inspection.
‘Achilles 1 are being stubborn, so they will be helping drive sleds and run the base camp for us. Just load everything you’ve got into your sleds, Achilles 1, and head to intersection 3. Since the whole dig site will be there, and the interference is getting worse, we’re transferring Dig Site Command to our mobile command sleds and heading to intersection 3 as well.’
I don’t know why, but somehow the news that Dig Site Command was moving to mobile command sleds brought home just how incredible this all was. My head reeled for a moment as I realized what we were trying to do. �
�So we’re going to dig up a buried spaceship instead of a stasis box … This is crazy.’
Fian gave a sudden laugh. ‘Things always seem crazy around you.’
For a moment, the crisis had driven everything personal out of my head. ‘I’m sorry,’ I said.
‘I’m getting used to it,’ said Fian.
Rono got us all loading supplies on to sleds. I carried across boxes of packaged food, and wondered what Fian had meant by that, if anything. Maybe he hadn’t meant anything significant at all.
When the sleds were loaded, Rono stood in silence for a moment. ‘Charges. Guns. I don’t think we’ve forgotten anything vital. We’ve got eight sleds, so my team each drive a sled. I’ll lead the way on the mobile dome transport sled, and Jarra and Fian can ride on the back of that. Let’s go.’
Everyone climbed on the sleds and started them moving. Fian and I sat on the row of seats at the back of the transport sled. There was a mountain of mobile dome storage sections, neatly packed under an orange cover, in front of us. We looked out sideways as our sled entered a snow covered dig site and then stopped.
‘We’re just waiting for Thor 3 to join us,’ said Rono’s voice on the team circuit. ‘There are only two of them left here, and Dig Site Command doesn’t want us travelling in groups of less than four sleds.’
Fian and I looked back, and saw two large sleds bobbing their way along to join the back of our convoy. ‘What sort of sled are those?’ asked Fian. ‘They look a bit like transports but …’
‘Dumper sleds,’ I said. ‘You use them when you have to shift rubble around by sled for some reason.’
We started moving again. ‘How long will it take us to get to intersection 3?’ Fian asked me.
‘Probably a few hours. I’m not sure where we are now, so …’ I hesitated. Rono was the other side of the mound of mobile dome parts, and couldn’t possibly hear us unless we spoke on the team circuit. I could safely mention personal matters, but it was hard to work out what to say. In the end, I said the obvious thing. ‘You didn’t have to do this.’
‘I didn’t have to do this. I chose to do it,’ said Fian.
There was a long silence. The hover sled seemed to be jolting much more than usual. I was sure Rono could drive a hover sled perfectly well, so I assumed that the solar storm was affecting it.
‘What were you planning?’ Fian asked suddenly. ‘What the chaos were you going to do when the class portalled to Asgard? You didn’t know that Cassandra 2 would invite us over here, you couldn’t have known there would be a Carrington event, so what excuse were you planning to make at the last minute?’
‘I didn’t have a plan,’ I said. ‘I didn’t know what I was doing. I’d contacted my parents, they were going to come to Earth and meet me, and … and when the General called to say they’d been killed I just couldn’t handle it. My head went off into fantasy land, and nobody else knew there was anything wrong. Even Playdon believed I was normal by then. I thought my parents were still alive. I thought I could portal to Asgard. I thought you and I could be …’
I broke off. Fian and I couldn’t be anything any longer, and that hurt.
‘You’d have walked through the portal?’
‘Yes.’
‘But … that’s insane,’ Fian said. ‘You’d have died within minutes, unless people realized what was happening and sent you back.’
‘It would have been worse than just dying,’ I said bitterly. ‘Portal networks have lists of the genetic codes of people who aren’t allowed to portal off world because they’re criminals. On Earth they use the same system for both criminals and apes, to stop us apes doing stupid things. If I’d stepped into an off-world portal, it would have scanned me, seen my genetic code was forbidden access, and shut down. Alarms would have gone off, and I’d have been arrested. After a bit, they’d have worked out I was a crazy nean not a criminal, and then they’d have sent me to a hospital secure unit for compulsory psychological treatment.’
‘That still wouldn’t be as bad as dying,’ said Fian.
I sighed. ‘That’s a matter of opinion. I hate talking to psychologists. My only chance would have been if I could convince Candace to get me out of there, and in the circumstances that would have been pretty hard.’
‘You really believed it.’ Fian wasn’t asking a question. He seemed to be talking to himself and working things out. ‘That first evening we spent with the wine and watching the silly vids. I was sure you liked me then. I was sure you felt just the same way I did, but the next morning you froze me off. I couldn’t work out what I’d done wrong.’
‘I couldn’t get involved with you,’ I said. ‘I was lying to you. You were a man and I was an ape. I knew that you’d hate me when you found out the truth.’
‘You kept me at arm’s length after that, until a few days after the Honour Ceremony, when you suddenly changed. You were crazily happy, like you were floating on air, and you were smiling at me. Everything was so zan. I couldn’t believe my luck, it was …’
He broke off, and I didn’t dare to say anything. My face was safely hidden inside my impact suit hood, but if I spoke then my voice would give me away. I’d been living in a wonderful, wonderful dream, but now I’d woken up, and the real world was looking grim.
We both sat in silence for a few minutes, and then Fian spoke again. ‘You’d gone into fantasy land, and you stayed there until we heard the news about the Military?’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘When I tried to remember where Keon was, my head didn’t want to think about it, but I forced it and suddenly … My mind was going crazy. I was remembering several different realities. The lies I’d made up didn’t fit my real Military family. My real brother is a lot older than Keon, and I have a sister too, and then … Then I remembered the General telling me my parents were …’
Fian was silent for a moment. ‘Incredible. You seemed such a strong and capable person, that I felt you didn’t need me or anyone else, but you have your breaking point like the rest of us.’ His voice suddenly became businesslike. ‘So, we have to decide what to do.’
‘I’ve been thinking about that. I’ve already decided I’ll leave the course. The whole dig site knows we’re Twoing, so we can’t stop the class from finding that out, but it’s best for you if no one discovers I’m an ape.’
‘I wish you’d stop calling yourself that.’
‘I’m a smelly ape, an ugly nean, and a dumb throwback,’ I said, bitterly. ‘It doesn’t matter what anyone calls me, but it’s better for you if the class don’t find out what I am. My plan is this. We go back to the class. I tell everyone the truth for once, and say that my parents have been killed. Then I pack my things and dash off. They’ll all think I’ve gone to Kappa sector. I never come back and you make up any story you like about what happened to me. Pretend I’m dead and whatever happened is classified, or that I’ve joined the Military and gone to the Academy.’
‘But what would you really do?’
‘My ProMum can probably get me transferred to a University Earth course. Literature or something where I’ll be safely out of the way.’
‘But you love history,’ said Fian. ‘The look in your eyes when you talk about it … No one could fake that.’
‘I can’t go to another pre-history course,’ I said. ‘I’ve attracted far too much attention on New York Dig Site, and someone would spot me as the girl from Asgard 6.’
‘You aren’t leaving the class,’ said Fian.
I shook my head. ‘I can’t just go back and carry on lying to them all. I can’t face that again, and it would never work anyway. Even if I didn’t trip myself up with my own lies, people would still find out I’m Handicapped. It’s been pure luck that I haven’t already run into someone who knew I was Handicapped because they’d met me on New York Fringe or one of the other sites. I suppose the change of surname at the Honour Ceremony helped, but flying that plane was inviting disaster.’
‘Why was flying the plane so bad?’
‘F
ian, don’t you realize how few pilots there are? When I was at New York Fringe seven months ago, there was one professional pilot covering both New York Main and the Fringe. At any time, there would probably be two or three amateur pilots on dig site teams to help him out. The professional pilot was about to retire, and he was running a final full survey of the Fringe before leaving. I got him to teach me to fly while he did it.’
I shook my head. ‘Think about the situation. Dig Site Command haven’t found a replacement professional pilot yet, and they’re going to be even more interested than usual in the amateur pilots on the dig teams. Someone is going to look at the Fringe records to check my flying history, or mention my name to people on New York Fringe. Guess what? Fringe never heard of a Military girl called Jarra Tell Morrath learning to fly there. The only person to learn to fly on Fringe in the last three years was an ape girl, and by a strange coincidence her name was Jarra as well. It’ll take them about two seconds to work out what that means.’
‘So, we have to assume people will find out you’re Handicapped,’ said Fian, thoughtfully.
‘Exactly. That means I have to leave as fast as possible. If the new pilot vanishes then perhaps no one will bother asking Fringe about her. I can’t guarantee it, but it’s the best I can do.’
‘I already told you that you aren’t leaving,’ said Fian.
I stared at him. Of course, that did me no good at all. You can’t tell much about what someone is thinking when they’re inside an impact suit. The face is just a vague blur behind the impact suit material, and because impact suits are so restrictive even body language doesn’t really work.
‘Fian, I have to leave. That’s the only fair way. I tricked you into signing up to a Twoing contract with an ape. I can’t undo that. The only thing I can do to help is leave.’
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