Felipe shook his head. “You have to treat us now. If the radiation is from a twenty-second century tactical weapon, then every minute counts. I’ve seen the images of the melting people. Once the skull starts disintegrating, even full body regrowth tank treatment won’t be enough to ...”
“Quiet!” repeated the teacher, his voice far louder this time. He jumped to his feet, hurried across to Felipe, and leaned to whisper something into his ear.
“The doctors have to wait for exact information before deciding on appropriate second stage treatment,” repeated Valeska. “Giving random drastic treatments would be highly dangerous.”
“I don’t want to turn into one of the melting people,” muttered Alund. “I don’t want to die that way. I don’t want to die at all.”
He looked on the edge of tears, and Landon was visibly shaking. Wren had her face buried in her hands. I spoke with as much conviction as I could.
“That radiation wasn’t from a twenty-second century tactical weapon. It was one of the twentieth or twenty-first century types.”
I glanced at Felipe again. He was sitting on the floor now. From the look on his face, I guessed the teacher had threatened to strangle him if he didn’t stop terrifying his pupils.
I was strongly tempted to go over there and strangle Felipe myself. I’d been a total nardle to think that he’d be any help to me. He’d scared my trainees before by talking about cutting someone in half with a laser cutter, and now he’d reduced them to blind panic by talking about melting people.
I heard someone sobbing, thought it was Alund for a moment, but then realized the sound was coming from over to my left. I turned my head, and saw some of the younger members of the school party on that side of us were crying. There’d be others breaking down in tears all around this hall thanks to Felipe’s stupidity.
Valeska’s voice spoke from overhead again. “As soon as your second stage treatment is complete, your lookups and personal belongings will be decontaminated and returned to you. Please listen closely to all announcements and ...”
A male voice urgently interrupted her. “Valeska, we’ve just heard ...”
There was a clicking sound, and the hum of the overhead speakers abruptly stopped.
Alund stared fearfully up at the ceiling. “Something just happened, didn’t it? Have they found out the radiation was twenty-second century?”
I was close to panicking myself, but I tried to keep my voice confident and repeated what I’d said before. “That radiation wasn’t from a twenty-second century tactical weapon.”
Wren lifted her head and looked at me. “How can you be sure of that, Jarra?”
I lowered my voice. “New York Main Dig Site includes most of what used to be described as the seven boroughs of New York City, so that’s Staten Island, the Unity City district, and a huge area on the east bank of the Hudson River. New York Fringe covers a vast swathe of the surrounding residential districts to the west. Millions of people lived in the areas covered by both New York Main and New York Fringe. Nobody would have stored tactical radiation weapons in residential areas full of millions of people.”
I was bending the truth again, because I knew small-scale nuclear warheads had been found in stasis boxes in ancient cities. The lie worked though. Wren, Alund, and Landon looked a fraction calmer again.
“The ridiculous thing is that I only came on this trip because I thought it was too dangerous for me to stay at my Next Step for the summer break,” said Landon.
We all gazed at him in bewilderment. “Why would it be too dangerous for you to stay at your Next Step?” asked Wren.
“Because Hugo pushed me down some steps a few months ago, and I broke my wrist in the fall. I was afraid he’d do something like that again.”
“You should have reported this Hugo to the Principal of your Next Step,” said Alund.
“I couldn’t do that,” said Landon. “Hugo is the Principal’s son.”
“Oh.” Wren scowled. “I can see that makes it hard to report Hugo to anyone else as well. The Principal could make your life very difficult.”
“There’s no point in me reporting Hugo anyway,” said Landon. “If a Hospital Earth Inspector investigated what happened, Hugo would claim I tripped and fell down those steps, and I’d be in trouble for lying.”
“Why would a Hospital Earth Inspector believe Hugo rather than ...” I broke off my sentence as the obvious answer occurred to me. The Principal of Landon’s Next Step would have the same immune system problem that we did, but nine out of ten of the children of Handicapped parents were normal born. “Hugo is a norm?”
“Yes,” said Landon. “Hugo turned 18 last Year Day, so he’s a legally adult norm. If I accuse him without absolute proof that he’s guilty, then I’ll probably end up being sent to Correctional.”
We all pulled sympathetic faces.
“The most horrible thing about this is that Hugo used to be a nice person,” said Landon. “He went to school with other norms of course, but he lived at our Next Step. He didn’t pay much attention to us younger kids, but he was friends with the ones his own age.”
Landon sighed. “Hugo seems like a different person since he went off world to study at University Demeter. When he came back to visit his father in the spring, he was nasty to everyone, and chose me to be a special target. I knew he’d be staying at our Next Step for at least three weeks during the summer break, so I joined the history club and came on this trip to avoid him.”
“So that’s why you’ve been so bad at everything,” said Wren. “You were never interested in working on the dig site.”
“To be honest, I knew that working on the dig site was hazardous, so I’ve been actively trying to avoid it by being as ignorant and useless as possible at everything.” Landon made a noise that was halfway between a laugh and a groan. “I must sound like a complete coward. I suppose I am a complete coward, and lazy too, because I planned to stay perfectly safe by just sitting on a transport sled and watching the rest of you do all the work. I never expected anything like a radiation spike.”
“You mean you’ve been deliberately pretending to be bad at everything?” Alund gave him a look of grazzed disbelief.
Landon nodded. “My big worry was that you’d work out what I was doing. I only joined the junior history club after the spring break, but Wren helped me learn enough to pass the gold safety award in time to come on this trip. If she saw me struggling with things like suits and heavy lift sleds, then I knew Wren would try to help me again, so I kept being nasty to drive her away.”
He pulled an apologetic face at Wren. “I’m really sorry about that. I was being nearly as vile as Hugo. It was totally unfair of me, but you were so amaz at insulting me in return that ...”
His words were drowned out by Valeska’s voice coming from the overhead speakers again. “Attention, everyone. Please clear the centre of the hall. I’m pleased to say that we’ve now received detailed sensor readings of the radiation and its distribution pattern. We are moving to second stage medical treatment immediately.”
Superficially, her voice was as calm and reassuring as before, but there was an odd edge to it. I’d spent every morning of the last week in an aircraft with Gradin and Valeska, listening to them argue, laugh, and reminisce about past events. By now, I knew Valeska’s voice well enough to know that edge meant she was frightened. Something was wrong. Something was very badly wrong.
The other people here didn’t know the nuances of Valeska’s voice. There were relieved sighs from all around me. Some of the school groups shuffled closer to the walls, leaving a big area free in the middle of the hall, and I saw a set of six huge, holo glowing numbers appear in midair.
Wren turned to smile hopefully at me, and I forced myself to smile back, while worrying about what had frightened Valeska. Had the sensor readings showed that the radiation was from a tactical weapon? How had the doctors got sensor readings of the radiation so fast anyway? Valeska had said it would take another hour
for a remote-controlled Military probe to take sensor readings of the problem area.
Then I realized the reason the information had come so quickly, and why Valeska was frightened. Gradin had been airborne in a survey plane packed with sensor equipment when the radiation alert sounded!
My hands clenched into tight fists. Gradin was a maddening, bad-tempered, egotistical rebel, but you could always depend on him to help when people were in trouble. The man had flown his survey plane into a radiation cloud to get the information needed for our medical treatment.
Chapter Twenty
A man’s voice was coming over the loudspeakers now. I had to focus on his words, banish horrific images of a dead or dying Gradin from my mind, and make sure my trainees got the medication they needed.
“Treatment will be given in standard medical priority sequence,” the man said. “The following groups of people should move to treatment point one. Anyone normal born and ...”
“Of course the norms get treated first,” said Landon, his voice shaking with anger.
“It doesn’t matter,” said Wren. “There won’t be any norms here. All the norm born kids go to off-world schools, and those don’t bother with things like trips to dig sites.”
“It does matter,” said Landon. “It shows that Hospital Earth thinks their lives are far more valuable than ours.”
Landon’s outrage was being echoed all around the hall. The announcer let the babble die down before speaking again, the sour note in his voice showing he resented this just as much as the rest of us.
“Anyone normal born and any pregnant women should move to treatment point one.”
Nobody moved. You couldn’t work on a dig site if you were pregnant, because the stress of wearing an impact suit could harm your baby. There might have been some pregnant women working in the New York Fringe Dig Site Command Centre, but they’d been evacuated somewhere else.
“At least it makes sense that pregnant women get treated first,” said Alund. “Unborn babies would be especially vulnerable.”
“The important thing to Hospital Earth is that those unborn babies would have a nine in ten chance of being born norms,” said Landon bitterly.
I thought Landon was right, and shared his anger, but I couldn’t give way to it. Hospital Earth’s rules would naturally insist on norms getting treated first, but after that they should move to proper medical priorities.
I stood up. “On your feet, everyone. They’ll be treating the youngest people here first, so Wren and Alund need to be ready to move.”
My trainees scrambled to their feet, and I led them a little closer to the treatment points.
“Children aged 12 years old or less should go to treatment point two,” said the announcer.
Wren glared up at the ceiling. “I’m not a child!”
“No, you’re an archaeologist, and a very fine one,” said Landon, in soothing tones, “but go and get your meds.”
Wren gave him a startled look, and then headed to stand under the glowing number two. I wasn’t sure there’d be anyone else her age here, but a boy went to join her.
“Those aged 13 should go to any of the treatment points,” said the announcer.
Alund hurried over to treatment point three. There were about a dozen boys and girls scattered across the treatment points now. After a brief pause, the entrance door opened. Six anonymous, white-suited figures came into the hall, with heavily laden hover trolleys chasing after them. One of them went to each of the numbered treatment points. I watched one check Wren’s arm, wave a scanner at her, and then carefully count three different colours of tablets into a tiny blue cup.
Two more white-clad figures appeared, with several trolleys stacked with water bottles. I saw Felipe hurry up to them. He took one of the trolleys across to the gap between treatment points one and two, and started opening the bottles of water. He caught sight of me looking at him, and waved in my direction.
I didn’t bother waving back. However helpful Felipe was being now, I couldn’t forget the way he’d frightened my trainees earlier.
The announcer’s voice came from overhead again. “Anyone aged 14 should join the queues at any of the treatment points.”
I gestured at Landon, and he hurried towards where Wren and the boy were standing at treatment point two. A whole mob of other Fourteens were heading for the treatment points as well. I frowned, worried this would turn into a shoving match, but a couple of teachers intervened to organize everyone into neat queues.
Landon ended up about halfway down the queue at treatment point two. I glanced across to check on Alund, saw he was second in line at treatment point three, and then looked back at Wren. She was leaving treatment point two, clutching her blue cup of meds in her right hand, and heading towards Felipe and his trolley of water bottles. Felipe saw Wren coming, smiled, and held out an opened bottle of water towards her.
Wren responded with a smile of her own, but as she reached out to take the bottle with her free left hand, Felipe snatched her cup of meds. He brought it to his lips in one swift movement, gulped the tablets down, snatched another water bottle from the trolley, and then slipped away into the crowd.
Felipe had stolen Wren’s meds! I stood frozen to the spot for a second, unable to believe what I’d just seen, then sprinted across to where Wren was standing.
She turned to face me, her face showing the same shocked outrage that I was feeling. “Felipe took my meds!” she wailed.
“I know. I saw him.” I grabbed Wren’s arm, and towed her behind me as I ploughed my way through the queue to get to the table at treatment point two.
“What are you doing?” demanded the white-suited figure.
I gestured at Wren, incoherent with rage. “Someone stole this girl’s meds!”
“Who stole ...? No, never mind, we can deal with that later.” The woman scanned Wren. “Confirmed that she hasn’t taken any meds.”
A moment later, Wren was given another blue cup of meds. This time she took the tablets at once, choking as she forced them down without the help of water. I took her across to the trolley of water bottles, gave her one bottle, grabbed two more, and moved to stand watching Alund.
I’d had one of my charges robbed of their meds, and I wasn’t having it happen again. The second Alund had a blue cup of meds in his hand, I hurried in to hand him a water bottle and stand guard as he took his tablets. After that, I herded him and Wren with me to wait and repeat the performance with Landon.
Once my trainees had all taken their meds, I led them back to the spot where we’d been sitting earlier. “Will you be all right waiting here for me for a few minutes?”
They were looking more confident now they’d had the extra medication, but Landon gave me a puzzled look. “Yes, but they haven’t finished treating all the Fourteens yet, so it will be a while before you need to go and get your meds.”
“I’m not going to get my meds,” I said grimly. “I’m going to find Felipe!”
A lot of people were on their feet now. Teachers organizing their pupils. Fourteens returning from getting their meds. Fifteens anxiously anticipating the call for treatment. I was threading my way between the groups, looking for Felipe, when the announcer’s voice spoke again.
“Anyone aged 15 should join the queues at the treatment points.”
There was a massed surge of Fifteens toward the centre of the room. As I dodged out of their way, I spotted Felipe sitting by the wall next to the entrance door. He saw me at the same moment, getting hurriedly to his feet as I stormed across to confront him.
“You stole the meds from a 12-year-old child!” I screamed at him.
“What if I did?” His face was flushed but defiant. “This place is full of school parties. I shouldn’t have to stand around waiting for hours while hundreds of children get treated ahead of me. Norms get their meds first because Hospital Earth thinks they’re more valuable than us. By exactly the same logic, I’ve got a place as a heavy lift operator on University Earth Arc
haeological Research Team 28, so I’m far more valuable than an inexperienced brat.”
“I’ll report you to the Dig Site Federation for this! They’ll ban you from every dig site on Earth.”
“The Dig Site Federation can’t do a thing to me,” said Felipe smugly. “They can only discipline someone for their actions on a dig site, and this place doesn’t look like a dig site to me.”
He laughed triumphantly, which was the last straw that broke my fragile self control. Felipe was taller, heavier, and more muscled than me, but I was going to kill him! I launched myself at his throat, but someone grabbed at my arm from behind me, so I ended up staggering sideways.
Once I’d got my balance again, I whirled round to see what interfering person was stopping me ridding the world of a Cassandrian skunk, and was stunned to see Valeska.
“Jarra, I came through the door just in time to hear you say this man had stolen the meds from a 12-year-old child. That child would be the new history club member that you’ve been training called ... Robin?”
“Wren,” I said.
Valeska nodded. “Has your teacher taken Wren to get more meds?”
“Crozier isn’t here. There’s just me and my three trainees. I took Wren straight back to get more meds, and watched her take them, but that doesn’t mean Felipe should get away with stealing the previous ones.”
“I assure you that Felipe won’t get away with this. Let me deal with him.”
Valeska released my arm and advanced on Felipe. His smug smile faded, but he lifted his chin, and gave her a contemptuous look.
“And who are you to think you’re entitled to deal with me? Are you one of the pathetic people who weren’t good enough to become professional archaeologists and had to settle for teaching history in a school, or an amateur who ...”
At this point, Felipe’s expression suddenly changed to one of horror, and he abandoned his sentence. Valeska was wearing pale blue overalls like the rest of us, and her short fair hair was almost as sticky a mess as mine, but he’d finally recognized her.
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