“Overall, your health checks out as better than expected,” Janet added. “Most of your wounds were healed without problems. Barry ... did some damage, but it was repaired.”
She hesitated. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“I killed him,” Kailee said. Barry had raped her and she’d killed him. It was funny, but one seemed to cancel out the other. Would the rape victims on Earth have coped better if they’d been allowed to kill their rapists? “Will I have to go on trial?”
“Probably not,” Janet said. The second day, they’d told their stories to a handful of visitors from the city – and Janet, who had listened quietly and said nothing. “Barry’s death has been ruled justifiable homicide. There isn't anyone here interested in pursuing the matter further, no kin who might seek recompense or revenge. You should be fine.”
Kailee relaxed, slightly. “Thank you,” she said. “What happens now?”
Janet gave her a long considering look. “What do you want to happen now?”
“I want to find a career here,” Kailee said. “Earth doesn't have anything for me now.”
“Cool,” Janet said. She smiled. It made her look years younger. “And what do you actually want to do?”
“I would like to study medicine,” Kailee said. “But I don't know if that would be possible.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” Janet said. She looked pensive for a moment. “You cannot read or write, nor can you perform more than simple arithmetic. On the other hand, those are skills you can learn, given the right incentive. You’ll have to work hard.”
She smiled. “I can speak to the nurses here,” she added. “They might agree to take you on as a trainee, provided you make a determined effort to master those skills. But this isn't Earth, Kailee. One screw up and you will be kicked out so hard you’ll end up in next week.”
“I know,” Kailee said. On Earth, it was almost impossible to get rid of a doctor, no matter how dangerously incompetent. There had been a doctor, a level or two above her, who had earned the nickname Dr Death. Few people wanted to go to him for treatment. “But I want to take the chance to try.”
Janet nodded. “And so you shall,” she said. “There are other options, of course.”
Kailee nodded. Fishing didn't hold an appeal for her, nor did becoming a farmwife. Maybe she could become a shopkeeper ... but what would she sell? Besides, Janet was right. Her maths skills were very limited.
“The doctor tells me that you should be discharged tomorrow,” Janet said, finally. “They’ve assigned you all an apartment, so you can sleep there - I’d suggest you rested for a few days, giving me enough time to set up the interview with the nurses. In any case, don't leave the city.”
“Of course not,” Kailee agreed. Right now, she wouldn't have left the city if she’d been offered money to do it. “I’ll stay in bed.”
Janet stood, then picked a reader off the table and passed it to Kailee. “You might want to download basic medical texts from the datanet,” she offered. “There should be an outline of what you will have to learn if you want proper qualifications, although you can go quite some distance without them. Meridian definitely isn't Earth.”
She smiled. “But you really should practice reading,” she added. “You’re going to need it.”
Kailee watched as she left the room, then turned her attention to the reader.
***
“Colonel Nick was quite impressed with you,” Austin said, as Darrin dressed in the clothes he'd been loaned. “And so were the councillors. There’s talk of hosting a large banquet for you and your friends.”
Darrin flushed. It was funny, but after years of worthless praise from teachers he found real praise embarrassing. Colonel Nick had years of experience, Austin had been a Scout ... and yet they’d both praised Darrin to the skies. A banquet would be even more embarrassing, he suspected. And yet part of him enjoyed the feeling of knowing he’d done well.
“More practically, I have a form for you,” Austin continued. “If you’re still interested, that is.”
He passed Darrin a sheet of paper and a pen. “Your standard application form for the Sabre Salamanders,” he explained. “They’re the local Scouts. You’ll be older than most of the newcomers, but you have a great deal to learn. Once you win a few badges, you’ll have your chance to try out for the militia. If, of course, that is what you want to do with your life.”
Darrin glanced at the form. It seemed almost absurdly simple compared to the endless realms of paperwork on Earth. Going paperless might be environmentally friendly – it was the excuse for never allowing a real book inside the school – but it seemed to allow forms to grow and grow until filling them in took hours. Instead, the Scouts just wanted name, address and prior experience. But he didn't even have an address.
“The council has given you and the others an apartment,” Austin said. “There’s also a cash reward, which you need to accept at some point. And there might also be gifts from others.”
Darrin nodded. “Thank you,” he said, and meant it. “When do I start?”
Austin smirked. “You will also need to get a job, as the money will not last indefinitely,” he warned. “My father might decide to give you a chance, but I think you’d be better off working in the city. Take a few days to see what options there are and then make up your mind. You could earn a good wage simply chopping down trees or working on the boats. It's up to you.”
“I’ll make up my mind soon,” Darrin promised. “And yourself? What are you going to do now?”
“Write a full report, then have it ripped to shreds by the Scoutmaster, I assume,” Austin said, dryly. He didn't seem very worried at the prospect. “He’ll probably say I should have shot Barry or something, right at the start. Hindsight is always so much clearer, isn't it?”
He shrugged. “Speaking of which, my uncle apologised for all the awful things he said about you,” he added. “He was quite impressed too. I think he even plans to invite you for dinner”
“Thank you,” Darrin said, sardonically. Austin’s uncle sounded fearsome. “But shouldn't I get better first?”
Austin laughed. “You don’t get to stay in bed on the farm,” he said, snidely. “Get well soon.”
***
Gary had been discharged from the hospital after the first day, although the doctor had warned him to take it easy for the next few days. He’d gone to the lodge, then to the apartment where he’d met Steve. The older boy had talked briefly about remaining with the plane, then left Gary to settle in alone. It had been easy enough. Most of his stuff had been lost along the way.
He looked around his room, feeling oddly unsettled. There was no computer, apart from the reader – and there was unlikely to be one, at least for some years. Sabre City’s datanet was primitive, he had discovered; it simply wasn't designed to become as pervasive as Earth's, where it could be found almost everywhere. There was little call for a computer technician on Meridian, although Janet had pointed out that he could get a job at the spaceport while he waited for a freighter to arrive that might be interested in a new crewman. It was, Gary suspected, his only hope.
Shaking his head, he walked out of the room and into the living room. Li sat there, her leg encased in plaster. Gary knew that modern medicine could have healed her quicker, but she wasn't classed as important enough to deserve the best. He wondered, briefly, if the doctors regretted that decision, before telling himself it might not matter. The economics of interstellar shipping meant that only limited supplies of advanced medicines and nanotechnology were available on Meridian. Li could afford to heal the old-fashioned way.
He nodded to her, then walked out of the door. The apartment was actually a double-storey house, although they only had the lower level to themselves. From what he’d heard, it had originally belonged to a family that had stayed in the city for several years, then migrated out to a farm. It was actually one of the largest new-built buildings in the city, surprisingly enough. Only the prefabricated bu
ildings were larger.
And, compared to the megacities, it was so tiny that it didn't even register.
Gary had never liked crowds. The handful of people on the streets didn't make him uncomfortable, not like walking through the megacity and fearing anything from theft to assault and random murder. But he wasn't sure he could spend the rest of his life on Meridian. Darrin might enjoy the chance to work with his muscles, Kailee might make it as a doctor; Gary knew that he would never be happy on Meridian. But it was better than Earth.
He paused outside the shooting range, then stepped inside. The man at the counter eyed him suspiciously, no doubt remembering what had happened when Darrin and Barry had gone shooting before the crash. Thankfully, the settlers didn't seem inclined to blame everyone from Earth for the sins of a couple of fools. Gary stopped outside the counter, then took a breath and opened his mouth.
“I’d like to apply for shooting lessons,” he said.
“Would you,” the man said. “And how much do you know already?”
“Nothing,” Gary said, honestly. If he'd known how to use the pistol he’d taken, if he’d had the confidence to trust in himself, he might have been able to save Kailee from being raped. “I need to start at the beginning.”
He still had nightmares about his bullet slamming into Barry. Some of them had him missing, which ended with him being beaten to death like Abdul. Others had Barry’s body exploding into a bloody mass as soon as the bullet hit home, leaving Gary and Kailee covered in blood. He knew he needed the self-confidence to learn to use a gun to protect himself and the only way to gain it was to take proper lessons. Whatever else happened, he promised silently, he would never be bullied again.
“Very good,” the man said. He rose to his feet, then plucked a pair of rifles and a pistol from the rack. “We shall begin at once.”
***
Janet had always disliked paperwork. The Imperial Army seemed to produce enough paperwork every day to wipe the bottoms of every enlisted man for years to come – which was, in her opinion, the best possible use for it. Even working independently for the Golden Cross, she still had to do paperwork. But at least it was more interesting that certifying that X number of rounds had been taken from storage, that Y number of rounds had been expended in training operations and Z number of rounds had been returned to the locked cabinets.
Overall, the results of the experiment were encouraging. Twelve candidates, selected largely at random, were taken to Meridian. Seven of them ended up dead, six through no fault of their own. (The plane crash that also killed Sergeant Yates was an unexpected incident.) Of the remainder, three of them may fit into colonial society, one wishes to become an independent spacer and one has no plans for her future. I believe that when her leg recovers she may find a place on Meridian.
Janet scowled. The next paragraph was harder to write. Yates hadn't held out much hope for Barry either, but he'd wondered if Barry would do better if he’d been separated from his fellows. But he had never had the chance to find out.
That said, Subject Three – Barry Sycamore (Earth ID/case file attached) – was particularly disappointing. Barry engaged in bullying behaviour on the starship, then committed an act of wanton vandalism on Meridian, scrabbled with his comrades during their march back to civilisation and finally raped Subject Six. Subject Three was punished heavily for the first two offences, but unlike Subject Two failed to learn from the experience. I saw no evidence of moral realignment prior to the aircraft crash. In short, I believe that future candidates comparable to Subject Three should be rejected – if this is impossible, they should be assigned to one-on-one mentoring with someone they can respect.
And thrash them for every little misdeed, Janet thought. She rather suspected that Yates would have been wasting his time. Barry had been too far gone to be saved, just like Han and a number of other worlds across the Empire. They were teetering on the brink of chaos.
She shook her head. The Golden Cross wasn't in the habit of shooting the messenger, but she'd been in the military long enough to know that unvarnished bad news wasn't considered welcome. But at least there was good news to go with the bad.
Encouragingly, Subjects Two, Four and Six managed to grow during their ordeal. Subject Two – Darrin Person (Earth ID/case file attached) – managed to reach civilisation to summon assistance to the captured Subjects Four and Six. Subject Six – Kailee Singh (Earth ID/case file attached) – was responsible for the fatal blow to Subject Three, despite having been raped by him. She showed a resiliency that was quite unexpected. I must note that while I did try to train her, along with the other girls, she always did the bare minimum necessary to proceed. Subject Four – Gary Seaman (Earth ID/case file attached) – showed remarkable initiative for someone from Earth, including taking Sergeant Yates’s gun and concealing it until it became necessary to use the weapon.
Subject Four started the trip as a shaking weakling, if I may be blunt. His self-confidence was non-existent. He was determined to score highly on the exams that would allow him to leave the CityBlock behind forever. Now, he is shooting regularly and actually seems to be on the verge of a relationship with Subject Six. (I have taken it on myself to counsel him to be careful. Subject Six’s reactions to her rape are atypical.) Overall, I can honestly say that the development of Subject Four has been extraordinary.
And none of them want to go back to Earth. I am not surprised.
Janet allowed herself a smile. She hadn't been impressed with Kailee either, but the girl had managed to surprise her. So had Li. It was a shame that the others hadn’t survived, though; who knew what they might have become, given time?
But there was a more serious issue she had to address.
I must add, however, that the decision to allow Principal Rico’s blatant rigging of the competition results (at least enough to ensure that four candidates came from his school) was badly in error. It created unwelcome dynamics among the selected; Subject Two, for example, was pushed together with Subject Three, even though the relationship was bad for both of them. Subject Four had no reason to try to make new ties with the others as two of his tormentors were also assigned to the program. He simply believed that they would be impossible to form. I believe that he might have been right.
In future, we should exercise greater care in selecting the candidates or take enough candidates to ensure that no school administrator gains an advantage by rigging the results. If nothing else, we can recruit enough to shuffle the groups around and ensure that all prior ties are broken.
Overall, the experiment may be deemed a partial success. However, doing it on a large scale may prove impossible. For better or worse, the twelve subjects were landed on a planet where the settlers outnumbered them thousands to one. If we expand the program to meaningful levels, we will alter that dynamic – and not in our favour. This is, of course, quite apart from the other problems. If we wish to save Earth (or at least as many of her inhabitants as we can) we may need to find another approach.
“If we can,” she muttered to herself, as she attached her electronic signature. The report would go back to the Core Worlds on the next starship, although it would be months before it finally reached Earth. By then, the next bunch of candidates might have already been selected.
She shook her head. Earth’s population was widely believed to be somewhere around eighty billion. If every starship in the Empire was assigned to hauling people away from Earth, it would still take years to evacuate the planet. And, even though Earth could not have long to live, most of the population wouldn't want to go.
But at least the potential existed. Earth’s children could adapt to a new environment, even when they hadn't selected themselves. The experiment had proved that much, at least. But would it be enough to save Earth? Somehow, she doubted it.
Sighing, she tapped SEND. The message vanished into the datanet.
Chapter Forty
In the end, the important detail is simple. The Empire, in refusing to prepare i
ts children to face the future, ensured that they had no future. Nor did the Empire.
- Professor Leo Caesius. Education and the Decline and Fall of the Galactic Empire.
“I confess I had my doubts about you, lad,” the foreman said. “You were not as physically strong as I would have preferred. But I took you on and you’ve made me proud.”
Darrin paused, wiping the sweat from his brow. Six months of hard labour and proper food had worked wonders on his body. Once, he'd thought himself strong. Now, he suspected he was actually stronger than Barry had been before his death. And, thanks to the Scouts, he was also a great deal more experienced. He had a long way to go, but he was getting there.
“Thank you, Bob,” he said. The foreman insisted on informality, except when he was chewing someone out. Darrin had earned more than his fair share of lectures in his first two weeks of working. But he’d improved. “Shooting tonight?”
“Yep,” Bob grinned. He looked around the lumberyard. “You’ve done well today.”
Darrin grinned. The lumberjacks walked out of the city in the morning, chopped down a number of trees and then carried their prizes back to the lumberyard, where they were converted into planks of wood for building or firewood. There wasn't much to the job, but it paid well and it kept him from having to think too much. And being a local hero had encouraged Bob to give him some extra time to settle in. It had definitely proved worth it.
He joined Bob and the others outside the yard for a celebratory beer. It had surprised him to see the colonials drinking beer – it was something he associated with Fitz – and he’d been reluctant to join them, at first. But the colonials didn't have bad habits when it came to alcohol. Those who got drunk tended to regret it. Darrin couldn't help wondering what Fitz would have been like if he’d spent a month on the chain gangs after beating his wife into a pulp while he was drunk. But there was no point in fretting about a man who might be dead – and who definitely was thousands of light years away.
The Empire's Corps: Book 07 - Reality Check Page 36