Earth and Air Read online

  I frowned down at my empty cheese fluffle carton. Now I knew everyone was going to be all right, I was feeling uneasy about Felipe myself. He looked so pathetic, pleading with the doctor to help him. On the other hand, I couldn’t forget the way he’d claimed to be more valuable than Wren because he had a place on a research team.

  “Felipe didn’t seem to be in a blind panic,” said Wren doubtfully. “The way he smiled at me, held out a bottle of water, and then suddenly snatched my meds ... Well, it looked as if he’d carefully planned it in advance.”

  “I think Wren’s right,” said Landon. “Felipe knew she’d recognize and trust him, so it would be easy for him to catch her off guard and steal her meds.”

  “I don’t understand why Felipe would deliberately take Wren’s meds,” said Alund. “Remember that story he told us about the accident on Paris Coeur Main Dig Site? Felipe was the team 1 tag leader for his class. When the team 2 tag leader was caught in a cave in and got trapped in a pipe, Felipe volunteered to be lowered head-first down the hole and work with a laser cutter to save him.”

  Valeska had been listening to them discuss this in silence, but now she spoke. “Was that the Paris Coeur accident where the man had to be sent to casualty still stuck in the pipe?”

  Alund nodded. “If you’ve heard about it, Valeska, then you’ll know what I mean. Working upside down must have been dreadfully dangerous. Any mistake could have led to Felipe slicing himself with the laser. If he’d take that sort of risk to save someone else, why would he steal Wren’s meds? It makes no sense.”

  “Actually, things are starting to make a lot of sense to me,” said Valeska. “Felipe told you that he was the team 1 tag leader for his degree course class?”

  “Yes,” we chorused.

  “But I heard him claim to have a place as a heavy lift operator for Earth 28 research team,” said Valeska. “Those two stories contradict each other. Research teams need highly skilled heavy lift operators. Earth 28 would never recruit a tag leader specialist to fill a heavy lift position.”

  I blinked. “You mean Felipe lied about being team 1 tag leader, and was really a heavy lift operator? Do you think he was lying about the rescue too?”

  “I’m absolutely certain he was lying about the rescue,” said Valeska. “That accident at Paris Coeur didn’t happen to a degree course class, but to Earth 1, and I was the person lowered down the hole with the laser cutter.”

  We stared at her, totally grazzed.

  “But Felipe was so convincing when he told us about it,” said Wren.

  “It would be easy for him to make it a convincing story,” said Valeska. “If his class were at Paris Coeur Main Dig Site when the accident happened, he’d have heard all the details. His class may even have been shown a vid of the events, because we always had vid bees recording the Earth 1 excavations. That way we could analyze the vid afterwards, work out what went well, what went badly, and how we could improve our methods in future.”

  I waved my hands in disbelief. “Valeska, I’ve always dreamed of becoming a tag leader on a research team one day. When I heard Felipe talking about that rescue, I was staggered by his skill and courage, felt utterly inadequate in comparison, and almost gave up my ambitions. Now you’re telling me that he was lying about the whole thing. It was you that went down the hole with the laser cutter, and Felipe just watched a vid of the rescue.”

  “That’s right, Jarra,” said Valeska. “Now I hope you won’t start comparing yourself to me and feeling inadequate.”

  I laughed. “Of course not. I know you were chosen to lead Earth 1 because you were the most highly skilled archaeologist on this planet.”

  Valeska shook her head. “That’s not true at all. The main reason I got my post as leader of Earth 1 was because of my talent for getting research funding. It’s true that I’m also exceptionally skilled in excavation work, but you could well be equally good one day. You’ve got all the main qualities that are needed, Jarra. The high levels of endurance needed for long hours working in an impact suit, a determination to overcome obstacles, and a willingness to work obsessively hard.”

  “I’ll never be as good as you at anything. I’m nervous just watching people use lasers, so I’m worried how I’ll cope when I have to use one myself.”

  “I’m utterly terrified of lasers too,” said Valeska, in a confiding tone. “My degree course lecturer said that was a good thing, because it was the people who weren’t scared of lasers who got careless and cut their own heads off. She was a very bluntly spoken woman, and had some odd ideas about twenty-first century history, but she was definitely right about lasers.”

  “The point about lasers does make sense,” I admitted. “I still don’t understand why Felipe lied to us though.”

  “Because he’s a thoroughly unpleasant young man who’ll happily tell any number of lies to make himself the centre of attention,” said Gradin’s voice from behind me. “Don’t you remember me saying you should stay well away from him, Jarra?”

  I jumped to my feet and turned to face him. “Gradin, you’re alive!”

  Chapter Twenty-two

  “Of course I’m alive.” Gradin gave me a withering look. “Why wouldn’t I be alive?”

  Valeska got slowly to her feet, studied his face, the overalls he was wearing that were identical to ours except for being green instead of blue, and the lookup that he was carrying in one hand. Finally she spoke, her normally perfectly controlled voice shaking slightly.

  “Possibly because you flew a survey plane through the heart of a radiation cloud to get the information the doctors needed to help us. Do you glow in the dark now, George?”

  He gave her an even more withering look than he’d given me. “No, I don’t glow in the dark, and I didn’t fly through the radiation cloud to get the information either. I’m not saying I wouldn’t have done that if it was necessary, but it wasn’t.”

  “So how did you get the information?” I asked.

  Gradin turned to face me. “What would you have done, Jarra? You’re flying a survey plane at low altitude, actually in the middle of flying a survey leg, when you hear on broadcast channel that radiation levels are spiking across New York Fringe. Dig Site Command is calling an emergency evacuation. What’s the first thing you do?”

  He waited a bare second before making a clicking noise of disgust with his tongue. “Come on, Jarra, think!”

  I was trying to think. The first thing I’d do would be to panic, but the second thing ... “If I’m flying a survey leg, the plane sensors are collecting data on a host of things including radiation. I check that data.”

  “You see radiation levels increasing rapidly at ground level,” said Gradin. “The radiation is gradually rising towards you. You hear on the broadcast channel that radiation levels are still stable on New York Main Dig Site, and their Dig Site Command is remaining operational. What do you do?”

  “I’d turn towards New York Main and climb for height,” I said. “That would keep me safe, but it wouldn’t get me the data on the radiation, so it’s not the right answer.”

  “It is the right answer,” said Gradin. “It keeps you out of the radiation and gives you time to plan. You now need to get data on the radiation source without killing yourself. How can you do that?”

  I buried my face in my hands for a moment, before lifting my head again. “New York Main Dig Site Command is still operational. I set my survey data to transmit to them.”

  “Yes, and what next?” prompted Gradin.

  “I wait until the evacuation is complete, and then head for the radiation source. With no one left on the dig site, I can put the survey plane on course to fly at minimum height over the radiation source before crashing into the ground. Then I blow my cockpit cover, and jump out. Once I’m on the ground, I just need to find an evac portal and escape.”

  Gradin gave me a pitying look. “Doesn’t it occur to you that you’d pick up a nasty dose of radiation trudging around the dig site and randomly lo
oking for an evac portal?”

  “Oh yes,” I said. “The sensible thing would be to check the location of the evac portals, and jump when I was directly over one.”

  “Which is exactly what I did,” said Gradin smugly.

  “Does that mean your radiation exposure wasn’t too bad, George?” asked Valeska.

  “It was less than most people suffered on the ground. The doctors at America Major Incident Centre 6 wouldn’t believe that though. I’d portalled out of the dig site long after everyone else, so I got randomly sent to join an evacuation group from one of the nearby settlements. The doctors assumed my late arrival meant I’d had a lethal dose of radiation, and stuck me in isolation for ages.”

  “So that’s why you vanished,” said Valeska. “The people evacuating from New York Fringe were split between here and Australia Major Incident Centre 2. I was helping out in triage, so I could access the Planetary Incident Control systems, but you weren’t on the admission list for either centre. I contacted New York Main Dig Site Command about you, and they told me that your aircraft had definitely either landed or crashed in the radiation area, so I was very worried about you. I hadn’t realized that the delay in you portalling out of the dig site could lead to you being sent to a different centre from the rest of us.”

  Gradin shrugged. “You should have known I was perfectly safe. Anyway, eventually the doctors decided their scans confirmed what I’d been telling them, gave me some meds, and let me out of isolation. The settlement evacuation group included a lot of screaming babies from a Hospital Earth Nursery Unit. I couldn’t bear the noise, so I persuaded the doctors to decontaminate my lookup and let me portal to join you here.”

  “You mean you behaved so dreadfully that the doctors agreed to let you portal here to get rid of you.”

  “Possibly.” Gradin gave Valeska a triumphant look. “I’m now waiting for you to thank me for saving your life. How many times is that now?”

  “Given the type of radiation involved, I don’t think you really saved my life this time, George.”

  Gradin glowered at her.

  “However,” she added, “if it had been a different type of radiation, you might well have saved my life, and you’d certainly have saved me from repeated, long periods in regrowth tanks. I’m very grateful.”

  Gradin gave her a satisfied nod.

  “We’re all very grateful,” said Alund.

  Wren and Landon murmured agreement.

  Gradin shook his head. “If I’m remembering Jarra’s chattering correctly, you three are all on your first trip to a dig site, so you don’t need to be grateful to me. I only insist on thanks from people who repeatedly enter hazard zones.”

  He looked pointedly at me.

  “You’re the best pilot in the whole of humanity,” I said, and this time I truly meant it.

  Gradin smiled happily and faced Valeska again. “Go on. Thank me again. You know I’ll insist on you keeping on thanking me for at least another two hours.”

  “I’ll keep thanking you for as long as you want, George,” said Valeska, “In fact, I’m so grateful to you, that I’ll stop trying to nag you into marrying me as well.”

  Gradin’s smile vanished. “That’s unfair tactics.”

  She gave him a look of overly exaggerated innocence. “I don’t see what’s unfair about it. You’ve said you don’t want to marry me several times already. Now you’ve seen me in these ghastly overalls, and with my hair covered in red glop, you’re never going to change your mind. I’ll just have to accept your decision and marry Peregrine again.”

  “Oh no,” said Gradin, “you can’t marry Peregrine again.”

  Valeska seemed to stop to think for a moment. “Actually, you’re right about that. The last time I saw Peregrine, he was besotted with Jerez of Cassandra 2.”

  Gradin raised his eyebrows. “I don’t think Peregrine stands much chance there.”

  “Neither do I, but I’m not getting in his way. I’ll have to marry Vladimir again instead.”

  “Vladimir!” Gradin managed to make the name sound like a swear word.

  Valeska waved her hands. “Vladimir’s obviously not my ideal choice, but since you don’t want to marry me, George ...”

  Gradin groaned. “You’re a hard, cruel, manipulative woman, Valeska Orlova.”

  “True.” She grinned at him. “At least I’m honest about it though, and you like honesty.”

  “I like honesty in moderation,” said Gradin gloomily. “Well, you can force me to marry you, but I refuse to play the leading role in one of your fancy weddings. This marriage ceremony is going to be nothing more than the two of us calling Earth Registry. Understood?”

  Valeska looked thoughtful. “I’ve had a twenty-third century themed wedding, and a sixteenth century themed wedding.”

  “Including a coronation with a stolen crown,” said Gradin bitterly.

  She ignored that. “An airborne wedding could be interesting. You’d enjoy that, George.”

  “No, I wouldn’t,” said Gradin. “If we had an airborne wedding, Theo Westlake would insist on coming.”

  Valeska sighed. “Then I’ll settle for just calling Registry this time.”

  Gradin took his lookup from his overall pocket. “And we’ll call them right away.”

  Valeska frowned at the lookup. “Why are you in such a big hurry to call Registry?”

  “I’m in a hurry to call Registry because I know exactly what will happen if we wait a few days. You’ll furtively arrange a huge wedding, and trick me into walking into the middle of it.”

  “Whatever makes you think I’d do a thing like that, George?”

  He gave her a bitter look. “I haven’t forgotten my surprise fiftieth birthday party.”

  “Oh yes.” She laughed. “You enjoyed the party though. At least, you enjoyed complaining about it.”

  Gradin moved a little away from our group and started tapping at his lookup. Valeska threw a mischievous grin at the rest of us and went to join him.

  Wren stared at them in bewilderment. “Are they really getting married?”

  I ran my fingers through my hair. “I suppose they are.”

  Landon scratched his head. “I can’t see Earth Registry allowing this. You need to have completed several Twoing contracts before you can get married.”

  “They do seem to be rushing things a bit,” said Alund.

  “Gradin and Valeska have had four Twoing contracts scattered over the last three decades,” I said.

  “Three decades!” repeated Alund. “Aren’t they taking things a bit slowly then, and shouldn’t there be some kissing or hugging going on?”

  My brain struggled with the idea of Gradin kissing anyone. Fortunately, a massed shout went up at this point.

  “Lookups!”

  I turned and saw the uniformed people had returned with more trolleys. These weren’t loaded with food, but lookups and a scattering of other small objects. There was a surge of people getting to their feet, eager to reclaim their lookups.

  A voice hastily spoke from overhead. “Please don’t all rush to search for your belongings at once. Remain where you are while the trolleys tour the hall.”

  Since Hospital Earth issued its wards with virtually identical basic lookups, we all personalized them by adding pictures to the case. For the next few minutes, we inspected the contents of a succession of trolleys, searching for familiar pictures. Valeska’s lookup arrived on trolley number three, then there was a brief moment of excitement with trolley number four, when Landon grabbed a lookup with an image of a hoverball star. A moment later though, he was sadly putting the lookup back on the trolley. There was clearly more than one fan of that hoverball star in the hall.

  We were starting to get worried by the time that trolley number ten arrived. That was half empty by now, so the face of my favourite vid star, Arrack San Domex, was easy to spot. Everyone else’s lookups were there too, as well as a tiny, battered, pink toy rabbit. We all carefully avoided looking a
t Wren.

  “The rabbit isn’t mine,” she said, in an annoyed voice.

  “Rabbit?” Valeska hurried up to look at the trolley. “You’ve found my lucky rabbit? Thank chaos for that. When I didn’t find it with my lookup, I was afraid it had got lost.”

  Gradin groaned. “I was hoping we’d finally seen the last of that ridiculous rabbit.”

  Valeska picked up her rabbit and tucked it into the pocket of her overalls. “You should speak of my lucky rabbit with respect, George. It’s over six centuries old and it’s now your relation by marriage.”

  “It’s bad enough having a wife,” grumbled Gradin. “I’m not having a lucky rabbit-in-law as well!”

  At any other time, I’d have been demanding to hear the story of the ancient toy rabbit, but I was busy checking the messages on my lookup. The radiation leak had happened at about 15:00 hours Earth America time, which was 20:00 hours Earth Europe time. Once Planetary Incident Control established my identity from the admission scans, they’d followed the standard Hospital Earth procedures, automatically notifying my ProParents and the Principal of my Next Step that I’d been caught in a radiation evacuation.

  That meant there was a frantic message for me from my ProMum, Candace. My ProDad hadn’t bothered to send a message. I checked twice to make sure, because I thought he should have made an effort in these circumstances, and then told myself it was a good thing he hadn’t contacted me. If my ProDad had sent a message, it would have been a gloating one about how the radiation evacuation proved he’d been right to try to stop me going to dig sites.

  There was only a short message from the Principal of my Next Step, but at least she’d made the effort to send one. She must have told all my friends what had happened as well, because there was a torrent of messages from them, including at least a dozen from Issette.

  Right at the top of the list, flagged as emergency priority, was a text-only message from Crozier. I eagerly tapped my lookup to read it, skipping past all the anxious questions about how we were, to the instructions at the end.

  “Crozier says we have to stay exactly where we are,” I told the others. “He’s in Australia Major Incident Centre 2 with the rest of the history club. As soon as they’re cleared to leave, he’ll bring everyone over here to collect us.”