Janet Edwards - Earth Flight

Fian finished the sentence for me. ‘So you couldn’t tell me or Playdon what was going on, because that would prove Petra was right.’ He paused. ‘I promise I won’t fight your battles for you again, but I’d like to fight your battles beside you. There’s a big difference.’

I grinned with relief. ‘Fighting battles together is fine.’

He grinned back at me. ‘You’re still a nardle for not taking your meds though.’

‘You’re a nardle too. Did you see the look on Playdon’s face when you insisted on moving the wall?’

Fian laughed. ‘It didn’t take long with Amalie organizing the whole class to help.’

‘It wasn’t the time it took, or the fact everyone was totally exhausted by then, it was the sheer idiocy of wanting to share a room with me when I smell like this.’

I paused to pick my words carefully. ‘Fian, it’s not just the perfume, it’s … Well, it might be sensible for you to keep a distance from me for a while. Leveque said our relationship was making you a target too.’

‘I’ve been waiting for you to suggest that idea, so I could tell you to forget it.’

‘But …’

‘No!’ Even in near darkness, I could recognize the determined angle of Fian’s jaw. ‘I meant what I said to Petra. I’m not letting anyone split us up. I’m definitely not allowing some exo and his skunk juice to put a physical wall between us. With three air purifiers in here the smell really isn’t a problem.’

He’d used the ‘exo’ word; the insult the Handicapped use for off-worlders. I smiled to myself. We were fighting this battle together.

Fian rolled away from me, turned up the glows to full brightness, and got out of bed. I’d suggested we should leave a gap between our beds until the skunk juice wore off, but he’d insisted on having them wedged against each other as usual. Fian was wonderfully, madly stubborn, and I loved him for it.

‘Time for me to shower and get ready for breakfast,’ he said.

I watched enviously as Fian headed out of the door. I was desperate to wash the greasy gel out of my hair and be properly clean again, but I couldn’t. Water would make the skunk juice start burning my skin again.

I picked up the hateful jar of gel and went across to the mirror. The regen fluid had finished healing my eyes, so the reflection of my face was a perfectly focused, lurid green and purple mess.

I sighed and carefully rubbed gel into my skin, choking at the overwhelming scent of Osiris lilies. I’d spent my life wistfully dreaming of the hundreds of worlds I could only see on the vids, never visit in real life, but I was glad I’d never go to Osiris and see its famous fields of luminous white flowers opening at sunset, flooding the air with their fragrance. I’d smelt enough nuking Osiris lilies to last me to my hundredth.

I’d just finished putting on my uniform, when Fian came back into the room. I giggled at the look on his face. ‘Wait outside for a few minutes while the gel dries and the air purifiers catch up with the smell.’

‘No, I can cope.’

He heroically shut the door behind him and started changing from his sleep suit into his uniform. On a normal day, I’d have said something about his excellent legs, or even made him blush by using the butt word that was regarded as shocking outside Beta sector, but today I just turned away and attached my curved Military forearm lookup to my left sleeve where it clung neatly in position. The exo with the skunk juice hadn’t managed to put a physical wall between us, but certain things wouldn’t be happening for a few days.

‘I’ve just realized I didn’t take my gun with me to the shower,’ said Fian. ‘I mustn’t leave it lying about like that or Playdon will throw a fit.’

‘No one else could fire it, and all Military guns and lookups have tracking devices and can be disabled remotely if they get lost or stolen.’ I went over to the bed and reached under the pillow for my own gun.

‘Tell Morrath confirmed,’ said the gun. ‘Active power 3. Single target. Safety engaged.’

I remembered the training Fian and I had been given. We were to keep the guns on power 3, which meant anyone we shot would be paralysed for hours. We were to use single target except in extreme circumstances. Scatterfire would hit multiple targets at once, so you had to be really careful using it.

I stared down at my gun. Physically, it felt perfectly natural to be holding it, the grip had been moulded to fit the scanned medical records of my hand, but mentally …

Although I was Military now, I’d still never expected to hold a gun intended for use against another human being. I wasn’t living in the days of pre-history when humanity fought wars. I wasn’t a Military Security agent. I wasn’t on a hostage rescue squad.

Fian picked up his gun, and it chattered away at him. ‘Eklund confirmed. Active power 3. Single target. Safety engaged.’

‘Wearing protective impact suits all day is impossible,’ said Fian, ‘but I’m surprised Leveque hasn’t given us some sort of body armour.’

‘He doesn’t need to. All Military uniforms are made of special material that’s highly resistant to fire, acid, knife attack, and projectile weapons.’

‘That’s good. So, where do we put the guns?’

‘You’re right handed, so the holsters will be on the right hip and left side of your uniform.’

‘They are?’ Fian ran his hands over his uniform. ‘Oh, this little pocket thing. I hadn’t noticed it before.’

I was still standing there like a nardle, looking at my gun. ‘Fian, do you think you could actually shoot someone?’

He put his gun in the holster on his right hip. ‘Yesterday morning, I would have said no, but now … If someone tries to hurt you again, then yes, Jarra, I’ll shoot them.’

The lookup on my sleeve chimed with a message and I frowned. ‘Major Rayne Tar Cameron of Command Support says the Tell clan council have been notified of the attack. They’ve postponed the presentation ceremony and will contact me when they’ve made new arrangements.’

Fian nodded. ‘It’s sensible to give you time to recover.’

I was still frowning as I followed Fian out of the door and down the corridor. Delaying the ceremony might be sensible, but it meant more days of suspense for Lolia and Lolmack. For me too.

Most of the class were already in the hall, sitting at tables and watching Earth Rolling News on the wall vid. A couple of presenters were talking in angry voices about two images on the screen. One was a girl with her face radiating pure delight. The other was a beaten wreck, with slimy hair, mottled skin, and lifeless eyes. They were both me.

Playdon stood up. ‘The story is on all the sector newzies as well. The Military made a statement three hours ago. I bookmarked it for you.’

He went over to the wall vid controls. One of the Earth Rolling News presenters was cut off in mid-sentence, and the image changed to show Colonel Leveque. If this statement went out three hours ago, Leveque had probably been up all night, but he appeared as pristine and relaxed as ever.

‘The Military regret to confirm there has been an attack on Commander Tell Morrath and Major Eklund. The perpetrator has been arrested and charged. Three further individuals are being questioned in connection with the incident.’

He paused for a moment before continuing. ‘This attack was organized by parties with extreme personal prejudices against the Handicapped. I warn anyone contemplating further such action that although Commander Tell Morrath and Major Eklund are temporarily assigned elsewhere, they remain key personnel of the Alien Contact programme. The Military will not hesitate to use deadly force in their defence.’