Earth 2788 (2 page)

The couple
lapsed into sulky silence. I tried to forget them, and sat watching the people
arriving from other worlds. Issette was studying their clothes, but I was
looking at their faces. Most of them were coming over to the waiting area, so
Earth was just one step on their journey. I concentrated on the ones heading
for the exit, the ones who were actually visiting Earth, wondering what had
brought them to such an unpopular destination.

Portal 4 flared
into life with a new incoming block portal, and a large group of people in
medical uniforms came through. One of Earth’s major specialities was medicine,
so these were probably off-world students here for part of their training.
Behind them walked a couple with two children, both girls.

The older girl
was about my age. I pictured the life she had, and thought how it could have
been mine too if the genetic dice had landed differently. I could have been
growing up with a family on a distant world. I could have been portalling to
Earth for a visit. I could have had everything, instead of …

Issette gave me
a painful jab with her elbow, and I turned to frown at her. “Ouch!”

“Shhh,” she
hissed. “Look over there!”

She was pointing
towards portal 7. Someone had obviously just arrived through it, because a set
of hover bags were still appearing. I watched them chase after their owner and
gather up in a group behind him, then looked at the owner himself and gasped.
He was young, attractive, and dressed in clinging clothes that showed bare
patches of skin in shocking places. I stared at him for a moment, totally
grazzed, before turning my head away.

“He must be from
one of the planets in Beta sector,” said Issette, still happily studying him. “Nowhere
else has clothes like that. He’s got to be filthy rich to dial interstellar
instead of block portalling, so maybe he’s from their capital planet, Zeus.
He’s got nice legs, hasn’t he?”

She was using
the polite word, “legs,” but I could tell from the way she said it that she
really meant a far more private area. I frowned at her. “Issette, behave
yourself!”

She turned her
head for a second to give me a wicked grin, before staring at the man again. “It’s
not my fault he’s dressed like that, and everyone else is looking too.”

I gave in to
temptation and had another look myself. The man did have extremely nice legs,
and you could see an awful lot of them! He was dark-haired, and I generally
preferred men with the much rarer blond hair, but in this case I could
definitely…

At this point, a
security guard hurried up, threw a blanket round the man’s shoulders, and had a
whispered conversation with him. The man laughed, but nodded, and went off with
the blanket wrapped firmly round him.

Issette sighed.
“Pity.”

After that, we
watched a group of young people come through portal 2, chattering to each other
in the classic drawling voices of aristocratic Alphans. Judging from the
snatches of conversation I could hear, they were pre-history students returning
from a break on their home world. I was planning to study pre-history myself,
so I listened avidly, trying to work out which of Earth’s ruined cities they’d
be excavating. Since they’d portalled into Earth Europe Off-world, it was
probably London, Paris Coeur or Berlin. Madrid Main Dig Site was still closed
for clean up after an ancient storage facility had a major radioactive leak.
Rome didn’t accept students. Budapest was …

I heard the
sound of someone shouting, and twisted round in my seat to look across at where
people were entering Earth Europe Off-world the legal way through the security
checks. A man clutching a plant was arguing with the guards. I shook my head in
disbelief. Did he seriously expect to stroll through an interstellar portal
carrying that? The dimmest of nardles should know that introducing random
plants or animals to an alien world could cause havoc with the eco system. Even
some of the most carefully planned introductions of Earth species to colony
worlds had caused unexpected problems.

Apparently this
dim nardle truly didn’t know that, because he was shouting at the security
guards so loudly now that everyone in the waiting area could hear him. “You’re
a bunch of officious nuking idiots!”

Issette turned
to me and pulled a buggy-eyed, shocked face, which could either have been at
the man’s stupidity or at him using the nuke word in public. I covered my mouth
with both hands to stop myself laughing. If I was one of the security guards,
I’d be strongly tempted to let the man try to take his precious plant through
an interstellar portal. The bio-filters would instantly shut the portal down,
and he’d be fined a fortune for attempting to breach interstellar quarantine.

The security guards
had a lot more patience than I did, because they just made soothing noises,
took the offending plant into custody, and let the aggrieved traveller stalk
off through portal 1 to Adonis.

I was still
exchanging grins with Issette when portal 7 came to life again. We both turned
to see if this was another scantily-clad man from Beta sector, but this time it
was a couple in the unremarkable clothes of Gamma sector. The woman was openly
crying, uncaring of who might see her, and the man appeared to be torn between
comforting her and keeping his distance. I’d worked out what was happening here
even before an older woman in the formal grey and white uniform of a Hospital
Earth Child Advocate hurried up to meet them.

The man spoke
before she could. “There’s no throwback genes in my family. This must be a
ridiculous mistake, unless …”

He turned to
give a suspicious look at the crying woman, and she seemed to forget her tears
as she glared at him in outrage. “There’s never been any apes in my family. It
must be you!”

The advocate
hastily intervened. “Please remember that on Earth we prefer to use the
official term, Handicapped, rather than derogatory slurs. I’m sorry, but
there’s no mistake. Your son was born with a flawed immune system, so he can’t
survive on any world other than Earth.”

She paused for a
moment. “There’s a random one in a thousand risk even with two normal parents,
so this can happen to absolutely anyone, but you’ll be happy to hear your son
was portalled here in time to save his life. He’s currently in a Hospital Earth
Infant Crash Unit, but his condition should soon be stable enough for you to
visit him. Before then, I’d like to give you information on all the options
available to help parents move to Earth to be with their Handicapped babies.”

The three of
them headed off to the exit, with the advocate still talking in bracingly
cheerful tones, but I could tell she was wasting her time. The man had a rigid,
cold expression on his face, and the woman had the distant look of someone
already rehearsing the speech she’d make to explain how she couldn’t possibly
give up everything and move to Earth to take care of her son. She’d use the
same excuses they all did, claiming it was nothing to do with the embarrassment
or the damage to her lifestyle, but because she felt it was best to let the child
grow up with his own kind.

This couple were
going to do what 92 per cent of the parents of Handicapped babies did. They
were going to hand their son over to be raised as a ward of Hospital Earth,
turn their backs on the reject, and walk away. That was what my parents had
done when I was born. That was what Issette’s parents had done. That was what
the parents of all my friends at Next Step had done.

I turned to look
at portals 9 and 10 for the first time. They were dark, but occasionally their
lights would blink as they relayed a portal signal for an incoming medical
emergency, sending a newborn Handicapped baby directly to a Hospital Earth
Infant Crash Unit.

I glanced at
Issette’s face, saw she was on the verge of tears, and stood up. “We’d better
go now.”

We walked back
to the door hidden behind the food dispensers. I’d just entered the code into
the lock plate, and was opening the door, when I heard a sudden shout.

“Hey! Where are
you going?”

I looked round,
and saw a security guard heading towards us. I grabbed Issette’s hand, dragged
her through the door with me, and kicked it closed behind us. Hopefully, the
guard wouldn’t know the code to open the door and …

There was a
series of clicks from the lock plate, and I saw the door start opening again. I
groaned, turned, and ran down the corridor, tugging Issette along with me. The
ceiling glows overhead were automatically turning on for us, just as they’d
done earlier, but now we were moving too fast for them. We were running on the
edge of darkness, with the pool of light always a pace or two behind us. I
could hear the sound of heavy footsteps chasing after us, and noisy, irregular
gasps for breath from Issette. Was she breathing like that because of the
physical effort of running, or because she was about to panic?

There was a dark
shadow on the wall to my left. A side corridor! I turned and skidded into it,
towing Issette with me. I was hoping that we could hide while the guard ran past
us, but of course the glows overhead started turning on, signalling our
location.

“Nuke it!” I
cursed my own stupidity and ran on, taking another couple of random turns. We’d
been moving faster than the guard to start with, but now I was horribly aware
the footsteps behind us were getting steadily closer. Our best chance would be
to split up, because a single guard could only chase one of us, but I couldn’t
leave Issette on her own in the darkness.

I was expecting
to be grabbed from behind at any moment, when the sound of footsteps suddenly
stopped. I risked turning my head for a second, and saw the guard standing still,
leaning against the wall and panting for breath.

“He’s given up!”
I said.

We ran on down
another couple of corridors, before stopping to rest and get our breath back. I
was rejoicing in our escape, when Issette spoke in a shaky voice.

“Is it far to
the way out?”

There was a sick
feeling in my stomach as I tried to remember all the turnings we’d taken during
the chase. We must be far away from the route we’d used to get to the
Off-world. I tried to keep my voice calm and confident as I answered her.

“There are
several ways out. Let me check the plans on my lookup to work out which is
closest.”

I tapped my
lookup, and stared at the maze of corridors. We’d taken a right turn, run past
two more turnings, taken a left, and then … No, according to the plan, the left
turn we’d taken didn’t exist. Either I’d forgotten something, or I’d missed
seeing some side turnings in the darkness. I couldn’t work out where we were,
or even which direction we should be going. There was a numbered door nearby,
but that didn’t help because there were no numbers on my plan.

I daren’t tell
Issette that we were lost. If we kept going straight on, then we must get
somewhere eventually. If we didn’t … Well, we could use our lookups to call for
help, but we’d be in an awful lot of trouble.

“We go this way,”
I said.

I led the way
down the corridor to the next junction and went straight on. At the next two
junctions, we went straight on again, but at the third we had to turn left or
right. I’d just decided to go right, when there was a cry of delight from
Issette. I turned to look at her, and saw she was pointing to a faded sign on
the wall. A fire exit sign!

We followed the
sign down the corridor to the left, found another sign pointing to the right,
and a corridor that ended in a red door. I waved my hand at the door release,
the door opened, and a combination of heat and bright sunlight hit us as we
went through it. We’d escaped!

I stopped and
shielded my eyes with one hand as I looked around. We were standing outside a
massive building, its grey flexiplas wall dotted with small doorways and
windows. At the far end of it, I could see some much larger doors, and a huge
sign saying “Earth Europe Off-world”. If we wanted to, Issette and I could come
back when we were 18, go in through those doors and see those ten chunky
portals again. What we couldn’t do, what we could never do however old we were,
was walk through one of the portals.

I knew exactly
what would happen if we did, because Hospital Earth allowed its wards one
attempt at portalling off world when they were 14, to prove there hadn’t been a
mistake in diagnosing them as Handicapped. I’d been one of the very few fool
enough to try it. I’d portalled from a hospital rather than an Off-world,
arrived on an Alpha sector world, collapsed into the arms of the waiting
medical team, and been thrown back through the portal. Things were a bit hazy
for a while after that, but I remembered enough pain to make me absolutely
certain I never wanted to try it again.

Interstellar
portals were for the norms, not for me and my friends. Whether you called us
the officially polite but sneering word, Handicapped, or the open insults like
throwback and ape, didn’t change anything. Every other handicap could be
screened out or fixed before birth, but the doctors couldn’t do anything about
this one. There were over eleven hundred inhabited planets spread across six
different sectors of space, but we were imprisoned on Earth. Any other world
would kill us within minutes.

Danae, Alpha sector, June 2788.

I’d had a new sari for every
birthday, and they’d all been beautiful, but the one for my eighteenth birthday
was truly breathtaking. It was floor length, in my favourite white and
burgundy, and covered in intricate, shimmering, embroidered patterns. I twirled
round, my waist-long black hair flying around me, admiring myself in the twin
full-length mirrors in the corner of my bedroom, while my three younger sisters
sat on my bed watching me with awe.

“You look dazzling,
Dalmora,” said Asha.

“Absolutely
lovely,” said Sitara.

“Totally zan!”
cried Diya, far too loudly.

She instantly
slapped her hand over her mouth, and we all turned to look at the door, holding
our breath in case Mother had been close enough to hear that. After a couple of
minutes, the bedroom door still hadn’t opened, so we all relaxed and collapsed
on the bed in a fit of giggles.

I finally calmed
down, and guiltily remembered I was about to become an 18-year-old. Here on
Danae, no one was considered fully adult until 25, but 18 was an important
first step in growing up. The sari I was wearing, that of an adult woman rather
than a girl, symbolized that. I’d be able to stand at my mother’s side at her
formal parties, welcoming the guests. I’d be able to apply for courses at
University Danae. I’d even be able to vote, though naturally my vote would only
count for half as much as a full adult.

It was totally
wrong of me to encourage Diya by giggling with the others. I should be setting
her a good example and helping my mother teach her the correct standards of
behaviour. “You really must stop using slang, Diya,” I said. “You know how much
Mother hates it.”

She pulled a
sulky face. “It’s not fair. The children in the vids I watch all use slang, and
nobody nags at them.”

I frowned,
wondering if I should ask exactly what vids Diya had been watching, but decided
it was better if I didn’t know. “I expect those children live on very different
worlds to ours. You mustn’t get into the habit of using slang, Diya. It’s not
just that Mother doesn’t like it; you know you’ll get into trouble at school as
well. The Academy is very strict about not allowing its pupils to use slang.”

Diya pulled a
face. “The Academy rules don’t even make sense. The teachers scold us for
saying amaz instead of amazing, but then they complain if we say something is
interesting instead of saying interest. Why do they do that? If we’re supposed
to speak formal Language at all times, then saying interest or fascinate should
be as wrong as any other slang.”

My youngest
sister had a habit of asking awkward questions. Father said it was because Diya
was highly intelligent, with an analytical, enquiring mind. Mother said it was
because Diya liked being difficult. Right now, my sympathies were with Mother.
I hesitated, trying to think of a good answer.

“Saying
fascinate is an accepted modification of formal Language used in the highest
social circles in Alpha sector,” I said at last.

“So Mother wants
to stop us using slang that’s in common usage on all eleven or twelve hundred
worlds of humanity, and encourage us to use slang that’s only used by
aristocrats on the capital planet of Alpha sector.” Diya sighed. “What’s the
point in that? Even if we visit Adonis, we’re hardly likely to meet any Adonis
Knights.”

“It’s not just
used on Adonis,” said Asha. “It’s used in the first social circles here on
Danae. That’s why the Academy insists on us using it.”

“I hate going to
the Academy,” said Diya.

Nobody bothered
to answer that. The Academy was the finest, most expensive, and most exclusive
school for girls on Danae. Mother had attended the Academy. Both our
grandmothers had attended the Academy. That meant we all had to attend the
Academy as well.

Diya wrinkled
her nose. “You all hate going to the Academy too, don’t you?”

“It has impressive
gardens,” said Asha.

“But you hate
going there,” said Diya.

“It has fine
architecture,” said Sitara.

“But you hate
going there,” repeated Diya.

Asha and Sitara
both looked at me. What could I say? The Academy was famous for its glorious
flowerbeds and genuine marble pillars, but it was a miserably strict place,
with people constantly watching you and criticizing your behaviour, your
stance, your accent, even how you were breathing.

I did the
cowardly thing, and evaded the question entirely. “I’ve taken my final examinations,
so I’m not attending the Academy any longer.”

Diya made an
inelegant snorting noise that would have earned her a week’s detention if any
of the Academy’s teachers had heard her. “But …”

She was
interrupted by the sound of the clock in the hall chiming half past one. It was
a totally accurate reproduction of an ancient nineteenth century clock, apart
from the adjustment to allow for the length of a day on Danae being slightly
different to the length of a day on Earth.

All four of us
stood up, checked our appearance in the mirror, and filed out of the room.
Mother was already waiting for us in the hall, so the four of us lined up
facing the house portal. Mother adjusted the folds of our saris, and tidied
Diya’s hair, before taking her place next to us. We all looked expectantly at
the portal for the next thirty seconds, then there was a series of musical
notes. It was a moment before we realized they weren’t actually coming from the
portal, but the front door instead.

We all hastily
swung round to face the door, and Mother gave the faintest of groans before
speaking. “Front door command open.”

The door swung
open, my grandmother entered, and Mother stepped forward to greet her. “Welcome,
Mother Rostha.”

She paused
before continuing in a pointed voice. “There’s no need to arrive using the
public portal outside, Mother Rostha. The house portal is set to accept your
genetic code, so you can portal straight into the house.”

Grandmother
frowned at Mother’s sari, and adjusted its folds before answering. “I keep
forgetting you have a private portal. So few people find it necessary to have
such a luxury.”

Grandmother had
said variations of this on every single one of her last ten visits. I had to
admire the way Mother kept her face and voice perfectly calm as she gave her
usual reply. “House portals are becoming far more common these days. Ventrak
has to do a huge amount of travelling to create his history vid series, and it
makes his life a little easier if he can portal straight into the house.”

“My poor son
works so hard to pay for your extravagances.” Grandmother moved towards me and
nodded her approval. “Dharma is always flawlessly dressed.”

“My eldest
daughter’s name is Dalmora, Mother Rostha.” There was the faintest edge of
acidity in Mother’s voice.

“Well, it
shouldn’t be,” said Grandmother. “Dalmora is not a traditional name. I named
all three of my sons after the first colonists on Danae.”

The acid note in
Mother’s voice grew stronger. “It was Ventrak who suggested Dalmora should be
named after my mother.”

“My poor son has
always been such an indulgent husband,” said Grandmother.

Mother closed
her eyes for a second, a sure sign she was losing patience. Sitara, Diya and I
couldn’t say a word, or we’d get a lecture from our grandmother for speaking
before we were spoken to. I glanced at Asha.

“Forgive me for
interrupting, Grandmother,” said Asha, “but the embroidery on your sari is stunning.
Can I ask if the fabric is one of your own designs?”

Grandmother
turned towards her, and her forbidding expression abruptly melted into a smile.
Asha was her favourite granddaughter, named after her, and always treated with
special leniency. “Yes, this is my latest design. You have excellent taste,
Asha. I look forward to the day you will come to me to be trained as a fabric
designer yourself.”

“Thank you, Grandmother.”
Asha gave a dutifully grateful smile, though I knew she had absolutely no
interest in becoming a fabric designer. Father’s history vid series,
History
of Humanity
, was famous on worlds in every sector of humanity’s space.
Asha, Sitara, and I all wanted to make info vids ourselves one day. Diya talked
about becoming a scientist, but it was impossible to tell if she was serious
about that, or just saying it to be awkward.

There was
another series of musical notes, this time from the portal. We all hurried to
line up facing it, my mother on one end of the line and my grandmother on the
other. The portal established, and my father stepped through. He looked tired,
but he smiled at us, and greeted each of us in turn, before taking out his
lookup to check the time. On Danae, birthdays were celebrated on the
anniversary of the person’s birth, using the interstellar standard Green Time
of Earth Europe. Here on Danae it was early afternoon, but it was almost
midnight by Green Time.

Father watched
his lookup for a moment, then nodded and turned to me. “Happy birthday, Dalmora.”
He held out a small box. “For you to wear at your birthday party this evening.”

I took the box,
found it held a set of tiny rainbow lights for wearing in my hair, and gasped
in pleasure. Rainbow lights were the height of fashion on Adonis, and girls
were starting to wear them on Danae too, but I knew my grandmother strongly
disapproved of them as being far too theatrical. I gave her a wary look, but
found my father was already offering her an identical package.

“I couldn’t
resist getting a set for you too, Mother. Your hair has always been so beautiful,
it deserves no less.”

Grandmother
graciously accepted her package of rainbow lights. “You are always so
thoughtful, Ventrak. I look forward to wearing these at the party.”

Grandmother
would naturally approve of any gift from her adored eldest son. It seemed
rainbow lights had suddenly become perfectly respectable.

Mother stepped towards
me now, lifting her hands to undo the golden necklace she was wearing. She
studied it for a moment with a reminiscent smile, then looked at me and spoke
in a measured, formal voice. “One of my ancestors brought this necklace with
her when she left Earth during Exodus century. It has always been handed down
to the eldest daughter in the family on her eighteenth birthday. My mother gave
it to me on my birthday. Now it is time for me to give it to you, Dalmora.”

I felt guilty
taking the heirloom from my mother, but this had been a family tradition for
over five centuries now. The necklace had been made by a far distant jeweller
ancestor in the city of Jaipur on Earth, to be a birthday gift for her eldest
daughter. The necklace, and its story, had been passed on from daughter to
daughter ever since. I had a duty to accept it now, just as I had a duty to
pass it on to my own daughter when she was 18.

The necklace
felt surprisingly cool and heavy as I put it round my neck. Mother helped me
fasten it and then smoothed my hair back into place. This necklace was a true
piece of history. Wearing it now, I knew I was just one link in a chain of
owners that stretched back half a millennium into the past, and could continue
as far, or even further, into the future.

Mother stepped
back to admire me, and this time I wasn’t surprised when Father produced a
third package of rainbow lights and handed it to her. She gave him a quick
smile of thanks before speaking.

“We must eat
now, because Ventrak will need to rest before the formal party begins.” She
turned and led the way into the small reception room we used for private meals.

We all followed
her and sat down around the table. Grandmother looked at the array of dishes
set out, and frowned. “I’d expected Ventrak would be welcomed home with a
proper hot meal.”

Father shook his
head. “The informal eating arrangements are entirely for my convenience, Mother.
I’ve spent a week on Asgard in Gamma sector, consulting some of my old teachers
at University Asgard about my plans for future vids, and now I have to make a
seven hour time zone adjustment. I find that biorhythm adjustment meds solve
the sleep problems, but sudden changes in meal patterns are still difficult.”

Mother stood up.
“I’d be happy to get you a hot meal, Mother Rostha, if you prefer that.”

Grandmother
waved a hand in dismissal. “I couldn’t possibly cause you so much trouble.”

Mother sat down
again. Grandmother eyed the bowls of food, gave a martyred sigh, and we all
started eating.

“It’s so
unfortunate that you studied at University Asgard rather than University Danae,
Ventrak,” said Grandmother. “Collaborating with history experts at University
Danae would be far more convenient.”

Father’s smile
flickered for a second. “It would be more convenient, Mother, however I’ve
explained to you many times that I chose to study at University Asgard because
its history department was more highly regarded than the history department at
University Danae. I remain convinced that my contacts at University Asgard can
give me far more useful assistance than anyone at University Danae.”

He paused. “Since
you’ve raised the subject of University Danae, Mother, I think now is a good
time to have a discussion about Dalmora’s future.”

I looked at him,
startled and anxious. What did he mean? My future had been decided years ago. I
would continue to live at home while I studied at University Danae. Father had
studied modern history, the period from Exodus century to the present day. His
History
of Humanity
vid series covered key events in modern history. I was to study
pre-history, the days when humanity only lived on Earth, so I could help him to
make a new vid series featuring events from far in the past.