Earth 2788 (7 page)

“It’s more than
time the clan stood up to Lolek, told him that they won’t accept his
dictatorship any longer. If they won’t defy him over expelling you, then when
will they do it?”

I couldn’t say
anything. I didn’t trust myself not to break down.

Lolmack made a
horizontal, air-slicing movement with his left hand, the classic Betan gesture
of rejection. “Nuke the clan. Lolia, it would be wonderful if you joined me
here, but think carefully before you decide. You’ve never left Artemis before, Earth
is a dreadfully prudish world, and its people are prejudiced against Betans.
Moving here would be a huge culture shock for you, and we wouldn’t be able to
afford the luxurious lifestyle you’re used to.”

I didn’t need to
take time to think. Yesterday, I’d been happy with Ardreath and Lolmack and my
dreams for the future. This morning, I’d thought I’d lost everything, but now …

I refused to
mourn over losing Ardreath, because a Cassandrian skunk would make a better
husband than him. Lolmack was as solidly honourable and trustworthy as I’d
always believed. I’d go to Earth and join him, and together we’d find our
dreams again.

“I don’t care
about prejudice; I’ve had people sneer at me all my life because of my low
class clan. I don’t care about luxuries either. I care about the people I love.”
I found the key fob for my hover luggage, and clicked it. The bags obediently
gathered up to follow me. “How do I get off world?”

Lolmack choked
back a laugh. “If you want to go off world, Lolia, the first step is to go to
Artemis Off-world.”

“Oh yes.” I joined
in his laughter. “I should have known that, but it’s been a very long day. I’ll
call you again in a few minutes.”

I ended the
call, used my lookup to check the portal code for Artemis Off-world, and then
opened the bedroom door. I tiptoed through the room, passing the sleeping
doctor, and my luggage floated through the air after me. I’d never noticed the
sound of hover bags before, but now they seemed to be humming very loudly. The
doctor didn’t stir though; whatever was in that tablet must have been very
strong.

For a second, I
was worried I’d killed her, but then commonsense prevailed. The tablet I’d
given her had been intended for me. Lolek might banish me from the clan, might
even murder me in the right circumstances, but he’d never involve a respectable
outsider doctor in anything criminal. There’d be far too high a risk of her
giving evidence against him.

I went out into
the corridor, hurried to the nearest portal, and dialled. A moment later, I was
in a huge hall packed with people. I suddenly thought of something very bad,
gulped, and called Lolmack again.

“I’m in Artemis
Off-world, but I’ve just realized that Lolek could find out where I was by
tracking my lookup.”

“He could,” said
Lolmack, in a reassuringly calm voice, “but he won’t bother tracking your
lookup when he thinks your prison warder of a doctor still has it. By the time
he finds out that she doesn’t, you’ll be perfectly safe in a different star
system. Can you see a sign for Romulus?”

I looked up at
glowing overhead signs. “Yes.”

“Beta Sector
Interchange 3 is on Romulus. Most of the Artemis Off-world traffic goes via
there, so there’s usually an interstellar portal locked open for Romulus. Join
the queue and go through. Call me again when you get there.”

I followed the
sign for Romulus and saw a group of people in Military uniforms ahead of me.
The history of Artemis was literally burned into its landscape, so no one could
ever forget it. Like everyone who’d been born and raised here, I had an
instinctive reaction to the sight of a Military uniform. A hundred and thirty
years ago, Ceron Augustus had nearly destroyed Artemis, but the Military had
saved us. The presence of the Military meant security, safety, protection from
any danger.

I hurried to
catch up with the Military group. If Lolek had discovered I was in Artemis
Off-world, and sent some of the clan to drag me back to my hotel prison by
force, I could start screaming I was being kidnapped and the Military would
defend me. Nothing as dramatic as that happened, of course. I just followed the
Military group through an oddly bulky portal and arrived on Romulus.

I automatically
moved out of the portal arrival zone, checked my hover luggage had followed me,
and then looked round. I was in a building almost exactly like the one I’d
left, the people hurrying by were dressed the same as people on Artemis, but
the signs overhead said that this was Romulus Off-world. I’d left my home world
behind me. My clan and I were in totally separate star systems now.

It took me a
couple of minutes to recover from the enormity of that thought, and the
exuberant rush of relief that followed. I felt horribly guilty rejoicing over
being so far from my parents and friends, but it was wonderful to finally
escape from under Lolek’s shadow.

I called Lolmack
and smiled happily at him. “I made it! I’m in Romulus Off-world!”

“Good. You
should see some signs pointing the way to Beta Sector Interchange 3.”

“I see them.” I
followed the signs down a wide corridor. “Earth is in Alpha sector, isn’t it?”

Lolmack laughed.
“That’s right. Now I’ve checked the schedules, and you need to go to the
waiting area for Cross-sector Gate 4. The next block portal from Beta Sector
Interchange 3 to Alpha Sector Interchange 6 will be opening at Gate 4 in twelve
hours’ time.”

“Twelve hours!”
I frowned. I was impatient to reach Earth, to feel Lolmack’s arms holding me
close, and twelve hours seemed an eternity.

“There are often
very long waits to join a cross-sector block portal, Lolia. The special portals
able to handle cross-sector distances are hugely expensive, and establishing
the portal connection takes a vast amount of power. Their block portal windows
have to be carefully scheduled for maximum efficiency, sending through as many
travellers as possible in the time.”

“Oh.” I thought
that over. “Would taking a different route be faster?”

Lolmack shook
his head. “Your only other option would be to make a whole series of short
interstellar portal jumps to reach Alpha sector. That would take days, so it’s
much better to wait and use the cross-sector portal. Once you get to Alpha
Sector Interchange 6, you shouldn’t have to wait long for a block portal to
Earth Europe.”

“Earth Europe?”
I asked, totally confused. “There’s more than one world called Earth?”

Lolmack laughed
again. “Other worlds have a single inhabited continent, Lolia, but Earth has
five. It’s simplest if you come directly to Earth Europe, so you don’t have to
worry about inter-continental portalling.”

I sighed. “I’m
incredibly clueless.”

“You’re
incredibly brave,” said Lolmack. “You’ve never gone anywhere alone before, you
don’t have the faintest idea about interstellar travel, and you know nothing
about Earth, but you aren’t letting any of that stop you joining me.”

“You really mean
that?”

He smiled. “I
really mean it. Now, you look utterly exhausted. There should be a rest zone in
the waiting area for Gate 4, so go there and try to get some sleep. You can
dream about tomorrow when we’ll be together again.”

He paused. “Until
tomorrow, Lolia.”

“Until tomorrow,
Lolmack,” I said.

Part
IV

When I woke up, I saw I was
surrounded by sleeping strangers. I sat up in alarm, then remembered I was in
the Gate 4 rest zone. I’d expected it to have private cubicles with proper
beds, but it had turned out to be just a side room filled with chairs, and with
big signs on the wall reminding everyone to set their lookups to silent mode.

You could adjust
the chairs to a reclining position, but they still weren’t very comfortable. I
hadn’t expected to be able to sleep at all, but I must have done. I reached for
my lookup to check what time it was, and blinked in surprise. I’d been asleep
for ten hours!

That meant I
only had two more hours to wait for the block portal to Alpha sector. I clicked
the key fob for my hover luggage, and the bags floated after me as I headed for
the food dispensers in the main waiting area. They had a range of hideously
overpriced breakfast cartons, and I carefully chose one of the cheapest. My
journey to Earth was terrifyingly expensive, so I had to save every credit I
could on other things.

The contents of
the carton were very basic, but I told myself that I had to adapt to a less
luxurious life now, and ate everything except an especially soggy toasted
wafer. After that, I set my lookup to mirror mode, checked my appearance, and shuddered.

As a member of a
clan that made vids, I’d been raised to be constantly aware of my appearance.
I’d been born with a fairly average face, except for high cheek bones and an
overlarge nose. My clan had had my nose corrected when I was 15, altered my
hair colour from a nondescript brown to dramatic blonde, and given me training
in how to use makeup to make the best of my features. Since then, people had
generally thought me very attractive, but right now I resembled an Artemis
ferret!

If I’d looked anywhere
near this bad in my calls to Lolmack, then it was amazing he hadn’t screamed
and told me to stay on Artemis. I hunted through my hover bags to find my
makeup case, and spent over an hour in a shower room, trying to make myself
look as beautiful as possible despite the dreadfully minimal facilities
available.

After that, I went
back to the endless rows of chairs, and sat tensely listening to a series of
announcements coming through the overhead speakers. Gate 4 must have a block
portal window open to Gamma sector at the moment, because all the announcements
were about Gamma sector worlds.

Finally, I heard
the words I was waiting for. “Cross-sector Gate 4 is now dialling Alpha Sector
Interchange 6.”

I stood up.

“Travellers for
Adonis should move to the departure zone now,” said the announcer. “Adonis only
please. Other travellers should remain in the waiting area until called.”

I dutifully sat
down again. The waiting area had been crowded with people, but about a third of
them were heading off down the corridor labelled “Cross-sector Gate 4 Departure
Zone.”

After a couple
of minutes, the announcer spoke again. “Travellers for destinations other than
Adonis please return to the waiting area immediately or you will incur a
penalty charge. Travellers to Adonis have priority because they need to reach
Alpha Sector Interchange 6 within the next fifteen minutes to join their
ongoing block portal to Adonis.”

A trickle of
people returned to the waiting area. I smothered a laugh at their embarrassed
faces. It was another ten minutes before I heard the announcer’s voice again. “Travellers
for Earth Europe and Earth America should move to the departure zone now.”

I clicked my key
fob, and headed down the corridor to the departure zone. The corridor widened
out and I joined a slow moving queue of people. A uniformed security guard
stepped forward to speak to me.

“Have you
portalled cross-sector before?”

I shook my head.
“Only interstellar from Artemis to Romulus.”

“Cross-sector
portalling is a little different,” she said, “because we have to keep the time
taken per traveller to a minimum. When you’re told to go through the gate, you
must move immediately or you’ll incur a penalty charge. Due to the sheer
distance of the portal jump, you may arrive feeling dizzy, but try to keep
moving clear of the portal arrival zone. If necessary, a security guard will
assist you.”

She glanced at
my trail of hover luggage. “You’ve got a lot of bags there. Keep clicking your
key fob to keep them grouped close to you, or some of them could be left
behind. If there’s free time at the end of the block portal window, we may be
able to send through any lost luggage, but we can’t guarantee it.”

The security
guard moved on to talk to another traveller. I counted my luggage, seven bags,
and thought rapidly. I had plenty of dresses, so I could cope with losing a
few. The vital thing was …

I opened one of
the hover bags, and took out my precious makeup case. If I carried it myself,
then it couldn’t be left behind. The woman ahead of me in the queue was opening
a hover bag as well, and taking out a fluffy toy. She smiled at me, and pointed
at the little girl at her side. “It would break her heart if she lost this.”

I nodded, and we
all shuffled forward as the queue moved. There was a man ahead of the woman,
and he turned and picked up the little girl, so I guessed they were a family.

A couple of
minutes later, the three of them headed through the cross-sector gate. That was
a truly strange looking portal, with peculiar extra attachments and lights, but
I daren’t spend time studying it. I had to keep my eyes on the security guard
standing next to it, keep clicking my key fob, and be ready to …

“Now!” The
security guard waved his arm.

I gave my key
fob a last click as I stepped through the portal. I instantly felt sickeningly
dizzy, and dropped the key fob, but someone grabbed it, took my arm, and towed
me forward.

“All right?”
asked a male voice with the distinctive drawling accent of Alpha sector.

The world
stopped spinning. I blinked and focused on the face of a male security guard. “I
think so.”

“Welcome to
Alpha sector.” He let go of my arm, and clicked my key fob before returning it
to me. “You’ve got seven hover bags here. Is that everything you had with you?”

I looked for my
makeup bag, discovered I was still holding it in my left hand, and nodded.

“Where are you
going?” asked the man.

“Earth Europe.”

“You want
Interstellar Portal 8 then,” he said. “The next block portal to Earth Europe
opens there in twenty minutes.”

“Thank you.”

The guard
hurried off to help another arrival. I saw everyone else was moving off down a
corridor, and was following them when my lookup chimed. I expected it to be a
call from Lolmack, so I moved to stand by the corridor wall and answered it,
but it was Lolek!

“Lolia!” He seemed
startled that I was answering my lookup myself. “Why did the doctor …? Never
mind, that doesn’t matter any longer.”

He obviously
thought I was still in the hotel with the doctor. Either she was still asleep,
or she’d been too scared to contact him and tell him I’d escaped. I told myself
I had no need to be afraid of Lolek now I was in Alpha sector, but I still
nervously checked there was only an anonymous wall behind me so Lolek couldn’t
tell where I really was.

“I was just
summoned to hear alliance council’s decision,” he continued in rapid, eager
tones. “My impression is that opinion was evenly divided during the debate, so
the closing speech by Marissa Breck Thane decided everything. The alliance have
deep respect for her opinion.”

He paused with
the air of someone about to give momentous news. “You read her, Lolia. I freely
admit I thought you were being stupid last night, but you’d read Marissa better
than I had. When she spoke this morning, giving alliance council’s verdict, she
said she was struck by the way you hadn’t just told the truth, you’d even given
details that could count in clan Eastreth’s favour. She said that gave the
alliance the best possible chance of finding an amicable solution,
demonstrating our clan was willing to put the long-term interests of the
alliance ahead of our own immediate benefit.”

He gave me a
smile of pure jubilation. “Our clan is to stay in the alliance, Lolia! Even
better, alliance council ruled that the Eastreth clan could only remain in the
alliance if Arden publicly apologized to both of us for his insulting behaviour.”

He laughed. “Well,
Arden couldn’t stomach doing that, so he decided to withdraw the Eastreth clan
from the alliance.”

I blinked. How
would the Eastreth clan council react to that? If Arden lost his position as
clan leader, Ardreath might be made clanless. For a second, I pictured a
clanless Ardreath wanting to rejoin me and Lolmack. The three of us could be
together, just like before.

But no. Things
could never be like that again. I’d seen the true, coldly self-centred Ardreath
hidden under his charming, handsome exterior, and I didn’t want him back.

Lolek laughed
again. “Arden seems to have convinced his clan that Marissa and the alliance
council ruled against them because they disliked their reactionary leanings.
The Eastreth clan have announced they’re going to join one of the reactionary
faction political alliances.”

I was hugely
relieved that Ardreath and his father had survived the crisis. I didn’t want
Ardreath being made clanless and coming to ask me for help. I wanted him to
remain happily with his clan, stay out of my life, and never bother me ever
again.

“That means a
complete victory for us, Lolia!” said Lolek. “No one will hold the Eastreth
clan leaving the alliance against us, because they’ve done it in a way that has
offended everyone. We aren’t in the alliance through the charity of another
clan any longer, but in our own right. That’s all because of you. I’m
impressed. I’m really impressed. I’d no idea you had such political acumen. You
can’t be a clan council member until you’re 30, but I want you to attend future
meetings as an observer.”

I stared at him
in disbelief. I wasn’t going to be made clanless any longer. I could turn
around, join the next cross-sector block portal back to Beta sector, and have
my old, secure life back.

No, I corrected
myself, it wouldn’t be my old life, it would be better. I would be one of
Lolek’s favourites, destined to be a member of clan council one day.

I pictured that
and shuddered. I’d finally escaped from Lolek, and I wasn’t going back to live
under his rule again.

“You are to
return to the clan hall at once,” said Lolek. “Marissa Breck Thane wants us to
visit her tomorrow. Since Arden refused to apologize to us, she …”

“I’m afraid I
can’t do that,” I interrupted.

Comms portal
relay lag meant that Lolek kept talking for a couple more seconds before he
reacted to my words. He stared at me. “What?”

“Please give my
regrets to Marissa Breck Thane. Tell her that I deeply appreciate her
invitation, but I can’t visit her because I’m on my way to Earth.”

“You’re on your
way to … You can’t do that!”

Lolek looked as
if he was about to explode. I had a very disrespectful thought about how messy
it would be if he did.

“With all due
respect,” I said, “you forfeited your right to give me orders when you told me
you would discard me from the clan. I now feel entitled to make my own
decisions, and I’ve decided to go to Earth.”

I’d never seen
Lolek totally speechless before. I smiled at him. “Tell Marissa Breck Thane that
I’m going to Earth because I have family there, and an honourable Betan is
loyal to family above all else.” I paused. “I think you’ll find she understands
and possibly even approves.”

I ended the
call, hurried on down the corridor to a huge open area, and saw a sign for
Interstellar Portal 8. I followed that and joined a queue by a flashing sign
that said “Earth Europe block portal opening in 9 minutes.”

I reached for my
lookup and called Lolmack. “I’m in Alpha Sector Interchange 6, and my block
portal to Earth Europe opens in …” The time on the sign changed. “In 8 minutes.”

“What are you
wearing?” asked Lolmack.

“What am I
wearing?” I repeated, bewildered. “The same clothes I was wearing to appear
before alliance council.” I held my lookup at arm’s length so that Lolmack
could see them.

“I warned you
Earth was dreadfully prudish,” he said. “They have laws about covering legally
private body areas. Fortunately your toga does that, but try to remember you
aren’t allowed to talk about those body areas either. That means you can’t say
words like breast or butt in public. You can’t say hell or nuke either. You
have to sedately say chaos instead.”

“That’s
ridiculous.”

He shrugged. “I
know, but just about everywhere outside Beta sector has the same silly rules.”

“If they’re so
stuffy, why do they keep buying our vids?”

Lolmack grinned.
“Because they’re horribly hypocritical. They publicly disapprove of Beta sector
because of our triad marriages and revealing clothing, but they furtively watch
Betan vids in private. Are you sure you don’t want to change your mind about
coming to Earth?”

“I’m not
changing my mind. Will you come and meet me at Earth Europe Off-world?”

He smiled. “I’m
already there waiting for you.”

I ended the
call, looked up, and saw the person ahead of me in the queue, a boy of about
18, had turned round and was staring at me. Before I could decide how to react,
the older woman with him tugged at his arm and gave him a fierce frown. The
first few words she said didn’t make any sense at all to me, and nor did the
boy’s reply, so they must have been speaking the dialect of some other sector,
but then the woman swapped to Language.

“You mustn’t
look at that girl,” she said. “She’s wearing a toga, which means she’s Betan!”