Earth Girl (6 page)

This was just like lecturing to my class at school. I was starting to enjoy myself. They didn’t let me lecture my class at school very often. I always had lots of interesting things to say, but my school friends were reluctant to listen.

Having got over my initial nerves, I risked trying some humour. ‘If, at any point, a sign of intelligent alien life is found then the probe sends alarm calls, Alien Contact programme activates, and thousands of specialist people will get an emergency mail calling them up for instant duty. You may know that hasn’t happened yet.’

There was encouraging laughter from the class.

‘We have however had two near misses, and those worlds are under quarantine to allow those neo-intelligent races to continue their normal evolution. If the issue of intelligent aliens doesn’t arise, and the sensor scans show the planet is suitable for human life, the planet moves into Planet First stage 2. We have a lot of conditions on climate and other things, and we want a sizeable continent that satisfies them. There are plenty of planets around and we can afford to be choosy. There are checks for any number of hazards, stellar radiation, solar storm strength. You name it, we check it.

‘If the planet still looks good, then it moves into the process people really think of as Planet First. Stage 3 is where the Military go planetside on our chosen continent, and this is where it gets dangerous. Almost every planet capable of sustaining life has already evolved its own eco system. The Military have to find and analyse every form of animal, plant, insect, fish, bacteria or other life. They have to discover and assess every possible threat, or we end up with another Thetis. If any of those life forms cannot either be controlled or eliminated then the planet is abandoned.’

Playdon had an odd expression on his face now. I couldn’t work out what it meant, so I tried to ignore it. ‘Stage 4 of Planet First is cleansing the continent of anything harmful. Creatures are either culled, or relocated on other land masses to keep the ecologists happy. Finally, we think things are safe. The planet then moves from Planet First into Colony Ten, and is handed over to the first stage colonists. They can’t leave for ten years, unless they find something dangerous that the earlier stages missed. That’s only happened half a dozen times, but when it did things got nasty. At the end of the ten years, the colonists get paid a fortune, plus bonuses for every child born, and the planet is opened for habitation as part of the newest sector, currently Kappa.’

I looked round at my audience. They still seemed awake, so I added a bit from a Military public information vid I’d seen. ‘It’s worth remembering that every new planet opened up for humanity costs not only a lot of credits, but is also paid for in human blood. Not a single one of the planets has been opened up without at least one member of the Military dying to make it safe for you.’

I went to sit down, and was startled by a round of applause.

Playdon stood up again. ‘Well, thank you for that very eloquent explanation, Jarra. I expect you’re all sitting there wondering what that had to do with pre-history. The answer is this. Only one inhabited planet has never been through Planet First screening, and that’s Earth. If it had been assessed by Planet First, it would have failed. It suffers from too many solar storms, its moon is too large, it’s too close to an asteroid belt. It has five inhabited continents and none of them satisfy the climate conditions for Stage 2. Even if you overlook that, all of them contain plant and animal life that would never be allowed through Stage 3. This planet is dangerous. It was dangerous in pre-history, and it’s a lot more dangerous now.’

‘But the apes live here without any problems,’ a dark haired Gamman boy objected. I was somehow glad Fian hadn’t said that.

‘The settlements are safe, Krath, protected by shields from wild animals, but those are a very small part of the planet,’ said Playdon. I noticed he’d objected to Lolia using the butt word, but didn’t comment on the word ‘ape’. ‘You won’t get eaten by anything hostile wandering round a terminal or a shop, but most dig sites are outside the shields in long abandoned areas.’

He gave a grim smile. ‘You’re here to experience pre-history in a way that you can’t by just scanning vids, so you’re going to the old ruined cities. They are extremely hazardous. There are animals, plants and insects that can and will kill you given the chance. The ruins you’re studying can also be lethal. Humanity had this planet pretty well tamed before Exodus century, but it still had its dangerous areas. Now it’s not tame at all. If you didn’t realize it before, realize it now.’

He looked round the class. ‘I draw your attention one final time to the conditions you agreed to when joining this course. I hope you bothered to scan them. University Asgard will make every effort to ensure your safety, but has absolutely no liability for any death or injury that occurs. This is a legal warning and is on record. If you don’t accept the conditions, then portal out now.’

Several of the class looked hopefully at the Betans, but sadly they showed no sign of leaving. I expect they thought Playdon was exaggerating. Maybe they would think again when they found out he wasn’t.

‘That’s all for today,’ said Playdon. ‘I suggest you rest and try and get yourselves acclimatized to this time zone. Tomorrow we start work at nine.’

I tried to call Issette later on and just got the ‘not available’ message. Then I tried to send her a mail, but gave up in the end. I couldn’t work out what to say about the exos on my course. The Betans were ghastly, Krath was an idiot, and the Alphan girl was too sickeningly perfect, but the others seemed normal. I don’t mean normal rather than Handicapped, I mean they were ordinary people.

I was feeling pretty weird to be honest. In amongst the hate thing I felt for the norms, there was some guilt about the lies, and the whole Jarra Military kid fantasy was getting disturbingly real. I went to bed in a bad mood, and had a dream where I really was JMK. I was living her life on a Military base, my Military parents were back on leave and …

I woke up early, feeling confused and disoriented after that crazy dream, and found a mail waiting for me from Issette. A long one, where she chattered away with the flushed, happy, excited look that I knew so well, telling me all about how she’d been at her evening student meet and greet when I tried to call her, and how wonderful it had been. I wanted to call her back and talk properly, but she’d be in classes. The five hour time difference between our continents didn’t sound much but it was a real communication problem.

Instead, I spent half an hour recording and rerecording a one minute reply. It was difficult, because there was so much I couldn’t talk about without seeing Issette face to face, or that I couldn’t tell her at all. If I mentioned the dream, she’d start sending me mails full of nardle stuff about talking to a psychologist.

In the end, I just replied with a mail where I said I’d arrived fine, and we’d had a meet and greet too. Then I went off to the dining hall for breakfast. I was peacefully eating, and wishing the food dispensers could supply frujit, when Playdon’s voice interrupted me.

‘Jarra, given your Military skills, I’d like you to help out this morning. Can you be prepared to demonstrate how to put on an impact suit? You can collect one from the store room.’ He looked down at me with a thin smile of pure evil.

‘Yes, sir.’ I smiled back. Yesterday, he’d tried catching me out on my knowledge of Planet First, and now he was going to try me with an impact suit. He clearly didn’t realize how much experience I had of dig sites. He probably thought my application comments about them meant I’d spent time somewhere like Stonehenge or Pompeii, which were nicely sanitized bits of ancient history located safely within protected areas. He was going to get quite a surprise. I’d been wearing impact suits on school history club trips since I was 11.

I finished my breakfast and headed off to the store room. This assignment from Playdon was really zan, because it meant I got first choice of impact suit. Getting the right size of impact suit is the vital thing, but getting one in good condition as well makes life so much more pleasant. You don’t want the oldest and smelliest suit in the bunch. I was lucky; there was one in my size that looked almost new.

I popped back to my room, swapped my underwear for my skintight, and put my ordinary clothes back over the top. My skintight was perfectly respectable, covering all the restricted body areas, but I was feeling defensive with those Betans around. I collected my precious, almost new impact suit, and went back to the dining hall. The class were sitting waiting, and looked at me curiously as I walked up to the front carrying the suit.

Playdon nodded towards me. ‘Jarra has kindly agreed to demonstrate an impact suit to you. You’ll be wearing these every moment you’re outside this dome, so pay close attention. Jarra, over to you.’

I’d given this demonstration about ten times before, to new people on history club trips, so I had it pretty well rehearsed.

‘Like the dome we’re in, and the food dispensers, the impact suits are standard Military issue. They’re the cheaper training versions of those used on Planet First missions. They’re designed to do their job, not to be pretty or luxurious. You collect one from the store room and keep it while we’re at this dome. They’re all an identical black, and it’s essential to make sure you get the right size. Professionals have their own personal suits, which have a few extra features and can be painted different colours. I expect Lecturer Playdon has his own.’

Playdon nodded. ‘Mine is blue, so it’ll be easy to recognise me when we’re suited up.’

I held up my standard black suit. ‘You wear these on the dig site, and they’ll keep you alive in most situations. Your first problem is getting one on. It’s not easy. Military standard is to be able to suit up inside two minutes in case of a dome breach. If any of you can get a suit on in less than five minutes then you can feel pleased with yourself.’

I was proud of the fact I could put on an impact suit in Military standard time. The history club had a competition once and spent an entire day practising. Only three of us broke the two minute barrier.

‘I recommend wearing a skintight underneath your impact suit. If you haven’t got one yet then go for a swimming costume, leotard, or some thick, sensible and close-fitting underwear.’

Lolia interrupted me. ‘I never bother with underwear.’

I smiled at her. ‘If you prefer being in severe pain then that’s your choice. Impact suit material can pinch delicate body areas when it activates, so you want some protection.’

I switched my attention back to the class in general. ‘Remember when putting on an impact suit that you do everything slowly and smoothly. No sudden jerks, or you activate the material and it goes solid, exactly the way it’s designed to do. It protects you from falling rocks, being stabbed, or bitten. Predators will break their teeth on it.

‘There are a lot of controls here on the left arm,’ I pointed them out. ‘I suggest you don’t touch them. You may feel too hot or too cold to start with, but wait a few minutes for your suit to adjust to outside temperatures. If you can’t make it to the bathroom then your suit will handle it, but try not to test that. The suit can cope, but it’s not good for your underwear.’

The class laughed.

‘One control you do touch is the one that sets your identification. You can’t see faces through an impact suit, they’re designed to let you see out, but people looking in can only see an unidentifiable blur. So we know who you are, set it to your name like this.’

I set my suit so the front and back had my name in large glowing letters. ‘Don’t mess around using rude words or other peoples’ names. It’s not original and it’s not funny. In an emergency, not knowing who is where can mean someone dies. You’ll also need to know about the communication controls, but I expect Lecturer Playdon will take us through how he wants us to use those.’

I started stripping off my clothes and Lolmack whistled. He looked unimpressed when my skintight appeared. ‘You could wear something a lot sexier than that.’

‘If the audience was better, then I might,’ I said. ‘This is a skintight, specially made to wear under an impact suit. As you can see, it’s similar to a swimming costume, but rather tougher material. They’re wonderful things. Take them in the shower with you after you get out of your impact suit, and they’ll wash, dry as fast as you during the hot air cycle, and be ready to wear again. You can get them in several different styles and colours, but I’d recommend the standard male or female style in black.’

I looked at Dalmora who was sitting in the front row. ‘Shoulder length hair can just be tucked back into your hood, but very long hair is best in a single plait down your back.’

She nodded.

My eyes drifted from her hair to the ornate gold creation that she wore around her neck. ‘Your necklace is very lovely.’

Dalmora glanced down at it. ‘It’s been in my family for over five hundred years. One of my ancestors brought it to Alpha sector with her when she left Jaipur during Exodus century. By tradition it’s handed down to the eldest daughter on her eighteenth birthday.’

I’d assumed the necklace was a reproduction made from manufactured gold, but Dalmora Rostha was wearing a genuine historic artefact around her Alphan neck. Typical. Oh well, I’d feel rather petty if I left it to Playdon to warn her about the risks of jewellery. Three years ago, I’d been nardle enough to forget to take off a ring before putting on my impact suit, and lost my left little finger when the suit triggered. I’d had the finger regrown in hospital of course, but the thought of wearing a ring had given me a creepy feeling ever since.

‘It can be hazardous to wear jewellery under an impact suit,’ I said. ‘If the suit material triggers then it can force the metal to cut into you. Talk to Lecturer Playdon if this is an issue. Now, watch closely as I put my suit on. You always start with the feet.’

I demonstrated how to roll the suit gently and smoothly up your legs, and then arms. Pulling up the hood and sealing the front was the easy bit. Just for fun, I checked my time for putting on the suit. One minute, fifty-five seconds! I noticed Playdon giving me another of his odd looks.