Earth Flight (17 page)

A voice spoke from my control panel. ‘Solar 1, you are clear to launch when ready.’

Solar 1! Now I understood what the holos were showing. This was a solar array transport ship, which would be sent through a portal in pieces and assembled in space at its destination. They were normally used to move sections of solar array into position, but this one had been converted to carry passengers.

This simulation was recreating what happened months ago, when the crews of Earth’s five solar arrays were trapped in space by a solar super storm bringing down the portal network. They’d had to convert ships only designed to operate in space, to attempt to enter Earth’s atmosphere and land.

I faced forward again and saw the inside of a vast hangar. This ship had no hovers, so I cautiously used thrusters on minimum to manoeuvre out of the open doors, and gasped at the view outside. Bright dots of stars were scattered across the blackness of space, and Earth startled me by hanging overhead rather than below me, apparently on fire with the lurid bright green flames of the aurora caused by the super storm.

I used the mix of real and holo controls in front of me to project the white line of my optimal course on my main display screen, then spoke. ‘Solar 1 is launching.’

‘Deity aid you, Solar 1.’ The voice from my control panel was distorted by static and heavy with emotion. The recorded voice of an officer on far away Adonis, who was agonizingly aware the seventy people aboard Solar 1 were probably going to die.

I hit my thrusters and chased a flashing dot on my main display that showed my ideal speed and position. The burning green planet Earth gradually drifted, so it was first to my side and then below me. I couldn’t see any landmarks as I skimmed above the glowing emerald aurora, or even tell if it was night or day down there.

The dot vanished, replaced by a white image of a ship with lines running across it. Words flashed an urgent red. ‘Correct entry angle! Correct entry angle!’

I played with the thrusters, and brought the nose of my ship down. The flashing words changed to amber before vanishing. I was at the correct angle for atmospheric entry, my shields were set to maximum, so now I could only hold my breath and hope.

As I entered Earth’s atmosphere, a crazy juddering started. I fought with the controls, trying to keep my ship at the correct angle, aware of flashing red warnings about shield temperatures. Those suddenly vanished, meaning we’d survived re-entry, but I had a new problem. My thrusters were hiccupping madly, either affected by the solar super storm or just struggling with being in atmosphere and a gravity well. I was dropping like a rock.

I instinctively hammered the thrusters to maximum, and checked the white guideline on my screen. Chaos take it, I was too low, much too low. There was green and pink fire overhead, and dark ground below me. Off to the right, was something bright that looked more like the lights of a settlement than a random fire started by the super storm. I mustn’t crash on a settlement and kill civilians.

I wasn’t gaining height, but I was losing it less rapidly than the flashing dot on the white line. In a few more seconds, I’d have matched it, but the ground was too close now. I instinctively lifted my knees, hugging them with my arms to make myself into a ball. There was a single vicious jerk and the simulation cut out.

‘80 per cent,’ said an automated voice. ‘You have landed with nine passenger injuries and no deaths.’

I sat up straight and tried to calm my breathing. I hadn’t expected a simulation to feel so real. I’d scored 20 per cent less than the real landing, but I’d never flown anything like … On the other hand, the original pilot wouldn’t have flown anything like this either. Ships never went through atmospheric re-entry, they just portalled directly into a planet’s atmosphere.

I was startled by the holos starting up again and a voice speaking. ‘Solar 2, you are clear to launch when ready.’

Drago must have set the simulator to throw all five of the flights at me. Nuke him! I pulled myself together and prepared for my second launch. I knew what I was doing this time, so I did pretty well with the Solar 2 flight, but then came Solar 3. I knew its thrusters had been affected by the solar super storm, cutting out entirely just as it was about to land. Two people, including the pilot, had died.

All through the flight, I tried to plan for the landing, but it was useless. The ship was tumbling helplessly as it hit the ground, and the holo images around me flashed red before cutting out. That meant I’d died in the crash.

‘71 per cent,’ said the automated voice. ‘You have landed with fifty-seven passenger injuries and four deaths.’

Solar 4 seemed easy in comparison, and I actually scored 2 per cent higher than the real landing, but then came Solar 5. My launch had been delayed because they hadn’t finished converting the ship in time, and I came through the atmosphere far out of position for my intended landing site. I saw the black mass of the New York ruins ahead, just the way it had happened on the real Solar 5 landing. My best options were to land on the flatter area of the New York Fringe Dig Site, or try to reach the river or the coast.

I couldn’t manage any of those. I was too high to hit New York Fringe, too low to reach the coast, and there were too many skyscrapers between me and the river. I managed to swerve and miss one jagged, skeletal giant of the past, but three more loomed directly ahead. I could only aim for the ground between two of them.

‘93 per cent,’ said the automated voice. ‘You have landed with twenty-six passenger injuries and no deaths, but your ship is buried in rubble.’

‘I tried to reach the river and failed as well,’ said General Torrek’s voice.

I turned, startled, and saw him standing at the entrance to the flight simulator. General Torrek had been the original pilot of Solar 5. I wondered what he thought of my amateur efforts to copy his landing.

‘Can you come out please, Commander?’ he said.

‘Yes, sir.’ I went across to the entrance, jumped down, and frowned as I saw the look on General Torrek’s face. Something was obviously wrong. Fian and Drago were standing waiting next to Colonel Leveque and Colonel Stone. Fian’s puzzled expression told me he didn’t know what was going on either.

‘Major Eklund,’ said Colonel Leveque, ‘are you aware your great-grandfather was a member of an organization sometimes referred to as Cioni’s Apprentices, which was involved in several breaches of the protection of humanity laws?’

Fian stared at him. ‘This is about my great-grandfather? Yes, I knew he was a member, sir. You knew it too. We had a conversation about him the day Jarra and I joined the Alien Contact programme.’

Leveque nodded. ‘Have you had any involvement with this organization yourself?’

Fian gave a bewildered shake of his head. ‘No. How could I? It doesn’t exist any longer.’

Leveque glanced down at a small object in his hand. ‘There is a 98 per cent probability that Major Eklund is telling the truth.’

‘Of course I’m telling the truth,’ said Fian. ‘Why are you asking these questions?’

‘Because an Interplanetary Crime Unit in Beta sector has reopened your great-grandfather’s case, and ordered your arrest for formal questioning,’ said Colonel Stone in a grimly angry voice. ‘They claim it’s purely coincidental they’re doing this just before the Tell clan ceremony.’

‘I hardly need to say the probability of that being true is vanishingly small,’ added Leveque.

‘They’re arresting Fian to stop the ceremony!’ I looked anxiously at General Torrek. ‘You can’t let that happen, sir. People have already tried to kill us, so there’s no knowing what they’d do to Fian!’

‘I’m not handing one of my officers over to suffer purely coincidental injury or death,’ said General Torrek. ‘What are our options here, Mason?’

General Torrek’s use of Leveque’s first name signalled he was shifting the conversation from formal to relaxed style. Leveque automatically responded by using first names himself, but his sentences stayed as complex as ever.

‘We can use Alien Contact powers to protect the safety of one of our key personnel, but refusing to allow Fian to be questioned could be viewed as an admission of his guilt.’

‘I have to go then,’ said Fian.

‘I’m not letting you do this,’ I said.

‘If I don’t, this crime unit will claim I’m guilty of crimes against humanity. They’ll say you knew about it, Jarra. After that, they just have to remind everyone about Gymir to destroy any chance of the Military getting new planets for the Handicapped.’

General Torrek frowned. ‘If I must send one of my officers into the chimera’s den, then he’s not going unprotected. Mason, I want you and a Military Security team to go with Fian.’

‘Unfortunately, that may be exactly what our enemies want us to do,’ said Leveque. ‘Jarra obviously can’t go with us to Beta sector, and we can’t adequately protect both her and Fian at two different locations without involving new personnel.’

‘Why is that a problem?’ asked Fian.

Leveque sighed. ‘Analysis of the explosive device at your dig site dome indicates some components came from Military sources, and a 96 per cent probability they came from Military Base 79 Zulu itself.’

‘What he means,’ said Stone bitterly, ‘is there’s an enemy in Zulu base. In
my
base! Your bodyguard and the four other Military Security officers assigned to protect you can’t be involved, or you’d already be dead, but everyone else is suspect.’

It took me a moment to absorb that, and work out what it meant. I wanted the people we trusted to concentrate on protecting Fian. He’d want them to concentrate on protecting me. We needed another answer here, because our enemies would just attack whichever of us was most vulnerable.

‘This crime unit will drag out their questioning to make sure Fian isn’t back for the ceremony,’ said Drago. ‘I’d better warn clan council.’

He moved away and started talking rapidly into his lookup. I buried my face in my hands, thinking frantically. Fian had to go to Beta sector, which meant I had to get everyone to go with him, but they’d never leave me alone and unprotected unless …

‘Which officers are least likely to be a threat?’ asked General Torrek.

‘Drago’s team have had extensive contact with Jarra without any problems and should be trustworthy,’ said Leveque. ‘However, fighter pilots would be an inadequate substitute for trained bodyguards.’

I lifted my head. ‘There’s a much better answer. Everyone protects Fian. Earth is my planet and I know more about it than any off-worlder. I’ll go and hide. If the enemy can’t find me then they can’t hurt me.’

‘You have a specific place in mind?’ asked Leveque.

I didn’t but … Yes, I did! ‘There’s a place no one else knows exists. No one at all. It’s not mentioned in any records, I discovered it totally by accident, and I never told anyone.’

Nia Stone looked thoughtfully at me. ‘Jarra’s right that no one can harm her if they can’t find her, and she’s demonstrated her specialist knowledge of Earth before.’

Fian stared at her. ‘You surely aren’t considering Jarra’s plan?’

‘Our existing tactics for protecting you two haven’t worked that well,’ said Stone.

‘But it’s suicidal!’ said Fian.

‘No it isn’t,’ I said. ‘You walking into an enemy trap is suicidal.’

Fian turned to General Torrek. ‘You can’t let Jarra go off alone!’

General Torrek frowned. ‘I don’t like the idea, but … Do we have any other options, Mason?’

‘This course of action does have a degree of risk,’ said Leveque, ‘but a substantially lower one than either inadequately guarding two targets at locations known to the enemy, or including suspect personnel.’

He paused for a moment. ‘Regarded purely tactically, our best option would be to protect Jarra and send Fian for questioning without any defence. I estimate an 89 per cent probability he would suffer fatal injuries, generating a massive wave of public sympathy that would allow us to achieve the changes to the Planet First selection criteria.’

My face must have shown him exactly what I was thinking, because he smiled at me. ‘Please don’t attempt to murder me, Jarra. It’s my job to point out all viable courses of action, even those I would personally regret taking.’

‘I don’t sacrifice my officers like pieces in a game of chess.’ General Torrek swapped back to Military formal manner for a moment. ‘We’ll follow your plan, Commander Tell Morrath.’

‘I strongly object, sir,’ said Fian.

‘Your objection is noted, Major,’ said General Torrek, ‘but I’ve made a command decision and you must accept it.’

Fian gave me a deeply frustrated look. ‘At least take Raven with you.’

‘No. I can’t vanish if I’m dragging round an Adonis Knight.’

Drago came back to join us. ‘Clan council just hit orbital levels of fury. Skunk juice thrown at a daughter of our house, insults painted on our clan hall, and now this! Clan council want me to accompany Fian. Under Beta sector law, he has the right to have a representative of his clan present to advise him during questioning.’

‘I’m not actually a clan member yet,’ said Fian.

Drago laughed. ‘Our clan has publicly declared it intends to adopt you, Fian. Betan law recognizes your right to our protection under Fidelis.’

‘Has clan council decided on a new date for the ceremony, Drago?’ asked General Torrek.

‘They want to keep the delay to a minimum,’ said Drago. ‘Will another week be enough time?’

General Torrek nodded. ‘If the crime unit haven’t finished their questioning by then, I can call a halt on the grounds they’re disrupting the Alien Contact programme. Nobody will believe it takes more than a few days to prove innocence or guilt.’

‘Good,’ said Drago. ‘Clan council said to warn you they’re changing the arrangements so we’ll need a bigger hall for the ceremony.’

‘Bigger?’ I asked. ‘Why?’

Drago grinned at me. ‘I told you clan council were furious. We aren’t just making a vid now. We’re going to have a live link of the ceremony for the newzies, and we’re inviting the Fifty!’

Leveque smiled. ‘Excellent tactics. I was concerned about a possible attack on the actual ceremony, but there’s minimal risk of anyone resorting to violence when the banners of Beta sector are present.’