Earth Flight (21 page)

There was cheese fluffle on the menu! I gave in to temptation, entered my credit code, and grabbed my carton. I ripped it open, seized the spoon, and was madly eating ecstatic mouthfuls of cheese fluffle when I realized about five hundred people were standing watching me in stunned silence.

‘Commander Tell Morrath, are you hurt?’ asked the guide, his eyes on my singed uniform.

I guiltily stopped eating. ‘I’m fine. Had a bit of trouble. Got to go now.’

When I entered my special code, the portal started talking to me. ‘Warning, your destination is a restricted access area, and …’

I gave a farewell wave to my bewildered audience and stepped through the portal, arriving in a large hall filled with people.

‘Thank chaos for that,’ said a toga-clad figure.

I blinked as I recognized him. ‘Drago, where’s …’

I didn’t need to finish the sentence, because Fian came out of the crowd and started ranting at me. ‘Jarra, where the nuke have you been? We just got a credit alert saying you’d bought a carton of cheese fluffle at the Spirit of Man monument. I’ve been going crazy with worry, and you’re sightseeing and buying cheese fluffle!’

I glanced down at the carton in my hand, and gave a guilty giggle. ‘Sorry, I was starving hungry.’

Colonel Leveque and General Torrek appeared, both conventionally dressed in Military uniform. ‘We were concerned for your safety, Commander,’ said Leveque. ‘A sudden silence from the opposition indicated a significant possibility you were dead.’

‘They probably thought I was.’

General Torrek frowned at my uniform. ‘You’ve been in a fire, Jarra. Are you injured?’

‘There was an aircraft with a Planet First incendiary weapon but that’s not important now. I’m not hurt.’ My eyes were back on Fian. He was wearing a sleeveless white tunic, leggings, and some strange boots with archaic lacings.

‘I would argue it’s extremely important, Commander,’ said Leveque. ‘If they had a Planet First incendiary weapon then there is a high probability it was obtained from this base. Details of this attack could assist my attempts to identify the enemy agent.’

I was still studying Fian. There were colourful bruises on his right forehead and his left cheek. ‘I’ll tell you about the attack later. There isn’t time now.’

‘Very well,’ said Leveque, ‘but I’ll want a detailed report immediately after the ceremony.’

I turned to glare at Drago. ‘You let Fian get hurt and you haven’t even got him medical treatment!’

Drago cowered and raised his hands in surrender. ‘We did! We did! We just kept a couple of bruises for the newzies. We kept some for me and Raven too. Look!’ He pointed at a dramatic bruise on his own face.

I finally noticed Raven standing next to Fian, and saw he had a spectacular black eye. ‘Raven, did you arrest the people who attacked Fian, or just shoot them?’

‘We let them off with a warning,’ said Raven.

‘What?’ I stared at him in pure disbelief.

He gave me a pleading look. ‘It was a tricky situation, Jarra. We couldn’t shoot people when Fian was the one who started the fight, but we joined in on his side.’

Fian started the fight? My mind had an odd, blank moment. Fian wasn’t the type to start a fight.

Colonel Leveque had been talking into his lookup in a low voice, but now he rejoined the conversation. ‘I should put all three of them on report. The Military strongly disapproves of officers brawling with civilians.’

‘I was the senior officer present,’ said Drago. ‘It was my responsibility. You should demote me.’

General Torrek shook his head. ‘There’s no point in trying to dodge promotion any longer, Drago. The General Marshal has said you have great potential.’

Drago looked horrified. ‘Oh no!’

‘By the way,’ added General Torrek, ‘your parents dined with me last night. I mentioned the incident when you appeared unsuitably dressed in a dining hall, and your father wants to discuss it with you immediately after the ceremony.’

Drago turned to bang his head against the wall. ‘Please, someone have mercy and shoot me.’

‘That’s a very tempting offer.’ Drago’s wife, Major Marlise Weldon, arrived, dressed in a toga like her husband. ‘Welcome back, Jarra.’

‘Thank you.’ I frowned at Fian. ‘What were you doing on Hercules, and why were you starting fights?’

Fian sighed. ‘My father asked me to visit him. He claimed he was having second thoughts about leaving my mother, but he actually wanted to talk me into dumping you. He’d invited a crowd of my school classmates over to help him do it. Naturally, he chose the ones he approved of, the ones who’d jeered at me all through school because I was interested in history instead of science. When they started calling you names, I lost my temper and …’

‘I apologize for interrupting,’ said Dalmora’s voice from behind me, ‘but we must get Jarra ready for the ceremony.’

Dalmora was an Alphan aristocrat and just asked politely, but Amalie and Issette were with her and believed in direct action. The pair of them grabbed my arms and dragged me away. We went past a group of people that included Colonel Stone, Lecturer Playdon, Candace, and Fian’s mother. I tried to stop and talk to them, but Issette yanked me into a side room, stole my cheese fluffle carton, and thrust me through a door into a bathroom.

‘Shower!’

I obediently peeled off my blackened uniform, and stepped into the warm fragrant water of the shower. Blizz, pure blizz! I could have stayed in there for hours, but Amalie was shouting at me through the bathroom door.

‘Hurry up, Jarra! Your first lot of clothes are by the door.’

First lot of clothes? I reluctantly switched the shower to dry cycle, stepped out while my hair was still damp, and found the clothes were very similar to Fian’s outfit. I dressed, worked out how to lace the boots, went out of the bathroom, and was instantly shoved into a chair.

‘Does anyone know what’s going to happen in this ceremony?’ I asked.

‘Drago will explain,’ said Dalmora. ‘Quiet now!’

She started dabbing makeup on my face and lips, and a total stranger came into the room and started doing things to my hair. I wanted to say hello to her, but daren’t open my mouth.

Dalmora, Amalie and Issette were wearing matching sleeveless dresses that hung to the floor in long flowing folds of silver and palest eggshell blue, and their hair was ornately arranged. Whatever was going to happen in this ceremony, they were obviously part of it. I compared their outfits to my simple tunic and leggings, and started worrying about what I’d be wearing later. If I had to wear a dress as long as theirs, I’d probably trip and fall flat on my face.

Several centuries went by before Dalmora allowed me to escape from the chair and go back into the main hall. A man in Captain’s uniform instantly came up and offered me a tray of food and drink.

I shook my head. ‘No thanks. I’ve already had cheese fluffle and now I’m too nervous to … Oh, you’re Captain Marston. You’re betrothed to Major Tar Cameron, aren’t you?’

He disconcerted me by giving me an angry look. ‘Yes, sir.’

‘Can you tell me what happens in Betan betrothal ceremonies? I missed the rehearsals so …’

Rayne Tar Cameron hurried up, snatched the tray from Marston, and glared at him. ‘I need you to help me in hall 2. Now!’

The pair of them went off, and I heard laughter from behind me. I turned to see Drago and Marlise. ‘What the chaos was that about?’ I asked.

‘Rayne and Qwin seem to be having a few relationship problems,’ said Marlise. ‘They had a big argument at breakfast this morning, and Rayne threw a bowl of cereal at Qwin right in front of Colonel Stone.’

‘Really?’ I laughed. ‘I’d no idea Rayne could be so …’

‘Human?’ Drago grinned. ‘It was a bit of a surprise to everyone. At any other time, Nia Stone would probably have ignored it, but the dining hall was full of special guests here for the ceremony, including the terrifying General Hiraga herself! Rayne’s on report for the first time in her impeccable career, and in a filthy mood.’

‘Oh, I see.’ I moved on to a far more important subject. ‘Drago, I don’t have a clue what I’m supposed to do in this ceremony.’

‘Don’t worry, Jarra. There’ll be four parts to the ceremony. Your presentation, Fian’s adoption, the contract approval, and the betrothal. You don’t need to say anything during the presentation because it’s normally done when you’re a baby, you aren’t involved in the adoption ceremony, and you’ll be away changing clothes during the contract approval.’

‘It’s the betrothal that’s worrying me.’

Drago grinned. ‘We’ll talk you through everything you have to do and say in that. You’re already wearing the comms devices.’

‘I am?’

He tapped the side of his face, and I heard his voice talking in my ear. ‘The jewelled pins in your hair. I’ll give you instructions, you just follow them.’

‘Oh,’ I said. ‘Yes, that works.’

‘Given the complications of Military assignments, it’s never easy to get many of the clan physically in one place, but we’ve managed enough to look respectable, and …’ He tugged back the sleeve of his toga to reveal his forearm lookup, and tapped it. ‘How are we doing on the banners of the Fifty, Caius?’

‘All fifty banner bearers have arrived now,’ said an unfamiliar voice. ‘The Fabian alliance naturally sent their lowest ranked clan member, but the August alliance sent someone surprisingly respectable and … Oh chaos!’

Drago frowned. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘You won’t believe this, but Lucius Augustus Gordianus just portalled in. Look!’

A holo image appeared in midair, showing two people standing near a portal. A man who might be anywhere between sixty and eighty, and a much younger woman. They were wearing ornate formal togas, and the woman carried a baby in her arms.

‘What the nuking hell does Lucius want?’ Drago heard my gasp and pulled an apologetic face at me. ‘Sorry, Jarra. That phrase isn’t as rude in Beta as in other sectors, but … I don’t understand why the head of the August clan council is here. Our clans haven’t exactly been on good terms since Thetis.’

Caius spoke from the lookup. ‘What do we do, Drago? Turning him away would be a huge insult, but if he’s here to cause trouble …’

Drago buried his face in his hands for a second. ‘The woman with Lucius is his daughter, Juliana Augusta Helena. Clan August would never involve their closeted womenfolk in anything violent, and disrupting the ceremony would be disrespectful to the Fifty, so …’

I took a step closer to the holo image. ‘Drago, look at the bracelet on the baby’s arm. That’s a Hospital Earth Nursery identity band!’

‘Nuk …’ Drago shook his head. ‘I mean, chaos take it. The grandchild of Lucius Augustus Gordianus has been born Handicapped, which explains everything that’s been confusing us. The August clan keeping so quiet. Who was running that expensive publicity campaign. Even the shock news about clan Marius withdrawing from the August alliance.’

He ran his fingers through his hair. ‘Lucius must have been fighting some major battles within both clan and alliance. I have to give the man credit for courage, because he’s gambled his whole political career for that baby. Clan Marius obviously wouldn’t stomach getting involved, but if Lucius has imposed his will on the rest of the August alliance then …’

Drago started rattling instructions into his lookup. ‘Caius, Lucius has come here as a public display of support from clan August. Give him and his daughter the most fulsome welcome you can, and take them into a room by themselves. Don’t, whatever you do, mention the baby unless they do. I’m betting some more heads of clans in the August alliance will show up as well, so put them in with Lucius and his daughter.’

Drago ended the call and turned to his wife. ‘Marlise, can you tell General Torrek what’s happening? I’ll warn my father. I saw him talking to Jaxon earlier. Come along and meet them, Jarra.’

My brother, Jaxon. Oh chaos! With everything else that had been happening, I hadn’t thought about the possibility of meeting my brother or sister. I trailed reluctantly after Drago, to where two men in togas were talking.

‘Jarra, this is my father, General Dragon Tell Dramis, and your brother, Commander Jaxon Tell Galad,’ said Drago.

I was startled to recognize the older man’s face. This was the General who’d called me to break the news that my parents had been killed.

‘I’m delighted to meet you at last, Jarra,’ he said.

‘Thank you, sir.’

‘We’re not in uniform, Jarra. You should address me as cousin.’ He gave me a relaxed smile.

Drago started telling his father about the surprise guests, and I was left facing my brother. We’d only exchanged impersonally polite recorded messages before now, so I didn’t know what to say. Jaxon finally broke the awkward silence.

‘Our sister, Gemelle, sends her apologies that her assignment doesn’t allow her to be here. She wishes you every happiness.’

‘Thank you,’ I muttered. ‘I mean, thank her for me.’

There was another painful silence. I knew I wasn’t helping much, but I felt it was up to Jaxon to make the effort here. He’d grown up with our clan and our parents, while I’d been abandoned on Earth. He could have said he was sorry about what had happened, instead of trying to avoid looking at me. What was wrong with him? Was he another of the bigots who didn’t think I was really human? Had he been forced into being here to present me to the clan?

Drago finished his explanation, and his father nodded. ‘I’ll go and welcome Lucius Augustus Gordianus myself.’

He vanished off, which left Drago free to check how my brother and I were getting along. It must have been obvious our first meeting was a disaster, because he spoke with artificial cheerfulness.

‘We’d better start getting ready for the ceremony.’

I gulped. I still didn’t know what would happen during the betrothal, but it was bound to involve me saying something romantic and I was incredibly bad at that sort of thing. I was about to make a complete nardle of myself in front of a vast audience.

19

I was in a strange room that had three walls entirely covered with vid screens and equipment, and a fourth wall that was a massive glass window. I looked through the window at a huge hall below, with banks of seating and a wide central aisle leading to a raised platform. ‘Can the people down there see us?’