Earth Star. Janet Edwards

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      I gave him a blank look. ‘With who?’

      ‘You haven’t heard of them?’ Fian seemed startled. ‘Vast amounts of scientific knowledge were entirely lost in Exodus century and the Earth Data Net crash, and there are other things we blindly accept as fact because they were once proved, but all record of the original proofs has been lost. Archaeologists look for old stasis boxes in the ancient cities to try and find that lost knowledge, but Cioni’s Apprentices were taking the other approach of trying to recreate the ancient science themselves. They named themselves after Leonardo da Vinci, who was an apprentice of a painter called Cioni.’

      I shook my head. ‘So why would that get them in trouble with the Military? Lots of scientists do that sort of thing.’

      ‘They got in trouble with the Military because they were prepared to do anything to help their research, including breaking the protection of humanity laws.’

      ‘Oh.’ The protection of humanity laws prohibited things like robots, cyborgs, clones, and genetically engineered human beings. I knew some of the historical events that made people pass those laws, and … ‘Yes, well, that’s very bad, but Leveque obviously knew all about your great-grandfather so he must have known about these Apprentices too. If he was going to arrest you, he’d have called Military Security before you left the room.’

      ‘I hope you’re right,’ said Fian. ‘I felt I had to point out the aliens could be far more advanced now than when they made that sphere, but I was wasting my time. Leveque enjoyed making fun of me, pointing out I was only a history student and making sarcastic jokes about time travel.’

      I’d seen Fian in this dark mood before, after his sister was nominated for an award. It had worried me until I worked out what was going on. Fian’s relatives were all brilliant scientific researchers. Fian had stood up for himself, chosen to study history because he loved it, but he knew his family considered him a failure. Now Leveque’s comments had stung him in a sensitive area. I tried my best to help.

      ‘I saw the way Leveque was watching you. He was listening to what you said and taking it seriously.’

      Fian shook his head. ‘No one’s interested in anything I have to say. The Colonel only brought me here because I’m your boyfriend. Judging from what he said after the Solar 5 rescue, he was very fond of your grandmother. You’re her Honour Child, so he takes an interest in us. He knew this base would be full of Military officers, all admiring the girl wearing the Artemis, and he wanted to give me a chance to hang on to my girlfriend.’

      ‘Don’t be ridiculous. The Military officers won’t be interested in me, and I’m certainly not interested in them. Why should I be when we’re Twoing?’

      ‘We’re halfway through our three-month Twoing contract, but we’re still not wearing rings,’ said Fian in a pointed voice.

      I felt sick. ‘We’ve been around this before and I explained I’m not the sort of person who wears jewellery.’

      ‘Couldn’t you try being the sort of person who wears my Twoing ring?’

      My best chance of escaping another ring discussion was by using shock tactics. I carefully gauged Fian’s position relative to the couch, went in low, and threw him over one shoulder. He made a perfect landing on the cushions, and I pinned him down. He didn’t put up any resistance at all as his startled face slowly changed to a grin.

      ‘Do you know why you don’t need to worry about me being interested in other men?’ I asked.

      ‘Why?’

      ‘Because you’ve got the nicest butt in the Military.’

      ‘Jarra!’ The poor little Deltan looked quite grazzed. ‘That’s … rude.’

      ‘There were times in pre-history when that word could be used in polite conversation,’ I told him, smugly. ‘Haven’t you seen the ancient vids from back before Exodus? They didn’t just use the words for the restricted body areas, they sometimes showed them too!’

      ‘Those vids were censored in Delta sector,’ said Fian. ‘They edited out inappropriate words and covered up the body areas.’

      I gave him a suspicious look. ‘I only saw the censored versions at school too, but now we’re history students we can access the originals if we want. Didn’t you look at some when you started the course? I know Krath did, because I overheard him telling Joth about a vid he’d found with lots of swimming pool scenes.’

      ‘I never understood why Krath and Joth are such friends,’ said Fian. ‘Krath’s got no sense socially, but he’s quite reliable on practical things, while Joth’s exactly the opposite way around.’

      I was even more suspicious now. ‘Fian Andrej Eklund, stop dodging the question!’

      He sighed and spoke in a morally superior tone of voice. ‘What people said and did back in pre-history is irrelevant. Only people in Beta sector use that word now. Everywhere else people just say legs, and you can tell which bit they mean by the tone of their voice when …’ He broke off his sentence. ‘Stop giggling at me!’

      ‘You did! You watched the vids!’

      Fian gave up pretending he was a virtuous Deltan. ‘Well, yes, I did look at a couple of vids, but it was just out of curiosity and because Krath said … You really think I have nice legs?’

      ‘Definitely,’ I said. ‘I’ve been waiting for hours to undress Arrack San Domex. Of course, you don’t have to do anything that’s against Deltan moral standards. Candace is worried that I push you around.’

      Fian donned an expression of martyrdom. ‘Go ahead. You’re a Major. I’m a Captain. You can push me around all I like.’

      I frowned. ‘Didn’t you get that last bit wrong? You said I, when you meant you.’

      He laughed. ‘I said exactly what I meant, Jarra.’

       7

      Next morning, Fian had accepted Military Security weren’t going to arrest him and was much more cheerful, but I was having my own confidence crisis. I stood in the corridor outside the closed door of the dining hall for Accommodation Green, wishing I could turn around and run away.

      ‘Something wrong?’ asked Fian.

      ‘I’m just panicking. I have to eat breakfast in a room full of Military officers, and then go and tell eight famous pre-history experts that I’m their new team leader. I’m not sure which scares me most.’

      ‘Why are you worried about breakfast? You survived eating dinner with Colonel Torrek last night.’

      ‘I didn’t have to worry what Colonel Torrek thought about me being here. He was the one who called us in. The people in there,’ I pointed at the door, ‘belong to the Attack team. They have to sit in the fighters surrounding that sphere, not knowing if it’ll turn out to be friend or foe. They have to wait for it to fire first, knowing they may not survive that attack, knowing they’re expendable.’

      Fian pulled a face. ‘It must take СКАЧАТЬ