Earth Star. Janet Edwards

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      I forced myself to open the door, we entered the dining hall, and for a moment it was oddly similar to going into breakfast with my classmates. People were clustered around tables, eating and chattering away in eager voices.

      That first impression lasted only a second before the differences hit me. The tables and chairs were fancier than the basic grey flexiplas ones in a dig site dome. There was real food laid out as well as a row of food dispensers. The people were obviously older than my classmates, and they were wearing Military uniform instead of a motley assortment of casual clothes from five different sectors. The main difference though, was that my classmates didn’t stand and salute me when I came in for breakfast.

      Correction, I thought. These people weren’t saluting me; they were saluting the Artemis medal and the tradition of courage and sacrifice it represented. I was a hollow mockery of the legendary names on the Artemis role of honour, but I owned the shoulder the medal was pinned to and should respond with dignity. I saluted back and gave the nod that allowed everyone to relax and sit down.

      The worst moment was over, and I felt exuberant with relief as I followed Fian over to the food. ‘Amaz, there’s cheese fluffle!’

      ‘You want cheese fluffle for breakfast?’ Fian looked at me incredulously. ‘You’re serious?’

      ‘Fian, you haven’t lived until you’ve tasted cheese fluffle on toasted wafer.’

      He watched me load up a plate. ‘Didn’t you have cheese fluffle last night?’

      ‘Fian, I will have cheese fluffle morning, noon and night if I can get it. Dome food dispensers never have it, so whenever I get the chance … Just try a mouthful and you’ll understand. It’s utter blizz!’

      He shook his head and filled us two glasses of frujit. ‘I don’t really like cheese.’

      ‘Deltans,’ I grumbled. ‘They’re not allowed sex or cheese.’

      Fian nearly spilt the frujit as he burst out laughing. When he recovered, we went across to an empty table and sat down. A lot of people were looking at us, but I tried to ignore them and relax.

      ‘How will you handle the meeting with your team?’ asked Fian.

      I savoured a joyous mouthful of cheese fluffle on toasted wafer. ‘Not sure. These people are famous experts in theoretical pre-history.’ I brought up the list of names on my forearm lookup. ‘Just take a look.’

      Fian leaned over and read them through. ‘Amaz!’

      I realized someone had come over to our table, a man in his late twenties, with a tangle of jet-black hair above a strikingly handsome face. He wore a Major’s insignia like my own, and didn’t bother with the excessive saluting, just gave us a friendly smile.

      ‘Sorry to interrupt,’ he said. ‘I wanted to introduce myself. You’re Jarra Tell Morrath, of course.’ The Major nodded at the Artemis on my shoulder. ‘I’m Drago Tell Dramis. We share a couple of great-grandparents.’

      ‘We do? Totally zan!’ Since my parents died, I’d exchanged a couple of impersonal recorded messages with my older brother and sister, but I’d never expected to meet them or any other relatives. I was so grazzed that I stared at Drago for several seconds before I remembered to introduce Fian. ‘This is Fian Eklund.’

      Drago nodded briefly at Fian. ‘Captain.’

      Fian nodded back. ‘Major.’ He didn’t sound too friendly about it.

      I gestured at a spare chair and Drago sat down. ‘My condolences on the death of your parents,’ he said. ‘I had the honour to be a banner bearer at their memorial service. They were fine officers.’

      ‘I didn’t have much chance to …’ My voice was shaking so I broke off in mid-sentence.

      Fian reached out to take my hand, and faced Drago aggressively. ‘This is a very distressing subject for Jarra.’

      ‘My apologies,’ said Drago. ‘I didn’t …’

      ‘No,’ I interrupted. ‘There’s no way I can run away from this. I’m on a Military base, and everything keeps reminding me.’ I paused. ‘Drago, if you were at the memorial service, you’ll be able to tell me what happened to them.’

      He frowned. ‘I thought you were told.’

      ‘A General called me, but my head was …’ I pulled a face. ‘I was suffering from shock and missed the details. All I know is they were on a Planet First assignment, things went wrong, and everyone had to abandon the planet and portal out. My parents were in the last group on the defensive perimeter and didn’t make it back to the portals.’

      ‘Your parents were commanding the Planet First team on K19448,’ said Drago.

      ‘Commanding?’ I blankly repeated the word. ‘I hadn’t realized …’

      ‘Does a behaviour event mean anything to you?’

      I shook my head.

      ‘It’s when a known species has a sudden and radical change in behaviour, and sometimes its physical characteristics as well. It’s often related to a breeding cycle, and happens at intervals of anything between months and many years. Every planet has behaviour events. Some are harmless, or even spectacularly lovely, like the three-yearly firefly clouds of Danae. Some are nasty, with an apparently harmless species suddenly becoming lethally savage.’

      ‘That’s what happened on K19448?’

      ‘Yes,’ said Drago. ‘We can’t instantly abandon every planet that goes into a behaviour event, or we wouldn’t have any colony worlds. By the time you know exactly what’s happening, things can be serious. On K19448, a widespread winged herbivore suddenly turned into a carnivore soldier species and …’

      ‘I see,’ I said.

      Drago hesitated. ‘I don’t know if it helps, but K19448 is on the salvage list. Planet First teams will be going back there.’

      ‘What will they do?’

      ‘Globally exterminate the problem species, after which there’s every chance K19448 will become a new colony world for Kappa sector. The ecologists complain about global exterminations, but they’re sometimes necessary to make the inhabited continent safe. We have to remember civilizations can run into trouble. After Exodus century, we nearly lost portal technology entirely, protective measures failed on some planets and dangerous species reached their inhabited continents. It took over a hundred years to clear up the mess, and we don’t want it happening again.’

      I pictured my parents trying to retreat to the portals, and being mobbed by winged creatures with teeth and claws capable of ripping through protective impact suits. ‘I like animals, but …’

      Drago nodded. ‘Tellon Blaze said it during the Thetis disaster. Any ecologist who wants to cry over the chimera being exterminated should be locked up in a room with one.’

      ‘I’d like K19448 to become a colony world,’ I said. ‘I know my parents served on other Planet First assignments, and some of those worlds are being colonized, but they died on this one so …’

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