‘Meds!’ said Fian. ‘There must be some meds that would help.’
I wrinkled my nose. I hated taking meds, but my personal feelings were pretty low on the priority list here. ‘Would that work? I can’t be on the newzies if I’m acting powered on meds.’
‘Once you’ve got into the suit for the first time, you might not need the meds again,’ said Rono.
I thought for a moment. ‘If I used the meds soon, and they only affected me for a couple of hours … We’ll have to explain to the staff at the medical post why we need the meds. That’s a risk, but I don’t see a way out of it.’
‘That’s easy,’ said Krath. ‘We claim I’m the one with impact suit phobia. You just have to tell them I’m on your team and you urgently need my help.’
I stared at him. ‘You’d do that to stop me looking a nardle? Krath, that’s pretty noble.’
He shrugged. ‘Not really. I’m always looking a nardle anyway.’
Amalie smiled. ‘You know, Krath, you’re definitely improving these days.’
He glanced at her and blushed.
‘They’ll want to give Krath the meds themselves,’ said Playdon, ‘but we can talk them into letting us do it if we quote security risks at them.’
‘We’d better get back to the hall and watch the announcement now,’ I said. ‘We can try the meds thing after that. Thanks again for volunteering, Krath. I appreciate it.’
Krath went pink again, and we trooped back to the main hall where everyone was watching the display of Earth Rolling News. A male presenter, who’d managed to find some serious clothes instead of a party outfit, was speaking.
‘This is Earth Rolling News broadcasting live across all sectors from our evacuation base in Ark.’
His voice had an uncontrolled edge of excitement as he said the words. Earth Rolling News had always been the poor relation of the other news channels, relaying incoming stories from the sectors, while no one outside Earth was interested in the affairs of the Handicapped. It had had recent moments of glory with the solar super storm, and hosting coverage of the Military medal ceremony, but they were nothing to this.
The fact that this was going out live to the sectors suddenly sank in. Oh chaos! It would have been bad enough watching my nardle theory explained to the entire population of Earth, but people in Alpha through Kappa would be watching this as well. Nuke it, even the Military in Zeta sector would probably have a live feed. No pressure. No pressure at all!
I waited tensely while the presenter explained some basic information for the viewers on worlds where even a short solar storm was a once in a lifetime event.
‘Earth is currently in portal lockdown due to a solar storm causing interference to portal transmissions originating on Earth. This would have fatal consequences to travellers, so the portal transportation network is closed to all but incoming medical emergency traffic from off world. The comms portal network remains open but is also subject to interference. We apologize for the resulting low image quality.’
He finally said the words I was waiting for. ‘Colonel Riak Torrek and Commander Mason Leveque are joining us on live link from the Military Operations Centre in Ark.’
The image changed to show Colonel Torrek and Commander Leveque standing in the centre of a vast cavern. In the background, I could see figures in Military uniform working at banks of equipment. There was also a huge holo display showing massed fighters parked on a landing area in front of a line of portals. I restrained the urge to giggle. The Military couldn’t need a live display of the fighters on standby at Echo base, Adonis. They were definitely playing to the vid bees with that one.
Colonel Torrek gave viewers a few seconds to take in the scene before he spoke. ‘I announced earlier that the Military were in the process of opening up communications with the alien sphere. I apologize for the delay in giving you further details. Professor Gaius Devon’s breach of secrecy means this information is being released ahead of schedule, and we had to complete the vid sequences. Commander Leveque will now continue the briefing.’
Leveque spent the next five minutes explaining my nardle theory, except the way he described it, with the help of images and graphics, it didn’t sound like a theory but a solid fact. Listening to him, I was almost convinced myself!
‘For obvious logistical and safety reasons,’ he said, ‘excavations cannot begin until Earth is out of portal lockdown. We estimate a 78 per cent probability the alien device is located at what we’ve designated Zulu Dig Site. Military aircraft surveyed the site before the start of the solar storm, taking visual and sensor images.’