Earth Star(103)
I stood there, white and shaking, knowing there was nothing I could do to mend things. I felt Fian’s arm go around me as Devon continued speaking.
‘Putting your pet throwback in charge of something of this importance is …’
Colonel Torrek’s voice calmly spoke over the top of him. ‘I was prepared to answer any issues of public concern, but I’m not willing to listen to personal abuse of a valued Military officer.’
‘Earth Rolling News is removing Gaius Devon from this broadcast,’ said the presenter. ‘We refuse to give a public platform to his statements.’
Gaius Devon’s image abruptly vanished. I was still stupid from shock, so it was a moment before I understood the obvious. Earth Rolling News was a vid channel run both by and for other Handicapped. The insult to me was an insult to them as well. Of course they would cut off his call.
I glanced around at the faces of the dig team members. Whether they were Handicapped or norms, they all looked furiously angry.
‘Thank you,’ said Colonel Torrek. ‘It’s now painfully clear Gaius Devon suffers from uncontrolled prejudices. His true reason for breaking his oath of secrecy was a xenophobic wish to force the Military into a hostile act against an alien race of unknown capabilities. Every school teaches the basic logic and objectives of the Alien Contact programme. I remind everyone of Premise One. Conflict should be avoided if possible, since attacking an alien race of inferior technology is unnecessary, while attacking one of superior technology could result in the extinction of the human race.’
He gave people a few seconds to take that in, before hammering the point home. ‘There is every indication these aliens have far superior technology to us. An unprovoked attack could lead to a war that destroys our entire species, so we must make every possible attempt to establish friendly communications with them.’
Colonel Torrek paused again. ‘The insults Devon directed at our Field Commander aren’t worthy of comment, but I am prepared to reassure the public on the issue of her qualifications and age. Major Jarra Tell Morrath was recruited in the first phase of the Alien Contact programme, was personally responsible for the Ark initiative, and has in depth knowledge of the tactical situation with the alien sphere. She has extensive experience of excavating Earth’s ruined cities, and was involved in the discovery of both a cache of ancient paintings in New York and a partially functioning medical laboratory in the Eden ruins. She has received bravery commendations for her part in the rescue of another dig team and was recently awarded the Artemis medal after being injured while helping rescue Solar 5.’
My head wasn’t in much of a state for thinking, but there seemed something odd about the glib way Colonel Torrek reeled off these details.
‘As for the issue of age,’ he continued, ‘our Field Commander has many ancestors with distinguished Military records. Everyone will have heard of at least one of them. Tellon Blaze fought the chimera on Thetis when he was, coincidentally, 18 years old.’
The interview ended after that, and I stood there, numbly, with everyone staring at me. The lookup on my arm chimed for attention, and I automatically answered.
‘Jarra,’ said Colonel Torrek, ‘can we talk in reasonable privacy?’
I realized what this must be about, and moved away from the crowd before speaking. ‘Sir, I wish to stand down as Field Commander. My Handicap is an embarrassment and …’
He interrupted me. ‘Jarra, Gaius Devon had organized a group of politicians to table an emergency motion in tomorrow’s session of Parliament of Planets. We couldn’t risk Parliament ordering us to attack the sphere, so we set things up to tempt Devon into a public confrontation. We hoped the combination of glorifying one of the Handicapped and disparaging him would sting his ego, but we didn’t expect him to lose his head so completely. He made a huge fuss on the newzies about his noble self-sacrifice in risking prison because of his concern for public safety, but when we gave him the opportunity to state his case he wasted it in a display of personal jealousy and prejudice.’
They’d done it again, I realized. The Military had used my Handicap to check for prejudice on the Attack team, and now they’d used it against Devon. ‘You were expecting him to say something like that? So, that’s how you could recite all those details about me.’
‘Of course, Jarra. When I use one of my officers as bait to tempt the chimera out of the shadows, I make sure we’re ready to defend her.’
Yes, I thought. Last time they’d had Drago standing by to defend me, and this time it was Colonel Torrek himself. I couldn’t hate the Colonel for using me against Gaius Devon. He was fighting to defend humanity, particularly the part of it which was trapped on Earth like me. I did hate the fact that wherever I was, whatever I did, the only thing people cared about was the fact I was Handicapped. I wasn’t just a faulty immune system, I was a person!