‘What?’ He looked outraged. ‘Who said that?’
‘Military Security said that. It’s not surprising. Your father helps run a vid channel that’s continually making wild accusations against the Military. Since Gaius Devon caused so much trouble, Military Security are a bit edgy.’
‘It’s my nuking dad again! If he keeps me out of this, I’ll …’
‘Don’t worry about it, Krath. I’ve personally assured Military Security that you’re trustworthy.’
I missed his reply, because I stepped through the portal. The others followed me through, and I gave a deep sigh of relief. ‘Privacy at last! Dalmora, don’t you dare let a vid bee out here, or I promise I’ll kill it.’
Dalmora laughed. ‘I won’t. You’ve been doing an amaz job, Jarra. The way you’re organizing all this, and the things you talk about so casually …’
I pulled a face. ‘The organizing is being done by other people, and everyone keeps covering up my stupid mistakes.’
‘Now we’re away from the vid bees,’ said Fian, ‘you have to take your impact suit off, Jarra. You’ve been wearing it for over twenty-four hours.’
‘I can’t.’
‘Fian’s right,’ said Playdon. ‘Wearing an impact suit for long periods is a huge strain on the body. Breaks are recommended at least every six hours, and twelve hours is regarded as the absolute maximum limit for continuous wear.’
‘This is an emergency,’ I said. ‘I daren’t risk taking the suit off. If I try to put it on again, I might have another panic attack.’
Fian shook his head. ‘We understand that, Jarra, but you can’t keep this up.’
‘It’s not as if I’ve been sealed in the suit and working a dig site for twenty-four hours,’ I said. ‘I’ve had the hood down, the front open, and I’ve spent time lying down and resting.’
‘Now look me in the eyes and tell me you’ve been eating and sleeping.’
I hesitated. ‘I’ve had some soup.’
Fian sighed. ‘There’s no point in martyring yourself to inspire confidence in people if you’re going to mess it up by collapsing.’
I realized he had a point there. ‘I just need another hour or two. When we get to Zulu Dig Site, I’m supposed to lead a vid bee tour of the place. After that, Drago and Marlise will be taking over the public relations side of things, Pereth will be running the excavation itself, and I can hide away in the Field Command sled.’
‘Those are properly enclosed so you won’t need an impact suit?’ asked Playdon.
I nodded. ‘I looked up the technical specs on them. They’re similar to the mobile Dig Site Command sleds, but fancier.’
‘And once you’re in there, you promise you’ll take off the suit?’ asked Fian. ‘If you don’t, I’ll call Colonel Torrek and tell him exactly what’s going on.’
‘You wouldn’t!’
‘Watch me!’
The Cassandrian skunk meant it. I sighed. ‘I promise.’
Playdon frowned and ran his fingers through his hair. ‘Make sure you keep this vid bee tour as short as possible, Jarra.’
‘I certainly will. The sooner Drago takes over, the happier I’ll be. I’m terrified I’ll say or do something that embarrasses the whole Military.’
Fian made a choking noise. ‘And you think Drago won’t?’
‘Drago grew up in a Military family, went to Military school and the Academy. I bet he knew more when he was 2 years old than I do now.’
Fian laughed. ‘I was just remembering what he did in the dining hall.’
I giggled. ‘Colonel Torrek is sending Marlise along to make sure Drago behaves.’
The others changed into impact suits, and Fian and I carefully packed our uniforms. We could work inside the Field Command sled wearing just the skintights we normally wore under impact suits, but we couldn’t appear like that in a vid. Skintights covered the legally private areas, but, as their name implied, they were literally skin tight.
We were ready before the freight portals had completed their calibration and test sequences, so we went out of the dome and admired our svelte, black, Field Command sled.
‘Zan!’ said Krath, doing a quick lap of inspection. ‘Can I go inside, Jarra?’
‘You’re a security risk.’
‘Jarra!’
I couldn’t see his face through the fabric of his impact suit, but his wounded tone was obvious. I hastily reassured him. ‘Only teasing, Krath. Of course you can. We’ll all go inside and drive through the freight portal to Zulu Dig Site in style. The sled is designed as living accommodation for a team of four, so I’m sure we can fit in six of us for a short while.’