Earth Star(13)

I finally managed to speak. ‘You do realize I’m an a … I mean Handicapped. I can’t portal off world.’

‘Of course,’ said the Captain. He nodded at the card.

I took a deep breath. My grandmother had taken this oath, my parents had taken it too, and now it was my turn. Taking the Military Oath has to go on record. Somewhere in the Military archives is a recording of my voice breaking up as I struggled through the words.

‘I, Jarra Tell Morrath, do solemnly swear to uphold the honour and faith of the Military, to serve and protect humanity, to …’

I got through to the end somehow, and then I stared at a reassuringly blank incurious wall for a few minutes while thinking of my parents. My mind replayed that one incredible conversation I’d had with them, struggling with emotion and portal relay lag, while I stood among the ruins of New York and they were on a nameless planet out in distant Kappa sector. My thoughts moved on, inevitably, to the call from the General who’d told me …

No, I mustn’t think of that. I mustn’t make a nardle of myself by breaking down entirely. I concentrated on Fian’s voice as he took the oath as well. He just sounded grazzed rather than emotional. When he’d finished, I took another moment to get my face under control, and turned around cautiously. I found the Captain waiting patiently for me.

‘Jarra Tell Morrath, you are hereby promoted to the rank of Captain. Congratulations.’

He saluted, and I numbly returned the salute. Captain? He said Captain? What?

He turned to Fian. ‘Fian Andrej Eklund, you are hereby promoted to the rank of Captain. Congratulations.’

The Captain saluted, and Fian waved a bewildered hand in the general direction of his ear.

‘I apologize for the lack of ceremony,’ said the Captain, ‘but we’re a little rushed here. Please be advised that your ranks are not part of the chain of command.’

‘Understood,’ I said.

‘Uniforms are waiting for you in your quarters in Accommodation Green Zone, Dome 9, Room 18. We’ve assumed joint quarters were appropriate, if not …’ He glanced enquiringly from Fian to me, decided we weren’t objecting, and hurried on. ‘Orientation sessions are running two hourly in Orientation Hall 1. This base is operating on Earth America time, which is Green time minus five hours. You’re scheduled for Captain’s table at 19:00 hours.’

I did some frantic mental calculations. We’d gained seven hours in the move from Earth Africa time to Earth America time, so … ‘Captain’s table? Dinner?’ I checked my understanding. ‘With Colonel Torrek?’

The Captain nodded. ‘Dress uniforms. You’ll find details on your lookups.’

I was past the stage where a mere dinner invitation from a Military Colonel could leave me grazzed. ‘We’d better get to our quarters and …’

Fian and I staggered out into the corridor, and he made a strange strangled noise. ‘Why have they made me Military? Why am I a Captain? You’ll have to explain.’

‘Me?’ I asked. ‘You want me to explain? You think I have the faintest idea what’s going on?’

‘But you know all this stuff.’

Know all this stuff? I was struggling to work out which way was up and which was down! At least the genetic tissue samples made sense now. Military officers always had genetic tissue stored in case they were exposed to damaging levels of radiation. I felt Fian wouldn’t appreciate me explaining that.

‘Fian, I don’t know anything, I just watched a lot of vids. I may have fooled a class of civilians into thinking I’d been to a Military school but … This is the real thing!’

I checked my Military lookup. A map with a helpful flashing arrow told me where I was, and which way to head, so I started walking. Several members of the Military passed us, dodging around our little road block of hover bags. They didn’t seem surprised to see people in civilian clothes with masses of luggage. There was probably a constant stream of new arrivals at the base.

‘What did he mean about chain of command?’ asked Fian.

‘He meant they’ve made us Captains, but in an emergency, if for example the aliens attack and the Colonel gets killed, we don’t go around yelling orders. Even if we’re the highest rank present, we let people who know what they’re doing take command.’

‘I can do that,’ said Fian, sounding near panic. ‘If the aliens attack, I don’t want to take command. I’m a history student, not … not Tellon Blaze on Thetis!’

I gave an instinctive shudder, thinking of the chimera. I’d seen dozens of horror vids set over a quarter of a millennium ago during Thetis chaos year, all telling variations of the story of the nightmare chimera and the legendary young hero who fought them. People only ever mentioned Thetis itself, but several other populated worlds were also infested with the chimera. If it hadn’t been for the leadership of Tellon Blaze, humanity might have lost everything.