Earth Star(69)

I waited several interminable seconds, before my stretcher started moving again. They were sending me through the portal, which meant Fian was already safely in casualty. He’d make it now, surely. He wasn’t sick like Joth, just injured. They had to get him in a tank, but …

The face of a woman appeared above me, and she opened the front of my suit hood. The liquid clogging my ears trickled out and I could hear again.

‘Jarra, you’re in Earth Africa Casualty,’ she said. ‘You’ve got whole body surface wounds and have lost a lot of blood, so we’ll sedate you, take off the suit, and get you into a tank.’ She turned her head and shouted. ‘Get the rest of those people out of our way!’

Blood, I thought, that’s how you can drown in an impact suit. I felt a nardle pride in solving the puzzle. The woman turned back towards me, smiled, and held a tube to my neck to give me a shot of sedative. The pain stopped and the world went away.





20





When I woke up the next time, I was in a bed, I could see Candace smiling down at me, and things didn’t hurt any more. I must have done my time in a tank, been fixed up, but where was …?

‘Fian?’ I demanded.

‘He’s in the next room, Jarra. He’s still in a tank, but he’s making good progress and they expect to decant him tomorrow. There’s absolutely no need to worry.’

I took a moment to absorb that before moving on to the next question. ‘The others?’

‘No one else was hurt,’ said Candace. ‘You’ve been in a whole body regrowth tank for three days.’

I instinctively lifted my hands and looked at them. I seemed to be back in one piece.

‘If you’ve questions about what happened, I should call in Dannel. He’s waiting outside.’

‘Dannel?’ I asked.

‘Yes. Dannel Playdon.’

Lecturer Playdon had a first name? Well, of course he did. I told myself that I was a total nardle, lifted the covers, and peered down to see what I was wearing. I was in a perfectly respectable, hospital white, sleep suit.

‘Something wrong?’ asked Candace.

‘Just checking I’m decently dressed,’ I said. ‘I don’t want to shock Playdon. He’s as conservative on sexual things as a Deltan.’

Candace gave me a funny look. ‘Dannel Playdon is Deltan.’

‘What? Asgard is in Gamma sector.’

She sighed. ‘Jarra, your lecturer grew up in Delta sector, but attended a University course on Asgard in Gamma sector and later joined their staff.’

‘Oh.’ Fian had joined a Gamma sector course because Delta sector didn’t do a lot of history teaching. Playdon must have done the same and …

I let the thought drop, because Playdon had arrived. Candace was sitting in one of two chairs by my bed, and Playdon took the other.

‘It’s good to see you looking well, Jarra,’ he said.

‘Thank you, sir, and thank you for getting Fian and myself out of there. It was a risk coming back for us.’

‘I’ve lost one student this year, and I’ve no intention of losing any more. When the alarm sounded, I ran down the clearway with the rest of the class. Fian’s sled exploded, but the others didn’t. I told the class to stay where they were and went back. I didn’t dare use any of the sleds of course, but I picked up two hover stretchers and a hand sensor and went out to collect you. I was watching the magnetic readings on the sensor with every step I took, and I was ready to ditch my suit if necessary.’

I nodded.

‘Fortunately, I didn’t have to try climbing over rubble while wearing just a skintight. You’d been thrown towards the clearway by the lifeline beam, and were out of the magnetic field. Fian was even closer to the clearway, because he was bright enough to jump from his sled the instant he saw the beam break you free from the magnetic pull. He was actually in midair when his sled exploded. Since he was jumping towards the clearway, the blast helpfully hurled him further on his way. He’d probably planned that.’

‘Yes, sir. Fian’s good in a crisis.’

Playdon was watching my face. ‘Don’t worry, Jarra. Fian will make a full recovery.’

‘Yes, sir,’ I repeated.

‘Well, I found you were both alive, so then it was a race to get you to the emergency evac portal. Dalmora, Amalie and Krath disobeyed my explicit orders and followed me out into the rubble to help me with the stretchers. I’m still working out whether I should give them commendations for heroism, or throw them off the course for insubordination.’

He was obviously joking, so I forced a shaky laugh.

‘Enough explanations. How are you feeling, Jarra? Skin sensitive?’