We both submitted to what was at least our tenth scan in twenty-four hours. The doctor gazed thoughtfully at her scanner. ‘I’m happy to discharge you at this point, but remember the newly grown skin will remain sensitive for a couple more days.’
I went to my room to collect my things. Seeing the Zeta banner for the first time had been an amaz moment, but now I’d dropped from an exuberant high mood straight into depression. What had I been getting so excited about? I was Handicapped, so Zeta sector was just another place where I could never go. The marriage thing was bothering me too. I hadn’t expected Fian to turn me down and …
I shook my head. Wallowing in gloom like this was silly. I’d been through a lot of strain, and I was overreacting to things the way I always did. Fian had nearly killed himself saving me. He wasn’t rejecting me. He was just being sensible.
It was the hospital’s fault. Being here, constantly prodded and scanned by doctors, had made me stupidly nervous and insecure. As soon as Fian and I were back at Eden Dig Site, everything would go back to normal.
22
We got a noisy welcome when we rejoined the class. Playdon had just finished giving his afternoon lectures, so everyone was in the hall, shuffling furniture ready for dinner. They instantly stopped work and surrounded us, with everyone talking at once. I was struggling to cope with it, but Playdon quickly intervened.
‘Jarra and Fian have come straight from hospital, so please don’t mob them.’
The rest of the class retreated to leave us with just Dalmora, Amalie and Krath, and Dalmora gave us an apologetic smile. ‘Everyone’s just relieved that you’re both back. Lecturer Playdon kept telling us that you’d recover, but after Joth … Well, we couldn’t be sure until we actually saw you.’
I pulled a face. ‘I can understand that.’
‘Playdon hasn’t let us set foot outside the dome since the accident,’ said Amalie. ‘He said we all needed some time to calm our nerves, so we’ve just had lectures and watched some vids.’
‘Oh no,’ said Fian. ‘You haven’t had to repeat all the safety lectures again, have you?’
Amalie shook her head. ‘This wasn’t like with Joth. No one had done anything stupid. Technically, Fian should have run with the rest of us, but Playdon said Dig Site Command don’t even bother with standard reprimands in a case like this. They accept the tag support and tag leader relationship is always intense, and when people are Twoing as well you can’t expect …’
‘I should have been faster sounding the alarm,’ said Dalmora.
I shook my head. ‘Nobody could have hit the alarm faster.’ I suddenly realized that the person who should have been talking most of all was oddly silent. ‘What the chaos is the matter with you, Krath? You haven’t said a word.’
‘I feel so guilty, Jarra.’ Krath’s face was a picture of misery.
Amalie reached out a hand to casually slap him on the back of the head.
‘Ouch!’ Krath gave her a wounded look.
She turned back to me. ‘He’s been like this ever since the accident. I wouldn’t have believed it possible, but it’s even more irritating than when he talks all the time.’
‘But what have you got to feel guilty about, Krath?’ asked Fian. ‘The accident wasn’t your fault.’
Krath sighed. ‘I made that stupid remark about the huge bounty payment if anyone found the secret to making glowplas.’
I tried to make sense of this. ‘Yes, but we didn’t.’
‘I don’t want blood money,’ he wailed.
‘Shut up, Krath!’ Amalie hit him again, harder than before, and Krath gave a loud yelp of protest.
Playdon had gone over to get a drink from the food dispensers, but turned to call across the room to them. ‘Amalie, I’ve been treating you hitting Krath as some sort of Epsilon sector courting ritual rather than a violent attack that’s against the Gamman moral code, but please don’t injure him.’
‘I wish there was a brain to injure,’ muttered Amalie.
‘Dig Site Command studied the data from our sensor readings,’ said Dalmora. ‘A magnetic field that strong was completely unprecedented, so Earth 3 and Cassandra 2 research teams went to take a look.’
Fian stared at her in disbelief. ‘But it was lethal there!’
She pulled a face. ‘I know, but they went in without impact suits or sleds. They wore old style protective clothing and shifted rubble with ropes instead of beams.’
I shook my head. ‘Why did Dig Site Command allow it?’
Dalmora shrugged. ‘They’re highly skilled experts, and they knew exactly what they were doing. They found the source of the magnetic field and pulled its power cell to shut it down. They think they’ve found a research lab. It may have been in use until Eden was abandoned, because a lot of the equipment was left in stasis fields. They think one of those fields failed while we were there, and something became active which generated that magnetic field.’