Marta paused, scanning the purple horizon for signs of movement…
“Rai!” she hissed, “I thought I saw something, over there in the pods!”
She used Standard English of the type taught by her nursemaids as this was Mission business…and it would be unseemly, even unprofessional, to use Grok.
Rai was studiously ignoring her, concentrating on the bio-tec experiments over by the crater rim. She tried again,
“Rai…we need to get back…Alpha will be down soon…!”
“OK…!” Rai showed his usual impatience with her.
Marta is ten Standard and beginning to change physically. The skinny girl is starting to fill out, to acquire curves, and hair, in unexpected places. Her favourite nursemaid, Six Gee, had advised her that something called her ‘periods’ would start soon. Marta knows all about sex, and reproduction, and puberty. But knowing the theory of menstruation is not the same as experiencing it…and nobody on Alpha 5 has done that yet. She’s the oldest female, and will be the first.
The fat red disc of Alpha B was now barely above the horizon, and the blotchy smear of Proxima was now clearly visible. She shivered in the sudden chill. Rai had, thank God, now packed away his gear and was waiting for her to set off towards the Dome. Alpha 5 had nothing even vaguely analogous to mammalian life, but did boast several species of land-living pseudo-crustaceans, one of which was large and formidable. Not much was known about their habits, but it was thought they tended to be active after dark.
As they trudged back across the maroon shale back to the Dome, Marta tried to engage Rai in conversation. But today he was even more taciturn than usual. She was aware that he resented her. Rai’s hatch-mate hadn’t been viable, but neither had hers and she was a full Standard year older than him. That made her the leader, but Rai was still a boy, and he resented being told what to do, especially by a girl.
They could now see the Dome clearly, glinting in the last slanting rays of Alpha B. She started to relax, cradling her rifle in one arm rather sweeping the horizon with it. Ever since one of the pseudo-crustaceans had grabbed Sal last year, they’d been on alert. Every expedition planetside now consisted of at least two of them, one armed to ride shotgun on the other.
Sal and Priya hadn’t had a weapon when the armoured monster had seized Sal by the leg and started pulling him remorselessly towards the vegetation. Priya, showing great presence of mind, had hurled rocks at the thing until it released Sal and retreated wheezing to the shelter of the pods. Somehow she’d got the bleeding and shocked boy back to the safety of the Dome. The nursemaids had managed to save his leg, but he now walked with a limp, to match the hand that hadn’t printed properly. Priya didn’t care, she loved him anyway. They were hatch-mates, and knew they were meant for each other. After that incident, they were finally able to persuade the nursemaids to print firearms for them, for personal protection,
“Hey, you two!”
It was Han who was activating the perimeter alarms, “See anything interesting?”
“I thought I saw something move over by the pod line, two kliks south of the crater!” replied Marta in Standard,
“…habla chai dosi, tecmate?” cut in Rai in Grok.
Marta swallowed her anger at this breach of protocol, until they made the Dome they were still on Mission, as she knew Rai was only trying to needle her.
The choice of English as the official Mission language had been a rather sentimental gesture on the part of the Planners, and something of a compromise after each participating nation had originally pushed their mother tongue. Marta thought that their use of Grok, which combined elements of Hindi, Spanish, French, English and Cantonese, as well as Text (and some Klingon!), was a reaction against this,
“Namas, Rai! Ke jun?”
“Char klik, pas rim!”
“We were checking out the bio-tec experiments over by the rim…” put in Marta in Standard, “I think I saw a crusty over by the pods…!”
“Ke gran…How big was it?” Han corrected himself when he saw her frown,
“Couldn’t tell…! It was too dark!”
Anxious to smooth over the awkwardness, Han changed the subject,
“Hey Mart, you got another Earthside packet…!”
“Ta, hom…!”
They were nearly at the Dome now, and the girl felt she could unbend a little,
“Greetings, Marta!” Nurse Six Gee hailed them as soon as they were through the ’lock,
“You have another message from your Earthsister, received by Earthcomm downlink while you were Out!”
Now pre-occupied, Marta left the others to their meal and headed for her bunk. She had first received a packet from her Earthsister, Miss da Guia, six months ago. Marta was unclear on the precise nature of her relationship with her ‘Earth-sister’, but couldn’t help but be overwhelmed by the details of her life. Life in Sao Paulo seemed impossibly glamorous…there were so many people, how could you possibly get to know them all…? Miss da Guia was older than her, a young woman in fact… Marta loved everything about her, her hair, her clothes, her apartment…her boyfriend Chico, but why was this stranger so interested in her…?
She settled on her bed and waved her ’face into life,
“Ola, Marta!”
Miss da Guia spoke in Portuguese rather than Standard and Marta had trouble following her unaided despite her language lessons, and usually had to resort to the subtitles,
“I am sending out this greeting to my brave sister out in the stars…we all love you, Marta, and we pray for you every day…”
How was this stranger ‘her sister’? Initially Marta had merely accepted the description used both by her nursemaids and by the strange woman back on Earth, but latterly she’d begun to ponder its meaning. She knew enough astrophysics to know that any physical connection between them was practically and even theoretically impossible. The Probe had left Earth more than fifty years ago. Even allowing for the 4.37 years it had taken this message to reach her, that meant that the Probe had left Earth at least thirty years before her ‘Earthsister’ had been born…!
The strange woman was now walking through something she described as a ‘mall’ or at least that is how the subtitles translated the Portuguese word she used. The image hung apparently in mid-air in the cramped confines of Marta’s bunk which appeared mistily in the background. Oddly dressed men and women spoke to the other girl, did strange things with hand held tech devices, and then re-appeared with elaborate containers that she took with her. The precise function of the ritual escaped Marta, although she understood it to be something called ‘shopping’.
Later on, the woman ate an elaborate meal with Chico in a ‘restaurant’, a huge and incredibly colourful room full of people just like her and Chico. Everyone’s attention was fixed on large holographic projections showing a ball game they called futbol. One of the teams scored a point, and the whole room erupted, scaring Marta with the intensity of their emotions. Once the game was concluded, Miss da Guia turned towards the camera,
“Sao Paulo has reached the cup final!” she said excitedly, “I wish you could be here with us, Marta, just for little while… I would love to show you my city and introduce you properly to my friends…but we all know how important your work is out on Alpha 5…and I know we will never meet…!” Miss da Guia trailed off into silence unusual for her,
“…so, until the next time, it’s ciao from everyone here in Sao Paulo…!”
“Ciao, Marta!” chorused Chico and her other friends and the image imploded, leaving only the standard interface menu hanging in mid-air.
Marta cut the connection with a curt wave of her hand. The silence in her bunk was suddenly deafening. As always, after viewing an Earthside packet, the cold facts of her existence, her bunk, the Dome, even the alien world outside, appeared a little greyer, compared to the vibrancy and colour experienced Earthside.
She wasn’t ignorant about conditions back on Earth, world history and geopolitics had been part of her lessons for at least two Standard years, and Marta was a diligent student. She knew for example that many important world cities had been lost to inexorably rising sea levels over the last fifty years, among them Mumbai in India, St Petersburg in Russia, and Shanghai in China, as well as New York and London. Rio de Janeiro had only survived by retreating upwards into what were formerly favelas, as the waters swallowed the coastal parts of the city. She knew about the wars, the migrations, the starvation… But none of it appeared real to her adolescent mind. From the vantage point of Alpha 5, it all had a flat, mythical quality, as if it were taking place in a historical teleplay, rather than affecting real people… She couldn’t make the connection between this and the vibrancy she witnessed in the packets sent from Sao Paulo.
Marta was slightly above average height for her age. Ten Standard equated to thirteen years old on Earth thanks to Alpha 5’s longer orbital period. Her dark eyes and coffee-coloured skin were typically Brazilian. An impartial observer would have described her as a pretty child, although typically she regarded herself as ugly. She had however recently started growing her dark blonde hair, leaving behind the tomboyish style she had favoured up to now, but if you had asked why she was doing this she wouldn’t have been able to answer. It just seemed right somehow, however inconvenient it was to have to pin it up each day.
Her ’face now intruded on her thoughts, reminding her that the weekly Mission Briefing started in five minutes, preoccupied as she was with the message from Earth, she’d completely forgotten about food. But it was now too late for anything but a sandwich which she ordered via her ’face. She could pick it up on the way. The nursemaids were indulgent with their charges, but missing a Briefing for any reason other than illness or Mission business was not tolerated.
They were all sitting ’round the Mission room table when she arrived. Embarrassed (and secretly furious) that she of all people should be late, she hurriedly took her seat. She looked around at the others. Rai and Jorja looked bored, Han (as per usual), looked worried, Sal and Priya were looking at each other. After a minute or so, Nurse Six Gee bustled in with her usual air of efficiency. She took most of the briefings, being effectively Mission’s representative on Alpha 5,
“Welcome children!”
“Welcome Nars Gee…!” chorused the children. Marta noticed that neither Rai nor Jorja joined in the greeting,
“I’d like to begin with Mission reports, Rai could you report on the biotech experiments…!”
Rai looked rather sulkily at Nurse Gee, but nevertheless gave a cogent report on their attempts to grow kale in a sheltered spot near the crater rim. The news was not good, without constant attention the plants withered and died. The problem was not so much water which they could pump from beneath the planet’s surface, but a lack of certain salts and minerals in what passed for soil on Alpha 5. Attempts to engineer a strain that could tolerate these conditions were proving unsuccessful so far.
Han then reported on Dome security, Priya on her captive breeding programme of some of A5’s smaller arthropods, and Sal on his astronomical observations. Then it was Marta’s turn. Her specialism was planetary climatology, a vital science on a world as capricious as Alpha 5,
“The reports from the weather stations, combined with Sal’s data indicate that the next Light-out will be the most severe we have experienced…” she paused to clear her throat before continuing,
“The Event will last at least ten days…temperatures are forecast to exceed 65 Celsius…and all communication will be lost with Earthcomm downlink for at least forty eight hours… Needless to say, no-one must be planetside during this time…!”
Marta’s formal use of Standard during briefings was usually a source of hilarity amongst the others, the talking dictionary was one of the kinder names…but no-one was smiling now…!
“Thank you, Marta…! said Nurse Gee when she has finished, “…I will run through safety protocols with you all at the end of the briefing…! Now Jorja, perhaps you can report back on Nutrition…”
And so it went on. Jorja’s report seemed to Marta to betray a certain lack of preparation, but Six Gee let this pass and moved on to her own briefings on Earth developments, logistics, and tech issues. Gee’s briefings on Earth were necessarily projections based on information already more than four years old, but the message was stark. The alliance of countries that had launched the Mission in the first place was steadily fracturing. A second Mission, already much delayed, was looking increasingly unlikely. Almost incidentally, Six Gee reported that they had finally received the response to their report sent eight Standard years ago on printing failures. Mission had advised against any resumption of the Hatching programme until the reasons for the last failure were fully understood, and their rations were to be cut again.
Marta had allowed herself to drift off during the more technical aspects of the logistics report, but her attention was suddenly drawn by Rai’s voice,
“…but why should we care what’s happening on Earth…or anything…? And what does it matter if we don’t do the stupid biotech experiments…the chutan things never grow properly anyway…!”
In the shocked silence that followed his outburst Nurse Gee’s sunny countenance never wavered, which made what happened next all the more scary,
“Rai Katravanagan…!” Six Gee’s voice had suddenly gained in volume, depth and timbre,
“Alpha 5 does not care if you find the biotech experiments pointless or boring, Alpha 5 doesn’t care if you live or die…In fact Alpha 5 doesn’t even notice you are alive…”
Six Gee paused for effect,
“But Alpha 5 is out there waiting…waiting for us to drop our guard…..for us to make the slightest mistake…and just like that [CLICK]…” the sound seemed to hang in the air, “…we will be gone…! And the planet will go on just as before…!”
Gee’s eyes seemed to look into the boy’s soul,
“Were you not listening when I said there would be no more Missions? Don’t answer that, I know you weren’t…! This is for all of you, children… We are it…! There will be no rescue if things go wrong…there will be no more hatch-mates…we live or we die entirely on our own efforts…! The biotech experiments are vital…we must make them work… The hydroponics and the organic printers can only provide so much… We must learn to grow our own food on this world…or we will starve…! Not today, not tomorrow, not next month, or next year…but eventually…! I have been indulgent with you up to now because you are young, but now you must grow up…all of you…!”
Six Gee turned to face Jorja, who cowered under her remorseless gaze.
“And that includes you, Jorja, don’t think I haven’t noticed…”
Their nursemaid turned back to the rest of them,
“You hold each other’s lives in your hands…each one of you…Never forget that…!”
Nurse Gee now modulated her voice as before,
“But we have a happier event to celebrate…! Han and Jorja…today is your birthday, you have reached eight Standard…! Happy Birthday…!
With that, more nursemaids entered the room, one of them was carrying an enormous birthday cake…

---

2

The temperature gradient on Alpha 5 is extremely steep. From minus 15 degrees Celsius when neither primary was in the sky, to more than 60 degrees Celsius when both were. The implications of this were beginning to be felt by today’s Mission team,
“Es neg, fem!”
The terse nature of Grok seemed to suit Rai’s taciturn nature. ‘How un-Indian he is’, thought Marta, ‘the complete opposite of Priya, who never stopped talking…’
“Use Standard, please Rai…!”
He scowled at her but nevertheless switched to English,
“I said, it’s starting to snow…!”
Small flakes were starting to drift across the landscape.
They were out by the nearest open water on A5, nearly forty kilometres from the Dome. Marta was downloading telemetry from one of her weather stations. This had to be done by visiting the station, as even radio communication on Alpha was unreliable, especially in the run-up to Light-out…!
The rova, which had brought them to this remote location, stood behind them by an isolated group of pods. She noticed that ice was beginning to form on the shallow lake in middle distance,.
“We better get going…!” this from Rai, who was not normally known for his respect for protocol or safety margins,
“…just a few more seconds…” finally the telemetry download was complete and she helped him load her kit into the rova. The solar powered vehicle could do a steady eight km ph in virtually all conditions, which meant they would be back slightly after dark…and this particular nightfall would be the last before the Event commenced.
The first few kliks passed in silence. She knew from experience that any attempt to rouse him habitual brooding was doomed to failure, and she was surprised when it was Rai who spoke first,
“I’m sick of how Gee and the others are running things…nothing me or Jorja do is ever good enough…I’m sick of the chai, sick of the lousy fucking biotech, sick of the Nurses…sick of the whole stinking planet…!”
Marta said nothing, uncertain how to deal with this outburst. Rai was speaking Standard, although she was uncertain about the meaning of one of the words he used,
“…and why do I have to be paired with you all the time…? Why can’t I be with Jorja, or Han, or Priya…or anyone but you…? I think it’s so you can spy on me and keep me in order… I think you’re just a Mission stooge…! Yes, Nars Gee, Rai’s been a naughty boy, Nars Gee…using Grok on Mission again, Nars Gee, three bags full, Nars Gee…!”
She couldn’t keep quiet any longer,
“That’s just completely unfair…! You know perfectly we have to rotate the teams…I’m not with you any more often than the others…everyone has to take turns pairing up…including Sal and Priya…even ‘though they’re practically joined at the hip…you’re just upset because Nars Gee told you off in front of the rest of us…Well you know what, she’s right…we do have to look out for each other…even the ones we don’t like…!”
She took her eyes off the terrain to glare at him…just for a moment,
“You’re just a spoilt little boy…”
The rova suddenly lurched to the left, and came to a sudden stop, throwing them against their restraints…..
“Oh shit…!”
Marta had been driving, and distracted as she was by her reply to his tirade, had failed to notice the ground dropping away sharply at the edge of their trail… Although she tried frantically to steer right, the nearside wheels had left the road and they’d come to sudden halt balanced on the edge of a five metre drop. The emergency protocols had shut off the motive power automatically, and their vehicle was now listing at an alarming angle, overhanging the edge,
“You stupid cow, you’ve broken the axle…Why weren’t you looking where you were going…?”
“…because I was listening to you, you stupid klutz…!”
“Chodan fems…! Shouldn’t be allowed near tech…!”
Marta bit her tongue. There were dozens of things that she wanted to say to him at this point, but judging by the edge of hysteria in his voice, he was on the verge of losing it completely,
“Look Rai, arguing about it isn’t going to help…” she tried to keep her voice calm and measured,
“That’s it! Take over again…even ‘though it’s your fault…”
“Look, I’m going to take a look…you can either help or you can stay inside and sulk…”
“…I don’t know why I should stay with you anyway…I hate you…bad things always happen when you’re around…! You just attract do ha…!”
“Well, you can walk home if you like…the Dome’s that way…!” she replied sarcastically, jerking her right thumb over her shoulder.
She slipped out of her restraints and hit the door release,
“Coming?”
The girl dropped the last metre to the reddish shale. Alpha B was still high in the sky but outside the air conditioned cab it was now very cold…
The rova was down by its front left corner, the first three wheels on that side were hanging in mid-air. Scrambling down into what she assumed was an old meteor crater, she looked up at their stricken vehicle. After a while she became aware that Rai had joined her,
“I can’t see if anything’s broken…but it looks completely stuck…!”
“We’ll have to use the winch to pull it out…!”
‘Good!’ thought Marta, ‘at least he’s thinking again…!’
“We can attach the cable to that outcrop over there….!” Rai pointed to a nearby rock, half covered by pods.
Marta was happy to let him take control. Better that he be doing something rather than brooding…
It took them nearly three hours to drag the vehicle out. Attempts to use the vehicle’s engines and the winch at the same time were defeated by the safety protocols which kept cutting the power. Finally a combination of levers and the winch got the thing out. In between times she tried the radio, but got nothing but static and ghostly whine that signalled the proximity of the system’s largest star. Fortunately for them the rova still ran, but the battery level was now dangerously low,
“We’ll never get back before nightfall…and with the battery this low we can’t run it after dark…!”
“Why is the battery so low…?”
“Who knows, maybe it got damaged…” she trailed off. They both knew that travel tomorrow was out of the question… They’d have to shelter,
“We have to dig a foxhole…! It’s our only chance…! You use the hammer, I’ll operate the scoop. We can turn on the rova’s lights once it gets dark!”
They decided to dig the shelter in the side of a bank on the other side of the trail. Four back-breaking hours later, they had a tunnel deep enough to shelter in…and not a minute too soon, a sudden dimming of the headlights indicated that the power was almost spent. With the last of the power they parked the rova over the entrance and then sealed themselves in with spare gear,
“D’ya think it’ll protect us…?” Rai’s voice sounded very small in the sudden darkness,
“Hopefully…! It’ll get a bit hot, but we’re sheltered from the brightness, and rock should protect us from the radiation…!” Marta felt less confident than she sounded, “…we’ll find out when Alpha A comes up…”
Alpha 5 became uncomfortably hot and bright whenever the planet’s two primaries were in the sky at the same time. During these periods the children stayed in the dome. Although working outside, with suitable protection, was permissible for short periods, all routine work was carried out by autonomic machines.
The system’s eccentric celestial mechanics ensured that most of the time Alpha Centauri A, the larger and brighter of the primaries, was far enough away not to do too much damage. Alpha 5 orbited Centauri B, a smaller, less bright star, but every three years or so, the larger star approached the system. When both stars were in the sky, temperatures, light levels, and radiation levels all spiked…a phenomenon they had named ‘Light-out’ or ‘the Light’. During these times only the Dome with its magnetic shielding was safe.
Quite how the Alphane life forms coped was something of a mystery. It was assumed that the arthropods found shelter underground, but no-one had actually observed this. The pods, the maroon pseudo-plants that dominated the landscape, seemed totally immune to the heat and radiation. In fact they seemed to thrive in the vastly increased light levels. In a scientifically interesting example of parallel evolution, life on Alpha 5 had arrived at photosynthesis, but rather than chlorophyll, the plants used retinal or vitamin A, which gave them (to the children’s eyes at least) their distinctive dark red colour. These thoughts occurred to her as she lay in the darkness. Rai had snuggled up to her, for warmth she imagined, rather than companionship,
“Better get some sleep while we can…!” she said quietly.

---

3

Later she awoke in the darkness from a peculiarly vivid dream in which she ran through endless rooms in Sao Paulo pursued by servile pink robots who kept offering her bizarre items of clothing. She told the robots that she couldn’t stop as she had to get back to the Dome before Miss da Guia found out she was gone, but it didn’t do any good, they kept pressing closer and closer with their strange gifts until she felt she was suffocating…
Rai was moving,
“Are you awake, Marta?”
“Yes…” her voice sounded faint in the chill blackness,
“When will it start…?”
Without thinking she willed her ’face to show her the time, forgetting that this far from the Dome it wouldn’t work….even in ideal planetary conditions. She had a back-up chronometer on her wrist,
“About three hours time…”
“I got one of those packets…from Earth, like you…!”
Marta was instantly interested,
“Like…when? Who’s it from…? What’s it say…?
There was a pause,
“…I don’t know…”
“What do you mean…you don’t know…?”
“I haven’t opened it…”
“Why not…?” her frustration with the boy was clear from her voice,
“I’m afraid to…! Nars Gee said it was from my Earthbrother…she said it was very important…but I’m scared…”
“There’s nothing to be afraid of…it’s just someone back on Earth who wants to talk to you…to tell what it’s like back there…! My Earthsister, Miss da Guia, just tells me stuff about Sao Paulo…how they live…”
“But who are they…? Why do they want to talk to us…?”
Marta had no answer to that question…the one she constantly asked herself,
“It’s really nothing to worry about…now try and get some more sleep…”
*******
Sometime later, she was awoken from another vaguely disturbing dream that slipped away as soon as her eyes opened. She noticed the light immediately, finding its way through the smallest gaps in the plug they’d improvised to block the entrance to their foxhole. Rai was already awake, staring as if hypnotised at the pinpricks,
“We better put on our goggles,” she said carefully, “…it’s going to get a lot brighter…!”
Marta tried shifting things around, but covering one gap merely uncovered another,
“Better get back here, in the shade…” said Rai
*******
The light steadily increased in intensity over the next hours until it was painful even with her protective glasses. She had lost all track of time…it was impossible to read her chronometer in the glare. They tried huddling together, burying their faces in each other’s clothing, that seemed to help…but provided no relief from the heat,
“Will it hurt us…?” Marta divined that Rai was talking about the light.
“It shouldn’t do…!” she tried to make her voice reassuring, “there are no harmful long- term effects from exposure to very bright light…” what she didn’t say was that the long-term effects of exposure to harmful radiation were well known, and they included sterility, cancer and death,
“Better eat some food and drink some water…” she had calculated that they had enough of both to last twelve days….provided they rationed it properly. And that was more than enough time…
Night came as blessed relief. At Rai’s urging they unplugged their foxhole and tried to start the rova, reasoning that the light and radiation it had been exposed to would surely have recharged the batteries. Marta hadn’t been keen on the idea in the first place, arguing it was far too risky to try and drive back in the dark. If they missed the base then they’d be caught out in the open when the Light returned, and that would be that… Fortunately, they didn’t have to make that decision, when they tried the rova’s engine they got nothing more than a brief whine before it stopped for good,
“But surely it should have recharged…!” she was perplexed,
“Battery must be completely shot…!” said Rai apathetically,
“Rai…! I don’t think we should stay on the surface…!”
He nodded sharing the same unspoken thought. Everyone assumed the crusties found shelter underground during Light-out, but maybe they came out during the hours of darkness. The children had parked their rova in such a way that only a small gap was left for them to squeeze through under the vehicle into the tunnel leading to their refuge. Marta reasoned that the rova would be too heavy for any curious pseudo-crustacean to shift, leaving them safe down below, but who knew! Once back in their refuge the rest of the night passed slowly…
*******
“I’m sorry…”
“Pardon…!”
Marta emerged slowly from a sort of semi-conscious daze, and it took her a while before she realised Rai had spoken,
“For saying those things earlier…but I was angry…!”
“Don’t worry about it…if we get out of this you can…”
“But don’t say anything…to Han and the others… coz if you do, I’ll never speak to you again…”
Marta sighed and thought, ‘this is the best I’m going to get, so I better accept it!’
They used the dark periods to drink and eat. The worst problem was relieving themselves, they used containers for the worst of the mess, and developed a protocol whereby they never mentioned, and affected not to notice when the other had to go…but the smell added to all the other hardships,
‘Seven days to go…five days to go…three days to go…’
Their water was almost gone and without sufficient water they could no longer eat the dry rations that were left…
She had slipped into a sort of waking dream, and could no longer distinguish between her dreams and waking reality,
“Marta…!”
“Yes, Nurse Gee…!”
Marta is three Standard and playing in the Nursery with a set of geometric shapes which she had to fit into the right slots. The other child, whose name was Rai, was playing by himself over the other side of the room. She had tried constantly to get him to play with her, but he responded variously with indifference and aggression, so she had learned to leave him alone,
“Do you want to come and see the new children…?”
“Please, Nurse Gee…!”
In truth she was dying to see the new arrivals who the nursemaids had casually mentioned a few weeks ago. She looked questioningly at Rai, studiously engaged in his own world
“Rai is too young to understand…we’ll take him later…!”
Marta followed Gee through a door she’d never been allowed through before and down corridors whose very existence was unknown to her…
The children were lying in elaborate transparent boxes, surrounded by winking lights and lots of strange tech devices… Marta noticed that both children had paler skin than her, and the child furthest away was clearly Asiatic,
“We have named her, Jorja…” said, Gee indicating the sleeping child nearest to Marta, “…and him, Han!”
“Why are there two of them, Nurse Gee…?”
“…because the two of you need more playmates for when you grow older…!” said Gee benignly.
Marta was glad that she would finally have someone to play with.
*******
She emerged into a brief period of lucidity, the light was painfully bright. She tried rousing Rai but although he moved and groaned, she couldn’t get him to wake,
‘Maybe this is what dying is like…’ she thought dully. There was no more water, they’d had the last of it during the last dim period ‘…hours, days ago…?’ Her tongue felt like it was too big for her mouth. She briefly thought of drinking from one of the foul smelling containers over in the corner, but couldn’t will herself to move in that direction,
“Nurse Gee…?”
“Yes, Marta dear…!”
“Is Earth like…another planet, like Alpha 5…?”
“Yes, that is very clever of you to realise that, Marta! Earth is another planet a long way away…it orbits a star called Sol…!”
“How far away is it, Nurse Gee…?”
“4.37 Light years away…..you know what a Light year is don’t you, Marta…!”
“It’s the time it takes light to travel in a Standard year…”
“In an Earth year, Marta…when we measure distance we use Earth years not Standard years…”
“Is 4.37 Light years a very long way…?”
Nurse Gee smiled indulgently,
“If you started travelling tomorrow you’d be all grown up before you got even halfway there…!”
“Will we ever go to Earth, Nurse Gee…?”
She was suddenly wide awake, the dazzling brightness of the last days was gone, but ordinary daylight was filtering through… She tried to read her chronometer display but it kept blurring,
“Rai…! We’ve got to get up, the light’s gone…!”
Her voice was no more than a croak. She tried moving some of the gear blocking the way out, but the effort was too much, and she collapsed back by the motionless boy at her side,
“Marta…!”
“Yes, Gee…!”
Marta is now seven Standard and is working on a fiendishly difficult maths problem,
“You realise, that being the oldest, you have to look after the little ones…”
“Yes, Nars Gee…!”
“And that includes everyone… you have to be the leader…!”
“I said yes, didn’t I…?”
Marta wasn’t normally given to impatience, but the problem was so fascinating, and she was almost there…if only Gee wouldn’t keep interrupting,
“Marta…! Marta…!”
“…I said I would, so don’t bother me…”
Her eyelids seem gummed together, and try as she might she can’t open them…but it’s no longer dark, and they seem to be moving,
“Marta, dear…! You’re safe now…!”
“Gee…? Why is it light again…?”
“Because we rescued you from your shelter….we’re on our way back to the Dome…but sleep now…!”
She finally manages to open her eyes and finds herself lying on her back looking up at the cabin roof of a strange vehicle,
“Gee…? Rai…is he…?”
“Rai is safe…!”
“Nars Gee…?”
“Yes dear…!”
“Did I…did I lead well…?”
“You did, my dear, we are so proud of you…!”

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Chapter 2. Behind The Door >>