there.’
Fian seemed more interested in me than the screen. ‘You’re naturally worried about Drago. He’s quite a hero.’
I nodded. ‘He’s done an amaz job. Someone like Maven would never have stopped the attack. If we’d destroyed the sphere, then at best we might never communicate with the aliens, and at worst …’
I took a proper look at Fian’s face, and turned down the volume on the wall vid. ‘What the chaos are you thinking? I’m not going to throw myself into Drago’s arms just because he kept his head in a crisis, and he’s interested in Marlise not me.’ I waved my arms impatiently. ‘We’ve discussed this ten times already.’
‘I know that,’ said Fian. ‘I’m not feeling threatened by Drago any longer. I’m just thinking he’s pretty zan, just like you, and I’m not.’
I grinned. ‘You’re just as zan, and far more sensible, which is exactly what I need. Just ask Candace. Now, please don’t misinterpret this, but when Drago heads back, I’d like to go over to the Attack area and see him land.’
‘I’d like to be there too,’ said Fian. ‘The man’s far too sickeningly aware of his charms, but … He will make it back, won’t he?’
I wrinkled my nose. ‘A broken arm and recycled air. He’ll have bruises from the impact suit material triggering as well. He can’t open his suit to inject himself with meds, so he’ll be uncomfortable, but he’ll live. The air is going to be the worst. He’s in the same situation as someone buried on a dig site. I’ve never been buried long enough to really suffer from recycled air, but I’ve heard the stories about it. Drago has oxygen booster cells, so he’ll be able to flush his air supply every hour or two, but even so …’
I shrugged. ‘If Drago’s serious about sticking it out for six hours, I admire him for it, but I doubt the Colonel will let it go on that long. If Drago passes out, they’ll have problems recovering his fighter, and surely two or three hours will be enough to let the sphere calm down. It’s already closed the cover on its weapons.’
‘Well, whenever they order Drago back, we can go and welcome him,’ said Fian.
‘That’s zan,’ I said. ‘I want to see how they handle Drago coming in with no shields and no hovers.’
Fian burst out laughing. ‘Major Jarra Tell Morrath, are you telling me you want to go and welcome that poor man back simply so you can watch a crash landing?’
‘Oh, I do want to see Drago safely home, it’s just that …’
‘Amaz!’ said Fian. ‘You’ve done the impossible, Jarra. You’ve made me feel sorry for Drago Tell Dramis.’
I giggled, relieved that Fian had calmed down. It was nardle the way he had these silly spells, when he didn’t seem to believe he was good enough for me. Fian was solid and sensible and all the things I wasn’t. He looked like Arrack San Domex and had great legs. Add in the fact he was human, and I was an ape, but he wanted me anyway, well … What more could any girl want?
Fian was always complaining I didn’t talk about things enough, but now I had something important I wanted to say. ‘Fian, when I was rushing back here, I was thinking it makes no sense for you to come to Ark with me. I’d feel much happier knowing you’d gone to Adonis, or home to Delta sector, and you were safe.’
‘No,’ he said.
‘But it’s silly. It just doubles the risk of one of us getting hurt.’
‘Oh no it doesn’t. I dread to think what trouble you’d get into without me.’
‘But if you get hurt, I’ll feel …’
‘The answer is no, Jarra.’
I sighed, sent some messages, and managed to arrange for both of us to help with the foaming up. ‘We’ll need to wear impact suits for this. Apparently, it gets pretty messy.’
Fian nodded.
Our impact suits were in the bedroom storage area. I had two, because Military issue suits had been waiting in our quarters when we arrived here, and I’d also brought along my own precious personal impact suit. It had been a gift from the Cassandra 2 team, after I’d helped dig them out from under a collapsed tower on the New York Dig Site.
I got out the Military suits, and Fian and I played around with the controls, setting our names and ranks on the displays.
‘We’ll have plenty of time to suit up and get over to the Attack area when we know Drago is heading back,’ I said. ‘He’ll take half an hour to get to the portals, and the rest of shift 2 will come in ahead of him to leave their landing area clear.’
‘Will shift 3 be going in to relieve them?’
‘Yes. Threat team have worked out new guard positions outside the point where the sphere’s meteor defence triggers.’
We spent the next couple of hours listening to the command channel, while I worried about the power of the sphere’s beam, and tried to talk Fian into leaving Earth during the next solar storm. I failed miserably.
I started getting restless as 14:00 hours approached. Shift 2 would normally be landing now. Instead, they were still out there, with an injured Drago in his damaged ship. I felt it was time the Colonel got them moving back to safety. In fact, Marlise called them home.
‘Colonel, I think we should start back,’ her voice broke into the command channel. ‘Our team have been chatting to Major Tell Dramis on ship to ship, and in our opinion the strain is getting to him and he’s becoming irrational.’
‘I’m perfectly fine,’ objected Drago.
‘Captain Weldon doesn’t seem to agree with you, Major,’ said the Colonel. ‘Military Command has finally found you a deputy capable of calling a halt when you push yourself too far, and I intend to pay attention when she does it.’
‘Yes, I know all the jokes.’ Drago sounded distinctly annoyed. ‘Members of my clan are capable of getting into life and death situations while buying ice-cream, and we shouldn’t be let out alone, but in this case Captain Weldon is wrong. I’m not suffering from strain, and I’m not irrational.’
‘Captain?’ asked the Colonel.
‘He’s just proposed marriage to me, and suggested we elope to Epsilon,’ said Marlise. ‘I think that’s a bad sign.’
I giggled, looked at Fian, and found he was lying on the floor, clutching his stomach and turning purple. ‘Are you all right?’
Fian gasped for breath, and I realized he was having a fit of laughter rather than dying. ‘Military Command thinks members of your clan shouldn’t be let out alone. They’re quite right too!’
I threw a cushion at him. ‘Poor Drago. His whole team listening in and Marlise still doesn’t believe him.’
Fian threw the cushion back at me. ‘It serves him right for being the finest liar in the Military.’
The Colonel ordered shift 2 to move at minimum speed towards the portals, while shift 3 approached the new guard positions. Fian and I changed into skintights, the minimal clothing you wore under impact suits, and then started putting our suits on.
Getting into an impact suit is never easy, and either these were different from civilian ones, or more likely I was overconfident and rushing things, because I triggered the material while I was smoothing it up my arms and it went solid. I had to wait for the fabric to relax before I could move my arms again, which meant I had the suit on in ten seconds over the Military standard time of two minutes. Fian took only a few seconds longer than me. We both left our hoods down of course, since we weren’t in a hostile environment.
‘Do you think Drago’s serious about that proposal?’ Fian asked as we headed out of our quarters. ‘He hardly seems the marrying type.’
‘I think he’s serious. Marlise has been his deputy for a year or two, so …’
‘But why was he trying to make her jealous? Wouldn’t it have made far more sense to tell her he cared?’ Fian shook his head. ‘Perhaps Drago’s as bad as you at discussing emotions.’
‘If there was a cushion in this corridor, I’d throw it at you!’
We arrived at the Attack shift 2 takeoff and landing area, and watched as the four giant portals came to life and the fighters came through. I counted the fifteen of them home, noting the silver flashes marking Marlise’s ship. They usually parked in a neat formation of four by each portal, but this time they kept moving on hovers to the side of the area. Once they were out of the way, several red hover sleds moved in, and people in impact suits ran out
