had fallen and true rainforest species were growing to take its place.
The forest seemed almost as safe as the tropical bird dome back in Zoo Europe, but that was an illusion. Our hover belts kept us above the occasional pools of stagnant water. Our impact suits made us immune to insect bites, stinging plants and thorns. Joth would have been blundering through here on foot, an easy target for dire wolves or scimitar cats.
A sudden swaying of leaves overhead had me looking up and reaching for my gun. There was something big up there, but it seemed to be running from us rather than planning to attack. I turned to watch the shaking branches as it moved away, and noticed a distinctive turquoise patch high up on one of the silvery tree trunks.
‘What’s a Tuan creeper doing here?’
‘That thing was a Tuan creeper?’ asked Krath. ‘Are they savage?’
‘I didn’t mean whatever was moving through the tree tops,’ I said. ‘I just noticed an unusual plant. It doesn’t matter.’
We continued through the trees in silence for a few minutes, before Playdon checked his hand sensor and spoke again. ‘We’re nearly there. I don’t know how Joth managed to make it this far from the dome, especially if he came the direct route through the forest, but it looks like he’s been perfectly still since Jarra and Fian located him.’
I didn’t like the sound of that, but I reassured myself that the sensors would have warned us if Joth was dead. A moment later, I saw a limp figure propped against the trunk of a Griffith hybrid. We dropped down to the ground beside him, and I saw he was unconscious, with an angry red rash on his hands and face, and one arm dripping blood from a long gash.
I heard Playdon report back to Dig Site Command on a private channel, before taking out a medical kit and giving Joth a couple of shots. ‘Hospital Earth Africa Casualty said we should give him some broad spectrum treatments.’
‘Why is he unconscious?’ asked Dalmora.
Playdon set up the hover stretcher next to Joth. ‘My hand sensor is showing lots of anomalies on his body readings. His temperature is too high and his pulse too fast, so I think he’s ill.’
I watched anxiously as Playdon and Fian carefully lifted Joth on to a stretcher. I couldn’t remember ever seeing anyone as ill as this. People had accidents of course, but they didn’t get ill.
Just as we fitted the cover over the hover stretcher, it started to rain, the water suddenly pouring down in torrents that forced their way through the tree canopy overhead. It was a long, slow struggle to get the hover stretcher through the trees to our sled, and then we had to drive back to the dome. I sighed with relief when we finally sent Joth through the portal to hospital. He would be all right now.
16
Joth died thirty-one hours after he reached Hospital Earth Africa Isolation and Disease Control. The cause of death was given as malaria variation 2789 Beta.
Lecturer Playdon came into the hall just after we’d finished eating dinner and told us what had happened. I sat there in stunned disbelief. I’d been so happy thinking I’d helped save Joth, when I hadn’t saved him at all. I’d thought he’d be back with the class in a few days time, but we’d never see him again. I felt physically sick.
‘University Asgard is sending us a grief counsellor,’ said Playdon. ‘He’ll be using my room as his office between nine in the morning and seven in the evening every day and you can talk to him whenever you wish. I am, of course, available as well.’
Given my history with psychologists, I certainly wasn’t going anywhere near a grief counsellor. There was no point anyway. Nothing was going to bring Joth back.
‘As with any sudden death,’ continued Playdon, ‘I’m afraid there has to be a formal investigation. Given our special circumstances here, a Dig Site Federation Accident Specialist is working with an Earth Investigating Officer. I’ve just been giving them details of what happened, Petra is with them now, and they may wish to talk to some of the rest of you over the next few days.’
I hadn’t noticed Petra was missing, hadn’t even thought about her until Playdon mentioned her name. Chaos, when I thought how she must be feeling …
Playdon’s voice had a tired, depressed edge to it now. ‘Work on the dig site is suspended until we receive clearance from the Dig Site Federation to continue. We’ll focus on lectures until then. I hope you’ll all do your best to support each other through this difficult time, and if I can help in any way then just let me know.’
He stood there waiting for a moment, but no one broke the shocked silence, so he went to sit on his usual chair in the corner of the hall. Only my friends from team 1 were sitting at the table with me, but I still instinctively stared down at my tray on the table, with its empty glass and plate of crumbs, trying to hide my face and emotions. Joth had only been 18. He should have married one day, had kids, lived to celebrate his hundredth, but he was dead.
‘Why did Joth do it?’ Dalmora’s voice softly mourned. ‘Why did he go out there? He surely didn’t want this to happen.’
‘He’d just had an argument with Petra,’ said Fian. ‘I’ve a bad feeling I was involved.’
I looked up at him, startled, and saw him tugging at his long hair with both hands. ‘You? Why?’
He pulled a face. ‘The argument included something about us two coming back to the class. At the start of the course, Petra tried being … friendly with me. She isn’t my type, so I said a polite no, but she didn’t want to accept it. I actually had to threaten to file an official complaint against her before she’d back off and leave me alone. Chaos embarrassing.’
I stared at him. ‘I didn’t know about this.’
He frowned. ‘You didn’t? I was chasing you at the time, but you kept pointedly ignoring me. It was only a day or two later that we got together. I assumed you’d spotted Petra kissing me, or heard Krath teasing me about it, and that was why you suddenly changed your mind about us. You’ve never mentioned it, but given the way you avoid discussing things that upset you …’
‘No.’ I waved both hands to gesture total ignorance. ‘I hadn’t seen anything.’
He pulled a face of self-mockery. ‘Now I stop to think about it, I realize you had far more important things to worry about back then. There was your grandmother’s Honour Ceremony and your parents dying. Silly of me to think you’d got jealous about Petra kissing me.’
‘I might have been jealous if I’d seen it, but …’ I shook my head and got back to the point of the conversation. ‘Joth and Petra’s argument wasn’t about you, Fian. It was about me. Petra doesn’t like the Handicapped, so she was trying to stop Joth being friends with me.’
‘I don’t want to sound as if I believe I’m the centre of the universe,’ said Fian, ‘but are you sure this was just because you’re Handicapped? Petra didn’t like being rejected, and given I paired off with you two days later then …’
‘I’m sure what happened to Joth wasn’t anything to do with either of you,’ said Dalmora. ‘He’s had several other fights with Petra in the last few weeks, and you two weren’t even here then. I was. I should have tried to …’
‘Not you,’ said Krath. ‘Me! He was my friend and …’
Amalie startled us by slapping the table with the palms of her hands. ‘Stop blaming yourselves for what happened! That sort of thing doesn’t do anyone any good. It isn’t anyone’s fault that Joth did something dangerous.’
‘But if he was so unhappy that …’ Dalmora let the words trail off.
‘He wasn’t,’ said Amalie. ‘This was just a stupid accident. If Joth had planned it deliberately, he’d have left a message with his lookup, and he didn’t.’
‘But why did he go out there then?’ asked Fian. ‘He’d seen the safety vids, so he knew how dangerous it was.’
‘You think a few safety warnings would stop him?’ Amalie shook her head. ‘We’re talking about Joth, remember! He’s the sort that you can tell a dozen times to be careful of a camp fire, and he still picks up a red hot
