could switch on my audio link.
‘This is Zulu Field Commander,’ I said. ‘Strike is confirmed. Why the sir? Don’t you outrank me, Drago?’
The minute I asked the question, I felt like biting my tongue off. The command feed was going out live to the newzies, and I was an idiot to betray my ignorance of a Military protocol.
‘I outrank you, but you’re currently my chain of command. As,’ Drago added in a bitter voice, ‘you know perfectly well, Jarra. I do wish everyone would stop rubbing my nose in the fact I’ve just been forcibly promoted.’
Drago had covered up my mistake beautifully and I laughed in relief. This situation was weirdly similar to what had happened at the beginning of this year, when I’d joined a class of norm kids and tried to convince them I was the norm kid of Military parents. Now I was trying to convince humanity that I was their new Tellon Blaze. There was one huge difference though. I wasn’t doing it alone this time. The Military were building up my image as a brilliant Field Commander by feeding me information and covering up my mistakes.
I was bone tired, and desperately wanted to slump back in my chair and yawn, but I forced myself to stay bolt upright, and keep the calm, controlled, alert expression on my face. Some nardle on a news channel might decide to patch in live images of me instead of concentrating on the exciting stuff with the Military aircraft.
‘Committing to attack run … now!’ said Drago.
He must be diving at the ground because the trees on the vid image were coming straight at us now. There were a few nervous gasps from the watching dig team members, and I heard Krath howl in protest.
‘He’s going to crash!’
‘Fox nine!’ yelled Drago.
The image whirled sickeningly as he pulled up his aircraft and banked in a full 360-degree turn. The view stabilized, and an area of trees ahead seemed to blur and then disintegrate.
‘Missile strike confirmed,’ said Drago, as the view froze and zoomed in to show the splintered wreckage of several hundred Griffith hybrids.
‘Zan,’ breathed Fian.
Personally, I felt that was an unnecessarily dramatic way to attack a few defenceless trees. I wondered if Drago had been ordered to show off for the watching multitude, or if it had been his own idea.
‘Looking good, Zulu One,’ I said. ‘We can clear up the rest from ground level. Initiate portal deployment.’
‘Zulu One to Zulu Flight, missile is safely delivered. You are clear to enter target zone.’
‘Zulu Flight to Zulu One, we are entering target zone,’ said the calm voice of Marlise.
I watched a formation of four transport planes fly into view, each dangling a freight-sized portal by a glowing lift beam.
‘The live vid feed for the newzies is watching the portal delivery, and then moving to an update from Colonel Torrek,’ said Dalmora. ‘Relax everyone, we’re shutting down our vid bees now and packing them up ready for the move.’
There was a general sigh of relief from around the dig teams. I wasn’t the only one finding it a strain to have most of humanity watching our every move.
‘We could do with the Military demolishing the trees around Eden Dig Site like that,’ said Playdon.
‘Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be good for the ruins, sir,’ I said. ‘That was a sonic missile which takes out anything above ground level, but should, according to the experts, not harm anything that’s buried. Even so, we’ve gone for a minimal setting, and kept well clear of our actual dig location. We desperately needed a gap in the trees to set up our base camp, but we daren’t risk damaging the artefact.’
‘Jarra, you definitely shouldn’t be calling me sir at this point,’ said Playdon. ‘I don’t want anyone thinking I’m part of the chain of command for all this.’
‘Sorry. Habit.’
‘I assume that sonic missiles are something the Military use on Planet First,’ said Pereth, ‘but why was the pilot shouting about foxes?’
I’d seen the answer to this in a vid, so I giggled. ‘It’s a Military term dating back centuries. He was warning other pilots in the area he was firing a missile with a particular type of guidance control, so they could take the right sort of evasive action if it missed its target and went rogue. In theory, safety procedures should stop that ever happening, but …’
I paused to read a status report on one of my desk screens. ‘Eden Flight has put sixteen freight portals in position around Eden Dig Site. The freight portals at both Eden and Zulu should be calibrated and working within an hour.’
I stood up. ‘We’d better start moving people to Eden to pick up sleds. We’ve got a Military priority pre-empt set for portalling directly to Eden, so remember everyone, you don’t need to go via Australia and Africa transits, just enter your Eden Dig Site codes. Pereth, you’d better take Earth 2 through first, since your team will be first to go to Zulu Dig Site. Has Dig Site Command allocated you an Eden dome?’
Pereth nodded. ‘We’ve got dome 6. The Military were supposed to set up a freight portal next to it.’
‘Then you’ll find one there.’
The Earth 2 team gathered by the portal and dialled out.
‘Unfair,’ said Krath, after they’d gone. ‘It’s not enough they gatecrash our party, they’ll be the first ones at Zulu!’
I grinned. ‘Don’t worry, there’ll be plenty of trees to go around. Dig Site Command portal next, and then my team. Everyone else follow on to your Eden domes after that. We’ll need to clear up some of the mess at Zulu Dig Site before we’ve got space to bring through more teams, so Dig Site Command will contact you when we’re ready for you to portal to Zulu with your sleds.’
I collected my luggage and went across to the two figures who were quietly watching from the side of the hall. ‘Issette, Keon, will you be all right here?’
‘We’ll be fine.’ Keon appeared as relaxed as ever. ‘After you’ve all gone, we’re portalling across to visit Maeth and Ross at the other side of Ark. Some of the others from our Next Step will be there.’
I glanced doubtfully at the pathetically shaken face of Issette.
‘I’ll take care of her, Jarra,’ said Keon. ‘You go and save the world.’
There was an odd emphasis to his last sentence. I gave him a startled look, saw past his relaxed act to the strain in his eyes, and realized he’d worked out exactly what was going on here. Not just the obvious thing that aliens were a scary unknown, but that any attack on the sphere might endanger Earth, and possibly even that the Military were bluffing to buy time. I knew I could trust him to keep his mouth shut, if only because it was far less effort than talking, so I just gave him a nod and turned to look at Issette.
She forced a smile, and made a brave attempt at her usual bubbly style of speech. ‘Jarra, Jarra, Jarra, good luck!’
‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘Say hello to everyone for me.’
I headed towards the portal. Dig Site Command had just gone through and the rest of Asgard 6 were waiting for me.
‘What about all that?’ Krath jerked his head at the command desk and equipment.
‘Someone will pick it up later. We won’t need it because the Military are portalling a Field Command sled to our Eden dome. We’ll take that through a freight portal to Zulu Dig Site.’
‘Amaz,’ said Krath. ‘All these freight portals must be costing a fortune.’
Playdon entered the portal code for our home dome at Eden Dig Site. ‘Alien Contact programme has an unlimited budget.’
‘I was hoping to get drafted,’ said Krath wistfully. ‘I want to be a Military Captain like Fian.’
‘No chance of that, Krath,’ I said. ‘I’ve been warned you’re a potential security risk.’
‘What?’ He looked outraged. ‘Who said that?’
‘Military Security said that. It’s not surprising. Your father helps run a vid channel that’s continually making wild accusations against the Military. Since Gaius Devon caused so much trouble, Military Security are a bit edgy.’
‘It’s my nuking dad again! If he keeps me out of this, I’ll …’
‘Don’t worry about it, Krath. I’ve personally assured Military Security that you’re trustworthy.’
I missed his reply, because I stepped through the portal. The others followed me through, and I gave a
