Earth 2788 by Janet Edwards Read Free Book Online

You showed true
integrity.”
    I felt myself
blush. “Thank you, Father, but I would like you to make one special request to
University Asgard on my behalf.”
    “Yes?”
    “University
Asgard runs several Pre-history Foundation course classes,” I said. “If
possible, I would like to join one run by Lecturer Playdon.”

Beta Sector 2788 - Lolia
    Artemis, Beta sector, October 2788.
Since I’m trying to avoid any spoilers for Earth
Girl, there are only vague hints about one important detail in this story.
People who’ve already read Earth Girl should know exactly what that detail is.
 
     
    Part
I
     
    Last month, I’d celebrated my
twenty-fourth birthday surrounded by smiling family and friends. Last week, I’d
been happily dreaming of the future. Yesterday, I’d been part of a loving triad
marriage.
    Today, my dreams
and my marriage had been shattered, and I was sitting alone in a room. Ten
minutes ago, the older of my two husbands, Ardreath, had left, slamming the
door behind him. My mind was still reeling, not so much from the way he’d
slapped my face, but from his final, brutal words.
    My great-uncle,
Lolek, had often told me I was too emotional, and maybe he was right. My pain
was as bad as if Ardreath had carved those words into my skin with a knife.
    I couldn’t
believe this was really happening. Ardreath couldn’t have said those things.
Ardreath couldn’t have hit me. The only possible explanation was that I was
having a horrible nightmare.
    So I sat there,
numbly staring at the closed door, willing my nightmare to end. When it did,
when I woke up, I’d tell Ardreath and Lolmack about the ghastly dream I’d had.
They’d hug me, and laugh at me for being so silly, and life would go back to
normal.
    A chiming sound
made me jump. I turned to frown at the lookup I’d left lying on the table. It
chimed again, and then a third time. I stood up, went over to pick it up, and
saw Ardreath’s image flashing on the screen.
    I had a sinking feeling
in my stomach even before I answered the call. Getting a call on my lookup was
entirely too realistic for a dream.
    Ardreath’s face
appeared on the lookup screen, and he started talking in an icy voice. “Lolia,
I’ve formally registered my divorce from our triad marriage. You should receive
the official confirmation notice within the next day.”
    “What?” I
urgently shook my head. “You can’t do that, Ardreath. You can’t!”
    His eyes weren’t
looking at me, and he kept talking as if I hadn’t said a word. “I’ve withdrawn
exactly one third of the funds from our joint credit account, and removed my
name from the apartment tenancy agreement. Any future communications to me should
be sent via my clan’s legal representatives.”
    The call
abruptly ended. I finally understood that it hadn’t been a proper call at all, but
a recorded message. Ardreath hadn’t had the guts to look me in the eyes and say
he’d divorced me.
    “Nuke you!” I
screamed at the blank screen of my lookup. “Nuke you!”
    I stood there,
shaking with anger for a moment, and then slumped back down in my chair. I
couldn’t pretend this was just a bad dream any longer. Ardreath had divorced
me, and Lolmack … Where the chaos was my other husband, Lolmack? He seemed to
have vanished.
    I tapped at my
lookup to call Lolmack, then hesitated at the last moment. Our triad marriage
was broken, so Lolmack would have to choose between me and Ardreath. If Lolmack
blamed me for what had happened, took Ardreath’s side over this and divorced me
too …
    I was in no
state to cope with yet another devastating blow, but I couldn’t bear sitting
and waiting in uncertainty either. I gnawed my lower lip in indecision for a
moment, before grimly going ahead and making the call. If Lolmack was dumping
me too, then it was better to know it right away. Clinging to false hope would
only make things harder in the end.
    But Lolmack
didn’t answer my call. I waited a minute, two minutes, then