Earth Star by Janet Edwards Read Free Book Online Page A

with the commanding officer, and please …’ I held up a hand to stop him before he said it. ‘Don’t ask me why we’re invited to dinner with Colonel Torrek. I’ve no idea.’
    We arrived at the portals. There was no way to enter a portal code, just a list of preset destinations, so I selected Accommodation Green. The portal established, Fian and I went through, and popped out in another grassy area surrounded by domes.
    ‘Dome 9!’ Fian pointed at a grey dome with a huge white number nine painted on the side.
    We headed inside and found a door labelled 18, which opened when I touched the palm plate. The room inside was dark, so I tried a hopeful order. ‘Room command lights.’
    The glows obediently came on, proving we were somewhere far more luxurious than a basic dig site dome. We led our retinue of hover bags inside and spent a moment exploring.
    ‘Living area, bedroom, shower,’ said Fian. ‘Proper voice controls, and our own food dispenser too. Zan! Aliens or no aliens, I’m hungry.’
    ‘What’s in the food dispenser?’
    Fian scrolled through the menu display. ‘The obvious drinks. Snacks. A few meal options. I expect there’s a proper dining hall somewhere as well.’
    I checked the time on my lookup. ‘We’ve only got forty minutes before the next orientation session so …’
    Fian was already getting us glasses of Fizzup. ‘You want the cheezit and tomato mash?’
    ‘Please.’
    I carried the glasses over to the table and Fian followed me with two plates. We spent the next few minutes eating at high speed.
    ‘That wasn’t bad,’ said Fian. ‘Better than we get from our dig site dome food dispensers anyway.’
    ‘Dig site dispensers are old models and …’ I wrinkled my nose as I saw Fian go across to one of his bags and take out a small bottle. ‘Oh no, not again. I hate taking meds.’
    ‘Well, if you’d rather fall asleep in the middle of dinner with Colonel Torrek …’
    I sighed and held out a hand. Fian carefully counted seven tablets into it and I gulped them down. This was the second time in two days that my body clock had been hit with biorhythm adjustment meds. It probably wondered what the chaos I was doing.
    We washed the tablets down with more Fizzup and I checked the time. ‘Uniforms!’
    Two impact suits and a neat line of standard and formal dress uniforms hung in the bedroom storage area, all in the blue of true combat Military. I ran my hand over the sleeve of the nearest uniform, feeling the cool smooth fabric, checking it was actually real. I saw there were medals already attached to the uniforms. Fian had the blue planet image of the Earth Star pinned to his, while I had both the Earth Star and the distinctive golden sunburst of the Artemis.
    ‘We’d better wear standard uniforms first, and change for dinner later,’ I said.
    ‘Do we have hats?’ asked Fian.
    ‘Hats?’ I shook my head. ‘You’ve been watching too many history vids. The Military haven’t worn hats in centuries.’
    I caught sight of myself in the full-length mirror on the wall. I hadn’t given a thought to what I was wearing until now. The red and black top had been a present from Issette. It was fine for me to wear it in class, but … Why hadn’t I changed clothes before coming here? I’d taken the Military Oath while wearing a black top emblazoned in large red letters ‘I TAGGED FIAN.’ I gave a faint scream.
    ‘Something wrong?’ asked Fian.
    ‘I just realized what I was wearing.’
    He grinned. ‘I like it.’
    ‘Yes, but … What the chaos did the Military think when they saw it?’
    ‘Calm down, Jarra,’ said Fian. ‘Humanity has met aliens. The Military have more to worry about than your clothes.’
    That was true, but I still pulled off my civilian outfit at high speed and put on my new uniform. I adjusted the fit of the sleeves, and attached my Military lookup to the left forearm of the uniform, where it clung neatly in position.
    ‘Well, at least it will amuse