Earth 2788 by Janet Edwards

Author:Janet Edwards [Edwards, Janet]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wallam-Crane Press
Published: 2015-07-03T23:00:00+00:00

Epsilon Sector 2788 - Amalie

Miranda, Epsilon Sector, June 2788.

I was going to the afternoon school shift, so I didn’t need to get there until one o’clock, but I was still going to be late. Partly because I’d been babysitting my three youngest brothers and sisters all morning, partly because the water pipe from the spring needed unblocking for the third time this week, and partly because I’d heard the chickens squawking for help and had to go and rescue them from a moon monkey that was peering nosily into the chicken run. Moon monkeys were one of the original native species of Miranda, perfectly harmless herbivores, but our chickens were terrified of their round, glowing faces.

These things were all just excuses, of course. The real reason I was going to be late for school was because I knew exactly what would happen when I got there. In fact, it started before I was anywhere near the school, because Torrin Summerhaze was lying in wait for me at the portal that was shared between the dozen nearest farms.

It would take me an hour to walk to the next nearest portal, so I gritted my teeth and marched up to this one, pointedly avoiding eye contact with Torrin. That didn’t stop him happily jeering at me.

“Old maid! Old maid! Amalie is the old maid!”

I didn’t turn to look at him, just reached out with my right hand to slap him on the back of the head.

“Ow!” he complained. “That hurt.”

“It was meant to hurt.”

I reached out to set the destination for the portal, but hesitated at the last moment. It was one of the economy models, just offering the six most important local destinations: Jain’s Ford Settlement Central, Jain’s Ford School, Mojay’s General Store, the livestock market, the vet, and the medical centre over at Falling Rock settlement.

If you wanted to go anywhere else, you had to portal to Settlement Central first. That had a proper portal you could use to travel anywhere on the inhabited continent of Miranda, though naturally the portalling charges were a lot higher. The only time I’d been through it was last year, when my parents took all eleven of us to visit Memorial. We’d seen the sea, and the hilltop monument marking where the Military handed Miranda over to the first colonists thirty-one years ago. It was a totally zan day, apart from the twins falling in a rock pool so they stank of seaweed all day.

Right now, I felt like going to Settlement Central and portalling to Memorial again, or even all the way to Northern Reach. I’d seen images of the great cliffs there on the Miranda Rolling News channel. I could see those cliffs for myself, and have a glorious day of freedom, far away from Jain’s Ford Settlement, Jain’s Ford School, and people like Torrin Summerhaze. The snag was that I’d have to come back and face them all at the end of it. I’d have spent credits I couldn’t afford, and it would change nothing.

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