Deborah Hockney (9 page)

‘Have you got any gems with you?’ she queried, hoping Nikki wouldn’t ask any more awkward questions. She liked her a lot, but there was something about those things that Will had given to her and David that made her want to keep it a secret, certainly for the time being.

She was relieved that Nikki was only too happy to show off some of her stones, and they spent the next few minutes happily discussing their gemstone collections.

It wasn’t long before the girls were both trying to stifle yawns; and after remembering to carefully hang up their uniforms ready for the next day, they were soon getting ready for bed. Within minutes of their heads touching the pillows, the two girls had fallen fast asleep, oblivious to the noises outside, where the hum of machinery and the drone of vehicles transporting goods backwards and forwards throughout the Cosmodome carried on well into the night.

At 0700 hours a subtle but persistent alarm echoed through the rooms of all the Elite trainees, waking the two girls in room sixty-five from their slumbers. Reluctantly leaving the comfort of their beds, but anxious to see what the day ahead held for them, they quickly showered and made sure that their uniforms were correctly fastened and hair neatly smoothed down. They hurried to the lifts, along with everyone else from their floor.

‘Thought we might be the first,’ panted Nikki, as they rushed along the corridor, ‘but I guess everyone else is as eager to get to breakfast as us.’

They were squashed into the back of the lift as everyone surged forward; no-one wanted to be left behind. Jocasta tried to breathe normally, but there wasn’t a lot of room, and she began to worry that the lift might be overcrowded and become stuck between floors.

And then the hairs on the back of her neck began to stand on end, there was someone or something behind her; she could feel warm, soft breathing in her hair, and… was that whispering in her ears? She couldn’t make out any words… there was a persistent buzzing in her head that blocked the chatter of those around her. Jocasta wanted to turn around, but she couldn’t move, they were all packed in so tightly. And anyway, she was at the back of the lift; even if she did turn around she would only come face to face with her own reflection in the mirrored walls. How could there be anyone behind her? The blood began to pound in her temples as the breathing in her hair became faster, a few strands fluttered over her shoulder and she could feel points of pain on her shoulder, like bony fingers pinching through her uniform. She was pinned to the spot, unable to move or make a sound. And then, thankfully, the lift stopped and the whole sensation just slipped away. As the crowd of cadets jostled, en masse, out into the corridor, the girl with long auburn hair half turned, and glanced towards the back of the lift, where the fan continued to ruffle a few rogue strands of Jocasta’s hair.

*

‘Jocasta, come on,’ she heard Nikki calling, and made an effort to catch up.

‘What happened to you, you’ve gone all pale. Are you feeling ok?’

‘Yes just felt a bit strange in the lift, but I think I’m ok now,’ she tied to sound brighter than she felt.

‘Hurry up then, or we’ll miss out on all the good food.’

Food was the last thing her stomach needed right now, but a warm drink, she thought, might help. She made her way with Nikki up to the noisy atmosphere of the cafeteria. She didn’t notice the person standing alone in the long queue who was watching her with more than a passing interest.

Chapter Eight

‘Wow, look.’

‘Impressive, isn’t it?’

‘I’ll say. Just look at those enormous rocket nozzles at the back!’

‘Scary.’

Even in the damp greyness of the misty summer morning, the space liner looked majestic. Jocasta tried to remember all
the information that they’d been inundated with at the breakfast briefing.

How to react in an emergency seemed to be top of the list but she couldn’t for the life of her recall (and it could literally be the life of her, she thought wryly), whether they’d been told to activate the launching sequence for the life pods before or after the second buzzer.

She’d received training, of course, in the academy simulators back at Woodbridge, and had been on holiday trips to the Space Hotels orbiting Earth, but this was different; she was part of the Elite now and needed to behave accordingly. She didn’t want to look a fool by making amateur mistakes.

The Space Liner’s separate sections were just about visible from the departure lounge. Jocasta could see the streamlined shape of the huge booster plane with its pointed nose and delta wings, several times the size of the much smaller orbiter which nestled between the booster’s wings, maintaining its aerodynamic shape.

As the call came for them to leave the security of the building and make their way towards the space liner, a murmur of excitement and anticipation reverberated through the ranks of the trainee Elite.

Jocasta stood at the bottom of the platform, looking upwards at the huge machine that would lift her skywards. How was she going to be able to cope with this new life ahead of her? She couldn’t begin to imagine what it was really going to be like living under a Geodome for the next few months, with no escape into the woods or swimming in the sea. She paused and glanced at the mass of faces surrounding her and wondered if any of them felt as nervous as she did.

Just for a moment she contemplated turning around and running back towards the building, but then as she glanced behind she spied the familiar glasses and mop of tousled brown hair that was David’s, and felt a little comforted; at least she had one good friend with her. Next to him was Felipe, who she noticed had removed his overlarge glasses and replaced them with standard size ones, no doubt the Elites’s insistence of conformity; she had been instructed that morning to wear her I.D. ring on her finger, where it was supposed to be. And they all had to hand in their personal wristcoms and had been issued with standard Elite supplies.

She felt Nikki tug at her arm to point out the space crew ahead of them, and realised that she had another good travelling companion to share her experiences with on the journey ahead.

‘Hurry up, hurry up!’ a loud voice boomed out from behind them. ‘If we’re going to launch within our designated time we need to get you all boarded within the next fifteen minutes.’ The loud voice belonged to a rather strange looking space assistant who appeared to be wearing a busby on top of his head.

‘What’s a busby?’ Nikki questioned her, after Jocasta had snickered discreetly to herself, wondering why anyone should want to have hair looking so ridiculous.

‘It was a kind of hat that soldiers used to wear on special occasions, when they got all dressed up for the king and queen.’ Jocasta wasn’t bothered that her explanation of a royal event sounded more like a fancy dress party. ‘Of course, they don’t any more, ever since the monarchy decided it didn’t want to be just another tourist attraction and gave up most of its wealth and houses for the good of the people.’

‘Oh, but I would have loved to be a princess,’ Nikki drooled, a faraway look in her eyes. ‘With lots of fine clothes and servants to look after me. If I’d lived a few hundred years ago, that is,’ she added, seeing a look of barely concealed disgust on David’s face. He’d managed to work his way up the queue and was now standing with them at the bottom of the platform, which was crammed with trainees waiting to be lifted up so that they could board the orbiter.

‘Time to elevate, guys,’ a tall, thin boy whispered loudly, edging in next to them on the platform. ‘I suggest you hold on tightly to the rail,’ he continued, as with no warning the whole platform, along with over two hundred and fifty students rose with a great whoosh through the air, leaving the majority of them clutching their stomachs.

‘It’s ok,’ announced the boy, ‘that’s as much movement as you’ll feel until we go into landing mode.’

‘Well,’ said Nikki sarcastically, ‘thanks for the warning. I think I’ve left my stomach at ground level. It would’ve been fine if you hadn’t sprung up on us like that. I’m definitely feeling queasy now. And what the hell do you mean that’s as much movement-?’

‘Don’t let the commander hear you say that or she’ll send you down for another go,’ the tall boy remarked. ‘By the way let me introduce myself- I’m Ed, who are you lot and what are your names?’

But there was no time for further introductions as they were all quickly escorted along the aisles to their allocated seats. Some of the trainees were fascinated by the padded walls, fitted with handrails for zero gravity, and Cadet Franklin received a curt reprimand ‘not to swing on the handrails, like a chimpanzee’.

They were instructed to familiarise themselves with the safety notices on the inset screens at the back of each seat and to fasten both the shoulder straps, as well as the lap belts so that nobody would risk floating upwards and becoming suspended near the ceiling.

The blur of orders and instructions and suggestions were issued too quickly. Every moment raced by until Jocasta felt that she couldn’t even remember how she got from one end of the craft to the other. Everything was speeded up, without time to absorb what was happening, she felt as though she needed more time: just some quiet time in her head to prepare herself for this. It was so big, inconceivably huge, and she couldn’t find even a tiny little piece of familiarity here to hold on to. She was going to be swept aside as her future in the Elite dashed on ahead of her, and she wasn’t going to be able to keep up…

The excitement she’d felt previously regarding the space trip had turned into an unpleasant sickening, anxiety. Her head felt cold, as though some personification of doubt and fear had wrapped her skull with icy bandages, and her mind thick and slow with thoughts competing for first place in her conscious mind.

Despite this, another, safer, more logical part of her mind could still feel awe and anticipation, all mixed up with the doubt and nerves.

The rocket- rocket? Surely that was a redundant term- was superb and awesome. A great long vessel of white and wires and buttons and catch-releases and screens and speakers; the height of science and sophistication. Each seat was so huge it was like your own personal booth with open sides, and everywhere she looked she could see things that fascinated her; from the emergency oxygen supply to the compact control panel that winked intermittently, sporting rows of coloured buttons and switches that she yearned to reach out and flick.

Jocasta sunk as low into her seat as she could and momentarily closed her eyes. All this travelling, different seats, different beds, new acquaintances, not to mention the strange new ideas that she felt sneaking up on her in an unpleasant manner. It was all beginning to make her feel exhausted. If only she could go to sleep until they arrived on Mars…

But no, the loud speakers were relaying the Captain’s message: ‘Take off is imminent, take off is imminent.’

His formal voice and insistent manner did little to quell the nerves of his passengers, even with the reassuring add-on: ‘Please check that your belts are secure and enjoy the ride.’

‘Enjoy,’ said Jocasta’s neighbour under her breath. ‘I hate this bit…’

The loud drone of the engines rose alarmingly, filling the cabin with tremors, and the coldness in Jocasta’s head slipped down her neck and covered her skin with clamminess, though she barely noticed. She barely noticed either, the way her fingernails dug deep groves into the inside of her gloves, the way she screwed her eyes shut, just for a second, as the spacecraft broke its connection with Earth.

She braced herself against the chair, and felt the familiar jolt in her back as the space vehicle accelerated away.

Through the light headedness and exhilaration of take-off, her thoughts were razor-sharp, and one thought struck true for her above all;
now there’s no going back.

She felt a little envious of those lucky enough to be sitting next to a window, as they would have the best view of Earth once the spaceship had climbed through the atmosphere into orbit.

As her thoughts turned to Earth she felt momentarily homesick, and blinked her eyes quickly to stop the tears from forming. A tap on her shoulder made her turn with a start, as Ed, the boy from the platform, once again asked her name. He was occupying a seat in the row immediately behind her, so it was rather difficult to hold a proper conversation; she had to try and turn right around which was near impossible with the restrictions of the safety harness.

She could just make out part of his face, the rest being obliterated by the oversized space seat. She did notice, though, from the one eye she could just glimpse under a shaggy fringe of golden hair, that it was a most unusual colour- near enough purple with strands of silver through the iris.

‘Hey Ed, are those lenses?’ she asked, thinking of David and Felipe and their glasses.

‘No,’ came back the reply, which had a slightly sharp edge, and Jocasta realised that he had probably been asked that same question a thousand times before. ‘I’d hardly be allowed to wear contacts in space now, would I?’

Jocasta felt a bit foolish realising that pressure changes could no doubt damage lenses, therefore risking harm to the eye: and everyone knew that the Elite weren’t going to take any unnecessary risks- and certainly not for something as frivolous as contact lenses.

‘Okay, sorry, didn’t mean to snap your head off,’ Ed went on. ‘But as you might expect I get asked that quite a lot. Just a trick of genetics, you know, nothing more. By the way you still haven’t told me your name and seeing as we’re in the same Elite section I think it’s time to formalise our acquaintance.’ And with that he tried to reach forward and awkwardly extend his arm in an attempt to shake Jocasta’s hand. Unfortunately the restraining seat belts came into action and pulled him sharply backwards, much to the amusement of those sitting near to him.