Marijam
looked up at the skylight. The smoky plastiglass, which covered the ordinary
plastic window, was distorting her view of the stars. But it could not dull the
brightness of the strange lights, which were shooting across the sky tonight.
They were still changing colour. They were even more intense now than when they
started an hour ago.
"Is it working again?" her mother called up from the other
chamber.
Marijam looked at the dataserve screen. Still frozen. She bit her lip
and ran her fingers through her hair. She wanted to finish the unit on the
causes of sunlight poisoning in the late twenty-third century. That would
complete her Part One, the first of her Specialist Study for her High School
Graduation Certificate and well before the summer holiday.
"No!" she called back.
"Well give it a rest, now, sweetheart," her father called.
"You really should watch this. It's the first time the Northern Lights
have appeared for centuries."
Marijam's mother, Louish Kennedy, came into the room. Dressed from head
to toe in a besequined pale blue satin, Louish stood out as usual from the damp
greyness of the cave walls. Marijam winced as she saw her. She preferred to
blend in with her surroundings. But even Mrs Kennedy couldn't compete tonight
with the light show out there.
"Do you think" she said to Marijam, "it might mean that
the poison cloud's beginning to lift at last? And it really is something, isn't
it?"
Marijam watched as a sheet of light shot across the sky. Marbled
streamers of pinks and golds and greens flowed into one another. Marijam had
never seen so many colours in one go. It was so dull down here in the caves.
And even when you went up into the tubes and walked across the surface, you
looked at everything through grey glass. The colours were so bright tonight
that the glass couldn't dull them.
"I don't think it is actually the Northern Lights," said Marijam’s
father, appearing in the doorway. "I've seen video clips of them, and they
weren't this pretty. Even when you saw them direct, and not through
plastiglass."
"I don't think you'll be able to get anything else done
tonight," said Marijam's mother. "There are too many problems with
the network." She shivered. "The other support systems will work, won’t
they?" she asked, looking at her husband.
Marijam's father, Frazier Kennedy, Head of Education, smiled.
"They'll be fine," he said to Louish, combing his hand through
his wiry black hair.
Marijam recognised the gesture. He always did that when he was trying
to convince himself rather than the person he was speaking to. He cuddled his
wife, resting his dark brown cheek against her greyish pale one. Not for the first
time Marijam looked at her own arms and wished she had inherited her father’s
skin colour instead of her own. The cave-life was just washing white people
out.
"They always give the air top priority,” Frazier continued, the
skin round his eyes beginning to crinkle as his eyes smiled. “They’ll keep the
seals in place as well.
"But they've got to keep the life support systems going… on the
farms and everything," Louish continued.
Marijam suddenly noticed how anxious her mother looked. The pupils of
her eyes were bigger and her face was a shade whiter still than normal.
Frazier shrugged his shoulders lightly and opened his arms, turning his
palms upwards, and admitting defeat. “The education networks will be the first
to go down,” he said. “They’ll keep the lights on in the plantation caves, and
yes, they’ll let us carry on breathing. Don’t worry so much.”
A purple light, edged with silver and blue streamed across the sky, catching
Marijam’s eye and making her look again through the skylight. She held her
breath. Not even the Midsummer Presidential Laser Show could match this.
It wasn't just the lights, though. There was something about the
atmosphere tonight. It was warm, even with the air conditioning, and she had
this overwhelming feeling that something tremendous was about to happen.
"Well, I guess nobody will be studying much tonight," said
Marijam's mother. "Everyone will be up in the tubes, getting a closer look
at the sky."
"You should go and meet your friends," said Frazier.
"You've just got to enjoy an event like this with people of your own
age."
"Well, we're going anyway," said Mrs Kennedy.
It probably was a good idea. There seemed to be little hope of
completing her project tonight. And goodness knows when anything as exciting as
this would happen again. Marijam felt a strange fluttering in her stomach. Her
heart was racing.
"Go on," said Louish Kennedy. "Put on your best tunic.
Go and meet your friends. I'll bet they're all out there."
They left her room. Marijam turned to her wardrobe. It was overflowing.
She was the only daughter of the Head of Education. All the Heads of Services –
Education, Transport, Agriculture, Life Support, Diastics and all the other services
which kept this isolated planet going - were rich and important. Marijam could
have anything she wanted apart from fresh air. Her parents had even let her
have the room with the skylight. She opened the door. Row upon row of tunics.
Black and grey ones. Some were made from expensive wool and cotton. Then there
were the ordinary ones out of ripon, the cheap comfortable cloth that everyone
wore. And some in blue, red, lilac, in fact every colour you could think of.
How can I possibly choose from all these? she thought. So much for equality.
She always felt guilty that her father’s position allowed her so much.
Everyone was supposed to be born with equal chances. She knew, though, that she
had it easier than many. That was why she normally preferred to just wear a
comfortable dull-coloured ripon tunic.
She really didn't go out much,
even though she was allowed to use the cyber beaches and holoscenes as much as
she liked. That was yet another advantage of being the daughter of one of the Heads
of Services. There was never a question about the cost. On the whole, though, she
preferred the solitude of her room and her dataserve, and the sky above, which
she looked at through her skylight. She liked to dream of a time when all the people
– even those from the Z Zone - would be able to walk freely on the surface of
the planet. Would they ever be able to again? And would it be in her lifetime?
No, that won't do,
she thought to herself as she took down her old grey tunic. Not today.
Today's really special.
Marijam found herself gently touching a purple silk tunic. It was so
soft and smooth beneath her fingers. She had not worn it before. It had been a
present from her aunt, her mother's sister.
"You should get out more and enjoy yourself," Aunt Kayla said.
She always told Marijam off about spending too much time in front of a
dataserve screen, of not going out enough and mixing with other young
people.
Well, Aunt, thought
Marijam, you would be astounded. Yes, this will do nicely.
She felt the soft fineness of the silk next to her skin. It added to
her excitement. She sprayed on some perfume, and even put on a little make up.
She looked at herself in the mirror.
Yes, she would do nicely as well. Though for what, she was not quite
sure. Another streak of pink light rushed through the sky above. She heard the
swish of the vacuum doors closing in the entrance hall below. Her parents were
already on their way. Time to get going for her as well.
The crowds making their way through the cave networks were stifling.
Marijam had never seen so many people out at once. If you could really call it “out”.
Even up in the tubes wasn't really "out". She had often wondered what
"out" would really be like. Not even this many people were around for
the President's Laser Show or the Christmas Walks. The queues for the lifts
were really long. Marijam asked herself whether it would be better to just make
her way to one of the large skylights. But no! Looking up from a tube would be
a bit nearer to standing in a field and staring at the night sky.
"Oh come on, get a move on," she heard one man mumble under
his breath.
Exactly, she
thought.
"I expect we'll get there eventually," a woman's voice
answered him.
It was amazing how calm people were staying.
Eventually she was at the front of the queue and the lift came. In
seconds they were up at the surface, and she was joining the crowds now making
their way along the tubes. She desperately wanted to get to somewhere where
they didn’t criss-cross over each other so much, so that she could get an uninterrupted
view of the sky.
Odd that she had not yet seen anybody she knew. She had to walk almost
half a mile before she came to somewhere she could stand and look.
The lights still rushed across the blackness. Occasionally two from
different directions would collide and then a shower of golden and lilac stars
would sprinkle down towards Terrestra's surface. But it was not accompanied by
the "oohs" and aahs" heard at the President's laser display.
Everyone stood in absolute silence. This was something really special. The
excitement carried on growing inside Marijam's stomach. She felt as if she were
glowing. And it was good watching the lights through the plastiglass tubes. She
seemed as if she was nearer to them than when she looked through the sky light.
You didn't have the long tube of rock and stone.
Gradually, though, the
brightness of the lights faded, and their path across the sky became slower,
less urgent. Suddenly, one last vibrant streak of red seemed to rush at the
plastiglass tube where they were standing.
The silence broke. There was a gasp of surprise, perhaps of fear. The
light hovered, almost threateningly. Then it vanished suddenly. There was
nothing left but a clear night sky. Clearer, Marijam thought, than she had ever
seen it before. Was her mother right? Was the poison cloud shifting at last?
The noise that the people now made as they moved towards the lifts
compensated for the earlier silence. There was an excited chatter. And all
sorts of ideas about what might have caused the lights.
"I bet it's somebody from another planet," a young boy cried.
"I bet they've got some guards up there that they didn't tell us about.
They've been zapped."
"It could just be some strange meteorite storm," the man with
him replied.
"I wouldn't have thought they'd be that colourful, though,"
replied another man.
Marijam didn't want to go back to the apartment. It would be too much
of an anticlimax to go back to work. And she was not far from the Laguna, the
nectar bar where people from her school level were encouraged to go to meet
people of their own generation.
For once, anyway, Marijam felt the need to be amongst people, and drink
some of the state-provided nectar with its mild mind-altering chemicals.
The Laguna was buzzing when she arrived. Marijam almost turned straight
back. People she wanted, yes, but not this many. But she had to pause a moment
to admire the granite walls. The Laguna, at least, was a real cave, unlike most
of the man-made ones that inhabitants of Terrestra used as their homes. The
ceiling was covered with a huge screen, which showed the picture taken from a
camera up on the surface. You could almost believe that you were outside.
Marijam looked up at the sky. No, there was definitely no more sign of
the lights. And yes, she was sure the sky did look clearer than normal.
"Marijam!" a voice suddenly called. "Over here!"
Marijam turned to see who had called her. A girl in a silver tunic and
with purple hair was waving frantically at her. A whole group from her school
unit were sitting in one of the alcoves. It was Sadie Rojens. They had once
worked on a project together, though mainly via the dataserve.
"So what do you think caused those lights?" asked Sadie
excitedly. "We're just getting one or two ideas here."
"What would you like to drink, Marijam?" said a male voice.
A tall boy who was now standing up next to the table. It was Rainer
Elbman. He looked quite elegant in his
deep navy tunic. It looked as if it was made of wool and so must have been
expensive.
"Oh, er … a peach and melon, I think," said Marijam blushing slightly.
"Hands off, he's mine," Sadie hissed in her ear.
The thought had never occurred to Marijam.
"Well, Marijam, what do you reckon?" asked another masculine
voice. Ponty Davidson. "What was all that about?"
Marijam felt herself flush. Ponty made a point of talking to her at
every school meet. She always felt so awkward talking to boys, but with Ponty
it was worse. He seemed to stifle her. She couldn’t work out what he wanted of
her.
"Do you think it's the poison cloud going?" she managed to
mumble eventually.
“Maybe,” replied Ponty. “Or maybe it’s because one of the most
delicious girls in our social group has decided to show off her assets at
last.”
His pupils were wide open and she could feels his eyes first on her
legs, and then on her breasts. He slid an arm around her waist and pulled her
towards him, nestling his nose into her hair. “Oh, and you smell so gorgeous
too,” he said. “have you any idea, what you’re doing to me?” he asked.
"Put her down," said one of the other girls. "This is
much more interesting.”
Marijam managed to wriggle free. She was surprised, though to see
something different flash across Ponty’s face. There was something in his eyes.
He looked almost as if he was going to cry.
“Sorry,” he mumbled. “Won’t you go out with me, though? I promise I’ll
behave well.”
“Oh look,” said Marijam, as another bright flash chased across the
sky. When she turned back, Ponty had
disappeared.
“Well, I guess we'll know soon enough, what’s been happening," said
one of the other boys. "I bet the scientists are on to it already."
"They'll be putting it up on the news screens soon, then we'll
know," said someone else.
Rainer placed her drink down in front of her.
"Who's that over there?" he asked.
Marijam looked over to where he was pointing. It was a boy she had
never seen before. His tunic was a little odd. Not really quite the usual
shape. H was white but had much darker skin than she had ever seen before and his
hair was much lighter than everybody else's.
I don't know,
thought Marijam, but I wish I did. That odd, exciting feeling was
beginning all over again. Her stomach was turning summersaults and her heart
was racing. She held her breath until she really needed to breathe again.
Now she understood what Sadie was talking about. She took a sip of her
peach and melon nectar.
