Supernal

Chapter 21

10:30 am Wednesday, 4th July 2029

Exercise Room on the OCF

Toby had been jogging for half an hour on one of the three running machines in the exercise room when Summers and Rob came in and stepped onto the other two. The miniature gymnasium had been installed for the assembly workers who would be spending long hours in zero gravity. Regular exercise was required to prevent muscle wastage.

"Where were you two this morning?" Toby panted.

"Some of us have jobs to do," Rob replied. "We can't lie in bed half the morning, even if it is the fourth of July and everyone else is on holiday."

"Rob's probably been at his comms station listening to the news on the radio," Summers guessed.

"Don't listen to him. I was speaking to my oppo at mission control in Houston, giving him an update on the repairs. You do know you're supposed to be in the main assembly bay, removing and cleaning about two miles of oxygen pipeline, don't you?"

For a moment Toby thought he was being serious.

"Very funny, so was there anything interesting in the news?"

"Not much. There's been a new SARS outbreak. Australia this time."

"Ha ... gotcha!" Toby said triumphantly.

"Damn!" Rob swore. "I did grab a few minutes to catch the headlines. One weird thing from Houston though. My buddy said he'd just read an email from an observatory in Hawaii that said they saw a bright flash of light close to the OCF last night. He wanted to know if there'd been any sort of accident. I told them everything was hunky-dory."

"Interesting," Summers gasped as he pounded the treadmill. "I wonder if our neighbors were having a party,"

"Not possible," Rob said. "They don't have any alcohol ... and all the girls were here with us."

#

At 3 pm Velan and Nimir docked as expected in what the Manitan referred to as a 'pod'. Velan accepted an offer of tea and said that he needed to discuss something with Jayal. Summers asked Toby to go and fetch her.

He found both her and Mutu in Sara's room. Jayal was speaking softly in fluent Spanish. Sara seemed preoccupied with her keyboard but it was easy to see she was listening intently.

Jayal turned and smiled at him as he entered but kept talking. Toby didn't like to interrupt so he waited patiently until she finished, and then he told her Velan wanted her in the crew room. Jayal asked Mutu to stay in the room so Sara could get used to his presence.

"Hasta pronto Sara," Jayal said softly and to Toby's surprise Sara grabbed Jayal's hand and whispered, "Quédate aquí."

"Vuelva pronto," Jayal assured her and Sara reluctantly let go of her hand.

"I thought Sara was non-verbal?" Toby remarked when they were walking down the corridor.

"She just needs some encouragement," Jayal said modestly.

"What were you going to say when Mutu came in this morning?"

"Only that I was told there would be disturbed children involved. It's my speciality ... child psychology."

"I thought there were no disturbed children on Vitu. According to Velan, everything is perfect on Vitu."

"You shouldn't believe everything Velan says," Jayal cautioned.

#

"I want to begin the tests on the children," Velan stated as soon as he saw Jayal. "Are they ready?"

"Not yet, I have to gain their trust before we subject them to any more strange situations. These children are easily distressed by new experiences. They need to feel safe with me."

"Jayal, I know you have the skills to control children. I want you to bring them over in the pod tonight."

"I haven't had enough time with them, they ..."

"Excuse me," Toby interrupted. "I need to carry out some tests of my own on the children. I have to gather some data to justify bringing the children here. If I don't do that, a lot of people on Earth are going to become suspicious."

Velan stared at Toby with an unreadable expression but spoke to Jayal.

"Tomorrow afternoon at 3 pm then. That should give you enough time. Nimir and I will leave now and make sure everything is prepared for the tests."

"Velan," Jayal said as they all stood up. "The children will have to be brought back here after the tests. They need to be in a familiar environment with gravity."

Velan considered that before answering.

"The preliminary tests will only take a few hours, so they will be able to return tomorrow evening."

#

Toby decided to go to his own cabin and get to grips with the instruction manual for the head caps, so he accompanied Jayal on her way back to the children. His cabin was a few doors past Sara's.

On the way, Jayal told him that Charlie was with Aliya. They were trying to get the children to accept being with strangers. Later they planned to get all the children together in one room. She didn't believe it was healthy for them to be alone all the time, even if they were accustomed to it. She was going to ask Mutu to sit with Sasha and just watch him draw.

"Is Mutu okay with young children?" he asked.

"Yes, he's not a bad man. I believe he is, how do you put it ... in touch with his feminine side"?

"You mean he prefers men to women?"

"Yes, that is perfectly acceptable on Vitu, but I don't think he is well suited to his work."

"As a historian, you mean?"

"No, Mutu is not actually a historian. He is of the trusted caste. They are more like your policemen. They make sure the laws of the Atikas are obeyed."

"But he seems to know a lot about the history of Vitu, and Earth."

"That's because he has a knowledge implant and he was given the required facts before we left Vitu."

It took Toby a few seconds to absorb that news and by then they were at Sara's door.

"Is that why they press here, on their necks," he indicated.

"Shhh," Jayal whispered with a finger to her lips. Then she nodded and entered Sara's room.

#

Toby knew that Summers and Rob were doing routine inspections and maintenance on the OCF's many systems. Rather than trying to track them down, he resolved to wait until after dinner to tell them all he had learned from Jayal.

He spent the next two hours familiarizing himself with the neurological head caps. Once he had worked out how to wirelessly connect them to the notebook computer, the rest was easy. He only had to record the data. The difficult part would be to interpret it and that would be someone else's problem. As long as he could get the kids to wear the strange head caps he was confident of collecting some results.

He had an hour to kill before dinner and decided to shower and shave and, later that night, he was very glad he'd made that decision.