The Lord of the Plains (23 page)

‘Well they tell us during immersion.’ Razra
said, ‘I thought they did the same with you guys.’

‘No. Do you know where you’re going?’ Riley
asked.

‘I’m not sure…not the military, and not
farming. I have some time though, military is the only path that
splits off next year. I think Lasann wants to go into government,
perhaps even get onto the Council of Astar one day.’ He said
glumly. ‘That’s why he organized the petition I think, no one else
would have thought of it.’

Riley was silent.

‘So where do you want to go?’ he asked
hopefully.

‘Military.’ she replied promptly.

‘Space?’ he asked excitedly.

‘Space?’ she repeated.

‘You know, the moon! So we can all go live
on the moon without any gemengs!’

‘I don’t think they’d want me in space
then.’ Riley replied.

Razra’s face fell. ‘Oh.’

Riley noticed a change in the human children
today. Her feelings were proven correct when Lasann came over to
her, his mouth set in a hard line for a twelve year old.

He shot a glance at Razra. He looked
startled for a moment then scrambled to his feet and left, with a
wave and goodbye to Riley.

Riley watched him go before turning her
attention to Lasann. She didn’t get up.

Lasann spoke quietly to her, ‘you’re to stay
where you are.’ he said stiffly.

‘You got a response?’ she asked after a
moment.

‘Yes.’ the words barely made it past his
lips.

‘May I see it?’ she asked.

Lasann frowned at her.

‘I’d like to be sure.’ Rather, she thought
Aerlid might like to see it.

He pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his
pocket and held it out to her. ‘Can you read?’

‘As well as you I suppose.’ she replied.

He frowned even further. ‘Well read it here,
I have to recycle it.’

‘I can recycle it.’

‘Hmph.’

Riley flowed smoothly to her feet. ‘I’d like
to show it to my uncle. He has been worried about this and it would
put him at ease.’

Lasann looked surprised but didn’t let
go.

‘Please give it to me. If you don’t think I
can recycle it on my own,’ irritation simmered in her voice, ‘I’ll
return it to you.’

Lasann paused, wavering.

Riley felt an uncharacteristic spark of
anger. It was a reasonable request, was it not? They had tried to
have her thrown out of her home, and they wouldn’t let her have
proof she was safe?

The spark showed in her eyes. Lasann took a
step back. He swallowed. ‘You’re a gemeng, you can’t touch me.’

His fear unsettled her. Riley took a step
back. She could take it from him. Easily. ‘Why won’t you let me
have it? I’ll bring it back.’ she said, trying to keep her anger
from her voice.

Riley saw his eyes flick to something behind
her. She turned and saw Ms Thrope approaching. Then she noticed
most of the children in the yard were watching. She was startled.
Had she been yelling? She didn’t think so. Why were they all
watching?

Unsettled, feeling she had behaved poorly
without realizing it, Riley watched Ms Thrope approach.

‘What’s going on here?’ Ms Thrope asked,
giving Lasann and Riley hard looks each.

Lasann, relieved, said, ‘She demanded I hand
over my letter. She won’t leave me alone.’

Ms Thrope then turned her gaze on Riley. ‘Is
this true?’

‘It’s about my home.’ she tried to explain,
‘I want to show it to my uncle, so he can stop worrying. I said I’d
bring it back.’

‘What letter is this, Lasann?’ Ms Thrope’s
hard eyes were back on him.

He became a little uncomfortable. ‘It’s the
response we got… about her going to live where she should. With the
rest of the gemengs.’

‘I see. That sounds rather important to her
and her family, doesn’t it, Lasann?’

‘Y-yes.’

‘I think considering the circumstances you
should let her take it. You’ll bring it back tomorrow, won’t you,
Riley?’

‘Yes, Ms Thrope.’

Lasann handed it over to Riley, shooting her
a glare at the same time. Without thinking, Riley shot him one
right back.

‘Enough of that!’ Ms Thrope snapped. She
gave them both another hard look and stalked back towards the
school building. ‘Everyone, lunch is over, come inside now!’ she
called. She waited by the door, surveying the yard like a hawk til
everyone was safely inside.

After classes were done Riley asked Razra
why everyone had been watching.

Razra was surprised, thinking the answer
obvious. ‘Well we wanted to see what would happen. Lasann was super
secretive about the response.’

‘Was I yelling?’ she asked, concerned.

‘No.’ he said. ‘Why? Do you want to practice
yelling? I’m very good at it.’

Aerlid read the letter over carefully. It
was, he thought, a fairly stock standard response.

‘Thank you for your interest…’

‘Appreciate your concern…’

The only section of interest was: ‘The
current policy regarding gemeng children in the care of humans is
not to separate them. Your concern over this matter is appreciated,
but it is the belief of the council that leaving children with
their family members is the most appropriate response.’ At this
section Aerlid muttered, ‘I wonder how many gemeng children there
are
in the care of humans…Have you met any?’ Aerlid
asked.

Riley shook her head, ‘no.’

Then, ‘Policy unlikely to change in the near
future…’

‘Anymore concerns contact…’

Signed, so and so.

‘Will we have to move?’ Riley asked when she
saw he was done reading.

‘No.’ he sighed. After a moment he asked,
‘are you happy here, Riley?’

Riley just looked at him.

‘I mean, do you want to leave Astar?’

‘Because Lasann tried to get us kicked out?’
the spark of anger was back.

‘Any reason, not just that.’

‘No.’ she said firmly.

‘Well, if you do, you’ll tell me, won’t
you?’

She nodded.

It was in the last weeks of primary school
that the gemengs were told what would happen to them.

The immersion teacher halted class
early.

‘At the start of next year you’ll all enter
military training. Some of your human classmates will go with
you…’

He continued, telling them where and when
they would meet, what they would need, what to expect. At the next
split they would be joining the infantry. Most of the children in
the class, including Riley, were twelve. She would be near thirteen
though when she entered the military training program. They were
told they could expect to enter service after about two years. The
military training was very thorough in Astar, it was not a rushed
operation by any definition.

As they filed out of the classroom Riley
went to Jillia’s side. ‘Did you want to enter the military?’ she
asked.

Jillia shrugged. ‘I always knew that’s where
I was going, so I didn’t really think about it. Why, did you?’

‘Will we still see each other after school
ends?’ Riley asked Razra one day at lunch. Tests were in a week.
After that there would be a short break before she entered the
military school.

‘Yeah! All the time!’

‘When?’

‘Um…after classes? On Restday?’

‘How will we know? You won’t see me during
the day.’

‘Um…well, we can arrange somewhere to meet.
Or you can come visit me. Or I can come visit you.’ Razra beamed.
‘We can go to the theatre! You can tell me if the weapons are
really like the ones Jeitar and Molozor use!’

Feeling she wasn’t going to get a clear idea
of when and where they could meet Riley dropped the subject. She
hoped his offer was genuine.

Chapter 16

The military school was located in the
central district of Astar. It was smooth and shiny, with
well-equipped classrooms and smartly dressed people trotting
smartly around to do smart things. The roads in this section of the
city were all paved.

On her first day, Aerlid dropped her off, as
with her first day of school. He left, apprehensive.

All the new students were gathered in a
long, rectangular hall. On the floor were cushioned mats. The
students stood in rows along the long side of the hall facing a
fierce looking man who liked to shout. Behind him stood a row of
about ten people dressed in uniform. Riley didn’t know the people
around her.

He’d been shouting for some time now. They
were to report at so and so time. They were to only talk when
spoken to. They were to address their teachers as ‘sir’. They were
expected to continue their training in their own time. Each day
when they reported in they would spend three hours exercising. Then
they would learn theory of weapons and strategy. Then more
exercise. Later they would be trained in the actual use of weapons.
And so on and so forth…

He stopped, eyeing them as if he didn’t like
what he saw.

‘Pair up! Gemengs with gemengs, humans with
humans.’ He roared, ‘I don’t care how you do it, I want to see you
take your partner down! GO, GO, GO!’

Everyone scattered. Riley was more than a
little overwhelmed. She was tousled this way and that. Somehow she
ended up facing a gemeng boy.

‘You’re the one who doesn’t live in the
dormitories, right?’ he said, looking at her from across the
mat.

Riley nodded, wondering how he knew
that.

‘I see. So you haven’t any training
then?’

‘I have…’ she said slowly.

Surprised, he said, ‘really? That’s good,
you don’t want to start behind here. Are you ready?’

Riley nodded as her eyes flicked around the
room to see what the other children were doing. She’d never fought
anyone but Aerlid. She felt a spark of excitement.

The boy was coming at her. She sidestepped
and tripped him. He hit the mat with an oomph.