“That’s the strange bit,” mused Quirinus. “I took the tendril cutting to one of the biochemists, who recognised the DNA structure as soon as she slipped it into the scanner. It’s very distinctive, apparently; but stranger still is they told me your father had already found traces of something similar building up inside the air filters at the life-support plant. They’re not sure what it is, but it’s not native to the Dandridge Cole.”
“The Platypus is infecting the hollow moon?”
“Or vice versa,” Quirinus replied. “It’s hard to tell.”
Zotz turned to the window and watched as the curved countryside of the hollow moon slowly passed by. They had left the lake behind and the end of the line at Petit Havre was just a few minutes away.
“What about Ravana?” he asked carefully. His voice betrayed a tiny nervous tremor. “Why did she scream like that?”
Quirinus did not reply for a while. Taking his slate from Zotz, he pressed the power button in the corner and switched it off. Zotz caught his expression and it was clear that Ravana’s father too shared the boy’s unspoken concerns.
“I don’t know,” Quirinus said eventually. “You like Ravana a lot, don’t you?”
“She is my friend,” Zotz answered simply.
“That teacher wants me to take her students to Epsilon Eridani,” Quirinus told him. “Perhaps we should go; Ravana and I. They have good doctors on Daode.”
Zotz looked at him, puzzled. “I don’t understand.”
“Me neither,” Quirinus admitted. “Maybe we need to find someone who does.”
Ravana’s cat had once again wandered off towards the cliff behind the palace, but at least this time she did manage to catch up with her electric pet before it started scrambling up the three-hundred-metre tumble of scree below the cave. At Ostara’s insistence, Ravana reluctantly invited Endymion, Bellona and Philyra to join her, leaving Professor Wak, Miss Clymene and Ostara herself at the maintenance shed to await the arrival of her father. Ravana knew Ostara was trying to encourage new friendships, but did not find it easy to be sociable at the best of times. Endymion seemed friendly enough, but the way Philyra and Bellona kept looking at her disfigured arm and face made Ravana feel very self-conscious.
“Nice cat,” remarked Endymion, as she lifted her pet into her arms. The cat had stayed away from the palace grounds and had instead scampered diagonally towards the cliff through a stretch of common pasture land, frightening a mob of wallabies in the process. “You don’t see many electric pets on Ascension. Does it have a name?”
“Fluffy?” suggested Ravana, embarrassed. “That was the name I gave it when I was little. It doesn’t actually take any notice of what I call it, so now it’s just ‘cat’. It was a birthday present when I was six, back on Yuanshi,” she added. “Zotz calls it Jones.”
“What made you come to this place?” asked Philyra, with a tinge of disdain.
“What’s wrong with the hollow moon?” retorted Ravana defensively.
As she spoke, a shiver fell upon them and for a brief moment the shadows around them faded, just as they might on a planet such as Earth or Taotie whenever the sun passed behind a cloud. Within an artificial environment such as the hollow moon or the dome of Newbrum city, it was not something that should happen. Startled, Ravana lifted her gaze towards the artificial sun and for a moment she was convinced it glowed less brightly. As long as she could remember it had never faltered before.
“Is it supposed to do that?” asked Endymion. He had seen the same thing.
Ravana shook her head slowly. “Not in the middle of the day,” she murmured, somewhat disturbed. “Professor Wak did say there was something strange happening with the Dandridge Cole’s power supply.”
“Newbrum’s just as bad,” said Philyra. “Everything you touch is falling apart.”
“Yes, but this place looks so much older!” Bellona exclaimed. “The houses in that village we came through are really quaint. It feels like we’ve gone back in time.”
“Father says the hollow moon is at least a hundred years old,” Ravana told her, still puzzling over the faltering sun. “I like the old-fashioned way we live here, especially how we work together and share everything like they did in the early colonies. Father says it’s the only way a place like this can keep going.”
“You share everything?” asked Bellona, surprised. “What about money?”
“Dockside has an account we use for trading, but no one has any for themselves. Except the Maharani, of course; they say she brought lots with her when she fled Yuanshi. Everyone who lives here is provided with food and shelter so there is no need for it.”
“I suppose if there’s no money, there’s no crime,” Endymion reasoned.
“There is still a bit of crime,” Ravana admitted. “Ostara was investigating a robbery at the biology laboratories before she started looking into the kidnap of the Raja. On the whole though it seems to work well. Everyone has to contribute a bit of their time to help where needed. I do three days a week in the fields. I’m training to be an engineer.”
Philyra raised a surprised eyebrow. “You work for nothing?”
“What use is money here?” asked Ravana, puzzled. “Where would I spend it?”
“On Ascension, you have to work to buy food and clothes and stuff,” Endymion told her. “If I didn’t get paid I wouldn’t want to work for nothing. I’d rather do nothing!”
“You don’t do anything at work anyway,” Bellona pointed out.
“What would happen if you couldn’t find a job?” Ravana asked Endymion, smiling mischievously. “Would you be left hungry and naked?”
“There’s enough jobs for everyone,” Endymion said, ignoring Bellona’s giggle. “More jobs than people, in fact.”
“But that’s forcing people to work or starve. That doesn’t seem right to me.”
Philyra looked puzzled. “What happens here if you can’t be bothered to do your bit?”
“People in the hollow moon are used to helping each other out,” Ravana replied. “Very few refuse to work, but if they did all that would happen is they would no longer have any friends. But they would not go cold or hungry.”
Endymion shook his head in amazement. “Working for nothing is crazy.”
“It’s not for nothing!” Ravana protested. “Father says the hollow moon is everyone’s responsibility as we all need it to survive. If someone couldn’t work for whatever reason, they would be looked after. Anyway, I like being able to try lots of different jobs here. I think it helps you find the one you’re good at and like doing best.”
She could see it had never occurred to a fascinated Bellona that a community could live and work together in this way. Her brother on the other hand looked unimpressed by the concept of a world without money. Ravana was getting bored of the subject.
“Would you like to visit other places?” Bellona asked. “Maybe go back to Yuanshi?”
“I’ve been to places!” retorted Ravana. “Father and I go to Lan-Tlanto at least once a month. I’ve also been to Lowell City on Mars and to Camelot spaceport on Avalon.”
“You’ve been to Avalon?” Philyra looked jealous. “To the holovid studios?”
“We’re meant to be going to Daode this week,” added Bellona. Ravana recalled Miss Clymene’s conversation with her father about chartering the Platypus and saw Bellona looked awkward, as if she felt she was being used. “We’re supposed to be taking part in the school band competition at the peace conference. Perhaps you could come with us?”