She frowned as a memory from her first day tickled her mind. “Wasn’t your sister expelled?”

Norah’s mouth tightened, but she nodded. “My dads sent her to that boarding school over the New Gobi ice forest. It’s not as awful as they say. At least they let her take Golem, her slale-bear. They could have sent him to the Farm.”

Hero shuddered.

Built partially into as well as around the peak of Mt Stevelin, near the western coast of Tonie, the Farm is the oldest human structure on Jørn, and the largest to be built on the planet’s surface.

The Farm contains the gene-banks, a repository of genetic material (both plant and animal) brought from Earth by the colonists, and is arguably the most important installation on the planet. As well as containing the gene-banks, the Farm is responsible for researching new and better crops and livestock, and is the main hub of Pollen research.