Friends in the Stars

by Mackey Chandler

  “I’m looking forward to chatting with you and getting briefed on how things work locally. I have a few personal items for your comfort I’ll send down. Thank you.”

  “This is all very sudden,” Eileen said.

  “Probably for him too,” Vic said, unruffled. “It amuses me he calls a meeting with Lee an audience.”

  Eileen didn’t say anything. Being richer than some small nations and commanding ships and people meant more than putting on titles and airs.

  “Should I reply?” Eileen wondered. She was a peer but still a little in awe of Jeff.

  “I think he’d be more impressed if you just get everything ready as requested and don’t have to ask questions or tell him anything is unavailable. He clearly trusts you to use your judgment on things like an air car.”

  “He could use the car services just like us,” Eileen said.

  “But he specifically asked for a car and driver. He may have his reasons not to want to wait for a car but have it at hand ready to serve him. It’s not like that isn’t something readily available,” Vic pointed out. “It just costs a little bit more.”

  “And he assumes we know the local hotels,” Eileen worried. “Once we determined we needed better security I stopped thinking about local hotels or researching them, and we only have hours to do so.”

  “No need,” Vic said. “Lee is rich on a scale similar to Jeff Singh. I assume if there was anywhere nicer to live than the Old Hotel she’d be there. I’d call and see what they have in the way of suites. Get as close to what she has as possible, and see it stocked for a Human. Then, if he wants to talk with Lee they’ll already be in the same building.”

  Vic suddenly remembered something. “Make sure the shower and toilet are Human compatible like Lee described to us.”

  Eileen nodded. “One good thing, if nothing equal is available I haven’t seen either of them worry about silly competitive showmanship.”

  “No,” Vic agreed, “if they did want to engage in that sort of shallow boasting it would more likely be about how many starships each could command.”

  Vic was already looking at The Old Hotel’s reservations page and smiled.

  “Two of the four top floor suites are open, one on a daily basis and one as a lease. I’m reserving the lease unit for a month and charging it to our local accounts.”

  “We have enough?” Eileen joked.

  “Yes, but it is pretty pricey, and you don’t save all that much with a longer lease.”

  “If it became oppressive Lee would probably just buy the hotel,” Eileen decided. Let’s go by and actually look at the suite. I’d feel better to do a walk through and then to the port and bring Jeff back.”

  “But not in an automated car,” Vic said. “Call Garrett and ask him who we should call for a car and driver. Tell him we have a VIP at the station, and he will land soon. We don’t have time for somebody to fly in from Red Tree.

  “You want to reveal Jeff Singh is here?” Eileen seemed dubious. “If we tell Garrett then Lee and the Mothers are going to know too.”

  “He said he wants to meet with Lee. I got the impression that will happen pretty quickly. I’m certain if it was a secret that he is here Jeff would have told you very specifically to keep it quiet. We depend on Red Tree for our security, if Jeff needs to be protected we’d be silly to look for a different source. Indeed, keeping such a secret from a close ally would be out of character and could lead to all sorts of unpleasant speculations why.”

  Eileen nodded, “You’ve convinced me. I’ll call right now, but he may not be able to get us a driver until tomorrow.”

  After a very brief conversation, Eileen terminated it and looked at Vic with the oddest look on her face. “Garrett said he has a combo car that can operate either on auto or manual on its way here, and a Red Tree driver in a clan utility vehicle will meet it here and be at our service in fifteen minutes.”

  “Now do you believe we have a special relationship with Red Tree?” Vic asked.

  “Very much so, he never even asked who was going to pay for all this,” Eileen said, “and he informed me without asking, that the driver is qualified as a bodyguard too.”

  * * *

  “I’m sure the two lawyers are spies,” Kirk said, “and maybe not the only ones.”

  “You don’t have to convince me,” Pamela said. “What else could they be, and what other function could they serve running a money losing business? The Derf are too easy going. In any Earth nation, they’d see that they basically have no visible means of support and roll their operation right up. Here, there is no audit, no tax returns, and no alarms from their bank. They can get away with murder.”

  “One hopes that isn’t on the agenda,” Kirk said. “I’m still not sure for which letter agency they’re working. I hesitate to report anything that just sounds like a suspicion.”

  “Something new must have happened to bring this up. You said you were watching them closely. Did they do something recently to get you excited?” Pamela asked.

  “I tried to hire a new private investigator to follow them when they go out and about in town. I’m already using another agency to keep an eye on the Foys. I didn’t want to put one agency to work on two targets. You get cross talk and shared surveillance and an agent can make one target aware they are being watched by observing the other being watched,” Kirk explained.

  “OK, I can see how that would happen. Too many coincidences and the same character lurking about too often,” Pamela agreed. “But I do bet that they all know each other in a market this small and will make other company’s surveillance.”

  “Well I asked another agency to watch the lawyers,” Kirk said. “He looked super amused and then declined the work. When I pressed him about why, he said it would be unethical and a conflict of interest. He positively smirked.”

  “Oh my goodness, he’s already being paid to watch us for them,” Pamela said.

  “If only it were that easy,” Kirk said. “He could be watching them already for somebody else, or he could be watching somebody else for them. The only constant is the lawyers, but we can’t assume any other party,” Kirk said.

  “Hire a third agency to spy on the agency you just tried to hire,” Pamela said. “Ask the new one to determine, if possible who the fellows who declined to be hired are keeping under surveillance. It would be tough to know who hired them, but it should be physically obvious who they are watching. It will eliminate one party, even if it does turn out to be us.”

  She thought about it for a minute.

  “You could have hired watchers to keep your other investigators honest, another firm to confirm they are watching who we hired them to,” Pamela decided.

  “That’s an excellent idea. I’m not sure there are that many agencies, or even single PIs, for hire in a town this small,” Kirk said, “but your thinking is sound. I’m starting to wonder if you aren’t better suited to this than me,” Kirk said. “Your advice is so good, I swear I’d ask you to switch jobs, except I don’t want anything to do with the damn bees.”

  “There you go trying to sweet talk me again,” Pamela said. “It’s working you know.”

  * * *

  “My network tells me there is a sudden collapse of normal supply,” April told Heather. “Not luxuries, or things with potential military use, but things like sterile surgical supplies, household items, and my tailors even inform me they have cloth and things like zippers and fasteners on order held up. The volume is down to the extent that several people in UPS and other shippers have commented on the suddenly reduced volume to me. Do you think we should send a message to Jeff?”

  “Do you think he could tell us anything from afar we can’t figure out ourselves?”

  “Probably not, since it’s not a technical question,” April admitted.

  “Then why bother the dear when he has enough on his plate there?” Heather asked. “What I do want to do is put all my jump captains on alert for sudden recall, especially those Jeff u
sed to drag rocks to make our Martian satellite. I’m also going to pull most of my workers off the surface, and issue a warning to all the landowners in Central to get their valuables and workers as deep as possible and keep them there.”

  “You think it’s that serious?” April asked.

  “Yes,” Heather said, “and I’ll be busy doing that, so I’d appreciate it if you inquired of both your network and Chen if there is a change in passenger traffic, not only for us but for The Turnip and Peace Station. I think you should suggest to Home Security now is a good time to scan the reducing freight flow with extra care. I wouldn’t put above them to try to sneak in a biological attack or a nuclear device.”

  April nodded, seeing where this was going. “I’ll ask Chen to see if any Earth launch facilities or military bases have unusual closures or crews sequestered.”

  “Thank you, I think you should disperse our critical vessels and crews to other fields or off the Moon rather than have them in our deep hangers. If we’re bombarded, they could be trapped there a long time until they could dig their way out.

  “It might be a kindness to inform our friends such as Larkin that it’s a bad time to have vessels docked on Earth stations or stuck in long transits,” Heather said.

  April didn’t ask if it was really that bad again. She pretty much agreed.

  * * *

  The Derf was standing outside patiently waiting when the Foys went out.

  “You could have come in to wait,” Eileen said.

  “Thank you, no need. I’ve been here less than a minute, and our car is about two minutes out. I’d have had to turn around almost from your door. I’m Nuclear Specialist Strangelove, Ma’am. I soldier for Red Tree full time. I happened to be taking some supplies to the fellow watching your embassy grounds today, so I was close. My Champion informed me you need me. I’ll be happy to drive you or your very important person as long as you have need of me.”

  “My goodness, I feel I’m imposing,” Eileen said. “You were busy with something else and got called away.”

  “Strangelove, I told Garrett we had a VIP coming in, I’m curious if that’s what he told you?”

  “No, Mr. Foy, I wouldn’t have known that acronym if he hadn’t already told me the long form. Derf don’t use acronyms in their own language and are a little uncomfortable with them. Garrett’s English is a little better than mine, so he expanded it for me. I assume if he is important to you, he is important to the defense of our system, and thus important to the Mothers.”

  “Call me Vic. It’s difficult to explain why, but even though we do very much value Jeff Singh it would be better not to refer to him as a very important person in his presence. It was perhaps an error on my part to use that expression. The term is old and abused to some degree and it may embarrass him to hear it applied to him. I have to agree that even though I’ve used the expression I’d be embarrassed to hear it applied to me. If accepted as one’s due it smells of being full of self-importance.”

  “If one may be permitted to make a generalization,” Strangelove said, “English is difficult and full of conflicts and contradictions. I sometimes think it reflects the underlying culture. I’m tempted to try to learn Japanese or something to see if it shows similar qualities.”

  Vic looked amused. “Will I see any similar cultural assumptions shine through Derf as I learn to speak it?”

  “Of course not,” Strangelove said. He tilted his head back and opened his eyes wider. Either it was natural, or he’d observed human mannerisms very closely. “Derf speech is wholly rational. Our usage is totally divorced from the influence of thousands of years of domination by the clan system of government and trial by combat. If you don’t believe me just ask any clan Mother.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind to bring up some time if the conversation seems to be lagging and needs invigorating,” Vic promised, “and I’ll try to remember to credit you as its source,” he threatened.

  “Here comes the car,” Eileen said, “just as things degenerate to ugly threats. We’re really too tight on time to go inspect his suite,” Eileen complained.

  Strangelove smiled broadly, which was a compliment in itself. A lot of Derf avoided a toothsome display to avoid discomforting Humans who themselves smiled freely.

  “I’m sure we’ll have lots of opportunities to have stimulating conversations if I get to drive you for very long,” Strangelove said. “I’m positively looking forward to it. May I suggest we pick up your VIP and accompany him to inspect the rooms?”

  “I don’t think we have any choice now,” Eileen decided.

  Strangelove held the door open for Eileen, but Vic shook his head no. “I’m going to ride in the front with you. I wish to observe your driving technique.”

  “I’ve never crashed,” Strangelove said. “I think you’ll be satisfied I’m competent."

  “Good, because I don’t want to critique you, I hope to learn how to drive myself.”

  “You never drove while living on Human worlds?” Strangelove asked surprised.

  “Oh no, let me tell you all about Los Angeles traffic some time,” Vic said.

  It was interesting, Vic thought, Strangelove held the door for Eileen, but he walked around the car and let Vic get his own door.

  “I’m curious,” Vic said, as they rolled away, “is your customary name picked from some historical figure or famous Human, like most Derf do?”

  “I’m a nuclear weapons tech for Red Tree,” Strangelove said. “Obviously that doesn’t keep me busy every day. I mostly train field users, so I have a lot of free time to be assigned to other tasks like your embassy security or driving you. I like the variety of duties, it keeps you from getting bored with the same old thing. The name is a bit of a stretch, but it’s from a really old flat movie that deals with Human attitudes about nuclear weapons. I found it rather amusing.”

  There was muttering from the rear seat.

  “What did you say, Dear?” Vic asked.

  “Nothing, absolutely nothing,” Eileen claimed, but Derf have terrific hearing.

  * * *

  “Oh my goodness, look at this passenger list for the shuttle that just landed from Derfhome station,” Sam told Bill and sent it to his screen.

  “Jeff Singh? It might be another Jeffery Singh. There are millions of Singhs. There have to be more than a few Jeffs,” Bill guessed.

  “Who arrive on a ship claiming Central as home-port?” Sam asked.

  “No kidding? He must be the one on the short watch list,” Bill said. “Have you searched the other names on the shuttle to identify his security? I’m surprised he took a public shuttle. He could afford a private drop. Crap… he could buy a shuttle if he needed one. He’s a very big deal on Home and Central.”

  “I’m pretty sure he’s traveling alone, Sam insisted. “All the other names have prior Derfhome addresses and non-security business activity. Isn’t he the one who bombarded California awhile back? Is that why he’s on the watch list?”

  “That’s a touchy subject, depending on who you are talking to,” Bill said, and unconsciously lowered his voice like somebody might be listening. That caught Sam’s ear and he looked up expectantly.

  “The public news programs blamed him,” Bill said, “but I had access to the real after action reports back then. He was actually much too busy getting shot at and evading it well out to the west over the Pacific to be bombarding anyone. His girlfriend April Lewis called up Earth traffic control and told them to inform Vandenberg if they didn’t knock off shooting at him she’d stop them.”

  “A civilian threatened them? I bet that went over just great,” Sam said.

  “Yeah, she was about eighteen, and looked more like thirteen or fourteen because she was on life-extension therapy already. The officer in charge told Traffic Control not to put through every crank call from a child with a pocket phone.”

  “Was she one of them who went off their nut from the treatments?” Sam asked.

  Bill looked irritate
d. “You should know better than to believe crap made up for public consumption.”

  “I didn’t get read into everything you have,” Sam said. “I don’t know what is true or not if I haven’t worked an incident. That was before my time too.”

  “That mental instability only happened to a small group in Germany in the very early period they were developing life-extension. It wasn’t even directly related to making them live longer, it was one of those side tweaks they bundle with it. They wanted to create prodigies. It worked too. Going nuts was an unfortunate side effect.

  “The idiots at Vandenberg shot at him again, and for a crazy lady, she orchestrated a very effective suppression of their defenses. The after action report was interesting. She tore up all the defenses with a couple of hundred kinetic weapons coming in from both east and west and once she had the surviving defenses identified starting hitting those with kiloton range weapons.

  “Vandenberg was the main missile defense facility on the west coast then, so it was a tough nut to crack. It took a second round of small weapons to neutralize its defenses. After that, she blinded their radars with a huge cloud of ionized metal vapor and put a big weapon through to finish them off. It left most of the county about a half meter lower than before and was felt from Seattle to the end of the Baja.”

  “Weapons that big aren’t efficient,” Sam objected.

  “Well, you can give them pointers,” Bill said. “I assumed she was making a statement, because the base was pretty much gone by that time. Nothing says we care enough to send the very best like a two or three hundred megaton slap. That’s what totally screwed up the infrastructure all over Southern California and destabilized the western USNA enough for Texas to expand.

  “Read the folder on the Foys if you haven’t. You might keep in mind the Foys are from the autonomous areas in Northern California. They’re a product of that whole sequence of events. Eileen walked from near LA to join her family up north. Any young girl who could walk through most of that devastated lawless land is pretty tough.”

  “Are you authorized to tell me all this?” Sam asked, uncomfortable.