All in Good Time

by Mackey Chandler

  “Oh, speaking of crazy people,” Jeff remembered, “Chen informs us from public documents that the Martians announced a list of thirty people they are sending back to Earth on the next supply run of the Sandman. Most of them are researchers doing serious science and not all of their big money charity backers are happy with that. Chen says not only does he not have anyone on the inside on Mars but with personnel being reduced not replaced he has no way to recruit anyone headed there.”

  “I’m surprised they aren’t trying to recruit high end technology people to study the wreck,” April said.

  “How could they?” Jeff suddenly realized. “They are in an untenable position. The sorts of people they need aren’t going to sign on without knowing in detail for what they are being recruited and their secrecy won’t allow that. Letting what serious researchers they already have go isn’t making them more attractive either. They’ve painted themselves in a corner.”

  “We know what their real business is so it’s no surprise that they don’t want to expend their resources on geologists and such. To be honest, Mars is kind of on the back burner for me while I worry about Irwin,” April said.

  * * *

  “Cal, I imagine you have flights with heavy loads and light loads?” Vic asked.

  “Uh-huh,” Cal answered warily.

  “If you don’t mind acting as our agent, there’s something else I’d like you to bring in.”

  “I have an agreement with O’Neil to not supply any competition to his store,” Cal said.

  “I don’t think this would apply. I don’t see him wanting to deal in bulky items,” Vic said. I would really like to get bicycles for Eileen and myself, but they are too bulky. I’d like you to bring in the frame, and then maybe the wheels, and then the seat and a basket, and what do you call those things like saddlebags?”

  “Panniers,” Cal said, “I rode bikes when I was younger and had good knees, but if I were you I’d get the flat seat in the back that somebody can ride on or you can hang panniers over it either way. You can clamp a big box or basket on it too. You don’t want a road bike either. A mountain bike or fat tire bike would suit you better I’d wager.”

  “Yes, something that we can ride to Festival markets or maybe even to O’Neils in one day from my ranch. You seem to know about them. Would you feel up to taking a couple apart in conveniently sized pieces to transport to us?” Vic asked.

  Cal considered it before replying. “We can order stuff up from Reno, but I fly the other way too occasionally, over to Utah. I could probably even find used for you, but I suggest buying new in a box that are already disassembled. You aren’t riding around the subdivision for exercise, you need these to be dependable. I’d open them up and make sure all the pieces are there, get several sets of extra tubes, a patch kit, at least one extra tire, and an extra set of wheel bearings. Sound good?”

  “Sounds wonderful,” Vic said. “Tell me how much money you need to make it happen. When you have all the parts for two bikes to Mr. O’Neil we’ll come to get them.”

  Cal named a price, and Vic didn’t argue at all, just paid him cash.

  “Right now I can carry more than in the summer. Cool air gives you more lift and power. I’ll try to get them to you before the worst weather in winter cut my flights way down. I only trust the weather reports so far, and I think they have lost so many reporting stations and people the reliability is way down, so I don’t try to see how close I can shave to a storm, I go when I’m sure I have a clear day both sides of my trip. Mostly, I stay over instead of returning the same day like with you folks. I’ll put the bikes together in my evenings at O’Neil’s for you, since I know how. If I can’t get all the pieces moved and assembled this year it will have to wait for the spring to finish up.”

  “I doubt we’d come to get them in the winter anyway,” Vic said. “Take your time.”

  “Remember how our borrowed dirt bike is painted?” Eileen asked. “I’d like some brown and gray spray paint, and maybe a can of green, if you can get the dull camo stuff that’s better too.”

  “Yes Ma’am, I can apply it too.” Cal said. “That’s lighter than bringing the cans.”

  They had spaghetti for supper and Eileen gushed over it so much Cal looked embarrassed. It was just jar sauce but a rarity now in the zone. That he had cheese and pepper flakes for on it even more of a treat. The fact he had an inside bathroom with running hot water almost moved Eileen to tears.

  Cal didn’t seem in a hurry in the morning. Cal never seemed in that big a hurry over anything. Eileen thought Vic was laid back but Cal made her antsy. They had hotcakes with the first real butter she’d had in over a year.

  The day was clear and the weather was discussed at some length. Cal did a much longer pre-flight and checked things inside the engine cowls, which made Eileen feel better even if she had no idea what he was looking at. They loaded up as much for Mr. O’Neil as would fit with them flying too and locked the truck away.

  The return trip was uneventful. He buzzed the same set of buildings at a crossroads and Vic’s curiosity got to him. “Got friends there?” he asked Cal.

  “Got business,” Cal admitted. “If they put a big red flag out I’d stop on the way back for a passenger pickup. The north-south road is safe to land, they keep it swept and there are no cross wires. If they have too much snow on the ground but they still want to send something out badly enough I’ll orbit and drop a bucket down on a line. I can drop small stuff off that way too, but mostly I just pack it really well and drop it on the intersection.” He made a long Dopplered whistling noise like a bomb dropping and seemed pleased with himself.

  Vic, however, got quiet. Eileen could see he was thinking.

  “In a plane like this, our home is very close to O’Neil’s,” Vic said. “I doubt it would take you ten minutes to divert to it coming or going.

  “But do you have anywhere to land? I’m very particular about that,” Cal said.

  “No, and no hope of preparing a strip,” Vic admitted, “but you could shove stuff out the door if you had a good map and an agreed-upon signal like you have with those people back there. We have a satellite phone coming and might need other things. If you think you could pack them well enough to survive.”

  “Shucks, I could drop shell eggs to you as far as packing them. Get me a decent map made when we are at O’Neil’s and it’s easy. What will you use as a marker?”

  “I have a huge blue tarp. I’ll stake it out on the front lawn and put an ugly pink blanket I hate in the middle of it. That should be distinctive enough,” Vic said.

  Cal snorted through his nose. “That would be obvious from a thousand meters. If you’ll put a windsock or flag out it’ll help me both on the drop and the best approach.”

  * * *

  April picked an obviously lunar background to record her message. She wanted it visibly certain she wasn’t at Home. Home was an easier target than Central which was much safer from attack. Indeed, Central had been nuked already by China, and survived just fine. Only one attacking Chinese ship survived and it surrendered. Striking at them again looked to be a wasted effort that invited significant retribution.

  “I’m April Lewis, a citizen of Home. I’m issuing this as a press release because I have never had any success in the past communicating with the North America government through private channels.

  “They have arrested my friend and fellow Home citizen, Irwin Hall. He was on a flight from Havana to Europe, which diverted to Miami due to mechanical problems with his hypersonic. Basically, he was arrested for the coins he had in his pocket. It would have been a simple matter to return a distressed traveler to Havana. It would have also been in keeping the terms of our treaty for safe passage through their territory.

  “As a citizen of Home, I have never been constrained from acting for myself or my friends even against sovereign powers. I am not declaring a new war, because North America has already declared a return to war by failing to uphold the treaty that ended
it.

  “You will return my friend who you took in a false arrest or I shall economically damage you until such time as you release him. Your word means nothing to me. You must keep your prior agreement by demonstration. Publicly release Irwin Hall or I shall start inflicting a world of economic hurt on North America.

  “I choose not to hold the common citizens of North America responsible for what their government has forsworn. Others may not be so kind, but I will make every effort to avoid harming people.

  “I’ll announce my first economic target tomorrow at eleven hundred hours Zulu time, an hour before it is struck, to give everyone ample opportunity to be out of the target zone.

  “However, if Irwin comes to harm at your hands I’ll take blood for blood and you won’t like what I consider a reasonable trade. Be warned.”

  * * *

  April got a text the next morning before breakfast. It wasn’t coded as a priority to wake her up. “Have you read the responses to your declaration?” Heather asked.

  “My com code is public if anyone wanted to respond. I gave them almost a full day to respond and – I have zip. I haven’t had a single message until you called,” April said.

  “There isn’t anything on the commercial news services. The private media is full of all sorts of weird comments. One popular commentator denounced you as the insane psychopathic Moon Queen. I think he has you confused with me.”

  "Have you looked at any of the Home boards or just Earth-side?" April asked.

  "There were a few remarks on 'What's Happening'. Some dark humor about selling off North American stock before you reduce them to rubble. The only one who brought up calling an Assembly did so to specifically recommend waiting to see what you did before obligating us to officially address the North American treachery. That phraseology tells you his thinking. He felt like you, that there wouldn't be any way to do that short of the catastrophic. There wasn’t a lot of discussion of how the Earthie public seems to regard it on social sites. Since there doesn't seem to be an official response yet it's dangerous for them to go on record saying anything. That filter means those commenting are the intemperate ones. They might go on record and then have the officials surprise them by going the other way."

  “Why torture yourself with all that brain rot?” April asked. “If there is no official announcement, they intend to let the deadline pass.”

  “Of course they do! Did you really entertain any hope they’d back down without being made to do so?” Heather asked.

  “No,” April admitted.

  “What do you intend to target?” Heather asked. “Jeff said something to me about discussing it with you but I don’t remember if you made a final choice.”

  “I’m going to drop the Greenville Bridge across the Mississippi,” April said. “It’s the first one north of Texas territory now. It will diminish their ability to shift troops and equipment to either side of the river in response to the Texans. Texan proximity gives that choice a lot of leverage beyond the utility value of the bridge. If they don’t let Irwin go, I intend to continue north and take out the bridges to at least Memphis. Past that, I don’t know. Since they hate gold so much I considered bombarding Fort Knox.”

  “Greenville, did we knock that one down during the war?” Heather tried to remember.

  “No, it was one of the few we spared. It wasn’t near a big city to be highly visible. We did others that were more disruptive. They did replace a Memphis bridge and have another still under construction. The disruption of river traffic will be a greater inconvenience than the loss of the Greenville Bridge.”

  “I know your mind is on this, but I want to mention something I discussed with Jeff. The Hringhorni will be coming back soon. I’ve accepted Laja Obarzanek to apprentice with us to pilot. The problem is she and her mother are certain we have a star drive. It’s going to be awkward training her if our people have to guard everything they say and can’t let her near a jump capable ship.”

  “Them and everybody in traffic control and connected with Dave’s shop. It’s only a secret from anybody who can’t do math or is behind the firewalls of most Earth nations. I can’t believe their military doesn’t know and the Martians certainly do by now.”

  “Indeed, Frymeta said it was the worst kept secret on the Moon, and indignantly told me she wouldn’t play stupid security games pretending otherwise,” Heather said.

  “Can you blame her?” April asked. “It stinks of Earth Think if you play pretend after it isn’t a secret to anyone but the most oblivious.”

  “I’m glad you agree. It’s like we discussed before. Once you start dividing your people into those trusted and those not it proliferates. You lose honest input and end up with endless layers of different values of secrets. You have to create a bureaucracy to manage it that soon dwarfs the original groups and their functions. My thought, and Jeff agreed, is for all our people to be in or out at one level. The actual functioning details of things like the drive can still be a secret, but below the three of us, the fact they exist is something we won’t try to keep them from discussing.”

  “I’d go one better,” April insisted. “Since we messed up and let the French see our marker at Centauri it’s past looking silly to pretend it’s a secret and tell traffic control we are departing to uncontrolled space. Have them say they are departing to extrasolar space if they aren’t going to Mars or somewhere insystem. If you don’t want to name the star fine, but stop being coy and mysterious. It just looks stupid. If it upsets the Earthies, tough.”

  “Thank you. I’ll ask Jeff if he’s good with that extension too.”

  “Incoming message from Chen,” April said. “Are you getting it too?

  “No, not yet. Take it. I’ll get back to you later, dear,” Heather said, and disconnected.

  * * *

  "Miss Lewis," Chen said. It didn't bode well when Chen started formally. "I have deployed some assets to track responses to your news release. I knew you were contemplating such an action from Jeffery, but I could have set those things in motion earlier if you had shared your timeline with me.”

  “This isn’t a company action that I feel free to use resources Jeff and Heather own too. In fact, it isn’t tied to any of my own business ventures. It’s strictly something I personally felt I had to do for myself,” April said. “I made it clear with the video that I’m not on Home too. I didn’t want to bring down trouble on them since they are more vulnerable.”

  Chen blinked, which was like wild hand waving in normal excitable people. He wondered if she asked Heather’s permission to insinuate she was on the Moon?

  “That’s fine,” Chen allowed. “Still, you must realize very few people are capable of seeing or caring about the nuanced reasons behind your actions. What you do isn’t divided neatly into separate sections of your life to people who don’t know you. You have one public persona for better or for worse.

  “I’m sure there is a black and white distinction in your mind, but I’ll admit I have to squint,” which he did to illustrate the point, “and look very hard to see that line myself. Most people see everything in fuzzy gray instead of black and white. Your actions will precipitate all sorts of responses, which affect both the common business with your partners, and political consequences that touch everybody on Home and Central. Why did you not recruit both your partners and supporting assets such as myself and my network to your cause? Do you not think we support you on a personal level beyond the cold calculations of business interests and profit or loss?”

  “Thank you. That’s sweet of you to say. I consider you a friend too,” April avowed. “It’s just, if I asked everybody to go along with me it could have been very damaging to the sort of friendship you are intimating exists, not just in you, but in others too.”

  “Why?” Chen asked, still perplexed.

  “Because I’m going to do it even if everybody I know advises me against it,” April said.

  Chen opened his mouth and with a visible effort closed
it on something unsaid. He did the blinking thing again, furiously. April let him take the time to process his thoughts.

  “OK, since we are dealing in absolutes, I’ll phrase things that way for you,” Chen said. “You are in error. Our support and friendship do not hinge on an unbroken string of approval. One difference of opinion will not destroy our relationship, that it must be avoided at all costs. In fact, you have sufficient goodwill credit built up that most of us would allow a screw-up of monumental proportions to pass as an unfortunate aberration and move on.

  “To look at the other side of the coin – I hope your approval of us does not hinge on your friends continuing in some sort of angelic perfection going forward. I, for one, can’t survive that sort of scrutiny. I make mistakes, frequently.”

  “Thank you, again,” April said. “I expect that from Heather and Jeff, but we made formal vows when we declared our revolution, and Jon and I vowed a formal alliance.”

  “If all that is lacking in your mind is the formal declaration of what I thought was an obvious reality, then allow me to declare I am your friend, not just a hireling, and intend to treat you as such going forward. I thought – hoped – this was evident before.”

  “I accept,” April said. “I need to have things stated plainly. Heather doesn’t leave people to guess if someone is her subject or her peer. She does a formal swearing. People don’t get married or form business partnerships without a clear declaration unless they are fools or crooked. It lets them sit on the fence and jump whichever way is convenient. I wish people did clear declarations like that more, rather than less.

  “Whatever are you suddenly watching you weren’t before? I’m getting no feedback from the North Americans at all. With Home people, I take silence for assent, but it seems when Earthies are silent it means the opposite.”

  It jarred Chen how briefly April accepted and moved on, but it was in character.

  “Official silence is rejection,” Chen agreed. “In their world to even reply directly is to give you credibility. To acknowledge you is to say you are worthy of a reply. It’s almost a form of power-sharing, saying that you are a player. I’m looking at what people do rather than what they say or don’t say.”