“I, we… you,” Bellinger said and locked up. Jeff just waited for him to sort it out.
“May one ask just a couple more questions?” Bellinger finally requested.
“Please, I appreciate your bravery in following the Pedro Escobar not knowing if you would fail to reappear like them,” Jeff said.
“Would you tell me the timeline? When did you first go to Centauri, before or after James Weir and the Escobar?”
“We went some weeks before him. It was an accident actually. We were testing equipment and calibrating. April insisted I aim at Centauri just like we intended to go instead of pointing at random. Otherwise, I’m not sure we wouldn’t have been lost just like Weir. Then, when James didn’t return I went back to Centauri with Barak and listened and searched with what radar we have and couldn’t find any trace of him.”
“That was good of you,” Bellinger allowed.
“I met James Weir on Home,” Jeff said. “We hit it off rather well and I’m sorry he is missing and I assume dead. He was brilliant and it’s a great loss. If he hadn’t pointed out some of the mathematical oddities of the underlying theory I don’t know if I’d have progressed to our own drive.”
Bellinger nodded. “One last question, please. Did France know you had attained star flight before us?”
“I can’t see how,” Jeff said. “We were working on it but had an unexpected breakthrough. Only a handful of very reliable people knew for a short period of time, and France was still negotiating with us after the fact for things that wouldn’t have made any sense to be seeking if they’d known.”
Bellinger looked at his phone and let out a deep sigh. He keyed in something.
“You test, as you invited, as believing that. I retired in anger and had ‘insurance’ placed to embarrass France if I was harmed,” Bellinger revealed. “I didn’t believe they sent me away innocent of the knowledge you had been to the star. I was wrong and would have harmed them for nothing and unjustly. I just put in motion to clear the documents set to do that. If they want to kill me now they can. I don’t care.” He sat down hard.
“That seems an extreme reaction,” April said. “There is life after an error.”
“My whole life purpose was to be the first to another star. That is snatched away. What is left for me but to amuse myself with trivial pursuits in retirement?”
“What if it hadn’t happened in secret?” April asked. “There was always the possibility somebody else might beat you there. Would you have been so bitter then?”
“No, you’re right. It was the fact that I felt betrayed that made me angry, and now I’ve cut myself off from the agency and the program. I can’t see going back. I wouldn’t want me back,” Bellinger declared.
Notably, Joel didn’t contradict him.
A look of consternation swept across his face. “I owe you an apology too,” Bellinger said to Joel.
Joel made a ‘whatever’ flip of his hand that was more indifference than acceptance.
April wondered why he said ‘too’. He hadn’t really apologized to Jeff. But then he hadn’t really accused Jeff of deceiving him like France. April suspected it wasn’t really clear in Ballinger’s mind with whom he was angry.
“Perhaps you should emigrate,” Jeff suggested. “There are always openings for pilots and your qualifications with an extra-solar flight are rather impressive. I wouldn’t hire you at the moment, though we are taking apprentices, but I very well might after seeing if you can integrate with the Home culture.”
“Is that so hard?” Bellinger asked, surprised.
“A lot of them don’t last a month. If they stick it out to six months they stand a fair chance of making the transition,” Jeff said.
Bellinger didn’t say anything for a little while just sitting blinking until he became aware everyone was looking at him. “All this has been a shock to me. I have to think about what I want to do, to consider if I can make such a radical change, and if I have the resources to buy a lift to Home and have sufficient resources left to survive until I have income,” He considered, “and if it is permitted.”
“Irwin already informed me he is staying on Earth to finish out his business,” April said “If you are bold enough, show up at the field tomorrow. We’ll have two vacant seats in the back, and you can have a free lift to Home. You can save your funds for other things.”
Bellinger looked astonished again and just nodded until he realized how inadequate that gesture was and gave verbal thanks. He hadn’t accepted quite yet though.
“If everyone is ready I’m told dinner may be served,” Joel said, rising.
* * *
Alice sat down opposite Eileen with a clipboard holding a short stack of paper. She had a pencil in hand and sat a couple more to the side on the table. Rather than start in writing, which she’d been doing a lot lately, she looked at Eileen intently. Seeing something different was intended Eileen turned her head slightly and raised an inquiring eyebrow.
“Where were you on The Day when the lights went out?” Alice demanded. “What did your people say and how long did it take before you all realized how bad it was?”
To her own immense surprise as well as Alice’s discomfort Eileen put her face down in both hands and started to sob softly. Nobody, not even Vic, had asked for her story before.
Chapter 23
April was surprised that Joel set a table not much fancier than Heather’s mom Sylvia on Home. The china and napkins were similar. The utensils also were actual silver, not stainless. That was something April kept intending to buy for herself and hadn’t remembered to do. The one time she’d started to look, she found most of the patterns needlessly ornate and not to her taste. The biggest difference was Sylvia used placemats that allowed the surface of the wood table to show. In orbit, wood was a luxury one didn’t hide. Joel’s table was probably wood, April thought, but covered with a single big cloth with a pattern in the weave.
The settings at each place were easy to figure out. They didn’t put out exotic pieces like a fish fork if nothing was planned to be served that needed it. The napkin was folded in a pretty shape like origami instead of rolled in a ring. April liked that and decided to remember it as something she’d take back to use at the Fox and Hare.
Jeff was seated to Joel’s right hand, April next, and then the banker. Joel’s wife was at his other hand, then Irwin and last the astronaut who seemed very subdued. Pierre ended up at the opposite end of the table from Joel. If there was any logic or rank to it April couldn’t figure it out. She’d have put people next to each other that likely to want to chat, and then she reconsidered. That might kill the larger conversation. Indeed, April wasn’t sure what they were going to talk about. It seemed like a potential minefield of topics.
Mylène asked Pierre what he’d found different visiting Home.
“The children,” Pierre answered without hesitation. “April sent a young man to be my guide the first day before we met at her club that evening. He presented his card to me in the Japanese style, two-handed. It indicated he had multiple business interests, not one of which would be permitted in any developed nation on Earth. He made my relative’s children seem silly. Their children just aren’t very childish.”
“How old was this young fellow?” the banker Henri asked. “If my nephews in public schools have an absence from school that was not arranged ahead of time the school sends a compliance officer to verify they are sick and possibly demand they be taken to school. The parents are then charged for transporting them and fined on top of it.”
“He looked to be about fourteen years old,” Pierre said. “He indicated he would miss a class on History and a class on Materials Science. He felt the educational value of dealing with someone from a different culture was more valuable than the missed classes he could easily make up.”
“A different culture?” Henri asked.
“I had the same reaction,” Pierre confessed, “but I think I’ve come to agree with him.”
&nb
sp; “Who would authorize him being out of school?” Henri asked. “His parents?”
“He never really said,” Pierre replied, but looked up at April and Jeff for an answer.
Jeff looked amused and nodded at April to respond. That was far safer.
“Eric is a very polite young man,” April said. “He and his sister have been students of my mother’s school for some time now. There are two other schools of which I am aware of now, but I’m not sure if he uses either of them. There are a lot of tutors on Home. I’m sure my mom would arrange a tutor for something like Materials Science if he didn’t find it on his own. Or he may use a web class from some Earth University. I’d assume he left text messages for my mom or his tutor that he was going to be busy and not contribute to the class that day. The fact he can call off on his attendance at will all boils down to one thing, who is paying?”
“So he goes to a private school? One that is very permissive about alternative activities such as travel and protests?” Henri asked.
“We don’t have any public schools,” April said. “If he doesn’t make use of the school for which his father pays good money he’d have to answer to his father. If he was such a poor student he wasn’t benefiting from his opportunities my mother would discuss it with his parents, but if in the end if it wasn’t corrected she’d drop him as a waste of her time. A terrible student would cast doubt on her effectiveness if she retained him just for the fee. There is no government agency doling out tax money for his butt to be glued to a seat each day, so nobody has any financial incentive to enforce attendance.”
Henri blinked rapidly, looking at her like she was insane.
“And what would happen to a student who refused to accept instruction?” he asked.
“I suppose the same thing that would happen to a student here who refused to learn,” April said. “Correct me if I am wrong. I know of no way you can compel someone to learn. If they attain adult age and have no skills they will be unemployable. They could live off their family, mooch that is, engage in some employment that requires no skills, which are almost nonexistent or be forced to come down here where there is the negative tax or some form of basic assistance in most of the developed Earth nations. I do know of one family who sent their rebellious son back to North America to a military academy.”
“Nobody likes to say it,” Pierre said, “but those who are truly incorrigible such as you are describing are the young men who end up in prison at an early age.”
“Makes sense,” April said, nodding, “but we don’t have a jail much less a prison. I suspect the Assembly would vote to flush a person who was an actual danger to the community out of an airlock sans suit, if we didn’t have Earth nearby as a safety valve.
“Do remember, we don’t have an arbitrary age of majority on Home. If somebody isn’t voted their adult status it isn’t dumped on them at a fixed date to act as an adult whether they can handle it or not. Nobody would nominate you or vote for you if you weren’t already demonstrating you were ready. You can’t assume citizenship and pay taxes or vote if you aren’t an adult. I doubt anyone would marry you or accept your certification as a pilot or other responsible position. Nor would anyone accept a challenge to a duel from a child.”
“Paying taxes is a privilege?” Bellinger asked.
“Certainly, if you don’t pay you don’t get a vote in the Assembly. You have no say at all in which way your country will go and what will be accepted in the budget,” April said.
“I will say the young gentleman indicated he has a love of History such that he has no trouble meeting the requirements of the class,” Pierre remembered, “and that the technical class was what he called a flow class. One comes in and departs at need rather than for a set period of instruction. So compelling his attendance for either would seem to have little relationship to his success.”
April nodded. “If something is really complex and you need extra time to think on it and come to a thorough understanding, setting a date to finish it is either guaranteeing failure or that you will be kicked out before you have an adequate mastery of the subject. If I’d been rushed to learn Japanese I’d have flunked out for sure. Life kept… interfering.”
“It does that, doesn’t it?” Joel said, smiling.
“But what seems different here for you?” Mylène asked. She was looking at April.
“We don’t get to see the same things here Pierre saw on Home,” April said. “My experience with Earth is limited to visits some years ago to my grandparents in Australia and just a couple of years ago to Hawaii. I didn’t get to meet any children to form an opinion of them. I got to shop with my grandmother for groceries and casual cut to size clothing. When I was in Hawaii my hostess took me to a designer for bespoke things. They were very different experiences.
“I got to drive a big Mercedes SUV, a truck. That was terrifying compared to flying a spaceship. I guess the biggest difference is I can walk around Home and Central without security most of the time but when we land here there are layers of armed men around us.”
Joel frowned like he’d pursue that but April continued.
“It feels strange all of you are bare-faced with no spex. I just expect everybody in public to have them on except very little kids.”
“In contrast, I found it strange Eric had them on when he met me,” Pierre said. “There is rather strong disapproval of young people having such an expensive appliance here. Speaking of schools again, none would allow them. It extends to adults at times. Police or technicians are expected to need them, but many small restaurants will turn you away and not seat you here if you are wearing them. The other patrons never know if you are recording. It’s like having your phone out on the table constantly. It makes people feel they aren’t worthy of your undivided attention.”
“Oh dear, I had no intention to be rude,” April said, but didn’t offer to remove them.
“We are used to dealing with other people,” Pierre said with a dismissive wave.
“Of other cultures,” Henri interjected, with an amused grin.
“Good shot,” Pierre said.
By this time they were on their third course and second wine. The dinner flowed easily without interrupting their conversation. April suddenly realized Mylène was not a decorative accessory to Joel anymore than she was to Jeff. She had directed the conversation from what otherwise threatened to be a very awkward start with a few skillful questions. April decided she should engage her directly.
“How about you, Mrs. Durand? If you could pry Joel away from the never ending business of state, would you like to visit Home or any of the other habitats?” April asked.
“You may use my given name,” Mylène said with a genuine smile. “I’m ready for Joel to retire to the point I’ve informed him I’m voting against him just to force the issue. I’d like to get us both the Life Extension Therapy regardless of the stupid prejudices against it, and if we can’t return to Earth because of that it’s their loss, not ours. They are driving the very best people off Earth right into your arms. At least those who are willing to live in a tiny box.”
“My wife is a lady of strong opinions, as both my allies and opponents are quick to find out in private,” Joel said.
“I can deal with that,” April assured him. “It seems like I am surrounded by strongly opinionated people. I’m used to it. My security often gives me grief.”
“They may have a point,” Joel said gently. “That video you released suggests you take unnecessary risks. If your security hadn’t intervened it appears that fellow intended to assassinate you. Unless you exaggerated the danger for propaganda purposes?”
“Oh no,” April assured him unoffended. “He certainly intended harm, but my security never had an opportunity to deal with him. That fellow that he drew on was a third party volunteer. If he got through him he had to get through my personal guard, a fellow from station security assigned me because I was in particular danger having an ongoing dispute with North America, and then
me. I’m not slow and I go armed on Home. If he’d tried that on my man Gunny he’d have been dead, but the, uh, volunteer Tased him. The intel from that was useful.”
“My people said the fellow in the video was heavily enhanced and thus a Spacer,” Joel said. “But I’m willing to entertain other possibilities.”
“I suspect a lot of Earth countries are going to allow their own Special Forces and spooks to be gene-altered,” April said. “Otherwise they simply aren’t going to be competitive.”
“Texas,” Bellinger said from down the table with utter conviction. When they all looked at him he spread his hands. “Who benefits more?” he asked rhetorically. “Besides, look at Jeff’s face if you don’t believe me. You don’t need software to read that face. He couldn’t tell you a lie if his life depended on it.”
“As may be,” April said, “but I’m going to warn you. What he regards as truth may seem to have no relationship to any reality you can believe.”
“I’d sort of expect that from the mind that can create a star drive,” Bellinger said. “I flew the ship but understanding why it worked was beyond me.”
He stopped and looked at Joel intently and demanded: “Does France have any objection to me accepting an invitation to Home? Will you put any barrier before me?”
“Frankly, you’ve been a difficult man as a national hero. That’s why you were invited tonight, to try to mitigate that somewhat. I’ll be happy to be rid of you before you find another grievance. Go with my blessings. Take your pension and any assets. I’ll see to it. I wish you well and all the happiness you can find, far, far away,” Joel said.
“Thank you. You’re right. I’ve been a bit of an ass and I don’t expect forgiveness, but I’ll leave thinking well of you. I’ve made up my mind sitting here discussing Home with all of you. I’ll be at the port tomorrow to claim that seat,” he told April.
“I don’t know how far away your home is, but you can lift some keepsakes and papers if you wish. Bring what you want to a cubic meter and a couple of hundred kilos. Everything is more expensive on Home, but a lot of clothing you might think to bring isn’t really suitable.”
All in Good Time Page 36
