Been There, Done That

by Mackey Chandler

  “Maybe they will build a second or third generation ship there when they aren’t in such a hurry,” April speculated. “Just because you aren’t all that hot to bask in the glory of being first doesn’t mean others don’t crave it.”

  “This means they might have them all assembled and ready to do trials in three or four weeks,” Jeff said.

  “Well it doesn’t really matter to us does it?” April said. “We figured they’d try again whether it was a matter of months or years. We’ll just keep doing our own thing. I still think when they get out there and find out we were there already you will get your credit, even if it is belated.”

  Jeff looked up sharply. “You said that before, and I agree but I didn’t really think about it. When that happens I bet it really pisses them off too.”

  “Well of course,” April agreed, “everything does.”

  Chapter 26

  April went to the door to get their order. The Fox and Hare didn’t actively seek carry-out orders, but when one of the owners asked for take-away they tried to accommodate them. It was in her own self interest to not over stress the kitchen, so she always framed her request in terms of if they had time to make it, and no deadline on delivery. The Mitsubishi cafeteria had good basic food, but if you wanted a tray of fancy appetizers to nibble on late in the evening with wine they couldn’t really do much for you even as a special order. Maybe crudités, but you weren’t going to get them cut in whimsical shapes or paired with exotic sauces.

  Neither did she take advantage of the privilege too often since they refused to charge the owners. That would never have worked if they had a huge number of owners, but so far none of the five owners abused their privilege enough to affect operations.

  When the door chimed and April answered it she just stared for a second surprised, because it wasn’t Eric. Eric Pennington made a point of personally serving them as a courier whenever they sent a text for delivery. April and Jeff were on his short list of people with whom he had other business he gave premium service.

  “Your food order ma’am?” the boy asked tentatively when April seemed to find his presence mystifying.

  “I’m sorry,” April said. “I was expecting the order. I’m just so used to Eric delivering to us I expected him when I opened the door. You’re Iaan Wilson aren’t you? Matt Wilson’s boy.”

  “Yes, ma’am. I know I’ve grown pretty fast since we shared a shuttle ride that time. If you have a hard time recognizing me you should see my little sister. She’s doing a good job catching up to me.

  April nodded acceptance of the update and took the foam handle-box from his hand. “Is your dad doing OK? I’ve seen him with the other writer, Ben Patsitsas, and the older guys that hang out by the coffee pots in the morning and talk. I mean, is Molly Wilson doing OK? I don’t really read romance myself to follow him.

  That made Iaan smile. “Molly is doing just fine. He’s been trying to get me to start writing too. He said it beats having to work for an honest living, and even suggested I could use Martha Wilson for my pen name. I find it more likely my sister Jenifer will be the writer. I’m not sure what I’ll do, but Eric treats me just fine for pocket money right now. Jon Davis sent me a text earlier and said Eric is in the clinic and I should take his courier orders. I’ve done that before when he was tied up. You’re on the short list of special customers he’s instructed me to try to accommodate any way I could. So, if I can do anything else for you?”

  April took that for a clue he’d rather finish up his task and not keep chatting with what was probably an older person to him. He could even have other deliveries to make.

  “Not tonight, thanks. Here’s a little extra for your trouble,” she said and gave him two bits. Eric didn’t take tips because he was the owner. Not so Iaan.

  “Thank you, ma’am,” he said, and headed down the corridor at a trot.

  April was alarmed, not so much that Eric was at the clinic, but that Jon had called Iaan to tell him. Why was Jon involved? Home was pretty safe and Eric didn’t deliver in vacuum or anywhere that accidents would be likely. She took the food in and put it on the table in front of Jeff and described the encounter to him.

  “I’m going to check my tipsters and see if anybody told me what happened,” April told him. She had an informal net of spies, forwarding reports of anything they thought unusual or of interest to her. Nothing had enough key words to make it alert her this evening, but she hadn’t ever thought to link Eric with any of the proper key works like accident or clinic.

  “Wow, I have notices from five people that Jon told them Eric is in the clinic and they have to mind Eric’s business for him. That’s quite the little business empire he’s built up there,” April said, impressed.

  Jeff swallowed and paused attacking the appetizers long enough to comment.

  “Apparently Jon did not think to tell these people Eric’s medical issues were confidential and not to be offered up as commercial intelligence. Also your net of informants and Eric’s partners might not overlap perfectly, so there may even be a few who didn’t send you a report.”

  “Well he might have said something to limit them, because not one of them said why Eric is in the clinic. I’m a little worried,” April admitted.

  “Call Dr. Lee and ask him,” Jeff suggested.

  “I can see why you hire out your spying,” April said. “Open and earnest inquiries usually just tell people there is more information loose in the wild than they ever intended, and make them clam up and shut it down. I don’t know Mo well enough on a personal level to ask him, and I sure don’t want to talk to Eric’s mom about anything.

  “I’ll text Lindsey and ask her what’s going on. I’m pretty sure she’ll at least credit me with genuine concern. I think she knows I like Eric. I’ve even getting to like her pretty well. She treats me really well and I have no idea why I felt stand-offish with her for so long.”

  “Because she treats you too well, and you have never graciously accepted the adoration of your public,” Jeff said. “If Heather and I hadn’t known you from before you were a public figure you might never have accepted us.”

  April didn’t reply, because she was afraid he was right.

  * * *

  “I know, I know, it’s a mess,” Lindsey said, she was visibly upset. Freaked out might be a fair expression. “Jon called me right after my dad, and told me. He said there was no point in trying to go see him or bother Dr. Lee until tomorrow. I don’t want to call my dad because Jon said he was going to bed. I’m upset and want to do something, but there’s nothing to be done right now.”

  “But how did he get hurt?” April asked.

  Lindsey looked surprised at that, and then just started to cry.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you. I was just really concerned for Eric. I’ll go rather than keep upsetting you,” April said.

  Lindsey shook her head no, and held hand up palm to April, giving it a quick negating shake. She took a deep breath and held up a single restraining digit before she disappeared off screen.

  Diana came back instead of Lindsey.

  “Jon didn’t talk to you?” Diana asked.

  “No, Iaan Wilson showed up just a little bit ago and when I was surprised it wasn’t Eric as usual he told me Eric was in the clinic. It worried me. I’m sorry I upset Lindsey so. I just wondered, what happened?” She didn’t reveal she knew Jon was Iaan’s source.

  Diana’s face was all stormy. Then Sylvia appeared, looking over her shoulder.

  “It was their mom,” Diana said, disgusted.

  It was so far outside her experience it was a non sequitur, and April didn’t get what she meant for a moment. It showed in her confused expression.

  “She beat him up,” Sylvia said from behind.

  “Well, supposedly she hit him once,” Diana allowed. “But when you put somebody in Medical with a concussion you don’t get any points just because you didn’t keep beating on them.”

  April didn’t have to f
eign surprise. Her mouth was hanging open in shock.

  “That’s going to complicate… ” April started to say, but it was too much to say all the ways it would complicate things for the whole family. That was on top of the other problems they already knew about. “What a mess,” she said instead.

  “Indeed, the… woman,” Sylvia said, and glanced away, probably cutting off the word she’d intended for Lindsey’s sake, “has been difficult. This is just plain criminal.”

  “I’m sorry I asked,” April said. “Now that I know I’m going to butt out and let Jon and Mo deal with it. But if Eric needs anything let me know.”

  “Thank you,” came from off camera in Lindsey’s voice before April disconnected, so she’d been listening.

  * * *

  “The French cobbled together a specialized vehicle for bringing the sections of their ship down from lunar orbit,” Jeff said. “It has all the grace of a wrought iron plant stand or a patio table with the glass removed, and a small fuel tank and engine on each leg. It isn’t lovely but it’s cheap and does the job so far. They have two sections down and fastened together. They aren’t even bothering putting up any privacy panels around the sun screen, but I still can’t tell much because they are using foil wraps on a lot of their gear.”

  “Do they have enough fuel this soon to go again?” April wondered.

  “If they didn’t, why push to do this using more expensive techniques?” Jeff asked. “They haven’t stopped asking Heather to supply He3 for pretty hefty fees. If they didn’t need it you’d think they’d ask to terminate that arrangement. Maybe they are getting enough from the prototype of this mysterious process they claim to make up the balance of what Central and Marseille produces.”

  “I wish there was some way we could watch and see if they make it,” April said, “but it’s the same thing again of not having sensors up to the distances involved. We could both leave at the same time and arrive so far apart neither could find the other.”

  “And rescue them if they get in trouble?” Jeff asked.

  “Of course, if they needed it.”

  Jeff kindly didn’t remind her she had a rescue complex.

  “Have you given any more thought to where James Weir’s ship went if they didn’t end up at Alpha Centauri?” April asked.

  “Yes, but understand, I’m not this great theoretical thinker who comes up with new radical ideas. I see bits and pieces other people made and sometimes connect them into something useful. Right now, my best guess is they just ceased to exist. The ship and everything in it was one big virtual particle, and it just went back into the vacuum energy of our universe.”

  “I don’t like that explanation,” April said.

  “Why?” Jeff asked. Sometimes April expressed very insightful ideas on complex things in non-technical terms. He expected some comment on how she saw their universe.

  “Because it might happen to us!”

  * * *

  “What have you done?” Mo asked his wife Linda when she answered the com the next morning. She looked totally confused and surprised, not at all guilty as he’d expected.

  It wasn’t like Mo to be so confrontational and it scared her a little, and put her in defensive mode. “I have no idea what you mean.” It seemed sincere.

  “Hasn’t Jon Davis called you or left a text?” Mo asked.

  “No, nobody has called me this morning but you,” Linda said.

  “I suppose he’s waiting to talk to Dr. Lee before he talks to you,” Mo guessed.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Linda assured him.

  “Eric had to be taken to the clinic yesterday. His pupils were different sizes and it alarmed one of Jon’s officers. She was right, there was an injury. He had a concussion and showed pinpoint bleeding on scan. They treated him and held him overnight. I have to call and see how he is doing, but I decided I wanted to call you first and hear an explanation, if you have one, for hitting him that hard.”

  “That’s ridiculous. We argued, and he got smart with me. I slapped him once. He must have run and complained right away. He probably thinks he can use this to leave and live independently just like Lindsey has. Of course you and Jon would think that’s just fine, and this makes a good excuse. Did you OK them treating him? Because nobody called me, I’d have stopped that foolishness dead cold and taken him back home.”

  “You’d have refused treatment?” Mo asked. The look on his face went right over Linda’s head, because she was in righteous outrage mode.

  “It was a slap,” she said. “I didn’t hit him over the head with a pipe. Jon obviously told the doctor what he needed to be found. We argued because he didn’t want to come with me to the Moon. He had some ridiculous story he was making far more money than any child could make and didn’t want to come because he’d lose all his business arrangements. I called him on it, and asked him what he was doing to make all this money, and he refused to tell me.”

  “You slapped him because he refused to reveal what his businesses are to you?” Mo asked.

  “Well, no,” Linda said, “he said he wouldn’t tell me because I’d try to steal them just like Lindsey’s stuff. That was the insulting part.”

  “Did you intend to?” Mo asked.

  For the first time Linda realized how badly this was going. Her mouth dropped open in shock, but then she recovered. “I can’t steal from them,” she insisted, angry again. “As long as they are children they can’t own anything but what we let them. What’s theirs is ours until they are adults,” she insisted.

  “I’ll take that for a yes,” Mo said.

  “It wouldn’t be a problem if he would have just done what I told him. Will you tell him he has to come to the Moon with me?” Linda asked. “Perhaps he’ll listen to you. I have not been seeing much of him during the day, but I can’t just leave him behind with no supervision. Somebody will notice and say we’re unfit parents. Maybe I wouldn’t have all this trouble with them if you were here exerting a firm hand.”

  “Yes, that possible,” Mo agreed. “Although we may not agree on whom the firm hand would be applied. As far as coming to the Moon, that ship has sailed. The offer is withdrawn given the present circumstances. If you can’t accept how things are different on Home I doubt Central would be more acceptable. We have effectively been separated since I came to the Moon. I no longer want you to join me or have further opportunity to abuse the children. I’ll publish on Home that we are no longer married, and inquire how to grant the children emancipation as soon as possible, if they don’t want to come join me. I’m so sorry it couldn’t work out. I’ve tried and tried, and I’m too tired to keep trying.”

  Linda opened her mouth to make a rebuttal, but she was looking at a blank screen. It didn’t care what she said at all.

  * * *

  “I see, I understand, and you have my condolences,” Jon said.

  Mo was nonplussed for a moment. He’d never heard that expression used for anything but a death, but something precious had died. It seemed appropriate.

  “I don’t have a lot of powers granted by the assembly for family interventions and juvenile care,” Jon explained. So far everything I’ve done with other children has been ad hoc and I counted on the Assembly for forgiveness if I offend public sensibilities. If you’d express what you want done, even though you don’t seem to be the custodial parent, it would go a long way toward establishing my authority to act, or gaining forgiveness later. After Eric’s injury I can make a good case Linda is not a fit parent, so your wishes now have a stronger case made for them. So tell me, what is your will in the matter?”

  “I don’t want either of the children to be forced to join me on the Moon. If they want to I’d welcome them here, either to live with me or to visit. It is still a very limited society here for children, much more so even than Home. I work long hours and my attention for them would frankly be less than they would get from other mentors on Home, if volunteers exist.

  “Lindsey is ha
ppy living with Sylvia Anderson and she’s learning more about the arts and marketing from her. She’s making enough to be self supporting and one may hope that when the housing market gets a little better she may be able to afford her own place, if those two get tired of each other.

  “I have my doubts Eric is ready to be totally independent. Linda intimated Eric is doing very well financially, but I spend very little of my wages here, and would be happy to help support him there if that is needed. That’s supposing anyone wants to invest the time and energy to mentor him.

  “What do you suggest?” Mo asked. “After I publish our divorce I can’t expect Jeff Singh to keep supplying a very expensive apartment to my ex-wife, and I’ve known for some months that Eric is getting too old, and more importantly too big, to need to sleep in the full G barracks at night.”

  “Give me a couple days to talk to people,” Jon asked. “I don’t want our department to become automatically responsible for being in loco parentis for any minors on Home. At most, I’m willing for Security to monitor voluntary guardians because I have an officer with experience and an interest in doing that well. She has taken a child in need into her home before, but I hate to let that become a given, and due to some other circumstances it isn’t possible this time.

  “I don’t want to build up a long list of rules, because when there are enough rules someone will do something stupid rather than break the rules. I want people who can think and be flexible to do what is needed. It isn’t like we are dealing with delinquents here who need close restraining supervision. I don’t know what we’ll do if we are ever faced with that problem.

  “We also still have a pretty benign environment on Home. I know people well enough to be able to pick someone who will have genuine concern for the welfare of anyone we entrust them with. It’s still safe for a child to walk the corridors. It isn’t the problem placing kids on Earth would be.

  “If I can find somebody to provide a place to sleep and some guidance, preferably several people, then I have no objection to your allowing your minor son to reside on Home until he can be voted his adult status. I’d defend your choice against any accusations of neglect, particularly from your ex. As far as I’m concerned she has no standing to make that complaint anymore, and I’ll say so and why before the Assembly. I already regard Lindsey as being an adult and the wait now, until that can be legally acknowledged is just a formality.”