April

by Mackey Chandler

  "But it's sure no secret. Everybody saw the man jump, saw security bring his shoes and jacket out of the lock. They said he was a fine jumper. Few of them beam dogs were saying they could have him bolting high iron in a week. Their heads are so big, that's high praise coming from those boys." She ran down and dug back in her food.

  "As near as anyone knows he was some kind of spy," April admitted.

  "Doesn't surprise me. The man sat here in the cafeteria a couple times with a wool blazer on, sweating and wiping his face with napkins. They keep it too warm in here for a jacket. Anyone else would have taken it off and hang it on their chair. Either he was too vain to take it off, which makes no sense as he was fine looking, he'd be happy to show off his build, or he had something to hide. I already had him pegged for a cop, so, spy - cop, makes no mind. They're more alike than different."

  "Did you think of calling security because he acted suspiciously?

  "Because he looked like a cop? Honey, how many times do you think security is going to put up with a cook calling them up like that, before they get tired of it?"

  "I can see not wanting to bothering them for vague suspicions," April admitted. "But they'd be stupid to not listen to you because you're a cook. I think you're smarter than some of the professors I study under on the 'net!"

  "Honey," Ruby laughed. "I've been a college professor before. Cook's harder to do really well. You can defend a bad idea, easier than a nasty piece of cooking. I don't think a doctorate would impress security much. There are so many PhDs up here, you aren't keeping up if you only have one."

  "Ruby if you've taught at college level, what are you doing cooking in a cafeteria?" she demanded, indignant.

  "And how many Professors of Medieval European Music do you think they need on a space station? About as many as they have harpsichords. When my husband wanted to work rigging in orbit, I was not going to see him every six months on leave. That's no way to live. The University of Detroit was paying me $60,000 a year, which was just about $120,000 less than the golf coach. Poverty level wages really, but it was just part time. I had an office so small, you had to step out in the hall to scratch yourself," she exaggerated, slightly.

  "Now though, we work six months and cash in our three-month leave tickets in for cash. We save our travel vouchers, since they don't let us cash those in. We end up paid 18 months, for 12 months work. Add hazard pay, time and a half, sometimes double time, living allowance and longevity. Last year he made almost $800,000US. I make four times what I did before, plus leave, plus travel. We make well over a cool million every year," she added up for April.

  "We have the sense to save a good bit of it too and we have six round trips to orbit paid up. Something most folks consider a once in a lifetime trip. So we can go down anytime we want, for a wedding or whatever. If we save up many more vouchers, I wouldn't begrudge spending two, on a long weekend in Paris or New York. How many folks can do that? Good riddance to Earth life and Earth wages."

  Ruby took a big pull of coffee and looked concerned. "Things are uncertain right now. If you have a little money hang on to it," she warned April, "maybe even have a little of it in cash, in case com is down and your cards don't work." That counsel from Ruby surprised April. Ruby was no fool.

  "The degree was kind of handy though," she admitted, quickly jumping back to her story like she regretted getting so serious. "They award the jobs based on a point system, which includes education and not many of the other cooks had a doctorate."

  Ruby applied herself to finishing up the meal and there was still ten minutes to the end of the hour, but she said, "Gotta get to work Girl," and hurried away.

  April sat with her thoughts, finishing her coffee. She had two other classes she needed to catch up on at home. She could spend time on them and turn in some work before going to meet Heather and Jeff. It felt good to contemplate some normal things not involving guns or spies. But she wasn't going to forget Ruby's brief warning either.

  * * *

  Later, at home she was still polishing her material to submit for class, when the com chime sounded and an icon in the corner of the screen announced she had a live call. The interruption decided her, you can fuss with something too long, so she clicked on send, to submit her class work and went to the call.

  Heather was looking at her from a console seat, looking anxious and Jeff was hovering over her shoulder leaning on the chair back. "Are you still meeting us for supper?" she wanted to know.

  "Sure, I told you I'd call if I missed. I'm looking forward to it." Thinking about it, she felt a little hollow already.

  "Have you tried your scanner out yet?"

  "Oh yeah. It works just fine. I taught it a new word and heard some neat chatter. I'll need an optical port on it however. I have it listening through an external antenna my dad has right now."

  "Well, bring it along please. There's a transmission Jeff and I heard through ours, that doesn't make sense and we hoped yours might have picked it up better."

  April thought about it a moment. "Why don't we link the scanners on the 'net and if one is closer to a transmission, or has a better signal for any reason it can get it off the best machine?"

  "Thanks for offering, but if we get in trouble for something and you are tied so closely to us, you could get sucked into our problems."

  "It works the other way also," April pointed out. "You guys are at risk for my behavior. No risk, no gain," she quoted one of her brother's favorite phrases.

  "Yes, but Jeff and I have some big problems already, I don't even want to get into describing. You don't deserve to be dragged into our troubles."

  Alarm bells went off in April's mind. Could her friend have big troubles, the same time as all her own problems the last two days and it not be connected in their little world? Let's fish a little and see, she decided.

  "Would you say your troubles involve - snooping?" she intimated.

  "Yessss," Heather hissed. She put both hands on the console and leaned forward, dismayed. "How could you possibly know?" Jeff behind her, gripped the top of the chair like he needed the support, looking suddenly sick.

  "I've had a few similar problems myself, the last couple days. Let's talk about it face to face, not on com," she suggested. "We can compare notes and maybe I can help you. See you then," April said, feeling a little strained to be cheerful. She was the one who signed off, so she missed Heather's sig. file.

  Two hours until she had to leave, she noted, looking at the clock. She wondered if that was enough time, to research on the 'net how secret organizations and conspiracies were organized? It seemed to her she might need those skills the direction things were going.

  April was still reading about cells and complicated spy craft, when the alarm she had set put a flashing icon on the screen. She used an alarm a lot, because she could lose all track of time when she really got engrossed in something.

  Almost nothing she had found fitted their resources or situation on M3 and the worst case scenarios she imagined. She loved spy novels, but the fictional things she read assumed a whole different set of circumstances than what she had. There was no maze of city streets to lose a tail, or cluttered parks to site a dead drop. Everything on M3 was neat and cleaned and watched. Being systematically sneaky looked like a great deal of work. Especially if you didn't have the resources of a government or huge corporation, helping you behind the scenes. All the characters in the stories, could drop in their office and pick up fake documents and ingenious devices, as easily as she could get a new pair of footies.

  The best thing she could see happening, was a compact and unofficial alliance of Heather, Jeff and herself, agreeing to work together and not worry about recruiting others yet. The three of them were not without resources. Passively waiting and hoping it worked out OK was not her style. She just hoped Heather and Jeff would be willing to work with her. She really couldn't think of any other potential allies.

  She did something that made her feel a little dirty, but it was
too important a resource to ignore. Heather and Jeff would not be on a board like My Boss, which she knew had some listings for her dad, but they might be on some gossip sharing boards, that rated small businesses or individuals. She configured a search for Don't Go There, The B*B*B, B*Bunderground, Run!Run!Run! and a few that even school kids used like, Only Your Best Friend, The Date from Hell and All Da Dirt. After she sat looking at the search field a minute she added her own name, her brother and Jon.

  It had been months since she had looked at the posts and polls for her dad or herself. Some of the remarks about her dad had hurt more than her own. Yet even the ones that plainly said they didn't like him, held a grudged respect, even if it was put sarcastically by calling him a Boy Scout.

  Posts about her tended to say she was too nosey, which she simply took to mean she wasn't sneaky enough about her snooping. But she felt good about one that said she knew where all the bodies were hidden, if you could pry it out of her. That's not so hard, she thought. Just have some decent information worth swapping!

  Heather had more entries than she did and, April could see there were more of them starting a little over a year ago, when Heather had started to really get a mature figure. There were entries about her electronic skills three years back, but a lot of the newer ones were snotty little digs, about why a major developing hunk like Jeff Singh would spend so much time with such a plain unexciting person like Heather. It was amazing how much of it was petty sexual jealousy. She still hoped puberty wouldn't make her stupid.

  April covered her own breast in an appraising hand. She barely had to cup her hand to mold the shape. If her LET doctors were right it would be a long time before she saw any change. Unless, taking so much after her dad instead of her mom, she just never got real big. In either case it would probably be a long time before people posted snide comments about her appearance, unless they snipped about her as taking too long to develop. That would be silly with a LET patient. One poster noted Jeff hung out with Heather, because he was too smart to enjoy being around shallow, unintelligent people of either sex and too polite to tell them so. April approved of that post.

  Her dad didn't approve of these boards and refused to look at them. She wasn't going to give too much weight to these gossip boards, but if any had been completely at odds with her own opinion, she'd have tried to find out why. Jon's ratings, both personal and professional were different. She certainly had no other friends or acquaintances described as 'hiding sudden death in both hands'. Several posts suggested he was 'unyielding' and plain old stubborn, but never fickle or undependable.

  Her brother saddened her because people were starting to catch on to him. One suggested he might require a signed contract before going on a date - if he ever did anything for fun. Another simply said - "Have your lawyer prepare the contract." Not one accused him of cheating them, but there was obvious bitterness, even when the worst they could do was refer to him as, The Mushroom King, over an unfortunate venture.

  April snatched her scanner off the coax and clipped it on her belt before heading out the door. The cafeteria she was headed for was a lot different than the one nearer her home, which most permanent residents and business people used. It was up station near the North hub and in spin, so it had fairly low gravity, about seventy percent of standard. It was situated a lot closer to the short term housing for the construction workers. It was commonly called the Animal House and catered to their needs first.

  The workers who rotated in and out of M3, were usually young single men and women and stayed for 6 months at a time. Some kept coming back. Others would do one tour and never be seen again. The everyday food there was geared to appetizers and finger-food, more than traditional sit down meals.

  The place was also a recreation spot, for things you couldn't do in a barracks. There was an area with a wall screen for video, with couches and better chairs around a few tables where they could play cards. There was pointedly no security camera there to allow a little license for private videos, or a little friendly wagering. The food was served buffet style and there was a small grill like the other cafeteria, but at this one it was self serve. You could make an omelet, or fry a burger to suit yourself. Currently they were cycling through Vietnamese, Jamaican, Tex-Mex, Soul and Thai, for the ethnic buffets. There were always a few blander Canadian-American dishes.

  April could hear the place quite a distance down the corridor. As loud as it was she was happy to see the crowd had thinned out and it only looked about a quarter full. Her people were in plain sight near the buffet, sitting across from each other, so she headed for them. The place had the sharp tang in the air of beer and a few strong spicy odors she couldn't catalog.

  She was going to sit on the close end, but that would leave her facing the two construction workers at the next table over. The one was boring holes through her with his eyes already. She didn't appreciate where his eyes were going and it was obvious he was making a show of doing it, to bother her.

  They looked vaguely Middle Eastern, but had on company jump suits. The rude one had an odd little beard, too short to be a goatee. She moved around the table, which predictably made him feel like they won some petty contest. He mocked her with laughter, a little louder than natural so she wouldn't miss the point.

  "I'm sorry," Jeff said softly, letting the noise cover his words, "the one sub-human there has already made a couple crude remarks about Heather and I saw how he was acting with you. No offense April, but you have hardly any figure yet and he is checking you out like a bloody pervert. Do you want to leave?"

  "Maybe we'll have to," April agreed. "I may not look very mature, but I'm not stupid. I understand exactly how the creep is acting, but I'm not sure I want to walk out into the corridor now and maybe have him and his buddy follow us. Why don't we at least get some appetizers and perhaps they'll finish up and leave. If Heather and I go to the restroom together, will you be OK alone?"

  Jeff got a funny grin. "We have to get to know each other better. If those two bother me I'll just go in the kitchen. The cook knows me and will chase them off. I'm really not in any danger from them, but they're probably too stupid to know it."

  She did noticed Jeff had filled out a little in the shoulders from the last time she had seen him. He still was basically slender, but less boyish and had the beautiful coppery skin some East Indians have. She still didn't want to see him, or even all three of them get physical with the creeps.

  "Come on Heather. Time for a trip to the ladies room." They actually had separate rooms here, instead of a unisex. It had to serve enough people for the size of the cafeteria that there was no space to be saved in making it one facility.

  As soon as they were inside April checked the stalls and one was occupied. Whatever she had to face would be easier on an empty bladder, so she ducked into a stall herself. When she came out the other woman's back was disappearing out the door.

  April spoke up, looking toward the ceiling and said, "Security? - dope - murder - help!! If you are running key words those should get your attention. This is April Lewis, my local net code is AL04, please call me right now."

  Heather was looking at her like she had totally lost her mind, but she was already pulling her pad out, confident of getting a call. It beeped before she could even open it.

  The screen was blank, with just the words M3 - SECURITY instead of the caller. She was sure the other person would be using her cam though.

  "Thanks, this is April Lewis. I'm at the worker's cafeteria near the hub. I don't know what your official name for it is, but the one used by all the construction workers. I'm with my friend Heather," she turned the pad briefly so the camera would show her and she saw some reaction on Heather's face to the address on the screen.

  "We're having dinner with a young man named Jeff Singh. The problem is there are two construction workers near us and one is being really crude and trying to provoke the fellow we are with. We would very much appreciate it if you make sure the security cameras watching
the dining area are covering us. We're hesitant to leave right now, because they may just follow and take trouble out in the corridor, which could be even worse for us. If you're not too busy to actually keep an eye on us, it would really be appreciated. Please don't bother Jon Davis with it. I've been bothering him much too frequently lately."

  "We're on it," Security said. It was a young woman's voice, but she never shared an image. "We try to keep your location watched. April is a trigger word in the system, posted since last night. We will watch if things go to the bad," she promised. "Since the barracks are called the Animal House, we've always called that cafeteria The Trough," she added, before she disconnected.

  "Ready to eat?" Heather just blinked a helmet-talk yes, like the workers used in a p-suit, too stunned to respond verbally, but followed quickly enough when April went out the door.

  April was really happy to see the cook, standing talking to Jeff at their table. He introduced her as Mrs. Jiang. The cook nodded an acknowledgment, but continued her conversation with Jeff. She was the roundest person April had ever seen, very short and large around the middle, with a chef's double buttoned white jacket down to exactly her equator and black trousers covering the Southern Hemisphere. Even her head and face were round, like a moon associated with the globe of her body. She was describing some of the things she was making tonight with Jeff.

  "I'm just going to start a tray of Pla Jien. Why don't you kids get some fried tofu and spring rolls and I'll have a new tray on the buffet in a few minutes." She disappeared into the kitchen, happy, with a purposeful stride.

  Jeff led them to the buffet and they all got fried tofu. Heather showed her how to sprinkle crushed peanut and sweet red sauce on it. They also got some deep fried pastries, with a skin so thin you could see the vegetable stuffing through it. While they started, Jeff got a large bowl of rice and a carafe of hot tea for all of them.