They Said It Would Be Easy (April Book 7)

by Mackey Chandler

  * * *

  Margaret, one of Jon's security officers was doing a walk through inspections of the area near the construction worker's housing. She was in blue uniform, armed with an air Taser, and her spex were streaming her stroll back to the department. Most of the petty trouble in the habitat seemed connected to this area of the station. An interesting coincidence since it was in easy walking distance of a large concentration of young, single, well paid risk takers, who worked as beam dogs.

  The management tried to provide every opportunity possible for them to keep their partying within transient housing. There were pointedly no cameras in the recreation room of their own cafeteria. If there was gambling at the tables nobody made that their concern, not even back when they were under USNA law. They could watch whatever they wanted on the big screen in the lounge, including their own videos and recordings.

  There were likewise a number of private residences and businesses without signage, which didn't publically advertise their offerings in close proximity to the beam dogs, and Jon saw no reason for Security to poke its nose in their dealings. As long as they didn't damage infrastructure, pollute the air, or cause public panic the beam dogs could cut up all they pleased.

  Margaret passed the sort of a hostel that offered hot slots, and just down the corridor were some storage lockers that were bigger than the tiny shelf a hot slot offered. Margaret stopped and listened, hearing something. She walked back and slid her hand down the line of lockers. One faintly vibrated under her hand. She put her ear to the door and heard faintly - Rup, rup, rup, chunka thump – over and over again.

  She stood there thinking about it. It wasn't hurting anything. Whatever it was she could barely hear it. Nobody was calling to complain about it. Margaret didn't know what reason she could give the owner if she called him out to open it up. Home people tended to tell you to mind your own business. It wasn't emitting noxious vapors. It seemed unlikely to be anything like a bomb. But she was very curious.

  Margaret went down the corridor a few steps and reached up high, planting a sticky backed bump that was a tiny camera looking back down the hall, opposite the side the locker door opened. She activated it with her spex to record video and left. She'd check it out and only make a report if it was still suspicious after she saw the renter open up.

  * * *

  Jeff leaned back, as relaxed as April had seen him in a long time. His feet were up in felt slippers, a sample to show how the new material being produced on the moon could be used. What really bugged him was how the family producing it had gotten his shoe size. More than just size he suspected. The slippers fit like bespoke – perfectly. All his assets in Chen and Jon's intelligence network had no idea how they had obtained that information at Camelot on the moon.

  He mentioned it to April, and chatted about other things, but she could always tell when he hadn't dropped a subject. Other people were confused when he suddenly blurted out a non sequitur about something they had been discussing hours ago, or sometimes days ago, that he was still thinking about. He assumed everyone could switch gears and resume that conversation without tedious explanations. April knew he never formally closed a discussion he didn't consider finished.

  He finally came back to it. "Might you ask Ruby or one of your other sources if they know how the Yangs could possibly have my shoe size?"

  "No. Would you call up Chen and ask him trivia when you can't finish a crossword?" April asked.

  "It's been some years since I worked one of those. My father used to make me do them when I was learning Japanese. Theirs are very interesting. Especially the ones that draw a picture when finished. I'm concerned about that big a hole in our privacy however," Jeff said.

  "Oh, it's our privacy now? Did they send you a pair of turnip felt panties for me you failed to mention out of sheer embarrassment? Do you suspect the Yangs of disloyalty? Did you have the slippers checked? They may be infused with long term neurotoxins," April suggested.

  Jeff blushed, not because he was too prissy to deal with ladies undergarments, but because he had been paranoid enough to have the slippers scanned for those dreaded neurotoxins, infectious agents, and other less subtle poisons and radiological hazards.

  "Not at all," Jeff insisted. "I'm pleased they developed this felt. It's a mix of synthetic wool and plant fibers. You can't tear it barehanded it's so tough, but they have other products that are going to make nice sheets and upholstery, clothing, and toweling that's much nicer than disposables.

  "They sent their eleven year old daughter as a courier to bring these and other swaths and samples to me. I wanted to press her about how they sized them, but I found myself unable to interrogate a sweet young girl, who was thrilled to finally see Home, and babbling about all the shops and meeting me."

  "There's hope for you, M' Lord," April allowed.

  "I figure I'll buy all the bedding and seat covers for 'The Cans' from them. Assuming the Assembly allows it to have favored status and go ahead," Jeff added.

  "I take it Annette is doing well at Camelot, or you'd have mentioned it?" April asked.

  "Oh yes, she's stopped asking when she can come home, and she hasn't shot anybody, so I think she is acclimated now. They have their own tunneling machine running around the clock. And they have a casino, which didn't thrill Heather, but she was smart enough not to forbid it. It's not exactly a noble profession, but I don't know what else they could do to survive. There's worse they could do."

  "How can they run a casino when it's almost impossible to get a civilian shuttle ticket to orbit?"

  "They only have rooms for six couples. The sort who are gambling there don't have any trouble getting to low Earth orbit. Some of them lift on their own private shuttles. And since almost all the residents at Camelot are Chinese they're getting mostly very wealthy Chinese," Jeff explained. "Only having twelve guests they can smother them in service. I'd hate it."

  "They can get out of China with as much turmoil as it's in?" April asked.

  "Some left China as soon as there was trouble. Others have private aircraft on private airfields, private yachts, these are the sort of wealthy business people or officials who could call up the local military and inform them they need a ride or an escort and they'd divert military traffic to curry favor with them. They might as well be nobility. Annette says they have a waiting list." Jeff revealed.

  "And she has enough cash to pay out when these high rollers win?" April asked.

  "Both Irwin and we own a piece of it, and we found five other investors. Most of the winnings from the clients are retained for backing capital, even now. It may be another year before we have sufficient reserves to feel comfortable. The first few sets of visitors placed bets that scared all of us to death, but Annette told me that when a man won a million EuroMarks at the wheel his last day there, the rest of them went nuts and bet more in the last few hours than they had the previous three days."

  "I don't understand gamblers," April admitted.

  "I know. I must be missing a gland, a gene, or there's a hole in my brain where the circuitry is supposed to be that makes people double down in a frenzy," Jeff said.

  "So it's enough to make a difference for Camelot?"

  Jeff nodded. "It's enough to let them hang on until we have other things besides the casino and the felt and paper making to keep them viable." He looked up at April suddenly, you could practically see his thoughts switching tracks. "Jon sent the girl, Yang Hua, to stay with one of his female agents. She has extra room, don't ask me how a security agent can afford that much cubic, but she saved me. I had no idea where I was going to put her."

  "I know exactly which lady you are talking about," April told him.

  "Of course you do...But I'm supposed to take her to lunch in a bit. Would you come along? I'm awkward with her. I don't know what to talk about," Jeff said.

  "You don't need to play tour guide for Li?" April said surprised.

  "He needs to see Home from several viewpoints. Chen will show him som
e things and he'll be turned loose to explore some on his own some. Home is pretty safe after all," Jeff insisted.

  "Sure, I'm in with the kid then. I'm curious anyway. When does she go back?" April asked.

  "Late tonight. I'm afraid it's going to disrupt her sleep schedule terribly, but her mother refused when she asked if she could wait four days for the next shuttle," Jeff said. "She'll have to lay-over a day at Central anyway. I said that was good – that she could have another visit there – but she made a face and said she's been to Central lots of times."

  That amused April. "Sure, I'd like to meet this little ambassador."

  Chapter 17

  The fact Jeff 'didn't know what to talk about' didn't seem to be much of a problem to April. Hua was perfectly able to hold up three sides of a conversation. It was just amazing she managed to wolf down every bit of her lunch between all the words. April was treated to such a detailed accounting of Camelot politics she was sorry she started recording so far in. She'd fill in what she remembered, reduce the whole thing to an outline, and give it to Chen. He'd wonder how the devil she had such a detailed analysis of internal Camelot politics. It was always good to leave him off balance wondering where she got odd items. It was fascinating because it gave April insights into the cultural gap with the Chinese she hadn't seen before. The girl seemed to be growing up observing and understanding both ways of thinking, and choosing the bits of both she preferred.

  The girl didn't sound eleven years old. She had a blunt assessment of personal failings and quirks that would have shocked the people she was describing. They were both relieved that she approved of Annette. Then April realized it was exactly how she had been at that age. People spoke far too freely, and didn't hide their prejudices and foibles around a 'powerless' child. In the end she thanked Hua for the report and offered to share information if Hua or her family needed any intelligence she possessed, mentioning her com code was on the public net. Hua just said "OK!", but April was certain she had a firm alliance to trade in kind, despite the seeming casualness of her response.

  Jeff took the whole thing in without saying hardly anything. They walked Hua back to Jon's offices and didn't go in. They had things to do and didn't want to interrupt Jon or his people.

  "Did you recruit her, or did she just recruit you?" Jeff asked in the corridor.

  "Yes," April agreed, which left him silent again.

  * * *

  "Huian, I am having a man contact you from India," Myat told her. "He is my client, a fine gentleman who is involved in the recycling trade and scrap metals, but it is increasingly difficult for us to do business with any privacy because of both our governments imposing capital controls. He has been doing business with me via a son of a friend who travels between our countries weekly. But it's no longer safe for him to convey actual payments to me across the border, just verbal orders. He was interested when he heard the head of the System Trade Bank is named Singh. He may have questions or he might ask to invest."

  "Because the name is Indian? He may be disappointed if he thinks they share a culture. The young man would probably seem alien to him," Huian warned. "I know he's three generations removed from his homeland. I'm not sure he even speaks a non-English Indian language. But I'll give you his contact information if the man wants to know him.

  "No, more like your situation is similar to our business relationship here. Because we got along just fine despite being from different backgrounds. I believe he was surprised, and thought before that Home was pretty homogeneous, and full of North Americans," Myat said.

  "Oh, well it probably is better than two thirds North Americans," Huian admitted. "But North America might be less homogeneous than he imagined. Also the characters here were not exactly typical of the USNA. We have a serious surplus of people who wanted to get away from them."

  "That's interesting. I didn't really understand that myself. But since you rebelled I guess I should have figured that part out. If I went by the news feeds from America and Europe, I'd have to conclude you all have horns and hooves," Myat added. "The Indian fellow can do what he wants. I expect he'll come back and deal with me when he finds out how hard it is to get secure transport to orbit right now. I suspect despite the changes I'm still more accessible than Home, if he makes the effort. He can send things hidden in goods."

  "Yes, I've heard three different sources insinuating that we somehow caused the Great Influenza. It's sort of stupid to imagine we'd unleash something that would have wiped the habitat out if it got loose here. It's only been a few days since we started letting people enter Home again without being held in quarantine to make sure they weren't carriers," Huian said.

  "That must have just killed business," Myat observed. "Are you entirely sure it's safe yet?"

  "No, they aren't sure the nasty strain has burned out, but they have a machine now to use at the point of entry that detects flu even before the carrier displays symptoms, just a few hours after exposure."

  "Really?" Myat looked intensely interested. "Do you know if they are selling this equipment? I don't think you realize how paranoid people are down here now. I'd be very interested in buying such an item, or being a dealer in them if some arrangement could be made."

  "It's the same fellow, Singh. I'll ask him to contact you if you'd like," Huian offered.

  "Please, by the time he calls I'll have had time to see who else is interested," Myat promised.

  * * *

  "Yes, Ma'am. We are going to sell them," Jeff said, "but the one we are using on Home is a our hand built prototype. We're building a first generation commercial model soon. It will be packaged much nicer and detect other diseases too. We haven't let out all the contracts for parts yet. I'm not even sure how many will be in the first assembly run. It does work very well, and we're hoping to have it entirely robot assembled to keep the cost down. It will be another three or four days before I have a price, and a week before I can tell you a delivery date."

  "Thank you, Mr. Singh. We want ten of your first run," Myat requested.

  "Ma'am, I don't even have a price for you yet," Jeff objected.

  "It doesn't matter. You have no idea how afraid people have become of the flu. Get me the machines, and I can sell them," Myat promised. "Price them for me in several currencies and I'll see what I can do."

  "Yes, Ma'am. The first ten are yours. You have my word," Jeff agreed. "I'll price them in gold, Australian dollars, and we'll see what else. If you have access to the current crop of Arabica coffee, good quality that cups over eighty points, we might do a deal for that."

  Myat looked surprised on the screen. "No need to pledge your word," Myat told him. "Huian has assured me you are an honorable businessman and a gentleman."

  "Thank you. I'll let you know price and delivery as soon as possible," Jeff promised, and Myat dropped the connection.

  Now, where did Huian get such strong feelings about me? Jeff wondered.

  * * *

  "Eduardo, I don't want to call an Assembly to deal with this. Just interrupting people's lives and asking for a vote irritates some enough to make them vote no. I honestly don't think it is important enough to call a Special Assembly. But I want to give you a heads up, that I intend to ask how the voters wish to treat residents of...call it auxiliary residences. It's almost four months until the regular Assembly. We aren't going to be forming hulls and making parts before then anyway," Jeff said. "A little extra design time is fine."

  "There is already discussion of building another habitat, perhaps two!" Muños said. "This seems much the same question we'll have about those. Will they be in the same political unit? Can they all be citizens of Home? So far everyone I have discussed this with comes to the same conclusion. If they are all in a group, in the same halo orbit, and close enough to all of us can tie into the same net and vote with Home when the Assembly is called, then they should be accepted. I don't see how not having a spin on your structure changes that."

  "Nobody has talked to me about that," Jeff
said. "Well, except Heather's little brother, Barak. He concluded a long time ago we'd have to build associated habitats. And I know there is no reasonable way to add a fourth ring to Home without serious stability problems."

  "Really? That's very interesting. The young man has exceptional vision then. Is he in your employ?" Muños asked.

  "No, he's off on the second snowball expedition," Jeff said. "He's doing a...study for me, but that is incidental to the expedition."

  "Ah, he's another one of your people," Muños said, amused.

  "You've been talking to Jon again," Jeff accused.

  "Of course...All the time. He's one of my people," Muños added, and smiled.

  * * *

  "The dollar isn't crashing, but it keeps creeping down," Irwin warned. "Not so much the Australian dollar. If your Solars are too expensive we won't be able to sell Home products."

  "Is that happening? Jeff asked.

  "Well, no." Irwin looked stressed, and Jeff waited for him to say something more.

  "All the textbook cases say it has to do that, eventually," Irwin said.

  "Fine," Jeff agreed. "Eventually. But what is happening right now?" He personally didn't have the faith in economic theory Irwin did, but neither did he want to start a big argument.

  Irwin sighed. "We're selling anything that can't be made on Earth, every bit of it, and getting requests for things they should be easily making. We're getting gold flowing to Home at a frightening rate, to where it's starting to counteract the recovery in shipping, and now the last couple days I've gotten platinum and other things."