April 6: And What Goes Around

by Mackey Chandler

  "I could if I wanted to badly enough. They back-charge me for a search if they will do one and I doubt this couple is wanted for any crimes. I'm not disposed to give Earth governments unsolicited information on our immigrants even if they irritate me. They may have committed the crime of buying Life Extension Therapy which is nobody's business but theirs. I don't like them or officious Mudball governments, but I'd tend to favor the couple if I have to choose between the two. I'll try other less official sources."

  "If we have no holding facilities available it doesn't make sense to argue with people at our airlock. We need to have them tested at the other end before they get on a shuttle," Muños said.

  "Except that ISSII and New Las Vegas are the main sources of our traffic and both have refused to do so. They aren't doing it for themselves, so they certainly don't see any need to do it for us," Jon said.

  "That will last until they import a few cases," Muños predicted. "Then they'll adopt it too late."

  "And by then we may have cut them off entirely and they may not have the ability to keep a medical watch at boarding if enough medical and security personnel are sick," Jon said.

  Muños stopped and looked thoughtful. "That's unfortunately true. But it still means we only have this as a problem for a limited time. Let's see what the Assembly says. Maybe some bright person will have an idea what to do."

  * * *

  Jeff was pleased to see a new message from Barak but surprised to see he had attached a file using the one time pads he'd given him. That was a first and worried him a little. He intended those for emergencies. When he saw the size of it he realized Barak had used four of the hundred blocks of random numbers he's assigned him. It was a fairly large message which worried him a little more.

  When he read the deciphered message he wasn't worried. He was shocked. He forced himself to read it again slowly to make sure he hadn't missed any critical facts before he did anything. Heather might be Sovereign of Central and very busy, but she knew audio processing extremely well and cared a great deal for her little brother Barak. This wasn't something you handed off to a low bid data processor in Pakistan to run. He wanted it kept under the tightest security. He sent the files to her and then copies to Chen to find verifying voice samples locally.

  What a mess... Barak was a really good guy. Jeff was sure Barak wasn't hiding anything from him. But he's also been very careful not to incriminate himself. Jeff still could say under truth analysis that he didn't know of any wrong doing by Barak, and that was smart, but it sounded to Jeff as if he might have some culpability. Even if he acted in fear. He hoped it was within his ability to help him.

  Home didn't have much law yet. But if the case was put before the Assembly it was possible he could be banished. There was a lot of respect for the command structure even on civilian ships. He could go to Central if banished, not the Slum Ball, but not being able to enter Home would be devastating. It would probably ruin any career as a spacer too. He wasn't as inexperienced as Barak, and yet Jeff was very much aware he had no idea how to deal with somebody like Barak's superiors. They both sounded like seriously warped people.

  That made Jeff have a new thought, and the Home directory was no help. Doc Lee was so busy right now he didn't want to bother him. He sent a message to Dr. Ames and asked him for a favor – "Do you know if we have a psychologist on Home? Especially someone expert on dealing with extreme or even criminal personalities?" - Jeff Singh

  * * *

  April was surprised when Jeff called at the last minute and asked her to supper. He wasn't big on spontaneity. She offered to cook but he insisted on taking her out. She assumed he'd take her to the Fox and Hare. The way he'd said 'out' implied something more than just the cafeteria. But when they got to the turn for the Fox and Hare he went the other way and took her to the other club on Home - The Quiet Retreat. If she'd known he had that in mind she'd have dressed nicer.

  They were busy, but were shown right to a table. That didn't make any sense. Jeff didn't say anything to the hostess about a reservation. He hadn't even given his name. But she'd said, "Right this way, Mr. Singh, and led them to a table herself instead of handing them off to a younger hostess like she had the people before them. She seated them at a small table against the bulkhead that had a pull down bench and screens on each side giving them and their neighbors a little privacy.

  "Have you been here before?" April asked Jeff.

  "No, but the owner, Gary Roulston, has asked me at least three times to come by. He's a customer of the bank so it seems politic to not keep refusing him."

  "They knew your name though," April said, still surprised.

  "April," Jeff took her hand and smiled at her. "I love the fact you aren't full of yourself. And I can't imagine you ever falling into the trap of saying 'Do you know who I am?' that famous people do when somebody doesn't recognize them. However if I showed your picture to everybody on Home I bet you would have recognition from over ninety percent of those surveyed. Even with the influx we've had."

  April looked like she wanted to argue and then smirked. "But she said your name not mine, Silly."

  "Well yes. I might get a 70% recognition," Jeff admitted. "They'd look at my picture and say, "Oh yeah. I think he's April's boyfriend. A lot of them would feel awkward to mention Heather in the same breath. There's still a lot of Earth think on social matters."

  "It's impossible to argue with you!" April said, but jokingly.

  "And why would you want to?" Jeff teased, and scooted closer on the bench slipping an arm around April. She leaned on him, comfortable and relaxed. This club was quieter than the Fox and Hare. It had darker lighting and darker colors too. There was a bit of soft piano music in the background, but nothing you'd have to raise your voice over.

  When the server came to take their drink orders, Jeff asked April if she would care like to share champagne. He'd seen her enjoy it before.

  "I'm throttling back this gene mod metabolism I have, so alcohol will mess that up. Just coffee for me tonight please," April requested.

  "A pot of coffee then for both of us," Jeff instructed. "And appetizers but nothing starchy or sweet."

  "I'm more curious about their coffee too. Just like I'm looking forward to comparing their food to ours at the Fox and Hare. Drinks don't tell you much unless they are totally incompetent to open a bottle of wine. We buy the same liquor after all.

  "I'm not getting all competitive though, just curious," April added quickly. "I've wondered about it since it opened. I can see it's a different sort of club. I think it has a more mature clientele too."

  "It's getting hard to tell with LET," Jeff said. "Everybody looks sort of middle aged."

  "Sort of, but I'm getting better at seeing little signs. And cultural things about how people dress and sit and..." April hesitated, "even how they handle their silverware."

  The owner Gary came through. He was a solidly built fellow with ready smile. His easy grin turned full on though when one of his people had a word with him and he turned and saw Jeff and April. He came over shook Jeff's hand and took April's when it was offered. Then he surprised them by excusing himself quickly instead of lingering to chat.

  The dance floor in the middle looked odd to them. They just weren't used to seeing any open unused area of floor in Home. It was raised off the deck just enough to require a thin safety stripe along the edge, and was an extravagant waste of space for a habitat. It allowed for better people watching though. There were two rings of tables between the tables back against the bulkhead, like they had, and the dance floor. The tables on the edge of the floor were just out there with no privacy at all. It made sense that a couple of them had folks sporting very daring bright clothing and looking to be seen. One woman had a dress totally covered with tiny purple sequins. Her partner had a yellow tuxedo with a metallic tangerine cummerbund that fairly glowed even in the subdued lighting. His jacket fell open to reveal ivory handled pistols jammed in the cummerbund grips forward.

&nb
sp; "Look all the way across the room," April said. "Do you see the middle table set back in a little alcove by the bulkhead like ours but a little bigger?"

  "Where they're seating them right now? Yes. You call that a dinette." Jeff zoomed his spex in to inspect them. "OK. That's President Wiggen and Ben Patsitsas. Who are the other couple?"

  "They go by Jimenez now," April informed him. "Ferdinando and Sancha Jimenez, but they are the recent king and queen of Spain, in exile. So recently that I don't believe they even have successors yet. Not exactly deposed and neither did they abdicate, but definitely retired."

  Jeff looked with the spex and scrunched his face up like he was thinking hard. "Gene mod?"

  "See? You can tell. Yes, they have had LET but I think it has a ways to run on them still. You do know Wiggen and Patsitsas are married now?" April Asked.

  "I believe I read that, but thank you for reminding me," Jeff said. "I might have said something stupid if we talk to them."

  The appetizers came and they'd done a good job of it for the limitations Jeff had set. There were stuffed olives and pickles, sliced vegetables and a few sauces, shrimp wrapped in bacon and hard salami and cheese. There were little penguins of black olives and cream cheese with carrot beaks and feet. A few radishes were carved like flowers. It was very pretty.

  They nibbled at this and that and watched the fellow with the yellow tux swish around the floor with his date. He probably could have danced better if he hadn't checked to see if anybody was watching him so often.

  "Do you dance?" Jeff asked April.

  "I've never had any lessons. Well, once my mother tried to show my brother how to dance and she had me try it with him, but it was awful. I was about nine. I don't know if he ever tried dancing down in Australia. He never shared much about his social life when he visited my mom's parents. He seemed to have a little romance with the neighbor girl on a later visit, but he was secretive about everything."

  "Want to try it?" Jeff offered.

  "Does this mean you know how to dance?" April asked him, skeptical.

  "You don't know everything about me. I assure you I had several aunts instruct me intensely."

  "Well if you know how maybe I can fake it," April decided. They joined two other couples on the floor. It wasn't crowded so navigating wasn't a problem. Jeff did a strong lead so they settled down and got into the rhythm of it quickly.

  "Oh my," Jeff said.

  April looked up at him with a quizzical expression. Rather than reply Jeff turned them so she could see the length of the floor. The couple she'd pointed out to him, the Jimenezes, were dancing. They did it with a relaxed ease that no one else had displayed yet, not even the gaudily dressed young couple sitting this dance out. They didn't need sequins and neon colors to impress. The little changes of direction that Jeff had to think about were automatically smooth and they did moves separating and coming back together he wouldn't even try, or expect April to know what he was attempting to do.

  Ferdinando knew the piece or sensed the change in the music so when they moved apart this time instead of spinning back to him he flung her out retaining a firm grip and swept her around in a full circle sliding on her heel. When he pulled her back in their hands continued up together until they were cheek to cheek hands clasped straight overhead with her on tiptoe to reach so high. They reached that pose with perfect timing and held it for a dramatic instant as the music ended.

  Jeff and April had moved to the end of the floor by the small stage to watch and not stand in front of others at the tables who were all watching. The two other couples had joined them. When it ended they all broke into spontaneous applause and some in the audience joined in.

  Ferdinando smiled and gave a short bow, raising Sancha's hand he still held to credit her. April noted he did nothing self-deprecating, he accepted the praise as due with dignity.

  I need to learn how to do that, without feeling all embarrassed and flustered, April thought.

  Instead of returning to their table the Jimenezes walked straight to April and Jeff. Whoever was doing the music let it pause a moment rather than rush them off the floor for another set.

  " Grandeza Lewis, it's pleasant to see you again," Ferdinando said. He sounded sincere.

  "Ferdinando, Sancha, I'd like you to meet Jeff Singh."

  "April spoke of you before," Ferdinando said. "I'm pleased to meet you Señor."

  "Ferdinando, you are not at court," Sancha said. "If he speaks Spanish at all he doesn't know what that expression means when you say it. He'd comfortably address a porter or taxi driver as señor"

  "You're right my dear. More plainly, I'm pleased to meet you Lord Singh."

  "Thank you," Jeff said. "I'm honored to meet you. I'm not quite sure how to address you politely."

  "You're doing fine," he said amused. "Ferdinando and Sancha will do. If we have opportunity to actually get to know each other perhaps you can append friend in the fullness of time."

  "Then you should both call me Jeff. Home doesn't acknowledge titles and I'd use them at Central only if I were speaking to Heather when doing official business. People here would think it odd of me to use a title of nobility. Presumptuous even."

  It was not lost on April that Jeff had accepted Lord much more graciously than she did Lady.

  "Yes," Ferdinando agreed, "but I've found that people acknowledge nobility even if it doesn't have a title attached. We discussed that with April a little. We should clear the floor. I fear they are waiting for us to vacate to resume. Would you care to join us for a drink?"

  "Thank you, but another time," April spoke up." I need to refrain from alcohol for a couple days and we need to order dinner still."

  Ferdinando looked surprised but interested. "A religious obligation?" He guessed.

  "Oh no. Nothing like that. I need to re-set my metabolism. The sort of gene mods I have you do that by restricting diet for a bit. But I'd love to join you another time," April left open.

  "We shall make a point of calling you then. Good evening April, Jeff." He gave Jeff an extra smile and nod of his head before they turned away.

  "He seems taken with you," April said as they went back to their table. Ferdinando was probably right. The music resumed behind them.

  "I imagine I have probationary status with him because I have good taste in friends. What's this Grandeza thing?" Jeff asked. "Have you given up protesting them and started collecting new titles?"

  "That's just his Spanish custom in titles," April said dismissively. "He said I'm more than a Baronesa because we're intimate with Heather."

  "Well... " Jeff said and blinked a few extra times at that.

  "Not that way, Silly. We speak with her without formality or using titles. And do you know? He has the right of it. Did you see how he just accepted the applause for their dancing? No false modesty or argument? He just graciously accepted it. That's what I'm going to do from now on," April resolved. "Even if I have to bite my tongue. No more making faces when you say, My Lady."

  "OK," Jeff agreed. We'll see how long that holds, he thought privately.

  Dinner was simple for April. A petite filet with mushrooms and creamed spinach. Jeff was not gene mod and he had about twice what she did.

  "Barak sent me a big encrypted file and asked my help with some research," Jeff finally brought up.

  "Is there a problem with the expedition he had to keep quiet?" April asked immediately. Barak had never felt the need to use heavy encryption in his letters to her.

  "Problems with his crewmates," Jeff confirmed. "The fellow who worked outside with him did something stupid and killed himself in vacuum, for one thing."

  "For one thing? What's another?" April asked. Jeff tended to speak precisely.

  "The other is more complex," Jeff allowed. "His Captain was neglecting his duty to spend bunk time with his XO. They had a minor fire that everybody had to respond to and there was nobody on the bridge to direct the response."

  "That'll cost him his ticket," April pre
dicted.

  "No it won't, because he's dead." Jeff said flatly.

  April just lifted an eyebrow at that.

  Jeff phrased it very carefully. "There seem to be... complications Barak has carefully avoided telling us. I can't blame him. He went to the bridge and found the hatch locked. While he was standing there the Captain came charging down the corridor naked with his clothing in hand and started yelling at Barak."

  "Oh dear."

  "Barak said he had a hard impact with the bulkhead and sustained injuries. He carefully refrained from telling me if he helped the captain meet the bulkhead... He took him to their medical center and left him to be treated by the XO. I'm concerned for our friend. It sounds like he was put in an untenable position, but I don't want to know the details. So I didn't ask. This is the sort of mess that makes people, like the investors, look for someone to blame, and the captain being dead is quite unsatisfying to blame.

  "Meanwhile, you say the ship is on fire," April said, backing up in the story. "If I were there that would have my attention until it was resolved. We're talking survival of the ship with a fire onboard. That gets fixed first. "

  "The Environmental Officer took care of that," Jeff told her. "There wasn't any serious damage or loss. But of course they didn't know that when the alarm went off. Barak actually followed procedures to see why the captain was not responding and render aid if needed. It appears he neither wanted nor appreciated such aid. The problem worsened when he delivered the Captain to be treated. The XO had a major emotional meltdown and revealed they blamed Barak for the loss of the crewman he'd worked with outside the hull."

  "Barak was supervising and responsible for him?" April asked.

  "No, the other fellow was supervising him," Jeff allowed. "But the plot thickens from this point with the first of several obvious lies from the XO. They claimed he had deleted his suit files of their outside working shifts."

  "I don't believe it. Nobody sets up a data system that sloppy. The suits dump their memory when you rack them and there's no way to delete it without administrative authority on the main computer. My grandpa has told me how it works lots of times. It's not just a lie, it's a stupid lie," April said.