A Hop, Skip and a Jump (Family Law Book 4)

by Mackey Chandler

  "Yes, I see other benefits to this," Bode said. "It might take centuries, it might even take millennia, but knowing human nature if we found our limits too confining in the future people have always solved that by going to war. That's a solution best avoided."

  "I never even thought of that," Lee admitted. "That would be a long way off."

  "You are young," Bode pointed out. "Don't frown at me, please. It's a benefit in many ways, but material to your thinking. You don't think far ahead easily. Can you hear a small critique of your plan and consider it objectively?"

  "I think so," Lee said. "I'll try."

  "Your discoveries may have unintended consequences, because others don't think like you. To you, having found these resources should make others want to go do the same. You are both young and bold, but other people may be more risk averse. Surely you've seen that in others?" Bode asked.

  "Yes, when we came back from discovering Providence we went to our bank and there was a new guy managing our account. We had to sit and listen to him lecture us about how backing our exploration was like his bank taking the money to a casino and throwing it on the roulette table. When Gordon tried to report our discovery to him he actually held up his palm to Gordon to shut him up," Lee said, illustrating that by doing the same to Bode.

  "You might not realize it, but that is actually a fairly well-known story," Bode said. "I admit, before meeting your father, Gordon, I never pictured the arrogance required to thrust a hand at his face to cut him off. But it is a classic example of mismanagement, not knowing when to shut off the pleasant sound of your own voice and listen. It's widely taught in business now."

  "Oh, I didn't realize that," Lee said. "Whatever happened to him?"

  "The last I heard he has a very responsible position in a sandwich shop in the Derfhome capitol," Bode said. "He decided returning to Earth was a bad idea. But please, consider that management mindset. If they know there are vast resources out beyond Derfhome and Fargone, the mind afraid of risk devalues the possibility of gaining the same thing off in the other direction," Bode said, pointing to his right, "when they have a sure thing the other way," he said pointing to his left.

  Lee looked stunned and horrified.

  "I see from your face I made my point. Honestly, from my perspective as a third party, I can see that they feel your view is just as wrong as you feel theirs is," Bode said. His amusement was obvious and Lee didn't appreciate it.

  "Bear with me if I take this thought further," Bode begged. "If you do go off exploring the other side of Human space, Earth and their various factions are not going to see it as a grand strategy for the long-term benefit of the Human race.

  "All they will see is that you have claims on that wealth instead of them, and now you have a presence both sides of them. They are surrounded!" Bode said in mock horror. "Who could blame them for defending themselves and reclaiming what should have been theirs, since it is closer to them than you? No, I'm afraid trying to expand the sphere of Human influence opposite them will only lead to worse conflict, sooner," Bode predicted.

  "That sounds disturbingly plausible," Lee said. "When I was on Earth they didn't do what I expected over and over. By my standards they treated me really badly. So I have to consider you might be right and they'll act crazy about this too. I'll have to talk to some more people I trust and see if they see the same danger there you do."

  "Please do," Bode urged her. "As a practical matter, if they decided to steal your discoveries, which Human governments are known to do from time to time, what could you do about it? I can assure you the military strategists here on Fargone would look at the star map and say there isn't anything we can do about it, and we have far more ships than you."

  "What do you suggest then?" Lee demanded. "Just give up my idea of expanding the sphere of Human influence?"

  "I suggest you give up this fixation on spheres," Bode said. "Yes, that's how we've been expanding until now, but as you said that expansion from Earth is slowing. That happens with empires. They expand, and grow old, and slow down. Eventually they shrink.

  "Right now, we are a spot on the side of that sphere," Bode said, holding up a fist and touching it with a finger. "We have a long stretch you explored out to the Badgers," he said drawing a line through the air with the finger. "It's not a sphere now and it may never be such a neat geometry again. There are vast areas to each side of your line of exploration that need to be mapped. You have the entire hemisphere this side of human space to explore. Some direction off away from the Badgers may even be open far beyond them. So why go exactly the opposite way when it will certainly provoke opposition?"

  "The man makes a good case for it," Gordon said, grudgingly.

  "OK, we're going to have to consider all that," Lee allowed. "I guess we'll need a team to develop our larger strategy. We never had that before, because our goals seemed simple and straight forward, but you make an excellent case for some serious strategic planning. Do you want a job to manage it?" Lee asked.

  "Heavens no," Bode said, holding both palms up to her. "I've pretty much given you the depth of my thinking on it. Take the idea with my blessings. You can find lots of talent on Fargone to recruit to that task. I'm very happy right where I am, and it isn't nice to try to poach personnel right on the air in front of everybody!"

  "I'm still working on my social skills," Lee admitted.

  "We'll have to build on that another Day," Bode said. "We're out of today."

  "And cut, and a perfect wrap-up right at the wire," Blondie said, all happy.

  "If you have such deep and complicated opinions about public policy maybe you should stand for election to public office," Gordon suggested to Bode.

  "Why would I want to limit myself and take the pay cut?" Bode asked. "The public votes for me every time they choose to listen to my show. None of the politicians would have risked speaking as openly with you in a public forum. You better believe they see to it that all their boring speeches and debates are available in video, and none of them have my ratings."

  "We have almost half again the audience our last show with you had," Blondie said, reading the numbers off her pad. "Give it a rest, because you want to leave the public wanting more, and we'll have you on again when you are visiting Fargone another time."

  "Who told you we were going to get our immigration approved?" Lee demanded.

  "Honey," Blondie cut in, even before Bode could answer, "consider this another social lesson for you. If you want more leaks you don't expose the people giving them or they dry up."

  Lee looked stubborn, but thought about it a little. "You're right. If I had something I wanted to be widely known and couldn't say it safely, I'd leak it to Bode now."

  "One more in my army!" Bode said, with his usual intensity. He really was creepy sometimes, and Lee felt a little guilty for thinking that.

  * * *

  On the way out, Gordon had a question for Blondie. "Sometimes when we were walking around Landing, people waved at us and then pointed at us. I know places that would be considered rude, but it seemed good natured."

  "Oh, it is. That's very positive actually," Blondie confirmed.

  "I figured that, but what I'm wondering . . . when I pointed back they looked surprised and enjoyed it a great deal and laughed sometimes. Why?" Gordon wondered.

  Blondie laughed too, hard and genuinely. "That's lovely. I wish we had video of you doing that. It's perfect and I'd never have thought to suggest it." She scowled briefly and reconsidered. "Of course if I suggested it, that would have ruined it. The value is mostly in the spontaneity."

  "I still don't understand what the pointing means," Gordon protested.

  "It's not a narrow meaning you can capture in just a few set words," Blondie said. "It used to be a generation back people would say, "You go!" or maybe, "You the man!" when they pointed. But now it doesn't require any verbal tag, just point now and people understand it is very affirmative and approving."

  "So I was saying the same t
hing back?" Gordon asked.

  "Yes . . . but you have to understand, they recognized you, likely from our show. By the time you came back to do the second show today almost fifteen percent of the population had viewed our first show. You two are about as close as we get to instant celebrity on Fargone. The only thing that gets a bigger audience is soccer or this continuing romance story that makes Earthies blush when they find it on the hotel video channels. So you were saying, "You are important too!" Or maybe, "We like you guys too." it was self deprecating and modest. That's not a common quality in celebrity. It's kind of endearing. Maybe you should be the one to run for public office instead of Bode," Blondie suggested thoughtfully.

  "Gods no," Gordon protested in horror. Blondie just laughed again.

  * * *

  "Well that worked out well," Gordon said later to Serendipity Hawking. "Lee didn't go on and on about it when Bode revealed we'd get approved, but it was a genuine reaction. I bet people could tell that."

  "Yes," the Admiral agreed. "I thought the show went very well for you."

  "Do you agree with Bode about the hazards of expanding the other side of Human space then? You never mentioned it when we talked to you."

  "I've had similar thoughts," Hawking admitted, "but I didn't think Lee was ready to hear them yet, and likely not from me at all. I'd be very uncomfortable discussing it in an open back and forth public discussion. Sometimes policy is like sausage making, better done in private if you are going to enjoy the finished product. Bode can take a hit to an idea he throws out, and his fans seem to forgive him. Public officials say one stupid thing and people like Bode will never let us forget what we said."

  "But you aren't an elected official," Gordon reminded him.

  "Thank God for that, but I'm still out there on the pointy end, and if I screw up the elected officials will throw me to the wolves in a heartbeat."

  "Hmmm . . . no wonder you're ready to retire," Gordon decided.

  Chapter 7

  "Isn't that pretty?" Lee said, showing Gordon her certificate of citizenship. "I didn't know they'd really print it. But it doesn't have any seals and ribbons like Bode was talking about."

  "I thought he was speaking in metaphor," Gordon said. "It's pretty enough for me just plain." They'd delivered his too, but he was much less excited.

  "What should I do with it? They gave us these," she said, waving a passport that was like a little notebook. "So I don't think they mean for us to carry the certificate around. I'd hate to fold it up and put creases in it."

  "You could tell Blessing to have a safe installed in your condo, and have her hold it and stick it in there when the decorators are done," Gordon suggested, "or you could have it framed and hang it on a wall," he said facetiously.

  "That's what I'll do," Lee surprised him by saying. "It's not like anybody else could use it."

  Gordon nodded agreement, resolving to be more careful what he suggested in jest.

  "Are you ready to get back to Derfhome?" Lee asked.

  "In the morning," Gordon agreed. "I think we've accomplished everything important we wanted here. I hope Timilo has stewed just long enough to be a little more pliable. If we delay too long I can picture him trying to have us declared missing and legally dead so he can find somebody else with whom to negotiate."

  "You don't like him," Lee observed needlessly.

  Gordon looked concerned and thoughtful.

  "I'm still in the process of trying to raise you," he reminded Lee. "You are a little bit an adult by Derf standards. You may occasionally be treated more like an adult in private human society due to being rich, and much more experienced that most other sixteen year olds, but as you saw, the courts can ignore that and strip it away."

  "Like getting my spacer's documents," Lee said.

  "Exactly, a lot of things you get to know by observing what others do, but I'm going to explain something explicitly. Not everybody would agree, but to me a huge part of being a real grownup and a success in life is coming to the realization you can't always get your way. There are going to be people who don't like you, and never will. You may never like them, but you will go ahead and work with them anyway, because it isn't always possible to work against them or around them."

  "Like Timilo," Lee said flatly.

  "Like Timilo," Gordon agreed. "I could expend a great deal of energy to try to remove him and insist on dealing with Talker. At the very best it might work temporarily until Talker and Timilo got back home in their own territory, and then it could unravel undoing everything we all accomplished to the detriment of us, Talker, and even Timilo if he was honest about it."

  "How does this apply to me," Lee asked after thinking on it a bit.

  "Who don't you like?" Gordon asked.

  "Ummm . . . pretty much all Earthies," Lee admitted.

  "How about Clare?" Gordon asked about the girl who Lee insisted be brought along with her when she was rescued from Earth.

  "Of course not, she needs more education and experience, but she's a good person."

  "Then perhaps your cousin and family from Michigan?" Gordon asked.

  "No, they treated me very well and took risks for me even with limited resources."

  "Diana and Jesus?" Gordon suggested of her one time bodyguards who worked to get her safely off Earth and beyond the Moon.

  "No, not all Earthies," Lee said, irritated. "But most," she insisted.

  "Well, we've established there are at least two groups," Gordon said, holding his true hands like he was weighing one in each hand. "How can I tell which is which?" Gordon asked.

  "It's hard to explain," Lee objected.

  "I'll wait until you figure it out and can tell me," Gordon volunteered.

  "I know what you are going to say," Lee protested. "That we have to judge each person as an individual. But I'm never going to get to know most Earthies as individuals. Their culture stinks, and I think I am perfectly reasonable to treat all Earthies as being on probation with me until they prove otherwise. I have a firm statistical sample that says they are much more likely to prove unfriendly to me than people from the other worlds I've known."

  "Now that I won't argue at all," Gordon surprised her by agreeing.

  "But?" Lee prompted, expecting him to undo his apparent approval somehow.

  "But nothing. Once burned, twice shy, and you'd be foolish not to give weight to your experience in life. If you will accept some Earthies as friends and allies after they prove themselves, then you don't have an unreasoning hatred of them," Gordon said.

  "Of course, the corollary applies too," he added after a dramatic pause.

  "Just to be sure, what is this supposed corollary?" Lee asked suspiciously.

  "That if you can't assign all Earthies as enemies without trial, neither can you assume that any other people, Fargoers, or Hinth, or Derf are all friends and allies without some reasonable testing of their loyalties and actions," Gordon said.

  Lee thought about that for a long time, trying to look back and apply it to all the other people she might not have thought to analyze that way before. All the way back, even before her folks died. She searched her memories of when they came in for resupply and visited worlds, Gordon's clan, their banking partners on Derfhome, Gwen the vet, who Gordon hired to bring modern medicine to Red Tree. The majority of people on Earth she hadn't met or categorized as friend or foe. The same with the people of the Lunar Republic and Central. She hadn't met the vast majority of these groups to form a reasonable opinion. Lee could see she had to look at things differently. She would have protested, and been insulted if Gordon had called her naive, but reexamining it there were some areas she was working more on feelings than cold logic.

  When she tallied up everything in her mind, Lee was surprised to find that the group who treated her best, based on their own firm principles, and asking little in return was the Hinth. The Hinth race seemed the most alien of anybody who could talk to her, yet she had to reassign them in her mind as the most predictable.
Derf were mixed, even if family, maybe because they were family. The Humans were the broadest in spectrum. The Earthies, well at least the North Americans, worst. She had to keep reminding herself that she had no real experience of other Earth Humans, there were entire nations and cultures unknown to her.

  Of the people of the Lunar Republic she didn't have any firm opinions. She wasn't even certain the people she'd met from the Spacer Society at the Explorer Club on the Moon were citizens of the Republic. As for the Kingdom of Central, she'd only met a very few of the highest placed people, and she'd already decided Gabriel was sadly maladjusted and unlikely to be a stable ally or a dependable friend except on terms she'd never accept. She liked April, which Gordon was firmly warning her was not a good basis for trusting her to see to Lee's interests. It made her feel quite conflicted. Even though April had confirmed many of the things they had learned from their own Fargoer crew about the history of Home and Central and the Earth.

  Lee wasn't comfortable thinking on a problem so long. It rather reminded her of when she was in jail on Earth, and went over and over things endlessly, because that's all she could do. The thing was, April had confirmed some of the things they knew. She hadn't lied to them, Lee was pretty certain, but she hadn't expanded on what they knew to any significant degree. It was short of what she expected of a friend or an ally. The more Lee thought about that, the more it irritated her. She should have demanded answers much more aggressively.

  Gordon was sitting reading something on his pad and hadn't stirred the whole long while as Lee thought. Lee doubted that was coincidence. She glanced at her pad and saw it had been almost two hours since they'd spoken. She suspected he wouldn't say anything further if she didn't prod him. He also was a little secretive by nature, and sometimes infuriating the way he disconnected from a conversation that hadn't been resolved to her satisfaction. But she didn't always let him get away with it the way she'd let April avoid saying anything of substance.