April 8: It's Always Something

by Mackey Chandler

  All this is exactly why we need your help," Jeff admitted. "Carry on and let me know when we can drop a test flight. I'm really looking forward to it."

  "Thank you. I'll keep sending you updates," Li promised, disconnected, and immediately made a different call over a new concern.

  "Chen? Li here. I just got through speaking with Singh. He wasn't totally explicit, but he gave me the impression he wishes to drop on the first landing with new untested equipment. Actually ride it. This is just totally irresponsible for him to risk himself. No way do I want to confront him on it, but if that's what he really meant we have to find some way to dissuade him."

  "I'm not sure how to do that," Chen admitted. "I work for him, as do you." he reminded Li.

  "He's not the only investor on this venture is he? I know it was his idea, but others have an interest to protect. Leak the possibility to the other investors and they'll have a fit that their golden goose is going to play test pilot," Li suggested.

  "Maybe, if I can do it and not get caught, or act like I didn't think it would be any big deal to reveal...Yeah that's the way to do it. He'd believe it was an innocent act easier, because that's how he thinks. He'll put all the blame on the other investors for not being reasonable, by his measure."

  "I knew you'd figure out how to handle it," Li said. "Thanks."

  * * *

  "It's odd you'd be asking me that," April's grandpa said. His face showed real puzzlement too.

  "I've no clue why from this end," April said. She hoped he wasn't going to make her guess. There were times when she was much younger that he had delighted playing that silly game with her.

  "Your grandma and I were watching the telly just yesterday and they mentioned trade with you guys, with Home, and the moon. Normally I expect them to always have something nasty to say, but they mentioned we buy goods for which there isn't any other source and left it at that. They didn't slip a barb in at the end. It was so different your Gran and I just looked at each other and raised our eyebrows. We're more sensitive to that than others, since we have folks up there, and have had snippy remarks over it from church friends and local business people. But it was different enough that it surprised us."

  She found it interesting how he lumped Home and the moon together. "Any softening on Life Extension Therapies?" April asked, hopefully. "That would be a real shocker.

  "They'd have to get the preachers to come on board for that. They're still saying it thwarts God's will and the bible says man's lot is three score and ten," Grandpa said.

  "Jeff is trying to get landing rights in Australia, but we aren't putting all our eggs in one basket. We still have Tonga and can land in the ocean, but now we're getting a ship altered so we can land on it. So we wondered what public sentiment is like now."

  "Bah, don't worry about public sentiment," her gramps said. "It will be whatever the talking heads tell the sheep to believe for a week."

  That shocked April. She'd never heard her grandpa be so cynical before.

  "And I shall tell your grandma that you are concerned about public opinion, and getting landing rights for your business, but I shan't say a word about your young man. She gets all tight lipped and unhappy if he's mentioned," Gramps admitted.

  "Is there anything I can do to soften her on that?" April asked. "Does she realize he's really well off? I mean, it's like most rich people, he has all kinds of assets but they aren't necessarily liquid. It's all tied up doing something and as soon as something gets a cash flow we're off to put it to work on something else. Besides, we agreed to pool resources, with a three way split when we declared the revolution and I'm as rich as he is. I don't need his money. With what Bob left me and what I was paid to go down to Earth after the war I probably have more actual cash than Jeff."

  "When you declared the revolution?" Gramps asked with a peculiar look.

  "Between the three of us. We never said anything publicly, we just gave others a little...nudge," April said. From the look on his face even that was too much to absorb. April felt a pang at his attitude, because she'd never admitted their alliance so frankly to anyone. It was certainly past doing any harm, and obvious to everyone who knew them now, but it hurt to finally say something and have it doubted.

  "Your mom and dad have never mentioned that. Come to think of it, they've never said if they had any part in leaving the USNA." He said the last like a question.

  "Dad represents Mitsubishi, so he has kept a very low profile to not compromise his ability to speak and act for them. Mom just never seemed very interested in politics, before or after the revolution. He did mention to me recently that Mitsubishi has terminated their North American corporation, so it's a Japanese subsidiary running it again. Apparently they are still happy having a non-Japanese manager. Since he has to deal with mostly ex-North Americans and Europeans that makes sense. He makes a good buffer knowing the different culture.

  "Mom...I don't think she approves of any change. She's stayed out of politics, and she voted against my own majority. I'm not sure she wouldn't do the same today," April admitted. That got no reaction at all from her grandpa, so maybe he agreed with her mom. April just hoped he wouldn't back track and ask too specifically what she did in the revolution.

  "Yes, but your dad intimated he doesn't want to keep doing it forever," her Grandpa said, ignoring any discussion of her mom or her.

  That surprised April. He hadn't been so forthcoming with her. "It's been years," April admitted. "I guess I'd get tired of doing the same thing after awhile. They treat him really well though. The housing allowance alone is generous. But we have a huge labor shortage. He'd have no trouble having a pick of lots of things to do. The more so for his experience."

  "He mentioned the moon, but I suppose it's all the same there too?" Gramps asked.

  "Oh yeah, they have more work than people too. But the moon is still very much frontier. It isn't very comfortable there. There's hardly any retail business or entertainment. I own land at Central on the moon, but I haven't had the time or money to develop it. I have a long sloping tunnel down and a storage room. You couldn't live there yet," April said.

  "Central is where your other friend is now?" Gramps asked.

  "Heather, yes. She's the sovereign there," April agreed.

  "The Queen?" her grandpa asked, squinting a little. Did he think this all fanciful? Did he think it funny? Maybe just some sort of role-playing game?

  "I've heard her called Queen of the Moon," April admitted, "but she's never styled herself that way. The French and the USNA have sites too you know. She doesn't dictate to them."

  Her grandpa did look disbelieving, or at least very dubious.

  "So are you a subject?" he asked a bit distastefully, "or are you still a citizen of Home?"

  "There's no barrier to being both," April assured him. "Heather herself is a citizen of Home and votes in the Assembly. I'm a peer by her word, as is Jeff. She's named about a dozen peers." She wasn't sure at all how being Australian would affect his views on those matters.

  "So, you're sworn to her?" he asked. "Monarchies are kind of going out of style."

  "No, we didn't have the ceremony," April said. "Though I've seen it."

  April had never actually thought about it before, but it made perfect sense.

  "We were peers and sworn to each other long before she ever declared her sovereignty. That was something that came up as a bit of an emergency. She'd sold land to people from Armstrong and they were fleeing to Central with USNA forces in pursuit to force them back. The refugees wanted her to intervene, but she was reluctant to engage them without some greater authority than she felt she possessed. Well one of them knelt and offered to swear to her if she'd protect them."

  "What does 'engage them' mean?" Her grandpa asked. Skeptically. She was sure of it now.

  "She let the refugees go on to Central and waited there. When the USNA rovers came into sight she laid an artillery barrage on them and destroyed them."

  Her grandpa loo
ked at her hard and allowed a considerable silence.

  "Why haven't I heard anything about this?" he asked.

  "You just did," April pointed out. "You told me moments ago how useless the talking heads are on the telly. Would you really expect to hear it from them?"

  That produced a flicker of doubt, but April was pretty sure it was all too much for him to believe. And he was the reasonable one she'd made sure to speak with instead of her grandma. She excused herself and disconnected, perhaps a little abruptly, but politely. She was afraid she'd say something unkind. If she'd told the same story to her grandmother she was pretty sure the woman would think a psychological evaluation was in order, because she'd think April delusional. They both had a hard time imagining anything outside their personal experience, or what the telly told them, no matter his disclaimer of talking heads. That didn't include revolution and exploding spaceships, not even in fiction.

  Her mom and dad had been trying to get them to come to Home for years. This conversation today convinced April that was a lost cause, and they'd never be persuaded to leave their comfortable familiar surroundings. If her parents wanted to keep pushing that they could, but April resolved never to mention it again. It made her a little sad, they would likely never get Life Extension Therapy, but it wasn't anything she could change.

  * * *

  "My grandpa indicated the Australians may be softening on the basis of one news report," April told Jeff. "I think that's far too thin a datum upon which to draw any conclusions. His advice was to ignore the broad public opinion and concern ourselves with the government stance. He was unusually blunt in saying the one forms the other, not the reverse. He may have a point, but I'd suggest you hire a news clipping service to watch for negative and positive keywords in Australian stories about space. I did not have a good conversation with him, so I don't want to keep checking back and asking his opinion again."

  "I thought you talked to him because you didn't get along as well with your grandmother?"

  "You're right. But it still didn't go...great. He scoffed at the news programs he sees, but obviously didn't believe what I told him any better. He even said he would censor what he said to her to exclude the fact I mentioned you. He said she gets an unhappy face when you are mentioned. That upsets me. I hate this attitude I'm a delicate little flower and you, or anybody else, may take advantage of me. I'm grown up damn it!"

  "I wouldn't assume you're at the center of this problem," Jeff said. He had this sad look April didn't understand. She just looked at him quizzically.

  Jeff sighed, heavily. "You usually teach me social things. But this is an area in which I have more experience. Your grandparents are older and more thoroughly immersed in Earth Think. The Australians are still basically an English culture, not just the language..."

  He looked at April but could see she still wasn't making any connection.

  "They may have a very hard time accepting you have an Indian boyfriend," he finally said bluntly.

  April's mouth was actually hanging open.

  "I'm rather dark too," Jeff elaborated, "obviously not black, but not sufficiently white either. I doubt anyone would mistake me for Italian, or call me swarthy. Some folks have told me I look like a full blooded Native American to them, but that's silly, I've seen photos and the shape of my face is all wrong, they're just looking at the superficial color."

  "You're beautiful!" April objected. "Coppery, like one of the pennies Jon collects! I can't believe that would matter to anyone."

  "It's a pretty common...opinion actually," Jeff said, matter-of-fact. Refusing to even call it a prejudice, or get emotional about it. "They probably look at me and smell curry. You know the English got upset at Kipling for saying, "’E was white, clear white, inside." Of Gunga Din. Then he made it worse by saying he could be a better man than a Englishman. The attitude still lingers.

  "Ask Ruby about how she and Easy have been treated trying to vacation on Earth," Jeff said. "You can make people act a certain way with laws, but you can't change how they feel. In honesty, even on Home I occasionally see a certain unguarded look that I recognize. It makes me doubt what feelings certain people harbor on the matter."

  "You know, Ruby did tell me a little about that, but it's been years and I haven't thought about it until you made me remember. Of course, they're black, and that was North America."

  Jeff just tilted his head, and gave a questioning look, like...So?

  "Yeah, same cultural roots," April acknowledged. "I thought maybe they were sternly disapproving that we haven't married. Not that I'd ask you to satisfy what they think proper. But then I'd feel obligated to ask Heather too and that would probably make their heads explode..."

  Jeff was laughing so hard it shut April right up.

  When he finally ran down to where he could speak, he wiped away the tears and smiled.

  "You asking me, instead of the other way around, would be entirely sufficient to make their heads explode," Jeff said, illustrating on his own head with his hands. "Marrying below your class is much worse than your granddaughter merely having an embarrassing boyfriend. That's just a temporary embarrassment. Add in the complexities of our loving Heather, the weird woman from the moon who thinks herself a sovereign, and I can almost guarantee you'll be able to see the flash of their outrage exploding from orbit."

  April felt like she should be indignant, but she found herself snickering at Jeff's word picture.

  "Very well. I think we've established there will be no pleasing them, so I'll stop worrying about it. If there's always something hidden and unmentionable, we can't have an honest discussion. They have my com number any time they want to call," April decided.

  "Don't hold your breath," Jeff advised her. "It's a talk they'll avoid, because it isn't about facts, it's about how they feel, and it's not terribly defensible if you say it out loud. It isn't really acceptable to express those sort of feeling openly down there either, so they get covered up where they still exist."

  "This is about how I feel too," April objected. "Are my feelings any less valid than theirs?"

  "I'd say how you feel is much kinder," Jeff said. Which was just the right thing to say.

  * * *

  "We lucked out," Chen informed Li.

  "You leaked Singh's intentions and didn't get caught?"

  "Better. He casually spilled the beans on himself to a major investor. The guy chewed him out up one side and down the other for being an irresponsible risk taker. I'm relieved. If I did leak it and he found out five years from now he still wouldn't forgive me. Trying to manage your boss is a dangerous hobby. Better in hindsight, and all the relief I felt, to have had this issue out with him honestly.

  "Hmm. Perhaps you are right. Although it seems an excessive obsession with honesty."

  "Li, keep that up and you won't have to worry about Singh. I won't trust you."

  He disconnected to let him think on that a bit.

  Chapter 19

  "Mr. Singh, I'm Gary Morgan. I'm an executive assistant to the Coordinator of Legislation for the Australian Prosperity Party."

  "Good evening Mr. Morgan." Jeff considered his title. The man must be at least four layers down in the structure of a minor party. It didn't seem like this could be too important for them to send him to speak for them. "I don't wish to offend you, but I'm unfamiliar with all the political parties in Australia. So I can't speak intelligently with you on any issues. I'm simply not aware of your party's principles nor membership. With that in mind what can I do for you?"

  Morgan waved that away as unimportant. He didn't seem offended. "I understand. There are seventy two political parties in Australia and I'm not fully conversant with the ideals of every one. It only takes five hundred registered members to have a party recognized, and some of them, like the Free Beer Party, have obviously been formed simply to tweak the noses of the major ones, the Liberals and Labor."

  "Ah...that's interesting. Our own Assembly accepts spokesmen for certain interest g
roups, but they only need two hundred members. It's mostly to cut down on unnecessarily long Assembly meetings because they agree to consolidate their proposals and have one spokesman instead of all of them speaking individually. The individual members still vote and can introduce other issues. Indeed they are not forbidden from voting against their own representative if they have internal conflict or some other spox persuades them."

  "That's...amazing," Morgan said, looking thoughtful. "How many such groups bother to organize and exist if they have no real power?"

  "We are nearing four thousand citizens, and last time I looked there were only three," Jeff admitted. "Of course several have existed and then split over some issue and been unable to gain two hundred members again."

  "What sort of issues are represented?" Morgan asked.

  "Well, you know how people are...every Assembly has fresh issues raised. It's always something. The one theme that seems persistent is from the Freedom Party. Most of us refer to it as the Moocher Party. They wish any resident to have automatic citizenship and a vote in the Assembly without paying utility and maintenance fees. They come from places where it was acceptable to live on the government dole and air really was free, not to mention a few see water and power as human rights. They mistakenly think Mitsubishi should be the government and supply cubic and utilities free. Except for a hard core of maybe a half dozen people most members withdraw in the first year after they see how things really work. The party recruits very aggressively with new arrivals. If immigration ever slows down they will drop under two hundred and go away."

  "Well of course, we all have to pay taxes," Morgan said, shocked.

  "Not taxes," Jeff corrected. "Taxes are cheap and voluntary. Mitsubishi is a private company that owns the physical structure of the habitat. A lot of people rent directly from the corporation, and everybody pays a quarterly fee for air, water, power and keeping the public airlocks, dockage and balance systems working. Taxes only pay for internal security, a coordinator and gear for the militia. That's much cheaper. We have a cost sharing arrangement for health care with Mitsubishi. They provide cubic for the clinic and a base level of support, because their construction crew has been a big user. There's a line item every year to support clinic upgrades and maintenance. They keep a couple extra people working above what Mitsubishi would support too.