A Sudden Departure (April Book 9)

by Mackey Chandler

  "How long will that set them back?" April asked.

  "I have no idea. The numbers looked good," Jeff insisted. "I thought we'd see James and his buddy back in a few hours, triumphant."

  "And you've been twice," April marveled. "Though we'd be hard pressed to prove it."

  "Not exactly. While we were hailing the Pedro Escobar Barak and I took some pix of Alpha and we did some wide angle sky shots that will show star displacement. For our own history, and insurance in case we should ever need to prove it."

  "Why would we?" April asked, puzzled.

  "Well, I considered claiming the system for the sovereign nation of Central, but I didn't have time to discuss it with Heather, and I didn't have time to make a marker with a radar reflector and a beacon pinging as a claims marker. But I could have."

  "Yes, you'd better ask her before you start claiming entire star systems in her name. I thought the plan was to go far enough away it would be some time before they catch up?" April remembered. "That makes more sense to me. Could we hold Centauri?"

  "Yes I agree, and it's looking like our system will be safer and more suited to long jumps. I'm even hopeful of other benefits I don't want to brag on until I can prove them, but when you are sitting there with the light of another star streaming in the ports, the idea to just go ahead and claim it is very strong."

  "But this close to Earth, could you hold it?" Barak asked, echoing April.

  "I suspect that even if I could the contest would be ugly," Jeff said. "I'm much more of a reluctant monster than the Earthies paint me. I'd rather avoid conflict."

  "Amen," April said, just a little tipsy. "Hold that thought."

  Chapter 21

  Barak poured the last of the wine, and looked at the bottle funny. Then he moved it up and down weighing it, then snapped it hard with a finger to make it ping. "It's glass, but this feels way light. Like about a third of what it should."

  "They started using new light weight glass last year," April said. "We're just starting to see them, and you'd be surprised how strong they are. They had a vid online showing them driving nails with one."

  "Empty or full?" Barak asked.

  April looked stumped for a moment. "Had to be full. They'd have been whaling away like crazy with an empty, not enough mass to drive a nail."

  "I'm surprised they sell enough to space to make it worth making them special," Jeff said.

  April shook her head no, and then regretted doing that.

  "Not just for space. They got cheap enough they save more than the costs of the bottles in freight, even on Earth. Air transport, and maybe trucks."

  "I got us a table later," April said. "1900, but I've got to nap now or I'll crash half-way through dinner. I call center, if you're joining me.

  Jeff looked at Barak who just shrugged, so they both got up and followed her. At a half G Jeff would take his chances with the edge. He had before, just a different threesome.

  * * *

  "You're sweet, but we have a reservation," April said to a half awake nuzzle a couple hours later. Half G makes it easy to vault over a sleepy partner and claim the shower. Especially when the wine has mostly worn off.

  Both of the men wanted to freshen up as much from imagined grime after days in a suit as any actual lingering traces. Spacers have good noses and not offending is ingrained.

  It was more a locker room atmosphere than intimate getting ready. Jeff looked at his pad for messages, getting into not-urgent levels while Barak hogged the shower.

  "Who the devil would Shahab Parastui be?" he asked, stumbling over the last name.

  "I have no idea at all," April assured him.

  "Well he lists you as his first business reference," Jeff informed her and turned his pad for her to see.

  "Oh Cheesy!" April said. "I'd rather go to his place right now than the Fox and Hare."

  "No wonder he listed you first. That's quite the endorsement."

  "What does he want?" April asked. "I haven't been to his place in months."

  "Umm, quick summary, he wants to set up at Home, because business is declining at ISSII. And to do that he wants a contract with us to lift a guaranteed mass of ground beef to home each month. He's willing to offer minor shares in the new place for favorable rates and a long contract."

  "Do it. Well, do it if it's possible. Run the numbers, but demand we have one discounted visit a week as co-owners," April demanded. "His cheeseburgers are divine."

  "We have to sell stuff to build a star ship, not start new ventures," Jeff protested.

  "This isn't an investment. I just want to eat there," April admitted.

  "It's really good enough to go once a week? They will make you a special order cheeseburger at the cafeteria you know. I don't think you go to the Fox and Hare half that often," Jeff said.

  "A club eats up time. Cheesy's you can pop in for lunch and back out in a half hour. Unless you eat too much and end up in a stupor all afternoon, stuffed. But if it was here, easy to get to and not just a rare treat off at ISSII, I could control myself. Maybe. It's hard to explain, but there just isn't any comparison with what the cafeteria makes."

  "Even if I could supply the beef, and help with the move, there's simply no way anybody is going to sell enough cubic for a restaurant right now. That's why nothing new has opened in almost a year, and that only happened by the employment agency splitting their cubic."

  "Cheesy's is in zero G at ISSII you know," April reminded him.

  "I think you told me once. But we have even less open cubic in either hub than spun volumes, less than ISSII, and it's just as dear."

  "You're tying all the zero G housing modules together as you build them, aren't you?"

  "I am, but I wouldn't recommend a residential unit for a business. Maybe some light fabricating or a service company like accounting that doesn't have a lot of walk in traffic. We have six units on a hub, a hub every six meters and a bit. Nobody will want to come home and find access to his unit blocked by traffic for a restaurant. I already have complaints how tight the tunnels are. Some people are already calling it the rat warren, and I can't think of any way to discourage it. If I made them nice and spacious I'd have more volume in access than the actual useful cubic."

  "The only way to beat that is to give them something catchy to call it they'd rather use. If it sounds like something an architect put on the drawings it'll never be adopted by the public. But I had a different thought. You have a terminal for the shuttle that goes back and forth between Home and your project don't you?"

  "Yes. There has to be a place for people to wait for it to come back. It holds about half again the seating of the shuttle, because sometimes it will get behind around shift changes."

  "Built Cheesy a restaurant module to hang off that. People will stop there rather than come all the way back to Home to eat. I'll see if I can't talk him into making a breakfast too."

  April frowned and thought about it hard. "Build a second one to put on the opposite side. I'll pay for that and make a go of it or not on my own. You don't have to tie any money up in it."

  "Why would you compete with your friend?" Jeff asked.

  "I won't. Not everybody likes burgers. Even I don't more than once or twice a week. But I bet I can find somebody on Home working a lower paying job who I can steal away to make pizza. We have a ton of North Americans still, and it's a staple down there. I had pizza in Hawaii, and the stuff they make in the cafeteria doesn't touch it either."

  "Probably. I've been told pizza shops were common entry level jobs in North America. I do wonder if he can survive until we have enough people living there. We'll only have forty eight units by the end of next month. He might have his heart set on being in Home proper."

  April shrugged. "Ask him. He can sell to Home too. The shuttle goes back and forth all the time. People can pick up a pizza from it when it docks. You can put in lockers to send stuff back and forth. You should do that anyway. It takes less room than a courier using a seat. He can pop a hot pi
e in the slot when it docks and give the customer or their courier the code to open it at Home. The trick will be positioning it so the people don't get in each other's way grabbing stuff from the locker and going back out against the passenger flow."

  "OK. I'll tell him I'm having my people do the numbers and get back to him. Should I add anything from you?" Jeff asked.

  "Tell him I want to know what will happen to his old space and can he, or we, still have a viable business there if it becomes something else, or goes to cheaper menu and maybe adds drinks. I think he might be Muslim so I don't know if he'd allow that. Add the appropriate apologies if that's offensive."

  "You think I'm finally socialized enough to finesse that?" Jeff asked, surprised.

  "I think he's enough of a gentleman to take the thought as the deed, even done crudely."

  "That's better," Jeff said. "I was afraid I was graduating."

  "Fear not. I have lots and lots of work to do on you still."

  Barak reappeared with wet hair. "Am I interrupting anything?" he worried.

  * * *

  Dinner was very nice. They ate at the Fox and Hare, then went to the Quiet Retreat to dance. Barak took a took a turn around the floor with April and then when the band did a much livelier number they both orbited around her. When the music went sedate again Barak made a yielding motion to Jeff and he hardly danced with April before Eduardo Muños appeared out of nowhere and demanded a turn.

  When he sat down again Barak wasn't there. He didn't think anything of it, perhaps he'd gone to the restroom. Then he looked back at the dance floor looking for April and Muños, and there Barak was swirling a lovely brunette around. She spoke and he laughed and they seemed to agree to something. They left the floor and approached the table before the number ended.

  Barak leaned over and spoke near Jeff's ear to be heard over the music.

  "This is Susan. She snagged me on the floor before I could get back to the table."

  Jeff inclined his head to her and she made a little wave with her hand held in by her waist. She couldn't possibly have heard what Barak said.

  "She wants to show me one of the private clubs the beam dogs go to down by their barracks. That's what she does."

  That didn't surprise Jeff. She looked young, naturally young, and very fit which was typical of the vacuum workers who had to work zero G in suits.

  "I'll catch up with you guys later." Then he dropped his voice, which wasn't really necessary, Jeff could barely hear him, and added, "Or for breakfast tomorrow."

  "All right. Have a good time," Jeff told him. And was happy to find he meant it.

  When Eduardo walked April back to the table Jeff made an inviting sweep of his hand to the now empty chair. Eduardo smiled but declined. He hooked a thumb off towards the other side of the room. Jeff couldn't hear him either, but his lips said, "I'm with some people”.

  Jeff leaned over and spoke in April's ear. "Barak got invited to one of the informal clubs the beam dogs frequent."

  "I've heard of those. Gunny said they'd be illegal back in North America," April said.

  "I'm hearing just about everything is," Jeff agreed.

  The band finally took a break so they could talk a little easier. Jeff waved at their waiter and held up two fingers for refills.

  "Yeah, Chen said he wouldn't be surprised if they fined you for going a month with no other fine. I wasn't even sure he was joking. Nobody here cares as long as it's safe, and we have such strict codes for flammables it's about impossible to set a place on fire. Did you know Halon is illegal in North America too? They wouldn't let us use it before the revolution."

  "I don't think I knew what it was back then. I was so green. Start a business and it's amazing all the things you have to learn in a hurry. But why wouldn't they allow us Halon?"

  "The theory, is that compounds like that diminish ozone in the atmosphere and may let too much ultraviolet through, so it was banned," Jeff revealed.

  "But. . . OK you're kidding me," April decided, and gave him a skeptical look.

  "Not even a little bit," Jeff assured her.

  "But our air doesn't have anything to do with their air," April objected. "If we have a release we will probably flush the compartment for smoke anyway, but it doesn't get mixed back with Earth air. There is no way it could affect their ozone or sunlight."

  "All the evidence before your eyes, and you still think laws have to be logical," Jeff said.

  "Dear god how do they keep it running down there?" April asked.

  "Short form. . . they don't, way too often," Jeff said.

  Their waiter set drinks in front of them and whisked the empties away.

  "Barak said he'd see us later, or for breakfast," Jeff added.

  "That's fine, but he better not show up before main shift leaning on the door signal or I'll kill him," April vowed. "Just because we don't need as much sleep now doesn't mean I like it interrupted. I get cranky woken up early."

  "Really? Who told you that?" Jeff said, amused.

  "A friend," April said haughtily.

  The interesting part to Jeff, was that April's door wasn't set to Barak's hand, like his was.

  Chapter 22

  Breakfast was past and Barak hadn't shown up. April didn't seem concerned about it so he didn't bring it up. Jeff was sitting on the couch with April, catching up on messages when he got an alert he had a higher priority message. He answered it quickly before they went away.

  Dave Michelson of Advanced Spacecraft Service was not only waiting but had the video on. He was never chatty and found a text message more time effective usually.

  "We're freed up to start on your next project," Dave told him. "But there's something I'd like to discuss. I'd like to have my shop carry half the cost of the next ship you buid. I don't know how you've structured it, if it's all an internal project, or if you've brought in investors. But whatever half the ship cost is of the overall project then I'd like proportional shares. You've always treated me square, I'd take whatever percentage you feel is fair, but I want in the ground floor. I don't just want a job for pay."

  "We haven't announced any new project," Jeff protested.

  "I'm not stupid," Dave said. "There was only one set of circumstances in which the information you demanded of me the other day would have any use at all. I'm really sad it didn't work out incidentally."

  "That. . . event, wasn't tied to any contract," Jeff said, carefully. "So I realize you have no obligation to keep it confidential. But it would be of great value to me if you could do so."

  "I'm not trying to blackmail you. Far from it," Dave said. "I don't talk about clients' business as a general thing, not nit picking details like a damn Earthie lawyer. I'd just like to get in on the action. If I'm first in line that's sweet, but I'll take what I can get. This is going to be big enough even a little piece of it will be a big deal.

  "I haven't brought in any investors," Jeff admitted. "I was hoping we'd be able to carry it ourselves. Less than a dozen people are aware of the. . . current project. The thing is, I intend to build another drone and do some testing before committing to another ship."

  "Another drone like Weir built?" Dave asked.

  "Not at all," Jeff said. "We have a different set of waypoints for the project."

  "Oh. . . perhaps I didn't understand," Dave said, looking distressed.

  "No, I think you do understand, basically. The objective is substantially the same, but I don't intend to include suicide in my development calendar," Jeff said.

  "Ah, that's fine then. If it takes a little longer than I thought maybe I'll be able to chip in a little more. You might be able to cover the cost yourselves, but more money lets you build to better specs, with better accessories, and faster when you do start. Time is still of the essene, isn't it?" Dave asked.

  "Yes, but we've probably already said too much on com with this level of encryption. I'll discuss this with April and Heather since they need to OK diluting the project with even one minor partner
. Then we can meet somewhere secure and discuss it face to face.

  "One other question. What if somebody else figures out what you did? If somebody comes sniffing around asking questions, what are you going to do, and what do you want me to do?"

  "I intend to stonewall that question. They can assume anything they wish," Jeff said.

  "That's fine with me. As for the drone. I take it that's a step towards the ship. Don't worry about it. I'll start letting contracts as soon as I have data, and cover the cost of the whole thing if it doesn't go over thirty Solar. You can dump the build files on me and go attend to more important stuff. I think you'll like having a shipbuilder as a partner. Your stuff will get priority, and we're the best. Tell me we're not," Dave challenged him.

  "You are absolutely the best," Jeff agreed. "And I mean that personally too."

  Dave blushed. He'd gushed more than usual. "OK, that's enough until we meet," he said, and reverted to his usual brisk form, disconnecting quickly.

  April had spent most of the conversation leaning on Jeff's shoulder after she heard the pad make a priority ping. Dave had seen her of course, but not acknowledged her. So she didn't have to be brought up to speed.

  "Want to tell me again how we're going to have to sell a bunch of stuff to build a ship? The man was begging to pay for half and scared he hadn't got in line fast enough," April said.

  "But it does dilute our interest," he reminded her.

  "I refer you to what you told Barak and his family. Even one percent of a star system would be more than any Earthie king ever grasped. And you, my audacious friend, have been talking about seizing a handful of them. I think we can afford to share some of that."

  Jeff nodded agreement to the financial analysis easily. What really stuck in his mind was that she said Barak's family. He hadn't thought of them that way, but it felt right.

  * * *

  The weather was definitely moderating. But the indoor-outdoor thermometer used batteries that died a month back, and they had no spares. Jonathan and Jenny had shut off the other rooms and lived in the kitchen for most of the winter. They had nowhere near enough wood to use the big stove in the great room, though he'd cut as much as he could. It was just a good thing the bathroom was built against a common wall from the kitchen for the plumbing. They opened the wall between them and removed one stud to keep the toilet from freezing.