Variations on Humanity

by Paul Eslinger

  Trixie smiled, showing perfect teeth. “We can’t read the mind of a stranger, but it is easy to see a mind.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “A mind uses electrical energy and also some quantum level–”

  “Whoa,” Rhona blurted as she raised both hands. “Keep it to words of no more than two syllables.”

  “Okay.” Trixie smiled. “The main point is we can see a mind from a distance. We can also get a bearing. With two sensors, we could accurately triangulate the position. Not only that, we can distinguish between a human, an Abantu, and any animal.”

  The possibilities were intriguing. Rhona pushed ahead with questions. “How close do you have to be?”

  “We’d need to experiment, but I predict we can see a human out to about five miles. We can do it through any natural or man-made material.”

  “You’re thinking about improved boundary sensors, aren’t you?”

  “That was what started this discussion,” Sam said. “I hope I never make another visit like the one we just made to Andrea’s apartment. You need to hire a security force.”

  “How much computing power will you need?” Rhona continued.

  Trixie glanced at Sam thoughtfully, but her gesture indicating negation was directed at Rhona. “Not much if we weren’t trying to interpret the thoughts.”

  “You said you can distinguish between humans and animals. Could you tell me if the same person tripped your sensors more than once?”

  Trixie frowned, and then her face brightened. “We could do that if we collected more data. People claim that fingerprints are unique, but minds are truly unique.”

  “Suppose we put a couple of these new sensors close to Senator Harper’s office. What would we learn?”

  “Just that people come and go,” Trixie replied. “However, with some additional work by Dulcis, we could match the mind signatures with real people.”

  “How long will it take to build the new sensors?”

  “Dulcis has already completed the manufacturing sequence. We can build one per hour starting today. If we’re willing to pay, they can make five times that many on Mars.”

  “Let Laura make the manufacturing call. I’d like the boundary covered right now.”

  Trixie nodded. “I’ll talk to her.”

  Dulcis broke into the conversation. “There is an incoming call for Rhona from President Leek.”

  Startled, Rhona swallowed hard. “I’ll take it.”

  A deep voice rolled across the room. “Good afternoon, Rhona.”

  “Good afternoon, sir. This is a surprise.”

  “David Beganovic told me someone tried to kill one of your friends in Jetmore this morning.”

  Not surprised at the implied surveillance activities, Rhona shrugged. “Yes. Fortunately, she should make a complete recovery.”

  “Do you know who did it?”

  “Not yet. We have some initial clues.”

  “Do you need help?” the president asked.

  Rhona paused, thinking quickly. “Yes. We don’t have police powers or an extradition treaty.”

  “You’ve got it. Please coordinate your requests through David.”

  “I’ll call him today.”

  “There’s one other thing. I know you’re a private citizen, but I’d like to come to your wedding.”

  Rhona couldn’t decide whether her surge of emotion was elation or apprehension. It was probably both. “You’re welcome. But, you know the restrictions for coming to Jetmore.”

  “My Secret Service people are having a cow over my request, but I accept the restrictions. Please coordinate the details through David.”

  “Of course. I’ll even send you an invitation. My mother will enjoy addressing the envelope.”

  “Thank you. Good day.”

  Rhona saw a shocked look on Sam’s face when her conversation with the president ended. She smiled and waved both hands. “What do you think?”

  He shrugged. “They’re watching us really close. You wouldn’t believe how many satellites can see us right now.”

  “We expected that, and we know who most of the watchers are. Did I make the correct decision?”

  “Yes. Laura won’t authorize a strike team.” Sam rubbed his black hair as if thinking.

  Rhona smiled and couldn’t resist prodding Sam. “What about the wedding?”

  Sam hesitated. “I’m … not surprised.”

  “Why not?” Rhona demanded.

  “He probably knows there are several Abantu on the invitation list. It gives him a chance to personally meet those living on Ceres.”

  Rhona hoped her next statement was true. She thought it was true, and she desperately hoped it was true, but she still wasn’t totally convinced every Abantu was altruistic, even if they weren’t violent. “He’ll be safe around the Abantu, more so than around humans.”

  * * *

  At lunch, Rhona sat down beside her mother in the cafeteria. Elaine, Diana, and Lisa were also there. She said casually, “The president called this morning.”

  Judith chuckled. “You like dropping verbal bombshells. What did he want?”

  “He offered to help us find the people who mugged Andrea.”

  Judith’s cheerful expression soured. “I heard about Andrea. That was terrible. Did you accept his help?”

  “Of course.”

  “That’s it? Didn’t he say anything else?” Judith prompted appreciatively sniffed the steam rising from her hot cup of coffee.

  “Oh, there’s one other thing I almost forgot. He wants to come to my wedding.”

  Judith jumped, snorted coffee through her nose and slopped most of the remaining coffee in her cup across the table. “That’s a different twist to your invitation list.”

  Rhona grabbed a napkin and helped her mother wipe up the mess. “You’re helping me with the invitations. Will you send him one?”

  A note of sarcasm worked into Judith’s voice. “Do I just address it to the president at the White House?”

  “That would probably work. Talk to Dulcis.”

  Keene approached the table, carrying a loaded tray. “Hello, everyone.”

  “We’re talking wedding plans,” Rhona warned.

  “Can I join?” Laura asked from behind Keene.

  A funny look crossed Keene’s face. He cocked his head to one side. “Oh… I’ll go talk shop with Sam and Trixie about the new sensor. They already made two of them.”

  “Later.” Rhona waved at Keene and then looked around the table. “We’re down to six weeks on the wedding. I really need to start looking for a dress.”

  Judith’s laugh sounded like a bark. “Most shops want six months lead time. You have to make an appointment to visit the store rather than browsing through the racks.”

  Diana leaned forward with an eager expression. “Are you going shopping? I love it here, but I haven’t been to a store since we arrived. I need some retail therapy.”

  “I’ve never been to a bridal shop,” Laura said.

  The comment seemed inconsistent with old photos Rhona had seen of Abantu women and their human husbands. “But, you and … and Samuel…”

  “I know,” Laura said quietly with a little wave of her hand. “I personally made that dress with a little help from Maria and Creola.”

  “Where did you get the material?” Lisa asked.

  “From a shop in Wichita. It’s no longer in business.”

  Lisa turned towards Rhona. Her twelve-year-old face was alive with interest. “Are you going to make your dress?”

  Rhona chuckled and shook her head. “Mother tried to help me when I was young, but I never got interested in sewing. I could install sutures or poke the material with a dental pick, but there’s no chance I could run a straight seam.”

  “You wouldn’t h
ave to,” Laura commented.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Wilda, Geena, and Teresa already offered to make you a dress. They’ll make it in the manufacturing complex. They can duplicate any desired clothing material down to the molecular level.”

  “Does that mean we don’t get to go shopping?” Diana asked with a disappointed look.

  “I want something comfortable,” Rhona said to Laura while ignoring Diana’s comment.

  “Of course,” Laura said while she waved one hand in dismissal. “The words uncomfortable and clothing should never be used in the same sentence. But, the dress should be protective.”

  Rhona felt her eyes widen. “Are you saying the dress would be like a protective suit?”

  “There will be strangers in the audience.”

  “Yes, yes.” Rhona leaned back and picked up her fork. “But wouldn’t those things be obvious?”

  “No. We only used a few techniques in the protective suits. We have others. Some of them are latent, in that they only respond to active threats.”

  Rhona laughed. “I can see it now. Keene and I are standing there with the minister. Keene tries to kiss me and my dress kicks him on his butt.”

  Laura joined the laugh that ran around the table. “We can fine-tune the protection scheme for selected individuals.”

  “Great!” Diana was still smiling after the laugh died away. “Rhona gets a wonderful dress but we don’t get to go to a bridal shop.”

  “You all get dresses as gifts from me,” Laura said. “We aren’t going to have any repeats of what happened this morning. We’re contracting with our people on Mars to build the new sensors and everyone will have better personal protection equipment within the next month.”

  The mood sobered immediately. Elaine heaved a deep sigh. “I’m glad Andrea will recover. But, speaking of retail therapy, what would be the cost of these dresses if we were to buy them?”

  “There isn’t a market price and we are the only place that could make them.”

  “Can they do it in Europe when we build the new complex?” Diana asked. Orval was taking a lead role in preparing to build the complex. He was out on a trip negotiating contracts to modernize and start up a metal manufacturing plant only fifty miles from Rhona’s childhood home. That plant would manufacture new corrosion impervious metals.

  “They could–about seven years from now.”

  “No market price?” Elaine persisted.

  “Many of the items are on the prohibited exchange list, so the price isn’t the appropriate measure. However, several governments would gladly trade a truckload of gold for a dress.”

  “I was thinking of spending a few hundred dollars,” Diana said in a small voice.

  “I have a suggestion,” Laura continued. “Let’s take a cargo shuttle to Wichita tomorrow and hit a few shops. I’m not immune to the lure of shopping.”

  Chapter 29 – Local Treatments

  Judith pulled Rhona aside when they finished lunch. “I just got a call from Hugo.”

  For a moment, Rhona was at a loss placing the name.

  “The World Health Organization representative we met in Cameroon.”

  “Oh, yeah, I remember now. What did he want?”

  “He made another visit to the village where the people had Ebola.”

  “Was there a problem?”

  Judith let out a long sigh. “Yes. Oh, no one else has come down with Ebola and everyone we treated is doing well. They were so impressed with the quick cure that everyone started taking the shots and supplements.”

  Rhona nodded. “They all felt good and started looking younger.”

  “Right. Anyway, thugs stole all of the medicine in the village after Laura’s speech to the U.N. Security Council. Also, someone broke in at Hugo’s workplace and stole all of the samples they were studying.”

  “How soon can you start making large-scale deliveries?”

  “Another two months. We just finished making another manufacturing unit. Theresa’s whiz girls say they can build sixty more in the next two months. By that time, we’ll be able to make a couple million treatment sets a day.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  Judith laughed. “I want you to take two sets of the initial shots to Fayette and Harmony, the Patello twins, and convince them to use them.”

  “Have you ever met them?”

  “No, but Elaine described your visit with them last summer in the dental van. They must be quite a pair.”

  Rhona nodded. “I’ll do it–provided you go with me.”

  “I will.”

  “Anything else?”

  “I need to make another visit to one of the nursing homes where we are running clinical trials. Will you come with me?”

  “As long as Laura doesn’t squelch the idea. When are you going?”

  “We’re scheduled at the nursing home the day after tomorrow. I’m thinking of calling Fayette and Harmony right now and going over there this afternoon.”

  * * *

  Forty minutes later, Rhona met her mother in the front room of the house after making a quick run to the infirmary to check on Andrea. Medical equipment cocooned Andrea but Nanda assured Rhona the patient was doing fine.

  “I’ll drive,” Rhona offered.

  “Sure. Are we taking Keene’s car?”

  “No. There’s a pilentum free. We’ll take it.”

  They walked side by side along the covered walkway that attached the house to a new garage. The walls were transparent above waist height, but Rhona knew they were bulletproof. Keene had said the glass was stronger than the shell of any battle tank.

  The door pivoted back noiselessly on hydraulic hinges when Rhona turned the handle. Two of the bays were empty, but there were pilentum in the other two bays. Rhona stopped and looked at her mother over the top of the vehicle. “Keene hasn’t used his car since we arrived. He’s planning to sell it. I sold mine on the last visit to Rapid City. We’ll use these from now on.”

  “Company car?”

  “You might call it that,” Rhona said as she slid into the driver’s seat. “I call it safe driving.”

  “Callie says it used to be quiet around here,” Judith commented when the pilentum pulled out on the gravel road. Earth moving equipment gouged at the hillside about a half mile from the house. The planned building was big enough to house the four cargo shuttles now sitting in a row on the ground like beached whales.

  “Not anymore,” Rhona responded. “We’ve finished the conceptual master plan. There will be a lot of green space because most of the buildings will be like icebergs, mostly underground, including the hanger for the shuttles.”

  Judith gestured at the distant men running the heavy equipment. “Charles says a lot of the building work will be automated, but there will still be a couple thousand workers.”

  “All the more reason to drive one of these,” Rhona said.

  The casual conversation continued until the pilentum slowed to turn into the driveway at the Patello residence about fifteen minutes later. Unlike many residences in the county, the two-story wood-frame house was in excellent shape. The paint was less than a year old, the ridge line was straight, and the shingles looked new.

  The hedge of golden currant bushes along the driveway had shed their leaves for the winter, but swollen buds would soon split to release new growth. A flower bed bordered the front porch and dried hydrangea blossoms promised new color in the summer. Someone had trimmed the chrysanthemum plants and there was a hint of fresh green growth on the stems. Dozens of daffodils had emerged and a yellow edge lined the closed blossoms waving in the gentle breeze.

  When the pilentum came to a stop, Judith picked up the cloth bag holding two sets of medicine and enough supplements for two people for three months. “I’m ready,” she said.

 
“Let’s go,” Rhona responded when she stepped out on the gravel driveway. The doors automatically closed on the vehicle as the two women moved towards the house.

  The door opened to reveal a white-haired woman with wrinkled skin. She was so thin her clothes hung on her frame. She held onto the door with one hand and looked at the visitors with red-veined grey eyes. “Hello, Rhona,” she said. “I haven’t seen you in months.”

  “Hello,” Rhona replied. “You’re Fayette, aren’t you? I’d like for you to meet my mother, Judith.”

  “Hello, Judith. Yes, I’m Fayette.”

  “And I’m Harmony,” said another woman who moved into the entryway and stopped behind her twin sister. They were dressed identically.

  Fayette inclined her head towards the inside while her cold grey eyes continued to study Judith. “Come in. You said you wanted to talk.”

  “Thank you.” Rhona let her mother enter first.

  “We can talk at the table,” Harmony said while she led the way into the neat kitchen. A steaming teapot sat in the middle of the table and there were four place settings with teacups.

  “Thank you,” Judith said as she pulled out a chair and sat.

  Rhona stood behind another chair while both of the older women walked around the table. Neither of them seemed as steady on their feet as they had been the previous summer.

  Harmony picked up the teapot and started pouring tea into the cups. “It isn’t time to have our teeth cleaned again,” she said.

  “We haven’t been having any dental problems,” added her sister.

  “Why are you here?” Harmony asked.

  Fayette had continued to study Judith and she cocked her head to one side. She spoke before either of the visitors could respond to Harmony. “You don’t look old enough to be Rhona’s mother.”

  “I agree.” Harmony’s hand shook slightly when she set the teapot on the table. “Why did you come here?”

  “Did you hear about Andrea?” Rhona asked.

  “Yes,” Fayette responded. “We know Olga Booker’s mother quite well.”

  “Andrea was severely injured, but she will recover completely. Nanda says she won’t even have any scars.”