Another Word for Magic

by Mackey Chandler

  “Back to the ship,” Musical said.

  “Wait,” the Human manager said. “What are you used to paying?”

  “I can get a sleeping room on Derfhome for five dollars Ceres with a breakfast for Derf included,” Born said.

  “I can’t cover my air and electric for that,” the manager pleaded.

  Born looked around at the empty lobby.

  “It seems slow. Whatever you make from us is that much less of a loss,” Born suggested. “I tell you what. We’ll split the cost for a hundred dollars Ceres. That’s an extravagance for us. We’re paying out of our own pockets. Otherwise, we’ll go sleep on our ship.”

  “You have a ship and you can’t afford a room?” the manager asked.

  “We got a free ride with April Lewis and Jeff Singh. We’re just technicians, allowed along to see some of our work tested.

  “On one condition,” the manager said, lowering his voice though there wasn’t a soul in sight.

  “What’s that?” Born said suspiciously.

  “That you don’t tell anyone I let you stay that cheaply and you mention us favorably to Lewis and Singh.”

  “Done,” Born said. He got his bank card out of his purse and held his breath. The reader took it without a hiccup.

  “Why do you think his business is so slow?” Musical asked Born in the corridor.

  “I suspect a lot of people went down to the planet. I bet it’s cheaper down there. And fewer Fargoers are coming up to see the new hab. Especially if they find out a room is going to run them five hundred dollars.”

  “I bet you are right,” Musical said and grimaced. “I have to stop saying that around Fargoers. They take it literally.”

  “The corridors aren’t very crowded either,” Born noticed. “But looking at the people I do see a difference in dress. I’ve seen just a couple of people I suspect are Fargoers, with very bright clothing and shoes that look suitable to wear outside. The Beta people run to pastels and the same sort of slippers or socks, footies they call them, that Home people favor. Stepping on a few pebbles will cure them of that. Humans have delicate sensitive feet.”

  “My Boss told me Lee discussed that with him,” Musical said. “It turns out that some places on Earth very poor people go barefoot. He said that if you never wear shoes your feet are shaped entirely differently and covered with hard pads. But I don’t think most of our humans have ever seen such a thing. We Badgers don’t generally like to wear boots.”

  “Poor is relative,” Born pointed out. “There is too poor to own shoes and then there is too poor to pay for five hundred dollars a night hotel rooms.

  “I wonder,” Musical said. “Will his rooms get cheaper or will the rooms on the planet get more expensive?”

  “That’s beyond me. If he told the truth about expenses, the hotel may have to go out of business,” Born said.

  “Then this may be a never to be repeated treat,” Musical decided.

  “Right now, supper seems a never to be repeated treat,” Born said. “I’m braced for what that will cost too.”

  Musical looked alarmed. “Oh, dear. It will be proportional, won’t it? Can you net search for a cheap restaurant?”

  * * *

  “I believe the English idiom for this is a dive,” Born said.

  “The Badger expression translates barn but that doesn’t really convey the full feeling,” Musical said. “We have different words for different kinds of barns and that one is for a stinky animal barn.”

  “Nick’s - A working Spacer and Beam Dog bar with traditional bar food,” Born read off the local dining guide on his pad again. The door was steel-faced with modest painted lettering on it the only signage and it had no windows. It would have eased their minds to see inside. The place was on the half g level which was semi-industrial. The corridor was floored in rubbery tiles instead of carpet and carts going past carried goods.

  “We can always leave if it’s too pricey,” Musical said. “I had no idea we should bring our own snacks. One of the university cafeteria’s grab-and-go sandwiches sounds pretty good right now, even if it was a little stale from traveling.”

  “Yeah, especially since I usually get to finish two-thirds of yours. Follow me,” Born said with sudden resolve.

  The bar was so dark they had to stop and wait for their eyes to adjust or risk walking into things. The only thing Born could see clearly was a massive table in the back with a long light hung low over it. It had a translucent shade over it bright with art that he would have never expected in such a place. The two Humans standing by that table with sticks looked at them and turned back to what they were doing indifferently.

  Musical recovered first, being able to see the long bar that had lights low behind it to allow the bartender to work. There were more bottles on tiers behind it than he’d ever seen in one place. The man was sitting on a stool not busy at all at the moment, regarding them with interest. He was dark enough to blend into the gloom but had on a brilliant white apron. The light from below the bar made his face grotesque from the harsh shadows. Two other Humans were seated at the bar hunched over their drinks. Only five people were in a space that would hold fifty easily. Business must be as slow as the hotel. There was no music just an occasional tock, tock, tock, from the table in the back.

  “Put your hand on my shoulder. I can see well enough to guide you. I see a little table by the wall where we’ll fit nicely. You can sit on the floor and the table will be plenty high for you.”

  “I can see the outline of other tables now, I’m just not getting much color yet.” But he did let Musical guide him.

  The bartender took his time coming over with a couple of single sheet menus.

  “You guys speak Standard?” he inquired.

  “No, sir, English, Derf, and Badger,” Musical said.

  The bartender gave a forced little laugh.

  “Local hab idiom, I guess. Standard is English with a little Japanese and Spanish tossed in.” He paused like he was thinking about it. “A bit of Tongan and Yiddish too for that matter. We’re a real mix. If you hang around very long, we’ll probably steal Derf and Badger expressions from you without compensation.”

  “Oh good. We’re both proficient in English, at least enough to deal with our English-speaking patron.”

  “That’s interesting. You work for Humans?”

  “Yes, sir. We’re researchers for Lee Anderson, though she went back home to Derfhome. We’re here with April Lewis and Jeffery Singh. They have business to do, and cut us loose to be tourists while waiting on them.”

  “Homies,” he said. “I know of them. I’ve seen both stand up in the Assembly and they show up on the gossip boards. You don’t have to sir me. Nick is fine.”

  “Nick, we are finding everything expensive here. What do you suggest to fill my Derf friend here without busting our budget?” Musical asked.

  Nick regarded Born’s size dubiously.

  “A pitcher of beer should be a decent mug for him. Maybe four double burgers and I’ll throw in a big bowl of chili at the normal Human serving price.” He pointed to them on the menu and both managed not to whimper at the price.

  “You mind spicy stuff?” he asked Born. “The chili is kind of hot.”

  “You are obviously unfamiliar with our Devil’s Horn peppers,” Born said smiling. “The recent influx of Humans from Home found them hot enough to seek medical attention.”

  “I’ll have to get some of those,” Nick said interested. “They might make some of my usual customers shut up who always complain our chili is too mild.” To his credit, Nick wasn’t bothered by the smile.

  “If one may inquire without offending, those usual customers seem to be absent,” Born said. “Your establishment seems sized for a larger clientele. We noticed the same thing where we secured a room for this evening. Is my assessment correct? Has this move to Fargone disrupted business?”

  “You’re so carefully polite,” Nick said, amused. “Yes, business is shot to hell. The
pilots and maintenance guys are all laid off until they get more work and afraid to spend much until they see what shakes out. Quite a few went over to the Fargone station to set up routes and businesses between the stations or find work there. At the same time, some of the beam dogs and fabricators are working so much overtime they barely have time to sleep much less come spend money here.”

  Nick did an exaggerated shrug.

  “Eventually, they’ll all have either time or money again and the pent-up demand will be awesome. You don’t have to be so careful of my feelings. With all the careful precision and disclaimers, you sound like a college professor.”

  When Born and Musical both broke up laughing Nick got the joke, too, smiling.

  “You are quite perceptive,” Musical said. “What you suggested for the professor here, but just a beer, a single burger, and a normal size bowl of chili for me.”

  “Coming right up,” Nick said. He retreated to the bar so there must be a kitchen somewhere out of sight. But he saw to their beer himself.

  Sure enough, a shorter man with different pigmentation but similar black hair came from the back with their food on a big oval tray.

  “I don’t know what you guys can eat safely,” the cook said. “We don’t get much alien trade. I’ve never seen a Badger except on video. So, it’s on you to know if what you ordered up is safe.”

  “We’re aware,” Musical assured him. “My friend here can eat things you can’t. I can handle everything here.”

  “Jolly good,” the man said putting the plates before them. “This is all the condiments for the burgers if you want to experiment.” He set a separate tray down with onion, pickle, hot sauce, mayo, mustard, and ketchup.

  The burgers were big enough to allow Born to take two bites. That pleased him because he’d had burgers back home that were a scant bite, and he could toss one in his mouth whole. He loaded them up with everything until it was dripping out the sides.

  “Will that hold you?” Musical asked when Born was on the last of his chili.

  Born held a true hand spread out palm down and made a rocking motion. He’d picked that up from Lee.

  “It’s not going to bust my belly but it will hold me. I could fast for a day after all. I just don’t want to.”

  The same fellow from the kitchen came and removed their dishes. Nick looked across the room at them and made the gesture of lifting a mug.

  “Do you want another beer?” Musical asked Born.

  “Why not? What else do we have to do? I want to make a circuit of the hab at the one g level and look at everything but how long can that take?”

  Musical nodded yes, emphatically enough to be seen from the bar.

  The door to the corridor opened and a young woman entered with her spex heavily darkened. As soon as the door closed behind her she set them clear. Musical noted that trick to copy if they ever came back here. She was still a little blind, or maybe just cautious assessing the place. She had on the bright clothing and heavier shoes of a Fargoer. Even a Badger noted she was dressed differently though. He thought she had to be cold showing that much skin with no fur. She had on shocking-fuchsia velvet shorts that couldn’t be any shorter and still meet in the middle. Her shoes were a bright pink that didn’t match at all and her sleeveless rose top ended so short there was a large gap to the top of her shorts.

  Musical looked over at Nick the bartender. His mouth was hanging open and his eyes were wide. He knew that was a look of surprise in Humans.

  Now that her eyes adjusted, she saw Born and Musical in the shadows. The >Squeeee< she emitted was such a piercing shriek that one of the pool players jerked and knocked the cue ball clear off of the table. She started babbling to somebody on her spex. All Musical really understood of it was “Oh my God, Oh my God.”

  The door burst open behind her and four more young women in outrageous outfits entered, one in mincing little steps because she had on very strange shoes. Musical had never been exposed to glitter makeup, green or purple hair, leopard skin, stretch fabrics, or sequins, but even an alien knew this was something different. They all rushed over and surrounded Musical declaring him a real-live-Badger to each other.

  “Are you here for the Bode Benjamin show?” the pack leader asked breathlessly.

  Musical was embarrassed to admit he wasn’t familiar with Bode or his show and got glowing reports of how they never missed the show and they’d had absolutely wonderful cute pix of Badger cubs when Lee and Gordon were on the show.

  Another group of Fargoers came in the door, this one appearing to be couples and one of the girls hopped up and down excitedly waving them over. A couple of the men staked out a table of their own. Musical found somebody was holding his left hand and when he looked back at Born a couple of the scantily clad ladies were sitting on each leg coaching him to put his lower arms around them and show lots of claw for pix. When Nick came with their beer he had to push and tell them to make way through the gathering crush. The noise level in the room was way up.

  “Bring these guys another round,” a girl in red leather leaning over Born’s shoulder called out before their glasses were even empty, “and some finger food for the table. Can you make a pitcher of peach margaritas?” she asked Nick.

  The kitchen guy went past carrying what Born recognized as pizza. Since the house didn’t have music, somebody set their pad on loud to provide it. Pretty soon a few of them were dancing to it, drinks in hand. People were still showing up as their friends called them.

  The crowd sort of rotated to their table and away, everyone who wanted them getting pix, patting and stroking Musical, and prodding Born to fake ferocity. After three rounds of beer, much calamari, and chicken tenders they begged off that they had to go to their hotel.

  Born waved down Nick since Musical was invisible seated behind the crowd standing around the table.

  “We’re heading out,” Born said reaching across several people to offer his card.

  “Your money’s no good here,” Nick said shaking his head no and refusing to reach for the card.

  “I don’t understand. It worked just fine at the hotel,” Born insisted.

  Nick looked at him like he was crazy, then grinned. “It’s just an expression. It means you don’t owe anything, ever. In fact, you’re welcome here any time. Look at all the business you sucked in,” he said sweeping the place with a turn of his head because his hands were full carrying drinks.

  “Oh, thank you,” Born said and signaled Musical to go before Nick changed his mind. Everybody waved goodbye but they seemed content to continue partying.

  When he explained the source of their good fortune and Nick’s invitation to return out in the corridor, Musical said, “Now, if we could just figure out how to do that with the hotel.”

  * * *

  Born and Musical kept quiet while Jeff talked with Traffic Control and got them away from Beta.

  “Did you find Beta interesting?” April asked Born and Musical once they were clear.

  “Oh yes. We didn’t get to meet that many Betans,” Born admitted. “We saw a few but we stopped for dinner and we mostly got to meet people there visiting Beta from Fargone. The Betans we met were very hospitable though. We got a significant discount on our room. Then the fellow at the bar said our money was no good there and to come back any time we wanted. I had no idea Fargoers were so fond of Badgers. They were friendly enough with me, but being with Musical was like being with a celebrity.”

  “I had no idea either,” April said. She looked at Jeff and got a shrug.

  “Speaking of celebrity, people knew who you two are, and our patron Lee,” Born said

  “Gordon too,” Musical reminded him.

  Born nodded. “They were very enthusiastic about Lee and Gordon and their appearances on the local Bode show. Do you and Jeff get that sort of celebrity treatment?”

  “No,” April said carefully. “We don’t have the connections to Fargone Lee has. Fargoers don’t give us a glance. People on Beta kn
ow us but not all of them are happy with us. Jeff in particular is more notorious than celebrated.”

  “Here we go,” Jeff interrupted. “Jump in ten seconds from…mark!”

  “I don’t think that will ever get old,” Musical said when Derfhome’s star appeared.

  “That’s too bad about Jeff,” Born said, picking the conversation back up. “We’ve been able to work with you very well. Better than I expected. I’m afraid I was difficult with you at first. I’m sorry I didn’t say that before.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Jeff said. “You had little reason to trust me.”

  There was an awkward silence, until Musical said, “The hotel manager at the Merit asked we mention to you that he treated us well.”

  April got a slow smile. “I’ll definitely keep that in mind.”

  “Did you know, things on Beta appear to be much more expensive than on Fargone?” Musical asked. “We aren’t really business people, but it looked to us like there will have to be a considerable adjustment. Some of the businesses will probably fail. It makes me sad for people like the hotel manager we dealt with.”

  April made a mental note that Badgers could be very empathetic, even to aliens.

  “That’s part of what we talked to Gabriel about,” Jeff said. “I think we will be a benefit to both Derfhome and Fargone. In the short term, however, we are disrupting their economies. We have more tools to use to ease things on Derfhome. Fargone may still send Beta away, or drive them away if they don’t grant more of them residence if not citizenship. I think we’re past that question on Derfhome. Unless I am reading the Mothers wrong. Heather is sending transport to shuffle people around where they want to go. If enough leave it may change the balance of things at Fargone. But that’s Gabriel’s to deal with now. We weren’t sent to hold his hand, just to inform him.

  “Did you talk to Gabriel about his ship?” Born asked.

  “About the AI you mean,” Jeff said. “The ship is perfectly fine. No, I’m neither his father nor his sovereign. It’s not my place to impose my tastes and opinions on him. I’m sorry you heard our differences. If you didn’t spread that around very far it would be a kindness. Nobody is swearing you to secrecy, but it might expose an operational weakness.”