Secrets in the Stars (Family Law)

by Mackey Chandler

  * * *

  Lee and Gordon had stayed at the Holiday Inn before. They had no idea there was a private entry away from the public corridor with its own lifts. Their escort got out, hesitated a half step in front of one elevator and continued to the third which could have easily carried the whole cart on which they arrived, much less the extra burden of Gordon and Thor. Their luggage was left on the cart.

  "We need seats," the man said upon entering and a whole line of them folded down along one side. “I'm sorry, I gave it no thought, but there is no accommodation for Derf," he said, embarrassed.

  "Don't worry about it friend. I have an abundance of natural padding that follows me around," Gordon said, and he planted himself on it. He assumed it would be bit of a ride if sitting was needed.

  The elevator moved gently, but definitely down, for what seemed an unusually long time. Then it felt like it turned and moved a bit horizontally. When it opened it was directly on their suite, not a corridor. Their luggage was sitting inside the door to the side. It had beaten them here. That was interesting.

  The suite had a grand entry which led into a large common room. There were three mini-suites to each side with a small kitchen and informal dining room on each side. A large formal dining room was at the end on one side and a conference room and theater on the opposite side. The common room opened up wider as you went in deeper so it was approximately triangular.

  Lee looked at the floor. It had an odd pattern she hadn't seen before. When she looked closer at it, it clicked. It was wood, in elaborate geometric squares. The furniture was arranged in groups on individual rugs. In the far corner was something she'd seen in videos, a grand piano.

  The far wall across the back was glass, and Lee was impressed. "Wow, that's a stunning holowall. I wonder where the actual garden is located? Earth I'd imagine."

  Gordon dropped his voice to an unusually strained and soft level, and told her, "I believe it is right there, behind the glass, Lee."

  "Oh." They both stood there thinking. As much money as they both had, they tried to imagine what it cost to have a beautiful formal garden as big as the adjacent hospitality suite maintained on the moon. And this wasn't even their regular residence.

  Gabriel was busy directing a couple hotel employees to distribute the luggage, but caught up with them and observed them looking at the far garden.

  "There are entry doors at the ends of the wall if you desire to walk through the garden or there are several benches out of sight. I can have seating to accommodate you and Mister Thor installed if you wish," he offered Gordon.

  "No mister is needed with our Human names," Gordon said. "I don't think we'll be here long enough to warrant that, but the offer is appreciated. We're all on the same shift clock. We're about six hours further into our day than you. I'm assuming Central is on the same time as the Republic?"

  "Indeed, the Republic is on the same time as Central," Gabriel made a point of saying.

  "Then I'll suggest to everyone we not stay up too late and if we don't have to get up too early we could go to Central tomorrow," Gordon suggested. "Is that convenient? We could linger a day if it would be easier."

  "Linger a day?" Lee said. "I want to live here!"

  Gabriel had the good sense and courtesy to laugh with joy. "It is lovely, isn't it?"

  "Sure is," Lee agreed. "Especially to eyes tired of being in ship's spaces for too many days. We had a little break at Derfhome and I got to walk in the woods. But one does get cramped after awhile. I'm not that fond of planets, but too much of either gets to you."

  "I'm sure it was much the same reasoning that prompted The Three to lay it out as it is," Gabriel agreed. "They have their fill of tight corridors and tunnels on occasion too."

  Lee gave him a hard stare and a lifted eyebrow. "The Three? April Lewis, Heather Anderson and the guy, Jeff, what was his name?" Lee thought she heard capitals on it too.

  "Your pardon, the phrase falls off my tongue too easily from frequent use. Singh is the name you are searching for," Gabriel supplied. "Some would address him as Lord Singh. I'll leave that for you to sort out. I have found he is not demanding about it. Indeed the Sovereign is given to harassing him about how easily he neglects being a peer."

  "That's the same rank thing as April signing our message Lady?" Lee asked.

  "Yes, but here are a number of other peers. You will be properly introduced to any who have that standing. There is no penalty attached to ignoring it. We deal with so many sovereign individuals, such as the citizens of Home, it would be awkward otherwise."

  Lee thought about that a bit. "I'm not sure where I fit. I have lands on Providence where my word is absolute, but I am also a citizen of Derfhome who must abide by the Mothers' clan law in their keep."

  "And what would happen with these Mothers if you did find yourself in conflict?" Gabriel wondered. He seemed fascinated with the question.

  "Odd you should put it like that. I did find myself in considerable conflict with the First Mother when first I visited the clan," Lee admitted.

  "And yet here you are still, and by your word still a clan member. How did you resolve it?"

  "Well, we discussed solving it by dueling with hypervelocity pistols. But the other Mothers indicated they intended to vote her out before it went that far, so she retired. They still weren't all thrilled with me, but then the clan Champion came in and read them the riot act, declared himself my personal champion, and buried his ax in the dining room table, for them to sit and contemplate what that meant, while he went off to clean up for dinner. So everybody sort of backed up, as if we'd just come in, and started making nice-nice with Gordon and me."

  That appeared to rattle Gabriel. "If that is not a privileged communication, may one share it?"

  "Oh, sure. Lots of people have heard that story. So, Heather is an Anderson? I wonder if we are related somehow, back a ways?" Lee wondered. "But there must be a ton of them on Earth."

  "Indeed, it is a very common name, particularly in certain Earth countries, but who knows? Some make a hobby, some an obsession, of tracing their genealogy. You could undoubtedly find out if it really interests you," Gabriel said.

  "Nah, thanks but it was just a casual thought," Lee said.

  "If you are deeper in your day, would you like dinner served a bit early?" Gabriel asked.

  "I'm ready," Gordon assured him, before anybody else turned him down. "Are the kitchens there provisioned or does the hotel have to send stuff in?"

  "The small kitchens are always stocked, but they are more for informal entertaining and when the staff has been dismissed for the night. I took the liberty of asking the hotel what your tastes were when you guested here before. The main kitchen behind the dining room laid in those items and the chef and his helper are already on duty to meet your needs. If you have special needs for your alien friends please tell us how to please them."

  "I have a list of compatible foods, and they have some items in their luggage," Gordon said, getting his pad out. "Let me transfer the file to you and you can inform the staff. They'll have to tell you what they hauled along and if they want to save it for later or have it prepared."

  Gabriel excused himself and went off to the kitchen to see to it.

  "This is instructive," Gordon said, with a gesture that encompassed the suite.

  "How so?" Lee asked, though she suspected the answer.

  "I'm still not used to being rich," Gordon said. "The people who ordered this up are comfortable with it. They don't feel any need to apologize for having more than somebody else and can enjoy it without over-thinking it. I know in my head we could have a place like this maintained for us and never miss the expense. But I have no practice at doing it."

  "Yeah, I know what you mean," Lee agreed. "I can buy a starship and not twitch, but somehow that's different. Look at it as good training, I say."

  "Alright, that's an interesting take on it. While our handler is away why don't we go find a screen and you can show me this video?"
Gordon suggested.

  "Sure, I haven't seen all of it yet myself," Lee said. "He mentioned a theatre back there?"

  Chapter 26

  The video was disturbing. Gordon had killed ships. Much bigger ships with more crew and much more violently and thoroughly. But far away and mostly hidden in the glare of their vaporization. Not at a distance he could throw a stone, with the sound track of their ship breaking up, the scream of alarms and escaping air, and voices yelling desperate futile commands.

  The Chinese vessel huge in the view was a bent charred wreck. The pretty white space plane didn't look all that different than one of their own winged landing shuttles after all these years. Gordon knew in his heart it was lost, seeing the laser cut away its best defense and then carve an ulcer deep into its guts. The tiny missile just put it out of its misery instead of prolonging the agony of its death.

  The space-armored Chinese officer invading their command after the fight was over was terrible security. He couldn't imagine failing to have his external locks secured in a hostile environment. He said as much to Lee, and that's when they became aware Gabriel was silently sitting behind them.

  "The vessel was not purpose built as a warship," Gabriel quietly advised them. "Indeed at the time there was no provision to deny anyone entry, because having access to the lock was a primary safety imperative. Of course a Derf couldn't fit through that lock. They are rare now, but they are so confining the common term for them is a coffin lock."

  "Why make it so confining?" Lee asked.

  "The Happy Lewis was tiny. The more so before later modifications and the insertion of a larger freight module. The orbital scooter from which it was created didn't have a lock. The cabin when they purchased it was only capable of pressurization if it was being used as an ambulance. They could bring it up to pressure to stabilize a patient but the air was sacrificed once they reached their destination."

  "I'd be afraid to be unsuited in that small of a volume anyway. It can lose pressure faster than you can get in a suit. Not sure I'd even want to have my pot off," Lee decided, patting her head.

  "Your instincts are good," Gabriel assured her. "If you wouldn't mind pausing for a bit, I came to tell you your dinner is ready."

  "You've seen this before?" Lee asked.

  "I doubt anyone of our household has failed to view it," Gabriel said. "If you wish me to, I can return with you and provide commentary about anything dated and confusing."

  "Sounds good to me. You want to take a break and eat, Gordon?"

  "Ha! You have to ask?" He voice paused the video and followed Gabriel to the larger dining area.

  * * *

  They had Gordon pegged dead on for his tastes, Lee immediately knew. Not only was there a whole ham scored and singed, gloriously presented in a ring of fruit, but it was right in front of the two pads at the table for seating Derf. You could just remove Gordon's place setting and drag the whole thing over to him and he wouldn't complain at all.

  "I'm surprised the hotel keeps records this long of what someone ordered for dinner," Lee said.

  "My Lady, they even take note of what was not eaten, to have some idea what was found unpleasant, without having to inquire of their guests," Gabriel explained.

  "You don't have to 'My Lady' me," Lee said looking a little scandalized.

  "As you wish. It fell off my lips naturally, having heard the tale of your clan adaption. If you would inform me how I am privileged to address you, I'll follow that form," Gabriel promised.

  "You talk real pretty," Lee said. "Or I suppose I should say – You are most gracious in your speech, sir," putting on a dead flat poker face and steepling her fingers together. She added a barely discernible inclination of her head.

  Gabriel gagged on his laugh and covered his mouth. Unprepared for the transformation.

  "You... are going to do just fine," he told her.

  "She's watched a lot of period videos," Gordon explained.

  * * *

  Talker and Singer weren't disinvited to the theatre, but when Gordon and Lee marched off with Gabriel without a word they suspected their absence was desired. For their part Gordon and Lee both wondered if they should show their allies this video before they went to Central, or at all. It was pretty brutal. Neither had seen anyone killed with a sword.

  "Who was that maniac who drove the sword through front and back of an armored spacesuit?" Lee asked. "He didn't look like the muscular sort you'd expect to have the strength."

  "People can display extraordinary strength when in the grips of an adrenaline surge," Gabriel testified. "Also the sword, though antique, almost defines sharp. A lot of the household have a gene-mod for increased strength now. It's one of the more popular modifications."

  "I wasn't aware such a thing was available," Lee said, shocked and interested.

  "I've said too much," Gabriel admitted. "When you had the video I assumed you knew other things. You should discuss this with Lady Lewis. I will say, because you should know, such alterations are prohibited on Earth and Mars. Indeed beyond being merely illegal, they are an item of loathing and religious prohibition. They'd arrest you on entry if they were detected."

  "Well, that seems stupid," Lee said. "What business is that of anybody else?"

  Gabriel smiled. "As I said, you'll do just fine."

  * * *

  When Gabriel was gone until the morning, Gordon called the hotel concierge and arranged for a bonded courier to take a memory module to Green, Bennett and Glenn in New York. The data was for the firm to prepare their Claims, and Gordon hadn't wanted to send such a huge file, basically their whole voyage log, from the High Hopes even with high level encryption.

  Lee went to work on the hotel data link, determined to download everything she could find about The Three, Home, The Central Kingdom and The Lunar Republic. Whatever she learned from their interview tomorrow she wanted a catalog from different sources to compare and double check what she was told. Her dad had put her onto a study of history when they were all still exploring together. His idea had been to start her from the beginnings of written history and bring her forward to the present. Such a course of study might have worked well. She was sure it appealed to his linear mindset, if only it hadn't been interrupted by his and her mother's deaths.

  Except for personal interest outside her lesson plans, she hadn't progressed in detail beyond the Greeks, with foreshadowing of the Romans much in evidence in her lessons. She did have a personal fascination with sailing ships and their history. But she would probably would never go back and pick up her formal studies again. Right now she was finding that starting at the present and going back would have been more useful. The rise of civilization in the Fertile Crescent was very well and interesting, but what happened last century had suddenly assumed much more importance.

  Lee sourced material from European, Asian and South American sources, going light on North American news and academic texts, because her own experience with North American hospitality had left a bad taste in her mouth. She's been fostered to distant relatives for a summer in Michigan, and what passed for the free news and public study channels available to negative tax people hadn't impressed her either. The other sources might have biases too, but at least she could compare their biases.

  She could easily stay up all night doing data searches, but she had a lot more money than sleep time. Instead Lee picked a shotgun approach, loading entire decades of certain news channels with anything that had a few dozen key words. It was still loading when she went to bed, and the pad indicated it would finish halfway through the night and use about a third of her memory. She'd never come anywhere near loading that much on her hand pad.

  In the morning Lee rolled over, checked her pad and told the AI program she hardly ever used to search all the material loaded and assemble the ten most common topics contained in the references that she had not set as search terms the evening before, and load all those for the same sources and decades. Gods only knew what that was going to
cost, and probably fill her pad three quarters full. But she wanted it.

  An Artificial Stupid would grab some idiotic things like the price of fast food or the evolution of shoe styles, but it would likely find some pay dirt also. Lee cleaned up and got ready to have breakfast. Nobody had told her to dress specially so she wore a shirt with pockets and brush pants. Shorty boots and high end spex. She clipped her pad on her belt. It never occurred to her it would be out of range to pull data. This was civilization after all.

  Since the invitation specified weapons for adults she wore the special knife Gordon bought for her on their first Derfhome trip. It was fancy pattern Damascus and bejeweled, a cabochon final on the hilt and lapis balls held in silver claws for a guard. A plain Jane 6mm went in a cross draw holster, the first time she'd worn it in awhile. She still got mistaken for a kid. The gun should prevent that today.

  Gordon, on the other hand, limited himself to a utilitarian ax in his belt.

  Before Lee walked out for breakfast she checked the pad to see what it was pulling in. The three top searches that surprised her were asteroid mining, life extension therapy, and influenza. Good thing her pad could do multi-threading. It would start other strings she was sure. To her mind she hadn't touched on either of those items in her key words yesterday. Maybe she should have asked for another day just to do these searches and skim them. Too late now.

  * * *

  Gabriel was back, or maybe he stayed in the hotel, Lee thought. She wasn't sure how long it took to get to Central. He'd just sat and had coffee when they ate last night, assuring them he wasn't hungry yet, but he'd waited, or more likely Gordon had invited him, and he was eating with them this morning. He was dressed much like yesterday, but a little fancier. He had on what looked like a silk shirt with gold buttons rimmed with tiny gold beads and a neck chain with a gold coin hanging she didn't recognize.