by R L Dean
Another twenty hours passed in the cell, Ludwick alternately sleeping on the bench, getting up and stretching, cursing the clock, and attempting to keep tempers from flaring among his union members. He had personally invited them to hear Reinhardt speak because they were all hot heads. In retrospect that had been a shortsighted decision, considering he was stuck with them until Tojo felt like releasing him. But there were fewer of them with each passing hour, UNSEC soldiers either taking them to processing or releasing them. In the end, well, he was released at the end. He was the last one to leave the cell.
Weathers escorted him to the front desk where he collected his things, and as he was walking out, limping because his hip was sore, the sergeant said, "Too bad."
Too bad ... what? He thought, not turning to look at Weathers. Too bad he started a riot ... too bad he wasn't arrested? Too bad he turned out like this ... selling his soul to the puppet masters? Kid, just wait, he said inside his head. Life will kick you a few times ... and well ... too bad.
Back in his apartment he checked the old handcomm, there was another sweet one-hundred thousand UNDs in his account. It made everything seem better.
19 - Mat
"Slow decel for another hour, then we will flip again and switch to maneuvering thrusters. Orbital rendezvous is ... about two and half hours. Control says they will send docking instructions within the hour. There is a lot of traffic down there."
Mat sat up in his rack in a pair of shorts looking at Yuri's face on the handcomm. "Alright, I want to meet before we leave the ship."
"Okay, kep."
Yuri cut the channel and Mat sat back, rubbing his face. He needed to go back through his report for the UN rep. The control pad beside the hatch to his quarters beeped. Probably Haydon wanting to discuss a revised list of parts he and Misaki came up with. The list of things that needed to be dealt with aboard the Sadie had grown since Misaki was making herself busy in Engineering. He used the handcomm's remote interface and opened the hatch.
It was Misaki. She shoved off the hatchway and was floating toward him before he could react. When she reached his rack she paused there, looking at him with that perpetual stoic expression.
"Misaki ..." he said, and started pulling back the webbing to get out of the rack.
"Don't," she said and suddenly started taking off her magboots.
"Uh ... Misaki, I'm not sure ..."
She ignored him, and twisting off the last magboot she reached for the edge of the rack and pulled herself down. Then she undid the webbing and slipped in beside him. Still in her coveralls. Mat went still as stone as she turned in the webbing, putting her back against his side.
"Just hold me," she said.
There was something his aunt said that came to mind now. When it comes to women, just do what you're told. Misaki lifted her head a little as he slipped one arm under and put his other arm over her shoulders. She grabbed his hand firmly and held on to it, pulling him closer against her back.
They lay there, quiet and still. The rise and fall of Misaki's chest under his arm was steady. He was controlling his own breathing, because his heart would have done a humming bird proud. He didn't know if this felt right or wrong but was left with the certainty that she needed comforting.
A little slow he said, "You could stay aboard, as Chief Engineer. I could give you a full stake in the ship. Haydon's not really an engineer ... not like you."
Still in his arms she turned in the webbing to face him ... their noses a mere few centimeters apart. "Mat," she said firmly, her breath smelling like coffee. "I can decrypt the data, but I don't want to."
He didn't say anything, his mind drawing a blank for a response. She had been dragging her heels on the work for almost a week, Haydon said she rarely looked at it. And now ... what? Her almond shaped eyes searched his face for a moment and then locked on to his. There was that smile again, come and gone. He found he wanted to see it more often ... but he was suddenly starting to feel uncomfortable. He pulled back and she grabbed his arm.
"This is not what you think," she said. "I'm here because ... I feel safe with you. That's the only reason. But you're going to submit your report to the UN rep soon, and I don't want to be in it."
"I don't understand, why not?"
She licked her lips. "There's someone looking for me. And when you file that report it becomes public data, it will be posted on every advisory board linked to the UN network. He'll find me ..."
"You mean, like an ex-boyfriend or something like that?"
"Yes," she said, nodding. Her eyes were big. "Eric Prator. I meet him in college on Mars ... he's crazy. He thinks I'm on the Pendleton, out-system. If he sees my name or the Pendleton's ship he could come looking for me."
Mat took a deep breath. "And the course data is embedded with the transponder data. The Pendleton's ID will be in there as well, because the tug exchanged messages with them."
Nodding she said haltingly, "Please Mat, he was with Free Mars Now when I was with him ... he's an insane, violent man. I think the men on the tug might have been Free Mars also ... some other cell maybe. If Eric finds me ... I know things about him that will get me killed."
She shuddered.
"Okay, okay," he said, trying to reassure her. "I still have to file the report. Apex is going to want to know how we lost the canister before they'll lease another one, and they'll be looking for a UN report to match what I tell them. But I'll figure something out, we don't have to put your name or the Pendleton's transponder data in it." On impulse he pulled her close and then feeling her tremble he let go. She grabbed him, her head pushing down into his chest. "Thank you," she whispered. He could feel the dampness on her face against his skin.
My God, what am I doing?
* * *
They were on the Flight deck now. Yuri lying back in the cockpit seat with his arms crossed over his chest looking at Mat. Haydon standing behind the plot terminal, his magboots firmly planted on the deck and his arms spread wide as he leaned on the terminal, was looking at Mat too. Mat himself was standing in front of his usual seat at the command station, and Misaki stood there with him, her head up, the tears gone and that stoic expression a mask over the vulnerability she revealed not ten minutes ago in Mat's quarters.
Yuri rubbed the grizzle on his chin, his gaze shifting to Misaki. He seemed to be trying to understand— absorb— what she just repeated in their presence. "You joined the FMN in college and hooked up with one of their cell leaders. And now he is after you. You are from the Moon, correct? Why would you join those fools?"
"I was ... pulled into it," Misaki said, frowning before continuing. "I went to a few protests. When they started turning violent I left the cell. But Eric ... he ... he kept following me. I know his contacts, where he gets his information. He was afraid I might say something and threatened me. He somehow found out that I was on the Pendleton's ship and sent me messages warning me to stay out-system. I can't ... can't ... deal with him now."
"I do not understand," Yuri said. "Why not just turn him in to the UN authorities? Kaput, end of story, with happy ending."
Misaki's face darkened. "Happy," she said, like she was trying out the word for the first time.
Haydon shook his head and waved a hand at Yuri. "Don't pay attention to him. He doesn't get it. That kind of stuff takes time, meetings, investigations. The real problem here is not the report. We can use the camera footage and our logs to prove we were attacked and what happened with the canister. We don't need the course data. The issue is the crew manifest, that's the only thing UNSEC will check when we dock."
"Rock hoppers jump ship all the time," Mat said, shrugging. "Crew contract back and forth in the Belt from one ship to another regularly."
"Right, but there's paper work with that, a trail. Misaki is technically still on board the Pendleton. She steps off this ship without being on the crew manifest I guarantee some fresh out of the academy louie will follow the rules and start asking questions."
"
I can fix the manifest," Misaki said suddenly.
Everyone looked at her.
Yuri was the first to speak. "You can fix UN Security code?"
Haydon gave a short laugh and nodded. "I get it. The hatches, you changed the coding on the hatches. And the transponder, course data, you can decrypt it because you're the one that encrypted it in the first place."
Misaki lowered her head slightly. "I did things to stay alive. And I'm not living now just so Eric can find me and kill me." She turned to Mat. "Please Mat, I can hack the manifest to show I came on board a few months ago, just like a rock-hopper in the Belt. I know it's illegal, but as long as no one digs too deep it will hold. And after that I'll be off the ship and out of your life."
Mat felt his heart sink. His face must have shown it because her eyes turned down toward the deck. "Right," he heard his own voice say. "Go ahead. Control will be calling soon, they'll want the manifest."
She looked up at him and said in a small voice, "Thank you." Then sat down in the command station's seat.
20 - Yuri
Three UNSEC soldiers lounged at the exterior hatch at the end of the docking arm. Yuri thought they looked washed out in their gray and light blue uniforms. The security checkpoint lacked decor, which was good, he thought, because the overly bright lighting and flat orange paint of the hatch already gave him a headache.
Butte Control parked the Sadie on the D arm; a three hundred meter girder with a corridor running down its center that reminded him of a very long vestibule. Their slot was at the opposite end of the checkpoint, but the good news was that Butte's mass and rate of rotation gave them twenty-five percent of a g. Enough to keep them on the deck, but not enough to make the contents of Yuri's stomach feel heavy.
The security goon at the desk— a faceless guy with perfect hair— smiled and pointed to the retinal scanner bolted to the edge of the desk. Haydon went first. The two guys at the door wore riot gear; helmets and black chest armor, and the rifles they carried hanging from straps across their shoulders looked fancier than Haydon's own rifle. Yuri wondered what Haydon thought about that.
When the scanner beeped and Haydon stepped out of the way Yuri stepped up and waited for the guy to point to the scanner. He pressed his eyes to it and a red light shined for a second, then it beeped and he lifted his head. Cleared, no warrants. It was a good day.
"Welcome to Butte," the guy said, waving them on.
One of the soldiers at the door worked the control pad beside the orange hatch while Haydon stared down the other soldier. Maybe he liked the gun, Yuri wasn't sure. Half the things Haydon did or said didn't make sense to him.
"Anyway, like I was saying," Yuri said as they entered the short access tube and the hatch closed behind them. "That girl put the juju on kep."
This conversation started when he and Haydon left the Sadie's airlock and began the long walk to the checkpoint. Mat and the girl were still back at the ship, talking.
Haydon stopped to look at an ad that flashed on one of the dozen screens lining the tube walls ... some hole size restaurant served simulated beef potstickers.
Yuri stopped with him. "I mean, we are doing illegal stuff now." The last he said real low. "Why did you side with her?"
Haydon hmmed, still staring at the potsticker, or porksticker, or whatever it was, and said, "Well she's really smart. And the boss likes her, so ..."
Yuri sidled him, so he could emphasis his point. "That is what I am talking about, he likes her. But it is really just her being a woman. I mean, when was the last time kep was with a woman?"
Haydon frowned, maybe his gears were finally turning. "I don't know, Yuri. That's really not something I want to think about."
Yuri threw his hands down. Haydon wasn't a good mechanic, but sometimes Yuri wondered how he learned the miniscule skill he had.
"Never mind. We will all just all go to prison the moment she does the retinal scan," Yuri told him. When Haydon didn't react he grabbed his arm. "Forget that pig on a stick, I know a good place."
Haydon sighed but let himself be dragged away from the ad. "Beef. Not pork. And we always go to the same place."
"I know. It is a great place."
"It's a hole in the wall, literally," Haydon told him. Which was true, but it was the best hole in the wall for a hundred million klicks. Literally.
They reached the inner hatch and it opened automatically. Beyond, Butte's main level stretched thirty meters across and up. A giant cylinder of steel and concrete, and people. A lot of them.
As they stepped out into the flow of hot, sweaty, human traffic Haydon said, "I hate crowds. Yuri, you know I hate crowds."
True. Haydon wouldn't even be here if not for Mat's order to tag along with him. "I swear if someone touches me I'll break their arm. I swear it," the big man continued, and Yuri silently prayed that no one would touch him. In a crowd this size the UNSEC thugs had to get control quickly before it escalated into a riot. They would crack down hard, which meant whacking heads and throwing people in the brig until big fat fines were paid. Mat would probably pay the fine, but the head whacking would hurt. He knew.
They found the invisible path that was the stream of people going the way Yuri wanted to go. There were bars and joints to eat at here on this level— the walk-in kind and booth style— lining the bulkheads to either side. But none of them were what he was looking for.
The crowd was thicker than normal, which meant slower. Yuri wasn't sure how many people actually lived on Butte, most of what they were seeing were itinerant miners looking for a ship and hauler crews waiting for canisters to ferry to the Moon— all easily identifiable in their coveralls, jumpsuits, and logos. Besides the UNSEC squad stationed here and business owners, the Apex bigwigs had offices deeper down, they wouldn't be within smelling distance of this tunnel.
Waiting in line at the lift Yuri began to sweat. Why did this place remind him of Shanghai in August? He glanced at Haydon, there was a scowl on his face that made him look both miserable and mean at the same time. Off to the side a screen high on the bulkhead was blaring the news, but it just added to the overall cacophony of the crowd. The noise and the heat were getting to him. Yuri wiped his forehead with the back of one hand. I need a drink.
The lift was made for cargo as well as people, and twenty bodies piled onto it. Yuri was the last in this load and when he turned around Haydon was still standing on the walkway, scowling at everyone. Yuri snorted and grabbed his arm, pulling him on. "Come on. It is not that bad."
They rode down two levels and got off with five or six others. Butte's top level was mainly just the terminal, a hub for docking ships. Levels two and three were berthing, station services, and Maintenance. The place where they were heading was down a side tunnel and across from the access to the water treatment plant, sort of out of the way. There wasn't as many people here, but still more than Yuri was used to seeing.
When Yuri saw the pink and red neon leg sticking out of the martini glass that marked their destination he smiled. That drink he needed was just a moment away.
It was a small place, barely eight meters one way and ten the other. The bar at one end was old molded-formed plastic that was supposed to resemble wood with a shiny brass trim around it. There were seven small, round tables bolted to the concrete floor. Not counting the skinny woman behind the bar and the skinny girl with purple hair putting drinks on a tray, there were eight people. A big crowd. Yuri felt ... cheated, somehow. This place was supposed to be a haven of sorts. But its location, quaint size, and general anonymity were not the reasons Yuri was here. All of those things were pluses, but this was just the place that he always started.
He motioned to Haydon and said, "Go have a seat, I will be there in a second."
Haydon knew what he was doing. The big man shrugged and went to an empty table.
Yuri pulled his handcomm from his pocket and walked to the bar. "Hi, ladies," he said and held up the handcomm. "Has he been in here lately?" It was a picture of Ivan,
taken four years ago in that bar. In the picture he was twenty-six, and looked like Yuri did at his age. Blond hair, same nose and eyes. He was wearing unremarkable coveralls, no markings other than the stenciling that read Petrov. He was holding a plastic bottle of beer and smiling at the camera. The woman behind the bar knew Yuri, and the picture. But the waitress was new, or new since the Sadie last made port, and she looked at the picture, her eyebrows furrowing. Both of them shook their head.
Yuri gave a weak smile, then said, "Thank you. Bring a beer to the table."
"What kind?" The waitress asked.
"The wet kind."
Yuri was more of a hard liqueur man, but sometimes he liked to start soft. He walked to the table and pulled up a stool opposite Haydon. The mechanic, soldier, whatever he was, was rubbing his head. When the waitress came with Yuri's bottle of Benxi's Best she looked questioningly at Haydon and he shook his head in silence and waved her off.
"Relax," Yuri said and took a swig. "Have a beer. We will go for the pork stickers later."
"Beef, and I can't," Haydon said. "I'll start shooting people."
Yuri frowned. "You don't have a gun."
Haydon gave him an 'are you crazy' look. Yuri didn't want to think about what it meant. Never mind how he could have gotten it past the soldiers and the active security scan at the checkpoint. If Haydon were caught with a gun on this station and Yuri anywhere near his orbit, it would mean the end for both of them. The long prison term kind of end.
Yuri finished his beer and ordered another one. He looked at the people sitting at the other tables, watched a couple of customers enter, searching their faces, and not finding the one he was looking for.
Haydon's handcomm beeped and he looked at it, then tapped it and said, "Yeah, boss?"
"I'm going to file my report, then go see the Apex coordinator about unloading our cans. And leasing a new one."