All in Good Time

by Mackey Chandler

  “I doubt you can dive deep enough from that,” Bellinger said.

  “Probably not,” April agreed. “The three suppressive devices aren’t made to penetrate water. The big one was set to sink a hundred meters before detonating. Water is much more effective at transmitting the shock than air.”

  “That was uncalled for after I altered my path to accommodate them,” Jeff complained.

  “You don’t know it was Turkey,” April insisted.

  “Perhaps not, I have a suspicious mind,” Jeff admitted.

  “Will that raise a tsunami?” Bellinger worried.

  “Heavens no,” Jeff said surprised. “That will make a wave, but indistinguishable from natural waves. It might be a half-meter or less. A natural tsunami takes a lot of energy.”

  “Somebody just lost a very expensive submarine. I count that a sufficient message even if we never know who received it,” April said.

  “Chen could probably find out for you,” Jeff speculated. “There are only so many submarines and one going missing is a big deal.”

  “Let it go,” April decided. “I’d feel obligated to respond.”

  “I hope there wasn’t any other traffic too close,” Bellinger said.

  “Me too, but if you start shooting at people the responsibility for bystanders is on you. Back in the war, North America shot at us from a carrier sitting at dock in Japan. We holed it and sank it right in the harbor. It breached the reactor and made a mess. The Japanese apologized to us for letting it happen from their territory. That caused a sharp decline in relations with North America.”

  The ship turned away from the Earth.

  “I’m jumping out until we can see the moon. Then I’m going to jump behind it in lunar orbit and get a radar reading off the surface to see what our real velocity adds up to after all these maneuvers. It will be receding from us and I’ll chase it and take us to Home from there without another jump. I’ll hold an easy one g burn so we can have some coffee. There should be some frozen breakfast sandwiches to heat. I’m a little hollow already so I know April is too. Would you like a bite, Herman?”

  “I’m not as inured to wildly jumping about the universe and conducting nuclear war as you. I believe I’ll pass on eating anything until some of the adrenaline wears off, thank you.”

  “Coffee coming up,” April said, “and four sandwiches to gently heat. They get rubbery if you hurry them and I have some second-tier messages to read that I was too busy to look at.”

  * * *

  “What a crock of crap,” April said out loud.

  Herman Bellinger didn’t react much, not knowing April. He sipped his coffee and looked politely interested. He was used to people expressing themselves like April just had for a silly commercial or a pompous political ad. Jeff, knowing her, was the one who looked worried.

  “Anything I can help you with, dear?” he asked concerned.

  “No, I have a com connection and my weapons board is still live,” April said.

  Even Bellinger looked worried when he added those statements up.

  “My man Mackay informs me the Belgian Federal police have arrested him and want to charge him with weapons possession for disarming an assailant and smashing his gun on the pavement. Since they refuse to say they won’t include Otis and Irwin as accomplices he has taken a senior level Director of Federal Police and a lesser officer hostage in their interrogation room pending safe passage of Irwin to a safe destination.”

  “How can he have them hostage in their own interrogation room?” Herman asked.

  “He’s still armored up,” April said. “Without the armor, he’s gene mod strong and could wring his neck like a chicken. With the armor, he could trivially twist his head off. That was incredibly stupid to progress to threats without coaxing him out of the armor.”

  “May I suggest? You should tell your employee it isn’t sufficient to remove the subject of his charge from Belgium. The Federal Police can demand him back from any European nation,” Herman warned her.

  “Not really independent nations then, are they?” April said. “I’ll tell him to direct them to England now and see to his release if I can. Excuse me for a couple of minutes. Give Jeff his sandwich if you hear it ding, please. I don’t trust myself not to ramble and repeat when I’m angry so I’m writing a script to follow.”

  When there was a bell from the back of the cabin Herman quietly retrieved their food.

  In a few minutes, she warned them she was recording. They stayed quiet for her.

  Hello Earth. This is April Lewis of Home again with a press release. You may have seen some communications I directed at North America recently. They didn’t listen at all, so I needed to deliver some stronger messages ballistically.

  This message, however, is directed at Europe and your stupid little Union of myopic bureaucrats. We just left France, changing our flight plan to accommodate Turkey raising objections to our passage and still got shot at from the Black Sea. I’m getting very tired of having Earthies shoot at us. My web search tells me Turkey, who objected to our passing, is in a defense compact with the European states. You are all under a cloud of suspicion with me at this point.

  We just rescued Irwin Hall from North America only to find the Belgian Federal Police have now arrested his security and threatened him with trumped-up charges.

  I used up all my patience with North America the last couple weeks trying to pry Mr. Hall loose from them. It’s Belgium and Europe’s bad luck I just have no patience left for them.

  I’m tired. If my two security men and Irwin Hall aren’t safely in England and free in twenty-four hours from right now, a state of war will exist between us. I won’t politely do some minor damage to show I’m serious. We’ll go straight to removing entire military bases and seats of government. Europe is what you call a target-rich environment.

  It is now up to you what you want to do. Don’t talk at me because I’m past giving a damn about what any Earthie says. Either I hear from them that they are safe or I drop a world of hurt on you in a day. End of message.

  “Damn it, now I’m too upset to eat,” April said glaring at the sandwiches.

  * * *

  The officer that joined them in the interrogation room was uniformed but wore no sidearm. Mackay took that for a good sign.

  “Regisseur Mertens? Die Anleitung, die Sie von Kommissar Horgan angefordert haben,” he said handing him a sheet. The other seated officer leaned to look.

  Mertens looked eager and took it with a smile that slowly turned into a rictal grimace.

  Mackay reached across and plucked it from the man’s hand. It was in German.

  “I caught it was from the Commissioner,” Mackay said, “but my German is mostly useless past ‘Weinersnitchel und ein bier’. Could you translate?”

  “Director Mertens served at the Commissioner’s pleasure,” the officer said in clipped unhappy tones. “It no longer pleasures him. This says his services are no longer needed, not to return to his office. Any personal items will be returned and he should surrender any department property in his possession to me. His car and driver are recalled and I am to call him an auto car if he needs one. The Commissioner says he would have him arrested and charged, but on a careful search, there does not appear to be any statute against stupidity.

  “It is not in his letter, but I am to expedite your removal by military transport to England and offer such courtesies as are customary among civilized persons. It there anything I can do to make your journey any less disagreeable?”

  “Son, if you’d just show me to a restroom that’s all I need before we go.”

  * * *

  An icon on April’s screen indicated she had messages through her com account.

  “Well that’s better, maybe,” she said and started peeling a sandwich from its wrapper. That said things were better more than words.

  April had a couple of bites before she explained.

  “Mackay says they are escorting him to transport and a f
light to England if it isn’t a trick. He’s as paranoid is me now. But he’ll keep giving me updates until he is safe. He relayed that Otis and Irwin left Belgium before they could offer to facilitate their exit and have bought private transportation to England. Irwin has given up on conducting any business on Earth and says any investors can come to him on Home instead.”

  “Those have to be dead cold,” Herman said. “Do you want to have them heated a little?”

  April looked at the sandwich. “My mind was elsewhere. They’re really not bad. Heather says she has some supplies for the Martians and we need to do several two-ship drops with one ship flying cover and a pickup. She didn’t give any details. If she doesn’t say it’s probably too sensitive to say on com with conventional encryption. She hates to set up and use up a onetime pad,” April said. “I’m hot to fly that and be done with it.”

  “We’ll speak to her soon enough,” Jeff said. “It sounds a little complicated if it involves multiple trips and I can’t imagine what we would pick up all the stuff promised there in one trip. They will dole it out on each delivery expecting we are as crooked as they are. All these things take time and you don’t need to be in a rush.”

  “Maybe another rescue too?” April said thinking of the evacuees.

  “By Heather instead of you? That would be different, wouldn’t it?” Jeff said. “If you just have to find out we could go there first I suppose.”

  “How would you like to visit the Moon?” April asked Herman.

  “I’ve been to the lunar Marseilles, but I was so busy with the launch I didn’t see much. Marseilles is very French in character, so what I did see wasn’t that different. I suppose Central is like a different country?” he guessed. “Is it more American like Home?”

  “It’s a madhouse,” Jeff supplied.

  Herman shrugged. “It’s not like I have a new job with a start date waiting for me. I thought I was retired early and then you two completely disrupted my life. I’m free to go anywhere, to the Moon, to the stars, wherever you want.”

  Jeff nodded agreeably. “All in good time.”

  The End

  The Last Part

  Other Kindle Books & Links by Mackey Chandler

  April (first of ten in series)

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0077EOE2C

  April is an exceptional young lady and something of a snoop. She finds herself involved with intrigues that stretch her abilities, after a chance run in with a spy. There is a terrible danger she and her friends and family will lose the only home she has ever known in orbit and be forced to live on the slum ball below. It's more than a teen should have to deal with. Fortunately she has a lot of smart friends and allies, who give them a thin technological edge in rebellion. It's a good thing, because things get very rough and dicey.

  Down to Earth (sequel to April)

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007RGBIVK

  April seems to make a habit of rescues. Now two lieutenants from the recent war appeal to her for help to reach Home. The secret they hold makes their escape doubtful. North America, the United States of North America, has been cheating on their treaty obligations and a public figure like April taking a very visible vacation there would be a good way to remind them of their obligations. Wouldn't it? Her family and business associates all think it is a great idea. She can serve a public purpose and do her rescue on the sly too. But things get difficult enough just getting back Home alive is going to be a challenge. It's a good thing she has some help. Why does everything have to be so complicated?

  Family Law (First of four in series.) Also as audiobooks.

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006GQSZVS

  Who is family? Who should decide? Should it be a matter of law? Could an alien adopt a Human?

  Of course if the furry alien in question is smart enough to fly spaceships, and happens to be similar in size and disposition to a mature Grizzly bear, wisdom calls for a certain delicacy in telling him no...

  The Long Voyage of the Little Fleet (sequel to Family Law

  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006GQSZVS

  In the first book of this series "Family Law", Lee's parents and their business partner Gordon found a class A habitable planet. They thought their quest as explorers was over and they'd live a life of ease. But before they could return and register their claim Lee's parents died doing a survey of the surface. That left Lee two-thirds owner of the claim and their partner Gordon obligated by his word with her parents to raise Lee. She had grown up aboard ship with her uncle Gordon and he was the only family she'd ever known. Him adopting her was an obvious arrangement - to them. Other people didn't see it so clearly over the picky little fact Gordon wasn't human.

  After finding prejudice and hostility on several worlds Lee was of the opinion planets might be nice to visit, but terrible places to live. She wanted back in space exploring. Fortunately Gordon was agreeable and the income from their discovery made outfitting an expedition possible. Lee wanted to go DEEP - out where it was entirely unknown and the potential prizes huge. After all, if they kept exploring tentatively they might run up against the border of some bold star faring race who had gobbled up all the best real estate. It wasn't hard to find others of a like mind for a really long voyage. This sequel to "Family Law" is the story of their incredible voyage.

  Link to full list of current releases on Amazon:

  Including other books of the series, stand alone books and short stories.

  http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B004RZUOS2

  Mac's Writing Blog:

  http://www.mackeychandler.com