by Henry Vogel
Her tone was light and everyone laughed. Greg answered, “Because he’s too smart to get stuck with all those other losers.”
Around the bar, mugs rose and voices hollered, “Aye!”
The waitress patted me on the shoulder, “I’m Dawn. Just holler if you need anything, hon.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” I said.
Dawn put a hand to her breast, flapping it up and down like a beating heart. “Oh my, a man with manners. I just might have to keep this one, Greg.”
“You’re too late, Dawn. Young Matt here has already gotten himself hitched. He says he’s been married for almost a whole day.”
“Well goodness gracious, honey, what are you doing hanging out with these guys? Get on home to your wife and get some of what these boys only dream of getting.” Dawn hooked a thumb at Greg. “She’s got to be prettier than this guy.”
“Oh she is, Dawn. She is, indeed.” Greg tapped a finger on my pad. “Show Dawn a picture of Michelle.”
I hesitated for a second, but the rest of the guys egged me on. When Greg threatened to pull up the HR new employee listing and get Michelle’s employee photo, I gave in. A few taps on the pad and one of my favorite pictures of Michelle displayed.
Dawn took the pad from me and gave Michelle a closer look. “Well, that explains why the best looking guy I’ve seen in half a year ended up married so young. She sure is a beauty, hon. Now I really don’t know what you’re doing here when she’s waiting for you at home.”
John said, “She’s not waiting for him at home, Dawn. Her new team took her out for a beer, too.”
“She works in real security,” Greg added, his tone thick with sarcasm.
Dawn looked at me. “Hey, we had a bunch of newbies in here last night telling some story about a pretty little girl beating up on a big freight hauler. That has to be your wife, right?”
I shouldn’t have been surprised. A story like that gets around quickly in a place like this. “Yes ma’am, that was Michelle.”
“Hey Ronnie, remember the newbies telling us about the girl that kicked ass at their orientation?” Dawn shouted across the bar. The barkeep looked up and nodded. “Turns out it’s true. Matt here is married to her. And get this, she’s even prettier than those guys said.”
Dawn held up the pad with Michelle’s photo, drawing wolf whistles and inappropriate comments from the crowd in the bar. Ronnie nodded once and went back to his duties, but Greg stood and held up his mug.
“A toast to Matt and his lovely, ass-kicking wife. May she never have need to kick his ass!”
Mugs raised and dozens of voices shouted, “Aye!”
I scanned the crowd, wanting to make sure I acknowledged anyone still holding up a mug. I thought it best not to ignore anyone, just in case they’d hold a grudge. I don’t want any enemies stalking me when I start snooping around the station. A couple of younger guys gave me rude gestures, but their manner was genial. Just guys being guys. And there was one hard-eyed man about twice my age staring at me. When our eyes met, he raised his mug and gave a smile which never reached his eyes.
After finishing my scan and checking that hard-eyes wasn’t looking my way, I nudged Greg. “Do you know everyone in here?”
Greg gazed around the bar. “Most of ‘em. Why?”
“There’s a guy over at the bar who was staring at me. He doesn’t look like he’s part of this crowd, so I wondered if he might be a friend of that guy my wife took down yesterday.”
Greg easily spotted the man and waved his free hand at me. “Don’t worry about him. He’s been around the station forever.”
“Well, who is he? Why doesn’t he have a team to drink with like everyone else?”
“He’s got a crew, not a team, Matt. His name is Cummings, I think. He captains one of the big research ships. Officers and crew don’t mix.” Greg leaned close, as if afraid the man would overhear him. “And word is most of his officers don’t mix with him, either. Yeah, not many people enjoy being around Captain Fred.”
That name sent a jolt through me. Had I found the captain of the solar research ship? Or, considering the hard look I’d received from Cummings, had he found Michelle and me?
One of the guys on my CompSec team asked how Michelle and I met, drawing my attention away from Cummings. The next time I looked up, Cummings was gone.
I tried not to put too much stock into that. After all, he obviously came to the bar often enough that Greg knew who he was. And the only way Cummings would know I was the pilot he’d tried to catch two days ago was if Flight Commander Martin had shown him our photos. Then I remembered Hector, Paco’s father. Maybe he got a Rockville Station security vid photo of us and stored that in the messenger drone we’d followed through the wormhole to Pegasus system.
A hand waved before my eyes. “Hey Matt, you still in there boy?”
I looked up, blinking at the laughing faces around me. “What?”
Greg laughed again. “It looks like the newbie can’t handle his beer. I think you’ve had enough for your first night, Matt.”
John offered another suggestion. “He could be thinking about what he and Michelle are going to do when he gets home. God knows, that’s what I’d be doing.”
“Like you could ever get a girl, John.”
John patted his pocket and we heard credits clinking. “All I have to do is walk down the corridor to the Spacer’s Dream and I can always get a girl.”
As raucous laughter burst from the rest of the team, I rose to my feet. I pretended to steady myself with a hand on the table and spoke with exaggerated care. “Greg is right—this newbie has had enough. I’m going to go home and spend some time with my lovely wife.”
Being careful to knock my chair over, I called, “Goodnight everyone.”
Mugs rose and the ritual “Aye!” sounded.
Just before I left, Dawn called, “You take care, hon, and bring that pretty wife of yours ‘round here soon so we can all meet her.”
Mugs rose again, followed by a more enthusiastic “Aye!”
Once I was away from the bar, I abandoned my tipsy act and keyed Michelle’s comm code.
“Hey baby!” Michelle’s voice was just a bit loud and just a bit slurred. The background noise told me she was still in the bar.
“Hey yourself.” I matched her tone. “It sounds like you’re still at the bar with your real security teammates. I just wanted to let you know I’m heading home.”
“Yep, I’m still at the bar.” Another voice spoke, but it was garbled in with the other noise. Laughter rose around Michelle, who said, “I can’t say that to him!” Then she giggled and added, “Besides, he’s a pretty brainy guy, so it would take a really long time to do.”
Michelle’s attention returned to me. “My team leader has ordered me to head home right now and…assiduously pursue amorous activities with you.”
A chorus of boos came from around her. Obviously, Michelle seriously cleaned up their suggestions.
I laughed. “My team gave me pretty much the same advice, babe. See you soon. Love you!”
“Love you, too!”
I signed off and made my way home. Along the way, I added some aimless turns, stops, and starts, watching to see if anyone followed me. In the vids, the hero always spots the tail with moves like that. Real life is different. Too many people moved around me and I couldn’t spot a thing. If someone was tailing me, all I managed to do was look like I had something to hide.
I got home before Michelle, pulled out my pad, and immediately connected through one of the backdoors into GenCo’s network. I called up Cummings’ personnel record, along with the records for the officers on his ship, and was deeply engrossed in those when Michelle got home. To my shame, I didn’t realize she was there until she kissed me on top of my head.
“Oh no, as the first one home I was supposed to cook dinner, wasn’t I?” I started to get up but Michelle pushed me back down.
She rested her chin on my head and wrapped her arms loosely around my neck. �
�Relax. I commed for pizza on my way home. Lizzie, my partner at work, gave me a recommendation.”
I tilted my head back and kissed Michelle. “For pizza or for amorous activities?”
“Both. She says the pizza place is the best one on the station.”
“And her recommended amorous activity?”
She giggled. “It sounds a bit kinky and is quite likely physically impossible.”
Michelle’s eyes wandered to my pad’s screen and her eyes widened. She pointed to Cummings’ first officer. “I saw that guy at the bar this evening.”
“Was he watching you?”
“Yeah, but so were a lot of the guys in the bar.”
“Then why did you notice him in particular?”
“It was the way he was watching me.” Michelle stood and bit her lip. “The other guys watched me the way the men in Rockville Station watched me. But that guy? He’d give me this creepy, intense stare—but only when he thought I wasn’t watching. Who is he?”
“He’s the first officer on the GCS-1017—the solar research ship that fetched Hector’s messenger drone.” I flipped back to Cummings’ photo. “This is Fred, the ship’s captain. He was in my bar and watched me just as intently.”
The pizza arrived and we took a break for dinner. Lizzie was right about the pizza—it was delicious. Our hunger sated, we curled up on the apartment’s small couch.
“We need to memorize the faces of all the officers serving under Cummings,” Michelle said. “It’s a pain in the ass that they’re after us because Paco forced us to kill him, but they can still derail our plans.”
“Yeah, I had the same thought. I wanted to do a cautious search for my parents, but it doesn’t look like we have that luxury.”
“I agree. That’s why I put in a call for help.”
“You sent a message to Jonas?”
“I just hope he can get here fast enough to help us.”
“I just hope he doesn’t kill me for sleeping with his daughter.”
“Why would he do that?” Michelle smiled. “After all, we are married.”
“Yeah, but we kind of skipped a step on the road to success. After all, step one is ‘finish school.’”
“Call me crazy-” Michelle began.
“You’re crazy.”
She smiled but pressed on. “But I think ‘marry a billionaire’ will prove to be an acceptable alternative.” Michelle swept her arm, encompassing the little apartment. “And you’re already providing me with this luxurious lifestyle. What more could a father want for his daughter?”
“You make a compelling argument, wife. I just hope my father-in-law accepts it.”
“Well, I just hope my parents-in-law accept me.”
“Are you kidding? They’re going to love you, Michelle. God knows I do.”
I pulled Michelle into a deep kiss. When we came up for air, Michelle whispered, “Point to your parents.”
My arm shot out and Michelle noted the direction. Of course, when we overlaid it on a map, it covered almost the entire length of the station. Studying the map, Michelle highlighted several large sections.
“You don’t have clearance to enter these areas.” At my raised eyebrow, Michelle added, “Your job is to keep unauthorized people out of the computer network. Mine is to keep unauthorized people out of restricted places. This was all part of my first day orientation.”
“Well, breaking into the ID chip software was at the top of my list, anyway. Once I get in there, I can change our access authorizations. Then the whole station will be open to us.”
“Another thing I learned today is our security software tracks everyone’s movement from the ID chips.” She pointed at the station map. “If you can pull that data out of the security department’s software, could you setup a program to plot movement for all of the ID chips on this map? Maybe we’ll see a pattern—an area along our line with extremely limited access, or maybe even two ID chips that stay in a single, remote area.”
“You think they’d have chipped my parents? It seems kind of risky to have them show up on security monitors.”
“But what if they managed to escape? Your parents are really smart, after all. Whoever is holding them here would want to be able to track them.”
“That’s possible… And tracking all movement is brilliant. Let me set that up now.”
An hour and a half later, I sat back from the computer and watched the first of the movement plots appear on the station map. I whooped in triumph.
From behind me, Michelle asked, “Does that mean you’ve got it working?”
Never taking my eyes from the screen, I said, “Yep.”
“Good.”
Michelle spun my chair around and pulled me onto my feet. She wore one of my shirts, with the tail dipping strategically in front and rising to show off a lot of leg on the sides. All but the bottom two buttons were undone, leaving a plunging V all the way to her navel. She looked absolutely amazing.
Pulling me toward the bed, she whispered, “Now, about those amorous activities…”
To our surprise, Lizzie’s suggestion was physically possible.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
A Surprise Meeting
The clatter of dishes woke me up the next morning. I rolled over and saw Michelle, already dressed in her security uniform, laying out breakfast.
“Why are you awake so early?” I sat up, stretching. “We don’t have to be at work for another three hours.”
“Maybe you don’t, but Lizzie and I have dawn patrol today.”
“You do realize space stations don’t have a dawn, right?” I started pulling on clothes.
“You do realize I didn’t give it that name, right? Anyway, every newbie draws a dawn patrol because some long-ago manager decided it was easier to grok—I swear to God, that’s a quote from the manual—the station layout if each newbie walks their sector before it gets crowded.”
“A manager of what? The subcommittee for the committee for the task force for new employee orientation and empowerment? Or was it some other ridiculous management fad? If that’s what you have to deal with working in security, you have my pity.”
I checked the progress of the ID tracking plot on the station map. It was slowly taking shape, with most of the nighttime traffic centered around the entertainment sectors. Everything else was too sparse to mean anything yet.
Turning away from the pad, I went to the table. Wrapping my arms around Michelle, I gave her a good morning kiss. “Mmmm. Breakfast smells good. I bet nobody reheats leftover pizza like you do.”
“Pizza reheating prowess is but one of my many abilities.” Michelle slipped out of my arms and grabbed a couple of coffee mugs. “Just think of all the exciting things you have yet to discover about me.”
I brought the coffee pot to the table and poured. “I liked everything I discovered last night.”
“Me too.” Michelle’s eyes sparkled over her coffee mug. “So what are you going to do this morning while I’m out grokking the station?”
“I guess I’ll get busy cracking the ID chip program. I only wish CompSec software was as easy to crack as real security’s ID tracking application.”
“Are you suddenly getting into the inter-department rivalry, Matt?”
“That depends. Does it turn you on?”
“You’re the empath. You tell me.”
We bantered like that all during breakfast. It felt comfortably intimate. It felt right. And I missed it the moment Michelle walked out the door. I missed her the moment she walked out the door. So I buried my feelings the way men have done for thousands of years—I concentrated on work. And just before leaving for my own work, I cracked the ID program. I’d have to wait to modify our clearances when I got home, but the hardest part was out of the way.
My second day of work passed much like the first, though I felt more like I was part of the team. The guys cracked more jokes, asked inappropriate questions about what Michelle and I did after I got home, and were genera
lly more at ease around me. It was like there had been a secret test and I’d passed it.
The guys didn’t press the matter when I begged off joining them for beer. They did speculate freely about what I planned to do when I got home, with a couple of them offering specific suggestions. Greg even tossed out the same idea Lizzie told to Michelle the night before.
“No way, Greg,” John laughed. “I’m pretty sure that’s impossible to do.”
I shook my head. “Wrong, John. You’ve got to be flexible, but it’s definitely possible—and well worth the effort.”
I strutted out the door, leaving my coworkers staring after me with slack jaws.
A short tube ride later, I waved the hand with my ID chip in front of the reader for our apartment. The door slid open with a quiet swoosh. Longing to be with Michelle again, I opened my mouth to call a greeting. And stopped when I saw a figure bent over the pad I’d left running the data collection routine.
He wore the shapeless coveralls and hat of station maintenance and had his back to me. Instinct told me to sneak up on him and clout him over the head—but would a typical station employee do that?
“Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing in my apartment?” Along with yelling, I stomped heavily into the room.
The figure didn’t even have the grace to jump. He just straightened up and turned around. Wearing an impish grin, she pulled off her hat and released long, golden hair.
“Michelle?”
“I’m sorry if I startled you, Matt, but this was the best test I could think of for these coveralls.”
“You’ve lost me. What were you testing?”
She tugged at the loose fabric at the hip of her coveralls. “That this ugly thing disguised my body. If even you don’t recognize me, the coveralls will do just what we need.”
“Well, it works. It completely hides one of your best assets.”
Michelle smacked my chest playfully. “You’re incorrigible.”
“Well, those coveralls aren’t going to incorrige me to give you a second glance.”
Michelle’s eyes rolled and she groaned. “I’m pretty sure puns like that are grounds for divorce in most systems.”