April 3: The Middle of Nowhere

by Mackey Chandler

  "Food is very important for morale," April observed. "You are right it is expensive to lift, but nobody would put up with dried stuff for months. If you're going to spend the money to bring it up then the ground side cost is a small fraction and you might as well send the very best."

  "Still, someone back there knows what they are doing," he observed.

  "Yes we have some good people," April agreed. "What sort of business are you hoping to do here?" she asked, "Perhaps we can help you."

  "We have arrangements already," Elena told her. "We just need to find our way to Doctor Gerald Ames. We were told we didn't need a specific appointment time, to just call him on local com to arrange a meeting. It seems a bit late to bother him today however."

  "Oh, Jelly. Sure I've done business with him. Most of my friends and family have had the pleasure of working with him. He's okay," April assured them, bestowing a blanket approval.

  "We'd rather this didn't get known at home, so if you'd keep it confidential that would be very much appreciated," James asked of them.

  "Sure, nobody cares about gene mod up here," April explained, "it just isn't anything that would come up or be of interest," she assured them. "Earthie attitudes don't penetrate much here, less every day."

  "If you are emancipated, I'm assuming your time is your own," Elena guessed, "would you hire out to us as a guide and escort for tomorrow?"

  April opened her com and looked at her calendar critically, "Yes, if you like I'll be your guide and my man here Gunny will cover you as a bodyguard, subordinate to me. I'll toss in the rest of today freebie. Tomorrow will cost you seven thousand dollars USNA or the exchange in EuroMarks. If you want service after that we have to negotiate it." Little did Elena know April would have likely done it free, if she'd asked nicely.

  "Is that really your daily rate?" James asked astonished again.

  "I can't remember the last time somebody wanted me to work on the clock," April admitted. "That's approximately double what I pay Gunny, so I didn't ask any more than what my hired man makes for myself and to cover him. I'm not gouging you with tourist rates if that's what you wonder. I have other interests to manage so I couldn't do this as a long term thing either. I tell you what, if that is a burden I can arrange free passage back to New Las Vegas when you want to go. I have fast couriers that go there, every other day usually, three days at the most. That ought to balance out my fee pretty much if you haven't bought your passage back already."

  "Do you work for this courier company?" James asked.

  "No, they work for me. I'm April Lewis, the firm is Lewis Couriers."

  "How old are you?" James insisted, skeptical of the implications.

  "What does it matter?" April asked a little put out. "Are you ageist?" she demanded. "I hold a ticket for orbit to orbit so I could fly you myself," she told him.

  "I haven't been up here very long myself," Gunny told their guests, "but the young people here are not at all like my nieces and nephews back home in North America. They don't even grant majority at an arbitrary age, you have to get a public vote of confidence that people recognize you as adult. All the teenagers I've met so far are serious and responsible and involved in studies we'd view as college level back home. They mostly learn by doing. They start little businesses and find out what works long before I'd ever have any hope my relatives kids could do the same. I've never seen anything like it. They don't even talk about games, or sports, or what some celebrity is doing. April here sets the pattern for young people's fashion instead of following it. She's the one who got them all wearing black and carrying fake lasers. You really need to change your expectation of what you are dealing with here on Home."

  "So what happens if somebody never displays any sense or ability and he gets to be thirty years old?" James asked.

  "Well, from what I understand, down below people are very reluctant to declare somebody incompetent and appoint a guardian for them. Likely Earth folks would demand he act adult even if he didn't have the capacity, so he'd skate along until he got in trouble," April predicted. "He'd likely end up in prison for some impulsive act. We have not had this system long enough to have a test case. I don't know what we'll do with somebody who doesn't have the capacity to manage their own affairs. I know we won't just stuff them away in a prison because we don't have a jail. I'd be surprised if the Assembly would vote the money to build one. Maybe a holding cell to keep somebody violent until they can be banished to the slumball. What to do with native-born like me if they have no family will be a tough one. I suppose we will have to all pay for some kind of supervised residence," she guessed. James visibly twitched at the term slumball.

  "This norm of early maturity is not unknown," Helena informed them. "I know this from studying history. In Earth societies there were eras where life expectancy was very short. You had to marry and breed as quickly as possible because odds were you'd be dead by forty years old on the average. You don't have that situation, but it shows young people can be pushed to an earlier maturity if there is need or reason."

  Gunny was nodding agreement. "In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare wrote Juliet as a thirteen-year-old and in reply to her reluctance to marry she was told many girls her age were already making fine mothers."

  "Your interests continue to surprise me," April told him.

  "Hey, just because I'm a grizzled old shooter doesn't mean I can't think. That's one of the reasons Shakespeare is banned in North American schools now, they feel it promotes teen promiscuity and other unwholesome values."

  "Oh yeah, like panic suicide on bad information is really so attractive," April said.

  "You had a situation on the frontier that made for early maturity too," Elena added. "The land was there to be had for free if you could start a household and work it. So a lot of young boys would marry and stake out a claim for a farm or a ranch next to their family, sometimes as young as fourteen. They might be out alone and armed, riding a wire fence to maintain it as young as twelve or thirteen years old."

  "I can see that," April said. "Here we have the pressure of a hostile environment too. We're bigger now, but it used to be that just about every compartment had a bulkhead to vacuum. One of the first things I remember learning was how to open a patch kit and cover a hole to vacuum fast," she told them. "I might have learned that before how to use the toilet. We have emergency pressure suits at our entry now, but I remember when I was little we had them beside each bed."

  "Yes, that would make you grow up in a hurry, understanding you are responsible for yourself to keep your very air to breathe," Helena acknowledged.

  "So just for the sake of argument the other way, why are my sibling's kids back home such colossal idiots that they can't be allowed alone by law until they are eighteen? And some things like buying alcohol they have pushed the age back to twenty-four now? It's not unneeded," he assured them, "If you left my nephews at home alone they'd tear the place up like a dog left locked in alone all day. It wouldn't surprise me to see them burn the place down, or start making false emergency calls to the public safety center. You are even liable if you don't keep all the cleaning chemicals and your medicines locked away from the little monsters."

  "Not much different than Spain," James told them. "If you leave the car keys out and they go for a joy ride it's your butt on the line. I can't imagine trusting any of my relatives' children with a motor scooter, much less a spaceship," he said looking at April.

  "I suspect, if we were honest, a careful look at the times it became expected to stay in a childish state would show there were economic reasons underlying it," Helena said.

  "You mean to keep them out of the job market?" April asked, surprised.

  "Yes. There is no shortage of labor anymore. Unneeded hands are a burden now with automation. But materials are the new shortage. There are a great many things that could be improved and better designs introduced, but the old systems have to be used up. It isn't economical to introduce a new computer or com pad or washing machine unt
il the service is extracted from the old one. And even though the laws have made most of the materials in an old device recoverable, there is still a cost in energy to recycle the old item, fabricate the new one and transport the materials both ways."

  "To the point they need to deliberately put brakes on the economy?" April asked.

  "So much so that some of the dump sites from the start of the century are being dug up and mined for their metals and glass. You can't believe what they threw away."

  "We aren't lifting as much metal to orbit now that we have an asteroid capture to mine," April told her, "but we are a long way from it being cheap enough to sell materials to Earth."

  "And I doubt that will change this century," Helena agreed.

  "I'll take you up on that ride back," James agreed. "I didn't mean to be offensive. We aren’t poor, but I have to admit I find the prices up here stunning. Our rooms in NLV are really expensive. Will they be any cheaper with Home not being a resort?"

  "If anything they will be more. In New Las Vegas they know most of their guests will lose a pile of money gambling. They could probably comp you the room and make out okay. Here they don't have the house cut on gaming to cover the room." April said. She was starting to think Helena was the brains of this partnership.

  Chapter 15

  Zack was happy to have two new customers even if the sale was only a couple spex. He took one look at James and Elena and poured on the charm. April suspected he could tell from their clothing and manner that they were potentially valuable customers.

  April's com vibrated. Not many callers could make it do that. It was a text from her grandpa. "Classic pianist at club called off sick. Jazz quartet filling in. Want to go?"

  "Sure, can I bring Gunny? Might I invite another couple? What time?"

  "Tables seat four. We can squeeze an extra chair in, np, 1730?"

  "Great – Gunny and me for sure. Will tell you if others beg off."

  The Alphonses were declining Zack's offer of coffee. James had his spex on and seemed comfortable with them. Helena was turning her head to look at an uncluttered wall or panel like new users often did before they grew comfortable with an extra layer in their vision.

  "My grandpa says there was a switch of musicians for tonight and the people I wanted to hear will be playing. Would you care to come along with me this evening? We would hear a little jazz and have a few drinks. I imagine they will have snacks."

  Elena looked at James and got a little nod. "That sounds nice. We need to go to the Holiday Inn and check in and confirm our luggage arrived. Could we do that next so we have time to relax a little and get dressed?"

  "Sure, let me show you how to use your spex to find it and guide you there," April offered. "See the little symbol light up? You blink on it and it grants permission for our spex to talk," she got them set and Gunny and she walked them to the hotel.

  "This looks so nice," April looked all around, checking out the lobby. "It was damaged terribly a bit over a year ago in the war. I haven't been in since. They had a beautiful big conference table with all sorts of exotic wood inlay in the next compartment there. I hope it didn't get damaged in the fighting. We had a sort of safe room here, but we would come in the back door to avoid being seen."

  "A safe room? That sounds like something out of a spy novel," Elena said smiling.

  "Oh yes, there was a spy involved at the start. The USNA sent a Space Seal in to try to steal some tech a friend of mine developed. He tore their apartment all apart - made a mess. Set a fire and did some stupid pointless vandalism on top of it all, but never did find the tech. I talked to him out in the corridor believing he was an architectural student. I was so green. That seems like a hundred years ago. Only thing makes me feel any better is he fooled everybody else too, folks older and smarter than me."

  "Perhaps you can expand on that this evening. How should we dress?" Helena asked.

  "My grandpa said dressy. I doubt they'd turn you away at the door for anything, but if you brought something a bit fancy in your traveling clothes that would be nice."

  "What are you wearing dear?" Helena inquired.

  "Something dressy Frank Fabbri of Honolulu made for me and some accessories by his associate De Luco," April told her. "It's black."

  "Ah, I have a little black dress along, I'll wear that then," Helena agreed, smiling at her joke.

  "I imagine you could find your way now that I've showed you how the spex work, but why don't we come by and walk over with you? About twenty minutes early, okay?"

  "That would be pleasant," Helena agreed.

  * * *

  Their rooms were agreeable, but very compact, more so even than the ones in New Las Vegas. If it hadn't been a suite they would have had no room for their luggage.

  "What should I wear dear, black tie?" James inquired.

  "I think that might be overkill. Perhaps just a pale shirt and your blazer?"

  "Surely a dinner jacket at least, for a club?"

  "If you wish. Formality doesn't seem to be very common here. She said dressy in fact, not formal. Look at how they were dressed."

  "Yes, but you caught them on the way to a cafeteria dinner."

  "That's true, but did you hear what she said she was wearing?"

  "I know nothing about women's clothing," he reminded her.

  "She said she was wearing something made for her by Fabbri of Honolulu."

  "So?"

  "It was sarcasm. Oh, I don't think she meant it to be mean at all, but he's one of the best designers outside New York or Paris. I doubt he makes a bespoke formal dress for less than a hundred-thousand. She'll be wearing that and De Luco jewelry when, as they say, pigs fly."

  "What are you wearing then?"

  "A very plain black dress to the calf with plain pumps and minimal jewelry, just a simple chain and earrings and a little clutch purse. She made clear she doesn't expect people traveling to be prepared to dress very well. I must admit I left most of my better things back on NLV."

  "I'd give her the benefit of the doubt then, that she is just very practical about things like traveling light rather than underestimating you. You should dress up, please. When else will you have an opportunity to do so here? You can always dress for me, even if the natives don't appreciate it," he pleaded.

  "Very well, you're doing a fair imitation of a newlywed," she said giving him a quick kiss.

  "Well it hasn't been a year yet and you better stop that if you still intend to go back out."

  "We're a bit ahead of them. There will be plenty of time after dinner," she promised.

  * * *

  They went down to the lobby five minutes early. Their hosts were waiting already. The older gentleman must be her grandfather. He was in a deep blue tux and looked very distinguished. There was something odd about him. He had white hair, but the roots were coming in dark, the reverse of the usual order of things where people dyed their hair. He seemed a bit too straight and moved very smoothly and easily for his age.

  Gunny surprised them by being in full dress USNA Marine uniform. It fit impossibly well and his array of ribbons and medals was impressive. He was already a massive man. In dress he looked six inches taller.

  April was the most disconcerting however. It took Helena every bit of her self control not to let her mouth fall open. April wore a long sheath of black silk with thin straps, not too tight and slit to the calf. It had a detailed fine pattern like quilting on it, swirls and arcs of slightly raised fabric in careful hand stitching. The patterns were reinforced with a light dusting of fine seed pearls, black and bronze and just a few crème for contrast. She had a necklace of platinum with a triangular center diamond, point up, flanked by large tapered baguettes. The arc of the necklace followed the neckline of the dress perfectly. Her earrings repeated the triangle and square theme. Her small handbag was covered in the same needlework her dress displayed and she had on black silk pumps with a surprisingly low heel.

  James leaned over and spoke softly in his
wife's ear. "Oinc, oinc, oinc." She elbowed him in the ribs hard before he could add any aeronautical references to the porcine. He covered any reaction. April quickly got them out the door and moving.

  "Master Sergeant," James said counting his stripes, "I'd have thought a USNA uniform would be unwelcome on Home. How is it you are bodyguard to Miss Lewis and yet can wear the uniform?" he asked puzzled.

  "I was assigned to guard April by the direct order of President Wiggen. I'm still waiting to receive my mustering out papers from her so until I hear otherwise I am still a Marine. I am very newly arrived and have not had opportunity to buy dress clothing here on Home so I figured it would be nice to wear this one last time."

  "By her, you mean President Wiggen again? James asked.

  "Yes she said she'd see to my retirement. I mean, of course she'll just call up somebody and tell them to do it, but when the orders come down from the top they do tend to hop to it. As to the folks here on Home, none have been put off by my service. Of course not invading them in space armor, weapons blazing, probably has something to do with that."

  "I get the sense you are staying then?"

  "Yes, I think I'll give it a try. I found myself played between political factions at home. I've had entirely enough of that, thank you. I came up not two weeks ago because I was told to turn myself in under arrest. Wiggen's people were not shy to use people like me as bait to draw out the Patriot party and expose their coup attempt. I don't like being bait."

  "There was a coup? In North America? James asked dismayed.

  "They tried. It went rather poorly. That's part of why April and I fled Hawaii. Well, the Chinese were gunning for her too, but that's another story. We slipped away on a sailboat and skulked about the South Pacific for a bit. We eventually made out way to Tonga and lifted for Home."