"Or Japanese," April interjected in that language. "So simple I can understand it."
"Oh, if you wish to create an addendum in Japanese for technical details I'm proficient and understand those sort of Japanese terms. I just can't order in a restaurant or make casual social conversation," Jeff allowed.
That seemed to bother Natsume more than the strange business arrangements. "I suppose I can consult with my company and return if they can agree to such an arrangement. What if it is not possible?" he wondered.
"Then this never happened as far as we are concerned. If you consider it a falling out and don't want to sell to us anymore we'll seek other suppliers or make them ourselves. Or... we can just go on as we have been. But if you want to stay and send a sealed message by courier back to your company I can have that delivered to their hand in two days. I don't have any lawyers but we have plenty of people who do security work and... collect information for us. You didn't think the drones and bots were the only source of intelligence we have did you?" Jeff asked.
"No, and one of the reasons we considered this... deal, is we never found one of your machines trying to penetrate our facilities."
"People will buy your bots and then try to use them against you?" April asked, incredulous.
"All the time," Natsume assured her.
"Earthies," April said disgusted. Natsume didn't seem to take that too badly.
After quietly eating for awhile with no more conversation April assumed this was a dead deal. Instead Natsume visibly finished by pushing his tray away, and looked at them.
"I shall have a message composed to my superiors in about an hour. Do you have any preference on what media I send it?"
"No. Paper, data drive, it doesn't matter. Our man will take it directly from your hand to whomever you designate. There won't be any intermediaries," Jeff promised. "Nor will we snoop, on my word. Oh, and if those are production bots you showed us, not prototypes, I'd like you to leave them for us. How many did you have there?"
"There are two hundred in that sample. That's quite satisfactory," Natsume said, giving them a bow that was somewhere between eastern and Western manners. He left without further discussion.
"Well, you were right," Jeff told April. "This was too important to ignore. But I resented the intrusion. I was looking forward to making dinner and relaxing with you. I can't come tomorrow."
"I still have dessert in the refrigerator. Come back with me and we'll take up where we left off," April suggested.
Chapter 10
April slept in the next morning. It was past 1000 by the time she got up and had a bite to eat at home, Gunny and Jeff were both gone and she had the place to herself. The com lit up with an incoming call. It was a yellow flash so it was somebody she knew but not urgent.
"Miss Lewis, I have a couple sketches when you have time to look at them," Lindsey Paddington offered. Her head was so full of the rush of events the last couple days she had to switch gears. President Wiggen... OK, she'd told Lindsey she wanted a gift for their marriage.
"Are you at Cindy and Frank's tailor shop today?" April asked Lindsey.
"No, this is an off day and I don't have school either."
"Why don't you come by my apartment?" April asked. "I'm working on com but I'll break and look at whatever you have prepared for me."
"That isn't any imposition?" Her voice said she really was uncertain. Another time it might have just irritated April, but she really did like Lindsey and wanted to help her out of her shell.
"Not at all," April assured her. Normally she wouldn't play the make me ask three times game with people. "In fact I'll order lunch for us and have it couriered over from the cafeteria."
"Oh no! I'm coming anyway. I'll stop and bring it with me. It'll be fun!" Lindsey said.
"OK. Do you have a taste for anything special?" April offered.
"No, I'm not a picky eater. Whatever you get I'm sure will be fine," Lindsey said.
"Give them a half hour or so to pack it and then come on over anytime you want," April told her. It felt odd. April was definitely a fan of Lindsey's art, but Lindsey acted like she was April's fangurl. It didn't make any sense. What had she ever done to merit that ? And yet how could she object at all if the girl just liked her? Why did it make her uncomfortable instead of just accepting it?
She sent a text to the cafeteria number. Whatever they didn't eat at lunch could go in the frig and Gunny was always poking around in there trying to find a snack. Extra wouldn't go to waste. So she got two each of six kinds of cold sandwiches. She had some crudités, pickles and potato salad already.
* * *
Lindsey didn't have a subtle bone in her body. When April opened the door for her she took two steps inside and froze, her mouth falling open. "This is like an Earth apartment!" she said, amazed.
"Perhaps a little more efficient," April insisted. "But I realize it's bigger than... usual, and I'm very fortunate to have it. My body guard Gunny lives on site too." April was self conscious about her cubic and usually managed to avoid any discussion of it, but there was no avoiding it with Lindsey. If she lacked any subtlety she seemed to lack any jealousy either. April didn't have to invite her to make herself at home, she sat lunch down, marched over and plopped herself down and started spreading her portfolio on the table between the couches like she was April's roomie.
Everything laid out, Lindsey sat up and twisted around taking it all in and saw her large drawing dominating the living area.
"Oh good! You have such a good setting to display this. It's a perfect viewing distance with the couch facing it, and it isn't all cramped in on a wall barely bigger than it is long. Did you pick that bamboo print wall covering after you got the drawing? It carries the green and yellow tones in the drawings so well without dominating. Much more effective than a plain solid color bulkhead. And the mat is effective too. The flecks of gold, and the pattern is blended at this distance." She was happy.
"No, it was here when I got the place," April admitted. "Working with the drawing was just a happy accident."
"I really need to learn to do more botanicals like that!" Lindsey said sternly. "Everybody has spider plants or ferns or something. I'll be honest, I avoid including them because they are just so hard to get right. Especially if they are out of the main focus of the drawing and you can't render them realistically."
"I liked the bamboo the first time I saw the place empty," April remembered. "I had other stuff going on and didn't have a bunch of money to do everything all at once so it was easy to let it be since it wasn't dirty or damaged anywhere. Would you like some coffee?"
"I'm not much of a coffee drinker. Might you have tea? If not water is fine," Lindsey said.
"Tea is no trouble. I haven't had any in awhile. I'll join you for a change." April retreated to the kitchenette and made up a tray for tea. When she glanced back she could see Lindsey was laying more things out on the table.
"Oh my goodness, I just expected a tea bag in a mug," Lindsey said when April returned with a pot and cups more delicate than those she used for coffee.
April was careful to set it safely away from the drawings. Lindsey seemed conscious of that too and scooted over closer to take her cup. April remembered seeing Cindy put out honey with tea at the tailor shop and was glad she did too because Lindsey used it.
"Do you have any idea what sort of apartment President Wiggen and Ben have? Most people can't display something like that," Lindsey said, waving at April's large drawing.
"I've never been to their place. Perhaps I gave the wrong impression. We're not really close friends. I've had occasion to speak with her a few times. It's odd," April admitted. "She hinted I'd done her a good turn sometime, but I'm not at all sure what that could have been. She did me a bigger favor sending Gunny to me, although it wasn't her intent I keep him at the time. She sent him as a bodyguard when I was visiting Earth. She certainly had no idea how complicated that would become. I'd have thought of us more as honorable enemie
s, but she has been friendly. In the end I very much approve of her. She did her best for North America and yet didn't go with the mob when she could have made political points with them by condemning us. In fact she might have stayed in power, at least for a little while longer, if she'd taken a much harder line with us."
"You know, we were living in North America then," Lindsey remembered, fussing with her tea. "I remember there was stuff about Home on the news, but I never paid much attention. I had no idea my dad would bring us all up here. Pretty much all I cared about then was what was happening at school. And I don't mean my lessons so much as my friends and," she made a fluttering hand wave. "Social stuff. Who wears what and who are friends that won't be the same or matter next week. But it all seemed important then." She sipped her tea and looked embarrassed. "It just seems stupid now."
"Huh, some of the things I cared about before the war seem silly now too," April said. "I had arguments with my brother over who would do what parts when we did business, and the exact percentages of ownership. Most of it didn't end up mattering any more than what your friends wore to school."
"I have some bits and pieces of what happened," Lindsey said. "But that was all before the first Assembly. I've been reading the transcripts of all the Assemblies, but nobody has written down what happened before that. Would you take time sometime to sit and tell me what you did? I know you went to ISSII in the Happy Lewis with Ruby's husband Easy, and brought Jeff's dad and step-mom and Eddie back. I've talked to Jon Davis although he's hard to get to say anything. He did tell me about sending Eddie Persico ahead to ISSII, but I want to interview Eddie about when he got to ISSII and how he found Mr. Singh and got him to the dock. And your grandfather too, but I've been shy to ask him. I wondered if perhaps you'd put in a word with your grandfather for me?"
"Is this for school?" April asked. It didn't sound like a casual interest.
"I'll present it at school I'm sure. Your mom is interested in it and encouraging me," Lindsey said. But what I really want to do is write a good, accurate, professional quality history of Home."
"Really? You need to talk to Mr. Muños and Dave who built the Happy Lewis to the specs from Jeff and my grandpa. And Easy, I mean Mr. Dixon, who was the command pilot, and my father. They'll all have lots to tell you," April said, hoping to deflect her.
"I intend to," Lindsey agreed. "But you were in the thick of things. Don't tell me you weren't. If you don't want to talk to me then fine, but then I'll just have to go by what everybody else tells me about your part. Not everybody will think the same things important that you do."
April started to object again and just shut her mouth. She vividly remembered that Jelly, Dr. Ames that is, said there seemed to be a history of expensive damage, death and destruction, strewn closely behind her when she got rolling. He hadn't been entirely joking. She didn't want that to be her legacy in what might be the seminal history of their nation. She should try to get a fair report of at least some positive things she did instead of letting others set the record.
"We can do that," April said reluctantly, and against her every instinct. "I actually have some suit recordings from that trip, but it's hours and hours. I doubt you will want to sit through it all." She should have suit recordings after that too, April remembered. From when they got back to Home, well it wasn't Home yet... Back to M3 and she and Easy fought the USNA invaders in the north corridors leading to the Holiday Inn. She wasn't ready to offer that yet. It had some ugly moments she hesitated to show Lindsey. Worse than when the James Kelly exploded in a zillion fragments from Eddie putting an anti-tank missile in her. But at least a spaceship doesn't leave wet bits dribbling down the bulkhead...
"I'm sure the boring parts can be fast-forwarded," Lindsey said. April was looking so stressed that Lindsey did something unusually mature. She changed the subject.
"Can I show you some of these rough sketches? Or are you ready for a bite yet?"
"I'd love to see some sketches," April agreed. She lacked her usual appetite at the moment. Soon they were lost in the details of composition and color. They stopped about a half hour in and talked about their families and station gossip over the meal instead of art.
When they were done April walked Lindsey to the door April was relaxed again. She was completely caught off guard and when Lindsey turned and hugged her hard around the neck on tip toe. The girl was strong. She hugged her back and gave her a little pat on the back when she didn't let go right away, but it was probably good the girl didn't see the brief flash of surprise on her face. "Thank you so much," she said softly in April's ear. Then she pecked April in front of her ear and let go. It seemed entirely sincere but April was left wondering exactly what she'd done for her? Nothing special jumped to mind. It seemed to April that Lindsey had done much more for her...
* * *
"Gunny we'd like to hire you and another of your other security associates to go down to Tonga for us. We know we want Chen already and he has agreed to go. He deferred to you on picking the third. Do you have a preference who goes with Chen and you?"
"First, who is we?" Gunny asked Robert Lewis, April's father. "I assume you are hiring me on behalf of Mitsubishi?"
"Yes, I have an OK to do so, both for supply and for security. So I'll hand this off and Jon will be the primary boss for it. But you'll have to work without much direction. Also Mitsubishi promises me two Japanese employees on Tonga you can coordinate with. We want Chen because you may have to travel off Tonga and he is the only one of you who we feel can safely enter North American territory. Doctrine should be that at least one of you remain on Tonga however. I'm splitting expenses with Jeff Singh, or technically his company, but he is personally aware and directing Chen to accomplish a few errands himself. Mitsubishi is not going to be aware Chen is associated with you. At least not from me. That is both to simplify explaining the realities of Home politics to my company and a protection since nobody knows you have a backup."
Gunny cocked his head and gave Bob the old fish eye. "What aren't you telling me? It's hanging in the air so thick I can smell it."
"Are you sure you want to know? You have plausible deniability and all that still. They can't read your responses to key words and get anything from you right now."
"If there is more to the mission for either of my partners I want to know. If they need to disappear for a few hours or days I don't want them to have to invent a stupid excuse, I'll know they may need to be away. Otherwise I'd be worrying they were snatched, and I can get pretty aggressive if I think somebody grabbed one of my work mates. I might question the last people I knew they were with so vigorously it would forever ruin your relationship with them." Gunny made a powerful grasping, twisting motion in the air with one beefy hand that Robert wasn't sure about at all. Then he decided maybe that was something he didn't want to know more about.
"Chen will deploy some spy bots for Jeff as he has opportunity. Also he is assigned to get an actual sample of this new flu variety so we can type it. We're getting no information on it and our Dr. Lee has made inquiries to agencies in several counties and got stonewalled or the run-around. I was given opportunity to distance my people from his if I wanted, but honestly it serves our interests. If Jeff didn't do it we'd have to. Just be aware that there is risk. We don't know how severe this variety is for people like you who haven't had LET," Robert warned.
"I doubt somebody made an apocalyptic plague that will decimate the world population if their target was people with Life Extension Therapy," Gunny predicted.
"Perhaps," Bob agreed, "but the motivation for it may have a religious impetus. When that is the case the usual cost – benefit analysis may not look rational to us without the same beliefs."
"Yeah, I hear you. But the same applies to politics and a lot of other group beliefs. I've had flu a couple times. It's nasty but I'll take my chances. Why don't you issue us a testing unit. Even if it is a new variety it should have some of the same basic proteins to register. And some antiviral
meds to administer if we do catch it," Gunny requested.
"Alright. I'll talk to Dr. Lee and arrange that. I believe he can have a test unit that plugs in a phone waiting for you when you get down there. I don't know what antivirals he has here or wants to do. I imagine that's one of the things he's looking to buy," Bob said.
Gunny nodded. That made sense. "OK, assuming we can agree on fees, I'd like to have Christian Mackay with me. He's mature and we get along. He's not a fellow to get physical quickly if he doesn't have to. But if he does he knows what he's doing."
"That's fine. You can have him join us or set a new time to meet if you want, so he can be in on the negotiation for terms and fees," Bob offered.
"I'm sure he'll want the job, but I'll send him over early tomorrow and he can talk with you for both of us," Gunny decided. "I've seen Mac' handle the business side of a job before and he's much better at it than me."
"OK, we're done then. I'll be waiting for him to call me," Bob offered his hand and Gunny shook it.
* * *
Former President of the USNA and her new husband Ben Patsitsas were having dinner at The Quiet Retreat – the other nightclub on Home, which had room for dancing. It ran to quieter classic music as entertainment as the name suggested and the occasional comedian.
"I swear I've met that couple sitting right by the dance floor," Wiggen informed her husband. "The woman in the blue dress with the silk scarf and real jewelry."
"You stood in so many receiving lines I'd expect you know half of Europe," Ben told her.
"Why do you say Europe?" Martha asked. "I didn't say where I met them."
"Well, I can't speak to the lady's dress," Ben said, "but the man just shouts European. His suit is cut that way. No American is going to have that much cuff showing, and the jacket collar is wrong. For that matter the shirt collar says European too. The tie sort of leans that way and the shoes are French or I'm blind."
April 6: And What Goes Around Page 17