April 6: And What Goes Around

by Mackey Chandler

  "Yes. Well, thankfully Barak showed good judgment and refused to get in a yelling contest with her," Jeff said. "He calmly said he'd only speak for a hearing."

  "Makes sense to me," April said. "Once things get loud and emotional people stop thinking."

  Jeff nodded. "She stopped thinking so badly she granted him an immediate hearing. I've been assured when I asked that this was within her powers on an extended voyage like this."

  "Interesting. I didn't know that." April was calm enough she was continuing to finish her dinner. Jeff had been scared she'd get upset. That was why he didn't want to tell her on com.

  "She then compounded the error by accusing him of inflicting the injury on the Captain, but admitted in the next breath she didn't have proof," Jeff said.

  "I take it he was unconscious not to be able to testify himself?" April asked.

  "Yes. And skipping some details... She curtailed work for a couple days then announced they were resuming operations like nothing much had happened without a word about the Captains condition."

  "Wow, that's just bizarre. Something's wrong with that woman," April declared.

  "More than you think," Jeff agreed. "When asked, she claimed the Captain died without ever regaining consciousness. Barak was recording his confrontation with her and at the end he said the man started moving, moaned, touched his face and said something. He and the crew that are friendly to him couldn't understand what the Captain Jaabir said, so Barak sent me the recording. He didn't want to use the ship's processing to clarify it."

  "So, were you able? What did it say?" April asked.

  "It was slurred and nasal. I suspect his nose was swollen shut," Jeff explained, pinching off his nose to demonstrate how it would sound. "But he said, What the hell happened to me? quite clearly when you match all the elements to his speech patterns."

  "So another stupid lie. A bigger one and worse – unnecessary. She could have just said he died without embellishing it. Liars get in trouble when they try to fill the story with a bunch of details. She offed him if he's dead," April predicted.

  "That's what they think. Me too," Jeff agreed. "He seemed the sort to try to put the blame for everything off on her. She might well have been scared he could do so successfully."

  "I can't see Barak being held responsible for this. But it's horrible they're stuck out there with this crazy woman. What are they going to do?" April asked. "Did you suggest anything after you processed the audio for them?"

  "Not yet," Jeff said. "I have no advice I'd offer without knowing a lot more. I have no expertise dealing with crazy people. At least not up close and personal like this. I just sent them the processed file. But I consulted a psychologist. We didn't have one on Home and I didn't want someone Mitsubishi uses because of possible cultural bias. I found somebody through my security people who would give general advice without knowing every detail.

  "She said this sort of personality that lies quickly to avoid punishment or conflict and will just keep adding new lies in layers without much thought. She doesn't really scheme at a deep level. She just lies easily like a child without long range planning. The psychologist suggested not confronting her in an isolated situation where she could feel trapped and desperate. Just don't ask questions and don't accuse her in any way and leave it all to be resolved when they get back. That's what I passed on to them."

  "If she caused the Captain harm doesn't she know that a good forensic pathologist will almost certainly be able to tell the cause of death?" April asked.

  "That's exactly the sort of thing they don't want to ask her. The ship has no planned storage to bring back any remains. They know he isn't in either food freezer. If she shoved him out the airlock he'll be lost as soon as they move and they'd never find him again among the debris orbiting Jupiter. Certainly not for years because nobody is going to fund a trip just to look for him," Jeff assured her.

  "So you only have her worthless word that he's dead? She could have him strapped to the bunk in her cabin alive for all they know," April said.

  "Sometimes you scare me with crazy ideas like that. Except that sometimes you're right. It's a horrifying mental picture, but in this case I doubt she'd report him dead to the expedition owners if she had him tied up somewhere."

  "Oh. That does seem unlikely even if she's... off." April had a different thought. "Have you talked about this to the expedition owners?"

  "No. You notice Barak didn't send this message and file to them? I'm frankly prejudiced. I want to see Barak unharmed. Even if he hit the man it sounds to me like he was not unprovoked. But the owners might look at it differently. I only know a couple of the owners well and don't even want to explain how I got these files. I just want to get them back safely with no more conflict or drama."

  "If we try to do too much for him it might backfire on us," April suggested to Jeff.

  "Agreed. It could appear we were trying to pervert justice for our friend rather than secure it. Better they just hear how those two neglected their duty and we not make excuses for Barak he may not need."

  "I guess we'll find out what the Assembly will do with a murderer when they get back," April said. "I wonder how much they'll be influenced by Earth law about insane criminals? They haven't had a case like this before. The rail gun killing was a military and political matter, not personal."

  "We get to find out what the Assembly will do about the flu and quarantines tonight," Jeff reminded her. "Might we go back to your place and watch it on com instead of going to the cafeteria?"

  "It is a rather late Assembly isn't it? And if we aren't there nobody can see us and think to ask if we've had any part in gathering the data or managing this," April said.

  "Exactly," Jeff agreed. "Let's keep a low profile for a change."

  Chapter 14

  "The voice is a match for Jaabir and he said 'What the hell happened to me?' quite distinctly when the file is cleaned up," Barak typed in his pad. "My friend Jeff suggests, on expert advice, a course of avoiding confrontation and allowing the Assembly and licensing authorities to deal with Ms. Dobbs when we get back. Listen to the reconstructed audio," he offered, handing the pad to Alice.

  "Ah, 'the hell' is slurred together so much I thought it was one word," Alice said, giving it to Deloris to listen to the file.

  "This is awkward," Deloris tapped in the pad. "We have to make nice-nice and work with a woman who appears to have killed our Captain. I hope nobody counts it as mutiny that we ignore it. Even temporarily."

  Alice reached over Barak and took the pad back. "What else can we do? What purpose would it serve to say anything? You know she isn't going to take it well if we do. If she sees any of us as a threat – I don't want to end up like Jaabir. I'm scared of her now and not ashamed to tell you that. We're not a court to impose a sentence. What would we tell her – don't do that again? We can hardly lock her in her cabin. Need I remind you? None of us know how to pilot Yuki-onna back home."

  Barak reached over and tapped out. "That's the real rub isn't it?"

  * * *

  The usual people were on the usual temporary platform they put up in the cafeteria for an Assembly. Mr. Muños, the Registrar of voters, was acting as chairman, April's father, Robert, for Mitsubishi and Jon, head of security. The usual business leaders, sitting together at the near tables, self sorted for rank and association. April watched while one fellow tried to take the last seat with the ship builders and get turned away, told it was saved.

  Muños wore a nice suit which was unusual, but it seemed natural on him and nobody took it for a silly affectation. It did fit nicely. Even he skipped the tie since it wasn't a Home custom.

  The camera feed was limited, focused on the platform, and it wasn't run by a live operator who could pan the Assembly. Most people viewed it on com like April and Jeff were this evening, but she missed looking around at the entire crowd. Everyone on the fringes were invisible. Lindsey was there undoubtedly. Doing a rough sketch or two to elaborate on later. April would be
t on where Lindsey was sitting give or take two seats either way.

  "The fourteenth Assembly of Home is called to order," Eduardo Muños said without fanfare. The few people standing or talking found seats and it got quiet.

  "We find a matter of urgency and national survival to bring before you in Special Assembly. I ask you leave off less important business and routine matters for the next regular scheduled Assembly. The flu epidemic on Earth appears to be a serious risk for Home citizens. Please give our head of security your attention," he asked, and sat.

  Jon outlined his request to quarantine people showing symptoms and to turn excess people away who could be carriers within the incubation period. April thought he was much more comfortable speaking to a huge crowd than he had been when they rebelled from North America. He made it clear he disliked the necessity of limiting free travel, even for foreigners, but saw it as a matter of survival.

  When Jon sat down Dr. Lee was invited to speak. Jeff was slouched back sipping on an orange juice with lots of ice, looking like he might go to sleep. He sat back up and lost the sleepy look.

  "This the part you've been waiting for?" April asked Jeff.

  "No! I knew what Jon was going to ask, we discussed it on com, but I didn't know Lee was going to speak. I have no idea what he's going to say."

  Dr. Lee was dressed in a sweater and heavy slacks. Home wasn't given to symbols of authority like the suit and tie, or lab coats. He didn't need a stethoscope hung over his shoulders to establish his expertise with this crowd. It would have insulted many of them to suggest they needed visual aids to know he was a medical doctor. April had never heard him speak publicly before, but he seemed at ease and knew to look at the camera to speak.

  "I have been communicating with colleagues on Earth, trying to get timely and accurate information about the current flu epidemic. It hasn't been easy. Nobody wishes to share any hard information and indeed in some cases they outright lied to me. Thanks to data collected by Home citizens who recently visited Tonga I now have an accurate picture of the genetic makeup of this new variety. It's definitely derived from what is commonly referred to as the mouse flu. It originated in Africa over a decade ago. However it has a number of changes that are quite different from the usual genetic drift we see in seasonal flu.

  "I'm a practicing physician but we are fortunate to have on Home a scholar with credentials more suited to understanding a genetic construct. I'd like to introduce Dr. Gerald Ames and have him tell you what he found." Lee stayed standing to the front of the platform but was joined by Ames – also known as Jelly by his friends and customers.

  "Dr. Lee is too modest," Ames said. "We both contributed, bouncing ideas and observations back and forth to understand what we were looking at. The virus is altered, not just mutated. We lack the complete code but have the data on critical sequences. Not only the core of the virus is different but the protein coating is too. Just to emphasize, when I say altered I mean deliberately. It is a man made construct. I don't think it is too extreme to say it is created as a weapon. With that in mind let Dr. Lee tell you more about what he found out."

  "I'm not given to gossip," Lee said. "A physician has many confidences and has to preserve the privacy of his patients. However what I am about to tell you is third hand information. We are not subject to the same political pressures here as institutional medicine suffers on Earth. Nobody in current practice would talk to me. But I called one of my professors who is retired and he spoke quite freely to me. He's at an age where he said, 'What can they do to me?' He is not a spacer seeking information for a foreign nation, so a number of his students and peers have spoken freely with him. He indicated the mature epidemic in Italy has a morbidity in the fifteen to twenty percent range."

  That produced a murmur in the cafeteria crowd loud enough to make him pause.

  "Good," Lee nodded, looking grim. "Your reaction indicates you know how bad that is. Public services are significantly disrupted in Italy. Particularly in the Rome area. As other areas follow the same progression they expect a similar crisis of ordinary services as well as police and fire protection and medical services almost worldwide.

  "That would be sufficient reason to isolate Home along the lines of what Jon Davis advised. However it is much worse than that. The virus is particularly virulent against anyone with life extension therapy. I honestly can't give you an actual number of how many succumb because so many jurisdictions prohibit or limit LET or any gene therapy. We have no reliable report. The infected subject themselves to arrest and harsh punishments if they seek treatment.

  "As you can imagine many have died at home fearful of seeking help, and many have decided to disappear. Since people with LET are generally of higher income, some undoubtedly have retreats they prepared for any disaster and fled there. If they have business interests or political power they might try to maintain control remotely. People who have to be in contact with the public like entertainers have had a harder time doing that of course. We have had a couple already flee here who test as infected. They were asymptomatic yesterday but both are running a slightly elevated temperature and complaining of headaches today. They are in quarantine outside the hull. But we only have facilities for four. We made them aware the Assembly was considering issues affecting them and presume they are watching.

  "I am aware many of you here have LET. Be aware the only report my source had for the effect of the disease on gene mod people was one Swiss hospital. Apparently a number of people fled Italy and sought treatment in Switzerland where LET is legal and they would not be subject to prosecution. A member of their staff said they lost seventeen out of twenty four patients who admitted to having LET. That isn't a very big sample, and several arrived already very sick. But it's a pretty firm indication that this disease is devastating to people who have life extending gene mods. The ones who did survive were also ravaged by the infection and making generally slow, poor recoveries. I ask you to think carefully if you wish to open our doors and allow something in that will kill a third to half of your neighbors." After dropping that bombshell he sat down.

  "Comments?" Muños invited.

  "Mrs. Eiben, on com," Muños choose.

  "I know we can't let just anybody in who is sick," Eiben said. She was a stout woman with a serious expression on their screen. "That's how I'll vote. Sometimes you don't have any good choices, and you do what you have to. But I feel terrible about it, to slam the door in the face of people in need. It's not how I was raised. Is there anything else we can do to help that doesn't involve letting these medical refugees in to infect us?"

  Jon made a gesture he'd field that question and got a nod from Muños.

  "We've talked about that. We simply don't have any facilities for producing flu vaccines or that sort of medicine. They aren't practical here. We do supply several cancer drugs and our tech products like specialty chips that contribute to health care and public safety in many other products. If we lose the production of those items, or worse the specialists who make them, due to allowing this pandemic to spread here we'll condemn many other people to death. In the end we'd harm many thousands of folks down below. Far more than the handful we can help here directly by allowing them in."

  That apparently made Eiben feel better. "Thank you for your explanation," she said, leaving.

  "Mr. Baeher, in the audience," Muños acknowledged. The man was standing to be recognized.

  "How long do you intend to have this in place?"

  "Dr. Lee, can you address that?" Muños said.

  "Exceptionally lethal flu can burn itself out in a year. The great influenza pandemic of 1918 for example never recurred. We'd have to review the necessity of it with the Assembly again, once it is not reported heavily. Unless it establishes itself as a recurring strain. If it pops up at random in the population as a persistent thing them we'd have to consider much stricter entry requirements than in the past as a permanent policy. The consequences of ignoring it would be too great a catastrophe to risk." />
  That produced a pause of silence as everyone absorbed the implications.

  "If it is harbored in animal populations," Lee continued, "or one or more strains become less virulent to people without LET, it can periodically reoccur as any number of flu strains do. If that happens then Earth will be a very dangerous place for those of us with life extension mods to visit."

  "That is a sobering prospect," Baeher said, and sat again.

  "Ms. Barrington?" Muños asked, uncertainly, pointing at the lady in question who had waved.

  "Yes, Melissa Barrington. I work for UPS. We've never been introduced. I'm surprised you know me. My question is what might the repercussions be from Earth governments for limiting entry? Might Mr. Davis have thoughts on this? Do you expect them to play tit for tat and limit entry for citizens of Home? Or might they impose other sanctions?"

  Jon stayed seated, but answered. "North America can't exclude Home citizens by treaty. But very few Home citizens have decided to exercise that right. Few of us feel safe in North America marked as spacers. There is a not too subtle campaign of propaganda to vilify spacers in North America. There are also places in Europe I wouldn't feel free to go even if they'd admit me. Anybody who would go to China right now is insane. Japan and Tonga, of course, we have a special relationship. Australia still seems safe at the moment, and I can't imagine they would have a reason to exclude us. No place will be safe while this epidemic is active. So we're talking after that in any case.

  "As for economic sanctions - even the sanctions North America and China put on us are for show. There aren't any ready substitutes for most of what we make. They just damage their own citizens financially to make an ideological point. We still sell all we make. Despite the economic turmoil below nobody has started canceling orders for Home goods. That may change if the economy down there doesn't survive the population being decimated – or worse. However where we have vulnerability is if they refuse to sell or can't deliver to us. There are enough countries to shop around among them that I think we can get at least the basics of what we need. Any actual shortfall will probably be from temporary failures in the supply train, not deliberate political action."