Talker stood on the raised wooden grid and let the dirty water carry the dust and grit and fine needles of dead tree leaves down the drain. Lee was brushing him from the ears to toes a second time, and decided she'd do it a third time with soap before he was really clean. Yep, there was definitely a down side to all that fur. She decided if he was this much work she never wanted a horse. It must take half a day to brush down something that big.
'When she tried to go under his tail with the brush he straightened up and said, "Oh, oh, no, not there, it's too delicate for the stiff brush!"
"Well, call me prissy, but I'm not going to reach in there for you with my fingers, take care of it yourself if it's so delicate," One of the Derf scrubbing down either was studying English or he just figured the problem out from watching, and thought it hilarious.
"At least you'll be clean for supper," Lee said, "although I'm not sure you'll be very dry, especially not if you soak very long. I suggest just a quick dip and a dry for you today."
"I'm going to need something soft to sit on," Talker realized. "How do I explain that?" He lowered his voice not sure if the Derf who'd laughed understood English.
"My pillow detaches from my sleeping mat. You can have that for as long as you need it. If anybody asks, just tell them the truth. Say you fell down, but skip the details," Lee said.
Supper was brief for Talker and he stayed just long enough to make polite conversation with the Mothers about the memorial site, but excused himself rather than linger over coffee.
"Is Talker all right?" The Third Mother inquired when he left. It was out of character to turn down coffee. It seemed a sincere inquiry, not critical. All three of the Mothers liked him.
"I don't mean this in any way unkind," Lee said, "but Talker seems to be a bit of a city boy, and I think the hike and the wilds wore him out. I think he used muscles that he didn't know he had, and he slipped and fell on his butt. I'm sure he's going right to bed. We had a very nice talk sitting viewing the memorial, and he found some very insightful things to say after I told him a lot more about Red Tree history and the chain bound lands."
"Good, then it's a positive experience overall, once the sore wears off," the First Mum said, with an amused smile. "We shall make clear to the other clans at the fall festival that we approve of his mission, and intend to have a relationship with him and his kind."
"I'm glad you feel that way," Lee said. "We count each other friends, which means a lot to Badgers. His father told me to call him Par Goy on the basis of our friendship. The Goy gives me far more credit than I'd have ever asked as a peer. And the Par is an affectionate term to show a warm relationship, and that I'm, as Talker put it, a concern of the household. He made it clear I can call on his hospitality without being with his son.
"Since you gave me the privilege I extended the hospitality of the Keep, and I didn't have a house of my own to offer Par Goy, I offered him the hospitality of the clan. I doubt he'll ever leave Far Away, but it seemed me the proper form was to reciprocate. Talker's little girl on the other hand I do expect to show up here eventually. I've friended her and given her a token of friendship in the Earth necklace I used to wear. I've learned since that she is coming to Derfhome with her mother, to join Talker at his post here. I'd already extended the gift of passage on my ships to her, whenever she is old enough to use it. I look forward to showing her to you."
"He honors us when he honors you," the Second Mother said. Lee had her pegged as a deep thinker, almost the equal of the Third Mother. She didn't say much, but when she did Lee paid attention. The other two just gave an easy nod to that. The Human gesture was automatic now, even among the field hands and laborers.
Lee did linger over coffee, and as always absorbed as much as she could understand of the social politics and how the Mothers perceived things. She had no doubt Gordon would have news for her, but she was too wound up to go relax, and you don't put your head down and read messages at the Mother's table.
* * *
There was a message on her pad when she returned to her room.
"Admiral Hawking is generally receptive to the idea of sending a ship along on another voyage of exploration. This time," Gordon informed her in text rather than video. "However he points out that to do so in order to free up our one of our own ships to perform guard duty at Derfhome, or to pursue diplomatic missions to Earth isn't really a proper use of Fargoer finances, even if we are now Fargone citizens. Since just about every vessel in his fleet is salivating at the prospect of being assigned to duty accompanying the Exploratory Association fleet, he graciously allows he might let loose one destroyer.
"He admitted that the long-term income to Fargone probably exceeds the cost of sending an escort, but asked me to consider that a farmer or shoe salesman in Landing probably won't see any direct benefit from his tax dollars being used that way. He has a point really. It may reach them eventually. The bar owner who has a surge in business when the fleet vessel puts back in, may buy an extra pair of shoes from the able spaceman spending big after the cruise, but such things are hard to quantify. Trickledown economics has always been a hard sell to the people it most often claims to aid, and sometimes the butt of vulgar jokes. Government officials are averse to being an object of humor, even more than serious accusations of corruption. It erodes power.
"So while he is willing to run a lottery to allow one of his destroyers to accompany Thor, he asks us to look to supporting our own missions with some of this wealth he keeps hearing about. I thought that was terribly reasonable, given I could not answer when he was going to get his cruiser back from Far Away.
"He also reasoned that a destroyer has been sufficient to deal with anything we have met. The Caterpillars seem friendly and the Centaurs are no match for us at all. The Biters are a bad joke. If we find someone really advanced and the circumstances are reversed, then it's likely that his whole fleet would be no help. I couldn't argue the logic of it.
"I think we got as much help as we can expect, and perhaps a little more. We have to rethink how we approach this. One suggestion the Admiral had seems cowardly, but I can't fault the practicality of it. He said we should have one very fast courier, manned and ready to run if we find a dangerous situation that we can't deal with. Hopefully they would at least get word home and give our civilization warning if that happened.
"That's where we stand with Hawking and the Navy. I'll be in bed by the time you read this. I hope you enjoyed the trek back to the memorial and Talker's company."
- Gordon
She couldn't find fault with Hawking either. Something else that had occurred to her since she and Gordon discussed it, was that since Gabriel seemed so smitten with her, if he knew of any serious danger in the Deep Beyond, she thought he'd have tried to persuade her not to go. Even if he was sworn to secrecy he could have tried to give her some kind of veiled warning. An alarmed look on his face at certain comments could have accomplished that without a word. Or she could be entirely too full of herself and not know his mind at all . . .
It wasn't really late, but she was tired from both the walk and the adrenaline surge of dealing with the pig. It made it harder not to be able to relieve the tension by talking it out. So she was happy to go to bed now, when it was barely dark out. She found the file about Human jump drives she'd promised Talker, and sent it to his phone, then turned the light off manually. It was so quaint. The coffee in her system didn't stand a chance against the fatigue and she drifted right off.
* * *
When Gordon arrived back at Derfhome his pad gave a priority tone as soon as they approached the station. He sighed. He couldn't even catch a shuttle back down to the planet before somebody demanded his attention. He expected it to be Timilo or one of his nearly as obnoxious underlings. Why hadn't they figured out they had nothing more to accomplish and it was well past time to wrap it up and go home?
But when he looked it was the bank, and it was a text message. Most of the time he found people loved to give goo
d news face to face with video conferencing, but bad news as a text message like that distanced it from them somehow.
Gordon, please contact me if you are not engaged in something critical. If you want to come by the bank you are welcome to speak to me there. It would be useful if you are able to do that before returning to Red Tree or rejoining your daughter. - Sally
That didn't sound good. Gordon wondered if she was going to withdraw from going along with Lee to the Moon? She was so blunt he'd have thought she'd just tell him to his face if that was the case. If she wanted to use text he would too.
"I just arrived at Derfhome station. Next shuttle down arrives 1000 your time. Meet at the bank and go out to talk over lunch work for you?" - Gordon
"OK, I have a place." - Sally
Maybe it wasn't so bad. They had a decent kitchen at the bank and used it to offer hospitality, save time, and work through on occasion. Going out was a semi-personal thing. The shuttle was half way around the station. Gordon could get a cart, but he'd been stuck in a seat for so long he was happy to walk. He would make the departure easily.
When he called a cab at the shuttle port Gordon was surprised to see it lacked a driver. Derfhome was getting to be as modern as a large Human city, slowly. It accepted his directions and payment flawlessly. It took some sophisticated software to run a cab in this environment, because there were still manually controlled vehicles, indeed a majority of them, on the streets. Directed by sapients, there was no telling what they would do.
That meant the decision tree had to include provisions for many more failure events. Not just loss of data transmission or mechanical failure, but lapses like ignoring traffic signals or willful ignoring the rules to cut in front of them or go over the speed limits jockeying for position and advantage. The ride wasn't near as fast as he'd experienced in a fully automated system. The cab proceeded like a distrustful old man, leery from experience.
When it stopped at the front entry to the bank Gordon instructed it to wait for him. Since Sally was going out to lunch with him they might as well ride. The cab explained it was prohibited from parking on a primary road and that it would park in the bank parking lot after he exited. If he did not return in fifteen minutes it would post a small additional fee against his account and leave. "OK, do it. Payment authorized," he added, and went in.
Sally was in her office, which he'd never seen before. Her desk was an old fashioned one with a large flat top surface. It supported a huge curved screen that ran a good meter and a half side to side. Despite all that area she had stacks of paper documents all over the desk and overflow onto the floor. They were neat and had color coded tabs hanging out, but it still seemed chaotic to Gordon. How could she remember where anything was?
She made a few point and swipe gestures to move and close things on her screen and said, "Mouse off!" to deactivate her ring, and powered forward, slipped it off, and hung it by feel on a cheap little plastic coat hook stuck on the back of the monitor. She powered her chair around to face Gordon and locked it in place, foot rest retracting and the seat gave her a little boost to help her to her feet. Gordon figured at ninety some years that was a small concession to her age. She didn't have that frail look he'd seen in some old humans.
"Well, enough of that for the morning! I hope you're hungry, I am. Do you like Korean food?" Sally asked.
"I have no idea," Gordon admitted. "I have yet to find any style of Human cooking in which I can't find something good. You can order for me," he invited. "I have a cab in your lot."
"Wonderful, I'll call ahead from the cab and have them start our order," Sally said.
The cab politely flashed its running lights and pulled up for them when they went out the door. Gordon wondered how it did that. Did it run recognition software or did the continuing transaction allow it to inquire of his pad?
Sally had her own phone out and punched something in, eschewing voice. Maybe it was a generational thing to prefer text. She started realizing the cab was waiting on her. "Go to Murphy's Coney Island BBQ and Authentic Korean Cuisine," she ordered.
Murphy didn't sound Korean to Gordon, but Humans mixed names and cultures with an abandon that left others bewildered.
"Now, what I wanted to discuss with you, and ask your help, is for that young girl, Clare, for who Lee seems to have assumed responsibility. The housekeeper and lifestyle trainer who has been helping her called me. The dear seems to have suddenly gotten very depressed. She stopped going to her classes, called her tutors off, and has been sitting a few days moping and feeling sorry for herself. She hasn't been eating normally either. I know your daughter is bright and mature in many ways, but I figure this might be beyond her social skills to manage. The girl might resent it if I called a healthcare professional, and I'm an old stranger so she might not be able to relate to me well. She knows you. Could you have a word with her and try to right things?" Sally asked.
Gordon thought about it. "Maybe, the first time we met, her immediate reaction was to be quite scared of me. Not as a reasoned thing, but it seemed the instinctive reaction to a large predator. She did seem to calm down with me, and she's been around more Derf. She might be able to see me as a non-threatening person now, if I'm careful how I speak and move."
"Give it a try if you would. I'm sending her address to your pad and telling the housekeeper to watch for you. I won't say anything to her. She might disinvite you in her current mood."
"Alright," Gordon agreed. "I'll go over this afternoon and see if she'll confide in me. I can perhaps draw on some credit from my relationship with Lee to get her to talk with me."
"Thank you," Sally said, and didn't mention it again.
Gordon was impressed with Murphy's. They not only adapted kimchi to hotdogs but incorporated the little black seed pods, not real Earth peppers, but Devil's Horn 'peppers' that rivaled any Earth pepper for heat. Four Derf style kimchi hot dogs with the menu warning - \ "extra hot - not responsible if you order it - not responsible if you eat it"/// - were appetizers for him, each quarter kilogram hot dog made two dainty bites for Gordon, then a Derf sized portion of Bulgogi which was definitely worth ordering again. All the little relishes served on the side were interesting. He'd add this to his list of places to go, and not just to please Sally. After dropping her off at the bank Gordon gave the cab Clare's address. It suggested that if he was going to use it for another hour it could give him the better day-use rate and save a little money. He agreed.
The cab took Gordon all the way across town, and so far into the hills he was starting to wonder if it was properly in the city at all. But it was close enough to be in the new traffic net. There was nothing industrial out this way, indeed very little in the way of stores or other businesses. They did pass a cluster of stylish building marked as a university. The homes were of a style that suggested they were Derf, many of them earth sheltered and ambiguous about their actual size or depth. The few taller buildings in the Human style seemed to be multiple units. It was at one of those the cab finally stopped. Just to be sure, Gordon told the cab to wait.
Lee had lots of money, so he couldn't fault the bank for putting Clare in a nice apartment, but it surprised him. He didn't realize anything existed on Derfhome quite this luxurious. The foyer was almost a garden there were so many decorative plants, and the floor was beautiful parquet, in geometric designs. He'd wondered about the address. After the street address of the building it said Amber. He now saw on the directory screen that rather than use anything as crass as numbers the suites were named Emerald, Jade, Chrysolite, and there . . . Amber. The names of residents or floor plan weren't offered. He touched the rectangle with the suite name and it got a border around it.
"Gordon of Red Tree to see Miss Clare, please."
"Gordon?" a surprised voice asked, from somewhere in front of him.
"Last time I checked," he joked.
The screen changed to display Clare's face. She looked confused.
"I was told you seem unhappy," he said,
trying to phrase it as kindly as possible. "Could I speak with you? I'd like to be of help if I can."
"Oh. Did Lee send you?"
"No, the lady at the bank, Sally, sent me," Gordon said, deciding on honesty, since he wasn't very good at elaborate lies. "She didn't feel she knew you well enough to talk to you."
"Yeah, we've just spoken on com, and not even that for awhile."
Gordon just waited. Volunteering more at this point seemed chancy.
"Turn to your right and go to the wall. I'll send an elevator down," Clare decided.
"Thank you, see you in just a few minutes," Gordon said.
If the panel hadn't withdrawn as he approached he'd have never known there was an elevator. It seemed about as secure as it could be without the extravagance of a live doorman, checking identity against outside data, in some ways better. The elevator opened directly on a small foyer to Clare's apartment, not a common hall. There was still a door between him and the apartment. That would be handy to leave deliveries or receive carry away food.
"Come on in," Clare said, holding the door open.
Gordon nodded and held his hands in, trying to look meek and as inoffensive as he could. There simply wasn't any way to project small. Not when he filled the doorway.
"I'm sitting out on the balcony," Clare said. "You want something to drink?"
"Coffee if it's not too much trouble," Gordon said.
"No, I don't have to fuss with anything, just press a button and the house does it. I'll have some too, it'll clear my head to talk with you. Go on out on the balcony," Clare said pointing. "I'll be along."
The sliding door was open and Gordon went out. They must be four or five stories up, he decided. The view was lovely, looking straight over the city. It was a sprawl without any skyscrapers like Fargone or Earth would have. There weren't even many buildings as tall as the one he was in. There was a low table and two chairs, but nothing Derf sized. That didn't matter, Gordon carried his own ample padding with him. There was a bottle and glass on the table. That worried him because he understood solitary drinking early in the day was ill regarded among Humans. He pulled the opposite chair away from the table and sat. He was likely going to be looking down at Clare even seated.
A Hop, Skip and a Jump (Family Law Book 4) Page 19