A Hop, Skip and a Jump (Family Law Book 4)

by Mackey Chandler

  "My Lady Dakota says tomorrow is promised as a day of open court and after breakfast Heather will dispense justice and anyone may meet and speak with her. If she will close court and speak with you privately she cannot promise, but it would not surprise her since Dakota remembers being ordered to issue the instructions for your convenient passage from out-system. Is that satisfactory?"

  "Sounds interesting actually," Lee said. "What time does this start?"

  "The doors always open at 900 sharp, and I was going to send you to a guest suite within walking distance. I am Facilitator Shashi Devi. If it pleases you I would come and walk you over in the morning."

  "You aren't simply a traffic controller then?" Gordon asked.

  "My Lady Heather tends to streamline processes. She'd rather give a limited number of people authority to wear any number of hats, and just get something done, than create an intricate bureaucracy with many detailed and separate powers and responsibilities. Landing at Central is largely an automated process for our own ships, but if need arises there are at least a half dozen people who can stop what they are doing and give a ship directions."

  "May one ask what you stopped doing?" Gordon asked, grinning.

  "Art, a hobby actually, I'm trying to gene engineer an alien tree for decorative effect, and teaching my young daughter the editing techniques at the same time. I'm afraid multitasking is a very hard habit to break," Shashi said, amused at herself.

  "Do you know if it is permissible to give our crew liberty here?" Frost asked.

  "That's permissible or you wouldn't have been allowed entry," Shashi said. "However, they may find shopping better at Armstrong, and also, if they want rowdier bars or a casino they should ask for transport to Armstrong. Central is rather sedate, and the Sovereign is not fond of gambling. I assume you will leave an officer of the day at watch?"

  "Two actually, which means four others can have leave in shifts."

  "Why don't you wait and make arrangements as soon as the docking collar is installed," Shashi suggested. "That will only be a couple hours."

  Frost nodded agreement.

  "If it is not offensive to ask, might you join us for breakfast earlier?" Lee asked. "I'd welcome a chance to chat with a native. I've learned a lot from you already."

  "I don't see how that could ever be offensive," Shashi said. "Your guest suites offer in-room service. May I suggest you ask them to set a buffet? I'd like to bring my daughter along also. It would be good for her."

  "Sure, bring her along. Say 700 or near that?" Lee suggested. "How old is your daughter?"

  "Priya is eleven Earth years. Be warned, tact is one of the lessons with which we are currently struggling."

  "That's OK, I'm not terribly socialized myself," Lee shot right back.

  "Oh joy, until tomorrow morning then."

  Ha-bob-bob-brie just nodded that deep fast nod that was almost a bow when Lee informed him they would be leaving in minutes. "I am packed," he said, like he'd expected her call. Maybe he had. They had after all allowed him to come, so why shouldn't he? He had a small bag like a woman's purse and a barely larger case on wheels.

  * * *

  Despite the radical hanger and exotic ships, the cart that pulled up to their ship wouldn't have turned an eye at any retirement community or golf course. Only the extended length with seating for eight instead of four was unusual. Some basic forms are difficult to improve. Attempted improvements have been tried before, beyond living memory, and there were reasons they failed. It had a Human driver rather than being automated, and he couldn't keep surprise off his face that he was picking up a mix of four races.

  The cart didn't take them to pressure right away. They entered an elevator, much smaller than the one their ship rode on, but still big enough for much larger vehicles. It dropped a long way before it stopped. Lee thought it had to be several kilometers.

  The ride was short once they were at depth, maybe a half kilometer down a long corridor from the hanger, a turn onto a larger tunnel with light traffic, then a turn off at an angle that let them off directly at doors to their rooms. Lee noticed the young man didn't open his faceplate and tip it back until they passed the second set of pressure doors. She approved.

  They had very light bags, even Sally, who brought as much luggage as the rest of them combined, left most of it on the ship. So the driver didn't need to help them at their rooms. They set the door to their hands. It didn't escape Lee's notice that the house computer had no trouble accepting hand prints from four species.

  The guest suites at Central itself were not as luxurious as the hotel suites they enjoyed at Armstrong their previous visit. They were still quite comfortable, and modern. It seemed to Lee the big difference was they made no attempt to impress. It made her think and wonder how they used those suites in Armstrong. For whom they might use them, besides themselves.

  Not only was there no fancy garden, or theater, the rooms were laid out in boring rectangular shapes instead of high ceilings, arches and circles. It undoubtedly was more efficient and used common fixtures easier. Yet it didn't feel like a discount motor court. There was another entry to the other side of the suite which led to public areas and services.

  The only thing Lee did before bed was check the com directory and post a message to room services for a breakfast buffet in the morning. Just in case they weren't used to serving Derf she suggested that they allow for three to four Human size servings for Gordon. Sally took the com desk after her like she intended to stay up awhile, but she hadn't tired herself on the bridge. The last thing Lee saw going in her room was Ha-bob-bob-brie. He was positioning himself where the door to public areas opened, blocking the way inside the closed entry. He'd sleep standing there, a living alarm.

  Chapter 23

  The room got bright slowly to ease you awake. Since Lee was adjusting from this time being noon to her body not so many days ago, it worked easily. The door was cracked open, Lee hated feeling sealed up when she wasn't on a ship. The smell of bacon and fresh bread finished rousing her and made her abandon the comfy bed. The clock on the corner of the com screen said it was only 6:27. She had plenty of time to clean up.

  The shower seemed needlessly complex, with two levers and three buttons. Lee stood to the side not trusting it not to scald her. She needn't have worried, this wasn't negative tax housing on Earth, where a too-hot shower had sent her scampering out from under it. Spacers were obsessed with safety, and it was definitely a spacer culture here even if it wasn't a ship.

  The lack of an instruction plaque initially irritated her, but it wasn't so hard once she experimented. The middle button activated it, the blue button made it cooler, and the red button made it hotter. It could be made uncomfortable to her taste at either extreme, but not hazardous. The one lever adjusted volume and the other made it go from a steady stream to pulsating at an increasing tempo. You could turn it off and leave your choices set, which was nice.

  Setting it very warm, Lee increased the volume and pulsation, leaning against the wall with both hands and letting it beat on her face and run down her body. On second thought, maybe she should get one of these for her condo on Fargone, and a huge hot tub like the Derf kept.

  "Have you drowned?" Gordon called from her door. "We have food, we have company, they may charge by the hour for that fancy thing."

  Their guests were early then.

  "More likely by the liter, allow me a few minutes more," Lee insisted. "This is much nicer than a Derf shower. It doesn't peel my skin off."

  "Then it probably can't do a deep cleaning all the way through your fur," Gordon said.

  "Not a problem for me," Lee yelled back, but suddenly realized their company could probably hear this exchange in the common room and cut that line of thought off. "Coming, as soon as I get dressed," she said instead. There was silence, so Gordon must have left, satisfied she was coming.

  Lee threw on some canvas pants and a safari shirt. She didn't wear pistol or knife and just put spex on, leavin
g the pad in her room. The suite was warm and the carpet thick so she didn't bother with shoes, her only jewelry was her fish necklace she never took off.

  When Lee went out everyone was around the table, and the buffet was set up on a roll in cart. It was early but it seemed petty to complain. It wasn't like they woke her up. She was surprised nobody stayed to serve or make custom orders. So the service wasn't as fancy as a good hotel. Lee stopped to meet Shashi and Priya before making a plate, and immediately felt underdressed. Shashi was in an elegant long dress elaborately embroidered with metallic thread. She had to have a dozen bracelets on one wrist and really fancy earrings like little chandeliers. Even the kid wore a sort of tunic with an elaborate lacy panel down the front.

  If they were put off by their plainly dressed, bare footed hostess they covered it up really well. But looking at the kid with eyes like saucers she realized she wasn't the main attraction. The girl was enthralled by the aliens. Give the kid credit, she did pull her eyes off them long enough to be properly introduced. They left the seat next to Shashi open so Lee got a plate off the buffet and sat next to her.

  Lee picked one of the larger platters, probably meant for Gordon, and piled about four thousand calories on it.

  Shashi looked at the plate and frowned. "You're gene mod," she declared, looking confused like she hadn't expected that. She started to turn her head to look at Sally, because she obviously didn't have life extension, but thought better of it. She was sly enough to turn it into a look at Gordon, but her head ratcheting like a jerky automaton gave her away.

  "Yes, and I have life extension work too," Lee agreed.

  "But aren't you the girl they kidnapped and held on Earth that Derf fought a war over?" Shashi asked. "I thought they would deny you entry, or straight out imprison you if you tested gene modified at customs." This story had her daughter's attention even over aliens.

  "I wasn't, back then," Lee explained. "After the war I went back to Derfhome, went on a long voyage of exploration that found Talker's civilization," she nodded at him, "and didn't get life extension until I came back to the Moon a second time."

  "I haven't been anywhere," Priya groused. It sounded like a long standing complaint.

  Lee kept her mouth shut, because she couldn't commiserate, couldn't have even related at the same age. And she welcomed the chance to get a few bites of breakfast in.

  Priya furrowed her brow thinking hard. "You're young. If you've started LET why hasn't Sally? It seems to me she needs it more."

  "That's none of our business," her mom said, horrified.

  "Oh, that's OK," Sally insisted. "The child has more sense than a couple billion Earthies. We don't have it on Derfhome yet, Honey. Although it looks like we will soon. Gordon offered it as part of my pay to work for him. I'd be stupid to refuse."

  "They don't think it's evil on Derfhome?" Priya continued to her mother's distress.

  "No, but most of the Humans there come from places on Earth that banned it and did feel that way. They were lied to and didn't know any better," Sally explained.

  "That makes sense, but it's sad," Priya decided.

  "Indeed. I can't argue that," Sally agreed.

  "We're working to get it to work for the others too," Lee said, gesturing at their alien friends. Also to divert Priya a bit and end her mother's distress.

  "Oh! I never thought about that," Priya said. "They're so different. Of course our medicine might not work. They can't even eat the same stuff lots of times."

  There was one of those pauses that happen in conversation. Even Priya was silent, apparently having plenty to think about.

  "Gordon," Sally said, "I found that old video last night about the Home fellow who ripped through a space station bulkhead. Want me to send it to your pad?

  "Put it on the screen if you want," Gordon said, making a gesture at it with his fork.

  Sally glanced at Priya dubious. "It might not be suitable. It has some violence."

  "Messy?" Shashi asked making a face.

  "Not really, but very aggressive and maybe scary," Sally said.

  "Does it trivialize it? Shashi asked.

  "Not at all," Sally said, "but some found humor in the karma meted out."

  "Show it," Shashi decided. "It sounds interesting. Priya has been begging for access to horror videos other children talk about, and we've been telling her it's a sick genre. But she sees real bad stuff on the Earth news unfortunately. We don't try to hide reality from her."

  "House, play the file selected off my pad on the big screen," Sally instructed.

  A big man was sprawled belly down on an old fashioned bunk in shorts. He stirred and made a recovery to consciousness. When he sat up he was restrained with antique metal hand cuffs with a chain between them, and his scowl was epic.

  "But that's . . . Priya piped up. Her mother cut her off with a "Hush! Just let us watch it." She looked at her mom incredulous. It was obvious her mom didn't cut her off like that often, but she was tired of her butting in tonight. Shashi just held a finger to her lips. Priya relented and turned back to watch it silently.

  The fellow gathered his manacled wrists in front of him and snapped the chain on the cuffs with one jerk.

  "I don't think . . ." Talker started, and then decided he shouldn't talk over it either. Sally didn't begrudge him his skepticism. A lot of folks felt the same watching it, that it was faked in the computer or staged with prop pieces made to break. Everybody took the chance to finish up their breakfasts while it played.

  When the fellow bent the bunk frame in a V, and then ripped it out of the wall it did strain credulity. He wasn't in any hurry which was somehow worse. He was simply relentless.

  The sound of tearing metal certainly made it seem like the wall was a real bulkhead. The North American military in period uniforms seemed terrified even though they eventually did overcome him and bind him again. One of the fellows said, "Dear God . . . Are all the Homies like this brute?" It did seem likely it was a well crafted propaganda piece. He was overcome, but only by overwhelming numbers and weapons. One could only imagine what he would have done in armor and with his own weapons. There were too many other details meant to terrify. When he was sitting on the edge of the bunk his musculature seemed more likely the product of special effects. He looked like an anatomy chart naming each muscle group, and the collection of scars he displayed seemed unlikely from any trauma that would be survivable.

  "My goodness, it's just as scary the second time as the first," Sally said. "The look of contempt on his face when he braces to snap that chain . . . You don't want to be the fellow who put those things on him, do you?"

  "That wasn't scary," Priya said. That got her looks from several of them. They wondered if it was bravado and she'd be having bad dreams tonight.

  "Well, unless you were that guy sitting watching him come through the wall," Priya said. "Then it would be pretty scary, but they were asking for it."

  "Yes little gal, unfortunately there are a lot of idiots out there asking for it," Gordon said.

  "I bet you could go through a bulkhead like that," Priya said, appraising him, "without needing anything but those claws."

  Gordon looked down. He'd been holding his mug with both true hands, but his lower arms were gripping the table edge with claws involuntarily extended. Maybe it wouldn't upset anybody too much he hoped. They just left little dimples when he let go. Distressed, that's what they called it. Humans did it to furniture on purpose. It gave it character supposedly.

  "I'd rather use my ax. I might break a claw tip," He said inspecting them with mock concern, "They take weeks to grow out."

  Priya was delighted.

  "If everyone has finished eating, we should consider getting on over to the audience hall," Shashi suggested.

  "Do they lock the door after letting people in?" Lee wondered.

  "No, but when the last supplicant is served they do lock up for the day." Shashi said.

  "It might be a slow day. Let's not take a c
hance," Lee said, getting up, and putting her plate back on the serving cart. It had a bin marked for that purpose. But she hurried to her room and changed. Shashi looked relieved when she came out dressed much nicer, with shoes.

  * * *

  They went out the other door they hadn't used. The audience hall, more like a chamber, was quite close. Lee counted just past four hundred steps. It would have been silly to call a cart. The entry wasn't anything special. Just a bit larger door, but once inside Lee realized it was the same room in which they met April before, but subtly different. They just came in through a side door instead of the grand entry hall. The wall and door in it, behind the table in the middle of the floor, hadn't been there before. It cut the room down to a third of what it was before. The entry they'd used before was sealed off by a panel that looked permanent, but Lee knew better.

  The same lovely wood benches were there, and a small table with a cloth draped across it. Behind the table a very simple wood chair was elegant in its simplicity. There was a small rug in front of the table, in muted colors, the only floor covering in the room. There was something about the lighting too. The overhead wasn't as cavernous.

  There were two people there already, although it was only four minutes after the hour. One looked angry, the other resigned. Both looked astonished when they trooped in. It was easy for Lee to forget what a spectacle they must present with aliens, and something of a mob. They filled up the rest of one bench. Another man came in wearing a dirty suit liner and looked amused at them rather than surprised. Lee suspected she’d like him.

  Priya managed to wedge herself between Gordon and Lee when everyone sat. Shashi gave her an exasperated look and sat on the other side of Gordon next to Sally, who was suppressing a grin but not very well. There was room for Ha-bob-bob-brie to stand behind the bench, and he did, directly behind Lee.

  "I've never been here before!" Priya said to Lee in hushed tones. She seemed excited.