Mercury Going Down

by Brambach, C. S.

  “And with the added personnel, the increased need for monitors means...” I added for him. He shook his head.

  “We are over stretched. We have another dozen men coming in on the next ship. Of course once we wrap up this investigation, we can cycle back down to regular hours and shifts. Hopefully soon.” He shot me a knowing glance.

  “Was the info I sent from Fox any help at all?”

  “No, not as pertaining to the current investigation. Rogue incident it looks like.”

  I produced Winn Lee’s disc and handed it to him. He raised both eyebrows.

  “This should clear up some questions as far as the smuggling connections to Jim and his dealings with Ent. and RT. The laundering scheme and the payroll graft. It also contains info regarding Dave’s connection to the gambling scam that was going on. He was a runner, or part time runner for the outfit. I couldn’t tell you how deep he was in it, to the extent that anyone would want to end him for it or why.” I focused on Pete who was fidgeting in his chair waiting for the meeting to start.

  “You can take the payroll graft and the laundering scheme off your list, we’ve rolled both those up in the last six hours. Everyone involved is in custody or known to us. It’s not like they can leave the planet without us knowing about it. Rehab is going to be busy on Luna in the next month.” He shook his head as he finished speaking. I could almost feel sorry for the poor bastards. Almost.

  The Chief held up a finger for quiet as Joe Suh and Nimrod Blamdin entered the conference room to a light smattering of applause. I kept an eye on the big screen, the macro version, while the Chief kept an eye on Pete, the micro version. Nimrod hit the podium first and after adjusting the microphone leaned in and said,

  “Hello.” To which the audience replied, practically in unison,

  “Hello!” Like some warped version of an AA meeting or the first day of a third grade class on steroids. If he would have said, ‘My name is Nimrod and I’m an alcoholic.’, and everybody would have answered back, ‘Hi, Nimrod.’, I would have lost it.

  “First, a couple of quick announcements, before I introduce Joe. Okay, the big one, and some of you may have heard about it already, particularly the Science Department, uh, the Mining Section hit a huge vein of water, enough to sustain the city for the next twenty-five years, so, and I’m sure Supply will be happy to hear this, as of today, we will no longer have to ship water from off planet.” There was a round of applause and some hooting from the crowd. As if some hot chicks had just strutted onto the stage of some strip club, war time troop show. He held up a hand to quiet them down. “That’s taking into account the amount of population growth we are planning on in that period as well.” More, but lighter, applause. “Second, and this will make quite a few of you happy, we have, as of the last ship landing, broken the 3000 mark for the human population of Doheny. And,” He had to hold up his hand to quiet another, louder round of applause, “we are on target to increase the population to just over 5000 by the end of the year.” Riotous applause, whistling, hooting. He shook his head and clapped his hands as well. For a good minute.

  I looked at Fonagy, said,

  “Reaction?” He shook his head, said,

  “Zip.”

  Finally, as the applause died down, Nimrod held up a hand and said,

  “Production here at the mine is at an all time high, which spurs growth, benefiting Earth, and us here in Doheny as well, and I know that while we will and have been, experiencing some growing pains here at the base, you will all do your best to make the new comers feel welcome, to ease their transition, so that they can become as efficient and as hard working, as we here already are, which in the long run will be of a benefit to us and the company.” He pointed at the crowd and closing one eye said,

  “I hear, and this is just between you and me, that the whole colony is looking at a huge, and when I say huge, I mean a whopping bonus for this year.” Thunderous applause. Me, I was rolling my eyes. As in, let’s bring in the newbies, so that they can work their asses off and we can loll around like the new corporate fat cats that we’ve always wanted to be.

  The day that mankind would change was the day he quit dragging his same old tired, antiquated systems along with him from Earth. Me, I had never played that game. Give me a gig, any gig, and I did it the best I could, I liked to think that I always gave a man a good day’s work for a good day’s wage. If the wage sucked, the work sucked, if the wage was good, the work was good. Fair is, after all, fair. But fuck the game playing, the need to put my foot on my fellow man’s neck. Just the thought gave me goose bumps.

  “With that, let me introduce our number one here on Mercury, Joe Suh.”

  Polite, courteous, respectful applause. With an undercurrent of tension. If the whip was coming down, don’t let it come down on me, please. If some one was getting raised up, oh, please let it be me. Though anybody in good stead would already know where they stood, and would be calm and confident of the outcome. Ah, yes, the corporate rat race. Joe Suh took the podium.

  “Spike in anxiety for our suspect. Mark.” Said the Chief into a small mic.

  “Hi, everybody.” Said Joe.

  “Hi, Joe.” Replied the crowd in unison. On the small screen, Pete gave a short, chopped wave as he spoke up in greeting.

  “I want to thank everyone for being here, even those of you arriving late.” He nodded at the back as my wife, damp hair tied back in a pony tail, entered from the main door and took a seat with Magnolia towards the back of the audience. Typical artists, last in, first out. I pointed at her. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Lynette, looking sharp, at the far side of the conference room.

  “Hey, can you get a lock on her?” Looked at the Chief. He glanced over at me.

  “Sure, what’s the matter, getting paranoid?” I shrugged.

  “I have my suspicions. Humor me.” Smirking he put a call into the monitor section and had a staff member follow my wife with the program. Soon, the lower corner of the wall screen went to the picture in picture effect, with a close up of my wife displayed. The readouts of her emotional response activity were across the bottom.

  “We’re up for some changes, nothing too drastic, and to be expected. I’m sure most, if not all of you will be pleased. Some of the changes are normal and to be expected due to the rapid expansion we’ve experienced. Some due to the normal cyclic exchange of personnel. Some, unfortunately due to some tragic circumstances. Because of this, I think it would be appropriate if we all bowed our heads for a moment of personal reflection for the comrades and coworkers we’ve lost recently. As a gesture of respect to them and their loved ones.” He bowed his head and the room became deathly silent.

  “Man, what a motley assortment.” I pointed at the big screen. The crew gathered in the conference hall was representative of all mankind. Every race, color and creed. From down right ugly to outstandingly beautiful, depending on your taste. From preppy, to jockish, to freaks, peaks and geeks. From mod to rocker to punk. Every hair shade from blonde blondie to deep purple. From normal, as of one hundred years ago, to genetically modified to the nth degree, enhanced both genetically and mechanically through implants thanks to current advancements of science. Though, I thought, normal is a relative term. Normal to look at didn’t mean normal from a technical sense. You could look untouched, and still be almost unrecognizable internally to a doctor of even fifty years ago.

  Hell, I had maybe two piercings in my left ear, tiny holes, and no tattoo’s, but I had the latest comm link implanted into my brain.

  I focused on the meeting as the Chief said,

  “It takes all kinds.” Joe was looking up.

  “All right, now to the good news, well, for some of you anyway.” He chuckled and the audience chuckled with him.” Talk about the mob mentality. Jeez. More like sheep than humans. I wondered what they’d all do if Joe farted.

  “First I’d like to confirm that Jeff Bachus, now Reverend Bachus will be our new Chief of Religious Therapy.” Heavy a
pplause. Joe held up his hand, nodded his head.

  “Jeff, we need to schedule a meeting for your nominations for your second and third in command, with the increase in population, the work force, we’ve received authorization to have two more full time spiritual therapists on staff, we’ll talk after.” He pointed at my wife. “I’m happy to announce that Karen Dunn has been made head of the Mural Project at Arts, in Arts/Ent/Rec. Congratulations Karen.” He clapped and the audience joined in with gusto. Karen stood up and took a bow. “Caroline Chung will take over the number two spot in the Entertainment Division, stand up Caroline.” A tall, slim, blonde woman of Asian descent stood and waved to the applause that greeted her. Her hair was in a pony tail up at the top of her head and she showed some definite gen-mod effects as her ears were pointed and her eyebrows swept up, another obvious indication of an ‘elf job’. She had some wicked tribal tats on her neck too. Kinda scary that. A bit too exotic for my taste. Joe had a funny look on his face when he looked at Caroline and I wondered if he was tapping that. A flashback of Min riding my dick like the bull ride at a country western bar came to my mind but I quickly banished it. Focused on the big picture in front of me.

  “Thanks Caroline and good luck in the new job. And now, last but not least, Ashley, stand up please.” As Ashley stood to a smattering of applause, I looked at the Chief and said,

  “Here we go.” The Chief nodded his ascent.

  “Ashley Thomas will be the new number two in Admin. and Support,” Wild applause. I never knew just how popular she really was. “And Pete Simms will be moving up to replace her in Supply.” A much more subdued round of applause. The rat fuck was lucky people were as polite as they were. The Chief was leaning into the mic again.

  “Subject displays spike of relief.” He said. Ashley was waving at Joe.

  “Pete, we need to schedule a meeting to decide who will move up in your department. Yes, Ashley?” I tapped the Chief’s shoulder.

  “Here it comes.” Joe gestured at Ashley.

  “Joe, we need to have a meeting. I think I want to stay for another tour.”

  “Sure, Ashley, call my office in the morning.” I looked over the Chief’s shoulder, and pow, the readings were spiking on Pete.

  “Stress levels spiking at incredible levels in the subject.” Said the Chief into the mic.

  Which was almost an understatement. Pete’s levels indicated he was blowing his top, internally anyway. His eyes were bugging out of his head. Joe was waving his hands up and down, palms down, to quiet the crowd.

  “Everyone, lets move to the dining hall for dinner and drinks, and thanks for attending.”

  Applause and cheers. The Chief leaned back and ran a hand through his hair. He pressed a button on the desk and a Robot clerk appeared in the doorway.

  “Your Misses passed with flying colors.” He looked at the clerk.

  “Two glasses please.” The clerk bowed and left.

  “Well, what do you think Drew?” The glasses arrived and he filled them from the bottle of whisky he kept in his desk at a leisurely pace. He handed me a glass and leaning back in his chair took a sip and looked me in the eye.

  “I have to tell you, he didn’t react the way I thought he would, at least not at first. We are going to stop importing water, which means the smuggling trade is gonna take a hit.”

  “A major hit.” Said the Chief, looking into his glass. I took a sip from mine.

  “Maybe we are dealing with more than one perp here. Look, maybe Jim tried to off me, and did off Dave, and offed the Reverend and Hugo, because he knew the change was coming, and Pete, well, Pete saw the need with the new expansions for a greater support staff, and just decided to clean house and eliminate upper echelons so that he could move up cleanly and gain more power. Ashley is protected right?”

  “Yup, monitors and guards in place.” He took another sip.

  “Hey, could you get me a detailed profile of just exactly what her job is, what she is in charge of now?”

  “Sure, but what for?” I finished my whisky and put the empty glass down on the desk.

  I wondered, could the Robots have something to do with it? Winn Lees admonition had popped into my head.

  “Just curious who handles the contracts for the Robots bought and leased for use here in the colony. You’ll figure out the why of it when you go over the disc I gave you.”

  “All right, I’ll have that for you in the morning. Care to grab a bite?” He stood.

  “Sorry, have to take a rain check. Have a date.” He shook his head, smiling.

  “You are incorrigible.”

  “I try Chief, I try.”

  On the way to Lynette’s, I had called to confirm as soon as we left Security, I called Karen to congratulate her.

  “How did you know?” She asked, a bit incredulous.

  “I saw the whole thing, from Security. Hey, I don’t want to take you from the celebration, but...” She laughed.

  “Why don’t you join us, Susan’s on her way.”

  “No, you go and have fun, I have to beg off, I’m going to meet Dr. Barber.” I could hear her do a double take.

  “Dr. Barber? What for?” Hmmm, hint of jealousy there perhaps? I palmed it off.

  “I need to talk to her about some issues, shit, I have hero issues, babe.” Relief when she bought it.

  “Okay, have fun, if you can, I’m probably gonna spend the night at Susan’s, join us later if you want.”

  “If I can, I will. Later.” She hung up.

  At that point I hoped that Lynette had a well stocked larder, because I was getting hungry. Plus I could use a drink or three to slow the juggling of suppositions that I was doing in my head.

  I had Jazz wheel me to the farm where I had the Head of Bio Engineering, read Head Farmer, give me a single yellow rose. Josh Morgan was a stand up guy, and he owed me a favor, I had bumped him to the top of the repair list and fixed his micro wave at his home and repaired a couple of rototiller Bots that were on the blink about a year ago.

  When Lynette opened her door she knocked my socks off. She was wearing a short black, almost shear shift, a cross between a teddy and a toga top. It barely cleared her ass at the bottom. I looked her up and down and mentally licked my lips. She was wearing some minimal topped red high heels. Like laced Roman sandals almost.

  “You look absolutely stunning!” She came into my arms and hugged me. I reveled at the feel of her firm tit’s squishing up against my chest.

  “Merci!” She whispered in my ear before kissing my right earlobe. Mercy.

  “I hope you’re not wearing any underwear.” She leaned back and looked at me like I was a naughty boy.

  “That would be defeating the purpose, would it not?” I reached down and grabbed her ass. No impediments to wantonness in evidence.

  I whipped the rose out from behind me and watched her melt a little as she accepted it with a soft ‘wow’. I limped in with Jazz pushing the wheelchair behind me. Lynette gestured to the dinning room table. There was quite the spread of cheeses and a fresh baguette. Some summer sausage. Some pesto and some artichoke heart dip. Some brochette. A couple bottles of red and a chilled bottle of white, the beads of moisture just running down the side of the bottle.

  “I am not the cook. So, how do you say, dig in?” I looked at Jazz and looked at the Doc.

  “Jazz is a highly efficient chef. Maybe if you ask her nice she could whip something up with a bit of French flare?” Jazz just smiled. To which the Doc just clapped her hands, with a look of ‘oh, goody’ plastered on her face she said to Jazz,

  “Oh, could you?” Soon she was clattering away in the kitchen and, while we were on the couch talking I could soon smell tantalizing aromas emanating from her expertise. I uncorked a bottle of the red, a passable Bordeaux and the bottle of white, a decent Sauvignon Blanc and dove in. A crisp cracker, a little Brie, some pesto, a slice of sausage, a sip of chilled whites, heaven. For me anyways.

  We talked. She told me what made me so
attractive, is that I risked my life for someone, the only thing sexier is when blood is shed over a woman. Which is why some women dig scars. I remembered a woman on a plane who dug scars. I remembered two incidents of my youth, one a near gang bang in a hotel room and the other on the floor of a shop at an art gallery and the blood lust that ensued. Neither had ended well. I had to take what I could get, when I was going through a long ‘dry’ spell. She questioned me about my hobbies. I told her I collected old sayings. That I read old literature. I had been struggling with Gogol’s ‘Dead Souls’ for like six months.

  That’s when the idea of less Robots on planet than are actually listed, or Robots that are not in use are still listed as active came to my mind. There is a service maintenance contract that allots certain fees for keeping a Robot up and running, who pockets it?

  Especially if they are getting paid for 12 Robots and only ten Robots are up and running. Oh, yeah, I had some ideas to swap with the Chief in the morning.

  “So, what are some of the old quotes you’ve collected?” She said with a mischievous look in her eyes. So I let her have it with both barrels.

  "Life itself is the most beautiful fairytale. Hans Christian Andersen. True excellence is rarely found, even more rarely is it cherished. Goethe. The price of Liberty is eternal vigilance. Frederick Douglas. Never complain. Never explain. Henry Ford the second. The way of a superior man is threefold: virtuous, he is free from anxieties; wise, he is free from perplexities; bold, he is free from fear. Confucius. We have nothing to fear, but fear itself. F.D.R. Never let your life overwhelm you to the point you lose sight of it. Me." I took a sip of wine.

  "Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them. F.D.R. again. The lord helps those who helps themselves. But it doesn't hurt to be polite. Me. Be good and you will be lonesome. Mark Twain. Abandon hope, all ye who enter here. Dante. So live that you can look any man in the eye and tell him to go to hell. Anonymous". I munched a cracker. Swallowed.