“I’ll go to the Commonwealth Secretary of Defense and see if we can be placed under their command,” Jim said. “Patty’s very sympathetic to us.”
“And end these idiot computer simulations. A private commercial company with a panel of theorists evaluating soldiers? What a joke. They don’t even know what a bayonet is. They also don’t take people into account, just what gadgets one side has against the gadgets the other side has.”
“Our people do know how to rough it,” Jim said.
“Yes,” Harry said. “We’re not cream puffs like the other guard units. There’s also personal initiative. We beat the crap out of the Bachoff guard because one of my lieutenants spotted a blind spot in the enemy artillery. He didn’t consult me, he just attacked, knocked a hole in their line. He told me what he was doing so I followed him with a mechanized battalion.”
“Ah saw the whole thaing,” Sam said. “Ya swung ‘round and hit thair main force from the rear. They was a runnin’ like the devil his self was after ‘em.”
“One of the other guard’s officers would have grabbed his computer, entered his proposed course of action, had it run a simulation and then send the proposal up through the chain of command for approval. Our offices don’t waste time; they just go ahead and do it.”
“I’ll bring all this up when I talk with Patty.”
Chapter 15
The space liner Orontes was more elegant than the freighter Michael took going to the adventure camp. Even his cabin in tourist class was bigger with more facilities than the one on the Yalta. He shared it with Kevin who was continuing on to his home planet of Ploshard after a stop at Casia. The third in the cabin was Tara. After Ploshard, the liner continued to her planet of Vandrare.
At other planets, the space liners sat in orbit for two days before proceeding to the next destination. At Casia it was only a four hour stopover. The Casians made jokes that the liners threw them out the door as they sped past, and to pick people up they used a hook so passengers could be snagged and the ship didn’t have to stop.
Michael walked down the corridor of deck two from the public 3V room to their cabin.
“Where’ve you been?” Kevin asked as he appeared from a side corridor.
“Watching the news on 3V,” Michael said.
“The news? What for?”
“See if there’s anything new on the war.”
“There never is. Nothing interesting has happened for six years. One fleet sits one place, the other fleet sits in another and they just talk and argue. Sometimes they make faces at each other.”
You never know, something might happen,” Michael said.
“Oh yeah. News of the day. Admiral Blaut called Admiral Myers a wiener schnitzel. Big news.”
“Admiral Blaut retired, it’s now Admiral Zurbrück.”
“Just shows you how much I keep up with war news. There hasn’t been a big battle since Casia.” Kevin looked at Michael. “Were you there? Did you see the battle?”
“No, my father sent me and my brother back to Batalavia before it happened.”
“Did he see it? Did he tell you about it?”
“He was at President Sam’s farm at the time. He said the sky lit up from horizon to horizon with orange and white flashes.”
“I wish I could have seen that.”
“Thousands died, eight thousand of theirs and five thousand of ours. I’m happy I didn’t see it.”
Kevin bowed his head. “I understand. I think I’m being a little…”
“Hey rich kid,” said a familiar voice. “What’re you doing down in tourist? You slumming or something?”
“Doherty, cut it out,” Michael said. “I’ve had enough of you.”
“Come on,” Kevin said. “Let’s head up to the ship’s shopping mall.”
“You’ll still get yours, rich kid,” Doherty called after them.
“What do you want at the Mall?” Michael said after the door to the lift tube closed.
“Anything,” Kevin said. “I just want something that I can sit on a shelf in my bedroom. When someone visits and says ‘what’s that?’ I just casually say, ‘oh, it’s just some trinket I picked up in a shop on the luxury space cruise liner Orontes’. Then I’ll add. ‘Oh yes, at the time I was with my very good friend Michael Young, you know, son of Jim Young the mega multi billionaire from Casia’.”
“Is that all you’re hauling me along for, so you can boast to your friends we went shopping together?”
The lift tube door opened and they exited into a long hallway with storefronts either side.
“No I won’t do that,” Kevin said. “But I’ll keep it handy just in case I need to out snob the snobs.”
“Up here shopping?” Tara said as she exited a store.
“No,” Michael said. “Kevin’s up here snobbing.”
“I don’t know what that is,” Tara said. “But when you’re done, let’s head for the games room.”
“I’ll be in it,” Michael said.
“Hello,” said a voice from behind Michael. “Are you… uh… Michael Young?”
Michael turned to see an attractive young lady about his age wearing an extremely fashionable two piece pants suit patterned in blues and mauves. “Uh…” he stuttered. “Yes I am.”
“Mom,” the girl called as she simultaneously turned and grabbed Michael firmly by the arm. “Guess who’s on this ship?”
An equally well dressed lady walked up and looked Michael in the face. “Good heavens,” she said. “Michael Young. We didn’t see you at dinner last night. What table are you at?”
“I had dinner at the Bachoff spaceport,” Michael said.
“Oh,” the woman said. “You just boarded. Pardon me for thinking you got on at La Raza. It’s more logical that someone like you would be coming from one of the more fashionable stops.”
“Mom,” the girl said. “Can we find out if he can sit at our table?”
“I’m sure we can,” the woman said, placing a hand on Michael’s back. “Is your family here?”
“I have friends here,” Michael said.
The mother, daughter couple ignored Michael’s words and firmly pressed him toward the lift tube. “Come with us. We’d like to get to know you,” the woman said.
“But I have… uh…” Michael said.
“I’m Jane Martinelly,” the woman said as the lift tube door closed, “and this is my daughter Marie.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Michael said carefully trying not to reveal his annoyance at the gentle but firm abduction.
“My father used to talk about your family all the time,” Marie said. “He said we were lucky your father brought beer, Coca Cola and pizza from your century. We’d have been in trouble if you had brought some fancy Old Earth chocolate recipe.”
“Martinelly’s Chocolates?” Michael said.
“Yes,” Jane said. “That has been our family business for over three hundred years.”
The lift tube door opened and they stepped out.
“Uh…” Michael said. “I don’t think I’m supposed to be here. This is a first class lounge.”
“What?” Marie said then laughed. “You must be making a joke. I have never quite got used to Old Earth humor.”
The first class lounge was similar to the tourist lounge in the fact that it had a huge picture window to space which ran the length of one wall. That’s where the similarities ended. Instead of plastic padded furniture it had plush armchairs, possibly real leather. Exotic flowering plants and ferns lined the walls. To deliver drinks and snacks to the patrons there were human stewards dressed in starched white jackets instead of autoserves.
“Ticket sir?” said a steward in a dubious tone.
“Ticket?” Marie said. “You’re asking Michael Young for his ticket?”
“Ah,” the steward said and smiled. “I heard you were on board.” He turned and started to walk. “This way, I have chairs for you.”
“Humph,” Marie grunted. “Sometimes I think
you should wear a name tag around here to prove you’re in first class.”
“Well I’m not exactly dressed like everyone else in this room,” Michael said, looking down at his plain slacks and shirt.
To Michael’s relief, Marie finally let go of his arm as they sat.
“You can go to your stateroom later and change,” Marie said. “Going to dinner dressed like that just won’t do.”
“You two get acquainted,” Jane said. “I see Kathy Kartchner just walked in. I’d like to have a talk with her.”
Out of the corner of his eye Michael caught sight of Jane giving Marie a wink before she turned and walked off.
“Kartchner,” Michael said. “Would she have anything to do with Kartchner Coffee?”
“Yes, they own the company. Do you know them?”
“No, I just know….” Michael paused as he looked up to see a ship’s officer standing next to him.
“Mr. Young,” the officer said. “Enjoying your trip so far?”
“It’s quite uh… nice,” Michael said.
“I’d like to tell you that the company’s offer still stands.”
“What offer?” Michael said.
“When you made the booking, the company offered you a complementary upgrade to first class. You can still take advantage of that.”
“Upgrade?” Marie said in a shocked voice. “Does that mean you’re in tourist?”
“Yes,” Michael said. “I wanted to be with my friends and they can’t afford first class.”
“Well,” Marie said, “you’ll just have to change that and be with people more your own level. Tourist is demeaning.”
“Maybe they don’t have any more vacant staterooms?”
“Yes there are,” the ship’s officer said. “There are three unoccupied staterooms and one master suite.”
“That settles it,” Marie said. “You’ll move up into one of the staterooms immediately.” She turned to the officer. “Would you send a porter autoserve for his luggage?”
“No it doesn’t settle it,” Michael said, trying to control his anger. “I’ll not be told when and where to move.”
“I’m sorry,” Marie said. “I do tend to be a little pushy.”
Michael turned to the officer. “My entire luggage is a half filled duffle bag. If I move, I think I can handle that myself.”
“How can you live like that?” Marie said. “One bag of cloths, a cabin in tourist, having to put up with the people there?”
“I was at an adventure camp. All we needed was three sets of cloths, one to wear, one in the wash and one just in case.”
“Are they all like the one you’re wearing?”
“This is my best.”
Marie turned to the officer. “We’ll have to do something about it. He cannot go to dinner looking like a Regis farm boy.”
“I’ll have the ship’s tailor up here immediately,” the officer said and walked off.
“Adventure camp?” Marie said. “You mean one of those disgusting places where you crawl around in the dirt and climb hills and things?”
“Yes, it was fun.”
“Looks like I have a lot of work to do teaching you how to be civilized.”
“Ok,” Michael said and stood. “I’ll start by going to the bathroom instead of doing it in the potted plants.” Michael turned and walked in the direction of the standard restroom sign.
“Sorry Michael,” Marie called after him. “I didn’t mean to insinuate you were one of them.”
The restrooms were behind a line of ornamental ferns. Michael entered the men’s, pulled out his pen phone and called Kevin’s name into it.
“Mike, where did you get to?” Kevin said.
“I got abducted,” Michael said. “Can’t talk. I’ll get back there as soon as I can.”
Michael paced back and forth. He didn’t have to go to the bathroom; he just wanted time to think of how to politely tell the young lady to go get lost.
He slowly wandered out of the restrooms and spotted a couch hidden from the rest of the room by the line of ferns. He took a seat and rested his chin on his hands.
“Michael Young,” Michael heard a female voice say from the other side of the ferns. He turned to listen.
“I agree,” a second woman said. “How did Marie Martinelly get her hands on him? When my daughter gets here, she’s going to have a fit. She has Michael Young 3D posters all over her room at home. She’s quite impressed by anything Old Earth, especially the Young family. Now he’s walking arm in arm with Marie Martinelly?”
“Yes,” the first woman said. “We have to do something to break that up. We can’t have a nice young man like Michael Young involved with a scandal ridden family like the Martinellys. He and his brother are the prizes of the century.”
Michael got up and walked a couple of paces. He didn’t want to hear any more.
“Mr. Young,” the ship’s officer said. “I’ve been looking for you. The ship’s tailor is here.”
“Ok,” Michael sighed. “If I have to, I have to.”
The officer looked Michael in the eyes and laughed. “It’s that way is it? Would you like if I waited a couple of minutes and walked up and told you that your cabin was on fire and you had to leave immediately?”
“I’d love it,” Michael said as they started to walk back to Marie. “I’d even pay for the fire damage.”
“It won’t be as drastic as a cabin fire, but I can usually think of something.”
“Anything, anything,” Michael said. “Just please get me out of here.”
Jane had rejoined Marie and they both sat waiting. A man in an elegant suit stood next to them. “Mr. Young,” the man said, “could you stand straight with your arms by your side?”
Michael stood and the man aimed a device at him and appeared to scan him from top to bottom.
Marie and Jane were intently browsing a data pad. “How about that one?” Marie said.
“Yes,” Jane said. “But a slightly darker shade of green.”
“And this one,” Marie said.
“Good selection,” Jane said. “And now for the third.”
“How much will this cost?” Michael asked the man.
“Complementary,” the man said. “The company prizes having members of the Young family aboard our ships.”
“Darling,” Jane said. “You’ll have to give up your Old Earth ways if you’re going to live in decent society. You do not ask how much something costs, you just buy it.”
“All the people on Batalavia ask the price before buying.”
“That’s a totally different society,” Jane said.
Marie reached up and grabbed Michael by the sleeve and pulled him into his seat. He suddenly realized that she had moved the armchairs together while he was gone. She grabbed his arm and held it.
“This’s the third one,” Jane said and handed the man the data pad. “Only slightly more width to the collars.”
“Mr. Young,” the man said. “They’ll be delivered to your cabin within an hour.”
“We were just on La Raza,” Marie said. “Have you been to Gato? They say it’s the fashion capital of the galaxy.”
“Yes,” Michael said. “We were there last year.”
“Did you pick up many of the fashions?”
“No, we were visiting family friends and mostly went horseback riding.”
“Really,” Jane said. “We know a number of the notables on La Raza. Maybe we have mutual friends.”
“We went to see the Montoyas,” Michael said. “Uncle Santiago is a good friend of my father.”
“Santiago Montoya,” Jane exclaimed, “of the infamous Montoya crime family?”
“Well, that was a hundred years ago,” Michael said. “They’re very nice people now. They don’t cook the competition with lasers any more, they just make business deals.”
Jane laughed and nudged Marie. “Hey, you have a guy who hob knobs with infamous underworld figures as well as Presidents and heads of corporation
s.”
“Mr. Young,” the ship’s officer said. “There’s a V phone call for you, I believe it’s your father, Prime Minister of Casia. You can take it in the secure V phone room next to the purser’s office.”
Michael jumped up. “I was expecting a call.”
“He can take it in our suite,” Marie said.
“Not this call,” the officer said. “It’s coming through on an extremely restricted channel under multi layered encryption, top security.”
“I think I know what it’s about,” Michael said.
“Can I come too,” Marie said excitedly. “Will you introduce me to your father?”
“No,” the officer said. “With security settings that high, if it detects more than one person in the room it shuts the transmission down.”
“Darn,” Michael said. “It must be really important if he put on that much security.”
“Don’t be too long,” Marie said.
“I’m afraid that if it’s what I think it is, it could be hours.”
“Just don’t be late for dinner,” Jane called after him.
“Well, did we impress them enough,” the officer said with a smirk when they were out of earshot.
“Actually I was wanting to un-impress them. I still have to meet them for dinner. I didn’t get out of that.”
“Well, you can say your father sent you on a mission for the Casian Secret Service. Your code name’s James Bond or something.”
“I didn’t say I’d meet them, but I didn’t say I wouldn’t. I guess I’m obligated. I just wanted to get away for a while to see my friends and explain what’s happening to me. I also have obligations to them as friends.”
“Your family has much honor.”
“Dad demands it,” Michael said.
* * *
Michael sat with a forlorn expression on the single chair in their cabin.
“Take a camera,” Kevin said from his bed. “Record everything. Show us what the super rich talk about.”
“Dick head! I’m super rich and you already know what I talk about.”
“But you’re different,” Tara said. “You’re real people. You don’t go blowing a million G at the casinos on La Raza then laugh and buy another million G of Gato fashions and give them to your mistress.”
Victim of Circumstance (The Time Stone Trilogy Book 3) Page 19