by Jael Wye
“Right,” the young Earther sneered. “Of course you wouldn’t. You’re a spoiled Martian princess who can have anything in the Sol—”
“But, Asif,” Hussein interrupted, “she actually doesn’t have everything. I mean, we all have each other, at least. But Bianca’s all alone.”
Asif slashed his hand in dismissal. “Don’t try to make me feel sorry for her. She’s one of them.” His words echoed with finality.
The Earthers, even Hussein, kept their eyes turned away from her, silently agreeing with Asif. Shutting her out.
Bianca quickly excused herself and fled to her room.
* * *
Bianca paced her quarters, battling a tightness in her chest. The scene at dinner played over and over in her head, making her feel worse every single time it did. Once again, she had failed at the most basic level of human interaction. Once again, she was an outsider, with no friends, no lover, no family to speak of. Untrustworthy. Pathetic.
After a few minutes of this, she forced herself to stop in the middle of her room, and straightened her shoulders. All this nonsense is getting you nowhere, she told herself firmly. This was business, not a pity party. It was time to stop messing about, and get the answers she had come here for.
She had to put aside the disturbing dinner conversation and concentrate on something relatively simple—hacking into the hab computers and looking into her hosts’ private records.
It wasn’t the ideal approach, but what else could she do? She had tried to take the soft approach, and had been soundly rejected. Besides, she was running out of time. So, no more M’Nice. With determination, she sat down at her workstation and began delicately probing the hab firewalls for a weakness.
It was slow going. The security programs were as old as all the other equipment in the hab, but for such an outdated base system, it had some very clever twists incorporated into it. She had to give Han, the programmer, credit for creativity. It was nothing she couldn’t handle, of course, but it might take a few hours to crack.
She was just getting down to business when her door chime sounded, making her jump. She hesitated for a moment. Heaven, what could this be?, she thought. She touched on the door com audio. “Ni hao,” she said cautiously.
“Ni hao, M’Ross,” Mehmet’s voice sounded from the door com. “I would like to speak with you for a moment, if you are not too tired,” he said in his courtly way.
“Of course,” she said. “One minute.” Quickly she set her hack to automatic trials and touched off the vid. She jumped up and opened the door. “Please, come in,” she said.
Mehmet entered her room quietly and sat in the chair she offered him. He looked up at her as she sat down across from him, a hint of anxiety in his gaze. “I came to apologize for Asif and Hussein,” he began. “Their behavior at dinner was abominable.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe they would act like such children. But they are very young, and their upbringing has been very...irregular. I hope you can excuse them. I assure you they will be properly reprimanded.”
“Oh...thank you. That’s really not necessary. It was just a silly little argument. Hardly worth worrying about.” She hesitated, a bit disconcerted by how somber and, in fact, fearful the old man seemed. Again with the fearfulness! All this resentment and cringing was really getting under her skin. “If you don’t mind me asking, M’Nazif, what did you mean by ‘irregular upbringing’?”
“Their family had many, ah, severe difficulties. Then they were orphaned. They’ve been living with me ever since, and I’ve done my best to guide them properly.” He spread his hands. “But their past has left them troubled. Juvenile rebellion and so forth. I’m sure you can imagine.”
“Ay, I can. M’Nazif, I don’t mean to pry, but...well, Asif’s personal dislike of me has been pretty evident. Is there a reason for this I should know about?”
Mehmet lowered his eyes. “Family issues, I would guess.”
“Oh.” ‘Family issues’ could mean just about anything under the sun. She tried again. “You say you’ve been looking after them since they were children? That must be a heavy responsibility.” Mehmet looked at her in surprise. “Are you a relative of theirs? Is that why you took them in?”
“No, no, not a relative. Just brought together by Heaven.”
Bianca smiled at that. “Is Heaven the reason you’re here, working a Martian mine do you think?”
“Indeed. Heaven, and Cesare Chan, I suppose.” His mouth quirked into a smile.
“You sound very fond of M’Chan,” Bianca said. “All of you do.”
“It’s hard not to be fond of Cesare. He’s a good man. Even if he doesn’t always know it,” he added, almost to himself.
“Do you think he’s a good manager for RedIce?”
“Ay,” said Mehmet simply.
“But he doesn’t seem to provide you with updated equipment,” Bianca pointed out.
The old Earther shrugged. “Cesare has a tendency to invest in the personnel of the company over the materials. But we muddle along well enough.”
“I want you to know that once this merger takes place, I’ll see to it that the RedIce equipment inventory will get a review and upgrade,” Bianca said earnestly. “I don’t believe it’s fair to expect people to work with malfunctioning tools.”
Mehmet nodded slowly. “A commendable intention.” He stood up and said, “I should let you get some rest. Thank you for being so understanding of the boys.”
“Oh, of course. It was nothing at all.” She stood and saw him to the door. “By the way, I wanted to thank you for the tour of the mine today. I learned a great deal from it.”
His black eyes peered up at her searchingly from the net of wrinkles in his dark face. “I’m glad. For a brief time, I was a teacher, you know. I am always pleased to help someone learn new things, M’Ross.”
“Bianca,” she reminded him with a smile.
“Bianca, then. Good night.”
* * *
Bianca woke with a start just as the dawn sunlight began to spill through her viewport. She was slumped at her workstation, her head resting on the console. Must have drifted off in the middle of the decoy runs, she thought muzzily. Not used to pulling all-nighters anymore. She sat up, rubbing at the indentation the console had made on the skin of her cheek, and began checking the progress of her hack.
With one look, she instantly realized that it had all gone to hell. Sometime in the middle of the night, the entire firewall had changed shape. All her inroads were now dead ends. She quickly ran through all the data trying to figure out what had gone wrong.
Either she had been caught trying to break in, she decided, or someone must have suspected that she would try, and moved to cut her off. She didn’t know whether to be more embarrassed or frustrated.
This was going to make relations with the miners even more awkward today, she considered as she quickly ran through the cleanser and threw on her c-suit. Well, no help for it. She was just going to have to brazen it out.
“Ice princess,” she muttered to herself as she marched down the corridor to the common room. The low murmurs of breakfast conversation drifted out to greet her. She paused just outside the door, straightening her shoulders. Time to take the round.
She strode through the door, and stopped short. There at the head of the long table sat Cesare Chan.
He was relaxing in his seat, chatting quietly with Mehmet and Han, his long fingers negligently holding his tea mug. At once he looked up and caught sight of her.
“Bianca M’Ross!” he said with a heart-stopping grin. “Good morning.”
For a split second, she could do nothing but stare. A dozen questions bounced around her mind. How could he possibly be here already? Was he the one who had shored up the hab’s firewalls in order to keep her out of the system? And why was it that t
he strange excitement that crackled through her whenever she saw him was hitting her even stronger than before? She looked across the room into his smiling dark eyes, knocked completely off balance.
What was the plan again? Oh, right. Ice princess. She managed a cool smile. “Good morning, M’Chan.” She nodded to the miners, who had all fallen silent when she appeared. “Good morning everyone.” She strolled over to the kitchen, and poured herself a cup of tea. She took her time about it, trying to marshal her thoughts. After a moment she heard conversation begin to revive behind her.
She moved toward the viewport wall, keeping her eyes trained on the early morning light falling across the canyons. She felt a brush of electric awareness at her back. Cesare was watching her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him get up from the table and walk toward her, his long strides easy and confident. He came to stand at her side, his broad shoulders blocking out the rest of the room. The cup in her fingers trembled slightly. She took a healthy gulp of tea in a bid to steady her nerves.
“You seem surprised to see me,” his voice rumbled.
“Ay, I am a bit,” she said. She was relieved at how calm she sounded. “The last time we spoke, I thought we agreed that we would meet sometime next week, after I got back to Pavonis.”
“I didn’t agree, actually. You decreed.”
“Perhaps,” she said, blushing a little. “But here you are anyway.”
“Good piece of luck.”
“I doubt luck was much of a factor,” she said crisply. “Call me cracked, but I strongly suspect you followed me out here on purpose.”
“A beautiful chic like you should be used to blokes following her around.”
Bianca ignored that. “You must have driven like a demon to get from Pavonis to here in less than two days.”
“Actually, my brother Angelo gave me a lift in his orbital.”
“You flew? Seems extreme.” Orbital planes were generally used only for high priority journeys.
“Not to my mind. I had to speak to you.” He shifted just slightly toward her. “I had to apologize for what I said the other day. I couldn’t seem to get you on the com, so I had to come find you and beg forgiveness in person.”
Bianca couldn’t help but look skeptical.
“I still want to convince you to give up on RedIce,” he amended, “but apologizing to you was first in my mind. In fact, I haven’t been able to think about much else lately,” he said, a strange note creeping into his voice.
He ran his hand through the back of his hair in an oddly charming gesture. “Look, when you commed me I was out of my mind on meds. But I can’t make that my excuse. The truth is, I’ve had some sour dealings with StarLine and a few of its business allies, and I took it out on you. It wasn’t fair of me, and I’m sorry. I want the chance to make it up to you.”
She looked up into his dark gaze, taken aback. This sounded like a genuine apology. She felt a sudden little warmth inside, and steeled herself against it. He was no doubt feeding her a line of waffle for some motive of his own.
Still, she found herself saying, “Space sickness is horrible, so I hear. No one can be too concerned about what they say under those circumstances. Really, it’s all right.” And it was true. Or at least, she felt better than she had. Time to lighten the mood. “But tell me, what do you mean by ‘making it up to me’? That sounds promising.”
“We can talk that over after breakfast, ay? I can’t do a good grovel on an empty stomach.” He flashed that grin at her, and this time she couldn’t help but smile back. Suddenly, his eyes turned toward the doorway.
Iqbal, who must have just come off her night shift, was stepping through the walktube door, trying to stifle a yawn.
“Excuse me for a minute,” Cesare said to her. “There you are Iqbal! How have you been? You’re looking mag as ever.” He took a few long strides across the room and scooped the older woman into a hug that left her feet dangling nearly a meter off the floor.
“Oof!” Iqbal laughed, slapping his shoulder. “Put me down you big mook!” Cesare obligingly set her back on her feet.
Bianca watched with a small but unpleasant jolt of emotion. She looked narrowly at Iqbal as the Earther smiled up at Cesare and patted her hair. She was a few decades older and a whole lot shorter than Bianca.
But still good looking, something whispered in the back of her mind. She resolutely turned away and went to sit at the breakfast table. It was none of her business.
She settled into a seat at the end of the table. Bo passed the biscuits to her. “Beautiful morning,” he said cheerfully. “Did you have a good night?”
“Uh...” No, actually, I was up all night trying to snoop around in your comps. “Ay. Fine, thanks,” she mumbled.
She glanced over at Cesare, who was still talking to Iqbal. They seemed to be discussing some problem, because they were both intent, frowning. Probably Tower Two, Bianca guessed. But as they moved to the table, Cesare seemed to brush whatever it was away, his broad smile lighting up as he focused on the people around him. He sat back down in his chair and began talking with the rest of the miners with easy familiarity.
Bianca mechanically ate her biscuits and sweet, listening. It was striking how much the atmosphere in the hab had changed with Cesare’s presence. Before, the Earthers had been tense and quiet. But now, everyone was suddenly chatting about schedules, the weather, vids. Drifting over the usual topics of normal life.
She watched covertly as Cesare drew their smiles and conversation. People seemed to warm to him so naturally. And she could certainly understand why.
He remembered personal details about each of the miners—things they liked, events of their lives. He truly focused on them when they talked, listening to them with a warm gleam in his eyes, always ready with an easy laugh. He must work this same magic on all of his workers to gain the kind of loyalty Bianca had seen so far.
She began to regard him with a feeling bordering on astonishment. She herself had never quite managed that kind of personal connection with anyone, let alone numbers of people.
Well, whatever the intrigue that surrounded him was about, it was at least becoming clear that Cesare wasn’t abusing his workers.
So what was going on here?
She was seriously beginning to doubt she would ever be able to find out with Cesare himself in the way. He was confounding on so many levels, she thought as she pushed the remains of her breakfast away. She needed to think. Needed to get some distance. Maybe a lot of distance
“So Cesare,” Mehmet said, “are you coming to take a look at Tower Two? We could use your opinion on the problem.”
Instantly, Cesare’s expression turned serious. “Definitely. I’ll gear up and head out with you after breakfast.”
He looked over at her. “I wanted to take you on a tour first thing, Bianca, but this can’t wait. I’ll check out the tower today, and then you and I can go look over Noctis together tomorrow.”
A spark of panic flared. “Thanks, but I’ve already seen the towers and the complex,” she said.
He frowned. “How about the pump and reservoir?”
“No, I haven’t been over that yet,” she admitted.
“Right, then, it’s a plan. Tomorrow we’ll go inspect some plumbing.”
“Wait a minute M’Chan,” she blurted.
“Cesare,” he interrupted.
“Inspecting the pump sounds...fascinating. But I don’t think I have time for a field trip like that,” she said. “I have a few details to take care of here at the hab, and then I need to get ready to get back on the road. I plan on leaving tomorrow morning.”
He looked at her sharply. “Where are you going?”
She hesitated for a second too long.
He narrowed his eyes. “You don’t even have a plan, do you? You’re just running
away again.” Her breath caught on a denial. He leaned toward her slightly. “I told you before, one of the games I excel at is hide and seek. Keep that in mind next time you try to run away from me.”
Heaven! She thought. Somehow he had perfected the art of sounding menacing and sexy at the same time. She felt herself flushing red.
“I am not running away!” she said, her voice high. Then she stopped short. The miners were all staring at her and Cesare in utter fascination. Even Hussein was looking back and forth at them, his eyes wide behind his eyecam.
Cesare kept his gaze steady on her, his posture in his chair lazy, but his dark eyes intense.
Time for a tactical retreat. She smiled tensely. “Since you insist, I’ll make some time for your tour. I’ve always been interested in...plumbing.”
* * *
“Are you really going to take Bianca up to the reservoir tomorrow?” Bo asked.
“Ay. Finish this progression, would you?”
“Quite the romantic setting you’ve got picked out, cowboy,” Han said.
“This isn’t about romancing the chic,” Cesare muttered. “It’s business.” But even as he said it, his eyes were roaming away from his workstation to find her once again. She was standing at a console over on the other side of the Tower Two controller room, bending down gracefully to listen to something Mehmet was explaining to her. Mehmet was looking up at her with a kindly expression which, Cesare noticed, had grown more and more avuncular as the day wore on. Hussein was also there looking up at her, and his expression was positively adoring. Even Asif’s scowl had eased a fraction. Amazing. She was already pulling the miners into her orbit.
The chic had a way of drawing the eye, and it wasn’t simply due to her physical beauty, he thought. When he looked at the subtle shades of expression crossing her face, he got a sense of complex thoughts and emotions in her, running just beneath the surface. Suddenly she smiled down at Mehmet, and it was like a light shining out from that hidden place inside her.
It was fascinating. She was fascinating.