Later she'd find a similar door, measure it, and see if she thought that those were Jamie's clothes, if this was Jamie's apartment...and, heck, she'd have to decide if this guy was actually "Jamie.”
And if he wasn't Jamie, who was he?
Chapter 76
2064: First Class Homes and Offices construction site, level 6, Aristillus, Lunar Nearside
Captain Dewitt nodded thanks to Kaspar, who'd just helped him lift the equipment into position, and wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand.
Dewitt turned and addressed the class of aspiring electricians - a crowd of Nigerians, Mexicans, and Chinese who stood around them in a semicircle. "The take-away here is that you can lift the transformer into place by hand because of the lower gravity - but remember two things: lift with your backs, and once it gets moving it's going to keep moving. You've heard the momentum lecture before, and now you're hearing it again." He looked around. "Any questions on getting the transformer onto the brackets?"
There were none. "OK, I'm going to let Don walk you through hooking up to building circuits to the tunnel mains. Don?"
Dewitt stepped back and let Don take over the class.
He leaned against a half-built wall as he watched Don explain through a translator how to connect one building to three different power suppliers.
He shook his head. There was just so much that was bizarre about this mission. During the months of planning and training he'd been sure that the fractional gravity and living in underground tunnels would be the weird part.
In fact those things had become normal - or normal enough - pretty quickly. The gravity mattered when you were lifting heavy equipment, but for the most part it was just another background oddity. Living in tunnels wasn't nearly as strange as he'd expected. Between environmental tricks like the fact that the high arched tunnel ceilings almost imperceptibly changed color over the course of the day and the way the bushes and trees waved slightly in the artificial wind, Aristillus felt more like a dense suburb than the weird futuristic chrome-and-neon movie set he'd imagined.
No, the stuff that kept hitting him without warning and throwing him off balance was the small things. Like this, right here: First Class Homes and Offices was training its own electricians. Just taking random people off the street and training them! There were no job panels, no licensing boards, no government inspectors. No, Javier - the company president! - had just noticed that Dewitt worked well with some junior men and had paired him with Kaspar Osvaldo and asked them to teach a crop of wet-behind-the-ears newbs how to wire up office buildings.
It was the craziest sort of bullshit he could imagine. How did this whole place not just burn down? At that thought he looked up at the fire suppression system installed by another crew in this section of the tunnel a few days before. Installed by other newbs, inspected by some guys from another firm with some hand-held gizmos, and - bang! - done. With no government at all.
It was madness. Pure fucking madness.
"Something fascinating about the sprinklers, Neil?"
Dewitt looked down, slightly ashamed at being caught spacing out.
"Hey, Kaspar. Nah - just thinking." The older Mexican man nodded. Dewitt liked Kaspar. They'd met on the job, and had ended up eating their lunches together and even grabbing a drink after work once or twice. Dewitt's Special Forces team was tasked with making local contacts and doing research on Aristillus. Hanging with Kaspar fit into that mission perfectly, but there was more to it than that - Dewitt was becoming friends with Kaspar. Real friends.
"Thinking about what?"
Dewitt shrugged. "How crazy the whole system is here."
"Mmm. It is that." He paused. "On a different topic: Marianela told me that I should bring you over for dinner one night. And before you say anything, you should know that she will be deeply insulted unless you say 'yes.’ Marianela has a temper like a - I'm not sure what you'd say in English. Anyway, my point is that you have to say yes." Kaspar grinned.
Neil smiled back. "Wouldn't want to get you in trouble. When and where?"
Chapter 77
2064: Trentham Court Apartments, Aristillus, Lunar Nearside
Hugh sat with Louisa and Allyson at the kitchen table. Allyson was so outraged that she was waving her hands around her head as she spoke. "Some of the Asians are smoking! Not just e-cigs, but tobacco! Not only are we all going to catch cancer, but with the oxygen and everything this entire place is going to catch fire!"
Louisa rolled her eyes and launched into an explanation of fire safety and oxygen. Hugh paid only partial attention. He wasn't sure which Louisa had more contempt for: Allyson's not understanding the science of fire, or the Chinese expats and their filthy habit.
Hugh looked away from the two arguing women to the empty chair where Selena usually sat, and sighed.
He'd been interested in Selena for over a year now, and she hasn't given even the slightest indication that she'd picked up on any of his hints. She wasn't even at the table with them now - she was off in her bedroom "working on a side project,” whatever that meant.
What should he do to move things forward? Drop even more hints? Do something else? He was so tired of being alone, but after so long chasing Selena he was exhausted. He'd tried so hard, and gotten nothing.
The thought of giving up on Selena and concentrating on Allyson had been tickling him for weeks now. He'd even hinted to his mom about the idea, and she'd encouraged him. But maybe he should try a little harder? He'd been over this in his mind a hundred times before, and couldn't figure out what else he could do, but -
And then, with a sudden resolve that surprised him, he decided.
Screw it - he was going to give up on Selena. If after all the favors he'd done for her she still couldn't appreciate what a nice guy he was and how supportive he could be, then she wasn't that nice of a person herself. He was going to move on to someone who was worth his time. He took a deep breath and steeled himself.
Louisa looked over. "You have something to add?"
Hugh shook his head. "No."
The two women went back to discussing expats and tobacco.
Hugh looked at Allyson. He could do worse. She was cute, even if not quite as cute as Selena. And she was smart. Or at least smart-ish. He could figure out what to talk to her about. That had always confused him with Selena - he'd bring up one topic and she'd be interested, but then she'd go off on a tangent that left him tongue-tied, or he'd try to segue to a different topic and she'd get bored. With Allyson, though, he knew what her interests were: toxins, healthy food, locavorism, yoga - that sort of stuff. He could talk about that. Easy. He'd just have to start reading some different websites.
Yes, he could do this. And he would. Starting right damned now.
He listened to the conversation for a moment, then when Louisa briefly paused he leaned forward. "The other day, when I was out interviewing some recent arrivals, I saw one of the tunnel police yell at a smoker -"
Louisa scowled. "They're not police - they're just rent-a-thugs. Do you know how they punish tobacco use? They don't! They just give a written warning or escort the loser into a different tunnel. No fines, no anti-social-behavior letter, no housing classification downgrades. The 'law' here - " she spat the word " - is a joke. It's go no teeth at all! They'll never fix anyone's behavior."
Allyson nodded in agreement. "Back in college I think I only saw, like, two people smoke tobacco over all four years. The smoking rate has got to be a hundred times higher here."
Hugh felt his inner wonk come out. "We've got to be careful not to compare apples and oranges. All the smokers I've seen here have been African or Asian, so you've got to look at the smoking rates in their home countries -"
"That's a bit racist," Louisa said.
Hugh felt himself flush. Damn Louisa! He'd been trying to sound knowledgeable and assertive, and she'd cut him down, right in front of Allyson. He looked down. He just couldn't win.
Hugh mumbled "I've got to go
to the bathroom" and stood. In his anger he overshot in the low gravity, and flopped awkwardly in the air for a second before landing and walking away.
Behind him Louisa said, "There's a story in here, if we frame smoking in the context of the class divide. I'm sure that smoking - and other air pollution - is much higher in the poorer neighborhoods. Tobacco smoke, greasy frying odors, oil, the smell of unwashed people. Ugh. The environmental racism is just sickening." Hugh could just imagine Louisa wrinkling her nose as she said this. Some times he wanted to punch her right on it when she sneered like that.
Hugh closed the bathroom door but could still hear Louisa talking. God. He really did want to punch her. She'd accused him of being racist, but he wasn't - he'd just been acknowledging the higher smoking rates in Africa and China. Louisa knew he was right. It was almost as if she just wanted to tear him down in front of whoever he was with.
A minute later he washed his hands and headed back to the kitchen. He was fed up with Louisa. She beat up on him all the time, and he was sick of it. He was going to confront her, and he was going to make her apologize. He was done with chasing Selena, and he was done taking crap from Louisa.
Today was a new beginning. The old Hugh was dead. Today was the start of a new Hugh.
He stalked out of the bathroom and came across Louisa and Allyson still talking about environmental racism.
He cleared his throat. "Louisa."
She held up a finger and snapped "Hang on!" and went back to her monologue.
"No, I will not hang on. I'm sick and tired -"
She turned to him. "What?"
He stammered for a second. "I'm sick and tired -" He swallowed. "You said I was racist."
"What?"
Crap. This wasn't going the way he'd intended. He started again. "When we were talking about smoking. You said I was racist. And I'm not."
She shrugged. "OK. Fine." Louisa turned and went back to talking about the evils of privatized atmosphere processing.
Hugh breathed out and crossed his arms. That wasn't the resolution he'd wanted.
His phone rang and he fished it out and looking at the screen. Wow. Hugh held it up. "Guys, check this out! Our newest video is on DC Minute!"
Louisa whirled on him. "What? How did they get it? We agreed that we'd hold a formal vote before -"
"It's a text from my mom. I sent my mom a rough cut, and she mentioned it on a DC Minute interview."
"So how did DC Minute get it?"
Hugh spread his hands. "She says she gave it to them."
"But we didn't-"
"Her text says she 'exploited serendipity.’” He stuck his chin out. The new Hugh wasn't going to take much more shit from Louisa. "Argue with her, if you want."
Louisa sighed and gave up.
Allyson turned to Hugh. "The video is live? Now?"
Hugh nodded. "Yeah."
Allyson stood and walked to the living room. Hugh followed her, and behind him he heard a chair scrape as Louisa stood.
Allyson picked up the remote and called up DC Minute on the wallscreen - and there was the icon for the clip! Allyson clicked it and the video began to roll.
Hugh sat on the couch as the DC Minute intro splash graphics rolled. He loved the intro. First one animated stick figure appeared, then another, then a third. Then the viewpoint pulled back until millions of figures spread across the North American map covered the screen. At that point the music started and the figures danced toward each other and began to merge until they finally coalesced into one much larger figure. The view zoomed in until the perfectly circular head of the figure filled the frame. Then, finally, as the music reached a crescendo, the white circle on a blue field morphed into the DC Minute logo.
The logo dissolved and the show's host, Melaine Roes, smiled at the camera.
Louisa sat. Hugh stole a glance at her. She seemed relaxed - no longer angry that the video had been released without a full vote.
"Hi, I'm Melaine Roes, and this is my guest, Senator Linda Haig, power broker extraordinaire and woman-about-town." She smiled and the camera cut to the senator, then back to Melaine. "Senator, we've got a few things to talk about, including the California Earthquake Recovery Act, the economy, the elections, and - of course - your recent charity ball co-hosted with Emilio-X. But just before this interview started you told my production assistant Lezlie about some shocking new information... and your new plan to help the economy. Lezlie tells me that you've got some amazing footage?"
Hugh stole a glance at Allyson. She was staring intently at the wall screen. Hugh held his breath.
Just a few minutes ago he'd decided that he was going to be a new Hugh - and he'd decided that Allyson was worthy of the new Hugh. And now Allyson was leaning forward, paying attention to the video that he'd cut and that his mom had gotten on TV.
The universe was aligning for him.
He glanced again at Allyson's face, trying to read something there.
On the wallscreen, Melaine Roes said, "For years there've been stories of a moon colony filled with traitors. We've all heard one version or another in some of the seedier corners of the net. The core story is always the same - that tax rebels from the US and other PK protectorates have somehow fled to the moon, where they're evading national and international laws and violating UN regulations against private exploitation of public resources."
The camera cut to Hugh's mother, who was nodding gravely, and back to Melaine.
Selena walked into the room and sat - she must have heard the video.
"And it's been just rumors - there's never been video or hard facts from the credentialed media." She paused. "Until now.” Melaine turned from the camera to Linda Haig. "Now, Senator, are we to understand that you've got actual evidence of the so-called 'lunar expats'... and that this plot somehow ties into our current national budget crisis?"
Selena had raised her eyebrows when Melaine had said that there'd never been video or hard facts, and she was right. These days pretty much everyone had seen blurry images of the colony taken from backyard telescopes or had seen that viral video of the Brazilian kids playing low-g basketball before the Internet Security Bureau had clamped down.
So, sure, everyone knew - but how else were Melaine and his mom going to play it? The official line - up until now, it seemed - was that Aristillus was a rumor, so of course they had to phrase it that way.
The camera cut to his mother. "Melaine, that's exactly right. Our official investigations are continuing, but thanks to some stunning investigative work by people close to me, we've got this breathtaking report. We've got evidence of thousands, or perhaps tens of thousands, of tax rebels and - as you say - traitors on the moon. These people are American citizens. They've benefited from government- provided education, health care, social programs, and more, and yet they've abandoned the country that has invested so very much in them. Not only have they taken their human capital, but it looks like they've taken trillions - tens of trillions - of New Dollars of equipment. Thousands of bulldozers and earth movers that could be used in the reconstruction of California are instead being used to mine gold. Gold, of all things! Lavish palaces are being created for the expat robber barons while their workers labor, crippled by lack of education, health care, and -"
The Senator continued, interrupted only by soft words of encouragement from Melaine, and then finally it was time. Melanie turned to the camera and introduced the video. And then it ran - the video footage that Hugh, Selena, Allyson, and Louisa had shot ran. Hugh could hardly believe it.
The sequence was just as he'd cut it - it started with a pan across the exterior of the colony. He'd shot that footage their first week here, when they'd been out watching Allan do his rock climbing stunt.
At the memory of Allan's death, Hugh's good mood faltered for a moment, but the video kept playing and he pushed the tragedy out of his mind.
On the screen their video continued. Hugh's voice-over set the stage, gave some of the background, and then the clip cut
to Allyson sitting behind a desk. She looked good with her thick brunette hair and her expensive top - not to mention that her teeth gleamed and her eyes shone. Hugh smiled. Not only had he taken extra care to light her and frame her well when he shot it, but he'd worked overtime in post - every pixel was perfect.
On the screen Allyson smiled at the camera and spoke about the human impact of the illegal settlement. Her words flowed smoothly. Of course they did; he'd labored over the audio to remove several stutters and other missteps. He'd even gone a bit heavy with the Rephrase tool to rework her words to make the narrative flow more easily. Hugh snuck a look at Allyson, watching her as she watched herself on the screen. She seemed to like it - she was smiling - and then she looked at him. He quickly looked away, but he was pleased with himself. It was, he knew, some of his best work.
The segment ended with video – a stream of molten gold being poured from a crucible – while Louisa's voice-over described the "mountains" of gold being extracted from the deep lunar mines. Hugh smiled. The pour had been been just thirty grams - that was the most that the jeweler had had on hand - but thanks to a low camera angle, the right digital tools, and a sound track heavy with bass, it looked like a river.
The clip ended, and the screen cut back to Melaine Roes and Hugh's mother. The two talked for a minute about the gap in the federal budget, and how proper taxation of the moon colony and confiscation of the illegally owned gold could solve the problem.
And then his mother called him out by name, thanking him for "brave work" that he "...and his girlfriend, Allyson Chery, had done.”
Hugh flushed. He'd talked to his mom about Allyson, but he'd never told her that they were actually dating.
Oh God. Oh God. Why had his mother done that?
He wanted to kill himself, he felt so stupid and embarrassed, but he had to apologize. He had to.
The Powers of the Earth (Aristillus Book 1) Page 33