A Sudden Departure (April Book 9)

by Mackey Chandler

  A Sudden Departure

  Mackey Chandler

  Cover by Sarah Hoyt

  Chapter 1

  It was late into main shift and April was getting really hungry. Her grandfather called this morning and asked her to have supper with him. She hadn't done much more than say hello to her Gramps in passing for months, so she didn't want to turn him down. She'd readily agreed and offered to meet him at the Fox and Hare, her treat, but he declined saying he wanted to talk. She expected him to suggest the cafeteria next, because nobody cared if you chatted there. The club had acts and you could only speak between sets without bothering people.

  Instead Gramps surprised her by saying he'd bring dinner to her place. That really made her wonder what he could want to discuss. Even if you needed a bit of privacy the cafeteria was big enough you could move off by the back wall, well away from the coffee pots everyone clustered around. April had conducted some pretty sensitive business discussions there and never had a problem.

  Heather was on the moon, Jeff was landing on their floating shuttle base in the Pacific, and she hadn't made any other arrangements for dinner, so she was happy for the company. Even her bodyguard Gunny was off on a security assignment. She just felt guilty Gramps had to be the one to ask, because she'd been neglecting him. She should have thought of asking him on her own while all her people were away. He wasn't one to scold you, or be needy. Her mother carried that duty for the family. April still managed to feel guilty.

  April was tense and unhappy with Jeff landing on Earth, so a distraction would be good. Their shuttle had been landing on the massive bulk carrier ship they'd converted to a floating shuttle pad with no problems for almost a year now. There had been a little problem with submersibles snooping around the Isle of Hawaiki at first, but that seemed resolved. They finally had a couple robotic freight haulers regularly landing on the Isle too.

  Their business partners objected to Jeff risking an Earth trip until now, but they couldn't deny Jeff landing indefinitely with no problems evident. He was anxious to see everything first hand. Seeing it by teleconference just wasn't the same, even if you could direct the person with the camera to do close-ups of specific items. Jeff pointed out it was still entirely too easy to hide things from someone in telepresence.

  They had three of the six hatch covers on the ship set up for vertical landings, with arresting gear to secure the shuttle landing pads against wind or high seas. Three were as many as they needed right now. Favorable treatment from several Earth countries for landing rights gave them other options. That could disappear in a moment though, and both April and Jeff agreed that they needed to be able to maintain their shipping traffic if the Earthies proved fickle and yanked the rights. Heather hadn't disagreed, but she was so busy with her own domain on the moon she just nodded and went along with most everything they planned.

  April wasn't clear how her grandfather would regard Jeff going to Earth. Happy, as he was called, had pushed her to be bold when she was younger, even arranging a trip to Earth for her that hadn't worked out so well. She could hardly object if he thought the same boldness natural for Jeff. Gramps was more likely to feel that way since Jeff was older.

  Jeff and her Gramps had collaborated on spaceship designs for some time. But Jeff wasn't doing that as actively as he used to, design had got ahead of economic need to build and stopped temporarily. Instead her grandpa was working more directly with Dave's shop that actually did the fabrication for things like the robotic landers. She wondered if he was less interested in that too, now that he didn't have the companionship of working with Jeff?

  April's previous visit to Hawaii had been so unpleasant she didn't feel trusting enough to go down again for herself or her partners. Hawaii had seceded from North America since her visit, but she was still uncertain how safe it could be for her. Indeed, her Hawaiian neighbor was on Home at least temporarily because of that uncertainty.

  They had managed one vacation together since, to an isolated atoll, but she even doubted the wisdom of that in hindsight. They'd felt comfortable at the time, given Home's treaty with North America, but she'd seen since how easily they repudiated their agreement. She wouldn't go down again without a lot more security. There would be no witnesses to what happens on an isolated atoll. All three of them and Barak had been a little foolish, but got away with it.

  If she had neglected seeing her grandpa Happy right here on Home, she hadn't visited her maternal grandparents in Australia at all since she was twelve years old. But she couldn't feel as guilty about that. No way would she risk doing that at present. The fact they seemed to think she was still twelve didn't encourage her to do so either. Her Aussie grandparents weren't entirely alienated, yet, but a visit might just accomplish that once and for all.

  The Life Extension Therapy April enjoyed meant she wasn't visibly aging very much. That had to be a factor in their attitude. Her grandparents' generation grew up able to judge a person's age and maturity at a glance. They hadn't seemed to adjust to the fact that things were different now.

  They also seemed to have a problem with Jeff as her boyfriend. Jeff certainly thought so, and her grandpa hinted strongly that was so, saying her grandma made a face when Jeff was mentioned. She couldn't get an honest discussion about it with her grandpa. He just put the blame for that off on his wife, who was even less willing to tell April her honest feelings.

  Happy, her other grandpa, wasn't so reticent about anything. He wasn't shy to hold forth at length about a lot of things. She had to admit, his experience made the advice valuable, whether requested or volunteered. She didn't have to worry what Happy thought of Jeff, because it was obvious he liked him, and would have whether April was involved with him or not.

  When April checked the time she was surprised to see her grandfather wasn't late. Her stomach seemed to be off clock and didn't agree. She was worried about Jeff but it didn't seem to curb her appetite at all, if anything the opposite. She decided to put the satellite view on her wall screen instead of the environmental art. It would be easier to have it up and running when he arrived than to ask her Grandpa if he'd mind it running in the background while they ate. Happy might say she was worrying too much. Then she'd feel silly to put it up.

  Chen was the main security man for April, Jeff and Heather, and was tied in with some of their allies on several levels. April knew he kept a constant orbital watch on the floating base, the Isle of Hawaiki. She was a full partner entitled to not only interrogate him but to direct him. She gave him a call and it was answered before the second buzz.

  "My Lady," was all he said, even though there was video, to acknowledge she had his attention. He'd started addressing her formally like that some time back, to rib her in a good natured way. He wasn't a subject of her friend Heather, and April's title of Peer meant nothing on Home, so Lady had no real meaning. But as time went on he no longer seemed to say it with the same humor.

  "Good evening Chen. Would you link my active screen to your overview of the Isle, please? I'd like to watch Dionysus' Chariot land and satisfy myself Jeff is safe."

  "How deep would you like it layered?" Chen asked.

  "Two sets, significant traffic shown, but actual threats color coded differently," April asked. "I'll have a blue layer laid on top of yours, so make your marks and icons contrasting."

  "Your weapons board overlaid?" Chen asked, concerned. "Do you have a particular. . .worry? Or even a gut feeling? I've learned to take your instincts seriously."

  "Yeah, our private system will be the overlay," April admitted. Chen knew of it, and had some idea of its capacity, but she, Heather and Jeff held the only keys. Chen had access to Home's Militia system, as she did too.
But if she used Militia weapons she'd likely have to justify it to the Assembly after the fact. It might be hard to show her private interests were the same as Home's. Better not to even need to think about that. It could make you hesitate.

  The use of the company system however, was strictly between her and her partners, unless it upset somebody enough to call them out after the fact. She'd suggested once allowing Chen, as their hired man, to have immediate access to some of their basic units, kinetic rods and maybe some low yield warheads or jamming devices. Heather had frowned at that, and Jeff said, "Let's not go there just yet." So April hadn't brought it up again.

  Chen just looked at her poker-faced, which was his way of reminding her she hadn't addressed his second question.

  "And yes, I have butterflies in the tummy. I don't like Earthies, I don't trust them. It's been months and months since they've done something devious and stupid, so I'm feeling like it's overdue. It's still bothering me that the temporary committees in North America have never rescinded their spox rejection of the previous government's treaty with us. Technically, we are at war with them by their own word, without even an official cease fire. I'd be just as happy if Jeff never went inside L1 again. We moved out past the moon for a reason."

  "If it helps assure you, I went around privately, not on com, and reminded everyone from Dave's maintenance workers to the cargo handlers to be careful not to broadcast that Mr. Singh was taking the next drop to the ship. One has to be balanced about it. Too great a fuss and using visible security can draw attention and defeat your purpose," Chen insisted.

  "And there are too many partners and investors to cut out of the loop. Who all delight in schmoozing with Jeff and pumping him for details, so hiding his trip entirely is pretty much impossible," April complained.

  Chen just cocked his head and shrugged. That was obvious, and little he could do to hush his boss. "The Chariot is armed," he reminded her.

  "Yes, I take some comfort in that. Thank you, Chen. I'm having dinner here at home with my grandfather. If you need to call me don't hesitate," April invited.

  "If you have the screen running then I'll simply put a text box on it," Chen suggested. "That's less distracting and faster than trying to switch back and forth between voice and visuals."

  ""You're right about that. Flash the screen if you need to alert me," April requested. Chen took that for a dismissal and disconnected.

  April examined the feed Chen sent carefully. The Isle of Hawaiki parked itself off the shipping routes, far from any settled islands or atolls. There wasn't even any regular air traffic above them. There were some fishing vessels coming and going past from the Antarctic regions, and just a few vessels that would pass south of them that had cleared Cape Horn coming around South America and were headed west for Australia or the Indian Ocean beyond.

  World economic conditions right now meant there was lighter traffic everywhere. That was why they got the Isle so cheaply, for actual scrap metal prices. There was one disturbance in the deep water, roiling cold water up, that was probably a submarine, but it had a vector away from their ship and had already cleared its nearest point of passage a thousand kilometers away.

  When she keyed her spex the whole screen was overlaid with a mesh of symbols telling her where their rods and warheads orbited. Some were in retrograde orbits. Not many space capable powers wanted to pay the energy premium to put assets in those orbits. But the defensive systems were weighed toward the conventional orbital direction. Some of the defenses were physically pointed toward those threats only, if they were legacy systems. Every month their primary company budgeted a set number of rods and warheads. Their arms got better and cheaper to produce all the time. The newer rods were loaded with cheaper filler for mass instead of solid metal and the guidance electronics were as cheap now as a little kid's wrist phone or a ring mouse. Jeff insisted the Earth powers would be doing the same – budgeting a continuous buildup – even if they couldn't feed their people.

  The greater cloud of icons had thirty one small diamonds marking it, about half on the other side of the Earth at any moment. Those were the really vital weapons. April held no illusions that the North Americans couldn't absorb all their rods and small warheads without significant harm. They were simply too big and presented far too many targets. They'd had thirty two of these special warheads last year before North America stole one and tried to disassemble it in Florida.

  Jeff's mother hadn't supplied them a new allotment since then of the special quantum fluid that was the heart of these fusion devices. She wouldn't share the process to make it, and usually only provided enough for four warheads at a time. They had other uses for it too, and it might be next year before they got more. With an adjustable yield that ran to nearly 300 megatons, thirty one devices were more than April ever hoped to need. Two had been used on China in previous conflicts, and one the North Americans had unleashed on Pensacola themselves last year, although to hear them complain you'd think it was a case of entrapment by an attractive nuisance.

  April decided to not try to show the time lag on the display. It was considerable given they were at L2 beyond the moon, but any action that was shown on her screen would cover half the Pacific and reduce the couple of seconds lag to insignificance. The added shadow layer of future actions and delay stubs on flight paths wouldn't be significant at that scale, just distracting.

  That left the final question. Now that she had everything displayed to her liking, should she leave it up there or take the top layer down before her grandpa got here and saw how concerned she was? In the end, she left it, not wanting the drama up bringing it up, or trying to sneak a peek at it privately in her spex. Her grandpa was awfully smart and figured things like that out pretty quickly if you tried to fool him.

  * * *

  Happy said nothing about the display when he came in carrying supper in a thermal carrier. He gave a glance, and didn't even appear to examine the plot on the screen closely, but April knew him well enough to know better. The old boy had eyes in the back of his head, literally, since he wore high end spex just like April. The real skill was being able to read the rear view and not give it away with odd head movements and eye shifting. He didn't let on at all that it wasn't April's usual herd of zebras or Swiss lake displayed on the screen.

  Supper was comfort food, stuffed peppers and mashed potatoes. April had been worried what to talk about, but Happy had a laundry list of stories and events he wanted her to know about. She ate and he was content to get a nod and a smile from her to know she was listening. Somehow, despite doing all the talking, his plate was finally empty, He shoved it away and leaned back.

  "The main thing I wanted to tell you this evening is I've decided to travel a bit." Happy finally revealed. "I was starting to slow down just a few years ago. I had little aches and pains and less energy. Now that I've had some serious gene mods I feel better and I'm restless. There isn't much here on M3 I haven't done. No point in doing it over again."

  That wasn't what April expected at all. In fact his prolonged story telling had convinced her that there wasn't going to be any big news from him this evening.

  "Travel where?" April asked, honestly mystified. "There isn't much to see on the moon that isn't all the same. I hope you aren't going down to Earth?"

  "Oh no," Happy agreed, and made a face at the idea of visiting Earth. "There are places I'd still like to see on Earth, wilderness mostly. But the politics of getting there won't let it happen. Maybe in twenty years or fifty it will be safe again. You know I did some deep space work before I helped build M3. I never talked about that, because I wasn't supposed to, it was all secret at the time. Now, I figure that government and its agencies don't still exist with any continuity, so it hardly matters if I talk.

  "I was also on the second Mars expedition. There's little glamour in being second, only a few diehard space nuts could name anybody on it. The second expedition was more a resupply run anyway. We didn't take as many people but a lot more equipm
ent and perishables. Then those that weren't needed or hadn't adjusted to the living conditions from the first expedition were transported back home. More went back than came out on the second trip.

  "Most of us never got down to the surface, and as I remember only three who actually landed on Mars then lifted back to return to Earth. One was too sick to stay on. Another had mental problems that showed up. He should have never been on the crew in the first place, and they were glad to be rid of him, but that was hushed up. And the third was the first mission commander who didn't really want to go back, but the USNA and their partners wanted him to do public relations and propaganda pieces. The poor guy never did get back to Mars before he retired."

  "I take it you want to get down to the surface this time?" April asked.

  "Oh yeah. That was really hard traveling all that time and distance just to see it from orbit. We got out to do some suit work, that's why I was along after all, and see Deimos. It wasn't very exciting but the view of Mars was great. A few guys got down to Phobos, but I didn't. They said it was pretty much the same as Deimos with a bit more loose crap on the surface, and Mars rushing past so close and fast it felt almost like flying a hypersonic on Earth."

  "You going to pay your own way or did you find some kind of job that will pay your passage for you?" April wondered.

  Happy smiled at her. "They still don't like to sell you a ticket without a job. Technically they're supposed to, by their charter, but they're really dead set against tourists. If you demand a stand-by ticket they still make you pay upfront and then they will bust a gut to find some way to fill the seats up and disappoint you. If you give up and ask a refund they knock thirty percent off if you haven't waited for three consecutive trip cycles. That's eighteen months. And full price for a round trip was seventy two ounces of gold last I checked. They pile on air fees and accommodation fees on top of passage if you aren't an academic or permanent worker."