“You boys are in for the treat of your lives. This is made by real Italians.” Marny pronounced the last ‘eye-tal-yuns.’ “And for drinks, we have what’s been the best beer for more centuries than the North American Alliance has existed.”
I hadn't noticed the three frosted glasses sitting next to the pizza. Next to those glasses were eight tall sealed black bottles. Marny caught my eye, opened one of the bottles and poured out the dark umber-colored liquid into a glass and a two centimeter creamy foam formed on top. I accepted it, took a seat on one of the couches and started to drink.
“Hold on there, Cap. Let’s make a toast,” Marny said.
I waited for her to finish pouring their drinks.
“To Adela Chen,” she toasted. We clinked glasses.
I took a long drink of the beer. It tasted like nothing we’d had in previous ports or back on Colony 40. Its smooth, buttery taste made it the finest drink I’d ever experienced. I looked to Nick. He didn’t seem to be enjoying his.
“What is this magic elixir? Nick, you don’t like it?” I asked.
“It’s not bad.” Nick put his glass back down on the table and snaked a piece of pizza.
“Guinness, and you’ll learn to love it, Nicholas,” Marny said. He just looked sideways at her.
The pizza was equally awesome but after a third beer, the day started to catch up to me.
“Guys, I’m gonna turn in,” I couldn't help yawning.
“You sure, Cap? Nick and I are gonna go swimming.”
“Swimming, really?” I asked.
“Yup,” Nick had a huge grin on his face.
“That’s almost tempting, but I’ll wait for Tabby.”
“Suit yourself. Did you set your alarm?” he asked.
I hadn’t, so I did. I lay down in the bed and understood why I’d fallen asleep so quickly before. It was luxurious. I’d never slept in a bed this comfortable, with blankets and pillows so soft. I fell asleep immediately.
The next thing I knew, the alarm on my reading pad was going off. I’d given myself an hour to shower, dress and get over to the Naval Academy. It took a moment in the shower to realize I was standing next to the glass exterior of the building. My first concern was that I was naked. Fortunately, there were little glowing letters at eye level that read ‘window is opaque.’ I finally realized that opaque meant ‘unable to be seen through’.
The rain from last night had stopped and I could see that the hotel was on the edge lake so large I was unable to see a shore on the opposite side. Closer to the hotel were a multitude of sailboats with colorful sails deployed. Further out were larger ships going about their business. I had to tear myself away from staring out over the water. I wanted to be on time to pick up Tabby.
Neither Nick nor Marny were in the living room and I suspected they had been up fairly late last night. The pizza was still on the table, so I grabbed a cold piece and headed out. The elevator had the same external lake view as my shower and I gawked the entire way down.
I carried a reading pad since I had no other way to communicate with the AI while dressed in my jeans and dress shirt.
Hail a cab, I said. Exiting the hotel through the large sliding doors, I was surprised to see flowering plants growing in abundance in large pots. For the most part, flowers weren’t overly common on a space station. I’d seen them before but generally in small groups. It was one of a hundred new experiences I’d had since arriving on Mars. A taxi-cab was waiting for me under the large awning. When I approached, the small silver vehicle opened its door.
Mars Naval Academy, negotiate with Tabby Masters for pickup. By letting my AI know where I was going and who I was picking up, it would be able to get specific directions. The AI wouldn’t actually need to talk to Tabby, but simply communicate with her AI. The cab gently lifted from the surface and joined the traffic. I estimated we were flying at an altitude of six hundred meters. It provided a great view of the planet beneath me.
This part of Mars was covered by forest that had been seeded many centuries ago when Mars was terraformed. The abundance of plant life was surprising to me in that I knew Mars hadn’t originally had any indigenous plants. Everything I saw below had been seeded from either Earth or one of the four ‘new’ planets. According to what I’d read, however, the plants and trees adapted to the Martian environment and had become unique to Mars, only faintly resembling their ancestors on Earth. I supposed that was true of people also. Nick and I were a lot like Marny but our small spacer builds were significantly different from her heavily muscled frame.
The Naval Academy was thirty minutes away from the Concord Resort. For the last twenty minutes the air traffic had thinned out and there were fewer and fewer structures below. I’d been flying over land for the entire trip, but the low white buildings of the academy were all lined up in neat rows along the shore of what I assumed was the same lake as the resort.
The cab set down next to a building on the outside of a ten meter tall fence. Cabs probably weren't allowed to fly over the grounds of the academy. It would cost me additional to have the cab wait, but we were far enough from town that I didn’t want to be stranded out here. The academy was in a remote area and we certainly wouldn’t be able to walk back.
A wide rock path led to the doors of the visitor’s center and before I’d made it to within twenty meters, Tabby burst through the door and ran toward me. She was wearing a beige uniform and still sported the buzz cut she’d left Colony 40 with. We hugged fiercely and I lifted her as we spun around.
She whispered in my ear, “No kissing in public while in uniform.”
“Do you have a bag?” I asked.
“Let me grab it.”
I took her hand and let her lead me back to the visitor’s center. She’d left a small bag by the front door. I carried it for her and we jogged back to the waiting cab.
Privacy mode. I instructed the cab.
“Do you even notice it?” she asked.
I looked her up and down trying to find some detail I’d missed. Her skin was tanned and her face had a harder look than I remembered but mostly she was covered by her uniform. She picked up on my confusion.
“No, you dork. Your foot. I can’t tell you’re wearing a prosthetic at all. Do you notice that you’re wearing it?”
“Oh,” I said, relieved. “Almost never. It’s funny, I was sitting on the bed putting my clothes back on when Ada saw me cleaning it and I … “
Tabby interrupted me by slugging me hard in the arm.
“What was that for?” The punch actually hurt. Then I thought about what I'd said. “No … it’s not like that.”
“Then how is it? Is she cute?” Tabby looked at me sternly.
“Oh, yeah …” I caught it before the punch landed and was able to deflect most of it. “Seriously, it’s not like that. Ada just lost her mom to pirates. I’m telling you that was the last thing on her mind.” I dodged a strike. “What …”
“What about your mind?” Tabby said. She was actually starting to get pissed. I was in trouble.
“Nothing like that. Ada’s a nice girl …” Tabby started to agitate, “No, listen, I worry about the same thing with you. All these good looking Navy guys you hang around. But really Tabby, all I think about when I’m near a beautiful woman is you.”
Tabby looked somewhat mollified. “So you’re saying …”
The canopy darkened and I knew no one would be able to look in at us. I pulled Tabby in close and kissed her. Initially, she was a little hesitant but I wasn’t letting go. Finally, she melted into me. I was more than a little disappointed when the cab started its descent on approach to the hotel.
“This looks nice,” Tabby said.
“The rooms are crazy, Nick set it all up. Let’s go up and see if he and Marny are awake.”
“Are they a thing?” Tabby asked.
“That’d be an understatement.”
“I thought she was an Earther, how’s that work?”
“Just does, I g
uess. She’s probably half again his mass though. Calls him ‘her little man.’” I led Tabby onto the elevator.
“That’d be funny. Nice view here.”
I palmed my way into the suite.
“Tabby!” Nick ran over and hugged her.
“Morning, Marny.” I didn't want her to feel left out.
“Morning, Cap.”
Nick released Tabby and drug her by the hand over to meet Marny.
“Tabby, this is Marny, the one I’ve been sending you comms about.”
Marny held her hand out to shake Tabby’s but Tabby was having none of that and gave Marny a big hug. I was surprised, since generally Tabby didn’t take right to people.
“I’m so glad to finally meet the woman who has been keeping my guys safe. Thank you, and I’m honored to meet you.” For Tabby, this was gushing.
Marny smiled, which is what I’d have expected either way, not too much rattled her. “Glad to be part of the team.”
“What have you guys planned for the day?” I asked.
“Too many things, so little time. We were thinking about heading over to Puskar Stellar and checking out the Open Air District,” Nick said.
“How far away is that?” I asked.
“’Bout an hour, they have a super-fast magnetic levitation train. It’s in the same terminal as the space elevator from dry dock,” he said.
I looked at Tabby and she responded, “Works for me, I just need to get changed.”
I didn’t care what we did as long as she was part of it. Two hours later we exited one of the numerous stops the train made in the city. It was mid-afternoon and the sun was shining, the weather was holding at fifteen degrees. I’d brought my coat along and Tabby had switched to a pair of very tight jeans and a loose sweater.
“Meet for dinner at 2000 local?” Nick asked.
“Sounds good.” I looked to Tabby for confirmation. She nodded.
“Try to stay out of trouble, Cap,” Marny said with a grin.
Puskar Stellar’s Open Air District is the perfect place to walk around when you have time to kill. Interesting old buildings lined the brick streets, and vendor booths covered by colorful umbrellas and tents were set up in front. It all made for an inviting environment and reminded me of when family trading ships would visit Colony 40 - only about a thousand times bigger.
“We should get swimming suits for tonight,” I said.
“I was thinking about getting an earwig communicator,” she replied.
“What’s that?”
“Just about everyone has one - look around. See the little piece of jewelry on that woman’s cheek leading back to her ear?” Tabby nodded in the direction of a woman seated at a small table, chatting blithely to no one in particular.
“Oh, like a vac-suit HUD.”
“Right. We can’t wear them while doing physical training or even in some classes, but other than that they're acceptable. Most people have one since nobody wears a vac-suit down here.”
I pulled out my reading pad. Find vendors who sell personal communication equipment. The pad displayed several nearby shops. We read a few reviews and decided to take a longer walk to get to Ballance Electronics, as they had the top reputation in the area.
A woman, several years older than the two of us, watched as we browsed, then headed our way. We’d found a cabinet loaded with several dozen different models of the earwig. Most of them were very thin, but apart from that there was quite a bit of variation.
“Would you like to try one?” she asked.
“Why so many different models?”
“Three things: style, projection quality, and adaptive holding,” she said.
“What’s adaptive holding?”
“It’s only available on the newer models and it’s a nano-adaptive surface that latches onto your skin and molds itself to your contours even as you talk. They are almost impossible to knock off, partly because the edge bevels out with the adaptive surface. ” She took a breath. “Sorry, that’s probably more than you wanted to know. It’s easier to just try it on.” Her face was a little flush.
“Sounds like you really know your stuff,” I said.
“They’re just really cool,” she replied.
“How much are we talking?” Tabby asked.
“Eight hundred is top of the line, unless you get jewel inlay, which we don’t do.”
Tabby whistled. “That’s a lot. What do you have in the three or four hundred range?”
“Lots of good ones. The only real difference is the adaptive feature.”
“Could I try the blue one?” Tabby pointed to one that was the same deep blue color that was part of the Mars Protectorate Navy uniform.
“What year are you?” The girl asked while she stepped behind the counter and pulled out two sleeves with blue earwigs.
“First year.”
“Not from Mars?”
“Perth Mining Colony.”
“Glad you came in. You’ll appreciate not having to rely on reading pads.” She held an earwig next to Tabby’s ear and then put it back in its sleeve. She held another one up and appeared satisfied. “That should do it. Just hold it up next to your ear and then push it in gently. This one has an early generation of the adaptive technology and makes a perfect fit every time.”
Tabby pushed it in and adjusted the earwig so that the fine blue wire led from her ear, along her cheekbone to just in front of her eye.
“It tickles,” she said, with a slight smile.
“You get used to it. That’s because it is held in place entirely by the connection in your ear.”
“You should at least try on the adaptive one,” I said. The woman looked to Tabby, who nodded affirmatively.
They both looked the same when sitting on the counter, but when Tabby pushed the new device in, the difference was immediately evident. It was as if the earwig melted into her ear and onto her skin. Where the previous earwig had filled her ear, this one simply lined it. Additionally, it melded into her skin along her cheekbone and looked more like a tattoo than a piece of equipment.
“That’s too cool,” I said.
“I wanna see,” Tabby said.
The woman who was helping us pinched at something in her vision and mimed tossing it at Tabby. It was a familiar gesture that established a video link between them.
Tabby ran her fingers over her cheekbone while staring off into space. I could tell she was watching the HUD. “That’s incredible. Any trouble with water?”
“Not at all. Most people never take them off.”
Tabby pulled it out of her ear reluctantly. “A little more than I can afford, student and all.”
“With a boyfriend who never gets to see you,” I said. “We’ll take two.”
“Liam, you can’t. They’re expensive.”
“Think of it as an investment in me being able to talk to you more. Let me do this. Please?”
After a few minutes and a private conference, Tabby finally relented.
“So … since you saved all that money on an earwig, maybe you could get a swimsuit?”
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you have an ulterior motive. Oh wait … I do know you better. I’ll get one if you do.” She poked me in the chest with her finger and looked up at me with a smile. It was a moment I wanted to last forever.
We wandered through the streets holding hands and chatting about whatever came to our minds. We ended up finding a push cart filled with swimwear attended by an older woman. Tabby finally found a two piece she felt she could live with. To my disappointment, she wasn’t at all impressed with the bikinis and their lack of coverage. In the end, it didn’t matter too much to me.
WORK HARD, PLAY HARDER
Dinner with Marny and Nick was a blast. But I wanted to spend as much time alone with Tabby as possible. Marny warned us that the plans she had for us started at 0800, so Tabby finally convinced me at 0300 that we should get some sleep. She agreed we could sleep in the same bed, but insisted that was all
we would be doing. I’d like to say I didn’t try to convince her otherwise, because I did, but I also respected her desire to ‘save it for marriage.’
A loud rap on the door caused both Tabby and me to jump out of bed. “Frakking Jupiter, are you nuts?” I yelled at the door.
“0800 Cap, time to lose some of that baby fat.” Marny’s voice filtered through the door.
“What are we doing, anyway?” Tabby was standing in front of me in a white lacy camisole top and matching panties. I had a very difficult time focusing on what either her or Marny were saying.
“Hoffen … you’re staring and you’re not answering.”
I looked up guiltily. “Uh … Cripes, I have no idea. And if you’re gonna wear that, I’m gonna stare.”
“Complaining?”
“Not even close.”
“And …”
“Oh, right …”
Marny rapped on the door again.
“Ten minutes, Cap. We’ve got an appointment.”
“I really don’t know. All she said was that you wouldn’t want to miss it.”
I opened the door. “What should we wear?” Marny was sitting on a tall stool in the kitchenette drinking a glass of orange juice.
“Doesn’t matter.”
Fifteen minutes later we were all headed down the elevator. Tabby and I had to settle for a meal bar for breakfast, but that didn’t bother me too much. I was used to them.
Once we were in the cab I couldn’t take it anymore. “Alright Marny, it’s time to spill. What’s the big secret?”
“I already told you, we gotta all get in better shape, learn to work like a team.”
“What’s that got to do with Tabby?”
“What? I can’t be part of the team?” Tabby slugged me. I kind of wished she’d find a new way of expressing herself.
“Nothing at all, other than I get an extra day of training this way and I guarantee you’ll love it.” Marny smiled sagely at Tabby. Smart women made my life … interesting.
“Nick? You know anything about this?”
“Nope. Where’d you get those comm units?”
Privateer Tales 3: Parley Page 8