Another Word for Magic

by Mackey Chandler

  Only about half the passengers seemed to have data spex on, but both the pilots who went forward had them. Neither had any sort of uniform, not even a colored belt or sash. One, however, had an axe as did several of the passengers. Only one had what appeared to be a firearm to Jeff. It was more like Home or the Moon than any planet he’d visited. It did seem odd there was no door to the flight cabin and they could see straight out the front ports just like the pilot.

  “Do you want to listen to the pilots?” Lee asked.

  “They will be speaking Derf won’t they?” April asked.

  “Yes, but I can get you a translation program off the local net,” Lee offered. “I wouldn’t trust a computer to fly this thing, but it will let you listen in well enough.”

  “Sure, that would be fun.”

  “Me too,” Jeff spoke up.

  A few seconds later an icon appeared in their spex of Derf and Human heads yelling at each other. Somebody had a sense of humor.

  There didn’t seem to be a very complicated preflight. They heard the pilots confirm their fuel load and navigation backups. They asked somebody outside to confirm nothing was under them where they couldn’t see, and no leaks or unexplained parts fallen off on the ground. Jeff was pretty sure from the tone of voice there was humor involved. He wondered why the plane didn’t have a belly camera, then realized on considering the matter that his ship didn’t. He might fix that. The translation program let a couple of words come through in Derf it didn’t know or couldn’t place from context.

  “Wonderful Airlines evening flight for Fishtown joining on the ground frequency. We will be starting and taxiing to the main runway east and joining the air operation radio at that time.

  “Props clear?” he inquired, and April and Jeff could hear the confirmation.

  “Starting two inboard engines,” the second pilot said. There was an increased vibration but it wasn’t all that loud.

  “They don’t use motors in the wheels to taxi?” Jeff asked.

  “No, and wait until you hear how they handle traffic,” Lee said. “They don’t have any controllers. They just discuss it.”

  That didn’t thrill Jeff, but it was kind of late to object.

  “Wonderful Air to Fishtown is on the east end of the main runway, joining air op radio. Do I have any traffic behind me?”

  “Reliable inbound from Blue Water. We’re five minutes out, go ahead and roll, Wonderful.”

  “Starting outboard engines in our roll,” the copilot said.

  They were thrust back in their seats with considerable authority from just two engines. When the other two ramped up it surprised the new-to-it Humans.

  “Airspeed,” the pilot said, and the wheel noise stopped abruptly. Then the wheels clunked up and the engine pitch increased again. They were tilted back at an angle Jeff didn’t expect from a propeller-driven aircraft.

  “OK, I have to buy a smaller version of this to play with,” April informed them.

  “We have attained cruising altitude configured for level flight,” their pilot said after a few minutes. “Everything is optimal to proceed and we anticipate arriving at Fishtown in one and four-tenths hours. Please limit yourselves to two passengers at a time leaving your seats for weight distribution. We have a few humans aboard today, don’t worry about being up because you aren’t heavy enough to change our trim. If any of you like fresh fish cooked to perfection please try my sister’s place, Down by the Bay in Fishtown.”

  “Well, a little family plug,” April said.

  “Will it be dark when we get there?” Jeff wondered.

  “It’ll be dusk,” Lee said. “This plane won’t outpace the sun but it comes pretty close.”

  “Maybe we should try his sister’s place,” April said.

  “Fine with me,” Lee said. “Fishtown is big enough to have a car service to find it for us.”

  * * *

  Fishtown airport was much simpler. There were no space facilities, and the operations building looked like a large garage. There was a restaurant next to it that was bigger and looked nicer than the terminal. The three Humans decided to go find the restaurant the pilot recommended before going to their rooms. The owner was welcoming with Human seats and utensils as well as being very aware of what could be safely served to Humans. Lee knew some teas were dangerous but wasn’t knowledgeable about seafood. It was all served in leisurely courses and it was dark when they left.

  “That was delicious, but if we ever go again, I’ll tell them to chop the head off in the kitchen,” Jeff said after they left. He’d been warned about Derf hearing and didn’t want to offend their hostess. “I’ve never seen such nasty looking teeth before.”

  “I have,” April said, “but only in pictures of Earth fish that live way down where there is no light. They look like they are all mouth too. At least this thing had some meat on him.”

  “The owner seemed pleased we mentioned her brother,” Jeff said. “He probably eats there free for steering business to her.”

  “Maybe, I don’t know what kind of family dynamics are normal outside a Derf clan,” Lee said. “The impression I’m getting is that trade towns started from people who walked away, people who were tossed out, and sometimes actual outlaws. Each one had to invent their unique social structure and rules without clan Mothers. I only get little hints now and then, about how things work inside a clan because of Gordon. He can be infuriating by how little he says. I met his father and was heavily involved with him and Gordon never bothered to tell me he was his dad. I had to figure it out from their names.”

  “Is that common for Derf to be so reserved?” April wondered.

  “No, that’s just Gordon,” Lee assured her. “I’ve had other Derf, who don’t have anything I especially wanted to know about, befriend me and refuse to shut up, flooding me with unwanted trivia. I have an aircar reserved for five in the morning. If we had more time, I’d have them drop us off on the edge of their property and walk in. Gordon and I have done that several times. There are some neat ruins I could show you too. But I don’t want to delay until news of Home’s arrival beats us to the Mothers.”

  “I think we are both going to be here for a little while and there will be other times in the future to visit and sight-see if the Mothers don’t chase us off. You can show us ruins and other touristy stuff later,” April promised.

  The service car pulled up, and they climbed in and told it to go to their hotel. Jeff was suddenly looking serious again and quiet.

  “Is dinner disagreeing?” April worried.

  “Dinner? No, not unless I get nightmares that my monster’s family comes looking for me. The way those needle fine teeth mesh makes me picture how wide it must open its mouth to get anything in past them. No, the reason I dropped out and what I was thinking is what you said about the Mothers chasing us off. Lee here is a Voice to the Mothers. I was just wondering if she couldn’t give Home permission to set up and stay all on her own?”

  He wasn’t addressing Lee, but he looked at her expectantly as if he had.

  “The Mothers made me a Voice to deal with outsiders and act for them in distant places. I’d feel I was abusing my authority to intervene with local matters and people who can easily be brought before them. In truth, I’m not sure what their will may be on local matters to speak for them. They may have entirely different thoughts and feelings on it than I can imagine. If I presumed to act for them locally, they might very well accept my decision on the matter to keep their word and then say: ‘Thank you, dear, we won’t be needing you as Voice anymore.’ I find I like being their Voice and don’t want to risk ending it in disgrace.”

  When Jeff didn’t say anything for a bit April asked him. “You are Heather’s Voice. When you go back home will you jump in and speak for her when you hear a local dispute, to save her the trouble of hearing it at her court?”

  “You do have a way of drawing parallels,” Jeff admitted.

  “And no need to ram it through,” April said. “It
would be a great convenience to park next to a living world. However, it’s by no means a matter of survival. If we need to put Home elsewhere and ferry supplies to them for a while, we have the means to do so. It would just be until we could replace the supply we normally get from the Moon. I think I can satisfy the Mothers that it will be a benefit to have Home stop here, not just as a favor to us.”

  “Don’t forget to mention it will help develop Life Extension Therapy for Derf,” Lee said.

  “Have they expressed an interest?” Jeff asked.

  “Not directly, but neither have I seen any signs they are suicidal,” Lee said. “I’m just waiting to see how expensive it will be. If the cost is beyond applying to everybody, it’s going to be a delicate issue deciding who gets it and who has to wait.”

  “That might move some clan Derf to become town Derf,” Jeff speculated.

  Lee looked concerned until her brow creased. “That’s what Gordon did. We’ve both promoted the ambitious and talented moving to town. The Mothers too often waste their abilities. However, we don’t want it to drive a wedge between the clan Mothers and trade towns. I could see it creating a civil war. I’d expect the Mothers to win a civil war and lock Derf society in their mold for generations. I suppose Home will be a destabilizing influence too. I just can’t start to predict how. It’s too complicated to see all the directions it could go. Believe me, I’ve been thinking about it. The more I consider all the possibilities the less certain I am that I can see how it will end up.”

  “Neither can we,” April assured her. “We, like you, are not without resources but the Earthies are billions of people living on an unbelievably rich planet. When they decided to move against us, we had two choices, flee or be monsters. We could never defeat them without committing mass murder and damaging the planet itself. There aren’t enough of us to administer a recovery either. They’d outnumber us too greatly even in defeat. I suspect in the long run they’d regain power and hold a grudge against us for generations if they came back from utter ruin. Sometimes there are no good choices.”

  “Homicide, not murder,” Jeff insisted. “It would be self-defense by their own laws, but they already think I’m a monster.”

  “A couple of times they pushed me right to the edge,” April admitted. “If I’d let loose on them like they were begging for, they’d be recording the aftermath on clay tablets.”

  Lee was saved from needing to comment on that or ignore it in an awkward silence by their arrival at the hotel. The outside looked similar to a Tudor mansion, half sunk into the ground, as Derf were very fond of earth sheltering. The entry was a slot in the surrounding mound. There was a Derf at the entrance who was quickly outside their taxi door before it could open. It wasn’t clear if he was site security, luggage handler, or valet, but the personalized service was nice. He knew of their reservation by name and escorted them to their suite without needing the check-in desk. Their modest baggage from the plane was already there.

  * * *

  “The suite only has one bath,” Lee warned. “That’s one more than most of the rooms. They share a bath at each end of the hall on the lower floors. I warned them we were three Humans so they were supposed to put a Human seat on the toilet. Otherwise, you might tip back and fall in. There is supposed to be a restrictor on the shower too. I’ll go check and make sure they took care of it. A full blast Derf shower can peel bare skin. But if either of you wants to shower first, I’m in no hurry.”

  “I imagine it’s easier to accommodate us than for a Derf to get suitable rooms in a Human hotel,” Jeff mused.

  “Oh, for sure, though we won’t have real human beds in the sleeping rooms,” Lee said. “I think you will find a Derf sleeping pad is fine. They’re supposed to provide a pillow. Pick whichever rooms you want. I’d be happy to take the furthest from the bath.

  “And a chocolate on my pillow?” April teased.

  “It’s not the Old Hotel,” Lee admitted, “but they do try to accommodate. If you asked for that service, they’d do it, but you’d get charged to send a minion to a specialty shop to buy it and an appropriate markup. Derf like chocolate … well, some do. Too much chocolate has an unfortunate effect on Derf digestion, similar to cheese so it’s not a staple. I have a fourth-hour wakeup call to go meet our air car, so don’t stay up too late.”

  “It can’t pick us up right here?” Jeff asked.

  “Remember, Derf have very good hearing,” Lee said. “It wouldn’t make us very popular to wake up everybody in the entire building. We might not be able to get reservations in the future after such a trick. Air cars sound like a tornado rolling in.”

  “Not on Earth now,” Jeff said. “The newer ones have active noise cancellation. They’ve had that now as pretty much standard equipment for about ten years.”

  “Not out here on the edge of civilization,” Lee quipped. “Derf will buy new when the old is worn out to the point of no repair. It isn’t just the Mothers who are… frugal.”

  “I caught that shift,” Jeff said, “best to be polite about naming it too.”

  “Exactly,” Lee agreed.

  Chapter 2

  Lloyd Maddox was a past resident of Alabama, a former member of the USNA Space Force, and a deserter. He’d been on ISSII back when April’s bodyguard Tindal was busted out of the USNA module of the satellite by station security. Administration of ISSII rotated, but they had the bad fortune to have snatched Mack Tindal out of the public corridor when the Swiss had a fellow running the place by the name of Jan Hagen. If only they had done it before Jan when the Chinese were taking their turn, they’d have more likely congratulated them on the snatch. Jan took personal offense at it being brazenly done in the common public area.

  Lloyd was one of the snatchers in the corridor, and later one of the injured when they depressurized the USNA module, driving everyone out into the corridors to be arrested. Suffering mild vacuum injuries, he’d been hustled off to the station infirmary with a handful of other USNA crew who’d been too slow to evacuate for one reason or another. He’d had the misfortune to be in the shower and took too long to try to dry off and dress. He’d been manhandled into a rescue ball by one of Jan’s men in a vacuum suit though he had mostly succeeded in getting dressed. All of which beats being left behind to die.

  His misfortune turned out to be a blessing. In the infirmary, he found out from one of the other injured that they planned on pinning responsibility for the whole episode on him. It was obvious to anyone he didn’t have the rank to initiate the taking of a prisoner, but the little weasel who headed their capture team was well connected. The story concocted was that Lloyd got ahead of his orders and took the fellow down when it was just a surveillance mission to get a positive ID.

  The fit ones of his group at ISSII were quickly hustled off station by Jan Hagen. The injured would have been shipped off all together when well enough to release, but he’d missed getting the riot gas and recovered a bit ahead of the others. Considering the charges he’d face, and how he’d seen similar cases go down in the past, he had no desire to go back to face a court-martial. Back home he’d be unemployable and at the very bottom of the list for social services. Fortunately, he had no close family to hold as hostages to his return.

  When they released Lloyd from the clinic and gave him a temporary room and cafeteria card, he quickly tested his bank card at a terminal and got enough cash to buy passage to Home. By the time they missed Lloyd on ISSII, he was safely at Home and had a new job, citizenship, and had stripped his Earth bank account of what little it held.

  Jan just wanted him gone. He didn’t care where. If Lloyd removed himself voluntarily that was fine. North America could be upset about him not returning Lloyd on top of everything else and Jan regarded it with the same indifference. Jan’s lack of concern for political realities was a mystery he never got to explore. There was something seriously hinky about the man beyond indulging his self-importance. Whatever, it benefited him.

  If Lloyd learned an
ything from Gunny Mack Tindal’s capture and rescue it was that he was never going to visit anywhere the USNA had a legal presence. When the opportunity came to move to Central on the Moon, he was happy to be that much further away and more secure from North America. Going where life extension was available and legal was a plus he wasn’t even thinking about when he first defected. Things worked out very well for Lloyd.

  He had a particular pride in the fact he was sworn to Heather Anderson now as his sovereign. Being clearly and permanently alienated from North America wasn’t enough to make Heather want or accept your oath. You had to bring some value to her kingdom. He’d found a niche as a ship handler and eventually an owner and Master.

  When North America attacked his country’s allies, he was quick to volunteer his vessel to remove the continuing danger of USNA bases in the stars. The fact it served his long-standing grudge with North America was secondary.

  His ship, Lloyd’s Lady, and Huma Bhabha’s Improbable,, were asked to support each other. That was fine. Lloyd knew Huma Bhabha as a competent ship handler with a sense of humor. She wasn’t someone he saw socially often but he counted her a casual friend. He didn’t mind being paired with her at all. They cleared two minor USNA stations. One was a fueling site with a single old frigate that didn’t argue with them at all. The ship could fit all their personnel aboard easily as there were only three active fuelers. Huma put a small cheap antimissile missile into the station after it was evacuated. It wasn’t enough to completely destroy it, but it rendered it unusable without bringing in materials and doing a lot of work.