Another Word for Magic

by Mackey Chandler

  Mel looked at the fellow on Jan’s pad.

  “I have no idea. They didn’t have portrait photos on their page. You think you might be acquainted?” Mel asked.

  “I don’t know if he’ll remember me, but I may know him,” Jan said cryptically. “If he’s this fellow then he’s a North American asset, or at least was at one time.”

  “Should I avoid them?” Mel asked.

  “Not at all. If he’s the man I think he is, then I’d consider him well connected and wouldn’t have any problem networking with him myself,” Jan said. “One can’t get too heavily invested in political identities. I’ve worked the same job for different nations. It’s much easier when you don’t pay too much attention to orders, and do what you please anyway. There are people in all systems, striving to make things work. If they didn’t quietly work with each other to some degree the entire mess would collapse that much faster.”

  “You’re welcome to come along and take the measure of them with me,” Mel invited.

  “I think I’d enjoy that,” Jan agreed.

  * * *

  “North America wishes to send a representative from their State Department for a private consultation with the Sovereign of Central,” Dakota said.”

  “To speak about what?” Heather asked.

  “They didn’t say. They said he would present proper credentials.”

  “Like Quincy Love had credentials?” Heather said with a sneer. “They sent him to negotiate, then fired him and charged him and his boss with being an agents of a foreign power within days of his signing the treaty with Jeff.”

  “As we’ve discussed I’m sure the current authorities would resent you bringing up something from so long ago. They consider them as relevant as the Romans. Who knows, maybe they want to normalize relations. This is an all-new government,” Dakota said.

  “Maybe they want to apologize for the ancient Romans? I haven’t followed what they did since somebody pretty well decapitated them. The line of succession must have been wiped out. Who are these people and how did they get installed?” Heather asked.

  “The Secretary of Education, Karen Sealey, was in an auto accident in rural Idaho and missed her flight to be back in the capital. The military took her away to an undisclosed location and a federal judge swore her in, the Supreme Court being all dead. As happened in the past there weren’t clear guidelines for a loss in such depth. She pretty much had to fill all her cabinet positions and three justices with no functioning congress to approve them. The continuity of government programs kept all the agencies functioning as much as they function nowadays. The governors still haven’t filled all the congressional seats and are arguing about some. The governors in exile of Arizona and New Mexico they’ve maintained as a legal fiction are claiming the right to appoint people while Texas holds their territory. The Mexican states are an even worse mess. Nobody will seat them because there is no functioning Federal government in Mexico. Nobody is collecting income tax or other fees and the governors there are meeting in an ad hoc assembly. Texas invited them to send senators and most have done that by appointment. They seceded without formally declaring it.”

  “What a mess. Could I even be sure I was dealing with their legitimate government?”

  “Has it been legitimate any time in the last century?” Dakota asked right back. “I think I’d worry more about how they intend to treat us and less about Earthie conventions.”

  “I can’t believe they suddenly have made a complete turn-about and will keep any agreement past or future,” Heather said. “They just want to sweet talk us into letting them access space again and will stab us in the back when it is convenient.”

  “There’s a very strong theory repeated in the media that if it wasn’t us who did the strike on their capital, our campaign against their space assets emboldened others to attack them,” Dakota said.

  “And these unknowns, powerful enough to field hypersonic glide weapons, haven’t followed up on the strike at all? Ridiculous,” Heather said.

  “I think it was their own military,” Dakota said. “No follow up was needed, because it fully accomplished what they intended.”

  “Tell them I have no desire to waste my time speaking to some flunky without portfolio who they can repudiate later. If they wish to speak to me face to face, they can come to my court like any other petitioner and they can send the Secretary of State at a minimum. If he’s afraid to risk his precious butt to the savage Spacers he can stay home.” Heather said.

  “Usually I rephrase things for you, but unless you say otherwise,” Dakota said. “I’m just going to quote you verbatim on this. It’s too important to risk any ambiguity.”

  “Quote me and inform them it is a direct quote. I feel what they are really asking is if their representative has safe passage. It’s infuriating because we have never treated them with disrespect. They’re the ones who jail foreigners on trumped-up charges. They’re no better than China that way. They’re just projecting their own behavior on others. If that is disrespectful at least it’s merely verbal. I’ve had enough of it.”

  “I’ll tell them that,” Dakota promised.

  * * *

  “This is out of hand,” April said, midday. “I’ve never cut off my com from the public, but there is no way I can answer as many messages as people are leaving for me, and everybody assigns them an urgent priority. We aren’t a Central Embassy or Ambassadors. Neither are we experts on living and doing business on Derfhome. I’m setting up a cover page for all my calls, both voice, and text, stating that bluntly and that I can’t answer the volume of calls I’m getting. I’m suggesting that actual questions of policy or safety matters be directed to the Foys, that messages to clan Mothers are almost always as inappropriate as contacting Heather outside her court days, and practical questions of personal business and cultural education can be addressed by seeking to have accounts with a local bank.”

  “Can we use the same portal?” Jeff asked. “You might mention the Derf have a university and some trade associations too. I’m flooded just as badly as you. One idiot I don’t know by name asked if I could suggest a good pizza parlor. Do I look like a restaurant reviewer? I have no idea if there is a pizza place on the planet.”

  “We’ve never linked personal accounts like that,” April said. “How about if I title it as, Contact guide: Jeff Singh and April Lewis. Partners and Peers to the Sovereign of Central?

  “That works for me. Anybody who I want to talk to already has a priority alert assigned to them on my pad. Anybody new will have to give me a very good reason to be added to that short list.”

  * * *

  Lee got a memory card with Jeff’s software from his bank courier. She found it interesting that he trusted the Foys’ bank that deeply already. She called Strangelove and asked if he could send it securely to the Mothers’ own instrument techs? He told her to hold it because both the Red Tree techs were at the Keep. He’d have one on a plane and here tomorrow where they could pick it up and take the next commercial shuttle up.

  Born called Lee and informed her the drive was assembled. It would spin and the electric field deployed correctly when powered from the external cable connection. Of course, he and Musical were careful not to do both at the same time. That was great. Lee sent messages for the Red tree techs to receive the drive and ride up with the drive in their custody. Everything was coming together. They had one storage space on the Kurofune that would hold the drive with very little room to spare. It was stretching it to call it a hold but it would serve until they mounted the drive to test. It was a courier after all, not a freighter.

  * * *

  The Foys didn’t expect a long message from Capital Provisions. Walton, their salesperson, informed them of the attached list that itemized price increases on all the items of shelf-stable food for which they had standing orders. He apologized for the increases but noted the sudden influx of Humans was driving prices of Human compatible foodstuffs higher. Several items he report
ed he could no longer supply or might only have available at a spot price to be determined at the time of the sale.

  “Well crap, why didn’t I anticipate this and get ahead of it?” Eileen complained. “As soon as North America attacked the habitats it no longer mattered if our stockpiling was a matter of public record. I should have switched to long-term contracts instead of open orders the moment we knew.”

  “That wouldn’t have been any solution,” Vic said. “All that would have done is bankrupt our supplier. We are a big enough fraction of Capital’s business they couldn’t carry us at a loss and make a profit off their other customers. Given the Derf custom of contracts being public, they would have to shut down and liquidate if they defaulted on us. Even if they could carry us, it would make us a stink to them to have trapped them into such predatory contracts. Jeff would tell you that’s how Earthies do business. We need a solution that serves both of us.”

  “I’m not sure there is such a solution. You mentioned this is probably a minor expense to Heather. I suspect she is piling up so much wealth from all the mining machines she has breaking down regolith, that she could just pay whatever they want. Not just gold and platinum but most metals and a lot of other elements. There are just a few rare earths and stuff like indium that she gets hardly any of from the French mills.”

  “Iodine and likely sulfur and phosphorus too,” Vic added, “but who needs much of them? Shoveling money at them is no solution either. If Heather even demonstrated she can pay any price without announcing it, a few smart people will figure out the value of their money is entirely in her hands. Not knowing or trusting Heather they’d start acting to protect themselves. That would just make us part of the problem.

  “With Home here, this is why we were stocking these provisions. We don’t have the full picture. They may need some of our stock for Beta or Gamma. We need to tell Heather how it is distorting the local economy and ask what to do. She never said how she intended to distribute our stores when the time came. She might not even have a plan in depth beyond we may need this someday. I’d suggest we stop our open orders and ask her permission to offer our stocks for sale at a modest markup. That will cool the sudden price inflation, at least in Human food.”

  “I sort of expected her to offer it as charity,” Eileen said.

  “That would distort the market just as badly,” Vic said. “With all that free food suddenly available why should any of the farmers or ranchers keep producing anything? It would be a real long bet to imagine they were going to be able to sell it, wouldn’t it? A lot of it is suitable for Derf, so it will impact that market too.”

  “Yeah, I don’t know much about economics to anticipate those things,” Eileen said, “but I can see what you are saying. I’m impressed you seem to understand it.”

  “I was a rancher. I know not to raise beef when the market is impossible to predict and likely turning to crap. I got out of that business a couple of years before The Day for just that reason. Going against the market is a bet that risks everything and can leave you homeless. Of course, if you let yourself get deep in hock, needing borrowed money to operate each year, you’d have no choice. Those people had to make their nut every year or fail to cover their note and lose the ranch. Derf are very conservative. I can’t imagine them working that way or their bank letting them get in such a precarious position. They seem to operate much closer to the mutually supportive business model of Homies than the Earth norm.”

  Vic smiled. “If I was an honest-to-God real economist, I’d have said it in such obscure professional jargon that you’d have no idea what point I was trying to make.”

  “I’m glad this Voice has such good advice,” Eileen said. “I think this problem is too hot to wait for a commercial messenger service. I’m going to ask April to run back to Central and consult with Heather. Do you think I should send a message back to Walton and shut down our standing orders immediately?”

  Vic thought about it a couple of minutes.

  “I would level with Walton about what is happening. He has very little reason or ability to take advantage of us. Tell him you are consulting with your sovereign about what to do. Let him know we may offer our stocks below market price so he doesn’t recklessly obligate himself to his suppliers. I’d tell him to shut down supplying you in an orderly fashion, and you’ll cover his deliveries at market prices for the next two weeks. I think that is generous. As you said, Heather can well afford it. If he is pressured by his suppliers to contract at new higher prices it gives him an actual reason to resist. He may end up looking prescient to his suppliers and customers from your warning, and grateful to you instead of resentful.”

  “You call him,” Eileen said. “You can say it prettier than I can.”

  * * *

  “I have to run back to the Moon for the Foys,” April said. “They want to put an urgent question to Heather about their mission here. I don’t blame Eileen for not wanting to call it. I don’t want to touch it myself. I’ll inform her of everything happening. That Home has arrived safely and progress on the drive looks good. Besides Jeff, I’m asking Gunny to return on a mission for me. That leaves room for a passenger. We’ll give preference to anyone who it would serve Heather’s interests to return. Unless Heather has some mission, I expect to come right back so we’re available to test Lee’s drive.”

  “I’d ask Chen first,” Jeff said. “I had two messages about Central people caught in the move. Let me search those messages while you ask him if he wants a ride.”

  “I found him and said we’d give him a lift,” April said. “He is down here in town now sightseeing. I suggested he get to Derfhome station if he wants to go. He insists he wants to move his household in an orderly fashion and will return later when Heather makes transport available.

  “Why do you have such a strange expression?” Jeff asked.

  “It’s bothering me about Papa-san. I never pictured him splitting up with Chen. He was very polite but says he never had any desire to live at Central, and that he has been off Earth so long now that his Earth connections have become out of date and difficult to maintain. He’d rather not move his household and is comfortable staying with Home wherever it ends up. He said to tell you and Heather to stop his quarterly retainer, that he is comfortable financially and will be available if you have any questions in the future, just not his active participation as in the past.”

  “I can see that,” Jeff said. “It’s a good time for him to move on.”

  “Yeah, it makes sense but Papa-san has been a constant in my life for so long. I’ll miss Chen but I feel like I’m losing Papa san even though he is staying. I won’t feel I can just punch his code in my pad anytime and put a question to him. Not if we aren’t paying him.”

  “It’s not like he died,” Jeff said. “There are people on Beta and Gamma I am going to miss too. We’ve scattered to the winds and may not see them or talk to them for years. There’s no telling where any of us will be a year from now. Not even what star system.”

  “There is no help for it,” April agreed. “I know that, but it makes me sad.”

  * * *

  “We ordered a new platen fabricated for our scale when we wrecked it. We were able to install it easily today,” Musical told Lee in a text message. “A much bigger capacity scale would be quite a bit more money and a wait to get it. The housing and rotor checked out without damage. What Born suggested is we make a new frame that can slide on a pair of long beams. We’ll start at the far end and slide it along them until we have a firm reading and then calculate the static reading plus the thrust at that position, factored by its position between the support points along the lever. There’s no need to wait for a lighter re-engineered housing to get you some thrust numbers.”

  “Aren’t you worried the frame will collapse again? Are you going to make it a lot heavier?” Lee asked.

  Musical showed the tips of his incisors in a grimace that was a sign of acute embarrassment in a Badger.

  �
��The frame rail buckled where it was drilled to mount support for the batteries and power supply. If we hadn’t weakened it there, it probably wouldn’t have failed. But we will use heavier L channels and U channels for the main rails, with no holes this time. They should be cut to length and delivered later today with the long beams. We’ll clamp on it anywhere we need support for auxiliary systems.”

  “Sweet, take some video of the final run and the number on the scale,” Lee said. “I’ll look forward to seeing the report.”

  “Maybe the day after tomorrow,” Musical said and terminated the call.

  He hadn’t seemed disappointed that Lee didn’t ask to watch, and she felt she’d just used up too much of their time and attention the last time she’d been present.

  * * *

  “The lawyers are on the west end ahead there where you can see the hills start. That’s the very edge of what’s considered the old town where we’ve been heading, though we wandered off to the north a bit,” Mel said. “Of course, it’s not like you can take a straight line anywhere, is it? Are you up to dropping in on them unannounced?”

  “I’d enjoy it actually. How are you going to present me? If I’m a business partner or a client they are going to want to know my authority and our relationship. We need to have that nailed down before we walk in so we don’t get caught doing a clumsy improvisation.”

  “Can you pretend to be my security?” Mel asked. “That gives you a reason to be physically present and trusted to hear my business, but not have any reason to be questioned independently.”

  “Pretend?” Jan smiled. “Make a token payment and I will be your security. If they somehow contrive to put a question to me, I can say in all honesty I am hired security and the veracity software will confirm it to a very high level of certainty.”

  Mel fished around in his pocket and came up with a silver dollar Ceres.

  “Please consider yourself hired for the day as my security,” he said handing it to Jan.

  Xerxes in the back couldn’t help snickering at Jan receiving his old pay rate.