Another snippet of “The Middle of Nowhere”

Chapter 4

Sleeping in low G was a treat. You barely dented the mattress. It was almost like floating on your back in water. She still had her clothes on from last night. Either she or Heather had managed to get her shoes off. She was in the back against the wall and Heather was curled up arms crossed in front of her and head pinning April’s arm. In this low G it didn’t even cut off the circulation and make it tingly.

April could see the glow of the clock on the com board, but it wasn’t pointed this way. Not that she had any appointments. It was just habit to know. Her bladder was telling her it was on a timeline though. She hated to wake Heather up.

Heather saved her the trouble by waking and stretching like a cat. Then she seemed to realize she wasn’t alone, the extra arm gave it away, and tried to get up real slowly and not disturb April.

“I’m awake. No need to be sneaky, but hurry back so I can have a turn at the bathroom.”

“Okay,” she went off barefoot and left the door open a crack. When she came back she had a glass of water and a bottle of pills.

“You need anything for your head?” she offered.

“I’m good. I’ll be right back.” She used the toilet and washed her face and rinsed her mouth out. Maybe Heather would loan her some shorts and a top. They’d be big but clean.

Heather was still in bed with an arm thrown over her eyes.

“You didn’t drink much more than me,” April protested. “A couple beers with supper and that one drink after we moved. Maybe you just have a headache. It happens.”

“No, I get one sometimes from just a single glass of wine. I should know better. The Naproxen will kick in soon and it’ll dull it. Breakfast will help too.”

“Can I borrow some gym shorts and a t-shirt? I’ll run my stuff through the quick cycle and put ’em back on after breakfast.”

“Top left and middle right drawers,” she offered with a wave of her hand, eyes still closed. “You shower first and I’ll lie here and let the pills do their thing.”

When she came back Heather was asleep again. She eased back out and stuffed her clothing from last night in the laundry unit. It would pump it down and vacuum tumble it on quick cycle. Good enough one time for something she only wore six hours or so.

Barack, Heather’s little brother was hanging around out in the big room looking forlorn. He brightened up to see her.

“Hi April. Wow, I haven’t seen you in a long time. You’ve got Heather’s stuff on.”

“Yep, I didn’t go home last night. Heather let me stay here. She’s back asleep so I’m going to just be quiet until she wakes up again.

“She didn’t drink again did she? She can’t do that,” he assured her solemnly.

“Indeed, you are right, she did, and is paying for it.”

“Let’s make breakfast then. She’ll want it when she staggers out.”

“I ‘m not sure I want to mess with your Mom’s kitchen. She might have something planned.”

“Nah, she’s on New Las Vegas and won’t be home until Tuesday. I can make pancakes. You want me to show you how?”

Heather woke up again to a strong spicy scent that made her mouth water. She used the bath again showering and letting the hot water beat on her face. By the time she was presentable Barack and April had the grill and most of the dishes cleaned up. On the table was a plate of pancakes with pumpkin pie spice and pecans in them, and hot sausage patties. A small fry pan was waiting to finish off eggs for her. Best of all somebody had made coffee.

“You’re hired. When can you start girl?”

“Barack showed me how. I had no idea how to make a pancake,” April admitted.

“Mmmm. I may have to promote him to minor minion.”

“What is he now?”

“Just barely above a nuisance.”

“It isn’t nice to talk about people like they aren’t there,” Barack protested.

“It isn’t nice to put a tea bag in somebody’s wet wash.”

“That was a long time ago.”

“Three months.”

“See?”

“I think three months seems longer to Barack than to you,” April offered.

“Whose side are you on?” Heather asked beady eyed.

“Yours, in the long run. Barack is a resource.”

“Umm,” Heather restrained her tongue with effort.

“So, we had an almost duel and you got the bank started on paper. I can’t believe nothing else happened while I was gone,” April said trying to change the subject.

“Those are the biggies. I think we were hesitant to speak around Gunny at first. They got a company started to go capture a snowball. Probably from around Jupiter. It’s going to be tough making the actual vessels to do it. There is still a shortage of all sorts of materials. We don’t have the cash to buy into it, but maybe we can get some work from them. Jeff would rather we wait and get involved in a stony asteroid capture. I can’t start to tell you all the foreign money coming into Home now. Not USNA but the smaller ones, Greece and Italy and Iceland. You’d have to be stupid not to grab a share of it.”

“Is the suit cleaning module selling?”

“Oh yeah, but how many p-suits are there to de-stink? It’s a limited market. He is always coming up with nice little inventions like that. They are a steady money not a big hit. Let’s go in the living room where there are cushions,” Heather said and topped off her coffee. Barak cleaned up her dishes without being asked.

Heather sat in a love seat and closed her eyes. “House, dim lights thirty percent,” she ordered. “Jeff and I have some friends on the moon working on making our own semiconductors. We have a lot of germanium in the Rock and when they vacuum distill it out it isn’t that far off the purity needed to make diodes and transistors. It’s use has kind of lagged silicon in the industry, but if it’s what you own a ton of then it’s time to look into using it again. We’re looking at how we can use iridium and gallium too because there will be a lot of that. The lunar people keep asking about our real estate venture on the moon. Not that I don’t welcome their business, but I don’t understand why they don’t just claim right by where they live. It’s not like there isn’t plenty of wide open spaces.”

April sat in an opposing love seat. They were crème leather and had a narrow table between them of that limestone with tiny little fossil shells in it. Barack came in from the kitchen and surprised her by sitting hip to hip and wiggled under her arm.

“He’s got a crush on you,” Heather told her.

April felt him stiffen. “He’s welcome to have a crush on me,” April said, giving him a squeeze. “I might steal him away and have pancakes every morning,” she joked.

“I’m not old enough to have a crush,” Barack protested, embarrassed still.

“A crush isn’t necessarily about sex,” Heather explained. “There’s a guy in the radio room has a man-crush on Jeff, and he’s straight as can be, but he just adores him. Maybe English doesn’t have good words for it, admiration, idolization, fandom, something like that.”

“I like April,” Barack said taking her hand. “I think that’s a good thing. You do too. All three of you look happier when you’re doing stuff together.”

“True,” Heather agreed.”She scared the snot outta me going to Earth. It’s nasty down there.”

“Maybe we should put one of your drives on Home like they did the Rock and push it off around Mars or someplace further away from Earth.” Barack suggested.

“Now there’s an audacious plan. If you suggest that to Jeff he’ll start planning how.”

April didn’t think it was all that farfetched.

* * *

Gunny was intently studying the screen when she came in after noon. It was almost time to have lunch despite her late breakfast. She decided not to ask if he made it home last night. He hadn’t quizzed her and it was none of her business.

“How can you operate Home on the taxes you charge?” Obviously that was what he was reading. “I’d pay less tax here than the property tax on my house in Maryland, never mind income taxes, sales taxes, retirement taxes and medical taxes, excise taxes, luxury taxes and fees on my phone and automobile and, well, you get the idea.”

“We pay air and water and fees for infrastructure maintenance. If an airlock controls go bad or a lamp in the corridors burns out they fix it. They have to keep the air plant up and cover leakage and stuff. If they ever have to do something huge like replace a bearing at either end it’ll cost us thousands of dollars each.”

“That’s just like a condominium fee to keep common elements up. It’s cheap.”

“Then you will probably want to pay tax so you can vote on stuff, right?”

“Not until I get my status straightened out with the Navy. I decided you are right and I should leave gently if possible. You still feel like talking to Wiggen for me?”

“I’m happy to try,” She looked at the com clock. “It’s nine something in her morning. I find most people are still putting out fires and sorting things out at that hour.”

“Yes, but if you wait too long they are hungry for lunch and will be irritable or blow you off so they can go to lunch. Same thing towards the end of the day. You know, there is probably only an hour – hour and a half twice a day it’s optimum to call a working person.”

“Okay, lunch first, and then we call Wiggen. Write me out a cheat sheet with the names of the guy who sent you to me and the one who wanted to arrest you, and anything else I need.”

“Ruby, this is Gunny. He’s working for me, at least temporarily. Ruby is the best cook on Home. She can do special orders if you have taste for something.

“Huh, got you some muscle,” Ruby said appraising him frankly. “I saw him when you came home. Wasn’t sure who was guarding who. He looks like he’ll do,” she decided checking out the gripes showing above his waist band, and offered her hand to touch.

“Ma’am, a pleasure to meet you.”

“All mannerly too. Very nice.”

“What’s fresh?” April asked.

“We have some really nice cantaloupe, and some raspberries that are over ripe and may be gone tomorrow. They finally got some sausage that may be hot enough to suite you.”

“I’d like a double order of pancakes with the raspberries in them and on top too. A half cantaloupe, and a couple patties of the hot sausage.”

“And you, big boy?” Ruby asked Gunny.

“Same, but just two pancakes, please.”

Ruby squinted at him. “On a diet?”

“Indeed, I have to limit my carbohydrates or I start to pack it on.”

“You fooled me. I was sure you were gene mode like this one,” She nodded at April. She turned away and started their orders.

When she came back Gunny couldn’t help himself. “Ma’am, may I ask why you thought I was modified?”

“Your eyes. The doc who is modified to be so fast has quick eyes. They track side to side faster than normal. April was the same way after she had that mod. You’ve got the same look.”

“Thank you. I appreciate the information.” She seemed to have more, but just nodded.

“Not much gets past her does it?” Gunny asked when they were well away.

“She’s smart and pretty fast for an unmodified person. You might find it interesting she was a professor of Medieval Music. Her husband was the command pilot last year who set up the ambush of the Pretty as Jade and the James Kelly, and destroyed them.”

“I take it one should be polite to his wife as a matter of self interest?”

“Yes, but also she is trained with weapons, being an experienced loadmaster on combat aircraft. Not to mention she prepares your food,” she added after consideration.

“A small kindness now and then even seems appropriate,” he looked back, reappraising.

“I do a little trade with her,” April said, and then regretted it.

“What do you supply? Spices or something?” Gunny asked innocently.

“Information,” April admitted. Determined not to lie to him.

Gunny opened his mouth like he was going to say something. “This coffee is Okay, but not as good as the stuff at your house,” he said after a tiny pause.

“Thank you. We carry the same blend on our ships.”

“Ten-fifteen in DC,” April said checking her pad on the way back. “Let’s do it.”

April had Gunny sit to the side of the camera angle. His note was in front of her. She punched in the number Wiggen gave her when she was staying with the Satos in Hawaii. It had failed when they tried using it during the coup.

A young man in an Earthie style business suit appeared. “Please do not identify yourself. This number is among a group which was compromised. Your number is no longer useable, but a new number will appear on your screen which is not available to me. If you have code words or authentication procedures they remain valid and will be required to validate the new number. Please record or memorize the new number before disconnecting. This number will return to general service within 30 days and will not work again.” The screen went gray except for a ten digit number and a blank entry box.

April recorded it and hesitated. She had no password. On a guess she typed April Lewis and hit enter. The system accepted that and disconnected.

“Well, looks like we’re not the only ones couldn’t get through,” Gunny said.

April punched the new number in. She didn’t get Wiggen, she got a very well dressed middle aged woman behind a desk. “May I have your name and business please?”

“No, I’m not sure I want to do that. I expected President Wiggen direct. The way things have been going I have no idea if you are her secretary or her jailer.”

“I can assure you she is very much in control of her office. She is however in a meeting that is sufficiently important she is taking no direct calls. If you’d like to hold she will take the calls after in the order she wishes. I’d say in another twenty minutes at least. If you wish to remain anonymous be aware she may give priority to identified callers. She will however be made aware the call is from an off planet number.”

“That seems reasonable,” April had to admit. “Please inform her April Lewis of Home called about a personal matter and I’ll await her call back. It is not an immediately life or death issue.”

“Thank you Miss Lewis. Your call is in the queue,” she promised and logged off.

“I’m going to read some of my stuff from my brother. You want some tea? I’ll make a pot.”

“Sure, I’m still catching up on the Assembly videos. I’ll take some tea.”

It wasn’t twenty minutes, but over an hour went by before April’s com chimed and she transferred it to the big screen at the com desk. President Wiggen shocked April. She had bags under her eyes and was slumped like she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders.

“Miss Lewis, I was advised you were on the manifest for the Home supply shuttle. Your bodyguard was listed too. Did he really accompany you to Home? Or was that a ruse to lift somebody else?”

“Oh, that was Master Sergeant Gunny Mack Tindal. He’s really the reason I’m calling. He got caught up in the coup attempt on you. He tried calling Captain Yoder who assigned him to me and got a Captain Maddow who claimed to have no records of his duty assignment at all. He wanted to arrest him, so Gunny took the advice of the State Department lady and grabbed his cash money and disappeared with me.”

“Ah, yes, I’m familiar with more of the details where they touched my personal protection. Captain Maddow actually was innocent of any conspiracy. He was however put in as a placeholder to get Captain Yoder out of the way. He sat in the stockade for a few days as did some others, but we sorted it all out and none of them will suffer for it.”

“Well, Gunny wasn’t so sure he wouldn’t get sorted out into a shallow grave somewhere. He might lose his house if his automatic payments aren’t made for utilities and taxes. He’d really just like to take the retirement he has the service to qualify for and be done with it.”

Wiggen’s face already tired went to unhappy. “I’m sorry he didn’t have confidence we’d straighten things out. We weren’t going to let them start executing our people. Maybe he thought the coup would succeed,” she speculated.

“We didn’t actually know there was a coup until we got up here,” April assured her. “We simply were cut off and couldn’t contact anyone. Then we had a missile attack on Mr. Santo’s home and an unknown force, maybe Chinese, landing aircars in their woods. We ran for it.”

“Yes, you took care of the Chinese sub in your usual subtle manner,” she accused. “The train of reentry vehicles blazing across the sky was on the TV news everywhere that night.”

“Well, if you know some more subtle way to stop one lobbing missiles at you let me know. At least I didn’t use anything explosive on it, just some plain old Rods from God,” April said.

“And the aircars?” Wiggen demanded.

“What about them? I didn’t even shoot at them. When I shot the missile down it just happened to crash on them.”

Even Wiggen couldn’t help smiling at that. “From anyone else I wouldn’t believe that,” she assured her. “It’s just…” she seemed at a loss for words.

“My one friend on Home said that by the most amazing coincidence there seems to be a history of expensive damage, death and destruction strewn closely behind me. I never meant that to happen.”

“Very well put. I tell you what I’ll do. I’ll direct the Navy to retire the Master Sergeant with a clean record and all his proper retirement. The arrest warrants against him and others that night are already gone. I owe him that for his service. As to his house and other personal affairs, that is yours to straighten out. Smart politicians don’t get involved in things at that level, it always looks dirty to someone, and I didn’t make him yank his money and run. I’m still not sure I shouldn’t be a bit miffed on that. I suspect the way this conversation is going he is in no rush to come back?”

“I don’t think so. I’m hoping to hire him at least temporarily.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Wiggen asked.

“I also have to thank you for your previous invitation to the state dinner, but I think it would be best for both of us if I stay home for now.”

“Oh God yes,” Wiggen agreed. “I have a few guests who’d probably crawl over the table to attack you with their silverware. Not that it wouldn’t be entertaining. Now, if there is nothing else, I have some other calls to return, and a nation to run,” she said drolly.

“That’s all. Thank you for straightening that out,” April said heartfelt.

Wiggen disconnected with a nod.

“Well, you weren’t the last call to get returned,” Gunny noted.

“And she didn’t ask anything about the Santos.

“I got the impression most people who know him would be happy to ignore Santos, and hope he returns the favor.”

“He’s a sweet old guy,” April said. “I can’t imagine why anybody can’t get along with him.”

Gunny remembered reading Santos’ folder. Santos the congenial host was a sweet old guy. Santos the master spy was scary. There was nothing he could say. Nothing he should say, it was classified, after all.

Old Rochester – Goodbye

The whole of Main St. in Rochester MI is torn up. They dug way down – 20 feet some places. and tore out water mains from about 1900. Uncovered trolly tracks.

This is a sketch I made of it a few years ago.

We’ll see what it looks like new. I haven’t seen any drawings.

“Paper or Plastic?” is free 5/27 and 5/28

Please download and enjoy if you don’t have it yet. Both days, approximately Pacific time.

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Yes! Amazon has “Family Law” free today 5/19

I wanted to see it actually posted before saying anything again.

A little nature near Detroit – pix from the week

My wife is off this week. We did some day trips and enjoyed each other’s company and ate out a lot. We don’t do a lot of long trips now.

This is a picture she took at a Metro Park down in Gibralter MI. She doesn’t take many pix but she has a good eye. Click to see bigger versions of these photos. It was a pleasant park and the first time we’d been there. It has an area you can fish from very comfortably, and a boardwalk into the marsh. We saw a lot of birds we’d never seen before and in the fall we intend to go back when the hawks and eagles migrate through.

This Blue Heron rookery is near our house in Rochester MI. It is on the edge of a Super Fund site. This was shot from a business over a busy road and looking under power lines. It is about a quarter mile away. Done with a Canon Power Shot SX120compact camera – a point and shoot. So it is stretching its capacity. Shot at sunset.

This is the edge of the swamp in which the rookery stands. Notice the five egrets bedded down for the night in the trees. It was much darker than the photo suggests. I tried to zoom in on the birds, but the camera was not capable of getting a focus in the low light. There were geese in the pond. The whole place swarms with birds.

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You know people who love their dogs. They put them in their will. They forgo vacations to stay home and take care of them. We are sure humans can love non-humans.

Can a dog love back or is it simple self interest? Affection or love? Unconditional or a meal-ticket? What if you dog could talk back? Would your dog be less lovable?

Is the dog part of your family or property? Who should decide that for you? How much more complicated will it be if we meet really intelligent species not human? How will we treat ‘people’ in feathers or fur? Perhaps a more difficult question is: How will they treat us?

Could humans adopt such an alien creature? Can they adopt a human child into their society?

Usually the people who have these sort of questions thrust upon them have no desire to be on the pointy end of things. They are just doing their best coping and somebody decides they don’t like it.

Of course when the adoptive father is a very smart carnivore similar in size and disposition to a grizzly bear you should at least be polite about objecting. When they are both rich and his race whooped human butts on first contact…What was your big problem again?

Economics – hard to suspend disbelief – is it satire?

I’m going to incorporate some thoughts about economics in the third book of the April series, “The Middle of Nowhere”.

It’s hard to do so because today what the talking heads on TV and the writers in financial e-zines write is so bizarre it is like a well written ‘Onion’ article. You are almost sure it is satire, but not without small doubts you will read it the wrong way and embarrass yourself in front of all your friends.

If you wish to have your car repaired or your teeth cleaned the state requires you to deal with a mechanic who is licensed and certified. Your dental hygienist has to be approved by the almighty state too. If you think this is primarily for your protection you are a fool. It is to limit the number of people who can enter the profession and keep prices up for them.

Do you know what you need to be an economist?

Well a degree in economics helps. But actually many people work as economists from other backgrounds in mathematics, business, finance or even agriculture.

There is no such thing as a licensed and certified economist.

If you look into the matter closely, you do not even need a personal history of being right more than half the time to continue working as an economist.

If you as a surgeon killed fifty patients in a row on your operating table do you think you’d continue in the business? But an economist can be wrong every week for a year and still be employed, asked to appear on TV networks and given awards and advanced to better jobs.

The key to being a successful economist today is the same as being a successful priest in a major religion. Publicly profess believe in the dogma of your sect and punish any unbelievers. Today the sect in power is Keynesianism. The Fed and the treasury espouse it and the vast majority of academic economists are given fellowships and published based on faith in this orthodoxy.

As an example of how convoluted such academic thinking works, online today was data showing the Japanese in the last year have exported gold for the first time since they started keeping records.

The economists painted all sorts of complicated theories about how the psychology of the Japanese has changed because they have not seen inflation in so long it is impossible for them to worry about it. So since gold is an inflation hedge they don’t want it anymore. 0o.

Since 1989 the value of Japanese stocks has stagnated. The real estate market went from homes being an investment to an expense. Everything is expensive. I had a friend go to Japan for a few weeks. He bought a MELON in a fruit market for the price on the sign. When he got back to his rooms he calculated the exchange and it was a $30 melon. The Japanese have layers and layers of wholesalers and inefficient protected industries to drive prices up. Imported rice has a 700some % tariff on it. Japanese industry is being sent to cheaper labor markets just as happened here. The earthquake and nuclear contamination have made everything less certain and more expensive.

Okay, here is my deep technical analysis of why the individual Japanese are selling their gold. They need the money!

New Snippet – 3rd Chapter “The Middle of Nowhere”

Chapter 3

It was too late for lunch and too long until supper when April woke up. She searched in the kitchen and there wasn’t much to snack on. Her parents weren’t keeping much with just the two of them here. Suddenly April really wanted her own place with whatever she wanted in the frig not worrying about if somebody would miss that last carton of yogurt if she ate it. Would she ever be able to safely visit the house she bought in Hawaii again? She wasn’t even through furnishing it and she’d needed to run for her life. She’d never felt such a strong need to have her own space before. She’d always been content with her room.

Cubic was so expensive and she was spoiled having her own tiny bath. Was Eddie going to want some money back? He seemed happy with her last night in the cafeteria, but he’d hardly shout private business in her ear in that mob.

Her gramps had told her whatever she didn’t use was hers to keep when they sent her down, but then she’d rushed back early, and still wasn’t that sure she’d accomplished as much as everybody seemed to think when she got back. Better not to think on spending what might get clawed back. And she decided, if they want it back I’ll be gracious about it and not complain.

There was some cheese spread and she checked in the cupboard. A carton of crackers was almost full still. She took them in the big room and called up the news with stock quotes in the corner. She added Bob’s stocks under hers in the display from the hard copy Gramps gave her. She was only holding a few issues long when she went down to Earth.

Bob had more equities than her and she had no idea what some of them were. One showed a week long trend down a good 8% and she just sold it rather than start reading a big history and analysis. She’d have to establish she had control of the stocks with the brokerage house, but for now she had his login and password so she could trade them unless somebody had notified them of Bobs death. As she suspected it executed the trade with no problem.

In the news the Louisiana State Police conducted a sweep of public land and corporate timber stands eradicating hidden plots of guerrilla gardeners. Unlicensed gardens were both a way to evade accurate census counts and a source of black market income.

They vowed to post guards on conventional farming acreage to prevent a repeat of last year when illicit gardeners burned licensed farm fields in retaliation. The fires spread to timber land and destroyed a number of buildings. Official losses were classified under national security since it was considered terrorist activity.

California passed a bill requiring bathing costumes must cover the elbows and knees on all public beaches and parks, and making the possession and use of still or video cameras on a public beach a misdemeanor.

Tennessee introduced a bill making it a misdemeanor to sit any object on top of the Holy Bible with a five hundred dollar fine.

New York faced a firestorm of public criticism for suggesting an ordinance that would prohibit sending children unescorted in an automated ground car. Parents protested such a law would leave them unable to work and send their children to school safely.

Detroit Michigan announced a new initiative to revitalize the city, noting the core population had stabilized at twenty-two thousand now for three years. The pressure to dig up the old underground utility feeds in abandoned areas for the scrap value was running into opposition from those who didn’t want lines of clear cut dug up through the state owned wooded zone between New Detroit and the suburbs. The scheme was branded as suburban greed by the city council, claiming the recovered funds would go to the state not the city.

Windsor still refused to reopen the bridge to Detroit. Citing lower costs and crime stats in isolation, the Federal government said it was a matter for the City and Ontario. The Canadian side still had a moat around the southern bridge pier and the approach road was torn up and turned into a park.

Little Jocko the Clown died and over a hundred mourners who attended his funeral in New Jersey wearing his face pattern were charged with copyright infringement by his agency.

The Holistic Open School in London proclaimed reading was an unnecessary skill given universal character recognition and audio reading programs in every pad and com unit and eliminated the requirement from all their base courses of study. It was retained in a select group of courses in the arts program described as ‘arcane’ skills and as an aid for the few incurable deaf.

Gold was briefly higher than Platinum in early trading on the New Delhi exchange. Americans could not own the metal unless it was jewelry of ‘artistic merit’. April wasn’t sure if the piece around her neck qualified. Artistic appreciation seemed to vary from judge to judge.

The America First Party said they had removed a number of new members on suspicion of being former Patriot Party members. They cited a loss of ideological purity the new influx would bring and a real danger of proximity to that failed organization either physically or in the taint their programs carried.

April agreed they should worry. She was going to speak with Heather about watching to make sure the Patriot party did not just reappear under a new name.

Gunny dragged out of – his room? Bob’s room? It wouldn’t matter soon if it was merged back into family cubic. He looked stunned and grumpy. April got up and started the coffee maker before he even asked.

“That bed is way too soft for me to sleep on,” Gunny complained. “I woke up feeling like I was being consumed by this giant amoebae,” he said with his hands doing an englobement.” I could sleep on the floor easier I think.”

“Oh, there’s a control on the side that lets you set firmness and keep the bed warmer or cooler than the rest of the room. Nobody thought to show it to you,” she apologized.

“Everybody knows…” Gunny said smiling. “Won’t be the last time that happens.”

“I’m going to meet Heather and Jeff for supper. You want to come meet them and eat with us?” she invited. “They are good people to know on Home.”

“I’d like to, yes. However this brings up an awkward question I should have anticipated. How many hours a day do I owe you? And how can they be staggered out? I don’t mind working a shift or a block in the morning and a block in the evening. But I’d rather not work late and then have to get up and start early without sufficient rest. Unless it is an emergency of course. And am I on duty any time I am with you? Or will we socialize too?”

“Why wouldn’t we socialize? We seemed to get along just fine on the boat. I mean, if you found out you don’t really care for my company I certainly won’t require you to be around me, but didn’t you do stuff with the people you worked with on Earth?”

“No, very rarely. In the military you have a command structure. It’s bad for discipline to blur those lines. Officers have separate mess and don’t socialize with someone too far away from their command level. Some units might have a picnic or something occasionally, but it’s a special event. It’s the same as in business. The CEO doesn’t have lunch with the janitor. And it’s always the higher rank guy who initiates and controls it, not the other way around.”

“I meet with a group Wednesday nights for exercise and we do Thai Chi. The head of security is usually there and Jeff, but we have construction crew and radio room guys too. I guess we don’t have as big a gap from the best jobs to the worst jobs here. There’s some social layering, but it isn’t just who makes the most.”

Gunny looked a little skeptical. “Yeah, you might belong to a gym, or belong to a bicycle riding club or something and never even know what some of the people do for a living. But the people tend to be from similar social strata. If they are upper class they are going to belong to a country club and play golf or a sportsman’s club and shoot skeet, not a bowling league.”

“Does that mean you’d rather not ride if we need a fourth for our polo team?” April asked.

“Heh, you had me for a second there,” Gunny admitted after a tiny hesitation.

“Do what you want tonight. You should have a couple days off really to acclimate and learn where everything is. If you want to meet Heather and Jeff you are welcome to come along.”

“Well, I have to eat anyway. Better with company than sitting in the cafeteria alone. I’ll get to see if this guy is really eight foot high with laser beams shooting out of his eyes.”

“You probably couldn’t sit long in the cafeteria before somebody was curious about you and asked to join you. But come on. We’re going to the beam dogs cafeteria at the other end. It’s quite a bit different. It caters to the short term workers, the young folks who work in vacuum.

“”Does my new card work there too?”

“Yeah, but you asked about customs. Custom is we don’t crowd the place when it is busy with actual workers near shift change. They need to eat and get to work or maybe eat and get to bed. But if you go a little off – time then everybody is welcome. I never thought of it when you asked because we don’t have a lot of rules. One other I thought of – It is considered very poor form to wear strong scent of any kind. Sealed up in limited cubic it’s rude to impose on others.”

“Oh yeah. I’ve been stuck in an elevator with some old lady that just bathes in that crap. You like to faint away before your floor comes up and you can escape. That’s a good one.”

“Gunny, people raised up here, who have never had their sense of smell dulled by pollution have really sensitive noses. All my friends carry sanitary wipes and don’t just wipe with paper after using the toilet, they wash with a wet wipe. You might think on adapting it because they will smell you if you don’t. A lot of people shower mid-day too. I always shower if I go to the gym and work out or have a run.”

“Is there any limit on water use? Or is it metered and the charges will add up?”

“No, we can have as much water as we have power to distill it. They use a low pressure still so it’s cheap to recycle it. And they use a column separator to remove the other volatiles, so it is cleaner than most water you’d get down in the USNA.”

In that case I better take a quick shower before we go,” Gunny decided. “You need to tell me where to take my laundry too.”

And we’ll set the house lock to your hand on the way out too,” April promised.

* * *

When Gunny stepped out of the elevator it was his first visit to the seven tenths G level. April had warned him so he was cautious. He walked a little normally, then tried breaking into a run, which was hard to do, and making quick turns. There was a real lack of traction when you were lighter.

The corridor was not as fancy as at the full G level, although it wasn’t industrial. They could smell the food as soon as they stepped out of the elevator and the music was a low beat. Gunny surprised her by dancing a skipping step ahead to the music. He moved lightly for a big guy. He spun around, totally adjusted to the lower G already, and had a grin like she hadn’t seen on him.

“That some good music,” he declared. “Is that the Arrogant Aardvarks?”

“I don’t know. I don’t really follow popular music. I tend to stuff that’s, uh, quieter.”

“There’s a time for quieter, but this makes you move.”

Heather and Jeff were at a table near the buffet table, There was a room to one end with a big screen and a little dance floor. The bar was in there, and the music. The other side had another room with smaller screens, lounge furniture and tables that was perfect for gaming and cards. In between was a self serve bar where you could make your own burgers or omelets.

Heather got up and hugged April. Gunny went ahead and introduced himself to Jeff and sat down opposite. April did manage to introduce Heather formally, and just patted Jeff on the arm.

“What are they serving today?” April asked.

“This week is Mexican/South American,” Jeff answered. “The chiles rellenos, the empanadas, and the feijoada are really good. The cheese and vegetable enchiladas have nopales and diced tomatoes in them. The cook will make fresh gorditas for you if you ask.”

“Do you folks know those people?” Gunny asked with a slight nod. All three looked over at the loud bar, and a dozen people waved and one fellow stuck his fingers in his mouth and let off a whistle that would shatter glass. They all waved back so Gunny joined in not wanting to look stuck up or unfriendly.

“I don’t know any by name, but everybody knows April,” Heather said matter of fact. April blushed but she’d learned talking to Jelly that protesting was usually counterproductive.

A large fellow in subtle Tangerine shorts and a yellow silk t-shirt came over to their table with a tray. It had a large pitcher of dark beer and four glasses.

“Thanks for your service,” he directed to April. “This is Apogee Amber. We had a brewing house open in Home last week. I highly recommend it.”

He’d have left without pushing his company on them, but April asked his name.

“I’m Steve. I service pressure suits and hard shells too. I like to hang out with the folks who use them.” He had a playful cartoon dragon tattoo around one wrist and a colorful and very Japanese cluster of chrysanthemums around the other. “Join us later if you have a mind to,” he invited gesturing at the party room.

“Maybe, thanks for the offer, and the beer,” April told him.

“The natives hold you in high esteem,” Gunny observed pouring for them.

“Beats the last time we were here,” April noted. “We had a couple creeps steal our dinner, insult Heather and assault Jeff. I like this better.”

“Oh my, that is good stuff,” Heather agreed after a long sip.

“What, uh, was the ultimate outcome to that previous visit?” Gunny wondered.

“Oh, the cook came and read the riot act to the vacuum rats, the one flipped out and acted like he was going to lay hands on the cook and Jeff stepped between them and they did a little dance that involved broken bones. Before it could get really ugly Jon the Security Chief came in the door and Air Tasered the guy in the head. After medical got him treated and trussed him up they tagged him for expulsion to the slumball.”

Gunny looked at Jeff in a new light. He’d have to find out what sort of ‘dance’ that was.

They filled up plates off the steam table and Jeff put an order in for four gorditas. There was minimal talk until they were somewhat sated. The bartender delivered them another pitcher and informed them their money was no good here when they offered a card.

“So, what has happened while I was away,” April asked before hitting the buffet again.

“We almost had our first duel,” Heather informed her.

“Wow, over what? A bad business deal? A woman? I know the assembly allowed for it but I never expected to see one happen.”

“Do you know the goofy looking guy in supply named Albert?” Heather asked. “Albert Nielson? He is real lanky and looks like he cuts his own hair?”

“Sure, I’ve dealt with him to send you guys stuff in your regular deliveries. He makes weird jokes that don’t make any sense but he seems harmless. Certainly not violent.”

“Well, when it finally dawned on him that all the old USNA laws were gone and we have created very few laws of our own he suddenly realized there was no law against public nudity. Seems he was a fan of going to nude beaches when he was an Earthie and he decided he could do the same here. He showed up for lunch one day au naturel.”

“I wasn’t there thankfully, but Wanda told me Mr. Gidley who has two young daughters tried to talk to him about it and Nielson got all preachy about how healthy and natural it was and got kind of loud. Gidley just informed him he found it a matter of his honor to preserve the custom of clothing, and he didn’t intent to have to sit staring at his hairy butt while he tried to eat, so he could show up with weapons at the north terminal corridor in the morning and they would settle it or he could retract his stand on it and he’d let the matter pass.”

“What if he refused to meet him and still refused to cover up?” Gunny asked.

“The fourth assembly of Home, they talked about avoiding all the nuisance laws Earth has, spitting on the sidewalk, what you can do in your own cubic like bake cookies or run a business.”

“Stuff like showing ID and sleeping on the grass in a park, licensing dogs They all seem like a good idea, examined one at a time.” Heather explained, “but the cops can use them to make anybody they want to arrest a criminal instead of the original purpose. Especially the ones that are subjective like creating a public disturbance. Cops seem to be capable of seeing a disturbance easily if they have some reason not to like you. Collectively it gets to where it is impossible to live without breaking some law.”

“Yes,” Jeff agreed. “The same with consumer protection laws. Who can cut hair or be a private investigator or run a restaurant. Pretty soon they are just to keep the current businesses from any competition. They have laws that forbid companies from advertising their products are superior even though they are and can prove it. Laws about how many bugs are permitted in your breakfast cereal!”

“So, they decided not to get into those sort of laws, and the whole mess of libel and slander laws that have never worked. If somebody offends you then you have the right to call them out on it. You can demand satisfaction, and if somebody will neither satisfy you or meet you then the assembly of Home will expel them.”

“You said almost,” Gunny remembered. “How was it avoided?”

“Well, at first Albert told him not to be ridiculous, that he wasn’t about to fight him. When he was told to read the assembly record he scoffed at it. Gidley just repeated that he needed to meet him in the morning. He pointed out it was his choice of weapons, or if he brought nothing they’d go at it bare handed.”

“When he went and read the assembly record he realized he would be expelled if he didn’t back down or fight him. Push come to shove he called up Gidley before the morning and tried to apologize. Gidley said he wasn’t looking for an apology. He just wanted him to put some pants on in public and acknowledge the fact since it had become a public matter. Albert made up a very short text message saying in the matter between them about public nudity he was following the custom Gidley demanded rather than meet him to duel. He posted it to the com sent to ‘all’.”

“I’ve got mixed feelings about that,” Gunny admitted. “Sooner or later some nut job is going to kill the reasonable fellow we all feel is in the right.”

“Oh, absolutely,” Jeff agreed. “It’s just a question of whether this method ruins less lives than the myriad laws North America has. Certainly all those laws have hurt many people and even resulted in unjust deaths. Don’t you agree?”

Gunny thought on it before answering. “True. If it doesn’t work you can change it later. I suppose it’s too much to expect that once you start making laws you’d be, moderate.”

“There doesn’t appear to be any historical instance where it didn’t eventually run amuck, I’m sorry to say. Better not to start. You should read the debate yourself,” Jeff suggested.

“Oh, I will. I haven’t finished the second assembly video yet. I’ll get to them all.”

“You’re here to stay then?” Heather asked.

“I feel I got used down below. I’m wanted for arrest because I got caught between political factions. I may go down for business if it’s safe, but I’m done with the USNA to live there.”

The look on Jeff and Heather’s faces changed. There was some reserve that disappeared.

“Why don’t we take some dessert over and join the folks who brought us beer?” Gunny suggested. “I think they’d very much appreciate it if their heroine visited a bit.”

April snorted like it was a joke, but Heather and Jeff said, Yes, it would be polite.

Gunny it seemed, loved to dance. April wasn’t against the idea but had little experience. Jeff kindly showed her some steps and danced with Heather and a slim vacuum rat who looked like she wanted to eat him alive. He escaped however.

They ended up the three of them, April, Heather and Jeff at a table watching Gunny dance. Their novelty had worn off and everybody who wanted to meet April had. They had drinks in front of them with no idea who had bought them. Jeff tasted his and wasn’t sure what it was but slightly fruity and very strong. They nursed them slowly after all the beer.

“You remember you strongly suggested we start a bank before you went to Earth?” Jeff asked.

“Yes, have you had time to look into it? Does it seem practical?”

“You assigned me your Rock rights. They have been allowing folks to take their payout in kind. The fab shops have been taking iron to make steel and nickel. I got in early and grabbed us the rights to the platinum.” He reached in his pocket and got a disk and passed it to her.

It was smaller than the coin Papa-san Sato gave her on Earth. She’d been carrying that since he gave it to her, but hadn’t shown it to anyone. She fished the silver dollar out and traded it silently to Jeff, who laughed in surprise she’d have such a thing.

The coin was heavier for its size. It had a deep relief but a heavy raised edge to protect it. The one side had an image of Home with the Rock trailing, closer than reality, the arch of the Earth behind them, and the Moon showing above it all.

She flipped it over and there were no graphics on the other side. It said System Trade Bank of Home – 25 grams Pt – 99.9999 Pure – One Solar.

“It’s money,” April exclaimed delighted. “But, Solar? Not EuroMarks or Dollars? Who is going to take it? Won’t its value go up and down with the price of platinum?”

“It depends on your viewpoint,” Jeff said. “I intend to deal honestly with people. If we are a known to be of good reputation, and if Earth governments keep treating people as disposable, well, it is possible people would regard the value of a dollar or EuroMark as going up or down against a Solar.”

April looked uncertain.

“Do you take Argentine money if you have a choice?” Jeff asked her.

“No way, and I’m not thrilled to take Brazilian or Macedonian either.”

“See? Money does have a reputation. You trade your own stocks don’t you?”

“I do, in a very limited way,” April admitted.

“You already have formed opinions about the markets then. May I suggest you take some economics courses? I’m not saying the things you learn will be right or wrong, but it matters what other people think makes the economy work.”

“After you have some ideas about economic theory then we can talk about how the bank will work. They haven’t separated enough platinum yet to matter, so this is just one of a few prototypes, but the bank exists not just on paper, but in reality enough it would be hard for people to try to stop us from having it now. We’re grandfathered in as they say.”

“So I’m part owner of a sort of a ghost bank that doesn’t have much yet in assets, but it will as they keep mining the Rock?”

“Exactly. And I’m already doing various small transactions so there is a record of the bank existing and forming contracts from several days ago. If I let out contracts to fabbers I use it.”

“Nice. Can I get a loan to buy some cubic?”

“The bank can loan you one Solar,” Jeff offered gravely. “Can you offer collateral?”

“How about an antique silver dollar?”

“A done deal. I’ll have your papers tomorrow. Perhaps you’d like to put some funds on account with us?” he asked very formally.

“Maybe. Let me talk to Eddie first and we’ll see,” April said remembering another worry. “I’m tired and I drank too much, she announced. “I need to go home, and it’s a long way back.”

“You stayed at our place before,” Heather reminded her. I’m ready to go home too. Drop a message at your family com and come stay. It’s pretty close.”

“Okay, I’m going to tell Gunny.” She waved him over.

“I’m not going home tonight. Can you find your way back yourself?”

“Sure, I know the way. But I might not make it back until tomorrow myself,” He went back to his dance before she could register surprise.

“Nice to see your man fitting in so well,” Heather said with a smirk.