13 Degrees of Separation (34 page)

Olaf broke with the station in a massive argument that made
the news. An accident and his response to the lack of safety for workers and
the uncaring attitude certainly burned some bridges. It also made it clear he
was on the way out. The next shift he was told he was suspended pending review.
Since he had bills to pay and they put the review off for later he immediately
saw the writing on the wall. He marched over to the bar and signed up right
off. “So when do we start?” he growled.

...*...*...*...*...

Mairi came back one Monday morning and when she exited the
berth she was ambushed by reporters. The bright spot lights and flashing bulbs
were too much for her optic nerves, she turned away, hands instinctively up to
shield herself. “What the hell? Harif! Not funny!” she snarled before the
reporter's question penetrated.

“Miss Jersey, isn't it true you are underage and reportedly
spending your income in the casino's on the station?” A reporter said,
thrusting a microphone at her.

“Miss Jersey! Miss Jersey! Isn't it true you have been and
still are a prostitute?!” another asked.

“Get those damn things out of my face!” Mairi snarled,
coming upright. “Look I don't know what you're problem is but don't make me
shove those things up your asses! Bug off! Can't you see I just came in from a
16 hour shift?”

“Perhaps if you answered the questions Miss Jersey?” a
female voice asked. The babble of other voices continued. Mairi felt trapped,
they had her cornered with no escape. She turned to the familiar voice.

Mairi turned, recognizing Miss Chambers. “You? What the
hell lady? What'd I do to you?”

“I'm covering a story Ma'am.”

“So what's the problem? I'm working so what?”

The flashbulbs went off again, thick and furious. She blinked,
eyes watering. She wished she had her suit and sun visor right about now. “Damn
it! Come on now!” she snarled.

“You admit to being a prostitute? At your age???” a man
asked, sounding aghast.

“I said no such thing!” Mairi said, pride coming into the conversation.
“I was working for the Yard Dogs out there,” she waved to the berth. “In my
Tug. Moving stuff, getting materials, that sort of thing. That''s my work!”

“But you are underage,” Miss Chambers asked, and then
pointed the microphone at her mouth.

“Who the hell told you that?” Mairi asked, snorting. “I
just
turned eighteen for your information. That's two count em 2!” She held two
fingers up. “Two years older than the legal adult status on Antigua! I
am
a legal adult!”

“Oh,” Toni Chambers replied with a slight smile. “And the
charges of gambling?” she turned slightly and smirked as her fellow reporters
muttered oaths over being duped by their collective source.

“I don't gamble! When do I have the time! Wait, you... are
you mistaking my mother for me!” Mairi's red eyes flickered with rage. “She
better not be! She promised me! That was the only reason I paid for her
ticket!”

“You paid?” A reporter asked, surprise.

“Yes, me. I'm the pilot. I own the tug. I support my mother
and myself. I've done it since I was younger,” she said, catching herself
before she stated how much younger. She crossed her arms.

“Perhaps if you told us your side of the story to set the
record straight?” Toni Chambers suggested.

“Fine,” Mairi grumped, running a hand through her sweat
stained hair. She badly needed a shower and a nap but fine. She really wished
someone would come rescue her. She saw Alice in the background. She shrugged
helplessly. No help there. “Fine, if it'll get you off my back. Some of us work
for a living you know,” she growled.

She answered their questions, seething when they hit
particular sore points. They obviously had the story mangled. She tried to keep
her temper as she answered some of the more stupid questions. However as it
went on they started to ask the same questions, or worded them differently. The
shreds of her temper began to unravel then. Seeing it, Alice waded into the
fray and wrapped her arm around the girl's shoulder.

“She's answered your questions,” Alice said. “She's been
more than fair. I think you folks have what you need right?” Toni Chambers
nodded but the others didn't say anything. “I think if you have any further
questions you can speak to me as the public relations director of the company
from now on. Thank you, have a good day,” Alice said, hustling Mairi past Toni
Chambers and off down the corridor. The pack of reporters let them go. Some
were already doing spin pieces, turning to the camera to wrap the story up.

“What the hell was that?” Mairi asked, seething. Alice
guided her onward.

“Not here,” Alice finally responded when Mairi opened her
mouth to ask again. “Hang on,” she said and guided the girl to her own
quarters. When they entered she waved. “Damn kid, what a pong!” she said
gasping.

“Sorry,” Mairi muttered.

“I'd of thought that alone would have kept them at a
distance but apparently not,” Alice joked. She shook her head.

“I'm working. Quit it. What the hell do you people want
from me?” Mairi snarled.

Alice looked at her and then rubbed her arm before passing
her to go to the small kitchenette. Mairi looked around, noting the larger
split level accommodations with blue walls and various paintings and pictures
here and there. It was rather tastefully decorated, though it reminded her of
some show she'd seen on the wall screen. “Tea?” Alice asked. “To settle your
nerves?”

“No, I've got to get some downtime before my shift starts
again in the morning,” Mairi sighed, rubbing her brow. “What the hell
happened?” she demanded again.

“Well,” Alice busied herself making tea and then turned,
resting her hands on the counter. “You were sandbagged. We're not sure what
happened. I'm thinking someone close.”

“There were some personal questions there. Though they
mixed me up with my mom.”

“Maybe that guy who was after her?” Alice asked.

“He put them up to that?” Mairi asked, eyes narrowing.
“Fucker. I'll stuff his pecker down his throat!” she snarled, turning for the
door. Alice rushed forward and caught her by the arm.

“No no,” she said hastily, stopping her. “No, not a good
idea. You do that and you'll not only give our enemies all they want, they'll
crucify you in the process.”

“Um...” Mairi shook her hand off and then held her wrist.
She sulked, enraged without a target.

“What you did, getting the truth out? That hurt him more
than anything you could do. He's just gotten the story wrong in a big way. Toni
Chambers will follow it up. Believe me. And since the others know it was a
hatchet job, that they were set up, they'll pile on too just because they were
embarrassed.”

“They should have gotten their facts straight before hand,”
the girl muttered, looking at the door.

Alice nodded, guiding her to the diner set nearby. “Yes,
yes they should have. But they didn't. Now they've got egg on their face, they
look like fools and they aren't happy. Let's just say, what goes around comes
around kiddo.”

“It better come around soon,” Mairi replied, sinking into
the chair. She rested her elbows on the table and her wrists propped her
forehead up. After a moment she dropped her arms and then laid her head on top
of them. “Can I sleep here? If I go home I don't know what I'll do to my mom,”
she said. “If she's there.”

“Yeah, but try the couch. It's more comfortable,” Alice
said. “
After
you shower,” she said.

“Sure,” Mairi sighed. She wasn't sure it was all her mom
though, some of those questions... some bothered her. She wanted to mention it
but she was just too tired. She rubbed the small of her back and got up.
“Shower,” she muttered. Alice pointed to a door down the hall.

“I'll make you something to eat. Don't fall over in there,”
she said kindly.

“I'm more afraid of falling asleep,” Mairi replied, using
one hand to prop herself up as she walked down the hall to the bathroom.

...*...*...*...*...

Zap Utilities came forward with interest in their
proposals. Alice grinned as she waited for the crew to come in on the next
shuttle. Zap himself was rumored to be coming. When Zap did come she shook his
hand... and was nudged aside as Malcolm McDougall came in behind her. Ian took
her by both arms and pushed her to one side. She turned, fuming as the
McDougall brothers smiled brightly to Zap and chatted with him. “Glad you could
make it!” Ian said grinning.

“I wouldn't miss this for worlds,” Zap replied politely,
brushing his suit to make sure there were no wrinkles. “So you went over our
proposal?” he asked.

“We did and we think we can work with you,” Malcolm said,
still smiling. He turned, guiding the man away. “Let's talk business in a less
public arena shall we?” His smile caught Alice just as she scowled. “After all,
we don't want anyone stealing our ideas right?” he asked.

Alice stood there fuming as Zap ignored her. His staff of
ten followed him, chattering at each other softly. A mousy brown haired woman
with glasses slowed to a stop in front of Alice and then shrugged helplessly.
“Sorry,” she murmured, head down. She turned and hurried to catch up with her
group.

...*...*...*...*...

Alice was in tears when she reported the news to the
others. Ralph and Savo fumed, but Clio just sighed. “That was our mistake. We
didn't have anyone sign an NDA.”

“NDA?” Savo demanded.

“Non Disclosure Agreement. We also didn't get any coverage
in case the deal fell through. Now if we try to say anything it will look bad
on us, like we're trying to preempt them.”

“I know one thing, I think I'm going to put a call in to
Zap's competitors. Sort of prime them for what's coming and maybe see if
anyone's interested in cutting a deal with us,” Alice said, fairly biting off
every word of that statement as she got up. She rubbed at her eyes and then
dusted her black pencil skirt off. “I'm so mad!” she fumed.

“Well, do try to get your thoughts in order and be
professional when you make the calls,” Clio cautioned. Alice nodded curtly and
walked out.

“I think I'm going to call Toni anyway. Clio,” Savo said
turning to her. “Can you get a copy of our communications logs with Zap? And if
possible a copy of that encounter in the dock? I think we should turn it over
to Chambers and see if it gives Zap a bit of a black eye and indigestion.”

“Interesting,” Clio murmured and then shrugged. “Worth a
shot.”

...*...*...*...*...

Dog pile on the Yard Dogs was a phrase coined by Toni
Chambers in her next report. Her report, complete with the unedited video of
the McDougall brothers pushing her aside in the dock had thousands of views
within an hour of the story being posted.  The McDougall's compounded the bad
publicity with a smirk and a tough luck comment. Zap was put out over the black
eye as well as being ambushed by miss Chambers. His staff hustled him out
before he made more of a fool of himself.

The next morning Zap's stock took a hit. McDougall was
mostly privately owned, but they too took a hit as did their subcontractors.
Each of the companies tried to spin control the bad publicity, announcing the
plan to power Antigua publicly.

When speculation of whether or not McDougall could fulfill
the project started making the rounds investors were scared off the project.
The black eye and speculation forced Bank of Antigua to pull their support from
the project. Zap attempted to secure alternative financing but couldn't come up
with it. The entire project was sidelined within a week of Zap announcing it,
giving them even more of a black eye.

Meanwhile Miss Chambers announced Tribecca, a small utility
competitor to Zap had entered a pilot program with Yard Dogs Inc. The Yard Dogs
would build a solar farm at cost and sell the energy it generated to Tribecca.
In turn Tribecca undersigned the loans to pay for the endeavor while they also
sold stock to pay for upgrades to their grid.

Toni Chamber's support for the underdog was helping build
her popularity and fan base while also drawing attention to their plight and
mission. National pride was starting to come into action as people thought
about what it meant for Antigua to have their very own shipyard, one of only
two in the sector. Also, the fact that the Yard Dogs was conceived by Admiral
Irons helped them, the backlash for the attacks on him was still in the public
mind.

The fact that someone somewhere was doing something,
working on bigger grander projects than the frills the station was turning out
wasn't lost on many.

The other media conglomerates took an interest in the
stories of corporate espionage and illicit activities, the stories were just
too juicy to ignore despite 'Miss Chamber's obvious bias'. The station District
Attorney became involved reluctantly. The Veraxin did an interview with Miss
Chambers. He tried to keep it light and professional but Toni seemed to rake
him over the coals, he was out of his element and knew it.

Jake, Mairi, Shari, and Harif watched the interview in
Ralphs while eating dinner. Mairi had let Harif talk her into the so called
double date. Jake didn't look very comfortable, he didn't like crowds, but
fortunately it was just the four of them and they had missed the evening crush
by a good 2 hours. In fact Alice and Ralph were starting to clean up,
occasionally giving Jake sidelong looks to hurry him along so he could help
with the clean up.