13 Degrees of Separation (40 page)

Mairi admitted she'd never had a confidant, a friend. Alice
wasn't her own age, but she was a mother figure. She also liked to shop, and
encouraged Mairi to learn and grow. She still threatened to drag Mairi off to
an opera, something she still couldn't trap Ralph into going to... whatever
that was.

“I'm always picking up after her, cleaning up her messes,”
Mairi said, pouring her heart out to Alice about her mother. Alice nodded.

“I've seen that in you. You are a dutiful child. I'm proud
of you for that. For being that kind of person.”

Mairi squirmed a bit and then took another spoonful of her
ice cream. “Heavenly,” she said.

Alice chuckled and sat back, looking around the little ice
cream shop. The couple who had leased it had been smart, it was near the park
and they made a killing in sales. “I wish Ralph had been willing to do this but
he wasn't, she sighed.

“What this?” she asked, waving to indicate their hookey
time.

“No, well, yes, but no, in this case I meant the business,”
Alice replied. “We got such a great deal on our leases that well...” she
shrugged.

Mairi's pert nose wrinkled. “Leases?”

Alice nodded, poking at her banana split. She cut off a
bite and then pause. “Yes, since we were some of the first people from Kiev to
make the jump we got in on the deals the station offered. Life time leases for
our apartment and the bar for rock bottom prices. It's all locked in too, they
can't raise it.” She grinned. “Though we've had a few paper pushers in the
leasing office who tried to get around it.”

“Wow! I wish I'd gotten that kind of deal,” Mairi replied.

“Yeah, and we've got working food replicators in the back
of the bar and at our apartment. One of the perks of being one of the first
restaurants,” Alice replied and then took a bite of her melting ice cream. “Um,
so good,” she mumbled with her mouth full.

Mairi snorted. “Now I'm jealous. How'd you wrangle that? We
had what? Two working food replicators in all of Senka?”

Alice swallowed and shrugged. “Like I said, when we first
started we were the first restaurant. Though we never set out for that. Ralph
still prefers bar over restaurant, I can't blame him.”

“Okay,” Mairi replied, poking at her frozen confection.
“So, since there wasn't anyone else you got the first customers?”

“Exactly!” Alice replied with a grin. “And they gave all of
us settlers a bonus for settling and all the work we did to sort the station
out without getting paid. The admiral and the Warners pushed for that.”

“Oh,” Mairi sighed. “I wish I'd gotten in on that. Seems
like a sweet deal,” she said. She pushed the ice cream away, the sugar was too
much.

Alice smiled. “Well, she took her spoon and took a sample
of Mairi's strawberry confection. Mairi opened her mouth to object but then
shrugged it off. After all, Alice had treated. “Well, Ralph wanted, oh this is
sweet! Tooth rottening in such a good way,” Alice said and then swallowed,
savoring the flavor. “Ralph, um,” she stopped to pat her chest for a moment.
“Sorry,” she said weakly. “It must have gone down the wrong track.” she turned
away and took a deep breath. After a moment she collected herself and set her
spoon down. “Where was I?”

“Bragging about getting in the door?” Mairi asked, eyebrow
raised.

“Oh it wasn't all fun and games believe me!” Alice said
shaking her head. “This place really was a ghost station. Derelict, or almost.
Roving gangs, Dilgarth, an insane AI, no power, everything falling apart...
scary.”

Mairi's imagination picked up on each of those items and
she shivered. “Yeah,” she said quietly. The name Dilgarth spooked just about
everyone. But an insane AI?

“The admiral's AI took care of the insane one, or so I heard.
But this was a pretty bleak place. The Cybers were at ends, they didn't know
what to do. The admiral sort of took charge, cajoled everyone into working
together after he nearly tore the place apart. And now...” she turned to
indicate the park around them.

Mairi looked, feeling the artificial breeze on her face.
Nearby she could hear the muted cheering of people watching a bunch of kids
play some sort of game with a white and black ball on a field. Further away
more people were sitting on blankets under trees talking and eating or playing.
“Yeah, nice,” she said.

“It is,” Alice said nodding.

“So, you had all that money?” Mairi asked. “Have I mean.
You're rich?”

Alice snorted and then laughed. “I was trying to say Ralph
wanted to open a chain of bars but there wasn't enough population and other
restaurants were opening up. Besides, he didn't want to have to be bouncing
around from one to another, he wanted to settle down. So, we had this money,
plus the income from the bar. Clio did our taxes for us, and she suggested we
invest the money. We were trying to think of what to do when Savo and Howie got
into an argument in the bar. Ralph was ready to break their heads until he
realized it wasn't a fight, just an argument. They weren't even arguing with
each other, just venting. Which with a chimp is something else,” Alice said
shivering.

“I've seen Savo in a mood,” Mairi agreed. Alice nodded. “So
Ralph got interested?”

“Yeah. Savo is an old friend from the Kiev. He told them he
and Howie and the others were trying to figure out the Yard that the admiral
had dropped in their laps. The Warners were going forward with it and had
approached them to join.”

“Oh.”

“They were arguing about the name too,” Alice snorted. “The
chimps didn't like being called dogs,” she laughed.

“I never understood that. Not that it matters,” Mairi
replied.

“Well,” Alice said, picking her spoon up for a second
onslaught on the melting confections. “As they explained it to me, a person who
works in a shipyard is called a Yard Dog. Hence the name.”

“Oh.”

“Well, they were going for Antiguan space shipyard, but I
guess the acronym didn't go over well,” Alice said, grinning slyly to the girl.
Mairi laughed. She picked up her own spoon still chuckling. “Come on, let's eat
the evidence here and then go check in all smug while Ralph bitches and
whines,” Alice said.

“You're on,” Mairi replied, chuckling again.

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

Savo sat down with Clio the next day just after he got off
shift. He was hesitant, but finally he broached the tender subject with her. It
wasn't like he was gossiping, not really, he was actually discussing a
sensitive subject and the health and welfare of their prized employee with
another board member. Or so he told himself as he laid the situation out to the
AI.

“I noticed the Jersey account is wiped out,” Clio said when
he finished. She adjusted her virtual toga on the screen. He didn't know why
she clung to her roman look. The muses did, but some of the others had outfits
that blended the toga with business suits and pencil skirts. Come to think of
it, at least the toga was consistent. He had to admire her for that, for
keeping to her roots despite everything going on around her.

Savo's brown eyes glittered as he turned to the AI avatar.
“You checked? Isn't that illegal or something?”

“Yes and no, since I'm on the board that owns the bank they
are using...” she shrugged.

“Nice.”

“No, not really, and yes I believe I shouldn't go into
details so I won't. But what do we do about this? This situation I mean. Her
rent is due and if they miss the payment...”

“It's not like there aren't other places to rent,” Savo
growled.

“Yes but we need them. Need them viable. Or at least Mairi.
Her mother we could do without.”

Savo grunted, tapping his fingers here and there on the
table absently. He was restless. After a moment he finally grunted again and
then nodded. “Yes. I know. And yeah, I agree, we need Mairi, Ogla we could do
without. And yeah, I know, we need them. We don't need them out on the street
or sleeping in the slip. Just imagine what Kennet would do with the fine for
that.”

Clio winced. Kennet was the council's eyes on the Yard
Dogs. Or at least he was one of them, she hadn't found the others. Every time
she checked they vanished and did a damn good job of covering their tracks. She
was having difficulty cutting off remote access to the slips and work spaces of
the company. She was seriously considering a lawsuit for breach of ethics and
breach of privacy.

“Do you have a suggestion to solve this? You seem to have a
bond with the girl,” Clio said.

“No,” Savo said, drawing circles on the mahogany table top
with his index finger. “No I don't. I'd stay out of it but we need her safe and
healthy. Can you front the money? I'll pay for it out of pocket. I don't like
doing it, it's just enabling Olga, but the kid deserves better than what she's
getting now.”

“True,” Clio replied. She didn't fully understand familial
bonds organics apparently needed but did understand that they were important.
Breaking them was hard and caused significant emotional distress and possible
long term trauma. The company didn't need that. Not at this delicate junction.

“I can front the money to Billy Bob and have him keep it on
the down low. If and when they make it up he'll pay me back. I take it you
don't want Olga to know?”

“No.”

“So some sort of penalty is in order?”

Savo sighed. He hated soaking the kid, she had enough to
worry about. But if soaking drove more of a wedge between her and her mother...
“Yeah.”

“I'll come up with something. Maybe have Olga work it off
cleaning or something if they offer.”

“I'd give Mairi a bonus for all the overtime but we don't
have it in the budget now.”

Clio cocked her head, looking thoughtful for a long moment.
Savo snorted and her frozen image re-animated. “Oh? Sorry, distracted with
other tasks. Yes, a bonus is a good idea, though yes not in the budget. We can
make one retroactive. I'm talking with Billy, I'll see if I can get him to give
them a rake off on the rent. He just rented ten similar suites at 21% less than
what he is charging them. And he gave one couple free one month's rent.”

“A year lease?” Savo asked. He had a long term lease now,
one that prevented anyone from jerking the rent up.

“Good idea. I'll inquire about it. Thanks,” Clio said in
way of dismissal.

“Thanks yourself. I hope it works,” Savo said getting up.
“I gotta go get some face time in with the family. Take care Clio.”

“You too Savo.”

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

“Mairi!” Freeze said just as Mairi came into her berth. She
blinked, there was a second tug there as well as one of the Veraxin space
hands. She frowned and sauntered over.  The shiny new tug was bigger than the
Bitch, twice as large easily. She had all the usual signs of an automated
tug... grippers, massive engines, shields, sensor balls all over the hull...
except for the cockpit ball on the front. The cockpit glass glittered like
multifaceted eyes. The thing looked like a beetle she'd heard about. A big
pest.

“What's up?” she asked.

“I think you've met Yuri before,” Freeze said, nodding to
the Veraxin. The Veraxin was in her suit, with her true arms showing third
level embarrassment.

“Yeah, hey Yuri. Am I taking you out today? I thought it
was Olaf's shift?” Mairi asked.

“No, we are changing it up a bit this shift and off and on
for the next several. You see what we've got here?” Freeze asked, indicating
the tug parked next to the Bitch.

“Yeah,” Mairi said, glancing at it. This wasn't what she
thought it was, was it?

“Well, as it happens Yuri here is a pilot. At least on
Antigua.”

“I flew aircraft. Biplanes and monoplanes. But I've always
had an interest in space,” the Veraxin chittered.

“Huh,” Mairi grunted.

“So, what we'd like you to do is train Yuri here. She
needs
to pass her piloting license but she has her permit. Apparently she did that on
her own, which,” Freeze nodded to the Veraxin. “Show's her initiative and
commitment I think. But since it's a permit a licensed pilot has to teach her.
That's where you come in,” he said, indicating Mairi in her flight suit.

“I can't babysit her!” Mairi replied, now disgusted. There
wasn't enough room in that tiny cockpit!

“Who said anything like that?” Freeze asked, arms crossed.
She could tell from the way he was looking at her that there wasn't much room
for argument here. She scowled. “What you
are
going to do is check her
out on the tugs. She can't be in space in them, but she can run them virtually
around the yard. That's what we're going to do for a while. Then when we finish
the tandem tug the two of you can go out for some larger loads and check flights.
When you,”  he turned to indicate Mairi. “As
senior
pilot feel she's
ready, you will sign off on her taking her practical exam.
If
she passes
she can fly solo.”

“Okay,” Mairi replied, somewhat mollified.

“Thank you for giving me this chance. I have always loved
to fly. This... paperwork issue is frustrating,” Yuri said directly to Mairi.
The Veraxin's true hands shifted into first level thank you and honor debt.