April 6: And What Goes Around (28 page)

"And by then we may have cut them off entirely
and they may not have the ability to keep a medical watch at boarding if enough
medical and security personnel are sick," Jon said.

Muños stopped and looked thoughtful.
"That's unfortunately true. But it still means we only have this as a
problem for a limited time. Let's see what the Assembly says. Maybe some bright
person will have an idea what to do."

* * *

Jeff was pleased to see a new message from Barak but
surprised to see he had attached a file using the one time pads he'd given him.
That was a first and worried him a little. He intended those for emergencies. When
he saw the size of it he realized Barak had used four of the hundred blocks of
random numbers he's assigned him. It was a fairly large message which worried
him a little more.

When he read the deciphered message he wasn't
worried. He was shocked. He forced himself to read it again slowly to make sure
he hadn't missed any critical facts before he did anything. Heather might be
Sovereign of Central and very busy, but she knew audio processing extremely
well and cared a great deal for her little brother Barak. This wasn't something
you handed off to a low bid data processor in Pakistan to run. He wanted it kept
under the tightest security. He sent the files to her and then copies to Chen
to find verifying voice samples locally.

What a mess... Barak was a really good guy. Jeff was
sure Barak wasn't hiding anything from
him
. But he's also been very careful not to incriminate
himself. Jeff still could say under truth analysis that he didn't know of any
wrong doing by Barak, and that was smart, but it sounded to Jeff as if he
might
have some culpability. Even if he acted in fear. He
hoped it was within his ability to help him.

Home didn't have much law yet. But if the case was
put before the Assembly it was possible he could be banished. There was a lot
of respect for the command structure even on civilian ships. He could go to
Central if banished, not the Slum Ball, but not being able to enter Home would
be devastating. It would probably ruin any career as a spacer too. He wasn't as
inexperienced as Barak, and yet Jeff was very much aware he had no idea how to
deal with somebody like Barak's superiors. They both sounded like seriously
warped people.

That made Jeff have a new thought,
and the Home directory was no help. Doc Lee was so busy right now he didn't
want to bother him. He sent a message to Dr. Ames and asked him for a favor –
"Do you know if we have a psychologist on Home? Especially someone expert
on dealing with extreme or even criminal personalities?"  - Jeff Singh

* * *

April was surprised when Jeff called at the last
minute and asked her to supper. He wasn't big on spontaneity. She offered to
cook but he insisted on taking her out. She assumed he'd take her to the Fox
and Hare. The way he'd said 'out' implied something more than just the
cafeteria. But when they got to the turn for the Fox and Hare he went the other
way and took her to the other club on Home -
The Quiet Retreat. If
she'd known he had that in mind she'd have dressed nicer.

They were busy,
but were shown right to a table. That didn't make any sense. Jeff didn't say
anything to the hostess about a reservation. He hadn't even given his name. But
she'd said, "Right this way, Mr. Singh, and led them to a table herself
instead of handing them off to a younger hostess like she had the people before
them. She seated them at a small table against the bulkhead that had a pull
down bench and screens on each side giving them and their neighbors a little privacy.

"Have you
been here before?" April asked Jeff.

"No, but the owner,
Gary Roulston, has asked me at least three times to come by. He's a customer of
the bank so it seems politic to not keep refusing him."

"They knew
your name though," April said, still surprised.

"April,"
Jeff took her hand and smiled at her. "I love the fact you aren't full of
yourself. And I can't imagine you ever falling into the trap of saying 'Do you
know who I am?' that famous people do when somebody doesn't recognize them.
However if I showed your picture to everybody on Home I bet you would have
recognition from over ninety percent of those surveyed. Even with the influx
we've had."

April looked like
she wanted to argue and then smirked. "But she said
your
name not
mine, Silly."

"Well yes. I
might get a 70% recognition," Jeff admitted. "They'd look at my
picture and say, "Oh yeah. I think he's April's boyfriend. A lot of them would
feel awkward to mention Heather in the same breath. There's still a lot of
Earth think on social matters."

"It's
impossible to argue with you!" April said, but jokingly.

"And why
would you want to?" Jeff teased, and scooted closer on the bench slipping
an arm around April. She leaned on him, comfortable and relaxed. This club was
quieter than the Fox and Hare. It had  darker lighting and darker colors too.
There was a bit of soft piano music in the background, but nothing you'd have
to raise your voice over.

When the server
came to take their drink orders, Jeff asked April if she would care like to
share champagne. He'd seen her enjoy it before.

"I'm
throttling back this gene mod metabolism I have, so alcohol will mess that up.
Just coffee for me tonight please," April requested.

"A pot of
coffee then for both of us," Jeff instructed. "And appetizers but
nothing starchy or sweet."

"I'm more
curious about their coffee too. Just like I'm looking forward to comparing
their food to ours at the Fox and Hare. Drinks don't tell you much unless they
are totally incompetent to open a bottle of wine. We buy the same liquor after
all.

"I'm not
getting all competitive though, just curious," April added quickly. "I've
wondered about it since it opened. I can see it's a different sort of club. I
think it has a more mature clientele too."

"It's getting
hard to tell with LET," Jeff said. "Everybody looks sort of middle
aged."

"Sort of, but
I'm getting better at seeing little signs. And cultural things about how people
dress and sit and..." April hesitated, "even how they handle their
silverware."

The owner Gary
came through. He was a solidly built fellow with ready smile. His easy grin
turned full on though when one of his people had a word with him and he turned
and saw Jeff and April. He came over shook Jeff's hand and took April's when it
was offered. Then he surprised them by excusing himself quickly instead of
lingering to chat.

The dance floor in
the middle looked odd to them. They just weren't used to seeing any open unused
area of floor in Home. It was raised off the deck just enough to require a thin
safety stripe along the edge, and was an extravagant waste of space for a
habitat. It allowed for better people watching though. There were two rings of
tables between the tables back against the bulkhead, like they had, and the dance
floor. The tables on the edge of the floor were just out there with no privacy
at all. It made sense that a couple of them had folks sporting very daring
bright clothing and looking to be seen. One woman had a dress totally covered
with tiny purple sequins. Her partner had a yellow tuxedo with a metallic
tangerine cummerbund that fairly glowed even in the subdued lighting. His
jacket fell open to reveal ivory handled pistols jammed in the cummerbund grips
forward.

"Look all the
way across the room," April said. "Do you see the middle table set
back in a little alcove by the bulkhead like ours but a little bigger?"

"Where
they're seating them right now? Yes. You call that a dinette." Jeff zoomed
his spex in to inspect them. "OK. That's President Wiggen and Ben
Patsitsas. Who are the other couple?"

"They go by Jimenez
now," April informed him. "Ferdinando and Sancha Jimenez, but they
are the recent king and queen of Spain, in exile. So recently that I don't
believe they even have  successors yet. Not exactly deposed and neither did
they abdicate, but definitely
retired
."

Jeff looked with
the spex and scrunched his face up like he was thinking hard. "Gene
mod?"

"See? You
can
tell. Yes, they have had LET but I think it has a ways to run on them still.
You do know Wiggen and Patsitsas are married now?" April Asked.

"I believe I
read that, but thank you for reminding me," Jeff said. "I might have
said something stupid if we talk to them."

The appetizers
came and they'd done a good job of it for the limitations Jeff had set. There
were stuffed olives and pickles, sliced vegetables and a few sauces, shrimp
wrapped in bacon and hard salami and cheese. There were little penguins of black
olives and cream cheese with carrot beaks and feet. A few radishes were carved
like flowers. It was very pretty.

They nibbled at
this and that and watched the fellow with the yellow tux swish around the floor
with his date. He probably could have danced better if he hadn't checked to see
if anybody was watching him so often.

"Do you
dance?" Jeff asked April.

"I've never
had any lessons. Well, once my mother tried to show my brother how to dance and
she had me try it with him, but it was awful. I was about nine. I don't know if
he ever tried dancing down in Australia. He never shared much about his social
life when he visited my mom's parents. He seemed to have a little romance with
the neighbor girl on a later visit, but he was secretive about
everything."

"Want to try
it?" Jeff offered.

"Does this
mean
you
know how to dance?" April asked him, skeptical.

"You don't
know everything about me. I assure you I had several aunts instruct me
intensely
."

"Well if you
know how maybe I can fake it," April decided. They joined two other
couples on the floor. It wasn't crowded so navigating wasn't a problem. Jeff
did a strong lead so they settled down and got into the rhythm of it quickly.

"Oh my,"
Jeff said.

April looked up at
him with a quizzical expression. Rather than reply Jeff turned them so she
could see the length of the floor. The couple she'd pointed out to him, the
Jimenezes, were dancing. They did it with a relaxed ease that no one else had
displayed yet, not even the gaudily dressed young couple sitting this dance
out. They didn't need sequins and neon colors to impress. The little changes of
direction that Jeff had to think about were automatically smooth and they did
moves separating and coming back together he wouldn't even try, or expect April
to know what he was attempting to do.

Ferdinando knew
the piece or sensed the change in the music so when they moved apart this time
instead of spinning back to him he flung her out retaining a firm grip and
swept her around in a full circle sliding on her heel. When he pulled her back
in their hands continued up together until they were cheek to cheek hands
clasped straight overhead with her on tiptoe to reach so high. They reached
that pose with perfect timing and held it for a dramatic instant as the music
ended.

Jeff and April had
moved to the end of the floor by the small stage to watch and not stand in
front of others at the tables who were all watching. The two other couples had
joined them. When it ended they all broke into spontaneous applause and some in
the audience joined in.

Ferdinando smiled
and gave a short bow, raising Sancha's hand he still held to credit her. April
noted he did nothing self-deprecating, he accepted the praise as due with
dignity.

I need to learn
how to do that, without feeling all embarrassed and flustered,
April
thought.

Instead of
returning to their table the Jimenezes walked straight to April and Jeff.
Whoever was doing the music let it pause a moment rather than rush them off the
floor for another set.

" Grandeza
Lewis, it's pleasant to see you again," Ferdinando said. He sounded
sincere.

"Ferdinando,
Sancha, I'd like you to meet Jeff Singh."

"April spoke
of you before," Ferdinando said. "I'm pleased to meet you
Señor
."

"Ferdinando,
you are not at court," Sancha said. "If he speaks Spanish at all he
doesn't know what that expression means when you say it. He'd comfortably address
a porter or taxi driver as
señor"

"You're right my dear. More plainly, I'm pleased
to meet you Lord Singh."

"Thank you," Jeff said. "I'm honored
to meet you. I'm not quite sure how to address you politely."

"You're doing fine," he said amused.
"Ferdinando and Sancha will do. If we have opportunity to actually get to
know each other perhaps you can append friend in the fullness of time."

"Then you should both call me Jeff. Home doesn't
acknowledge titles and I'd use them at Central only if I were speaking to
Heather when doing official business. People here would think it odd of me to
use a title of nobility. Presumptuous even."

It was not lost on April that Jeff had accepted Lord
much more graciously than she did Lady.

"Yes," Ferdinando agreed, "but I've
found that people acknowledge nobility even if it doesn't have a title
attached. We discussed that with April a little. We should clear the floor. I
fear they are waiting for us to vacate to resume. Would you care to join us for
a drink?"

"Thank you, but another time," April spoke
up." I need to refrain from alcohol for a couple days and we need to order
dinner still."