Her Brother's Keeper - eARC (14 page)

Two levels of berths ringed the crew compartment, fifteen in each layer. They were separated by sections of life-support equipment, compartments for storage of personal effects, and structural supports. The top level was offset slightly from the bottom one, and could be accessed by a narrow catwalk when the ship was under gravity. In the center of the crew compartment was a commons area and recreational center, complete with screens, games, a zero-g-capable kitchenette, and seating. The commons was deserted presently, as most of the crewmembers who weren’t on watch were off ship, enjoying their last few days of planetside leave.

A latrine and shower room was adjacent to the crew deck. While each berth had its own relief tube, the regular zero-g-capable toilets were much less awkward to use. The showers, likewise, were designed to work in freefall, though they functioned just fine when the ship was planeted. Marcus’ brief, hot shower was nonetheless glorious after a day of running around in full battle rattle under the blazing light and heat of Lone Star.

Chapter 13

New Austin

Lone Star System

Aterrizaje, Capital District

Southern Hemisphere

The Aterrizaje Stampede was a big event, spanning six days and dozens of events. It was as close as New Austin came to having its own Olympic Games, and this year was its biggest showing yet. The whole thing had been a whirlwind, and Annie found herself in awe of the spectacle. At its peak, there were fifty thousand people in attendance at the fairgrounds, and countless more watching the media coverage. It was positively overwhelming for a simple country girl from the outback, but Annie was holding her own. She was enjoying the freedom of being away from her parents, but at the same time found herself wishing they could be there too. Her mom was busy opening a new mining claim, trying to get it up and running while she could still travel comfortably. Her dad was off playing soldier somewhere in the city. Both of them called her every night.

In any case Annie wasn’t lacking for company. Carlos had made good on his offer to show her around the city, and she’d visited her friends from school as well. Aterrizaje was a small but rapidly growing city of a quarter million people. It could be tough to navigate sometimes, but between the mass transit system and the autotaxis, getting where you needed to go wasn’t too difficult. There was a lot to see and do, even outside of the rodeo. Annie’s event wasn’t until the final day, so until then she was free to explore. There was one place in the city she really wanted to see, though.

“Here we are,” Carlos said, stopping his father’s automobile in an otherwise empty parking lot. “The northwest viewing area of the spaceport. Why did you want to come here?”

Annie didn’t answer. She hopped out of the vehicle, closing the door behind her, and looked longingly to the south through a high, chain-link fence. As the sun sank toward the horizon, a dozen ships of various shapes and sizes were silhouetted against the fiery red sky and golden clouds. “There,” she said, pointing at one of them. “That one off to the left? That’s the
Andromeda.
”

“Did you read that from your eyepiece?” Carlos asked, standing next to her.

“Yeah, but I already knew which one it was. I know her captain. Nice lady named Blackwood. She had dinner at my house. It was no big deal.”

“Really? That’s crazy.”

Annie’s expression sunk. “My dad is leaving on that ship. He’ll probably be gone for over a year.”

Carlos’ expression softened. He very lightly patted Annie on the shoulder, but quickly yanked his hand away, as if he thought she would bite. “I’m sorry. Why is he leaving?”

“Work. It’s a long story.”

“You want him to stay, don’t you? It’s okay. I’m close with my papa, too.”

“No, that’s not it.”

“You don’t want him to stay?”

“No,
I
want to
go
with him!” Annie insisted, looking up at her friend. “I want to be on that ship! I want to go to space! It’s not fair. Dad doesn’t even really want to go, we just need the money. It’s my dream and I can’t go.”

“Do you really want to leave? Things aren’t so bad here.”

Annie looked up into Carlos’ big brown eyes and felt her face flush again. “No…no they’re not,” she said, managing a smile. He moved closer to her then, gently taking her by the hand. Her mind racing, her heart pounding, not knowing what to do, she closed her eyes and let it happen. Their lips touched, butterflies fluttered around in her stomach, and she wanted to melt. Then the ground started to shake.
Wait,
she thought.
The ground
is
shaking.

Pulling away from Carlos’ embrace, Annie ran forward to the fence and watched, in awe, as one of the ships lifted off from its launchpad. Her eyepiece identified it as the
Amerigo Vespucci
, a merchant vessel registered on Earth itself. She was tall and sleek, a new design from the heart of the Concordiat. The ground shook and a huge plume of dust and smoke spewed forth as she lifted off like a volcanic eruption. The fires of her fusion rockets were nearly blinding as she throttled up and began to accelerate. She watched the ship roar into the darkening sky, leaving a trail of smoke behind it, for what seemed like a long time. The rumble of her engines faded as she disappeared over the horizon.

“Wow,” she whispered. Carlos coughed awkwardly. Annie spun around to face him, hands behind her back. She could tell she was blushing. “Sorry about that.”

“No, I am sorry,” Carlos said sheepishly. “I was an ass. I didn’t mean to…you know. I’m sorry.”

“What? No! No, no!” Annie said, stepping forward and looking up into his eyes. “That was…that was amazing. I just…I’m sorry I’m such a schiz. I get distracted easy. My mom says I get that from my dad.”

“So,” Carlos said, looking around. “What do you want to do now?”

Annie raised an eyebrow and folded her hands across her chest. “I don’t know what you think you’re going to get, cowboy, but let me tell you something…”

“No no no!” the young man pleaded, the color draining from his face. “That’s not what I meant, I swear!”

Annie softened her expression, smiled, and shook her head. Before Carlos could protest anymore, she shushed him. “I’m just teasing you, stupid. I’m sure you don’t want to sit out here and watch ships lift off with me all night.”

“I will if that’s what you want to do,” he said. “But I’m hungry.”

“Me too. You want to get something to eat in town?”

“I know some places that are good. Do you like tacos?”

“Everybody on New Austin likes tacos,” Annie said.

“There’s also a party tonight, if you want to go.”

“I heard about it. People say it gets crazy.”

“It’s not bad. Everyone is easygoing. No drama.”

Annie looked longingly at the spaceport one last time. “You know what? Let’s go. I haven’t been to the city in years. I never get to have a life. Tonight, I’m going to have a life. I’m going to have fun and not worry about tomorrow.”

“Don’t you ride tomorrow?”

Annie frowned. “Okay, I’ll worry about one thing that happens tomorrow. I ride in the afternoon. When is your event?”

“A little earlier than yours, but still after lunch.”

“Good. I want to sleep in in the morning.”

Carlos’ jaw fell open. “What?”

Annie punched him in the arm and laughed at him. “You’re so easy to mess with. It’s adorable.”

* * *

After the sun had gone down, as New Austin’s twin moons rose into the night sky, Wade found himself driving the rented van on the way to the evening’s entertainment. Their destination was a popular bar called Denim & Diamonds.
It was a stereotypically New Austin establishment, complete with twangy Western-style music and line dancing (which New Austin classified as a Heritage Art Form), but the drinks were cheap, the beer was good, and they had plenty of pool tables. Wade didn’t like to drink much, so he volunteered to drive the van so everyone else could have a good time. They could’ve simply hired an autotaxi, of course, but why spend the money when Captain Blackwood had already paid for rental vehicles?

Denim & Diamonds
was jumping, but Wade had screened ahead and reserved a table for the team. He sipped water for the next few hours while the team caroused, drank, laughed, and enjoyed greasy bar food. Marcus didn’t drink that much, but he got goofy when he’d had a few, and was laughing at Randy Markgraf’s dumb jokes. Randy didn’t stay too long; he lived in Aterrizaje and went home most nights, preferring to sleep in his own bed. Marcus said he’d be going to bed before it got too late; Annie was in town for the big rodeo and he wanted to watch her ride the next day. Hondo took an autotaxi back to the ship so he could screen his wife and children, as he did nearly every night. Ben Halifax was last seen leaving the bar with two pretty young women, and had them both laughing and giggling as they went out the door. The brash, loud, abrasive mercenary certainly had a way with the ladies. It was baffling.

Ken Tanaka, despite his reserved, quiet demeanor, lightened up after a few shots of sake and whiskey. He was off at the billiards tables with Marcus, who was teaching him to play pool. Marcus was so good at pool that Wade had accused him of being some kind of wizard. He’d spent half the night whupping all comers and winning a few credits in the process.

Wade found himself alone at their table, sipping a fizzy soft drink and feeling a little bored. He didn’t abstain from drinking on any religious grounds. He just didn’t like the feeling of being drunk. He didn’t like the loss of control or cognition. It was a personal quirk, but he’d seen enough of his compatriots in the fleet get in trouble from alcohol-related incidents that he thought of it as an advantage. He’d never had to go stand in front of the CO and explain some ridiculous behavior from the night before. No, being sober allowed Wade to execute shenanigans without getting caught, and usually without being suspected. He smiled at the thought.

“What’s so funny?” It was Devree Starlighter. Wade hadn’t noticed her come back to the table. “Where is everybody?” she asked.

“Marcus and Ken are shooting pool. Everybody else left, and I think those two are going to want to go after they finish their game. Where have you been?”

“Dancing!” she said with a grin. She’d had a few drinks and was a lot bubblier than usual. “I’ve lived on New Austin for almost three years now and have
never
been line dancing. I can’t believe how fun it is!”

Wade couldn’t help but size the lovely sniper up as she sat down next to him. She had dressed the part for a night of line dancing at Denim & Diamonds: short denim skirt, cowboy boots, sleeveless blouse, and a cowboy hat. All of the stuff was brand new, but she wore it like it had been made for her. Despite being a little tipsy, she gracefully crossed her legs after sitting down.

And what nice legs they are,
Wade thought, trying not to stare. He could see the line where flesh gave way to prosthetic, but it was barely noticeable at a glance. There was another such fine seam on her arm.

“See something you like there, buddy?” Devree said, with a twinkle in her cold blue eyes.

Wade felt his face immediately flush. He’d been caught staring.
Smooth,
he thought to himself. “Uh, sorry,” he managed. “I was just…you know, your prosthetic.”
Yeah, that sounds reasonable.

“They’re pretty realistic, aren’t they?” Devree said. She hiked up her skirt a little and slid a finger along the fine line where biology met machinery. “I’ve seen a lot of people with ugly gray replacements, where they look like robots. That’s the fashion in a lot of places. I paid the extra for the insurance coverage to get the top quality replacement parts, and I’m glad I did.” She took a sip from a bottle of beer.

“You can barely even tell they’re not real,” Wade said.

He fell silent when Devree grabbed his hand and placed it on her thigh. “Right?” she asked. “It’s okay, touch it. My legs use the heat produced from their normal operation to make the synthetic skin warm to the touch. It feels almost like real skin, doesn’t it?”

“It…uh…it sure does,” Wade managed.

Devree’s expression softened. She sat up a little straighter, pulled her hemline back down, and looked apologetic. “Oh my God, I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m embarrassing you.”

“No!” Wade protested. “It’s okay.”

“Oh, I’m sure you enjoyed that,” she said slyly. “But this is unprofessional. I just haven’t dressed up and gone out in a long time. I sure as hell shouldn’t have had that shot of tequila. Nothing good comes of it when I drink tequila. That’s how I ended up married.”

“You’re married?” Wade asked, mortified.

“No! I mean, I
was
. Not anymore. Back home. I went to the academy with him, we were young, we were stupid, we got married on a crazy impulse, and it was a terrible idea. We lasted six months before we split. Luckily, getting divorced on Mandalay is pretty easy.” She chuckled.

“Well, I’m sorry it didn’t work out,” Wade said.

She shook her head. “It’s better this way. His name is Heath, and we’re still friends. Marrying another cop is a bad idea anyway. Too many work problems get brought home.” She took a sip of water from a glass on the table. “What about you? Are you married?”

“Me? Nah. I, uh, wouldn’t have been touching you like that if I was married.”

“Oh really?” Devree laughed and shook her head. “You’ve been on New Austin for a while though, haven’t you?”

“I immigrated here…it’ll be four years ago, four local years I mean, next month.”

“What in the world brought you all the way out here?”

“I lived on Hayden, like Marcus. We were stationed at the same place. There’s this giant CDF base outside of the city of Langley, I mean, a
huge
base. Probably fifty thousand personnel there. I lived on base, in bachelor quarters. I’m glad I did, actually. Langley is a shithole.”

“I’ve heard that,” Devree said. “I’ve never been on Hayden, but you don’t hear a lot of good things about it.”

“They got the hell blasted out of them by the Maggots during the War. Hayden isn’t that big, and it’s like eighty-five percent covered by ocean to begin with. The Maggots leveled most of the terraformed landmass, and I mean they
obliterated
it. If you go up north there are crater fields stretching as far as you can see in every direction. They say it took years for the dust to settle. There are the ruins of cities and towns, parts of ships that survived reentry, all kinds of stuff, but almost no one goes up there. The colonial government tries its best to keep people out. A lot of the ruins are still radioactive from the Maggots’ particle beams, they say, and the place is a graveyard. They don’t want grave robbers looting what little remains.”

“That’s…depressing,” Devree said. “Mandalay is beautiful. It didn’t get hit in the war. The terraformed zone is huge, and outside of that it has its own ecosystem. Plants, animals, everything. There are jungles of these…well, they’re not really trees, but they kind of do the same thing. Some of them are eighty meters tall. When they bloom, it’s the prettiest thing. They turn dozens of shades of bright colors. If you see it from a distance, the whole forest looks like a bowl of candies.”