April 2: Down to Earth (6 page)

"When your folks decided to have you, the only thing I counseled them about your mods, was to not pick anything not very well tested and reversible. They're smart people; they already had already pretty much decided that by themselves. They avoided the German prodigy mod, thanks be, or you'd be needing meds to stay sane by now. This mod you're talking about, I have to say the way things look I'd give you better odds of survival if you have it. I don't think we're done with war in the inner system, during your lifetime, I'm very sorry to say."

"Oh?" April asked, sorry to hear that, because she trusted his judgment.

"I don't think we hurt North America hard enough to really make them feel defeated and the way some down there are complaining about the terms of surrender, I'm afraid we'll have to do it all over again and this time we may have to do it more than we would ever want to. In fact if he has any other mods to benefit a soldier, get ‘em."

That really surprised April. She had no idea he felt so strongly.

"Why don't you talk to him for us and see what you think? I already have Jeff going to ask him about the mod and that way I'll have the benefit of your opinion about him also. Not just for this one mod, but your gut feeling about him as a person and long term resource."

"OK," he grinned at her. "As I said I'm going to need some work before he does and I wasn't very happy about going dirt side to Italy or wherever to have it done. I'd rather stay up here and work with him, if I like him. If he can help me with some of the standard work, maybe I'll get a good deal being his Guinea pig too. I'll let you know."

"Thanks Gramps," she said getting loose of her perch and wiggling her toes ready to leave. "Love you," she reminded him. Then she turned back suddenly bashful. "I'm glad to find out you'll eventually do some life extension. I was worried you wouldn't for some reason, like Mom's folks. I want to have you around."

"Love you too, April," he gave a little wave goodbye, nodding at what she said and looking pleased as he went back to work.

At the other end of the cubic Jeff was already texting an order to Dave's shop, for dumb rods and some fancier reentry vehicles to carry the new weapons he was making.

Chapter 4

The dirtside news the next morning was very confusing to April. She tried to understand it as she walked along to the cafeteria. The newest controversy which had gained everyone's attention was a Chinese company offering a new pet modification. Whatever breed of dog you favored, they claimed to be able to greatly increase the intelligence of the pup. The immediate response in North America was a bill to ban the process, although nobody could even state clearly what the precise procedure was they were banning. Many experts were saying they didn't believe the claims, or believe intelligence could even be defined sufficiently to measure the claims. Others joked that you'd just get a dog that acted like a cat and some speculated using the procedure on an ape would endanger human's place on the top of life's pyramid. Others worried the technique would be applied to people, creating a new super race. The reporter interviewed those concerned that such a dog would have a soul and have to be given legal status as a person. Then he spoke with another activist indignant that anyone would doubt that the beloved friends of man didn't already have souls and a place in heaven with their masters.

When the reporter finally asked - "What do you say boy?" and presented the mic for a deep "Woof!" from a Shepherd-Mix, April gave up and switched her spex off. The people down there were all absolutely mad she was certain and she wondered that they kept things organized enough to keep most of them fed. She considered briefly if perhaps they just manufactured these news articles to fill dead air. She had seen a few dogs visiting Australia and once petted the neighbors' terrier when her grandfather told her how. He explained to her, when the dog leaned against her leg and looked up at her out on the veranda, that it wanted petted. She still didn't understand why it acted like that, or why it seemed to like her at all and had gone in and washed her hands carefully when she was done.

She didn't think dogs were very sanitary from what she had seen of that one and definitely felt you could boost their intelligence quite a bit, before you could notice much improvement. They just didn't generate the adoring fondness in her she had seen in others. Maybe you had to be raised with them to feel that bond. Now, Allison down in housekeeping had a ferret and even though it had a much smaller skull to hold brains, the little fellow seemed much smarter than a dog. It didn't slobber either.

Most of the businesses April was walking past here on the full G level, were large corporations like Mitsubishi itself. There was an office for SC/Rutan, Merck and Sony-Sun. There was also a few small shops that specialized in construction and services such accounting and Earth-side legal representation. She had noticed an office being remodeled the last few days behind a construction curtain, separating it from the corridor and this morning she was surprised to see it was now three separate tiny stores, each with a distinct decor and style. The first was done in a nautical motif, with lots of rope and a heavily carved wooden sign that proclaimed: Home Chandlery and Provision Co. She stopped, staring in the door unbelieving. There was a planked wood floor, with the individual boards pegged down with dowels, which ran to a low counter covered with carpeting, with a pair of heavy wooden chairs on the customer side and a tall wooden stool on the other. A couple flat screens scrolled pictures of the goods available and a sign gave their net address and invited - "Search our catalog and sign up for automatic updates and sales." The vertical sample bins behind the clerk's space were labeled. Chocolates and Candies - Coffees and Teas - Intoxicants and Spices - Fine Frozen Provisions - Fresh Fruits and Vegetables - Scents and Cosmetics - Pharmaceuticals - Weapons and Munitions - Defensive and Security Systems - Custom and Cut Dry Goods - Hard Wares and Materials – Domestic Appliances - IF YOU DON"T SEE IT WE"LL GET IT! - A big sign said above it all.

"Come in, come in, dear. Nobody else can come in while you're standing in the door." The fellow inviting her was sitting on the carpeted counter, eschewing the stool behind. His feet were well short of the floor and she realized with a start that he was a very small person. "You are the first person to step in my door. My very first walk-in even if you don't find something to become my first customer. But I will find something that you absolutely can't live without. If I can't, by damn, I'll find something you want to sell me! What you got to horse trade? I'm all fired up and ready to do some deals today."

April laughed at the good natured spiel and decided to stay a minute and see if she could give a little of it back. She skipped the chair and also sat on the broad counter cross legged. To do that she had to tilt the dagger in the front of her sash over so it didn't poke her and swept the muzzle of her laser back on her left so it didn't ride up off the counter.

"Ah, I've misjudged already. A person can't sit in those arm chairs easily, with weapons hanging. I'll have to see to that today. I'm Zach Bern, proprietor. I was just about to have a coffee, would you like to join me? It's of our own stock and I'd welcome your opinion of it."

"Please, that would be nice, but I'm on my way to breakfast and hungry, so I'll stay just for a cup and I'm off, though I'm sure I'll be back to this fascinating place."

The fellow looked even smaller, standing to get the coffee, even though the counter with the coffee pot was built to his height. He turned holding two huge white stoneware mugs, with a red logo and lettering that proclaimed his store and its physical address. "Keep the mug please. Drinking from a plastic mug seems so uncivilized to me. That's one of my goals to accomplish here, to bring a few more of those things to Home, that make life a little more enjoyable and comfortable. You're probably station born aren't you?" he inquired.

"Yes, but I've been Earthside to Australia and Hawaii and I go frequently to other stations. In fact I make ISSII and New Las Vegas at least monthly." She stopped and smelled the coffee carefully and took a long sip.

"Well? What do you think? Is that better than what you get in the cafeteria?" His face said he knew it was much better. The cafeteria coffee was from liquid concentrate and had a bit of a bite, almost a French Roast and cheap enough to offer the free refills everyone demanded.

"Oh yes. It's much better than the food service. I'm sure you'll sell a lot of it. Is it what you would call your house blend?"

"That's a fair description," he agreed, looking disappointed she didn't praise it more. "Are you a connoisseur of coffees?" he inquired, with perhaps a little skepticism.

"I have a friend Sylvia Anderson who invites me to dinner occasionally. I'm afraid she has spoiled me, by exposing me to all sorts of good things at her table."

"Do you know what she likes to serve?  I appreciate fine coffee myself. But I'm limited of course in what I will offer commercially, by the price I think the market will bear."

"Sylvia served us a Jamaican coffee, but when I priced it I wasn't willing to pay what they wanted it's true. It was about six hundred North American dollars a kilo. I bought a nice Kona estate bean, that tastes as good to me and only cost four hundred a kilo, if you'll buy a twenty five kilo bag of green beans. That's what I make at home and what we brew on board working."

"You're talking about on board ship when you make these trips to the other stations? If you're responsible for other supplies, please consider if my new establishment can be of any assistance. I have to build a new network of contacts and customers here. But all that is just detail if I have what you need. Do you have a job title?"

April laughed and offered her hand. "I'm April Lewis. In a family business we don't have many labels. My brother is the primary owner and I'm the secondary technically, but we don't say President and Vice President. The only title that means anything is when we undock. I'm Master of the Armed Merchant
Happy Lewis
."

His eyebrows went up at that. "You mean you're the Captain?"

He accepted her hand and gave it a very gentle squeeze, not really a shake.

"Like this," she said and showed him the custom of touching finger tips to palm. That's how spacers do."

He blushed deeply, surprising her.

"That's" - she hesitated, searching for a word and rejected vulgar - "naughty where you were raised?"

He nodded embarrassed. "But if that's the custom here I'll adapt it. It'll just take a while to untrain my social reflexes."

"It were a military vessel I suppose you'd say Captain. The North Americans do. But it gets confusing because there is a rank of Captain but anyone of any rank is
the
Captain when they have overall command of a vessel. We don't need all that confusion, so we just say Master."

She had been reading the scrolling screens as they talked, but what had caught her eye was gone. "Shop," she asked, "please show the list of specials again." It ignored her, so he quickly edited it.

"Store, accept inputs for sign requests addressed to shop from any voice. Exclude price change, erasures, shut off and inventory information. Show specials."

The thin screen showed a short list -

Handmade Hungarian Apple Strudel with Almonds/Golden Raisins, guaranteed. 85.00 $NA

Fresh Hawaiian Pineapple - Ripe, whole and guaranteed. 32.00 $NA

Tree Ripe Washington Peach - Large and guaranteed. [email protected] / 6 FOR 30.00 $NA

Fine Macedonian Milk Chocolate - 1 Kilogram - guaranteed. 11.00 $NA

Sig-Sauer 6mm caseless right handed in titanium with accessories: 3,214.00 $NA*

Rhineman - Howe African Influenza serum genotyped and dated. 35cc- 7 doses - 1,400 $NA*

Intel Pad-on-a-Chip Com multi-compatible with spex and case - 48.00 $NA

Cannabis Caribbean mix potency graded foil pack 200 grams guaranteed. 200.00 $NA *

Pipe tobacco cherry in tin potency graded 200 grams guaranteed. 370.00 $NA *

* Items requiring certification of majority and/or user agreement to respect environmental  controls for common cubic and employment restrictions. Hazard warnings test/pass and waiver of liability mandatory. We reserve the right to refuse our trade to anyone for any reason.

"I'd like to send the six peach package and a pineapple to a friend as a gift. Do I have to hire a courier service, or can you deliver?"

"I'll have an automated cart soon, but for a few days I'll be making deliveries in person, at the end of the day if that's OK. I need to learn my way around and I'm hoping to meet my customers in person."

"OK, I'd like it delivered to Sylvia Anderson with a note just saying, ‘Enjoy - April'. You'll find them on E ring, deck seventeen. You can leave it with anyone there." She motioned with her pad she was ready to pay and he pointed out the secure port by the counter.

"The coffee lady, right?"

"Yes the same. You prefer USNA dollars?"

"Or EuroMarks, makes no difference. I'd like to meet her anyway, maybe she'll receive them. Do you want to see the goods first?"

"No I probably couldn't judge them anyway, but she'll give me an honest appraisal. Ripe peaches are something she mentioned once she misses." She beamed the money to him.

"Ok, I appreciate the handshake lesson too. Thanks"

 "Hey, I'm starved. Sorry but I have to get to breakfast. Thanks for the coffee Zach."

April was delayed so long with Zach she was determined to not stop in the other stores. She'd just look them over in passing. The next shop was very conservative. Glass windows on each side of a glass door all framed out in a dark reddish wood. The Gold foil sign in the right window said: - Private Bank of Home - in an arch and all their financial services listed below it. So much for being first, with her suggestion to Jeff.

The inside didn't have any counters or teller windows, just a single Earth style desk and chairs, on a dark blue carpet with little yellow diamonds in it. The fellow working didn't look up as she passed. There was an open metal work door of vines and leaves going in the back room with a aged copper patina. But the massive hinges belied the delicate look of the grill work. What did catch her eye was in the left window there was another gilt sign, with a logo she wasn't familiar with at all. It was three golden globes suspended like cherries on their stems. The sign said Pawn Broker - Loans against Collateral - Valuables Bought and Sold.