April 5: A Depth of Understanding (17 page)

"You sing and you know music. I was impressed at your ability with Ruby, to jump in and improvise. Couldn't you just cut loose and go out on your own?"

"I might, but the history of show business is littered with lead singers who thought they didn't need the talents of their supporting musicians to be a success and flopped spectacularly. It would be a huge risk. I might try it some time, especially if our band declines and I need to do something new anyway, but frankly, I'm pretty comfortable. I'm enough of a public figure to escape a lot of the minor hassles of the mob. What I'd really
like
is to live up here. Europe would just be a half-hearted solution.

"What can I say? Ride it until it fades," April suggested. "Just be aware. Home tried to make sure anyone could get on a shuttle and come up, but we didn't try to make sure they could bring their money with them. That's one of the little things that is sort of an intelligence test. If you can't figure out how to bring your money you are less likely to just abandon everything and lift. It helps keep up the quality of the immigrants."

"
Keeping
your money if you make much at all is already an intelligence test down there. I have an army of accountants and lawyers kept busy avoiding every petty tax and fee which would bleed me dry. I'm just worried if there will be a Home to come to after that emergency push through message that woke me up this morning. That's why I wanted to talk to you."

"I'm finding most Earthies that come up don't know the whole story. Not just North Americans either. The news was censored and sanitized in a lot of countries. There was a reason they surrendered to us. We hurt them far worse than they are willing to admit publicly. We've been attacked repeatedly. We had an invasion from North American right inside in our corridors. They shot nuclear weapons at us. Even after we have a treaty they shot a rail gun at us not even a year back and that's why we moved out here to L2. And we are still here. Did you know we drew a line in the sand so to speak and said no more armed Earth ships past L1?"

"Yes, they let that in the news, but are playing it as crazy arrogance and that space is the common heritage of all mankind."

"We live here," April said. "Do you have a house back on Earth?"

"I pretty much live on the road. But I have a small place out in the country in Connecticut."

"How would you feel if they said it belongs to everybody not you?"

"They seem to feel that way already. Given my property taxes I just rent it from the government. And the deed restrictions and zoning laws pretty much say I can't do what I want with it. But I see the point you are trying to make. You are not sitting on dirt surrounded like I am at home."

"Exactly. They are saying it doesn't matter how far we move away. They claim they make law for the whole solar system. I predict if we go off to the stars they will claim their law follows us there too, as soon as they have a ship that can follow."

"Well
is
it arrogance? Can you keep them from coming past L1?"

"I think so. They seem to think if the UN tells us to do something we can't defy that many nations. But there are only a couple nations capable of sending armed ships to us. There are only a couple who'd
want
to. It's easy to ask, cui bono? And the answer comes up either of the two super powers." April got an odd look for a moment. "Or
both
. And if they think painting a UN flag on the side and putting a blue patch on their shoulder means we won't know who to blame they are crazy."

She looked at Amos funny. "You remember my friend Jeff, who lifted with us?"

"Of course. He seemed like a lot of very bright, technically oriented people I've known. He isn't terribly social because his mind is on all those things he wants to do. Nothing wrong with that though. The world needs people like that. They rarely are the sort that make trouble. They
make
things instead of politicking and accumulating power."

"The Chinese have had a long running dispute with his step-mom. She was on the moon with the Chinese base there, but she defected. The Chinese feel that once they have educated you, then anything you create or discover is theirs. They feel they own your talents and you owe them for your education. So if you try to leave it is stealing from the state. Following me?"

"Yes, well they wouldn't put it that directly in North America, but the end result is pretty much the same, that if you want to leave North America you are a unappreciative traitor for thinking anyplace could be better."

"Since Jeff used some of the things from his mom to improve our ships, they decided to steal one to get the tech back, since they couldn't get to his mom and reeducate her right now. I'm sure they felt it was just getting back what she had selfishly stolen by leaving with her state supplied education. They used soldiers to blow it off the docking mast at USSII, killed the two crew members aboard and stuffed it in one of their shuttles and left. It had stuff we just couldn't let them have, including a weapon that I don't want to talk about in detail, but it was very surgical, no spectacular big boom, but very effective to target a single building or plane."

"I never knew that. I had no idea you were at odds with China too."

"They took Jeff's ship back to their spaceport on Earth. Here's a picture of it." April brought up a satellite view of the Jiuquan Launch Center on her pad. "This is out in the middle of desert for security. You can see the edge of a supporting city here on this edge," she traced with her finger. "This was their main space port."

"Was?" Amos asked lifting an eyebrow.

"Yes, this is a before picture. Note the little map legend in the corner. That a five kilometer line overlaid on the photo, with the little pips marking off single kilometers."

Amos nodded understanding.

"This is the after photo." She didn't explain it. She just laid it in front of Amos and let him study it.

"Is that a big pit? Are you sure this is the same place? It looks like satellite photos I've seen of a big open pit mine for copper."

"Use the back button and look at the edges where there's the same shape to the land."

"It
is
the same place," he said after jogging back and forth several times. "That hole is a little bigger than the scale..."

"Yep."

"Are you saying Home did this?" He looked pretty upset.

"Not at all.
Jeff
did this. You don't want to steal from Jeff. It wasn't Home militia or anybody else. He destroyed the ship rather than let them steal it to reverse engineer. He didn't have to ask permission or get anybody to declare war. It was a private matter."

"You can't let individuals have that kind of power!"

"So if the President of the USNA says to bomb someplace it's different, because he has a fancier title and he is sanitized from having to push the actual button himself?"

"But when a country does it there are more people involved, there's more
restraint
."

"Where was all that restraint a couple years ago when President Hadley shot a couple nukes at us during the war? Seems to me everybody right down the line hopped to and followed Hadley's orders to massacre us."

"I heard you say that. He did that, for real?"

"Yes, we might have been able to shoot them down, but we had an ally who did it for us."

Amos looked stunned. "They would risk this happening again?" he said stabbing the image on the pad with an incriminating finger, "to force you to leave someplace they will leave empty because they have no use for it? At least that's what Mr. Muños told me was happening this morning, when I was waiting for you."

"Yes, it's a giant stupid pissing contest and I'm sure whoever is doing it thinks the UN will take the blame and they'll be safe from such retribution," she said making a motion at the screen.

"I'm going to be back to Earth in a few days, I can't stay here this time. If I do come back it will take time and planning. I hope you know it isn't simple cowardice I'm going back. It's not because I'm afraid they will blow you guys out of the sky."

"I can't fault you. I don't really see you have a dog in this fight right now. You don't have any short term influence with your government and you aren't to blame for what they do. But you may still suffer from what they do in your name. We'll do what is necessary. Spacers understand necessity. I wouldn't take a gig real close to any major UN facilities if I were you. In fact it might be smart to take a few extra vacation days out at your country home if you see things going bad. Not even hanging around any big cities," she suggested.

"Thank you. I'll be careful. Are you sure you want to be here? I mean, do you
need
to be here, because it would be silly to sit on a target just for a show of solidarity."

"I'm not sure. I may be of use. I sat in his office when Jeff directed the strike against his ship. I might be on a ship, or I may be down a kilometer underground on the moon. I'm sure a lot of people who can get away from their work will decide to visit aunt Millie, or send the kids to visit their grandmother for a few weeks. Some with money might even go visit New Las Vegas for a bit and ride it out in luxury. At least you really know what is happening now. That's more than most of the people who only know what the talking heads on the TV channels are telling them."

"The pepper didn't kill you," he joked.

"Now that you understand what's been happening, see why it's hard for me to worry about a stuffed pepper?"

"Yeah, but I'm still going to buy that app," he vowed.

Chapter 13

When they got home there was a shipping tube waiting for April, pretty good sized too. Nothing she expected. A check of the label showed it was Lindsey, but she certainly hadn't expected her drawing from the notebook this fast.

There was a sticky billing type envelope stuck on the outside. Inside was Lindsey's hand written note.

April,

I imagine you expected a drawing similar in size to the other you bought. I started one like that and set it aside. It didn't seem to do the subject justice. This is actually a bit bigger than the poster size turned to landscape mode. It's sort of heavy vellum paper, almost light card stock, but I liked it and it's the biggest drawing I've done by hand. I'd had no experience but working in a notebook and it was hard to adjust to drawing something that is meant to be viewed from further back than at arm's length, where I have to be to draw it. Does that make sense? Once I started on it I just couldn't stop. I'm glad it's done because I need some sleep tonight.

In any case, if you don't care for it tell me and I'll finish the smaller one for you, as I plan to eventually anyway, but I think this is the better drawing if you have room to display it.

Thank you for all your kind words about my work.

Lindsey

Gunny helped her get it out of the tube without damaging it. They put it on the floor, because there was no other horizontal surface big enough. They put their pads and a print book and a box of cookies on the corners to hold the curl down. Then they sat on the couch and just looked at it for awhile.

The sketch in Lindsey's notebook was black and white. In this version the two main characters were full color. Intense color. The men on the slightly raised improvised dais behind them were in color, but more muted. The figures on each side of the raised area, ship owners, merchants, people of means and connections, were still done in some detail, enough to identify them easily, but their clothing and features were cranked back to almost pastel tints.

"I'm calling Brown's Mercantile right now to come pick this up. They can mount it right and make a frame and seal it up in argon, before we mess up and crease it or drop something on it."

"If that girl didn't have a photo to work from, beside just her sketch, she has a phenomenal memory," Gunny declared.

"The Assembly sessions do have a video record. I don't know if she needed to check it. I don't care really. I'm almost ashamed to keep this to myself. It should be in a museum."

"Or a public art gallery," Gunny agreed."Do you mean we're going to have this on the wall in your new place? Along with the fashion drawings and the Tongan tapa?"

"Yeah, we'll hang it if I have to build a wall just for that purpose."

"I need to clue you in. You can stop worrying about how we'll have used furniture and you're not sure about having people visit. If they stop looking at this to check out the furniture they're idiots."

* * *

"I'm shocked how easily we got work," Frederic admitted. "But that push message about the UN scared the crap outta me. We seem to have one case of bad luck after another. We waited to come here until right before somebody wants to attack them."

"Remember the moon," Jesse suggested. "They were going to go grab those elopers and be right back to Armstrong. Piece of cake and teach that kid at Central a lesson..."

"You figure they can deal with the UN?"

"A typical, for real, UN police action is to send a couple hundred ill equipped Gambians of whom three can speak English or French to speak with outsiders and a bunch of interpreters to pass their own orders around in four or five tribal languages. Any serious UN action with modern forces is just a facade by one of the Security Council to distance themselves from doing the dirty deed themselves. So you tell me. Who wants to hurt Home? Keeping in mind they already forced North America to a surrender and they are still in some chaos internally."

"China?"

"Got it in one. I don't see any other possibility."

* * *

Jeff showed up unannounced at breakfast the next morning, a pleasant surprise.

"The guys trying stuff with the bucky tubes are getting some interesting results. Not what they were trying to get, but interesting. The two guys trying to build regularly spaced side defects in a tube found one way to get them, but in a spiral and it makes them clump together. They sort of spin themselves into a thread like wool if you are careful pulling them from a mass all along the length," he showed with his fingers. "But if you work one spot too much you can get a lump that won't pull out any further and is a hard ball you are stuck with. One guy said it's like what wool does when you make felt."