Authors: Alan Black
“Starting with your grandparents the causes of death were …?”
Tasso sighed. “Is this really necessary?”
Valenzuela smiled, “I realize many planets have developed cultures that prize personal privacy. We have no such nonsense aboard a spacecraft. Everyone in the communal showers shares your athlete’s foot. If you play your banjo too loud, everyone on deck knows you can’t strum a B-flat to save your life. If you fart, everyone on board ends up breathing it.”
“I do have athlete’s foot, I don’t know what a banjo is, and I don’t know how to stop … um, passing gas.”
Valenzuela laughed, “You used to have athlete’s foot. We fixed that already. The banjo is for a later conversation. And explosive methane generation and expulsion is something we can fix with a pill if it becomes too bad, but on a ship where half our diet is beans … well, we mostly live with it.”
She looked at Tasso. “Now, grandparents …?”
Tasso sighed, “My grandfather died of a stroke and my grandmother had heart failure.” He tapped open his dataport and showed her the medical scan recordings of their deaths.
Valenzuela shook her head, “Plaque buildup in both cases. I’m sorry they died so young, Tasso. From these scans, it appears the plaque buildup was dietary and not hereditary. Still, it explains much of what we saw in your scans. What was your last meal?”
Tasso thumbed through his dataport until he found the volume on Saronno’s fauna and called up a picture of a yapikino. He showed the doctor the dataport. “I boiled one of these with some taters … potatoes.”
“Oh my … that is ….”
Tasso shrugged, “They have more meat on them than they look, plus they aren’t too hard to trap.”
“I was more surprised at its appearance than its nutritional value. I’ve got to say that the first man to eat one of those must have been ravenous.” Valenzuela shook her head. “Now your parents …?”
Tasso clenched his teeth and said, “My mother … died … of a … in a jack-o’-lantern attack.”
“A what?”
He called up a picture of a jack-o’-lantern. “This is one.” He showed her the dataport.
“Good grief!” The doctor looked shocked. “Do all of the creatures on your planet come from the mind of a hell-bound psychopath?”
Tasso scanned through his personal data until he found his pictures of Ol’ Ben. “And this is the one that did it.”
Valenzuela was shocked, “You have a vid of the creature that killed your mother?”
Tasso shrugged, “Why not? Grandpa says it doesn’t make sense to blame a jack-o’-lantern for doing what a jack does. It isn’t like a person who can choose what it does or doesn’t do. Ol’ Ben just does what he does.”
Valenzuela said, “That is an astonishing perspective. And you haven’t wanted to hunt it down and take revenge?”
Tasso shook his head. “I wouldn’t have to hunt far. Do you see that building there? That’s my house. I shot this video when I left home yesterday. No, it was the day before. Anyway, you don’t so much hunt a jack-o’-lantern as you let it hunt you, and then you try to kill it before it kills you.”
Valenzuela shook her head as if she were trying to clear the image of Ol’ Ben from her brain, “Your father is dead …?”
Tasso said, “I recently found out he’s dead. My uncle told me today. I, um … never met the man.”
“You never knew the … ah. Well, I knew my father. He was a mean S.O.B., a drinker and womanizer. I would’ve been better off without him.”
Tasso shook his head, “Grandpa says we are what our experiences make us. You are who you are because of your father. I am who I am because of the absence of my father. Still, I would’ve liked to have at least met him.”
Valenzuela said, “Living relatives …?”
“I have an uncle. He’s my mother’s older brother. He’s the one who signed me up for this training cruise.”
“The word about that has spread through the senior staff. Your uncle sold you off to us. No offense meant. The captain wants to see you when I’m done with you, to talk about it.”
“So everyone knows about me? The senior staff, you said?”
“Oh, everyone on board knows who you are. Your little episode with the taco on the observation deck has been primetime viewing on the shipnet for a couple of hours now.”
“Viewing …?” Tasso realized he was starting to dangle his questions in imitation of the doctor.
“Yes. I’m sure you’ll see it yourself, eventually. Engineering has actually set the whole thing to music already. It must be slow in engineering after the launch. The only thing the senior staff and the captain know is that your uncle signed you on board for a voyage. Everything you’ve told me is between us. I’ll never tell anyone. The only way anyone will know these personal details is if you tell them. Anyway, I’ve one more thing before I have Otto run you up to see the captain.”
Valenzuela reached into a pocket and pulled out a silver and glass tool. It looked like a small pistol. Without hesitation, she jabbed the muzzle against his neck and pulled the trigger. A muscle spasm twisted Tasso’s head around and he fell to the floor, writhing in pain.
TASSO CRADLED his head in his arms. The pain radiated around his neck. His shoulders stiffened and cramped. He squeezed his eyes shut to stop the pain. Even the light hurt. Then, the pain hit his stomach. He would have vomited if there was anything to throw up. His calf muscles twitched, curling his feet and toes. The pain began to ease, but his stuffy nose was so plugged up he could barely breathe. His vision cleared enough so that he could see Valenzuela staring down at him with curiosity.
“Why?” Tasso croaked.
“Why what …? Oh, this?” She held up the gun-like tool. “I figured since you’ve never seen a hypo before, I’d jam it in and explain later. Besides, this would’ve hurt worse if you’d tensed up before I shot you with it.”
Tasso wasn’t exactly crying, but he had water leaking from his eyes. He couldn’t stop the leaking, no matter how many times he wiped his eyes. He couldn’t clear his stuffiness no matter how many times he blew his nose. He was sitting up, still on the floor, but upright, when Otto stuck his head in the door.
“Ready, Doc?” Otto asked. “Captain Rojo is getting cranky. She’s made her third call down here.”
Valenzuela nodded. “If she calls again, you tell her that I’ll come up there and kick her ass all over again if she keeps bothering us. I’ll send him up there when he is ready, and not before.”
Otto laughed, “You kicked the captain’s butt?”
Valenzuela laughed with him, “Maybe I shouldn’t have said that. We were in third grade and I caught her holding hands with Quique Fuentes at recess. I thought he was supposed to be my boyfriend. Anyway, it must be getting late, I’m babbling.”
Otto, still laughing, said, “The captain mentioned something about it being after midnight and past her bedtime.” He looked down at Tasso. “You ready, kid? All joking aside, when the captain calls, we hop to it.” He grabbed Tasso’s arm and lifted him bodily to his feet. “Come on, greenhorn. It doesn’t hurt that bad. A few nanites are a good thing.”
Tasso stared at Otto and glared at the doctor. “You shot me full of nanites without my permission? What if I didn’t want machines running around inside me and chewing up stuff?”
Valenzuela shook her head. “I didn’t shoot you full. That was a small starter group. Tasso, you’re sixteen and you already have clogged arteries. These nanites will begin to clear the plaque from your system. No. Don’t protest. Your grandparents would be alive today if they’d had these few simple nanites.”
Tasso grabbed another tissue, wiped his eyes, and blew his nose.
Valenzuela said, “Don’t worry about the leakage. That’s the nanites disposing of the toxins and excess plaque. Drink a lot of water … oh, crap. Nothing for another three hours, but when the time is up I want you to drink as much water and clear fluids as you can keep down. It’s a bit of a poorly designed side effect, but it’s necessary in the long run.”
Tasso said, “Grandpa always said we didn’t need such foo-forah. He said it was too expensive for ….” His voice trailed off as he realized his grandparents couldn’t have afforded such medical care. Food, clothing, and shelter were always a barely met priority. “Never mind. Thank you both for your attention to my health.”
Valenzuela shrugged, “Save your thanks for after the rest of the nanite treatments. We have to do this another six times.”
“Oh?” Tasso asked.
Otto laughed, “Yep. And each one hurts worse than the one before.”
“Oh,” Tasso said with a serious lack of enthusiasm. “Maybe I won’t be on board long enough to get another shot.”
Otto said, “That’s for the captain and you to discuss. The doctor and I are going to make you healthy whether you like it or not, but whatever it seems like to you, Doctor Valenzuela has taken a special interest in you, so you get her personal attention for as long as you’re on this ship. And since I’m her personal physician’s assistant, you get my attention as well. Come on, greenhorn, I’m missing a party down on Deck E, so hustle it up.”
Tasso grabbed his bag and followed Otto as closely as he could. The man moved with surprising speed for such a large man. They took so many twists and turns that Tasso would have gotten lost again, if he had figured out where he was in the first place.
They reached the hallway’s dead end. Tasso couldn’t see any way to go. Otto punched a button and stood facing the wall. In a few seconds, doors slipped open to reveal a small room that was about twice the size of Tasso’s bedroom at home, so he didn’t feel claustrophobic when he followed Otto into the room. He did feel a bit hemmed in when the door slid shut. He looked around. There weren’t any windows and the only door had become a wall. Otto pushed a button on the wall. There wasn’t any sound or sense of motion, but when the doors slid open there was a completely new hallway. Tasso grinned to himself. He’d taken his first elevator ride and hadn’t freaked out one little bit.
He was anxious to take another ride and study the elevator as he followed Otto down the hallway. The big man stopped in front of a wooden door. Tasso reached out and touched the door. It certainly looked and felt like wood. He wondered if the door was real wood or the titanium and ceramic blend Anisa told him about.
Otto rapped on the door with his knuckles. The door popped open a few inches as if the knock released a magnetic latch. The man pushed the door open the rest of the way. He propelled Tasso through the doorway, grabbing Tasso’s bag off his shoulder. Otto set the bag on the floor inside the room.
The office was large and much more comfortable than Moffatt’s office. There were chairs and tables scattered about the room. The walls held holos of oddly dressed people, strange creatures, and various memorabilia. There were three people in the room. A woman was sitting behind the desk, reading from a dataport and occasionally making entries. There was a man and a woman in the corner, laughing over something Tasso couldn’t see from the doorway.
Otto smiled at the woman sitting at the desk. “Hey, boss! Here’s your greenhorn.”
The woman looked up from the large dataport inset in the desk. “Thanks, Otto.” She pointed at Tasso and pointed at a chair in front of the desk. “Park it.”
The man in the corner shouted, “Bodacious! You gotta see this score, Lil. Rosa ran up a new high in Sim-Trader. She owned a whole moon by the time she finished.”
Tasso looked at the woman in amazement. A whole moon? How could anyone own that much!
The woman behind the desk saw his expression. She shook her head. “It’s a vid-game. Rosa is a good first officer and a good trader, but in real life she would Saturday-night away any profits long before she could accumulate enough wealth to even buy a bungalow two blocks from the beach on a backwater planet.”
The two in the corner laughed. The woman said with a grin, “Maybe I should buy an upgrade to Sim-Trader that includes the cost of drinking, poker, and hookers to offset the income.”
The captain looked back at Tasso, “You’re the problem
du jour
? You’re Tasso Menzies, right? I’m ship’s captain, Lilianna Rojo. The first officer there is my baby sister Rosa Graham. That big goof is my little brother and our ship’s purser, William Rojo. Don’t worry about getting our names right for now. It’ll come to you over time.”
Tasso nodded, “Yes, Captain.” He was surprised this woman looked so young. He was sure he remembered Freddy saying on the observation deck that the captain was his grandmother. She was exceptionally pretty, with large dark eyes, olive skin, and warm soft-looking lips. He realized he was staring at her and almost missed her next sentence.
“Tasso, huh? That’s an unusual first name, or maybe it’s not on Saronno. Your file says your real first name is just Tass.”
“Yes, Captain. It’s just Tass, middle initial O. Before I was old enough to talk clearly, I kind of jammed them together and it stuck. I don’t know about it being an unusual name. I’ve never heard of anyone else called that except ….” Tasso let his reply fall away.
“Dammit. I hate it when people don’t finish a sentence. Now you have my curiosity stirred up. Except who?” Captain Rojo tapped her dataport, opening and reading a report that hovered above her desk. She turned to her brother. “Billy, how come his entry papers don’t mention his middle name, not even the initial.”
“Rush job, Sis. You know I didn’t have much choice here.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. We’re going to have to see what we can do about it. I don’t like extortion, even if it gives us profit on the backend.” The captain looked back at Tasso. “It’s your turn, Señor Menzies. What’s so unusual about your name that you don’t want to share it with us?”
Tasso shrugged, “Well, my mother insisted I be named after my father, Tass O. He wasn’t from Saronno, so I don’t know if the name is unusual somewhere else.”
The captain asked, “And what does the O stand for?”
Tasso should be angry and upset that a stranger was prying into his personal life. He wasn’t upset, partly because she was the boss and had a right to know who and what was on her ship. He wasn’t upset, mostly because he was too hungry and tired to get upset. He could remember what he last ate and when, but he’d lost track of time and didn’t know how long it had been. His last sleep was between his mother’s and his grandfather’s graves. The night had been fitful, more from emotional turmoil than from real worries about Ol’ Ben. He wondered if nanites could also take out excess emotions as well as excess toxins.
Tasso sighed. “Captain, my father was a spacer. He got my mother pregnant and ran off.” He remembered his uncle’s statement. “Or was killed. I guess it depends on whom you ask. Anyway, I never knew him. However, even though he left her, my mother loved him and wanted me to carry his name. Tass Ortiz. Maybe the O stands for Ortiz and maybe not. Mother never said.”
The captain looked startled. “Ortiz? Well I’ll be a suck-egg mule. Dang, boy. You might be one of us. Ortiz, huh … Tass … Tass isn’t a usual name for a Texican. Was it your father’s name or a nickname?”
Tasso shrugged. “I don’t know. Mother didn’t like to talk about him after he disappeared. She said he’d answer all of Grandpa’s questions when he came back … except he never came back.”
The captain stared at the ceiling for a while. “Tass Ortiz … Tass … Ortiz … I know the name from somewhere.” She looked at her brother. “Billy, run a data search on the name and see what you can turn up.”
Bill Rojo shook his head, “Not me. Come on, sis. Can’t you get one of your assistants to do it? How about Rosa doing a data search? She’s your first officer.”
Captain Rojo shook her head. “As near as I can see, this is your mess, Purser William Jennings Rojo. Yes, I can see you didn’t have much choice but to take on Señor Menzies. Nevertheless, it’s still your problem. Do a little data search and keep your big sister happy. You have data miners on your staff and if you have any still on duty, get them on it. If not, at least get a search started until we can dig further.”
“Aye, aye, Captain,” Bill Rojo said, throwing her a mock salute. He pulled out his dataport and began entering search parameters.
Captain Rojo turned her attention back to Tasso, “It probably won’t come to much. Ortiz is a common name on a dozen planets, but if he was from New Texas, we should be able to get a line on your father. We keep an extensive database, family being what it is and all. You said he left and didn’t come back? I’ve known a few owl-hoots in my time who take that path with back-planet girls.”
Tasso nodded numbly. He couldn’t imagine anyone not loving his mother. He shrugged. “Uncle Bruce said the man died, but I didn’t hear anything about his death until a few hours ago, this morning? Yesterday? Whenever it was I saw my uncle last. Grandpa always said the man left and the older I got the less my mother talked about him, until she finally refused to speak about him at all.”
The captain looked at her dataport readout. “Other family is deceased?”
“Everyone else I know of is dead except my Uncle Bruce. Grandma and my mother have been gone for a few years. I buried Grandpa by myself yesterday.”
“Yesterday? I’m sorry for your loss, Señor Menzies. Let’s see, and your Uncle Bruce signed you up for a trainee cruise?”
Tasso shrugged, “I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing. Uncle Bruce and some man named Moffatt did some data-work and had some guys bring me here.”
The captain called up a picture, letting it hover over her desk. “This is your uncle, Bruce Menzies?”
“Yes, Captain. And the other fellow is that Moffatt guy.”
The captain shook her head. “That ‘Moffatt guy’ is the elected Saronno Planetary Governor Aric Moffatt.”
Tasso looked surprised. “I didn’t know Uncle Bruce ran in such high circles.”
Bill Rojo looked up from his dataport. “Really? Captain, this boy’s uncle runs the Saronno Produce Lobby Associates. They’re the group who controls chiamra spice pricing and quotas as well as any other thing growing in or on Saronno dirt.”
Tasso shook his head. “I don’t know anything about Uncle Bruce. He didn’t come around the farm much, um, mostly never. It was Grandpa and me running the farm.”
The captain nodded. “Is it a big farm?”
Tasso shook his head, “Not really enormous or anything. We have about a hundred and sixty square kilometers of land north of the McWithy Range.”
The captain looked shocked. “You have a hundred square miles? And your Uncle Bruce inherited it and dumped you here?”