April 2: Down to Earth (36 page)

It was the calm core of a race driver, glancing at his gauges as the track blurred by. It didn't spoil the thrill of the ride. Li was still behind her. She could hear his feet in cadence with hers. His stride was almost identical. But she was surprised when he gasped out a single word. "Road!" he called out and she looked up at the highway, now unobstructed by buildings. A car was running parallel with them. A big convertible with the top down and a fellow following them with an expensive professional video rig from the back seat. The driver never looked over keeping his attention on the road, but a man in the passenger seat waved at them friendly with a hat and April waved back. They didn't seem any danger. They kept running until the road curved away and Li gasped out another word finally, "Stop."

April smoothly brought it down from a full run to a walk and pulled back beside Li. He was gasping desperately and staggering. April slipped an arm under his, concerned now and got him to put some weight on her shoulders.

"Just lean on me and walk a bit. If you just stop you'll cramp all up. You should have said something earlier. I'd have eased off whenever you needed."

"I wanted to get where the road turned away," he gasped. He breathed a little before he could continue. "I didn't want to stop where the newsies could come down and bother you."

"Wouldn't have bothered me. I could have just turned around and run back, so they couldn't interview me if I kept moving."

He had a panicked look. "You - could - run - back?" he breathed. "All - the - way - to the truck?" he wheezed.

She nodded a yes. "I can run back now and get the truck, if you'd rather not walk back," she offered, not breathing hard at all.

"Please, no. Papa-san would kill me. I'm supposed to guard you."

Yeah, right,
April thought, but said nothing as he walked along leaning on her and slowly regaining a steady gait as the shimmy in his legs eased off.

The local station showed an unusually long clip of her running that night. The whole point of showing it would be lost if it didn't run long enough to make the viewers start to wander when she was going to falter from the pace. So since they needed commentary they filled the time with a very nice verbal review of her other public appearances. Opening an occasional smaller window to show some earlier video clip. Even someone not a runner could see the power with which she maintained a pace, that would have quickly exhausted someone else. The loose easy stride, with the trailing foot almost hitting her butt, as her hips turned to throw the leading foot stretched way out front, with a floating gait like a hurdler. It was as graceful as a thoroughbred running and ate up ground. Her arms were swinging loose with the hand not bunched in pumping fists, but cupped lightly so they looked more like they were helping her swim through the air.

It also made hatred well up in the hearts of some that correctly guessed the pace was a sign of gene mod advantage. When she passed a few other runners on the beach the contrast made it look like a cantering horse passing a trotter. Every once in awhile the camera would pan back enough to show Li running with power, but nowhere near April's grace just behind. When a few runners going the other direction passed the combined velocity made them a blur, as the camera stayed panned on her.

Li sat in bed propped up, sucking on ice and watched himself on TV following. When they had gone down to the  beach he had secretly planned to run her into the ground to teach her just a little humility, since he had downplayed his training level. Reviewing the whole thing now he was frightened to realize he had foolishly come close to harming himself, pushing to keep up at the end. He doubted if he would ever set a pace again, equal to what he had done today. He was happy that at least on camera, he looked like he could match April. It didn't show his faltering at the end, so his friends wouldn't be razzing him.

* * *

After dinner Papa-san invited April into his study for the first time, to see the news clips he had assembled for her on Preston Harrison. He also had samples of the man's fund raising ads and e-mails sent to potential supporters. He didn't seek any information from his old security contacts. He didn't see what use that depth of information would be to her. He showed it all to April, but refrained from commenting until she had seen them all.

"I just have a hard time believing anyone takes this man seriously. He asserts all sorts of things, but never presents anything to support what he believes. Basically he says we are not the sort of people he likes. We are not religious enough and don't support what he sees as the common good. We buy medical care for ourselves that others can't afford, or is illegal. Yet it's the government’s regulations and decisions, that prohibit or refuse to pay for the care he is talking about. He never is clear if he thinks life extension is wrong, or if it's just wrong for us to buy it if everyone can't have it. I'm not sure he's even clear on that in his own mind. Well, if we don't care to be robbed of our wealth, to have it distributed to everyone else, I suppose that means we don't support the common good."

"I bet he doesn't actually
know
a single person on Home, but has loads of opinions about all of us. Like we are all the same. And he refuses to believe what the government says about the damage they received fighting us. Since the government won't release casualty lists I can understand where he is coming from on that. They hid much of the physical damage behind national security also. But what about the public damage we did to bridges and monuments? Does he think that is somehow faked? I'll offer to show him our video logs off our ships. They at least show the
scale
of damage inflicted."

"You can try, but don't be surprised if he is very unresponsive. And be cautious. He's a current official with Homeland Security and he hates you and everyone else connected with Home. I wouldn't be surprised if he tries to goad you into threatening him personally, to give him an excuse to try to harm you. And he is a declared candidate for the Presidency, so he has a Navel protection detail, as well as his own Homeland Security guards. Given his position, I'm sure he knows how exactly how much damage was inflicted. He is deeply dishonest to serve his political position."

When the time for the interview came April insisted on going alone. Adzusa in particular was insistent on accompanying her, throwing out a bunch of arguments.

"You aren't legal to drive alone!" She reminded April in desperation. That gave April more pause than all the other arguments. She was pretty solid about following rules if they were sensible, not just bureaucratic.

"What is the penalty for driving unsupervised?" she asked.

"It's a moving violation. Two points on your record and probably five hundred dollars."

"I'll risk it," she said amused.

"Do you remember how scared you were in the airport?" April reminded her. "I have a bad feeling about this man. I don't want you or anybody I care about with me, because I'd be more worried about you and getting you out safe than myself. I just want to be alone so all I have to worry about is myself. I can think of all kinds of mind games this creep might try. If you are along he might try to arrest you and cart you off from under my nose, to get at me."

"Here, I want to loan you something." April took her in her room and showed her the light suit of Lunar chameleon armor and the fold up carbine. "If I stir up something that comes back on you guys here, protect your family, OK?"

"I don't think you know my Dad yet, if you think I'm going to protect him, but yeah, I will do anything I can. Thank you, April."

"Good, I'll worry less."

Chapter 34

When she drove down to the studio in mid-morning, her driving was much improved from the first time. She went straight to the studio and then spiraled out from the building until she found a lot two blocks away, with a few empty spots. When she pulled in the attendant came up to her window from a little lot shack.

"I'm sorry this is monthly parking only." he said, pointing to a sign declaring that.

"How much for a month then?" she said thinking that would be a form of camouflage.

"It's six-twenty a month for outside-mix in, twelve hour max, or eight-fifty a month for an always open private slot, but we don't have any openings right now. It's been running about a three month wait to get in."

"I'd like on the list, but I need a space today. I'll give you a thousand cash right now just for today, but I need it parked right now and I need it open to leave when I come back, not stuck in the back somewhere." She was holding a single bill out the window folded in her hand, with just the corner showing."

He looked at it hungrily and his eyes tracked around like he wanted to look over his shoulder.

"They got me on surveillance cameras working here," he explained. "I got a guy I know is out of town who won't use his space, but I have to have you hand me a spare business card. We give the renters some cards that are a pass for friends or family to use his space. You show me a card like I'm checking it out for the camera and I'll shake hands with you. Then you can put it in 3-H and you have to have it out by the morning when the boss comes around."

"That's no problem," April assured him. "I'll be out in a couple hours." She fished a CNN card for Kyrah out of her com case and handed it to him. He went through the motions of reading it and handing it back, then pointed which way to turn and how to get to the space. She leaned out a little and offered her hand. He gave it an exaggerated pump and palmed the bill as slick as could be. She called Adzusa and let her know where the truck was, just in case she had any problems. She was that nervous.

The walk to the studio was uneventful. Nobody took any special note of her on the street. She stopped at the front door and took a GPS reading off her spex and saved it before she went in. The guard at the front desk looked over her shoulder when she walked up, like he was wondering where the car was that dropped her off. But she was on the list and was given an ID badge and was escorted in promptly. She thought there might be a problem with her weapons, but the guard didn't bat an eye.

They went down a long hall that reminded April of the corridors at home. Part way they passed a door flanked by two beefy security types, who gave them a fish eyed stare. That's probably my fellow guest in there, she thought. She felt weird enough about them she fired up her rear looking cameras on her spex and looked at the guards as she went on down the hall. She decided to leave the cameras on.

"I see you didn't wear any makeup," the young woman escorting her gushed. "I'm Lois, one of Kyrah's helpers. We have just a minimal makeup for the cameras we'd like to put on if that's OK. It isn't as important as it used to be years ago, but it still helps. If you just have to go with a mix on the video editor you can look strange, too pale or too flushed. Is that OK? Do you have any allergies we should be aware of?"

"To the makeup?" April asked. "Not that I'm aware of but I just don't know. I never use it. I don't have any other unusual chemical sensitivities, so we should be OK."

"You are young enough to get away with that," she said smiling. "I need a little help," she said like it was a confidence. She only looked to be in her mid twenties. April thought about Sylvia and her mom. Neither of them wore any cosmetics and nobody thought it odd. And perfume on a space habitat was generally considered an invasion of other's space. In closed quarters and with recirculated air it could be very unwelcome. They got to another door simply marked with a number plaque beside it on the wall and Lois went in holding the door for her.

"We have about a half hour. There is a private restroom through the door there," she said nodding. "I'm supposed to get anything you need and answer any question I can and just generally make you comfortable." She did seem to have the skill of making someone feel important. She gave her guest undivided attention.

April made herself at home. There was a large firm sofa where she could see the door, but was behind it when it opened.

"If you have coffee I'd appreciate some, just black. I'm very safety conscious. So can you tell me where we'll be going to meet Kyrah and where there is a fire exit, if we should ever need to leave the building?"

"The studios are just a bit further down the hall. There's four of them and we're in number three. There's a hallway that goes around each studio from this hall and it has an exit light over the door and at the far end there's an exit into the hall from the back corner of the studio and a stairwell that comes down there from above. It's just a normal big office building. Nothing very special and pretty safe. I don't think we've ever had a fire, or anything happen that people had to leave. They always tell you in the news, that you should look and see where the fire exits are in a hotel when you get a room, but honestly when I drag in late at night and am whipped and ready to drop in bed, it's the furthest thing from my mind."

"What's on the far side of the studios?" April wondered.

"There's more rooms like this but instead of equipment and dressing rooms, they are offices for producers and technicians. Then above in the next floor there are viewing, rooms looking out on the stages and mixer and techie rooms," she volunteered. "The cooperate offices start above that and it all goes up until you have the executives and some private penthouses on the eighth floor. They look out on the two private parking courtyards. That's what the fire doors open on, not out on the public street."

"They have private entries there off the lot and an elevator up from the back of the studios and a private viewing room off the second floor looking out on the studios, to watch the action. Of course people like me have to park off site and walk in. But the big wheels pull inside the gates and they bring celebrities and entertainers in that way to keep things private. Somebody should have told you could have your driver drop you off there, instead of out front. I was surprised when they called me to the front entry."