April 5: A Depth of Understanding (21 page)

"I very aware of that. We took elaborate precautions. It just seemed such a basic part of our ideals that it hurt to drop
any
action against Home. I've watched for any opportunity to deny them Earth goods, or ruin the market for their products. They have far too many friends willing to do business with them, some of them our nominal allies. Frankly some of their goods have no replacement. Trying to get other habitats to compete with them has gone badly. It requires massive investment, at a time of declining liquidity in the financial markets and transport to orbit is still at a premium this long after the war. A temporary dip in global sales has made potential investors worry they would soon have excess capacity on their hands."

"You've probably gotten away with this, but I want you to understand, don't let your frustration override common sense and take riskier measures. Especially, no assassinations. Not even on foreign territory by other nationals. Is that clear?"

"Yes. The Chinese tried that. Without any help from us," he hastened to add. "They not only lost their agent, he was killed artistically and clandestinely laid at their doorstep as a warning.

"Learn from that," the General warned. "Do not underestimate them."

* * *

The door alarm buzzed, making April jump. She'd never heard it before. That was going to have to change to something much less jarring. She went to answer it rather than just command it to open. Barak was standing in the corridor looking happy, with a courier bag over his shoulder and a big fabric shopping bag absolutely stuffed with things in one hand.

"Let me take that, where does it go?" April asked, reaching to take it.

"No, no, no. It's heavy. Lead on to the kitchen and we'll both unpack it."

"It isn't much of a kitchen," April said right away. "Two burners and a microwave and a little refrigerator with no freezer. When I do remodel it I'm going to do it right. Almost as capable as your mom's, but a little more compact, since I don't have as much room."

"It's entirely sufficient," Barak assured her. He tossed the courier bag on the sofa in passing and followed her with the big bag. There was a free standing counter that served as either prep area or a small serving table, with two adjustable stools, but they stood.

The shopping bag is part of the gift," he explained. "It is tent fabric basically, but rated vacuum safe and it will hold thirty kilo at one G." It was red covered with all different colors of little flowers.

He made a dramatic gesture of pulling items out and started lining them up on the table. There was a canister of pancake mix, the label saying it was Amish, which amused April to think food could be labeled as having a religious affiliation. Then a large tin of butter, a two liter jug of certified Grade A Vermont maple syrup, a bag of spicy sausage patties, precooked and individually sealed in Mylar envelopes. And most surprising, a pint of blueberries, not freeze dried, but fresh, some with the little stems still clinging to them.

"This had to cost a fortune," April protested. "The maple syrup alone!"

"I got my signing bonus for the snowball trip. I'm rich!"

"It's very nice," April admitted, somewhat overwhelmed, "and no puppy," she said gratefully, looking in the empty bag.

Somehow Barak had slid an arm around her waist and he leaned in very close, face to face.

"Woof!" he said gently. April just looked alarmed.

"I had in mind staying and making you breakfast," he said, if it wasn't plain yet.

"But, I've never even kissed you," April objected.

"Well that's one problem fixed," she admitted after awhile.

The next morning Barak was flipping pancakes in shorts and footies, bare chested. His hair  wet from the shower. Gunny came out of his room still visibly half asleep.

"I
thought
I smelled pancakes," he said squinting. Then he took in Barak and April's state,  standing together. He got a slow smile as he finally wised up.

"Barak, you
dog,
you," he muttered.

He had no clue why they broke up in hysterical laughter.

Chapter 15

"Look at this," Gunny said, sounding disgusted. He sent the news to April's screen.

Official State German News (translated)  - Story picked up from Geneva News Now

The United Nations agency ITU, responsible for allocating slots for geostationary satellites and other standards since the days of telegraphy, denies issuing the notice to vacate their position to the orbital habitat of Home being show by many news agencies.

"Although we have searched, we find nothing in our records to indicate such a document was issued. The ITU does not issue unattributed news releases. It is however within our area of responsibility to manage the allocation of such resources and the Lagrange points are already home to translunar observatories and a vital resource that will be utilized more as space travel expands.

Although we have not asserted ourselves on this matter, factually, every point covered in the letter is true and proper. If anything we were remiss in being unaware Home was using such a slot unlicensed.

We intend to ask the Security Council to conduct an investigation, examine the possible origins of this communication and address the matters of policy it raises."

Carl Hecker, Secretary – General ITU

When asked why the e-mail header showed every intermediate transmission point and logs indicated it was received and passed on just as listed, Sec. Hecker could only say: "I have no idea. I'm an executive, not an IT person. I've never expanded a header in my life. My secretary usually removes crank mail, edits and prints my e-mails out, arranged by urgency for me."

"GN Now would like to point out Gunter Wu, Chief of Technology Operations for ITU was killed in a automotive accident recently in Germany. The driver of the truck involved was not injured and Mr. Wu had no passengers. ITU has yet to appoint a replacement. And although a minor point, we note the letter in question was not a news release, but a non-public communication with a government which is not a UN member. When asked if it all being 'true and proper' included the dated ultimatum, the ITU Spox didn't respond.

"That's the craziest denial letter I've ever seen," Gunny complained. "We didn't say it but it's true! I suppose whoever wrote it was a secret fan not a paid shill?"

"Or someone just wanting to stir up trouble. It bothers me I've seen this sort of thing before."

"Where?"

"On the gossip boards, when a teen age girl wanted to cause trouble for someone. They'd create a false account and try to make it look like a known person, using favorite phrases, or naming places she hung out. Trying to goad the target into attacking the one spoofed."

"I'm surprised you take the time to look at such garbage."

"I don't usually, but when something was happening, with Jeff or Heather, it used to tell me how public opinion was trending. I'd also look at business rating boards and adult gossip boards,  even specialty boards, like for hobbies. But I haven't done it as much since I found out my gramps was paying a professional polling service to do studies on me. He made sure the questions weren't leading and they usually have pretty decent data."

"I had no idea, when did he start that?"

"When they got the idea to send me down to Earth as a propaganda piece. You didn't think it was my idea to take a solo vacation on the Mud Ball did you?"

"Silly me, yeah. Lots of people think visiting Hawaii is a wonderful vacation."

"I used to use those boards, to see how people regarded we three and how closely they associated us. But that was before and I don't really care what they think now. We have more assets and businesses and can't be hurt as easily by idle gossip."

"Yes, I've noticed you have a close association," Gunny said tactfully. When April seemed to think that closed the discussion and didn't say any more, he asked: "Barak isn't a problem in that equation?"

"Heavens no! Whatever would give you that idea?"

"Maybe it's lingering Earth Think, I don't know. But with a lot of people there would be issues of jealousy."

"Jeff has been working like a robot with no time for me. Or sleep for that matter. Barak hardly displaced him. Jeff and Heather and I have something that Barak wouldn't
fit
in. He can't have the same relationship to me as Jeff, it isn't his nature, I wouldn't expect it and Heather is his sister. There's no way it would balance including Barak. Both situations are unique, but can't overlap. Barak is nice, but he's about to head off for Jupiter and I won't see him for a long time. I might drop him a text, but he's going to be so far away the speed of light lag will even make conversations impossible. Wasting any energy pining for Barak is about as improbable as the idea I get tossed at me now and then, that my body guard is my secret lover."

"Well yeah," Gunny said blushing. "If that was true I'd want
much
more money."

That cracked April up.

"I'm glad you understand that about Barak's nature. I've seen a few guys and he has all the signs, who as they say, follow the wild goose. They may come home now and then, but not for long before they're off to some new adventure. So you may get breakfast made now and then, but not often or on any predictable schedule."

"Breakfast was our housewarming gift," April informed him. "Yours as well as mine I'd say, since you live here."

Gunny snorted through his nose. "More like his going away present."

"Well at least it was within his mass allowance," she said, grinning.

* * *

Jeff brought an unfamiliar man to Mo. "Al, this is our mining engineer, Mo Pennington, he's responsible for the layout and design of our tunnels. Al is an experienced beam dog. He's familiar with hard and soft suits, knows the hazards of vacuum and has mechanical skills from construction. But he's not acclimated to lunar gravity yet. However, he has the good sense and has been warned not to try fancy jumps or getting in trouble trying to move too fast when he hasn't got his moon gait yet. Al is going to help you finish up your current project and then I have another rush job for both of you."

"Fine, I need another four or five days here, even with help, then what are you sending us to do?" Pennington asked.

"A similar project actually. We need surface shelters for the rovers. Since the big tunnel machine is needed here and would take too long to run up to the surface, we need you to do it the old fashioned way, with explosives, although you can take the prototype machine up," he said, pointing it out for the new guy, "to sink a shaft to place the charges. And you'll need it for a man sized escape tunnel in case the front of the rover shelter is caved in."

"How deep?" Mo asked, frowning.

"More a matter of how
long
. It will be at surface level, with a slight rise inside and a couple dog legs and dead ends to absorb thrown debris and even limited plasma surge. It's to be bored into an escarpment in a ridge Happy owns. I've cleared it with him to put it on the edge of his mountain and access from the perimeter road."

"And the escape tunnel goes out the other side of the ridge?"

"Got it in one. The proto machine makes a big enough tunnel to go on hands and knees."

"In a suit? How far? That's tough crawling in a suit, they weren't designed to work easily with the knees and elbows bent at right angles."

"I know, but we'll put a cache of knee and elbow pads by the tunnel. If the alternative is staying buried, a four hundred meter crawl will suddenly look worthwhile."

"Would it be particularly difficult to make the floor fairly smooth?" Al asked.

"Define smooth," Jeff said,  surprised his new man jumped into the conversation.

"Oh, surface features, dips or bumps of say four or five millimeters."

"Not at all. We can either squeegee down regolith mixed with vacuum cement to fill the dips, or we can run an abrasive disk with diamond studs through, to cut it flat. That's messy though and we'd have to flush the tunnel out to get rid of the dust."

"Do you know what a creeper is?"

"The tendril a plant extends growing? Jeff asked, wondering where this could be going.

"No, a flat sort of dolly, only a few centimeters high, that mechanics use to slide under a ground vehicle to work on things without lifting the vehicle. On their back," he added when there was no look of understanding on Jeff's face.

Jeff punched it in his pad and smiled when he saw it pictured. "That would work. Do you just push with your heels to move it along?" he asked.

"That, or you could string a cable from the roof and you could pull yourself along by hand to supplement pushing with your legs."

"I'll have four made up. They should be all native materials, so cheaper than importing knee pads. I wasn't sure you can get vacuum rated knee pads either. Thanks. Mo can explain what you're doing here, so excuse me," he finished, taking off.

"So, what
are
we doing here?" Al asked.

"This is the deepest current level we've tunneled," Mo informed him. "We are a kilometer and a half from the surface and we stopped cutting side tunnels and indeed temporarily filled a few side tunnels with debris to get as deep as possible in as little time as we could. We're cutting a shelter to hold the boring machine and three bomb shelters for thirty people each. They are quite cramped because they need to be to withstand overpressure from a typical nuclear device, ground burst at the surface or up to a hundred meters below the surface. That's why they have the polyangle walls," he said, turning to wave at the tunnel behind him.

"Does the current depth have some significance?"

"Yeah, it's as far as we had time to dig," Mo said grinning. "I plan to replicate this shelter if we get to three kilometers and again deeper."

"You expect an attack soon?" Al asked. Concern was written on his face. "Here?"

"Have you read the UN threats against Home?"