April (38 page)

Chapter 19

Ernie felt calmer in the morning. He was sure the fuss over his big win the night before would have settled down, but he reasoned on it and decided very few people could afford more than a week and a two or three day stay was not uncommon on New Las Vegas. It was Thursday and he would just hole up in the room and enjoy himself and the few people who had witnessed his jackpot the previous night would mostly be gone soon and anyone very interested in him would soon conclude he left quietly, if he didn't show on the floor.

He'd stay out of the lobby or casino until the weekend, when a lot of people left for home and a new crowd came in. After all he had a multimillion EM credit and was not even running the account down, since the hotel had made him their guest. They surely wouldn't say anything if he took a break. They'd hope he would return to the tables after a few days off. He'd just tell them to charge him for his room and service, if they started getting anxious about him staying away from the tables. Even Eddie couldn't complain about the small bite it would put on his winnings.

He resolved to enjoy himself and stop fretting. There was a football match on today. Argentina against the English and he'd place a couple bets with the house by com and watch the game with a pleasant antipasto and good wine. The day just flew away with his new plan and he was even up substantially on his three bets. The Argentineans had just squeaked past the English at the last and he had found himself shouting out loud to cheer them on. This is the life, he thought. With a little thought and luck he could never drop back into sleeping in hot slots and prowling around scratching up enough dirt to get some tips for information.

He ordered up a memorable dinner. A couple grilled lobster and an asparagus salad, with a lovely old pale Australian Champagne and a amazing desert which seemed to be mostly sweet egg whites beaten so light they should float away, with tiny flecks of pistachio and almonds and a trace of some delicate liqueur, all browned faintly golden in little bite size pieces with tiny sweet strawberries and golden raspberries.

 The Champagne with desert switched to a genuine vintage bottle of sweet French Champagne. The label was brittle and yellowed with age and still had a dusty veneer from being in an Earthie wine cellar. He could just make out the date as 1990 something. He was lazy and full and just slightly buzzed from the bubbly, when room service came in to take the carts and a handsome couple came in he had been promised to provide some after dinner music.

It spoiled the mood when the cart mover turned and put a huge old fashioned revolver to his forehead and the lady took a rather heavy looking automatic weapon from her cello case and deployed it on a sturdy muzzle bipod facing the door. Her partner unfolded his flute case and produced some rather complicated looking electronic apparatus. The other serving person went over and jammed a heavy telescoping brace under the door knob and after extending it firmly against the carpet, fixed it in place with a twist of a locking collar in the middle.

He hadn't noticed the second server seemed rather old and heavy for this sort of work. It was usually a younger person's job. Satisfied with the door he took a chair, brought it over and sat down straddling it regarding Ernie. All indications were he was making himself comfortable for a long sit.

It was just fine if he settled in with Ernie, because it must mean the fellow with the revolver was not going to blow his head off just yet. He sat very still and waited to see what they wanted. He was not sure how he could transfer his winnings to them, but if they wanted to do so, they must have a way. He would be happy to accommodate them, if it increased his chances of surviving this in the slightest.

He must have looked like he was tempted to speak, because the older fellow raised a single index finger in a universal gesture which said - wait.

The fellow with the electronics came over and placed a couple wireless electrodes like he had seen used in the hospital, on his wrists and his temples, peeling the backs off them and carefully putting the shiny paper squares in his pocket as he worked. Each had a complex maze of aluminized lines on the back, which must be an antenna. Another two went on the sides of his neck, along with a tiny adhesive microphone. The man gave the seated leader a nod and went back to his instruments.

"I'm Justine Persico young fellow. Does the name mean anything to you?"

"Yes Sir," he replied. "You must be related to Eddie."

"That's right. Now, you notice nothing bad has happened to you. I'm a very reasonable man and I have politely introduced myself. In a little bit we will either be friends or you will be dead, so nothing lost by being mannerly. Eddie is such a nice young man he always expects people to act with courtesy and I'd hate to disappoint him. Nothing bad has happened to Eddie has it?" he asked, with a very concerned look.

"No sir, not I'm aware of at all. I'm actually just doing a favor for Eddie. He went on to ISSII yesterday on the shuttle and I am supposed to stay here and generate enough activity with his card and pretend to be him, so people think he's here on vacation. I'm not sure what he's doing on the other station, but I'm sure it has to be something to do with his job for Security on M3 and it would probably mess it up if I even try to contact him."

Justine looked at the instrument techie, got a confirming nod and a surprised raise of the eyebrows and then a stretched pursed lipped look which clearly said "I'll be damned." It obviously was not what they were expecting.

Justine waved the gunman off. He returned his revolver to a holster under his jacket and stood back, but still kept an eye on Ernie. Ernie felt a flood of relief and felt his legs start to shake and had an urgent need.

"Uh, Mr. Persico the champagne is kinda running through me. Do you mind if I run in and use the bathroom?"

"Go ahead, but I'm sorry, you need to leave the 'trodes on. I'll still have a few more questions when you come out."

He walked away shaky and relieved himself and wiped his face with a wet wash cloth before going back out.

Justine had moved the chairs over to the table facing each other and poured himself a glass of champagne. He waved Ernie into the other chair and filled the other delicate deep flute for Ernie with his own hand.

"I don't mean this for an apology, because I was just looking out for my nephew and family is very important to me, but I'll explain. It just looked really badly to us when Eddie was booked in here and came in, but the next thing we know he hasn't been booked out, but his card is being used by a fellow with a similar face and a reputation as a bit of a dock rat when he was younger."

"We couldn't find a body, but we were very concerned you had committed an identity theft and perhaps caused him to come to some harm. Are you being helped in this charade to make him appear to be here, by anyone else on station?"

"No Sir. I didn't think I'd need any help. I mean it was basically a free vacation for me. I'd get a few days in a hotel room, when I've been renting hot slots to sleep in because I was almost broke and some free meals. He even said to go ahead and play the tables a bit, but take my time and bet small, because he didn't want me to run up more than about five thousand EM in losses."

Justine looked at him real hard. "And you mean you didn't have an insider in the casino set you up for a win on the Big Shot?"

"Not only didn't have any help, but I was horrified when all the lights and whistles went off. It was just a stupid whim to drop a chip in it. I had never seen it without somebody sitting feeding it. Usually there are even a few lined up waiting to sit down and play. So when I saw it empty I just thought I'd pop a chip in because I've never played it. I thought it would be fun just to be able to say I had really played it, since it's so famous."

"I mean when somebody mentions the Wooden Nickel you right away picture the Big Shot 'cause it's always what they show first in any ad for the casino. It's way too rich for my blood, but I had a hundred Euro chip, which is the smallest you need to play it - and I thought, what the hell? What are the odds?" he asked in dismay.

Justine and all the others roared with laughter.

"Actually Eddie would kill me if he knew what a spectacle I made of myself. Here I'm supposed to stay low key and I had every eye in the place on me. I must have been stopped a dozen times before I could get back to the hotel, with every sort of bizarre proposition and that's in the middle of the night with the place almost empty. I was going to hole up in the room for a few days and let the fuss die down."

"I don't know what Eddie will do when he finds out. He's so easy going I'm hoping he'll let me have some of what I won in his name." Ernie was so sure he wasn't going to be shot out of hand, he felt bold to ask something he wondered. "Uh, mister Persico, I somehow always thought your, uh, families always used men exclusively in their business dealings. I'm surprised to see the lady with you."

Justine's eyebrows went up. "Ernie," he said and managed to make his name sound like a reproof, "times change and you have to adopt to the new customs, or die out. Would you deny Mary there a chance to make her way in the world?  Does she look like a woman who would return meekly to the days of denial and sexual harassment?"

Ernie looked up at the cold eyes on the beauty and the deep black muzzle hole of her weapon, with the faint swirl of rifling spiraling away inside and couldn't imagine anyone harassing her about anything, if he enjoyed breathing regularly. He just nodded and dropped it.

Justine nodded also in apparent agreement and thought a bit. "You know, this kind of money can have a bad effect on people. Here's what I propose. We'll call a friend of mine who offers private banking services and he'll come by and open a regular bank debit account for you with the 50 million EM. He has a relationship with the house and it will appear to be a currency transaction, at much lower fees and save my nephew all sorts of embarrassing questions and taxes too. That leaves him in a much better position to reward you too. It will leave you about 5 million Euros on the house card."

"Then you're going to move to another hotel and play in another casino on the remainder. The casinos on NLV all take each other's cards with no problem. You won't even really cash out, until you want it transferred to an external institution and we'll worry about that then. We will take the new card you have, with the 50 million credited to it, hand deliver it to my nephew and let him know what happened. Whenever he's done with his business on ISSII he can settle up with you anyway he wants. So we are trusting you with a considerable amount and just safeguarding my nephew's interests."

"He may need some help over there and we'll see if there is anything we can do for him. My man Earnest here - he indicated the revolver carrier - will go along and act like he is a body guard you hired, to keep the curious away. No charge for his service," he said brightly, like he was giving Ernie a big gift.

Ernie looked at Earnest and realized he wasn't being trusted with anything since he had a big dangerous babysitter assigned. Still he would be free to enjoy himself. He realized he could still have a pretty good time without putting a big enough dent in 5 million E' to upset this guy.

"Sounds fine to me," he agreed. Of course the machine showed them his ambivalence, but Justine didn't really expect whole hearted enthusiasm for being reined in hard. He just wasn't giving him any choice.

"Won't you have any trouble finding Eddie on II, or worry you'll be in danger of blowing his cover?" Ernie worried.

"Ernie, Ernie." Justine scolded him and shook his head. "A flea could not sneak on board a station under your collar without my associates knowing. We'll be very discreet." He said with a sincere smile.

* * *

Friday October 15, saw Happy and Jeff extremely happy with the progress being made on their scooter. Two days of double shifts at Dave's Advanced Spacecraft Services had made as much progress as they would have expected in as many weeks, given the advances that had been made lately in automated assembly and prototyping.

The level of competence Dave's workers displayed had been a surprise to them. They considered themselves the best in the business and they just might be right. The ordinary happened quickly and easily and the more difficult and custom work happened faster than Happy could have ever done in their own dockage. The tools and software the shop used were first rate and the workers had frequent and insightful suggestions about their more exotic modifications. Assembling the pieces they had contracted out was still slower than making them, but not by much.

Fabrication and assembly took about a third of the time it had just twenty years ago, when Dave first started in this business. Some of the components had waited in the customer queue for a day or more and then actually been fabricated in minutes. The shear level of enthusiasm the workers showed had astonished him.

On a few occasions the whole scooter had been literally so covered with bodies it disappeared. They looked like a swarm of ants attacking something. There were occasions an assembly robot worked on one system, arms a blur of motion positioning wires or turning fasteners down, while nearby humans worked at their best but much slower pace. Normally a robot would be allowed to work alone and human workers pulled back for safety. This time given the urgency they worked side by side, with a human worker standing watching with a kill switch in his hand ready to freeze the mechanical worker if it appeared to move outside it's programmed work area.

April's grandpa was very happy the last few details would be finished in pressure. When Jon had informed him the latest from Eddie was his father would be bringing a new wife home and explained she was a fellow scientist, Jeff had locked up like a cheap computer crashing. His non-response was starting to scare them, but after a few minutes he shrugged it off and didn't have any questions. It was just as well because they didn't know any more to tell him. Still he seemed to be in a daze with half his mind reshuffling everything in his life to match this news.