3rd World Products, Book 17 (28 page)

After a few minutes the priest came to the door, pointed at Marie, and gestured for her to come in. With another glance at me, Marie got up and walked to the ramp. Before she started down, she turned to me and said, “However this turns out, thanks for trying.”

Without waiting for a response, she headed down the ramp. The cop didn’t seem so inclined to prattle with me. He asked a few questions about the flitter before he saw a guy standing by the cop car waving and pointing into the car.

Excusing himself, the cop went down the ramp. As soon as he’d stepped off it, I made the ramp vanish and put up the hull field. The cop was startled when his personal radio began chattering. He looked back at the flitter, then spoke on his radio as he headed for his car.

I called up a screen and checked email, then began editing my latest book. About an hour later, I sensed motion and looked up to see Marie, the priest, and Frau Mueller at the shop’s window.

With hugs and handshakes, Marie made her goodbyes and left the shop. I was about to put the ramp down for her when she called up her board and sailed aboard the flitter.

As she took a seat, I asked, “All better?”

Marie nodded and chuckled, “Yeah. At least she doesn’t think I’m a vampire now.”

“She thought you were a vampire?”

“Well, she didn’t say that in so many words. Maybe she thought I was a ghost. Whatever; now she knows what happened. Why didn’t you come in?”

“It was your moment, not mine. I managed to keep busy.”

“So where to now?”

“Got time for a tour?”

“No. I have to go to Carrington tomorrow, remember?”

“Then it’s back to the States. Tea, take us home, please.”

Leaning forward with her elbows on her knees, Marie sighed, “I hate highly emotional shit. I feel so drained all of a sudden.”

“Want a nap on the way back? I would.”

Glancing around, Marie asked, “Nap where? The floor?”

“It’s a deck, ma’am, and no. Tea, make a double bed, please.”

A bed appeared and Marie stared at it briefly, then went to investigate it. I let my screen vanish and went to get flat on the bed, then patted the other side.

“Room for two. Promise not to snore, okay?”
              Sitting on the edge of the bed, she asked, “You promise me or I promise you?”

Trying to look offended, I said, “You promise, of course.”

Lying down and fidgeting to move her clothing a bit, Marie took a breath, then sighed, “I don’t usually nap during the day.”

Did that need an answer? I decided not and asked Tea to make the trip last three hours, then tinted the hull field against the bright sunlight as we lifted higher.

Because something seemed to be bothering Marie, I silently asked Tea to feed us a low level of theta waves for ten minutes. Maybe I’m used to them; I was still vaguely aware when Marie rolled on her side, cuddled her field-generated pillow, and sighed in her sleep.

A small motion nearby woke me. I saw Marie sitting on the edge of the bed just before she stood up and headed for the bathroom. I got up, sipped my old, cold coffee , and retrieved the jar of instant from my pack.

As I sipped again and drained the mug, I linked to check the time. We still had half an hour of flight. Opening my mug, I gathered water from the air, sterilized it, and rinsed my mug. Tossing the rinse water at the hull field, I refilled my mug and added some coffee, then stirred it with a tendril.

I was recapping the mug when Marie muttered, “Damn.” When I looked up, she said, “That was quite a trick.”

“Get your mug out and I’ll do it again.”

She went to her backpack with, “How long until we get there?”

“Half an hour.”

Handing me her mug, she rezipped her bag and sat down as I conjured some rinse water and explained the process. Sipping the results, she nodded and said, “Good, thanks,” then sat back and watched the sky for a time before speaking again.

“That nap was a good idea. Events of the day must have caught up with me. All of a sudden I was just bone-tired.”

Answer? No. Just nod agreeably and sip coffee. Marie crossed her legs and sipped her own, then gave me a studious look.

“Yes’m?”

“You realize what you did today in Iran could make a lot of people nervous as hell, right?”

“That’s why I wiped the records. Are you gonna tell anybody?”

She snorted, “Oh, hell, no. I’d rather report a fleet of UFOs than try to describe what I saw you do.”

“Then I’m probably safe enough. Angie and Wallace could prob’ly figure out how I did it.”

“You didn’t tell them anything. How could they?”

Sipping again, I asked, “
Why
would they? Who’d accept the responsibility for my actions? The US government? 3rd World? Better if nobody knows a damned thing. The Iranians would claim I sabotaged the reactor, then destroyed it.”

Nodding, Marie replied, “Yeah, they would.”

We sipped in silence for a time, then she asked, “How long is it usually between an interview with Col. Horn and a job offer?”

“She won’t be your only interview. And there are all the usual hoops and barrels. But figure a couple of weeks, I guess. That’s all it took with Jessie. And there’s a lot less to check. They already know pretty much all they need to know about you.”

Another moment passed, then she said, “If I’m hired…”

I corrected her with, “
When
you’re hired.”

She continued with, “Okay,
when
. Would you mind if I spend the time before I actually start the job with you?”

Looking her up and down once, I replied, “Well, gee, lady, I dunno… You’re downright gorgeous and all, but how can I know you don’t just want me for flitter time?”

Rolling her eyes, she said flatly, “You can’t. You’ll just have to hope for the best.”

“Hm. Okay. I can do that. You won’t mind if I nibble and kiss every inch of you while I try to figure things out, will you?”

She chuckled, “Probably not. I’ll let you know if I do.”

I shrugged. “Then I suppose I can go along with your plan.”

“So good of you to cooperate. Let’s swing by my place and pick up a few things for tomorrow.”

Nodding, I said, “Tea, let’s stop at Marie’s, please.”

Our course adjusted slightly as Galatea replied, “Yes, Ed.”

Marie sipped her coffee, then said, “I’ve been wondering about something, Ed. You put nanobots into me that basically un-aged me back to about forty, but you haven’t used them yourself. Why?”

“I have repair and maintenance ‘bots, too.”

“Then why haven’t they given you a remake like mine?”

“I wasn’t all messed up like you were. Mine just maintain a sort of status quo.”

“But you could have them do it if you wanted to?”

Sipping, I replied, “Probably. Very likely, even. What would I tell all the people in my life who can’t get them?”

“Who?”

“Friends and family. You’re an orphan with a daughter who was in on the fix. Your friends were in on it too, after a fashion. Well, Linda was. I was. Connie and Will haven’t been around, so they probably haven’t seen how you look now. The feds involved have likely seen the before and after pix, so some of them might pipe up about it sooner or later. If they dare.”

Grinning, Marie chuckled, “Two have that I know about. A couple of NIA legal advisors quit and joined Stephanie’s firm.”

Sharing her grin, I said, “I hadn’t heard about that. Bet that pissed some people off.”

“Yeah, it did.” She was silent for a moment, then asked, “So… are you sort of… waiting for everyone who might be upset to die off?”

“Diplomatic as ever, huh? Well, I hadn’t really thought about it, but that explanation’s good enough, I guess.”

Chapter Twenty

We descended in front of Tanya’s door and entered to find Tanya sprawled on the couch in front of her TV. She simultaneously sat up, waved us over, and gestured us to silence. We saw she was watching a news bulletin about wayward satellites. Well, that figured. They couldn’t keep something like that secret these days, and it provided a story that would likely eclipse what had happened at Fordow.

I don’t rely on heavily filtered TV news. Putting up a screen, I checked the raw news feeds on the Internet. There were all sorts of guesses about what was happening to the satellites, and some were pretty bizarre. The official news outfits had pretty much decided it was a secret government project. Some suggested 3rd World Products might be behind it, even though a 3rd World spokesperson had already issued a denial.

A number of countries and companies were trying to raise some hell about their defunct satellites being ‘stolen’. Some instantly blamed the USA, of course. A few blamed China and Russia.

There were graphs and charts and even some grainy pictures. One page supplied a list of satellites known to have moved out of their usual orbits. Running a second search produced some updates, two of which mentioned large, previously-inert rocket parts that were apparently acting in the same manner as the ‘rogue’ satellites.

Marie’s eyes left the screen and focused on me. Was that a level of suspicion? Yeah, probably.

I said, “Let’s do what they’re already doing at NASA. Athena, would you please extrapolate and display the new paths of any orbital items near Earth that are changing course?”

Our field screen abruptly quadrupled in size and changed to show a picture of Earth surrounded by a veritable haze of man-made and other objects. Fine green lines began extending from thousands of them. Most of the lines stretched several times around the Earth and soon the entire planet appeared wrapped in a cocoon of green that tapered on each side almost like a football.

Watching the football rotate with the Earth, I pretended to surmise, “Huh. All the lines stop at the ends of that football-looking green thing, so they’re prob’ly aggregation points. Looks to me like someone’s cleaning up the orbital space around Earth.”

Marie asked, “For what purpose?”

I chuckled, “Look at that cloud of crap circling the Earth. Isn’t clearing the area purpose enough?”

She fixed me with a direct gaze. “Somehow, I doubt it.”

Shrugging, I replied, “Doubts are still free, I think, but I don’t see any point in guessing. Sooner or later someone will figure it out or make an announcement.”

After holding my gaze for another moment, she turned to look at the screen and said flatly, “Yeah. I’m sure they will.”

Hm. I sipped coffee and glanced at Tanya. She had a slightly puzzled expression as she eyed her mother, then looked at me. I gave her a little shrug and studied the green football on the screen.

Marie studied the screen another few moments, then marched toward the bedroom. Tanya watched her go, then looked at me.

She whispered, “What was that about?”

“She prob’ly thinks I know more than I’m telling.”

Nibbling her lip, Tanya asked, “Do you?”

“Sure, lady. I know all there is to know about everything.”

Rolling her eyes, Tanya sat back and asked aloud, “So how was your day? Did you guys do anything exciting?”

“I took her for a ride in a bullet flitter. Does that count?”

Grinning hugely, Tanya laughed, “It damned sure did for me. How’d she take it?”

“Surprisingly well. No outrageous hysterics. No barfing. Only a little bit of swearing. And she hit me once. Or was it twice?”

Marie raised her voice to say, “I only hit you once, and that wasn’t the reason.”

I said, “Note that she didn’t deny swearing.”

“So noted. Why’d she hit you?”

“She’s just like that. Push her to the edge of panic and she…”

Marie leaned out of the bedroom to snap, “If you absolutely
can’t
tell it like it was, don’t tell it at all.” Looking at Tanya, she said, “It was something he said, and I’d prefer to keep it a personal matter, if you don’t mind.”

Frumping a bit, Tanya said, “That’s what she says about everything that might be interesting. She stamps it ‘personal’ and shuts down the conversation. Do you think it’s ‘personal’, too?”

“Oh, hell, yes. If I don’t, she might hit me.” As if necessary to reach Marie, I raised my voice to state, “
Again
.”

From the bedroom came a loud, sighing, “Yeah, yeah. Boo-hoo. Show her your bruises if you want sympathy.”

Trying to appear affronted, I replied, “I just might.”

Tanya asked, “Bruises? Really?”

“Only a little one. She barely got me at all. I’m still pretty quick, y’know.”

Marie said, “Crap. You never saw it coming.”

I said, “That’s how it is with sucker punches.”

Marching out of the bedroom with a small suitcase, Marie said, “More crap. It was a spontaneous reaction. I swatted his arm.”

Leaning slightly toward Tanya, I used a confidential tone to say, “Well, sure, she’d tell
you
something like that. Can’t have her daughter thinking she goes crazy on old friends.”

That froze Marie as she set her bags down. She straightened and fixed me with a flat gaze.

“We’re ‘old friends?’ Where’d you get that idea?”

“We’ve known each other since ‘71 and we aren’t enemies.”

With a shrug, Tanya said, “Sounds technically correct to me, Mom,” and opened the refrigerator.

My implant pinged with Toni’s old-style pad chimes. I put up a screen and answered with, “You got me, Miz Toni.”

Toni was in a large public restroom. She looked almost panicky as she said, “Ed, I need your help. I’m in jail and I can’t talk long. They don’t know I have my pad. I…”

A door creaked open with a hollow echo and Toni hurriedly poked the ‘off’ icon. I sent a probe to her pad, but didn’t turn the pad on. Moving the probe forward a bit, I discovered she’d jammed the pad into her jeans under her shirt.

A woman in a police uniform put Toni in a cell with four other women. Linking into the police computers, I searched for info and found charges pending against her for obstructing justice and resisting arrest. Not inconceivable, knowing Toni, but still…

Further study turned up more details. Someone named Susan Figler had showed up at Toni’s asking to stay the weekend. She’d said she’d caught some guys watching her apartment and was afraid to go home. An hour or so later two NIA agents and a couple of local cops showed up and Susan had bailed out the bathroom window while Toni had answered the door. Toni had been taken to the cop shop and the search for Susan had continued.