3rd World Products, Book 17 Read online

  Softly clearing my throat, I asked, “Um… excuse me, Athena, ma’am, but will I live long enough to see all this junk come together?”

  Athena laughed again. “Keep watching. I’m working on another one.”

  On my screen, the satellite began closing in on another satellite about the same size. Two minutes or so later, the two objects met gently and a bright flash occurred between them. Athena had welded them together.

  Fifteen minutes later she had five good-sized objects in the clump. I suggested we add USA-281 to the pile. Athena set it in motion, then gave the clump a propulsion burn that lasted two full minutes.

  She said, “Their joining will become the nucleus of our mass. It’s large enough to survive impacts by much smaller objects, each of which will add to the mass and alter its course slightly. Other objects will be sent to join it in a manner that will further adjust its course until it achieves our desired orbit. Have you considered how you’ll explain this orbital activity?”

  “You’re presuming anyone will think I had something to do with it?”

  She smiled. “Oh, yes. Eventually. Almost definitely.”

  Hm. Yeah, could be. I said, “Nope. I hadn’t really intended to explain anything. If we just made a big ball of junk and left it out there, they’d go check it out sooner or later.”

  “Yes, I suppose they would.”

  When I asked what I’d need to work on the project on my own, Athena modified my data with time and applied force info. After making sure it all made sense to me, I set a few small items in motion with small burns of my own. Some would intersect the nucleus in minutes, some in hours, and a few would take days or weeks.

  I became aware that Lori was approaching the table. She stood looking at me for a moment, then sat down and asked, “Is something going on?”

  Did I want to bring her in on this? Any reason not to? Not really, and she might have some good ideas for the stuff. Putting up a screen, I showed her what we’d been doing. Lori instantly asked to be involved. Athena showed her the ropes and Lori happily altered the courses of several objects in short order.

  She grinningly gushed, “This is a great idea! What’s it going to be? A kind of tree house? A super secret sanctuary?”

  I said, “I doubt it’ll be secret very long. Your USA-281 is in that pile somewhere. Seems likely some people have already noticed things moving unusually up there.”

  “Okay, but what are you going to do with it?”

  “We were thinking it could become a space lab or something.”

  Her eyes refocused and aimed at me. “A lab? For what? Why do you need a lab?”

  “Not for me. For NASA and other spacy outfits.”

  “I thought you were building it for yourself.”

  “Don’t know why. What would I do with it?”

  Her gaze narrowed. “Then why build it at all?”

  “To clean up near-Earth space. It was getting kind of cluttered up there. Why all the surprise, ma’am?”

  “I… well, I don’t know, exactly. I guess I’m just surprised that you’d give a damn about near-Earth space.”

  Mustering a fisheye and an arch tone, I replied, “Obviously. Your abysmally low opinion of me has been duly noted.”

  “Oh, come on, dammit, that’s not what I meant and you know it. It’s just that you’ve never once said anything about junk in space before. Why this and why now, all of a sudden?”

  Shrugging, I said, “I saw something about space junk in the news. It seemed like a good idea. How many reasons do I need?” Sipping my coffee, I added, “And feel free to take over the project if you think you can find a better use for it.”

  Lori eyed me for a moment, then said, “No, I guess I can’t think of a better use. I also can’t think of how we’d get up to it. But I do still think it’s odd that you suddenly had an urge to clean up space.”

  “That’s your privilege, ma’am.”

  I felt her send another probe upstairs. After a time, she said, “It can’t stay a mass of junk. How do you intend to remanufacture it?”

  “I figured to spin it, melt the metals selectively to separate them, and make a layered hull. Some of the lightest stuff would act like ablative armor on the outside. Inside that would be a steel shell. Inside that, an aluminum shell.”

  “Melt them selectively? How would you do that?”

  “Radio waves. Light stuff first, dense stuff last.”

  “Radio waves can melt metal? Really?”

  “Yup.”

  She seemed to give that some thought, then asked, “How much stuff do you think is up there?”

  Sipping coffee, I said, “As of 2008, about six thousand tons. No idea how much now. Doesn’t matter, really. We’ll just see what comes together and work with that.”

  Lori gave me a stark look and echoed, “Six-thousand-tons?!”

  I grinned. “Should make a helluva tree house, huh?”

  “Oh, hell, yes! No doubt at all. Or even two or three treehouses. In fact, it might be a good idea to have more than one and separate them like the orbital AIs. What if something hits one?”

  “Good idea. Let’s go with two for now and put them at opposite ends of the orbit. That way they’ll both pass close to Earth twice every time around. Athena, what do you think?”

  She linked in and said, “I’ll modify the adjustment data so approximately equal masses will form.”

  “Excellent. Thank you, milady.”

  Sitting back gently and hissing slightly as she startled at some pain, Lori winced and asked, “Ed, would you mind putting some more of that spray on me?”

  “You gotta be kidding, lady. Would I mind? You mean pass up an opportunity to get my hands on you again? Ha. Not a chance.”

  Rolling her eyes, Lori came to stand in front of me, took off her t-shirt, and turned around. I sprayed her shoulders, then her back, and then gently smeared the stuff around for best coverage.

  I said, “Those skinny little bikini straps are carving trenches in your shoulders, ma’am. I could put up a field around the yard if you want me to rub them out for you.”

  She snickered, “You never quit, do you?”

  “Just thought I’d make the offer before they reach the bone.”

  Lori laughed, “Yeah, right. It hasn’t happened yet.”

  Quickly drying my hands on her pants, I said, “Now go sit for a while, then we’ll do the lotion.”

  Stepping away, she felt her butt and yelped, “Did you just wipe your hands on my butt?!”

  “Yup. So? You wore them yesterday, so they’re dirty, right? Weren’t you planning on washing them?”

  “You’re such a putz!”

  Sipping coffee, I said, “I’ve never once denied it.”

  Her pocket buzzed and she reached for it, then stilled the motion and put up a blank screen. Heh. Usually she answered it normally. Was she showing me she could link into her electronics, too? If so, no big surprise here.

  Taking her screen with her, she walked back into the house as she answered the call. I sipped coffee and continued adjusting the courses of various bits of debris according to Athena’s data. It occurred to me to wonder how long the job would take.

  “Athena,” I said, “How long until we have all the junk together?”

  She answered, “Barring interruptions, approximately forty-seven days, nine hours, and thirty-one minutes. Or less.”

  “Approximately, huh? Does that include the small stuff?”

  “It includes everything larger than two centimeters.”

  “Wow. That’s a pretty thorough cleanup, ma’am. Have I called you a goddess lately?”

  She chuckled, “No.”

  “Well, then, you’re a goddess, Athena. Thanks much for helping.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Chapter Six

  About ten minutes later, Lori pinged me. When I answered, she said, “I’m going back home after all. My cousin Margaret fell off the back porch fifteen minutes ago. She’s in the em
ergency room and she wants to see me.”

  “Okay. You know where to find me.”

  Lori was silent for a moment, then said, “This is for real, Ed. It isn’t some kind of excuse.”

  Yeah, and..?

  With a mental shrug, I answered, “I said, ‘okay’, Lori.”

  She snapped, “That’s it? Okay?”

  I replied, “Then make it ‘goodbye’ or something. You have a reason to leave. What do you want to hear?”

  Lori almost muttered, “Oh, never mind.”

  “Yes, ma’am, ma’am. Never-minding now, ma’am. Leave your gear if you want to come back and finish your weekend.”

  “No, I can’t count on that.”

  Whatever. I sipped coffee and zapped another satellite. Lori came outside with her backpack and linked to share my probe briefly.

  She said, “I still can’t believe we’re doing that.”

  “Try a little harder. And think about what to do with them. I was going to make a couple of big donuts and spin them up to half a gee after I give them a couple of hatches each.”

  Lori shrugged. “That sounds good.” She called up a flitter, tossed her bag aboard, and said, “Well, I guess I’ll get going.”

  Standing up for our awkward moment, I grinningly asked, “You don’t want me to put the lotion on first?”

  She gave me a sidelong look, then chuckled, “Oh, why not? Another few minutes here won’t matter, right?”

  Reaching for the bottle, I agreed, “Probably not.”

  Lori again took off her t-shirt and I smeared her shoulders and back. When I snapped the bottle shut, she quickly stepped away and grinningly said, “You aren’t wiping your hands on my butt again.”

  In fact, I hadn’t planned to, but I snapped my fingers in a gesture of mock frustration and said, “You know me too well, ma’am.”

  She put on her t-shirt and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek, then said, “Later, Ed. If I can get loose, I’ll come back.”

  “Sounds good. Bye, Lori.”

  Hopping aboard her flitter, she lifted away. I carried the throat spray, lotion, and my coffee into the house and gave a moment’s thought to the evening ahead. To the weekend ahead, really. I had not one damned thing to do that couldn’t wait. I pinged Tanya through her board’s control disk.

  When she answered, I said, “Hi, there. Lori had to go back to Arizona. Know any good clubs in Ocala?”

  “Clubs?”

  “Yeah, you know… Music. Booze. No rap, no country. We’ll put Marie on a board of her own and teach her to fly it on the way.”

  “Ed, it takes a lot more than a short hop to…”

  I interrupted, “No sweat. It’ll save taking a car tonight and we can teach her the rest over the weekend.”

  After a brief hesitation, she said, “Uh… just a minute. I’ll ask her.”

  It was more than a minute, but less than three. Marie came on and asked, “What about the money?”

  “Can I trust you for it?”

  “Yes.”

  “What happened to your friend Lori?”

  “I got to thinking about you and threw her out.”

  “Highly unlikely. Tanya said she went back to Arizona. Why?”

  “A visiting relative in an emergency room.”

  After a brief pause, she asked, “Do we have to go to a club? I think I’d rather learn to fly while I’m sober.”

  I sighed, “Killjoy. But okay, I guess. I was just looking for a reason to get out of the house. Be there shortly.”

  Dropping the link, I made a fresh coffee and spiffed up a bit, then summoned Galatea in two-seat mode and headed for Ocala. I had Galatea make a scooterboard on the way and park above the building after dropping me in front of Tanya’s door.

  When I rang the door bell, Marie opened the door. She stood about five-seven or eight and wore jeans, sneakers, and a light blue sleeveless blouse. Brown hair and eyes, just as long ago, and it was very obvious she’d been working out to get rid of all that time in a hospital bed. While not bulging with muscles, her arms looked almost as toned as Toni’s.

  My cursory inspection of her ended at her face. Our eyes met and seemed to lock onto each other for a time, then she stood aside and gestured me into the apartment. I heard noises from the bathroom and noted that the blue shower curtain we’d put across the patio door had been replaced by curtains like those on the front windows.

  Closing the door, Marie said, “Tanya will be right out.” She turned to face me and said, “Hello, Ed. It’s been quite a while. I’m not counting your clinic visit. I wasn’t really me then.”

  Trying to look enlightened, I nodded. “Well, then, yes, it’s been quite a while. But you’re looking damned good, ma’am.”

  “Getting all new skin will do that. You should try it.” Closing her eyes in a wince, she added, “Damn. Sorry. I didn’t mean that to sound the way it did. I just meant it makes for one hell of a face lift.”

  Peering at me, she said, “But you don’t look anything like sixty, either. What’s your secret?”

  “Nanobots, same as you.”

  Apparently at a loss for words for the moment, Marie glanced at my mug and asked, “What’s in that? Coffee?”

  “Yup.”

  “Want to top it up while we’re here?”

  “You bet.” I headed for the pot and drank my coffee down a bit before I poured the brewed coffee through the half-inch hole.

  Watching my hands, she said, “You’re as steady as ever. Why not take the lid off?”

  “No need.” Putting the pot back, I faced her again and said, “Marie, I know why you hated me and I did what I could about it. No hard feelings here. No reason for any awkwardness.”

  Meeting my gaze for a moment, she nodded. “Okay. Why’d you tell Tanya about Leipzig?”

  “Will and Connie told her first. I just clarified.”

  “And you haven’t spoken with them? Really?”

  “Nope.”

  “Why not?”

  I shrugged. “No contact.”

  Turning, she went to the kitchen table and sat down, then said, “They haven’t contacted me, either. I’ve been wondering why.”

  “You could call them.”

  She shook her head. “I’ve tried. All I got was a machine. I left a message a month ago. No reply.”

  I didn’t say, ‘Maybe because they remember you as a bitch on wheels‘. Instead, I said, “Oh, well. Their loss,” and sat down across the table from her. She regarded me thoughtfully as I sipped coffee.

  Tanya emerged from the bathroom and cheerily said, “Oh, good! You haven’t killed each other yet!”

  Marie wryly replied, “It might not come to that. He seems more reasonable than I remembered.”

  Tanya chuckled and said, “Or maybe you are. He told me you had a rep for being difficult.”

  Glancing at me, Marie asked archly, “Did he really?”

  Nodding, I agreed, “Oh, yes, he really did. I told her all your secrets, Batgirl. Even about the moped.”

  Looking slightly startled, Marie said, “I haven’t even thought about that thing in ages. I wonder what happened to it? I left it in the rear office. I never did bother to turn in the tags.”

  I almost offered to look it up, then thought better of it. Instead, I used my core to check records and found no green tag registrations for the moped later than Marie’s. It had been found and logged as abandoned personal property.

  The MPs had recalled the tags, then it sat for a year in a corner of the motor pool until one of the MPs filed a bill of sale for it as a parts vehicle under an obscure Army Regulation. Cute trick. I almost dropped the matter there, but something made me check for the serial number in German files.

  Lo and behold, the moped turned up less than a month later with a German registration. A used vehicle dealer in Kaiserslautern had filed for a new title and sold it. The moped was still tagged by a family in Einsiedlerhof in 1998, when it had been sold to a retro-style Italian restaurant in Rams
tein. It had figured prominently in several ads and ended up on display in the restaurant’s small lobby.

  When I chuckled, Tanya asked, “What?”

  “I found her moped.”

  I put up a screen and showed them the info trail and the fate of Marie’s moped. The ladies chuckled their way through the info and the last few pictures, then Marie turned to me.

  “This is all very wonderful, of course, but exactly how did you do that?”

  Tanya growled softly, “Mom…”

  “No,” I said, “It’s all right. We’re practically starting over from scratch and she needs to know these things before she can be comfortable around me.”

  Looking at Marie, I said, “I’m hooked into an Amaran computer. I have field implants here,” I touched the area behind my left ear, “And I can use fields like an AI.”

  To demonstrate, I sent an emerald green tendril to Tanya. She grinningly patted the end of it like a playful pet as it hovered in front of her, then I sent it to hover in front of Marie. Eyeing the tendril in about the same manner as a cobra, Marie tentatively reached to touch it, then pushed it from side to side.

  She asked, “What does it do?”

  “Pretty much anything. Lift, carry, heat, cool.” I sent it into the other room to retrieve a purse and bring it to the table, then had it become gray with a bright white tip. “I’m never without a flashlight, either. They do all kinds of stuff.”

  “They? You have more than one?”

  “As many as I need.” I used the tendril to create a dome over the purse and said, “Try to touch the purse.”

  Marie reached for it and couldn’t put her hand through the field. She stood up and tried harder, then tried to pry the dome away from the table. No luck. Reaching behind herself, she produced a folding knife, flicked it open in a gesture that startled Tanya, and tried to slide the blade under the dome. Nope. When she stopped trying, I made the dome vanish. Marie reached to touch the purse and seemed thoughtful for a time before she spoke.

  “You’ve learned some new tricks, I’ll give you that.”

  “Yup. Ready to meet your new scooterboard?”

  “I suppose so.”

  Silently asking Galatea to send the board down, I opened the glass back door and held the curtain open. The apparent slab of metal entered the kitchen and stopped near me.