“Shade, I wanted to show you our construction schedule with its online targets and…” I was tuning her out. Lulu was right, it was all there, right in front of me all the time. And now that I could see it, no sleight-of-hand could hide it from me again. A dozen equipment operators will remake Soyinka Patera in a matter of days—what could 1,000 do?
“I need that many, you’re right,” I said.
“What?”
“To do what you’re gonna do. You’ll need 1,000 heavy equipment operators. But I don’t understand all the why’s and wherefore’s yet, so you’ll have to tell me. You and I have some serious negotiating to do this afternoon Ms. Millefiori. I hope you’re authorized to do it.”
I strode purposefully past her, and entered the main control office, listening with satisfied ears to her panicky footsteps behind me in pursuit.
5
It was dark by the time I returned to my quarters.
The negotiations had not been easy, and had gone on all afternoon and into the evening. First Cheri Millefiori had tried evasions, then she’d become belligerent, losing her temper—going so far as to accuse the Big Word of planning to infest the habitat with rats and cockroaches as part of a spoilsport scheme.
Eventually she had caved in, and we set up a multichannel meeting in the main control office between ourselves and some senior comitadjis at the Enterprise and worked things out.
I was feeling pretty good for the close of my second day on a strange planet, and it occurred to me as I came up to my door, that Marjolin’s day was an almost perfect twenty-four hour period like Earth’s. This meant I was suffering none of the usual circadian problems that make planet-hopping such a miserable experience. Yet another asset this planet possessed which had been staring me in the face all along without my noticing it.
E-Indi had dropped behind the lip of the crater about an hour ago, but the streets were well lit, and in a world where doors have no locks, coming home late is not much of a problem.
Then I saw the beaded wig draped over the back of a chair.
“You did say just like old times, Shade,” I heard her voice from the bedroom. “And just like old times you’re always late, running around with another woman.”
Sixteen years can change a lot. She was not the same woman I had briefly romanced then given up so long ago. She was heavier now with a mother’s breasts and fine laugh lines around her eyes. But Lulu still moved under me with a voluptuous excitement which made my heart pound until I could feel its drumlike pulse in my ears, and warm throbs rippled through me. When I finally withdrew and lay beside her, all I could think was what a fool I had been to give her to Otis. I tried to imagine her having spent those years with me—the kids would be mine of course, and I’d awaken to her magical smile, the patriarch of my happy little tribe…
“So, am I still as good as you remember?” She whispered, rolling to face me. There was a soft glow in her eyes, and her face had become glossy in the sultry night air. She touched me, relaxed fingers gently raking the warm dampness of my own chest. A well-remembered caress.
“Better,” I said, which was true. “I was just thinking what a fool I was, asking you to keep Otis for the company, instead of keeping you for myself.”
It was a stupid fantasy, really. None of my marriages had lasted for more than three years. If I’d tried to keep her, I’d just have one more ex-wife by now, and maybe another child I saw once per decade or so. These are the choices I always managed to make. Lulu certainly knew that just as well as I did. But she was willing to play along.
“In that case Otis junior would be a Shade junior and would take after his father: preparing himself to be one of the movers and shakers of the Universe, while twelve-year-old girls get weak in the knees when he looks in their direction.”
“Shocking,” I said. “The boy needs a more moral upbringing.”
“And Loki-Arrabella? She wouldn’t be chasing butterflies at age eight… she’s busy practicing her intimidating stare—the one that lets other people know they should click their heels and say yessir! to you as soon as you stop speaking.”
“Much too driven. Kids should have fun while they can. What’s kid number three doing?”
“You don’t remember?”
“Remember what?”
“His name is Shade.”
“Oh.” I guess Otis, or Lulu herself, must have sent a message at some time telling me, but I had never absorbed the fact.
“He’s only six, but he’s very good with VR dexterity games. I think he’ll grow up to be a data-jock, like his mother.”
“Good for him,” I said.
“Is this what you really wanted when you asked me to come over, just like old times?” She changed the subject.
“Yes. Did you think I didn’t?”
“No, I was pretty sure you did. I just didn’t know until I got here myself, if I really wanted to. I’m glad I did, for old times’ sake… but I don’t think we should make a habit of it. I’ve gotten used to being married to Otis. It’s comfortable, and I like him. I don’t want to unnecessarily complicate that.”
“Otis is a very lucky man.”
“I know. I think he deserves to be a chief conservator by now. You’re going to remove him from this position, aren’t you?”
That surprised me. I had just come to that conclusion myself only a few hours ago.
“What was in that data-store?” I asked.
“I wouldn’t know, I never cracked its security. But I’d hacked that particular slot of files before, and it never had a damn thing in it until after you arrived. Then up pops this mother-lode data-store with bells and whistles attached to every access node, just begging to be attacked. It’s a plant. It was just supposed to keep you busy. But I don’t need to hack into their system to know that whatever the Wags are up to here, it involves a lot of money. Money they don’t want anyone talking about. I’m sure you’ve got it figured it out by now—and negotiated the Big Word in for a piece of the action.”
“I have to think of the company’s interests.”
“I’m not saying you shouldn’t, Shade. Remember, I know you.” She smiled, then rolled out of bed and padded into the next room. There was no seductive jingling of tiny bells, just the friendly pat-pat of bare feet on carpet. After recovering her wig, she returned and began to dress.
“The E-Indi Enterprise intends to terraform Planet Marjolin,” I said. “The deal could be worth trillions. How much the initial offerings sell for will depend on how far advanced they are with the technical end of the project when the shares hit the bourse. Sharawaggi, for a price, agreed to work as a front for the project. The VR Entertainment Complex is intended to be the nerve center for planetforming ground operations. They’ll be using those cells just the way it says in the promo, only it won’t be entertainment. They’ll be building big reflectors down below, to simulate ice-caps and help cool the surface. They’ll bring down water from the Oort, and bubble Marjolin’s air through it like a giant fishbowl to speed its absorption of carbon dioxide. It’s been done before, but never on a world this close to Venus-normal. There’ve been some recent advances in technology, however. The people in the know believe it’s finally possible.
“If the brokers know the Enterprise has that kind of convertible capacity already in place, shares’ll sell high. Epsilon Indi’s only 11 light-years from Earth. A new habitable planet that close to the Core can expect to be the fastest growing settlement area in the Galaxy in no time.”