April (20 page)

"Yeah - I'm working right now on a case to hold everything. It'll be run off by a prototype shop tomorrow and we'll get twenty four cases. That's the point where the minimum fee matches the sum of piece cost, if we can't buy a few hundred."

"We don't have innards for twenty-four, right?"

"No we don't and I am kind of leery of ordering a big batch of high powered bare laser modules. Someone might notice and figure out what we are doing. Do you have any way to bring a batch up, without having them ordered and shipped to our address?"

She was about to explain in detail how she would do it and she thought no, it's not how you properly run a conspiracy. I have to learn to break everything into compartments. Besides, no need to try to make herself look clever to Jeff.

"No problem," she assured him. "Just give me the ordering information and I will have them couriered on the Saturday shuttle for you."

"OK. I'm sending it to your screen for you to print."

"Jeff - about the lasers - they need a low power setting for practice shooting. I was also thinking about using them in a suit. Most emergency suits run out of power in two hours and even the hard suits the construction workers wear, they switch power packs when they do their lunch break. I think they are only good for six hours. Could you make a connector somewhere on the laser case, to plug a suit into it and extend the suit time?

"The low power is just software. The plug may take fifteen minutes to add in the drawing, but worth it. It's such a good idea I'll put a bump on the case if necessary. But no more changes on this run. Any other ideas will have to go on the Mark II model. I'm sending this file off to the prototyper today, because she has the time reserved."

"If you want anything else brought up Saturday, call me as early as you can."

"Probably not, I do need to talk about getting chip modules set up at your cubic to make smaller accumulators. Bye, April. Thanks," he said, ending.

Text was not near as comfortable for her as the video conferencing she was used to, but she sure didn't want somebody listening in on such a specific conversation. April looked at the clock and figured in Australian time it was OK to call her grandparent's house. She tried her brother's pad and got no response, not even voice mail and tried her mom and got a screen of her having breakfast on her parent's patio in sunlight, with flowering vines behind her and a white railing. "Hello Dear, are you doing well?" she asked, relaxed and buttering a biscuit.

"Hi Mom. It's been a couple real crazy days and I have some stories to tell you when you guys get back. I was trying to reach Bob and couldn't get through. Is he there with you?"

"Your brother has been swimming almost every day with a neighbor girl. I get the impression he is considered exotic and a little forbidden here and has been enjoying it. I suspect he has quite the little romance going," she confided, doing a dramatic arching of her eyebrows while she slathered jam on a biscuit. A romantic side of Bob would be big news, something none of them had seen. They knew he wasn't gay, they all just figured he was too cheap to date. April guessed her mom was treating it so casually because her grandparents were right there.

"I have one of those projects with Heather where she is making me some things and I wanted Bob to bring a box of parts back on the shuttle. Could you tell him it is coming for me and to bring it along?"

"Certainly dear. Why don't you say good morning to your gramps while you are connected?" Her mom turned the pad around and her grandfather and grandmother were further back in the view than he mother had been. She could see some of the aqua pebbled glass patio table and they leaned toward each other, not sure if they were in the view. Her grandmother looked very much like her mom with white hair and she realized with a start they had not taken any life prolonging treatments yet like her parents had, or they would be looking a lot younger than the last time she saw them. Her grandfather still had a handsome big mustache, which hardly anyone wore nowadays.

"Hello April. What are you up to today?" It was her grandmother who decided to lead the conversation.

"I've been studying and preparing material for three of my classes and I have a project going on with my friend Heather, so I called to ask Bob to run a box back with him for some things we need. He never carries more than one light bag so I'm sure he can just stuff them in it. My Japanese History class has been real interesting lately, but I am starting to think I should have studied the language before I took it. One of my friends, Jeff made me aware there are a lot of things which don't get translated into English and the only other language I have is some German. I have been looking on eBay and The Mad Closet for a few Japanese items. I understand more about them, to appreciate them now."

Her grandfather perked up, interested. "You want some Japanese things?" he asked. "Just a second," and he disappeared. Her grandmother continued. "Where are you in school now April?"

"Grandma, mom explained where she went to school they had set grades, classes of Freshman and Seniors and something else. What was in between?"

"Juniors and Sophomores, dear."

"OK. Well I don't really go to school with study levels, much less get divided up into age groups. I just study here at home on the com and sometimes I may go to a friend's house and we will do lessons together. Sometimes I even study in the cafeteria, if I want people and noise around. It's different than playing music or having a scene on the wall screen. Mom and dad buy me tutoring help when I need it. I'm long past enough credit for graduation from a high school. But getting one to certify me or a GED wouldn't matter much."

"None of the universities have refused me a class for not having one. When I get enough credits for a degree from a university, that it will be worth documenting I think. My Japanese history class for example is conducted by a professor at the University of Kyoto, so I'm doing college level work, but we have students ranging from eight years old to one gentleman who is very old. I can't even guess how old, but somewhere in his nineties or more. He has one of those deeply weathered face grounders get from the sun and wind and it makes it impossible for me to guess."

"Your grandpa has a bit of a weathered face too April."

"Oh no. Not like this man, no comparison. What do you think about Mom and Dad? Can you see how much younger they look since they started the life extension therapies? Have you guys talked about doing it?

Her granddad returned with something in his hands, in time to hear her questions.

"It's not very easy to do down here," he jumped back into the conversation. "The Human Fertility and Embryology Authority here, is modeled after the British HFEA. It regulates rejuvenation therapies also. The health care system views even what parts are legal as an elective procedure, so you have to pay for everything out of your pocket. If we both had it done we would have to spend a big chunk of our retirement money and we would have to go somewhere, maybe Italy, to do it. Spending that much would make it real hard in a few years to make ends meet."

"We might even have to sell the house sooner and go to a townhouse or rental. Something we're really not ready to do. There is another problem too." He looked down and seemed to have trouble saying it. "The attitude here is against life extension. The preachers all say it is defying the life span set out in the Bible and the press and politicians all ask how the working people will support the retirees. So we'd be ostracized by a lot of people for sure." He sighed and paused.

"There were already people rude to your mother the last time she was down here, because they knew she lived on a station. But this time, when she showed up looking younger, we had some real nasty scenes in public. People came up and told her to go home," he was visibly embarrassed.

Her grandma sensed he needed her to talk again.

"I know what you'll say, April. Your mom has been telling us to sell the house and come up to live with you, but we're not ready yet. We really love the garden and being able to walk down to the beach. We would have to live in a really tiny one bedroom apartment if we moved up and it would be really hard for us to adjust."

"I love the house too," April admitted. "But I like having you guys to talk to and see even more. If you both get your treatments started in the next couple years who knows how long you would add? Another sixty? Maybe eighty years? We can assume too they'll learn how to give you even more of an extension during those years. If they keep getting better treatments all the time you might just keep adding extensions indefinitely." It was a mostly unspoken hope people entertained now - a  back door into a very long life in small steps.

"You'd feel like doing more too. You'll feel so much better. You could do something again to make money and still be semi-retired. Even Bob could set you up with something to do. He comes up with a new money making scheme every week."

"I understand you aren't ready to come right now. But I would start looking around and get things ready so when you do decide to come you'll know what you want to bring and what you want to leave. Maybe you could have someone rent the house out and keep it for the income instead of selling it."

"An excellent suggestion April." her grandpa said. He seemed surprised at the idea. It must have never occurred to them. "We can investigate it at our leisure and see if it's feasible. I'm sure it would make your mother happy to even see us looking into it."

"Here is what I went to fetch. Do you know what this is?" he asked  He rolled the small object around on his fingertips in front of the camera. It was a pale creamy white with colored areas on it. At first it did not make sense, but when he rolled it over it did.

"It's two seated men playing checkers! Is it a netsuke?"

"It certainly is," he said, grinning real big, happy she knew what it was. "Look here are the holes he pointed out with his fingers. But they're playing go, not checkers. It gives you something else to look up and study. I'll send this up to you as a birthday present and something else as a surprise. It's Japanese too. Something my great grandfather passed to me which has become valuable and is starting to be a difficult to keep here. I'll write you a note about why. We were wondering what to get you for your birthday. Now I know this will be something you like."

"Thank you Gramps." It was unlike him to be mysterious about what else he was sending. "The netsuke is really pretty. Love you guys, I have to go do some things. Bye." she signed off with them waving.

She immediately called the Midwest Machine Supply Company address Jeff had given her and spoke with a pleasant lady asking for a sales person. The middle aged fellow who answered looked surprised and then seemed amused as she asked for twenty-four bare GE lasing heads, model number F-1267-B. He smiled and said "Right, who put you up to calling me little gal? Is it one of the other salesmen, or are you one of my daughter's friends? It must be another salesman to have a real part number from old machines. Right?"

April was seething inside, but kept her composure. "Would you connect me back to the receptionist, please?" she asked as nicely as she could force herself to.

"No, I don't think so. I don't mind you playing a gag on me, but I don't want to get in trouble for tying the receptionist up. She doesn't have time for gags," he said, finally getting a little irritated.

"Neither do I." April said and cut him off.

She called the receptionist back and she was still as pleasant as could be.

"The salesman you directed me to was unwilling to accept an order from me. Is there someone else who can take my order?"

The receptionist didn't look the least bit surprised. "There is no other salesperson here this late, but I can connect you to the owner," she offered.

"Thank you, let's try him," April said.

A little older gentleman appeared, dressed noticeably nicer and greeted her. There was no pause before she'd connected him, so April knew the receptionist had not had time to prep this fellow for her.

"Hello. I'd like to give you an order for some parts. The salesman I talked to was not willing to accept an order from me, treating it as a joke because I'm young. So I called back and asked your receptionist if there was anyone else to take the order and she directed me to you. I'd like to place an order for twenty-four GE lasing head units model number F-1267-B," she said.

"I'm sorry about John," he offered. "We don't get many orders phoned in by little girls," he explained. "We only have twenty of the heads also," he said immediately, making it clear he didn't want to really discuss it. "We won't be stocking them again either, so if you want the other four you'll probably have to check the surplus houses. The price I'm giving you reflects that they are a close out. How would you like to pay for the order?"

April was tempted to flame him for calling her a little girl. But if these were the end of their stock she'd probably never have to talk to him again. So she decided to not argue any further.

"I can give you an irrevocable Business Visa, or an immediate bank transfer to your account."

"The transfer is better," he suggested. "I'm putting our account number on your screen he said."

"Here's my delivery address in Australia," she said, putting the info on his screen. "I need those to overnight to Melbourne."

"There is no normal overnight for Australia since the Greens stopped the sub-orbitals last year from North America. We can get it there however by Express to Cuba and they can send it ballistic to Australia."

"Sounds good. Whatever it takes. Add the shipping charges on and as soon as I hang up with you I will wire the money in and you should see it in just a couple minutes in your account."

"OK, here are your numbers. Thanks for using Midwest," he said. But his heart was not in it, April could tell.

She punched the numbers in and watched until it was accepted.  It took almost all of the account she used for her cash spending money. Enough she'd have to transfer funds into the depleted account. She called up her stock ticker and sold two positions that were in the green. See wondered if Jeff would have had enough to do it himself. Well, even if the Earthies eventually wondered who needed twenty high powered lasers, she doubted a human would look into the sale before they were shipped.