Spinward Fringe Broadcast 7: Framework (23 page)

"I expect people who stick around to be
useful, that's why we're adding a detail to our news package later
today. No more refugees. If someone is working or taking care of
children, then they can stay and they get paid for being useful. No
one's going to get rich on the wages we're offering, but I don't
see anyone else hiring this many off-worlders."

"Then I'll start working, fine. I still want
everything you owe me though. Since I didn't know the conditions, I
deserve compensation," Chazwick demanded.

"Oz!" squeaked a nafali woman with big,
watery green eyes and a twitching pink nose. "I can't find Zoe!"
She held up a tiny vacsuit and comm unit, indicating that the
toddler had doffed them both at some point.

Oz quickly checked on her in crewcast and
realised that the woman who had signed up to take care of Zoe,
Vivian Lea, had passed through the other civilian checkpoint with
two human children. "She's been gone for six hours," he said to
himself.

"Am I getting paid or what?" demanded
Chazwick.

"You're leaving," Oz said darkly. "Goodbye."
With a quick command he dosed Chazwick with enough sedative to
knock him out for an hour. He went wide-eyed and collapsed so
quickly that the nearest guard almost didn't catch him. "Get his
comm unit, anything he received on the Triton, put the three
hundred twenty GC he's earned in one of his secure pockets and dump
him in a bathroom in the nearest starport with his vacsuit sealed,"
he ordered.

"That's not even enough to catch a transport
to Weatherly," muttered a nearby civilian.

"Maybe he can find a ship in need of a
resident pain in the ass," Oz muttered as he turned his attention
back to finding Zoe. "Take over, Tim," he told a nearby guard in
shrapnel-scarred heavy armour. He stepped beside Panloo, who eyed
him anxiously. "All right, you see what I'm doing here?" he said as
he brought up the Crewcast search interface. "I'm going to use
every comm with Crewcast to scan for Zoe. If she's near anyone,
we'll find her."

Within a few seconds Oz's command and
control unit projected a holographic image of Zoe sifting through a
waste bin outside the commissary. To Panloo's horror the little
nafali girl retrieved an uneaten third of a synthetic cheese bun.
The older nafali screeched as she watched Zoe chomp into a bite
shaped curve of the bread as though picking up where the former
consumer left off. "Where is this? Where is she?"

Oz grabbed the nafali's hand and started
running towards the shipping container that had been converted into
a canteen. "We'll be there before she finishes," he promised.

They made swift progress between temporary
buildings built from scrap, under two smaller ships being repaired,
and across a small opening before Panloo saw Zoe, sitting on the
tarmac enjoying her found meal. As soon as the tall nafali woman
caught sight of the youngster she quadrupled her pace, dropping to
all fours, leaping over a pair of guards who were on their way to
the canteen.

In a sequence of motions that Oz would have
missed if he blinked, Zoe was swept up in Panloo's arms and the
remaining bread was batted out of the toddler's hands. The toddler
looked dazed as she took the situation in and chased the rolling
bun with her eyes. Oz pulled a chocolate ration bar from his
pocket, his last one, and unwrapped it as he closed the
distance.

Just as Zoe's eyes began to well up, the
chocolate flavoured food was under her nose, and Oz was her biggest
hero. "No strange germs on this, I promise," he said, out of
breath.

Zoe’s little furry hands were about to wrap
around the precious food when Panloo intercepted them. "Oh no, I’m
going to hold this for you. Once you’re done eating we’re going to
clean you up."

Oz verified that Panloo was listed as one of
Zoe's backup caregivers and nodded to himself, not surprised that
Ashley had set it up herself. Since then, Panloo spent every spare
minute with the youngster. "Are you two going to be all right?"

“I’m adopting her,” Panloo said softly.
There was a dedication in her eyes that was almost fierce.

“You have my blessing,” Oz replied.

“Will I lose my job? I’ve been flying
shuttles.”

“If you can get this one to stay in a
vacsuit or safety seat while you’re flying, then I don’t see a
problem,” Oz replied. “Jake proved a vacsuit can survive re-entry,
so I’d say a child’s safety seat would do even better. Just make
sure they’ve got the right gear for safe decent built in.”

“I’ll seal her inside if I have to,” Panloo
said.

“Nafali carry their children everywhere when
they're her age, right?"

"Female nafali, yes, and I haven't had any
of my own yet, so she's going to get all my attention," Panloo
cooed at Zoe, who was happily munching on the gooey chocolate meal
bar.

"All right, then I'm transferring primary
care to you right now. You won’t be eligible for any combat
missions though, so be prepared to play taxi around here until Zoe
is ready to spend time with a caretaker.”

“I’ll make that sacrifice,” Panloo said.
“Combat flying is too nerve-wracking anyway.”

“You’re sure you can keep this one under
control?” Oz said, aware of Zoe’s legendary escapist abilities.

“Oh yes, I’m sure,” Panloo said with a
smile.

He had enough nephews and nieces to know
that was a remote possibility at best, but he was willing to give
it a chance. At worst, she’d be forced to seat Zoe into a toddler
carrier
and
seal her into a vacsuit. “Congratulations,” Oz
said as he watched the pair together.

Zoe looked at him as she finished chewing a
mouthful and struggled in Panloo's arms. Oz stepped closer and was
rewarded with a sloppy wet kiss on the tip of his nose. "You're
welcome," he chuckled. He grinned as she returned her attention to
the half eaten meal bar.

“I’m going to take her to see Ashley after
this settles in her stomach,” Panloo said.

“Aylee?” Zoe said, her eyes widening.

“I think she remembers her,” Oz said.
“That’ll be good for them both.” His comm warbled a quiet alarm and
he checked it immediately, routing the sound to his subdermal comm.
"Ayan’s shuttle is leaving for Port Rush City in five minutes. The
security team is aboard and the trip is expected to take one hour.
There are protestors surrounding the base of the building, so our
entry point will be on the roof.” Oz signalled his acknowledgement
of the message, wishing he could have gone with them.

"Is there something wrong?" asked
Panloo.

“Just another day at the office,” Oz said.
“You should get your things together and make yourselves portable.
It looks like you’re going have a lot of flying to do. We’re moving
the civilians soon.”

“Oh? What will the new settlement look
like?” Panloo asked.

“I can’t say yet, but it’s going to be
better than this,” Oz said. “I have to draft a plan and figure out
how we’re going to do this while I check in with a few other
things. Do you two have everything you need?”

“Yes,” Panloo said, nuzzling Zoe’s
pink-tipped nose with her own. The toddler nuzzled back for a
moment before burying her face into the loose white fur around
Panloo’s neck. “Thank you so much, Commander.”

Seeing the pair together, so happy was a
sizable victory to Oz's heart. "You’re welcome.”

* * *

STATUS CHANGED reported Crewcast on Ashley’s
comm unit. She looked at it and saw a picture of Panloo with Zoe.
An announcement orbited them in golden letters: “Commander Terry
Ozark McPatrick approved Panloo Utta’s adoption of Zoe!”

“You miss her,” Liam Grady said. They were
sitting together in the finished corner of the Samson’s galley. The
hatch was sealed, not that anyone would enter, since the deck was
half in pieces. The plates of metal that would cover the floor were
piled in a corner. A path of fitted deck had been finished so
someone could easily get across to a major junction box. There was
enough room there to set up a table and three chairs.

The faint sounds of people working below
managed to drift up through the sealed ceiling. Ashley could hear
Frost yelling something at someone, but couldn’t make out the
words. “It was one of the worst things about being sealed up in a
suit for so long. I couldn’t visit her, but I was able to sneak out
early on and ask Panloo if she could check on her for me.”

“She spent all her time off-duty with her,”
Liam said. “I’d say that was a great choice on your part. Are you
envious?”

“No,” Ashley replied without thinking.
“Yeah,” she said with a sigh. “I just miss her.”

“We’re almost done here,” Liam said. “You’re
taking all this in pretty quickly, I’m impressed.”

Ashley looked back to the hologram of a
green apartment building. The levels were fanned out in a circle,
so every apartment had a large balcony, enclosed garden, and plenty
of window space. Water flowed across the large, roof-top gardens
and trickled down the sides to water the greenhouses and gardens
below. “So this is where I last lived on earth, The Orwell Long
Term Care Centre. I was partially responsible for taking care of
two people: Sharon Parks, and Tina Carierre. I had Mondays and
Tuesdays, Susan had Wednesdays and Thursdays, Rhonda had,” Ashley
stopped and looked at Liam, who was looking at her with mild
surprise. “What?”

“I didn’t expect you to remember that kind
of detail, it’s only there so you can convince the Carthan Officers
that you spent real time on Earth.”

“Okay, sorry.”

“No need to apologise,” Liam said. “I’m only
surprised.”

“Question,” Ashley said, sitting straighter
in her seat. It was difficult to get comfortable in something that
was so roughly welded together. “Does everyone on Earth pull double
duty, taking care of the elderly?”

“Some people take care of very young
children instead. I was fortunate enough to be chosen by these two
ladies, they were incredible people,” Liam replied.

“So they chose you, you weren’t
assigned?”

“It’s not seen so much as a job, or
assignment. I wanted to be integrated into the community while I
was there, so I passed the checks and was put in a list of helpers
they could choose from. Have you always been able to retain so much
in such a short period of time?”

“I wasn’t able to sleep for most of last
night, so I spent my time looking at the life you set up for me on
Earth,” Ashley replied. “It’s easy to remember all this stuff when
it’s so weird. I mean, this is based on your experiences there, and
you got so close to people, they really took you in. It must have
been hard to leave.”

“It was,” Liam said. “But my purpose doesn’t
allow me to stay where there’s harmony. Travellers like myself
aspire to be builders, advisors, and teachers, staying somewhere
only while we’re needed. What I showed you was a stable community,
where the residents are fairly harmonious and happily
integrated.”

“So when you’re finished here you’ll move on
and find other people who need help?” Ashley said.

“Unless I find something or someone here who
makes it impossible for me to move on. Then I’ll retire. I won’t
have to make that decision for years from the looks of it though,
there’s plenty of work.”

Ashley chuckled and nodded. “Yup. You’ll be
here for a bit.”

“So, how do you feel about everything you’ve
taken in? Do you think you can convince a military Officer that you
are a trained Earth Commander?”

“No,” Ashley said, laughing nervously. “I
get all the background stuff, and I can try to pretend, but I’m so
jittery.”

“Then think of it this way,” Liam said.
“Earth Commanders don’t reveal anything they don’t see as
absolutely necessary. Just the fact that you’re revealing yourself
as a commander is a massive breach by Earth standards. They don’t
believe they owe anyone outside of the Sol system anything. Help,
information, technology, or time are all things a Sol Defence
Commander will want to withhold.”

A notion dawned on Ashley. “So you want me
to be a snob!”

Liam laughed and nodded. “Since you put it
that way, that would probably work best.”

“I’ve met more than I can count and grew up
serving plenty, that’ll be easy,” Ashley said.

“Just amend your performance with one
detail: always be polite. Sol Defence and Earth Peace Officers are
so polite it’s frustrating.”

“Okay. What if they start yelling or
something?” Ashley asked.

“Ignore them,” Liam replied. “Do everything
in your power to pretend they’re not there at all. Look or talk to
someone else, walk away, or even seal up your vacsuit if you have
to. Just do anything but react to them. All higher ranking Sol
Defence Officers are trained to communicate effectively and
quickly. They lose respect for whoever they’re speaking to if they
can’t do the same.”

“Wow, okay, I’ll try,” Ashley said.

“Good, we’re going as soon as Ayan returns.
It’s a good thing you have some time too,” Liam said, looking at
her comm unit.

Ashley looked and squealed at the message
she saw from Panloo: I’M IN THE REFIT HANGAR WITH SOMEONE WHO WANTS
TO SEE YOU.

“Go reunite,” Liam said. “I have a few
things to check on.”

“Are you sure?” Ashley asked, not wanting to
look like she was shirking the background study she’d committed
to.

“You know everything you need to and a lot
more. Go on.”

“Thank you!” Ashley said, giving him a quick
hug and a kiss on the cheek before running down the narrow path to
the hatchway.

* * *

Liam Grady gave Ashley time to get down the hall and
well out of sight before he turned his attention to the message he
received from Earth earlier that morning. It wasn’t the first time
he’d looked at it, and he had to look again. It was difficult to
believe.