After dropping off the computer for Jack to look over, Lou Corlin had figured he’d heard the last of it. After all, it was Autumn’s computer, not his, so if there were any issues that required user input, Jack would call her, not him.
So he’d figured he could shoot a quick message off to Toni Hargreaves, then get to work on his actual job down here. He certainly had plenty of stuff here to keep him busy.
When his phone chimed incoming text, he was a little surprised to hear back from Toni so quickly. He’d expected it to take her a while to do some research.
But when he pulled out his phone, he was surprised to see a message from her husband instead. We need to talk.
An oddly curt message from family. Lou recalled that Cather Hargreaves was Grissom City’s deputy chief of security. No, it wouldn’t be wise to blow him off. Even pleading work hours would be risky. What do you want to know?
I think it’s time for some analog telecom.
In other words, a phone call. No, there was no use pointing out that any modern phone was a handheld computer with a broadband modem and a VoIP app, which meant voice calling was still digital. That would just get him told off for being pedantic, or cheeky.
OK, do you want to call me, or for me to call you?
Moments after Lou sent that text, the phone rang right in his hand. He tapped the Accept button and stuck the phone to his ear. “Hello?”
“Hello, Lou. I’m concerned about the text you sent Toni earlier today. Is this just a hypothetical question for a research project, or are you looking into things that could get people into a lot of trouble?”
No, Cather did not sound pleased. Maybe it was just as well they were on opposite sides of the Moon right now.
Lou recalled that Toni Hargreaves had been in some trouble back in the early years of this century, something about an experimental spacecraft Chaffee Associates had designed for McHenery Aerospace. Whatever it had been, it had been put under wraps at the highest levels, with a strong suggestion that if it didn’t remain secret, the Federal government could make life very unpleasant for certain people. And that some kind of slip had resulted in the Hargreaves family suddenly being transferred up here to the Moon a few years before the Expulsions.
Maybe he better just go ahead and come clean. “Actually, I was trying to find a way to avoid a whole bunch of trouble. You know Brenda Redmond, don’t you?”
“At least by name. She’s married to one of our pilots, a Shep if I remember correctly.”
“Yeah, Drew Reinholt. Anyway, an old friend of Brenda’s from high school contacted her a while back. Apparently there were some serious issues between this young woman and her parents, and she was very upset at being compelled to move out of her college dorm room and back home. Since then, Brenda hasn’t heard anything further, so she’s getting worried that things could be getting desperate for her friend. But at the same time, she’s worried that trying to contact this friend could make things even worse.”
Cather was silent for a moment that seemed to stretch into eternity. “That is a nasty little Schroedinger’s box she’s handed you. Damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.”
At least he didn’t sound angry now. Nothing to do but ask the question and hope it wouldn’t make things worse.
“So what can we do about it? If we could be sure that either she found a friend to stay with, or that she has some form of communication that her parents aren’t monitoring, I’d tell Brenda to go ahead and try to reconnect with her, buck her up if she needs it. But if she’s being spied on by parents who have an animus against clones, getting a message from Brenda might just make her situation even worse.”
“Let me see what I can find out. I do have some resources, although as chaotic as things are down there, I can’t make any promises. In the meantime, I need you to keep your nose clean and try not to ask any awkward questions. Understood?”
Lou promised that he would stay out of the matter. He did get the go-ahead to reassure Brenda that someone was working on the problem, so that she could stop worrying. Otherwise, there was nothing to do but wait.