Steffi Roderick was just getting ready for bed when she heard her phone’s incoming text chime. Curious, she picked it up and was surprised to see a note from Toni Hargreaves: Cather’s got a computer problem. Are you where you can talk?
What’s wrong?
One of his clone-brothers is worried about the safety of a young woman dirtside who was sent back home from college. Apparently she had some kind of breach with her parents and they weren’t on speaking terms, and he has reason to worry that home is not a good place for her to go right now.
Steffi was unsurprised that Toni would be willing to help someone in that kind of situation. She had some painful history, which had been exacerbated by the destruction of her home town when the Chinese government completely botched the deorbit of the Flying Junkyard.
What kind of help are you looking for?
He’s trying to locate her, find out whether she is actually at her folks’ place or she’s found some other place to stay. If her parents are as controlling as they sound like, it may not be safe for any of us up here to try to communicate with her. But he can’t get metadata from her phone without a warrant.
Steffi considered the problem. So you want some suggestions on what other ways we could determine whether she’s in a safe place, or if she’s stuck in a seriously dysfunctional family?
Especially ones that don’t require jumping through legal hoops. If she were from the LA Basin, Cather and I know a bunch of people who don’t have awkward ties and could contact her to make sure she’s OK. But she’s in the Houston area. I know you were at Johnson for several years before they sent you up here, so I was hoping you’d still be in contact with some of your old friends and neighbors dirtside.
Steffi hated to disappoint her old friend from her JPL days, but it had been over a decade since the Angry Astronaut Affair. As busy as she was with family and the IT department, there hadn’t been a lot of time to maintain friendships with people she’d never see again. The occasional note when someone hit a major life milestone, e-cards at various holidays, but that was about it.
It’s been a long time, so I don’t want to promise anything, but I’ll see what I can manage.
Just as she was winding up the conversation, the door opened. She looked up just as Reggie walked in, looking unutterably weary.
“What’s wrong, sweetheart?”
Reggie retrieved a slingback chair and sank into it, looking completely unmilitary. “They’re trying to keep it quiet, so don’t go spreading the news around, but Dr. Thuc just reported to me that they’ve got someone ill over at Schirrasburg. Right now there’s still a possibility that it’s just an ordinary bug, maybe a cold or a norovirus, but they’re concerned enough they’ve completely shut down their spaceport and quarantined the entire settlement. No one goes in or out until they’re sure they’re in the clear.”
A cold lump of dread formed in Steffi’s stomach. If the diablovirus had gotten up here to the Moon, it would’ve had to have passed through Luna Station. Which meant that everyone’s pilots would be exposed.
And trying to keep it quiet was like shutting the barn door after the horse was down the road, and the cattle and the pigs running after him. She knew several people here in Shepardsport who had family in Schirrasburg, who’d be in regular communication with them.
Maybe it was time to have a talk with Autumn Belfontaine, try to decide whether they should go ahead and break the news, or run some “don’t repeat gossip” PSA’s first.