Tag: Lou Corlin

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Narrative

When the Music Stops

Lou Corlin wondered whether he should ask Brenda whether the information had been useful. If he’d erred in his choice of files, he’d really want to know so he could put the matter to rights. At the same time, he knew that she might not be completely comfortable about discussing it, especially since he had gone to some sketchy websites to get those files.

Maybe it would be better if he just let her take the lead. He might be able to drop a hint or two about the matter, but pushing would be most definitely unwise right now.

When he arrived at the station to begin his air shift, the first thing he noticed was Spruance Del Curtin talking with the program director. Lou’s first thought was what did Sprue do this time? Even as the thought came to him, he knew that such a conversation would not take place just outside the door to the program director’s office. No, this was a more neutral conversation.

All the same, it would be bad form to show any interest in it. Best to keep his eyes front and walk purposefully past the station offices and into the studio areas.

Brenda was on the air with a listener right now. From the speed of the back-and-forth, that person was somewhere up here on the Moon, not down on Earth.

Not surprising, if Earth is as bad off as things are sounding.

As the implication hit, Lou stiffened and cast an awkward look around. He’d been in his teens when the Expulsions hit, so he’d been old enough to have made some friends at school who weren’t from the NASA clone creche.

And I never really tried to keep in contact with them after I came up here.

He’d told himself that he really wasn’t all that close with those kids, and a lot of them had parents who weren’t really comfortable with their children being close friends with astronaut clones. So it had been easy to drift apart once he was up here, busy getting oriented and up to speed.

But now he was wondering what had happened to some of those kids. Even if they hadn’t been close enough to borrow stuff from, they’d at least been friendly enough to give him the time of day. And he hadn’t even thought about what might be happening to them back in Houston.

On the air, Brenda was winding up her conversation with the caller. Of course she would need to — it was rapidly getting close to time for her to prepare the next set so they could hand off without creating any dead air.

Now that the ON AIR light had gone off, he needed to put aside his curiosity as to the situation on Earth, with people he’d lost contact with years ago. Right now he needed to concentrate on his professional duties as a DJ.

Brenda stepped out of the DJ booth, greeted him and began the standard rundown of where everything stood at the end of her show. And then, as she was about to hand it off to him, she leaned over to whisper into his ear, “I gave Autumn a copy of the files. I want her to look over them before I try to send them to Drew.”

Although it caught Lou by surprise, he was able to maintain enough control over his expression that he didn’t show it. He just gave her a quick nod as he acknowledged the hand-over.

Yet as he closed the door of the DJ booth behind him, her words still nagged at him. Of course Autumn would understand about protecting sources — she might not have even asked Brenda where or how she’d come about those files. But depending on how far Autumn took it, there would be a possibility that they would end up in the hands of someone who had the necessary expertise to track them back to him.

No use worrying about it. He had a show to run, and the seconds were ticking down to when he needed to do his first station identification.

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Narrative

An Awkward Discussion

Although Lou Corlin didn’t really feel comfortable about what he was doing, he felt a level of obligation toward Brenda Redmond which wouldn’t let him give up after the easy routes were exhausted. All the same, the USB stick in his pocket had a weight far beyond its mass.

He wasn’t sure if the walk to Brenda’s apartment would’ve been easier or harder if the corridors had been busy. On one hand, being alone made it easier to dwell on his uneasiness. On the other, he didn’t have to worry about his discomfort being so obvious to everyone else that they wondered what he was up to.

When he got through the airlock into Brenda’s module, she was sitting by the far wall, supervising her children while doing something on a laptop. Lou paused, taking the measure of the situation.

Finally Brenda looked up, met his gaze. Yes, she could spare the time to speak to him.

Why did he feel the need to tiptoe across the module lounge? By conscious will he forced himself to walk normally, the light, bouncy stride of someone accustomed to lunar gravity and comfortable with it.

Brenda kept her voice low. “This is a surprise.”

“Sorry, but some of this stuff is rather sensitive. It’s not exactly the sort of thing you want to talk about in a phone call or a text.”

Yes, Brenda understood. “Give me a minute to get the kids to bed.”

Lou took a seat while Brenda led her children back to their apartment. He’d been here long enough to remember when Brenda was very much the teenage daughter of the Chief Engineer, still not very sure about the idea of being whisked away from her high-school friends in Houston for life up here on the High Frontier.

But then we’ve all done a lot of fast growing up these past few years. If things had gone normally, we’d just be starting to assume adult roles by now. And even when you’re taking an engineering degree and doing ROTC, college isn’t quite the same as actually being out in the working world.

And then Brenda was back, taking a seat close enough they could keep their voices low enough that the ventilation fans would mask their voices, but not so close that anyone running the video tapes would think they were cooking up a fling — and in a public area, anyone with suitable authority could access them. “So what is it?”

“You know what I mean when I talk about darkboards?”

Definite recognition in her expression, mixed with a little alarm. “Aren’t they dangerous?”

“They can be, if you’re not careful. Some of them are a good way to pick up a nasty virus on your computer. But they can also be a good place to find information the government doesn’t want people knowing. And IT does have the tools to sequester data while you’re making sure that it’s clean.”

He was glad he’d taken the opportunity to get the USB stick out of his pocket while he was waiting. There was a trick to pulling out something innocuous at the same time, then palming what you didn’t want seen. Now he just had to pass it to Brenda without being obvious.

She must’ve had classmates who passed notes in class, because she handled it with the deftness of an expert. Lou had never pegged her as someone who’d get into that sort of thing. Given her dour father, he would’ve expected her to be the sort of straight-arrow everyone always thought his geneset was.

Now that the hand-off was done, he couldn’t very well take off right away. Better to carry on a little small talk, keeping their voices down as if it were just out of consideration for the hour. Once they’d made this meeting completely unremarkable, he could head off to his own quarters for the night.

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Narrative

Finding a Way to Fix It

Normally Lou Corlin did his troubleshooting in the room right behind IT’s hardware help desk. He wasn’t an actual bench tech, although he wouldn’t be surprised if he’d get tabbed to train for it. But today he’d gotten nabbed and brought down to work on some equipment deeper in the IT department, where only authorized people were supposed to be going.

At least he was working directly under one of the senior repair techs, which meant getting told stuff like “hold this wire” or “hand me the #0.0 Torx screwdriver.” Stuff that was well within his present capabilities, even if he’d rather be doing any of several other tasks up front.

But he’d been the one called down here, probably because they knew a Chaffee wouldn’t argue or give them any static. He recalled Juss Forsythe telling him about being given the task of sorting out an entire tool kit that had been returned from an EVA dumped into three buckets coated in moondust. Juss was pretty sure Ken had given him that task for pretty much the same reason: he was an agreeable sort of guy who would do the job and do it right.

They were just winding up whatever they were supposed to be accomplishing and closing the machine back up for tests when Steffi Roderick walked in. “Looks like you’re coming right along there. At least we’re not trying to repair a forty-year-old line printer that’s been out of production so long you can’t even find spares.”

Before he could even consider whether he might be speaking out of turn, Lou said, “That sounds like an interesting one.”

“Oh yes, it was interesting all right, in the sense of the proverbial curse.” Steffi’s mouth quirked into a wry grin. “I was a junior by that time, and I was working in the computer rooms. We all wondered why Purdue was still running that thing, considering this was well before eBay, so you couldn’t just do a quick search and find a used part someone halfway across the country was selling. But that thing was still printing up jobs for several of the mainframes, which was where a lot of the science and engineering stuff was being done. And that meant we’d have some senior professors seriously unhappy with us when they’d come in and discover their printouts weren’t available because the line printer was down again.

“I can imagine. I’ve had to deal with people from the science departments here when their equipment was down. Some of them can be really, really cranky, especially when you tell them it’s going to take a few days and they’re trying to beat a deadline on paper submissions for a big conference.”

“Oh, yeah. If anything, it was even worse, because they sort of understood when their equipment wasn’t working properly, but they expected the university’s stuff to just work. The last year I was working there, we were getting pretty creative working out solutions to hold it together and coax a little more work out of it. A couple years later, someone told me that they got rid of it right after I graduated.”

“Figures. Just figures.”

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Narrative

A Quick Visit

Things had gone more smoothly than usual this morning, and Lou Corlin got down to the station with almost half an hour to spare. Since there wasn’t really any use sitting around the front office waiting for Brenda to wind up her air shift, he decided to drop in on an old friend in the robotics shop.

Spencer Dawes was hard at work on a basic robotic arm, small enough that it could be brought down here instead of needing to be repaired in situ. Parts were arranged across the workbench, presumably in the order they had been removed.

But Ken Redmond was always adamant about keeping an orderly workspace as the best way of avoiding stupid mistakes. More than once the Chief of Engineering had bawled people out for returning tool boxes in disarray, especially if they also needed cleaning.

Of course he had good reason to, especially with the team that brought their tools back after an EVA in three buckets and coated with moondust. That stuff’s dangerous.

As Lou approached, Spence looked up from his work. “What brings you down here so early?”

“Just one of those days when things actually go right for a change. Hit every airlock when it was ready, that sort of thing.” Lou made a point of looking at the clock on the far wall. “So I figured I’d see how things are going down here.”

“Pretty well, all things told. How much are you doing on the programming side of things any more?”

“Not as much as I’d really like, but right now Steffi’s got me doing hardware troubleshooting for help desk. It’s always interesting, mostly because of how we’re having to keep stuff running that we’d just replace if things were more normal.”

“Tell me about it.” Spence gestured to the disassembled robot. “I’ve got half a dozen pieces that would normally be replaced, but we have only so many spares, so it’s going to be a repair job.” He paused, then looked over his shoulder in the direction of the Engineering office. “By the way, I hear Ken Redmond’s getting the new main board ready to be installed at the station.”

“Then I’d better get over there, just in case he wants me helping.”

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Time for a Little Talk

Confrontations were never pleasant, but Lou knew that there were times when they were necessary. Yeah, necessary the way lancing a boil is, which meant the sooner you got them over and done with, the better.

As he’d hoped, Eli had just arrived for work and checked in, but hadn’t opened any files. Which meant it would be much harder to come up with an excuse to brush him off.

“Eli, I need to talk to you.”

Eli looked up at Lou. “What’s it with you? This had better be important.”

Yes, Eli would pull rank, as a clone of one of the Mercury 7 being challenged by one of the third selection group. But Lou knew that he couldn’t let Eli bully him.

“Damned important. I’m sure you’re familiar with the importance of reliable sources of information.”

“Sure, who isn’t? Garbage in, garbage out, and all that.”

“Then I’m sure you’ll appreciate the importance of not deliberately spreading rumors.”

Eli was about to answer with yet another casual affirmative when he stopped and looked Lou over a little more closely. “Just what is this really about? Because no, I don’t believe that you’re just coming by to remind me of what everyone knows. You’ve got a bug up your butt about something, and I want to know what it is.”

“Very simple. You were telling some of the younger kids about something that happened over at Schirrasburg. Something that I know for a fact has not been generally released. If you thought it was funny to frighten the kids with it, I suggest you think again.”

Eli rolled those big blue Shepard eyes. “Really, man. I knew Chaffees were straight-arrows, but you’re taking it to ridiculous levels.”

“You might want to be careful about dismissing criticism too quickly.” Lou leaned forward a little, hoping to secure the advantage. “If this were to come to the attention of more senior personnel, they might not find it as amusing as you do. Especially considering that we are in a state of emergency right now, actions to the detriment of good order could become a very serious charge.”

Eli would try to bluster and dismiss the idea, but Lou was pretty sure that he’d hit the mark. Why else would he be so adamant in trying to blow Lou off, if he didn’t have at least a little of a guilty conscience?

Lou decided it was probably the point at which to leave Eli with his thoughts. Push too hard and you could actually end up diminishing the effectiveness of your words.

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Narrative

As Our Fears Take Shape

Right now Lou Corlin was counting himself lucky to actually have some study time before he needed to turn in for the night. He really didn’t like to have to decide between sleep and essential studying, unless he was dealing with a genuine emergency, given how sleep deprivation messed with good judgement in ways that caffeine couldn’t completely undo.

Thus he was a little annoyed when he heard someone tiptoeing up beside him, not quite sitting down in the sofa beside him, but standing right at the edge of it. Then he looked over to see Rand Littleton, looking very nervous, and squelched that annoyance.

“Hi, Rand, sit down.” Lou patted the cushion beside him. “What’s wrong?”

“How bad is it going to get? I mean, Eli’s saying that Schirrasburg is under a complete lockdown because someone there came down with the diablovirus.”

“Eli’s a Shep.” Lou quick scanned the module lounge, just in case any Sheps were hanging around to take offense. “You’ve got to keep that in mind when you listen to him bullshooting around.”

“Oh.” Rand lowered his gaze, looking very awkward. “So he’s just making stuff up?”

Put me on the spot. Given some things he’d heard at the station and down in IT, Lou didn’t want to dismiss the story as a complete fabrication. However, he was pretty sure it was not yet cleared for general consumption. “You know what they’ve been telling us about the dangers of spreading rumors. Even if I did know something, it wouldn’t be wise for me to go telling everyone about it.”

Even as he said that, he realized the specific rumor might not be the real issue. Rand was one of the kids who’d survived the ordeal in the lander. Although he would’ve been under deep sedation during most of the time he and the other kids had been trapped under the wreckage of old Luna Station, it had still left its scars. A heightened awareness of the slender margins of survival, an inability to relax and trust that tomorrow would actually come.

“And right now there’s not a lot we can do about whatever may be going on over at Schirrasburg. Let’s take a look at whatever you need to be studying right now. At least that’s something we have at least a little control over.

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Narrative

The Uneasy Balance

Lou Corlin had planned to do some studying for the digital logic course he was taking for this unit. However, he hadn’t been expecting a call from Juss Forsythe, asking for some help with a pump controller.

It would be something he’d know just enough about that he could actually be useful, so he couldn’t very well beg off on lack of background. And given the closeness between their respective ur-brothers, he couldn’t very well refuse on any lesser grounds. Yes, he needed to study, but he could fit the time in later in the day.

So here he was, heading down to the deep service levels under the greenhouse farms. Areas a lot of people didn’t even realize existed — but if you gave any real thought to the mechanics of operating a greenhouse, you’d know they had to be down there. Areas where all the pipes and tubing gave things a certain visceral look.

And there was Juss, his auburn hair bright in the harsh industrial lighting, kneeling beside a tall pump. Lou hurried over to join him.

“So how’s it going?”

“Not well.” Juss looked up from his work. “It’s looking like defective irrigation tubing wasn’t our only problem. We’d just finished getting it all set up, and the next morning we’ve got leaks. Not huge ones, but it’s pretty clear that water is pushing out at all the connectors.”

“Sounds like a pressure issue.”

“My thought too. Which is why I’m checking the pressure on all the irrigation pumps. With luck, it’s just an issue with the controllers and we can fix them ourselves. I’d really prefer not to have to take any of these things to Engineering.”

Lou could understand the sentiment. However, if it was necessary, trying to get by with half measures was apt to bite you in the butt down the road. And with the current situation, they couldn’t count on being able to get food shipped in to make up for losses.

“Do you get the feeling like everything’s balanced on a knife edge, and anything could send it teetering?”

“Yeah, all the time.” Juss wiped his hands with a rag that wasn’t a whole lot cleaner. “But all you and I can do is fix the problems in front of us, and hope the guys at the higher pay grades do their jobs.”

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Those Uneasy Thoughts

Ever since she’d gotten off her air shift, Brenda Redmond had struggled to keep her mind on her work, whether it was teaching or studying or even just her mandatory daily exercise down at the gym. Especially since she’d drawn the weight machine today, which meant needing to count her reps instead of just doing time. Several times she’s lost track of where she was and had to guess and hope.

As she was leaving the gym, she heard a familiar voice calling her name. She turned to find Lou Corlin coming up behind her.

“I didn’t know you had the same gym hours as me.”

“I don’t normally, but tonight I’ve got something I have to deal with, so I swapped with Dave.”

Given how many special projects were always in progress around this place, Brenda decided not to ask any further. If Lou felt comfortable about sharing, he would. If not, prying would be exceedingly unwelcome.

So she went with a more neutral response instead. “Probably wise, if you’re thinking the time will be tight.”

They continued for a few moments in companionable silence. As they waited for the airlock to cycle, Lou finally brought up what was actually on his mind. “I’ve been hearing some really wild rumors lately. I’ve been wondering if I should talk to Autumn about this stuff, or if that would only be wasting her time when she has plenty of stuff already on her plate.”

“What kind of rumors?”

“Stuff like food shipments being stolen by the guards who are supposed to protect them, and then trying to use them to set up their own private fiefdoms.”

Brenda considered some of the stuff she’d heard. “You hear all kinds of things, and it’s just believable enough that it would happen somewhere out there. Especially in societies that are still heavily tribal and there’s not a lot of trust beyond the family and clan, I could completely believe it. Now if you’re talking someplace in the US, or Japan, or Australia, I’d want a heck of a lot of proof before I’d even consider taking it seriously.”

“That’s the problem. I’m hearing stories about some of the inner cities…’

“Which have been going to hell in a handbasket and one food stamps cycle away from riots since I was a little kid.” Brenda pulled her phone out. “How about I text Drew and see what he knows. Even if he’s not that tightly hooked into the Air Force grapevine, I’m sure he knows some guys over there at the Roosa Barracks who are. Heck, my dad always said that if you want to know something like that for sure, the best way to find out is to ask a non-com.”

Lou laughed, and he didn’t sound forced. Yes, he was well aware of the sergeants’ and petty officers’ interpersonal networks too.

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Sunrise Surprise

Cindy knew she wasn’t supposed to be studying for class during her work hours, but right now there wasn’t anything to actually do beside wait for someone to call in or drop by. And she sure didn’t want someone to decide to make busywork for her to do, just so they could feel like the station was getting its money’s worth out of her.

Because there’s always someone who confuses Visible Busy with actual productivity. And if they’re someone in authority, pointing it out to them would be insubordination.

One good thing about what she was working on right now, it would look busy to a casual observer. Hold her tablet at the right angle, and she would look like a very diligent worker.

Still, it meant that she was just a bit edgy about having someone get behind her. Aunt Betty would probably tell her it was a sign of a guilty conscience, and Ken Redmond would say that bending rules was not a good habit to get into, because it eroded the barriers against doing it on the things that could get people killed.

Except it turned out to be Lou Corlin, taking a break during a long set. “Something’s going on. There’s three PSA’s on food waste on my ad schedule, and I know I heard Brenda play another two. We haven’t done this many since things first started getting hairy.”

Cindy considered how to respond. Lou was a real straight-arrow, not the sort of guy who’d chat up a girl in hopes of making a play on her. Which meant he had some serious concerns.

“I’ve noticed it too. And yesterday Juss Forsythe went by in a real hurry, carrying a breathing rig. Which means he must’ve needed to work on something in a non-breathable atmosphere, but not dangerous enough to require a full environmental suit.”

“Like some of the greenhouse farms. Running them at high concentrations of carbon dioxide really pushes plant growth.” Lou’s thick, dark eyebrows always made him look grim when he was thinking hard. “If something went wrong in one of them and they lost a bunch of plants, that would explain all the PSA’s about food waste.”

“But how could we find out? I mean, if they’re keeping it quiet for a reason, asking too many questions could get us into a lot of trouble.”

“Brenda’s mom is head of Food and Nutrition. She’d know, and I’d bet Brenda could ask without getting in trouble.”

“Which leaves us with the problem of figuring out how to get her to ask without looking obviously nosy.”