CHAPTER THIRTY
A day later, Susan walked across a Lunar beach for the first time. She adjusted the shoulder strap of her black bikini and enjoyed the sensation of sand oozing through her toes with each step. The sand wasn’t the beige or caramel common to Earth beaches, but rather a pale, ghostly Lunar sand, warmed by the sun and wetted by the ebb and flow of the sea.
The uniform granules under her bare feet didn’t possess the chaotic coarseness of natural erosion, because this was a manufactured beach, built for an artificial ecosystem by a society that had changed the angular rotation of a moon because they wanted shorter days.
That part still boggled her mind.
She wondered what it would look like if she reached down, drew a random handful of sand, then examined them under a microscope. How similar would each of the grains appear? Surely, the random clunking of grains together had marred the original, manufactured perfection at least a little.
It’s still a beautiful sight, she thought to herself, a content smile gracing her lips. Massive waves crashed down in what appeared to be slow motion to her Earth-raised perceptions, their size fueled by a combination of Luna’s low gravity and Earth’s impressive tidal pull.
She strolled at a leisurely pace across the sands, heading for a cluster of foldout chairs and beach towels under a wide, translucent umbrella. The sun was high and hot in the sky, but the crowds were still manageable enough for the SysPol team to enjoy a quiet corner to themselves.
Isaac lounged in one of the beach chairs, hands behind his head and a wide-brimmed hat over his face. Even Cephalie had gotten in on the relaxation. She lay on a tiny, virtual blanket by Isaac’s head, clad in a striped one-piece swimsuit. Susan walked up beside them, and Isaac pushed the brim of his hat up with a finger and opened an eye.
“Is it everything you’d hoped for?” he asked.
“Everything and more,” she replied with a satisfied grin. “Where’s Nina?”
“Surfing,” Cephalie pointed. Susan followed her finger to a pair of swimmers on hoverboards riding an inbound wave. Nina was laughing with a young man in a swimsuit so tiny and tight it left almost nothing to the imagination.
“She rented a spare board if you want to try,” Isaac said, nudging a flame-decorated board by his feet.
“Maybe later,” Susan said. “Aren’t you going to take a dip, too?”
“That’s what I’m in the middle of.”
As if on cue, a wave crashed down, frothing in slow motion up the beach. The water moistened the tips of Isaac’s toes before retreating.
“I’m not sure that counts,” Susan pointed out.
“Close enough for me.” He adjusted his hat to see her better.
“He’s taking a lazy day,” Cephalie whispered as if this were a dark secret.
“You better believe I am. After a case like that, I think we can all use a little downtime.” He sat up in the chair. “By the way, I know a Lunar beach was at the top of your list, but there are other sights we can see before we head back to Saturn.”
“Oh?” Susan replied, her interest piqued. “Like what?”
“Well, there are the big ones. Like the Armstrong Monument and the Armstrong Memorial Space Elevator. No trip to Luna is complete without a stop there. Also, the space elevator has the Apollo Capsule Café at its base, which is one of the most famous coffee shops in all of Luna.”
“Armstrong Memorial…” Susan considered the name. “Who’s it named after?”
“Neil Armstrong.”
“Who?”
“What do you mean ‘who’? It’s Neil Armstrong. Haven’t you heard of him?”
Susan shook her head.
“First organic to set foot on Luna?”
“Still doesn’t sound familiar.”
“Surely there’s something named after the guy in the Admin. Or at least, I don’t know, a memorial plaque where the original moon landings took place.”
Cephalie climbed onto Isaac’s shoulder and glared at him with her hands on her hips.
“Yes?” Isaac asked. “Can I help you?”
Cephalie held up a sign that read: REMEMBER YOUR HISTORY CLASSES!
“Not this again.” Isaac rolled his eyes. “And I am remembering my history correctly, thank you very much.”
“Maybe,” Susan said softly, “but perhaps that’s not what she means.”
Cephalie stomped toward his head and shook the sign in his face. Isaac sighed with a grimace, but then a spark of doubt crept onto his face, and he paused in thought.
“Wait a second,” he said after a lengthy silence. “Did the first moonwalk happen before or after World War II?”
Cephalie swapped her original sign for one that read: AFTER.
“Are you sure?” he asked incredulously.
“I think she’s right,” Susan said. “That’s how it played out in my history, and since our timelines diverged in 1940…” She shrugged.
“I could have sworn the landings were before.”
The text on Cephalie’s sign turned bold red.
“Fine,” Isaac relented with a sigh. “I’ll take your word for it. But in my defense, the twentieth century is a dense part of history. And it all happened a millennia ago, so excuse me if I don’t remember the sequence right. I work in Themis, not Gordian, after all.”
“My point”—Cephalie’s sign vanished, and she planted her hands on her hips—“is you have a deputy from the Admin, which means it would benefit you to be more cognizant of the historical differences than most people.”
“Uh huh,” Isaac replied, unimpressed. “I think you’re making a bigger deal of this than it needs to be. It’s not like I offended anyone by not knowing the twentieth century by heart. Susan, did I offend you?”
“No, of course not.”
“There you have it.” Isaac laid back and covered his face with his hat once more.
Cephalie teleported to Susan’s shoulder and held up a sign that read: I’LL STRAIGHTEN HIM OUT. DON’T YOU WORRY.
“It’s okay.”
HE REALLY DOES APPRECIATE YOU, the next sign read. I SWEAR.
Susan smiled and waved her off.
She’d noticed similar comments from Cephalie in the past and she thought she understood what the AI was trying to encourage, but the truth was she was already in a relationship with Isaac. A professional relationship, and it was abundantly clear to her that’s all it would amount to, regardless of any inclination she might (or might not) have in other directions.
Certainly, Isaac was an attractive young man, and not just physically, though there was that. He’d earned her respect with both his tireless work ethic and dogged pursuit of the truth, no matter what obstacles were thrown in his path. A case might frustrate or confound him, but he seemed incapable of giving up. It was as if the thought of dismissing a case as unsolvable couldn’t find its way into his mind, and she admired that relentless aspect of him.
But it was clear to her he was laser-focused on his career, to the exclusion of all else. That was a personal choice of his she both understood and appreciated since it resembled her own path to becoming a STAND, and as his colleague, she had no desire to complicate both their lives. She respected him too much to do otherwise.
It would never work out, anyway, she told herself.
“Hey, everyone!” Nina walked over, a mischievous grin on her lips and a hoverboard under one arm. She tossed the hoverboard onto their blankets then put her hand on the shoulder of the strapping young man next to her. “Everyone, this is Gerald. He’s a student from Venus. He’s studying to become an environmental engineer.”
“Hey.” Gerald extended a hand to Susan. “Such a pleasure to meet you! I read all about how you brought in that criminal. I subscribed to the Nectaris Daily while I’m here, and they had a big, front page feature on the Weltall Tournament.”
“Why, thank you.” Susan shook his hand.
Isaac pushed the brim of his hat up and eyed the young man suspiciously.
“The Nectaris Daily, you say?”
“Yeah, man. Big splash on their front page with pictures of these two.” He pointed to Nina and Susan. “I’m not one for the news, but it was so interesting, I read the whole thing! And then, what do you know, but I run into both these lovely ladies on the beach! How lucky can I get?”
“Oh, I have a feeling your luck hasn’t run out.” Nina gave him a playful pat on the butt, and his face turned a fierce shade of red.
“Anyone else listed as helping to solve the case?” Isaac asked, his voice coming across like he was in detective-mode.
“What?” Gerald’s voice squeaked.
“In the article. Were other people listed as contributors?”
“Oh, sure.” Gerald nodded. “There was this Noxon guy. You know, from the Admin. He shot the criminal. Then there was this other guy named Lotz. He was in there, too. I think he’s a state trooper or something. Not much was written about him. Maybe a sentence or two. The article didn’t even include his picture.”
“Anyone else?”
“Umm…nah, man. No one comes to mind.”
“You say you read the entire article.”
“The whole thing, man. The whole thing.”
“I see,” Isaac said. “But no one else was listed?”
“Don’t think so.”
“You sure? Maybe someone else? Someone in SysPol. The person who figured out the bomb was in the trophy, perhaps?”
“Oh yeah!” Gerald’s face lit up. “You’re right, man!”
Isaac raised his eyebrows in anticipation.
“Yeah, yeah!” Gerald pointed to Nina with both hands. “The article said you figured out where the bomb was!”
“Oh, pfft!” she dismissed. “They’re always exaggerating things about me. Ever since I cracked the Apple Cypher case.”
“That was you?” Gerald’s eyes widened in hero-worshiping amazement. “The one where some crazy guy made all those food printers spit out nothing but apples? You solved that one?”
“Yup!”
“Wow! Amazing!”
“I don’t believe this.” Isaac pulled his hat down to cover his entire face.
“Umm.” Gerald looked down at Isaac, then glanced to Nina. “Did I say something wrong?”
“Nah,” Nina said. “He’s just sore because his name hardly ever appears in the news.”
“Oh, wait. Is he in SysPol, too?”
“Yeah, but you wouldn’t know it from the news. He thinks it’s a big deal.”
“I do not think it’s a big deal,” Isaac stated, his voice muffled by his hat.
“Then why do you sound so upset?” Nina teased.
“I’m not upset.”
“Come on, Gerald.” Nina wrapped her arm around his. “How about you and I have a few drinks and chat some more? You can tell me all about Luna’s water cycle.”
“Sure, Miss Cho! I’d love to!”
“Oh, please! Call me Nina!”
The two sauntered off to an open-air bar further up the beach.
Isaac let out a long, guttural groan into his hat.
Susan knelt by his side. “Are you really upset?”
“Maybe a little?” He took his hat off and sat up. “Is it really so hard for reporters to, I don’t know, report the correct facts?”
“Yes,” Cephalie said firmly from her perch on his shoulder. “It is.”
“Look at it this way,” Susan said. “I had to fly through a roof and take a bomb to the chest before people around here started respecting me.”
“I guess you have a point there.” Isaac blinked. “Wait a second. Have you been getting good press since the tournament?”
“A few articles here and there.”
“Of course,” he sighed.
“You know,” she gave him a crooked smile, “all you need to do is abstract. Then we can stuff you in a combat frame and shoot you through the roof on our next case.”
“I think I’ll pass.”
“It’ll get you noticed,” she teased.
“Maybe, but crashing through the roof to save the day is more your thing.” He let his own smile slip. “I wouldn’t want to steal your thunder.”
“Oh, speaking of which,” she began, “I received a message from Director Shigeki.”
“Which one?”
“The younger one. Head of DTI Foreign Affairs. He asked me to check with you and see if it would be all right to switch your investigator status to inactive.”
“Sure, they can do that whenever they like. The position came in handy, but I think that’s all behind us. There’s nothing left to do on this case except fill out reports.”
“You sure?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I don’t know,” Susan said. “A status like that could prove useful in the future.”
“Susan.” He gave her a doubtful look and stood up. “What are the odds we’ll get assigned another Admin case anytime soon?”
“Could happen.”
“But it’s not likely. What with us stationed out at Saturn and most interactions between the two universes happening around Earth. Which is fine by me. Dealing with one legal system is hard enough.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
“But we can talk about that some other time.” He took off his hat and tossed it on his beach chair. “For now, what do you say we try out the waters?”
“Sounds great to me,” Susan replied eagerly.
* * *
Over three hundred eighty thousand kilometers away in Earth orbit, Jonas Shigeki was in a good mood. Dahvid Kloss, who sat across from him in the Argus Station conference room, was decidedly not in a good mood.
Smile, Kloss, Jonas thought wryly. This is a great day!
He had many reasons to be in a good mood, but perhaps the most obvious was the progress everyone had made on the Providence negotiations. The leaders of both the Gordian Division and the DTI had come to an agreement regarding the construction of Providence Station, and Jonas was confident the agreement would be ratified by both their governments. That meant the Admin would not only get its hands on SysGov counter-grav technology, but they would also reap the benefits from both the construction and the research performed by the future station.
Kloss had other matters on his mind as he drummed the table with his fingers, a deep scowl on his face.
“It was worth it,” Jonas declared.
“I beg to differ.”
“Oh, don’t be such a whiner. You can hardly call that a chewing out.”
“You were only there for the start.”
“So?”
“It went on for a while.”
“Come on. It couldn’t have been that bad,” Jonas protested, leaning back in his seat. “After all, Dad talked to me, too.”
“He chewed you out?” Kloss asked incredulously.
“Talked to me,” he stressed. “Hardly any chewing.”
“How’d he find out you were involved?”
“No idea.”
“I didn’t tell him.”
“I know that.” Jonas shrugged. “Doesn’t matter how. Dad’s perceptive like that sometimes. Saw right through both of us.”
“That he did.”
“Still worth it, though. I even chatted with him afterward, showed him how useful the investigator position proved. We could have easily had a much larger mess on our hands.”
“That much is true,” Kloss agreed.
“And he agrees with me. Though, it would have been even better if Espionage hadn’t slipped up.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m talking about Pérez, of course. How exactly did your people miss a loose cannon like him?”
“We’re not mind readers,” Kloss bristled. “Pérez was clean across every one of his evaluations, including the most recent round we performed after the Dynasty Crisis. The systems are in place to detect problematic individuals like him.”
“But those same systems failed to catch him before he almost blew up a goodwill tournament.”
“Don’t you think I know that? Rest assured, we’ll be taking a hard look at our processes with an eye for where to make improvements. Is that what you wanted to talk to me about? How I and the rest of Espionage failed everyone?”
“No, I just like messing with you.”
Kloss let out a weary sigh. “Then what are we here to discuss?”
“Your newest junior provisional investigator.”
“The first and the last,” Kloss stressed. “What about him?”
“Here. Take a look at this.”
Jonas placed his hand on the table, and a proposal materialized in front of Kloss. It was something Jonas had whipped up in his free time over the last day, after Cho and Cantrell had cracked the Weltall case. In hindsight, it seemed so obvious to him, and with Cho now a DTI investigator (who could be reactivated with little effort), the groundwork was firmly in place.
After all, why limit the pair to rotations in SysGov? Why not bring them both over to the Admin for a chance to serve under Kloss in DTI Espionage?
Kloss read through the proposal, his face growing darker with every sentence until he began to let out a pained, drawn-out exhale. The exhale turned into a groan, and Kloss grimaced at the document as if he were struggling with a bad case of indigestion. His voice wheezed out at the end, his lungs empty. He sucked in a sharp breath and looked up across the table, eyes like swords.
“I didn’t hear a ‘no’ in all that drama!” Jonas observed.