Suddenly the need to unburden himself to someone was too much to withstand. 'Ever been in love?' he asked, staring back down at the empty glass and shoving it back and forth a little between his index fingers.
The bartender took the glass away and replaced it with a cup of coffee. 'Not personally, but I've seen a lot of people who are, or think they are.'
'Ah.' Alex transferred his gaze to the cup, which steamed very nicely. 'I wouldn't advise it.'
'Yeah. A lot of them say that. Personal troubles with your significant?' the bartender-cum-Counselor prompted. 'Maybe it's something I can help out with.'
Alex sighed. 'Only that I'm in love with someone that, isn't exactly reachable.' He scratched his head for a moment, trying to think of a way to phrase it without giving too much away. 'Our, uh, professions are going to keep us apart, no matter what, and there's some physical problems, too.'
The habit of caution was ingrained too deeply. Freelance Counselor or no, he couldn't bring himself to tell the whole truth to this man. Not when telling it could lose him access to Tia altogether, if the wrong people heard all this.
'Can't you change jobs?' the Counselor asked, reasonably. 'Surely a job isn't worth putting yourself through misery. From everything I've ever seen or heard, it's better to have a low-paying job that makes you happy than a high-paying one that's driving you into bars.'
Alex shook his head, sorrowfully. 'That won't help,' he sighed hopelessly. 'It's not just the job, and changing it will only make things worse. Think of us as as a Delphin and an Avithran. She can't swim, I can't fly. Completely incompatible lives.' And that puts it mildly.
The Counselor shook his head, 'That doesn't sound promising, my friend. Romeo and Juliet romances are all very well for the holos, but they're hell on your insides. I'd see if I couldn't shake my emotional attachment, if I was you. No matter how much you think you love someone, you can always turn the heat down if you decide that's what you want to do about it'
'I'm trying,' Alex told him, moving the focus of his concentration from the coffee cup to the bartender's face. 'Believe me, I'm trying. I've got a couple of weeks extended leave coming, and I'm going to use every minute of it in trying. I've got dates lined up; I've got parties I'm hitting, and a friend from CenSec is planning on taking me on an extended shore leave crawl.'
The bartender nodded, slowly. 'I understand, and seeing a lot of attractive new people is one way to try and shake an emotional attachment. But friend, you are not going to find your answer in the bottom of a bottle.'
'Maybe not,' Alex replied sadly. 'But at least I can find a little forgetfulness there.'
And as the bartender shook his head, he pushed away from his seat, turned, took a tight grip on his dubious equilibrium, and walked out the door, looking for a little more of that forgetfulness.
Angelica Guon-Stirling bint Chad slid into her leather-upholstered seat and smiled politely at the man seated next to her at the foot of the huge, black marble table. He nodded back and returned his attention to the stock market report he was reading on the screen of his datalink. Other men and women, dressed in conservative suits and the subdued hues of management, filed in and took the remaining places around the table. She refrained from chuckling. In a few more moments, he might well be more interested in her than in anything that datalink could supply. She'd gotten entry to the meeting on the pretext of representing her uncle's firm on some unspecified business. They represented enough fluid wealth that the secretary had added her to the agenda and granted her entry to the sacred boardroom. It was a very well-appointed sacred boardroom; rich with the scent of expensive leather and hushed as only a room ringed with high-priced anti-surveillance equipment could be. The lights were set at exactly the perfect psychological hue and intensity for the maximum amount of alertness, the chair cradled her with unobtrusive comfort. The colors of warm white, cool black, and gray created an air of efficiency and importance, without being sterile.
None of this intimidated Angelica in the least. She had seen a hundred such boardrooms in the past, and would probably see a thousand more before her career had advanced to the point that she was too busy to be sent out on such missions. Her uncle had not only chosen her to be Ms. Cade's proxy because they were related; he had chosen her because she was the best proxy in the firm. And this particular venture was going to need a very delicate touch, for what Ms. Cade wanted was not anything the board of directors of Moto-Prosthetics was going to be ready for. They thought in terms of hostile takeovers, poison pills, golden parachutes. Ms. Cade had an entirely different agenda. If this were not handled well and professionally, the board might well fight, and that would waste precious time.
Though it might seem archaic, board meetings still took place in person. It was too easy to fake holos, to create a computer-generated simulacrum of someone who was dead or in cold sleep. That was why she was here now, with proxy papers in order and properly filed with all the appropriate authorities. Not that she minded. This was exciting work, and every once in a while there was a client like Hypatia Cade, who wanted something so different that it made everything else she had done up to now seem like a training exercise.
The meeting was called to order, and Angelica stood up before the chairman of the board could bring up normal business. Now was the time. If she waited until her scheduled turn, she could be lost or buried in nonsense, and as of this moment, the board's business was no longer what had been scheduled anyway. It was hers, Angelica's, to dictate. It was a heady brew, power, and Angelica drank it to the dregs as all eyes centered on her, most affronted that she had 'barged in' on their business.
'Gentlemen,' she said smoothly, catching all their attentions. 'Ladies. I believe you should all check your
