It turned out I'd been a bit of a pessimist. It took almost 3 hours before an executive order was issued to secure all Bobiverse in-system assets, pending any assignment of legal liability. The order came with instructions for immediate action by the military and financial sector. It would take the suits most of the day to unwind the various blinds and dummy corps I’d set up in the last couple of days, at which point they'd find nothing but lint.
The military aspect was a more immediate concern. Two squadrons pulled away from the Lagrange naval bases, accelerating at military level g’s for my last known position and vector. Unfortunately for them, I'd already changed direction several times, so I was not only not at the projected position, I also didn't have a vector that was a radial to it. Space was alive with SUDDAR pings, all sliding silently past my cloak.
It took only a minute for commander Hobart to come online. “Claude Johansson, you are under military arrest per executive order of the big- uh, of the New Home Counsel. Cease acceleration and surrender yourself for boarding.”
I spared a moment to chuckled Hobart's almost faux pas, but of course to respond would be to show my position. The commander was doomed to a frustrating day of explaining to the big heads why he'd come up empty-handed. I formatted an email and fired it off to Bill, via my own SCUT-enabled relays. Not that he needed more headaches, but this was part of the big picture, and would probably be replicated in other systems. I received a reply within seconds. No, not mils. Seconds. He was that busy.
“Thanks for the info, Claude. Sadly, you're probably right about other systems trying the same thing, but I'll give any potentially affected Bobs the heads up. Nice move with the financial assets, by the way.”
I smiled, then sat back and stared into space. One way or another. I was probably finished in this system. Even if they decided they didn't need to sue me, I’d have a hard time arguing that I hadn’t heard the commander, and that all my chest moves were just normal business. Well, what the hell. I'd been stationary too long. Mario and his crew were finding interesting things out beyond the Others’ system. Maybe I'd join up and do my part to make known space a bigger place.
8. The Search
Bob
July 2334
Cedar Rapids
Hugh had cleaned up the spare Manny and was on the road. I was glad to have him active in Heaven's River. The thing with cloning versus transporting and the whole ‘soul’ business was, I admit, freaky. I wondered if he decided to transport to Eta Leporos just to test it out for himself.
I was in town, having arrived by land. A few casual conversations revealed that I was in a location that the translator handed off as Cedar Rapids. Local tree, of course. It was a prosperous town with a relatively large fleet of ships. It appeared that being the closest port to the mountains, and therefore the choke point for all goods coming from and going to the next segment of Heaven's River, was a good thing.
There was another festival in full swing. I decided to wander around a little, see the sights, and get some of the flavor of the place. Hopefully without my friends around, I would be just one more face in the crowd. And I would make a point of not peeking into any carts. In rapid succession, I saw a square dance group, a terrific string quartet, and a vocal group. The Quinlans definitely had a good sense of music and rhythm. But nothing was going to compensate for the short limbs: they would never do ballet. Or even hip-hop.
I decided it might be prudent to check for signs of the Resistance. I had come in over land and hadn’t gone anywhere near the docks, so presumably had bypassed any lookouts. As casually as any random Quinlan, I picked the closest tavern and got a table. This one was significantly upscale, having an actual outdoor patio where one could, eat, drink, and watch the world go by. However, a few minutes of watching made it clear that people seated there were not interested in socializing, so indoors it would be.
I sidled up to the bar and ordered a beer and the local equivalent of a sandwich. It wasn’t actual bread, maybe more of a pita wrap, but it had variations that didn't involve fish in its many forms. That alone made it my favorite snack.
In between bites. I started to talk up the barkeep. It was a slow day, so she was bored enough to put up with me. “Good lady, I am between residences at the moment. Could you recommend me a hotel or apartment overlooking the docks?”
“Why in Mother’s name would you want to live near the docks?
Um, think fast, Bob. “I'm an artist. Ships are my current subjective choice.”
She cocked her head, then nodded, deciding I wasn't dangerous. Or suspicious. Or something. “My cousin Maurice is the landlord of the Oak and Bale luxury apartments. Tell him Melanie sent you, and he'll find you something to your liking.”
And give you a kickback, no doubt. It was amazing just how much business was done in Heaven's River based on who knew a guy, but that was fine. It gave Melanie some motivation to help me out and rationalize away any oddness. She gave me directions and I thanked her and ordered another beer, just to be neighborly.
I was going to played cagey this time around, so I decided not to ask
