Children of Steel (14 page)

On the way back across town we stopped at the
central post office. Both to check on any mail, and to send some.
Sending mail to other planets is not too difficult, but as it must
be taken by ship, as a computer file, it does cost a little. It
also tends to be slow and if you're trying to send it to someone
who moves around a lot, like a ship’s crewmember, they may not get
it for years. So what is common amongst crews is to leave letters
at the main post office of planets you regularly visit, or send
them to planets most likely to be visited by the recipient.

I wanted to check on anything sent to me
particularly, or my family. As it turned out there was a letter
addressed to any of the Rakir's. It had been sent by my brother
Sunil when he had passed through here and it had been added to by
my brother Nepal when he had passed through.

It didn't say too much, just that everything
was fine and what ship they were on. I added my assignment, which
being last nobody knew. I also put down the usual stuff and even
added Kathy's name and number, as a friend. After all she was
studying law and you never knew when you might need help.

I then wrote a letter to Cassandra,
mentioning again my assignment but mostly saying that I missed her
a lot. I did mention that I had made some good friends on the Astra
and told her all about the clan and my other experiences since I
had last seen her. I then mailed them to the crew members at large
service and waited with Gabe for Dave to finish his.

Fifteen minutes later we were back on our way
to the local plant. Dave told us that he actually had received
quite a few pieces of mail, as Hobson's was on a regular run that
several of his friends and family did. Gabe told us that his mail
had been unchanged since the last time and I told them that there
had been nothing much for me either.

Back at the company I went to the room they
had given me in the temporary quarter’s area and checked my
messages. There was one from Terease, wanting to know if I'd go
with her into town this afternoon. I looked at the clock and saw I
had only a few minutes if I wanted to make that date. Another from
Herza who wanted to go out that night, I sent her a positive
response and told her what I would be doing this afternoon. And one
from Balizar, saying they were planning a group outing for tomorrow
and would I come? I sent a yes to that as well. I then made a quick
change of clothes and hurried off to meet Terease.

I caught up with her in her room, and she was
pretty happy to see me.

"Oh Raj, I'm so glad you showed!" She said
excitedly, "I want to go see the city, but I'm still kind of afraid
to go do it alone."

"Where's Banner?" I asked looking around.

"Well I didn't want to ask him, as I'm
looking for a gift to surprise him with. So naturally you were my
first choice." She said, grabbing my arm and leading me out the
door. "Are you coming with us all tomorrow?"

"Of course, wouldn't miss it. So what are you
going to get him anyway?" I was a little surprised, the two of them
must really be hitting it off better that I though.

"Well that was another reason I wanted you to
come, I need a little help deciding. You train with him, so I
thought you'd be able to shed some light on what he appreciates
most."

"Hmmm, that's a tough one, I'll have to give
it some thought," I said scratching my head. By now she had led me
over to the Taxi stand. "I better tell you, I'm short on cash and
would rather not spring for a cab." I told her guiltily.

"I heard about the poker game from Balizar,
so don't worry it's my treat." She walked up to the nearest one and
we got in.

"Where to folks?" asked the cab driver, he
was an elderly Raccoon with quite a few gray hairs.

"I'm looking to do a little shopping,"
Terease told him, "and I'd like to know where a good area is?"

"Well the major shopping district is right
between the ani quarter and the human quarter. They'll treat you
pretty well down there too. That's what I'd recommend," he pulled
away from the curb and into the traffic while he talked. "How's
that sound?"

"Sounds good to me," I replied.

"Me too." she told him, and then turning to
me asked, "Where'd you go Saturday night anyway? It must have been
pretty good if you're only getting back this morning."

"Gabe and Dave have a couple of friends here
and we ended up in the mountains last night. It was kind of fun
actually. How'd Balizar find out about my losses anyway?" I asked
sitting back next to her and enjoying the ride.

"Balizar knows
everything
that goes on
aboard that ship. He is the head of security remember?" She
laughed, and then added. "He said to tell you to wear a long robe
next time."

"Damn, does everybody know about my tail?" I
asked annoyed, "Why didn't he tell me before I lost the money!"

"Because he wanted to make sure you learned
what apparently every other poker player knows already," she
laughed again, "But don't change the subject, what type of friends
were these anyway?"

"Well you know Gabe," I said grinning back,
determined to let her ponder awhile, "You figure it out."

"From the look on your face they had to have
been female, with at least one there for you too. Anymore I don't
want to know," She gave me a sidelong glance, "because now you're
smirking."

"Well they were interesting and Gabe's friend
is really pretty well off."

"Then what does she see in Gabe?" She was
really in a good mood I had to admit.

"Probably a nice red coat!" I laughed with
her, "So what have you been up to that you're in such a good
mood?"

"Oh I always get a little giddy when I'm on a
planet surrounded by all this open space. I was brought up on an
asteroid you know."

"No I didn't. What was it like?"

"Confining mostly. But you don't know it
until you're away from it. The first time I was on a planet I had
to be physically dragged out of the ship, it was pretty scary. But
after a couple of weeks I just couldn't get enough of it."

"Here we are folks," The cabby said pulling
up in front of a large building, "there are about forty or so shops
in this place, and it's dead center of the district. If you can't
find what you want around here, it ain't on the planet."

We thanked him and Terease paid the bill,
then we got out and looked around the area. There certainly were a
lot of shops around, and a lot of animen as well as humans. We
walked inside the building that the cab driver had mentioned and
looked around. There were quite a lot of shops inside. The building
was six stories high centered on an atrium. I noticed that not only
were the customers a mixed lot, but those working there were as
well.

We searched through quite a few stores
looking at different items that were on sale. Clothes were out, as
we wore uniforms most of the time. Shoes or boots were out, because
we just didn't wear them normally. Anything large or heavy was out
because it wouldn't be allowed on ship. Everybody was limited to
about forty pounds of personnel effects, you could get away with
more, but only if it could be classified as work gear (Armor,
weapons and other gear was exempt from this rule of course).

That gave me a bit of an idea. I asked one of
the salespeople in the store we were in if there were any places
nearby that sold camping or military gear. He told me of a couple,
and I turned to Terease.

"Well, want to take a look? Perhaps you can
find something he'd appreciate there."

"Sure why not?" she replied.

So we headed down to the first store
mentioned, and went inside.

"May I help you?" Inquired the salesman, who
to my surprise was human.

"Yes," said Terease. "I'm looking for
something for a friend, and I'm not sure what to get."

"I see, I take it this is supposed to be for
work then?"

"Yes actually, he's a corporate security
officer."

"Ahh yes, follow me then," and he led us off
to the military end. I got the impression from the items on the
shelves that a lot of corporate employees shopped here. "Now I
don't think you'd be interested in any weapons, the companies all
seem to cover that end fairly well. But we do have a very good
selection of body armor for starters."

"No," I said. "He's got a very good set
already."

"Are you sure?" asked Terease.

"Yeah, he showed it to me once. Earth made,
very high quality."

"Oh, so you’re buying for someone who has
been around for a while," continued the salesman nonplussed, "I
have a few items here that are not available to the general public,
if you know what I mean, that you just might find interesting."

He steered us down to a counter at the end of
the aisle, and went around behind it. He then started to set
several devices on the counter top.

"I have here several items popular among
those of you who find themselves involved in 'company actions'." He
said the last word with the same lilt that animen usually used when
talking about such things, he obviously knew his clientele. "This
is a portable medikit, with an auto-suceher, pressure bandage,
stimulants, painkillers, a healing agent, and some bone glue." He
pointed at the first one.

I shook my head; the company supplied those,
for a fee of course, so I knew he had one.

"This is a laser and infra-red detector," he
said pointing to the next device. "You can clip it into your
headset, and it sends an alert if somebody's pointing a targeting
device at you."

This time Terease shook her head, "He's got
one, I saw it."

That surprised me, I didn't have one! I
looked at the price, too expensive considering I really didn't
expect to end up in the field very often.

"Ah, a person of distinction." He smiled; I
don't think
anything
threw this guy off. He picked up the
next item. "This is called a masker, they're illegal on earth for
anybody but the government. It masks all the electronic noise
generated by your equipment. Combined with a lightwave camo suit,
it makes the wearer virtually undetectable!"

"Let me see that," said Terease taking it
from the salesman. "Can we test it?"

"Sure no problem." he pulled out some other
gear, which Terease started using without even looking twice. The
salesman was pretty impressed by that, and as she fussed with the
equipment I leaned over.

"She got all the brains in the family." I
whispered and he laughed.

"I heard that," she said grinning. "It works
alright, how much?"

He quoted a price that I thought was way too
high, and Terease dickered over it with him, and finally settled on
a price that I couldn't have afforded even if I hadn't lost at
gambling.

"I'll take it," she said surprising me, and
after paying we left to go back to the plant.

Once in the Taxi I asked her, "You sure you
can afford that?"

"Sure, I make about two hundred thou a year,
and even with the cost of the day to day stuff, it's no
problem."

"But aren't you saving anything for your
Buyout?" I must have sounded as shocked as I felt.

"Raj, I thought you knew," she put her hand
on my leg. "I don't owe anything. I'm free and clear."

"Why am I always the last to learn anything?"
I asked after a couple of shocked seconds. "So why are you working
for Tri-Star?"

"I had to work for
somebody
, and as I
specialized in jump drives, it kind of narrowed the field. So I
just went and looked for the Corporations with the best records I
could find and then flipped a coin. Tri-Star won, that's all."

"I still suggest you save as much as
possible. If you should end up lifemating with someone, you could
help pay off their bill and guarantee mutual assignments from then
on."

"I hadn't thought of that." She looked very
thoughtful for a couple of seconds then. "Thanks."

I started to wonder exactly how far things
were going between her and Banner. It was quickly becoming obvious
to even me that she was getting pretty serious. I wonder if Banner
knew? I wondered if he cared? I decided I should make it my
business to have a talk with him. Terease was quickly becoming like
another one of my family to me, and I always looked out for
family.

We got back to our rooms, said goodbye and
went our separate ways. I checked the time and saw that I still had
about ninety or so minutes before my date with Herza. So I went to
the gym and worked out for an hour. By the time I had finished my
shower, I found her sitting on my bed waiting for me.

"Hi there my big Tom, you almost ready?" She
smiled at me with a sparkle in her eyes.

"Just let me get dressed, and we'll go." I
started to put on a fresh pair of shorts. "Where are we going
anyway?"

"Oh don't worry about that!" she said
mischievously, "Just don't put on your best pair there, that's
all."

I stopped, took off the shorts I had been
about to put on, and got out a slightly more used pair.

"Anything else?" I asked suspiciously.

"Nope! Come on," and grabbing my arm, she
dragged me off.

We walked to the ani quarter of town, which
fortunately wasn't too far from the plant. We threaded down several
streets and even cut through one alley, when she suddenly headed
for a place with a sign out front that labeled it as a bar named
'Martial'. Something about the way the name sounded worried me.

"What the hell is this place?" I demanded,
stopping as I looked around after we were inside.

It was pretty trashed and most of the
furniture was either bolted to the floor or part of the walls. I
thought I could smell dried blood, and I could sure see some kind
of stains on the floor. Most of the people in there were obviously
fighters like us and I didn't see a single non-predator species. Or
any humans either for that matter.