Part 18 (1/2)
Leaning on the teak podium, he began, ”The cause of peace has seen many heroes, many men and women who have given their lives. Captain Jagath Munasinghe has joined their ill.u.s.trious ranks...”
Before long, Faure was virtually snarling, ”And why has this brilliant young officer met such an untimely death? Because a handful of renegades at Moonbase refuse to accept international law. Scientists and corporation billionaires want to live beyond the law in their secret base on the Moon. Captain Munasinghe was killed trying to enforce the law which they resist. They killed him,”
Doug watched Faure's performance from the bunk in his quarters, where his digital clock read 6:28 a.m. Even before Faure had completed his diatribe, Doug pressed the keypad at his bedside that activated the phone.
He started to ask for Jinny Anson, but heard himself say instead, ”Edith Elgin, please.”
He muted Faure's image on the smart wall. Edith's voice came through, but no picture.
”This is Edith Elgin,” she said, as clearly as if she were signing off on a news report. At least I didn't wake her up, Doug thought.
”Doug Stavenger,” said Doug. ”Are you watching the funeral services?”
”Sure am. Faure's working himself to a stroke, looks like.”
”He's blaming us for that Peacekeeper's death.”
”What'd you expect? Munasinghe's handed him a great public relations club and Faure's going to beat you with it as hard as he can.”
Feeling frustrated that he couldn't see her, Doug asked, ”Well, what can we do about it?”
Edith immediately replied, ”I've got the whole thing on a pair of chips.”
”What?”
”I've checked both my cameras. They show what really happened.”
Doug's surge of hope dampened quickly. ”But the media have been ignoring us. Would they play your chips?”
Edith laughed. ”Does a chimp eat bananas?”
”No, really,” he said,'the media all seem to be on Faure's side.”
Her voice grew more serious. ”I'll take care of that that.”
”Can you?”
”If I can't, n.o.body can.”
Despite himself, Doug had to smile at her self-confidence. Or was it just plain ego?
”Are you really a billionaire?” Edith asked.
”Me?”
”Faure said you're a billionaire. Is that true?”
With a puzzled blink, Doug replied, ”I don't know. Maybe. I guess my mother is, certainly.”
”Say, have you heard anything from her? Your mother, I mean?”
”No.”
”Doesn't that worry you?”
Doug leaned back against his pillows. Suddenly he felt very tired of it all. ”You know,” he said to Edith, ”I haven't even had the time to worry about her. But now that you mention it, yeah, I had thought she would've called by now.”
For several heartbeats Edith did not reply. Then she said, her voice low, ”I'm sorry I brought it up, Doug. You've got enough on your shoulders without me adding to it.”
He felt himself smiling at her. ”That's okay. I guess if you hang out with reporters you've got to expect troubles.”
She laughed. ”That's it. Blame the media.”
DAY SIX.
Edith was surprised at how difficult it was to make contact with her boss at Global News in Atlanta. She had beamed the contents of her camera chips to headquarters, then spent the whole day trying to get through to the programming department to make certain they had received it okay.
Now it was past midnight, and still the smart wall display read: YOUR CALL HAS NOT BEEN ACCEPTED.
”Shee-it,” she muttered in her childhood Texas accent, sitting tensely in the spindly desk chair of the one-room apartment the Moonbase people had given her.
Doug had told her that the commsats were blacked out, but Global should be able to take a message directed straight at their rooftop antennas. Yet her call did not go through.
”Did they take my broadcast chip?” she asked herself, wondering for the first time if Global would accept anything she sent from Moonbase.
She sank back in her chair, thinking hard. It was well past midnight at Moonbase. A few stabs at the keyboard on her desk brought up the information that it was 7:23 p.m. in Atlanta.
Manny'll be home, knocking back his first c.o.c.ktail of the evening, she thought. Good!
But how to get him, if neither the commsats nor Global's private antennas were taking calls from the Moon?
She hated to call Doug and admit she couldn't get through on her own, especially since the guy was probably asleep at this time of night. Yet she couldn't think of anything else to do.
Doug's face popped up on her smart wall immediately. He was wide awake, still dressed, at his desk.
He listened to her problem, then showed her how to route calls through Kiribati. Edith thanked him, keeping her face serious, strictly business. Yet she found herself feeling glad that he wasn't in bed with someone else.
It took a few minutes more, but the wait was worth it once she saw Manny's look of shock when he recognized who was calling him.
”Edie! You're in Kiribati?”
”No, I'm still at Moonbase. How come y'all aren't taking calls from here?”
In the three seconds it took for his reply to reach her, Manny's surprised expression knitted into a frown. ”That's not my doing, kiddo. If it were up to me I'd keep a special link open to you twenty-four hours a day.”
”Well, put your drink down and get on it, then,” Edith said sternly.
”We're getting everything you send,” he said, looking worried, guilty. ”We're just not allowed to acknowledge receiving your transmissions.”
”Not allowed? By who?”