Chapter 4

I terminated the replay and flicked my eyes open, re-adjusting to the brightness of the cafe around me. I stretched my body to work out the kinks and just to generally shake off the physiological and emotional residue of the replay. My coffee was only half-gone, and it had turned lukewarm. I took a last desperate sip, but it was hopeless. Lukewarm latté is awful. I set the cup down with a sigh.

I felt a light tap on my shoulder. I turned to look. There stood Lana, one hand on her hip and the other clutching a limp dishrag.

"Refill?" she asked with a gesture.

"Do they do free refills here?"

"No, but I sometimes do. This one's on me."

I smiled at her. My day was just full of unexpected generosities. And her offer of free coffee wasn't bad either! I handed her my cup. "Thanks."

She took it from me and made off. I watched her walk away, briefly admiring her lithe form, and then I slid my arms forward across the table in resumed concentration, my HUD still active.

I hadn't learned much from that replay, but there was still a lot more to review. In the meantime, I activated a resource search on Geelan. First my own results came back: all my conversations and interactions with him, then a list of the documents and SuperNet sites we had shared. I skipped past that material, which I planned to review later, and waited with anticipation for the SuperNet results. As I feared, the dreaded "No Results Found" message appeared. Damn.

That was extremely rare. Everyone left indelible tracks on the SuperNet, even aliens. Even con-men. I couldn't believe there was no record whatsoever of him. Of course, this was a general SuperNet search; the specialized databases I intended to check might prove more fruitful. Still, I had hoped to find something. I pulled up his profile again from my own database, and studied his face, as if his picture might reveal something hidden about him.

Lana stepped in front of me, and I instantly shut off my HUD, like an adolescent caught looking at a girlie magazine. Keeping my face perfectly blank, I watched her sit down across from me and slide across fresh cup of joe. "Thanks," I said.

"Don't mention it."

She sat there, looking at me, and I took a tentative sip. "It's good."

She smiled weakly, as if her soda fountain skills were the last thing in the world she wanted to be noted for.

I took another sip and returned her gaze. She reached under the table and, from where I have no idea, returned her hand into view holding a caramel covered biscotti.

I looked at her wonderingly. "Is that a dog treat for me?"

She smiled and handed it to me. "A little magic trick my dad taught me. I thought it might make you smile."

I grunted, took it from her, and dipped it in the latté. I fished it back out, dripping with coffee, tucked it in my mouth and bit off the softened pastry. I chewed a bit, savored the taste, then gave her my biggest, broadest smile.

She smiled back in satisfaction, her mission completed.

"Thanks. It's delicious."

"You're welcome."

I prepared another bite of biscotti while she watched me. She finally spoke. "You're Sean Brennan, aren't you?"

I stopped chewing. What was it with strangers who knew me and my life story from all the "news items" that didn't even exist? "Maybe. What makes you ask?"

"I read about the Atlas thing that happened a few months ago. Pity. Did you really...?" She shook her head in self-remonstration. "What am I saying, of course you didn't. I read all about it in the news. I remembered your face, from the last few times you've been in, and I just wanted to...see if it was you. Say hello."

"If you want, I'll even autograph my coffee cup for you. You can take it home and…well, it's almost as good as using somebody else's toothbrush."

She laughed, in spite of herself. She still had that hard, judgmental edge to her, but it looked like my charm was winding its way in. To what end, I have no idea, except for perhaps more free coffee. "So what is it?" I asked. "You have a thing for washed-out scandalized space miners forced into early retirement?" I asked.

"Not exactly. But let's say I do share a certain affinity for victims of corporate buffoonery. Especially victims of Atlas Asteroid Mining Company buffoonery."

"Oh, they forced you out too?" I replied in half-jest. "I worked the Melanie cluster. What rock were you on?"

She looked at me for a moment, as if trying to decide how many of her cards to reveal. The only game I was playing was "Give Sean More Free Coffee", which is a lot like Go-Fish, when you think about it.

"Gaia," she finally answered.

I lifted my eyebrows in a fake show of sincere curiosity. "You were on Gaia?"

"I was."

I nodded. "The only mining they're doing on Gaia is rimonium mining. What did they frame you with, joining the natives and sabotaging your own company's equipment?"

"Yes, actually, I was sabotaging their equipment. But I didn't work for them. I am a Native."

I looked more closely at her…her skin was a beautiful cocoa, her eyes wide and brown. Flowing jet-black hair, rudely choked into a ponytail, fell behind her. "In more ways than one, it would seem," I ventured.

"Indeed. I am a Gaia citizen, and a Duwamish Indian."

I nodded again. Chief Seattle's people. But the political turn our conversation had just taken soured me on it quickly. Another Gaia activist complaining about Earth policies, and figuring any disgruntled Atlas employee was a friend. "Well," I said to her, "you may not like Atlas, and I admit I might have stricken the board of directors from my Christmas card list. That doesn't make us comrades." Her face registered mild surprise at my sudden turn of mood. "Look, Lana, I know the company's rimonium mining is controversial. But it's really not my concern. I don't work for them anymore, I was never involved in the rimonium side of things, and I certainly am not interested in spending my days plotting my revenge against them for canning me. Quite honestly, I've got other things on my plate right now." I was genuinely disappointed. I honestly didn't think she would be giving me any more free biscotti.

But it begged the question as to what she was doing here on Earth, serving lattés to the mixed San Francisco crowd of yuppies and bohemians. "What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Looking for you."

I didn't know what to say to that. A ribald retort did come to mind, but the intensity in her face steered me away from it. I finally shook my head. "That doesn't make any sense. You're mixing drinks in a coffee bar. I've only been here a couple times. How do I fit in?"

"It was an easy and inconspicuous way for me to be introduced into your life. They could finish their background checks, and I could assess you in person, on the ground. When the time was right, in my judgment, I was cleared to approach you."

My face wrinkled in utter confusion. Sure, she speaks English, but….damned if she makes any sense.

She leaned closer to me, and lowered her voice. "I work for the Gaian government. Intelligence bureau. You have been selected as the ideal ally to assist us in our cause."

The deep guffaw that erupted from my body made her jump involuntarily, and caught the attention of the few patrons in the café. My body shook in tremors, my eyes starting to tear up. I looked at her and laughed some more. God, it felt good to laugh like that.

The anxiety and anger on her face were clear, and she gestured for me to stop bringing attention to us, all of which made me laugh the more. "Stop it!" she hissed. "Stop it."

I made a half-hearted attempt to subside the laughter, my face undoubtedly pink from the prolonged fit. When my facial expression came back down to Earth, I looked at her in amazement. "You people need some interpersonal training. That was the most ridiculous recruitment I've ever seen."

Her face shifted into utter, silent rage. Her eyes pierced mine, her mouth clenched. I could see I had insulted her, and I hadn't meant to do that. "Hey…what do you want from me?"

She didn't answer. I thought she was going to bolt. She seemed to will herself to stay. Across her face danced an entire script of emotions, from anger to resignation, then on to debate, and finally to a renewed resolve. Her chin lifted up ever so slightly when she finally addressed me. "A world is being destroyed by the company that destroyed you. Our children are drinking poisoned water from the toxins Atlas is allowing to seep into our ground water. Our kids, our elderly, even healthy adults are developing asthma from the perpetual dust clouds drifting into our communities. Atlas has breached all the terms of its contract with my government, and is refusing to accept any responsibility for the human and environmental damage it is doing. And as you probably know, when we registered our protest with Earth government and the corporate councils, they not only ignored us, they sent troops – armed, military troops – to protect Atlas and its destruction of our planet. We have been invaded, Mr. Brennan. Our planet and our people are being assaulted by this insatiably greedy company and the people who are supposed to hold it accountable are using military force to defend it. As a victim yourself of the unchecked aggression that Atlas regularly displays, I thought you might have some empathy for what an entire world is going through. If you want Atlas brought to justice, Mr. Brennan, we're the best way to get it."

I took a deep breath, and sighed. Shaking my head, I looked apologetically at her. "Lana…if that's even your name…I'm not happy about what happened, me being pushed out and everything. But I'm really not interested in bringing them to justice, for me or for your planet and your people. Atlas is a huge company, they have a considerable mandate in the councils, and the last thing I want to do is spend my days and…money…fighting a losing cause. It is what it is, unfortunate though it may be. I have moved on, and I've got other…issues I'm engaged in. I'm sorry, but if you were looking for support, Gaia just isn't my fight."

She stared at me, not knowing what to say. She looked down at her hands, and I could see the rise and fall of her breath as she struggled with the tension inside of her. She gazed at me again. "What will it take?" she asked.

"What will what take?"

"What will it take to bring you on board? I see now that I was mistaken in thinking that you would be swayed to our cause by virtue of a common enemy. Let me offer something of potentially greater interest to you. The Gaian government can compensate you handsomely for your assistance in this matter."

"Assistance in what?! Setting bombs under their machinery in the dead of night?"

"To use your inside knowledge to help us defeat them, legally or illegally, but to get them off our planet!"

I shook my head again. "Lana, I like you, and…I really like your coffee. I hope you'll give me more." Her eyes bulged in shock. "But I'm really not interested in joining the Gaia cause. I've got other things I'm working on, and…it's just not my fight. I'm sorry."

She stared at me for a long time. I wanted to fill the awkward silence with something, but what was there left to say? I had said what I could say about it.

She let out a big breath and stood up. She strode away from me without another glance, and I soaked up my own sighs with a long, savoring bite of what would probably be my last free biscotti from the pretty coffee girl at Billy's named Lana.

If that was really her name.