Shoshone Station: The Galactic Consortium season 2

Episode Four: Meteors #9

Dan rose early the next day, or he thought he had—his sense of time was thrown by the many time zones he'd passed through. Janda was already up, helping one of the uncles make breakfast. Kavi arrived soon after with Kleppie. They had gone to her apartment, which was a couple of levels away. He couldn't help but feel a little jealous of them; he wished his first reunion night with Bakala could have been just a bit more private.

Not that Lana had bothered to be quiet, and she had Cheyenne with her every night, he thought with a quick glance at their bedroom, which remained shut.

"Is there a bath? Or just cubicles?" Bakala asked as he came out of their room in a pair of loose-fitting pants and nothing else.

"We've several large bath facilities," the uncle said. "But morning shift workers are using them now. Children are eating and then it is their turn. You can hurry and shower with the workers or wait until later."

"I'll use the cubicle. Maybe go to a spa later," he said and disappeared into a side room.

"Coffee," Janda said with a nod as Dan went over to him. He was mashing potatoes while the uncle made a vegetable dish. Dan remembered the dish from his time on the Corelean, and his stomach rumbled as he poured himself a cup of coffee. "Who do you favor in the elections, Sarvin?" Janda asked.

The uncle, Sarvin, shrugged. "Magister Tarkana is clever. I'd not count him out yet."

Janda snorted.

"Elections?" Dan asked.

"Yes," Sarvin said. "A big one. About half the council seats and the prime magister's office are up. Three months' time."

"And the current prime magister, Tarkana, is having a tough fight of it. He's down almost double digits in the polls. Achii Havalin is top contender. Janda Mosvin is close behind Tarkana. Any of the three could win, depending on how the next couple of months go." Janda paused and reflected. "Part of me wants to vote Mosvin just so a Janda wins." He smiled.

"Bah, Mosvin won't win," Sarvin said.

"I'm curious, what issues drive politics here? We've seen protests over eggs elsewhere," Dan said. "Is that a factor here?"

"We've none of that nonsense here," Sarvin said.

"There is no C'thon or Squid population here," Lana remarked as she joined them. She poured her own coffee and sat beside Dan, watching the breakfast preparations. "I met Zeta on the base ship. It changed my opinion. I'm not sure what to think, but I'll not call it nonsense."

Sarvin shrugged off Lana's comments. To Dan he said. "Economics. What else? It drives politics everywhere, yes?"

Dan nodded. "Yeah, it does. And your economics?"

"Haven't you noticed the construction, everywhere?"

Dan's brow scrunched. "Yes. On Earth that is usually a good sign."

"How can it be a good sign?" Sarvin wanted to know.

"They have a different economic system," Janda said, then looked at Dan. "One of the most important rules of economics here is that if the economy is poor, you must invest in infrastructure."

"Of course," Sarvin put in. "Get laborers working. Make businesses have more opportunity, yes? Infrastructure improvements put money into workers' pockets, which they can spend then put back into the economy. New infrastructure makes it easier for businesses to start up. Both good for the economy."

"I can see that," Dan said. "So the construction?" Then he remembered what Janda had said the night before. "It's like they are trying to build a whole new station, right?"

Sarvin snorted at the joke.

"So the economy is bad," Dan said. "And the current magister takes the blame, as always?"

"Something like that," Janda said.

"Only this time, he is to blame," Sarvin insisted.

"Is not, Uncle," Kavi said as she came over. "And hurry up with that breakfast. I'm starving." She kissed his cheek affectionately as she said it.

"No patience with politics. That's your problem, Kavi. No patience."

"Nor for data," a new voice said. The speaker was a thin woman with short hair. "How she managed the patience for healer training, I'll never guess."

"Aunty Ashain!" Kavi squeaked and rushed to hug the woman.

"I had the day off and thought I'd spend it with my favorite niece," Ashain said. "If that's okay?"

"Of course," Kavi said. "Healers training was easy. I loved it." To the others she added, "Ashain has just never forgiven me for not going into data, like her."

"Never," Ashain said, her arm around Kavi's shoulder, belying the remark.

"So what did this Tarkana do that ruined the economy of your station?" Dan asked Sarvin as Kavi took Ashain to introduce her to Kleppie.

"He brought us here," Sarvin said. "And now look."

"I thought you wanted to come here?"

"We did. But we thought . . . well, they were supposed to be an advanced outpost. You were supposed to have scouted all the systems nearby, catalogued which ones were suitable for terraforming and which weren't. We were supposed to plug into your data core and be the command center for exploration. Our deep-space industry was supposed to be put straight to work on projects."

"And how could Tarkana have known that something had happened to Vaisava's mission. That these people wouldn't have that tech?" Janda demanded.

"This is politics," Sarvin said with a laugh. "When did logic matter? We came here to work. Now what? We drift. An entire fleet of terraforming vessels drift with us. Our industry is set to renovating and renovating, because there is nothing else to do. Meanwhile the station burns through reserves. We need real work. If Tarkana can't create this work, he will be voted out."

"Lana and I will vote for Mosvin," Cheyenne said as she appeared on Dan's other side. "That way we can say 'we know Janda,' and people will think we know the prime magister personally."

Sarvin gave her an indignant look.

"Don't even joke about politics around Sarvin," Ashain warned from where she was sitting with Kavi. "He takes his politics seriously."

"So who do you like?" Janda asked Sarvin. "If you don't mind the question."

"I think Tarkana has a few tricks up his sleeve yet. I think he'll pull this one out," Sarvin said.

"If by tricks you mean bating these Earth men with rumors," Janda muttered. "Then I will be voting for Mosvin for real. It's disgraceful."

Dan's ears pricked up. "You mean the meteor rumors?"

"There is nothing to trace these rumors to Tarkana," Sarvin said. "But his involvement is clear as a fish in a stream." He looked at Dan imploringly. "If you want to solve politics, just ask who benefits from the problem. Now let's fry these things up; talking politics is hungry work."

He and Janda set to work, leaving Dan to wonder just how Shin benefited from rumors back on Earth. He turned to Cheyenne. "Your kids?"

"Getting a taste of creche life," she replied.

"Some of the kids are going on a field trip today anyway," Kavi said. "They welcomed two more."

"And it gives me a little break to be an adult," Cheyenne joked. "I love the kids, you know, but sometimes you want conversations that don't revolve around whatever preteen drama Mackenzie got stirred up at school."

Dan laughed. "I can imagine."