The Nagelring, March 18, 3089..."...distinguished alumni such as yourself, General." Mikel Stafford's obsequious tone didn't grate Thomas's nerves, even though he knew it was entirely feigned. He'd made General, that part's true, and still had a lot of contacts in the Bureaucracy.
But among the
tactical officers-the ones who weren't dunderheads, he was despised and he knew it.
Not that he'd
ever let on he wasn't fooled by false sycophants.
"Well, it's good to visit the old stomping grounds, don'tchew know." Thomas said, as they approached the Mariel Zwimmer dormitory. "Especially to visit family."
"Shall I show you the way?"
"I think I know the path." Tom said it in a tone that clearly meant 'go find someone else to fawn over'.
Mikel got the notice, and so Thomas walked up the path to the star-league era barracks, climbed the ferrocrete and marble stair, and entered through the front door.
The Duty cadet in the dayroom looked up, "SIR! do you have a Pass?"
Thomas made a show of searching for it, before producing the laminated card with its RFID chip, and a holo of himself below 'Official visitor' and 'VIP' with a little icon displaying the rank he'd been retired at.
"Oh, General...what's your business?"
"I'm here to see my Niece Cynthia on a matter of some importance. Is she in?" he stated.
the Cadet at the desk scanned a log..."Yes. room 214A, Second floor-"
"I know the layout, Cadet. Thank you." He casually returned the Cadet's salute, and headed up to his Niece's dorm room.
He knocked twice, and heard stumbling and voices on the other side, but couldn't make out the words yet.
The door opened.
Cynthia Hogarth had refused to hyphenate her name, a small rebellion against her mother's modern sensibilities and her...well, her mother's husband's neglectful social climbing.
She wasn't a raging beauty, but money can fix many things. "Uncle THOMAS!!" she squealed, grabbing him in a hug. "It's so GOOD to SEE YOU!!"
her affections weren't feigned, poor girl. "Good to see you too droplet...may I come in?"
"Just a second, Uncle." She turned, "Magritte! put something on!! You too Lukas!! We have a distinguished visitor!"
the smell reminded him of his own academy days-furtive assignations in dorm rooms between formations and classes. When you get a large number of healthy teens and early twenties forced to live cheek-by-jowl in a coeducational dormitory, there are some things no amount of rules making can prevent.
At least they're not smoking cannabis. He sighed.
"come in!" she urged him.
So he stepped in. Her roommates were dressed, at least. The rumpled state of one of the beds and the fact that Cadet Lt. Lukas Petter was still trying to force his foot into his boot...
"Relax." Thomas said, "Cynthia, if I may have a word on the patio?"
"OF course, Uncle." She told him.
****
They'd exchanged the usual pleasantries, she'd told him about some of her classes and he'd listened sympathetically as she described a personal feud with some girl named Von Trunt.
Then he got down to business.
"Your brother has been missing since December." he told her, "He
quit Sanglamore, walked out the gate, and vanished."
Cynthia didn't even batt an eye. "Sounds like Simon." She said, "I knew he dropped out..."
"He hasn't shown up-not in the Mercenary trade, not on the credit reports. has he tried to contact you?"
She shook her head.
"Your mother is worried sick." he told her, "I suppose your father is at least
concerned."
"Uncle Thomas..." she snorted a laugh, "IF I were looking for where Simon might go, I would not look at Galatea or the Mercenary trades..."
"Where would you look?"
"Pandora, or Kowloon." she asserted, "Since he hasn't shown up at Pandora or you'd be able to find him, I would cautiously suggest looking toward Kowloon, or sorting the various tramp traffic."
"How would that be, and why there?" he asked.
"Simon wants...wanted? he has no interest in being a 'mechwarrior." Cynthia told him, "Scandalous, isn't it? he's too damned big to be a fighter pilot, but he's wanted to be in the
Navy since he was a little boy. He used to draw pictures of spaceships..."
"Pandora, or Kowloon then." Thomas drew in a sharp breath through his nose. "You're sure?"
"It's humiliating, but yes, If I wanted to find Simon, I would look for where they train Naval officers, and where they might let a recruit change his name to hide his past...so Probably Kowloon-he'll be trying to join their 'Coast Guard' as a back-door into the Navy."
He studied her, "You're not upset he's missing." he realized aloud.
"Simon hates our family, Uncle Thomas. He despises mother and father, and we do not get along, and he doesn't write, or call me. when you find him, you give him the what-for!" her eyes burned with a mix of rage and concern.
"I'll...do that. thank you." it hurt, this whole thing was even worse than he'd assumed.
