Page 13 of Captain Santiago and the Sky Dome Waitress
“Honey, if I broke privacy like that, the city would lynch me, and I’d be stuck here for a century. I intend to escape with a new carcass any day now. I’m not going to mess that up by giving you details of someone else’s life.”
“You didn’t mind showing me that video about Santiago and Blake!” She shoved her legs into clean trousers and fastened them.
“That’s public property,” Barney pointed out.
“But you said that watching the security feed of me and Santiago talking was wrong, too!”
“I said it was hazy, ethics-wise. But that’s public feed, too. You have no expectation of privacy in the middle of a docking bay. The hazy bit is accessing it while talking to you, just to keep ahead of your conversation.”
Lucie put her hands on her hips. “You’re squeezing and pulling to justify things, Barney. You know damned well you’re supposed to use human measures when you’re uncertain about things like that. You used your ability to multitask, which humans and
Varkans can’t do, instead of figuring out what happened by talkingto me, the way non-computers do.”
Silence.
“Oh, put yourself on screen, will you?” Lucie said.
Barney appeared on the screen. He looked contrite—or as contrite as she’d ever seen from him. “I’m sorry,” he said, pushing his hand through his hair. “I shouldn’t have looked at the docking bay feed. You’re right. It’s just…you seemed soupset. I thought it would be faster and kinder to not ask you to tell me all the details.”
“Sometimes that’s exactly what we have to do,” Lucie said, her temper cooling. She really didn’t have much of one, anyway. Here and gone, one breath after the last. “At least I don’t have to serve the man, if I’m doing breakfasts.”
“Which Olivette has scheduled you for, here on in. I think you just got promoted, Lucie,” Barney said. “Well done.”
“I’m still mad at you.”
“No, you’re not.” He blew her a kiss.
Lucie sighed and settled on the bed. “What else have you found about them?” Barney had been giving her little stories, and showing her video feeds and images of the pair, the last few days, when she had a moment to draw breath.
Now he told her about Blake’s escapes and near-misses, always staying ahead of Santiago’s relentless pursuit of her, crisscrossing the known worlds.
Lucie listened, while staring up at the stars visible at the edge of the roof, through Celestial’s dome. She had committed to thirty days of work with Olivette, not including regulated days off. So, thirty-nine days…around forty days before she could book a flight to Nicia and leave Charlton City. And twenty-eight days of seeing and being seen by Santiago.
Her presence reminded him of Blake Bloodworth, but Lucie couldn’t help that. She could stay on the other side of the room and let Edme deal with him.
Lucie could put up with that for twenty-eight more days. Then she could finally leave.
“Lucie! Come in, Lucie!”
She stirred and glanced at the screen. “Sorry, what?”
“I said, I can show you video on that one.” He puffed up his chest. “I found it. Buried deep. But it’s security feed, so public property, and it all happened in a public space, so…”
“Show me what?”
“One of their meetings. The very first one…I think this wasn’t planned. Santiago finally caught up with her.”
“He caught Blake?” Lucie’s heart fluttered. “But you said…”
“I know. That’s the public perception, that they never properly met until the Big Showdown.”
“But now you know different?”
Barney nodded solemnly.
“Alright. Show me.”
The screen flickered, then she was looking at a back corridor that she suspected was a station corridor, because it had handrails on the roof and walls, for times when the gravity might give out. The corridor ran for many meters before it met another at a T-junction, and the security camera was up high.
