April 5: A Depth of Understanding by Mackey Chandler Read Free Book Online Page A

tossed it 'down' to the floor, but there was so little spin here it rolled up the curved bulkhead on the air currents.
    "Hey, you dropped something!" April called out to him. When he looked she pointed to the wrapper  still slowly climbing the surface counter-clockwise.
    "It's just trash, the clean-bot will get it," he said, with an honestly quizzical look on his face.
    "There is no clean-bot in zero G. The hand rails get wiped down weekly and the bulkheads get a wipe-down maybe every six months. Your trash will float around until it gets sucked into an air filter, or somebody else picks it up and takes it to a trash receptacle, because we don't want to live in a pig sty like an Earth city. I'm informing you what local custom is," she said pointedly. She was still irritated from the customs people breaking the free travel agreement and not in a mood to let anything slide.
    He'd turned around and April hadn't stopped. It would have been OK, but his security man thrust himself between them and held a hand up to stop April. He wasn't very graceful in zero G and he ended up stopping his own motion by pushing off of April's shoulder.
    "How dare you lay hands on me?"
    "I doubt the young lady is a threat to me Ron, I think you can back off."
    "They're armed and I see a hazard," Ron insisted.
    "There is a hazard, but you have no idea what it is," April told him. "If you will promise to keep your hands to yourself in the future, I'll ignore your ignorance."
    "I didn't really intend to make contact, but I'm just doing my job. You can't press in on my client like that when you are arguing. I'd have stopped you getting closer in any case."
    " You aren't capable of stopping me if I decided to get physical with your client, or you, but you have no idea of your limitations. You will apologize or you will meet me here tomorrow morning and give me satisfaction. You have the choice of weapons, or if you come unarmed we will fight bare handed." April was horrified, it was like some stranger's voice saying this, but she was taking out every diminutive statement and insult built up in memory out on this final disrespectful act.
    Eddie behind them muttered an indiscreet, "Oh, shit."
    "That's easy for you to say with armed security standing behind you."
    "Hey, I'm standing back watching," Gunny pointed out. He even took his hand off the rail and showed his empty palms to the guy before taking a grip again. "I'm supposed to deal with criminals and assassins, if she wants to duel that's her's to see to."
    "You're crazy if you think I'll duel with you, nobody does that anymore."
    "Indeed, I'm sorry to be the second person to advise you of local custom," her grandfather said, "but if you refuse to meet her she will post notice and you will be permanently expelled and barred from Home. The matter has come up before and is well established by the Assembly. Are you certain you want to kill this man?" he asked April as an aside.
    "No, I just want a little respect. But what other way do I have to get it? I refuse to just brawl here with him until he yields and if I had struck back at him when he pushed me it would have drawn in the other fellow and then maybe some of our group. I won't have them laying hands on me and bringing their Earth Think into Home corridors until it's like living on the slum ball."
    The musician Amos jerked like he was slapped at slum ball. "Joe, you handle yourself better in no gravity, would you grab that wrapper for me, please? I'll at least give Ms. Lewis that much satisfaction."
    "Thank you," April was quick to acknowledge.
    "Would you consider letting the matter slide with my man?"
    "I'm sorry, no ."
    "Ron, I won't urge you to do anything either way. I've been happy with your service. If you don't want to apologize I'll pay your early passage off Home. If Joe wants to go with you I'll find other security locally or do without." Amos appeared more concerned than upset. He took his recovered wrapper from Joe and stashed it in a