Infestation

Chapter 2

Chapter 2Jules heard a chair scuff behind him and voices. Then her voice, the red-haired woman, carried clearly to his ears.

“Mr. Moon, please. I only want a few words.”

He stopped at the threshold. She knew who he was. Not that there were likely to be that many people with a prosthetic face and bone spirit beads in their hair. Outside the bar, people of many species and droids moved along the central ring. Some at work, others shopping, enjoying the company of friends, or hurrying off home after work. Lines of people formed outside the transfer pod station a short distance downspin. He’d have to wait in that line to catch a car that would take him out to the council housing. If he didn’t talk to her now, she’d be able to catch up to him while he waited for the car.

Jules turned around. A small group of regulars were blocking the woman’s path, gestures suggesting that she return to the bar for a drink. They were doing their best to intercede without being directly confrontational. Seeing that he had stopped and turned, the solicitations died away. A couple of the human patrons looked a bit disappointed.

Jules walked back a couple steps and people started drifting away, back to their tables. Still out of arm’s reach, he said, “Bar.”

He walked past her, keeping a courteous distance.

“Maybe we should talk somewhere more private?” she said, in that accent he didn’t recognize.

“Bar,” he said, and continued back to his seat.

Dixon was already there, Jules’s second drink still in the same spot where he’d left it. Jules slid into his seat, meeting Dixon’s eyes.

The older man grinned. His eyes flicked past Jules’s shoulder. “Need anything else?”

Jules shook his head.

He caught her faint herbal scent, a lotion, perhaps, as she slid onto the stool next to him.

He picked up the glass. “You’ve got until I finish my drink. Then I’m gone.”

“I apologize for my reaction when I saw you,” she said. “I knew, but–”

“You knew?” He looked over the glass at her, deliberately making eye contact. Readouts overlaid themselves onto what he was seeing, showing details about her respiration, heart rate, temperature, and pupil dilation. With a thought, he dismissed the readouts. It was distracting and he’d seen enough. She was anxious, but not overly so. Embarrassed. Maybe afraid her mistake would be a problem.

“I knew,” she said. “I came here looking for you.”

He took a drink, barely savoring the flavor, and emptied nearly a third of the glass. Ice clinked when he set it down.

“Why?”

“Something is happening to my family. Something we can’t explain. I think we’re being haunted. I read that you help people with that sort of thing?”

It was worse than he’d thought. She came to him about a haunting? He took another long drink. When he put the glass down, less than a third remained. It was mostly ice.

“Usually there’s a rational explanation,” he said. “Old ventilation systems. Faulty or degraded circuits. Buggy or hacked software. You need experts to look at whatever is happening.”

“That’s why I came to you,” she said. She kept her voice low. “Please. I have two daughters and they’re terrified. We all are. Won’t you take a look?”

Jules tipped the glass, rotating it between his fingers. She sounded sincere. He didn’t bother opening his readouts. There wasn’t much point.

He sighed, picked up the drink, and drained the glass. Bounce ignited his nerves as it coated his tongue and throat.

Her face fell when he put the glass down. Then she looked up and met his gaze. He smiled, knowing that his too-perfect smile rarely comforted anyone. She didn’t recoil this time.

“What’s your name?” he said.

“Briana Makkar.” Her eyes began to water. “You’ll help us?”

Jules interlaced his fingers, his elbow leaning on the bar. “I can’t say that yet. Not until I know more about what’s going on. But I’ll listen and take a look.”

“Oh, thank you. That’s wonderful. We’ve been so scared. Teegan, my wife, is with the girls.”

“Where are you docked?”

She shook her head. “We’re not. We don’t have a berth here. I hired a transport ship to bring me to the station.”

Jules nodded. That wasn’t a surprise, given what he’d heard. The system was littered with vessels scraping by one way or another. Berth fees being what they were, many ships wouldn’t dock with the station if they could do anything to avoid it. Too expensive and if you fell behind on your dock fees, your whole ship could end up impounded until you could pay your debt. If you couldn’t, you might end up with your ship sold right out from under you.

He’d already seen her tech. He sent a connection ping to her system feed. Her mouth parted as she looked at, then accepted the invite. He saw the acknowledgment when he was added to her contacts.

“Arrange transport for tomorrow,” he said. “I have some things I need to put together before then. Send me the transport details when you have them. I’ll meet you there.”

“Thank you so much, Mr. Moon.”

“Jules,” he said. “Just Jules.”

She nodded. “Okay. Call me Bri, everyone does.”

“Bri. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He slid of the stool and walked away. She watched him go, he felt her gaze on him, but didn’t make any move to follow.

Usually these sorts of reports meant nothing at all. Like he’d told Bri, wiring or ventilation problems accounted for most disturbances.

As he passed the regulars that had helped stop her he said, with a ping to Dixon, “Next round is on me.”

That earned him appreciative smiles and a few soft words of thanks. He raised a hand and walked out of the bar.

Church first, he decided.