Transmat World: Chapter 3, Episode 2
Banderas Bay, Mexico; November, 2137 A.D.
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“Undertow, Maria! Brace yourself!” yelled Vince over the roar of the surf.
The wave was going out when they reach the girl. Each grabbed an arm, dragging the girl back to the beach. They were both in good shape but struggled to keep the girl’s head above water through the next two waves. They were staggering by the time they get to the girl’s camp — a fire pit, four titanium folding-chairs, and two solar cold-chests. An outcrop of rock had hidden it from view. Vince grabbed a towel hanging from an improvised driftwood rack and wrapped it around the young woman. Her dark hair clung in stringy ropes to her face. Her coughing died down, and she regained strength. Finger-combing her hair back revealed handsome, strong features.
“You know I could’ve made it out by myself,” said the girl, her voice strong but crackly from seawater in her vocal chords.
Maria and Vince looked at her quizzically, but the girl laughed before they responded.
“I’m sorry. So kidding. I couldn’t help it. Your faces. You don’t get a chance to be a wiseacre like that too often. At least, I hope not.”
The admission got a laugh of relief from her rescuers. “If the status of your sense of humor is any sign, I would say you’re doing okay. I’m Vince, this is Maria.”
“Hi,” said Maria.
“Hello, I’m Laura. Laura Dunworth. I can’t thank you both enough. I thought I was going to drown.”
“A distinct possibility,” said Vince. “It’s the worst undertow I’ve seen in a long time. We were just about to go in the water when we heard you. Perhaps you saved us from getting into trouble.”
Maria makes a thin-lipped smirk and rolls her eyes, making sure only Vince can see it. He bites back a laugh.
“That’s sweet of you to say. Perhaps, but I doubt it. You both seem pretty capable.”
The low hum of an electric outboard preceded the scrunch of beach sand as a rental skiff slid to a stop just past the waterline. Two boys and a girl jumped out and surrounded the group. Kneeling and taking her hand one of the boys asked, “Laura, what happened? Are you okay?”
“Sidney, I’m all right. I want you to meet Vince and Maria. They pulled me out of the surf before I could indulge in too much Chardonnay Pacifica.”
“Hello,” he said to Vince and Maria. Turning to Laura, “Laura, I thought you were a good swimmer. You told me — ”
“Sidney, there was a bad undertow,” said Vince. “Anybody could have gotten into trouble.”
The girl from the skiff now had her arm around Laura and was making concerned and sympathetic cooings. The other boy introduced himself.
“Hello, I’m David, Laura’s brother and this is Jenny,” said David.
Vince shook his hand, nodding at Jenny, and introduced Maria. Sidney stoked up the quiescent fire to make sure Laura was warm enough. Since the fire was going, Vince suggested they eat. Laura admitted almost drowning whetted her appetite. David dug into a cold-chest for sliced shitake, and Vince retrieved fish he and Maria caught that morning.
They talked while eating. Everyone offered profuse thanks to Vince and Maria for saving Maria. Vince felt it was over the top to suggest swimming alone in the surf was not a good idea; lessons learned.
Vince looked at David. “You guys here on vacation?”
“My mom and dad thought we might get in too much trouble while they were on vacation so they dragged us along,” said David, eliciting a round of nervous laughs. “I talked them into bringing Sidney and Jenny. We’re staying at the Mismaloya. Mom and Dad are deep sea fishing today so we rented the boat to explore. What about you?”
“I live here,” said Vince, gesturing to the verdant hillside behind them.
“In the jungle?” asked Sidney.
“Top of the hill. It’s 400 feet up to the crest. Good exercise climbing up and down.”
“Do you live here, too?” asked Laura, looking at Maria.
“No, I’m here with my dad. He’s head of astronomy at the University of Mexico. He specializes in archaeoastronomy. There’s rumored to be a Mayan observatory around here somewhere so he’s off in the hills looking for next semester’s curricula and I’m spending the day with Vince.”
“Maria forgot to mention she was the source of the rumor,” said Vince. “Her studies in the archeology department dug up the information. We met at the university. My father and I were consulting with the physics department on a project we’re working on.”
“So, you’re not going to school anywhere?” David said.
“Just home schooling. My folks are pretty good at it.”
“Sounds relaxed,” said David. “If I don’t make it into Harvard business school, my dad is going to disown me.”
“Oh, David, just do what you want,” said Laura. “Dad will love you no matter what you decide. He might not want you to think that, but he does. And so what if he doesn’t. Wouldn’t it be better doing what you want to do and enjoying it than doing what Dad wants you to do and hating it?”
“So, what does your dad do?” Vince said, looking at each of them in turn. An awkward silence followed.
David finally breaks down, “Our dad is a venture capitalist.”
Maria and Vince exchanged the briefest of glances. “Well, that sounds interesting,” Vince said. “What sort of projects has he funded lately?”
David and Laura looked at each other. “We don’t hear people our age describe it as interesting — ” David started.
Laura took over, “You ever hear of TecHed?”
Vince knew of TecHed. TecHed took brain-controlled machinery to another level, allowing robots and electronic gadgets to be controlled by external electrodes on the skull. “Yeah, that’s pretty cool stuff. Did they just ask him for the money?”
“No, he found out what they were doing and offered to finance the company,” said David.
“How does he go about ferreting out neat stuff like that?” Maria asked.
David watches his foot move sand around and Laura stares over her shoulder into the jungle.
Jenny finally breached the silence. “For God’s sake, you two! Just tell him.”
After a pause she looked at Vince and Maria. “Their dad uses them to find new companies to invest in because they’re young and ‘with it’ and ‘connected’ and what is that other thing he says … oh, yeah, ‘wired in.’ like his generation never saw an omni. He’s kind of cute when he spouts on about it.”
This little speech got Jenny a glare from David and a head-tilted glare from Laura.
“Jenny, you’re not supposed to …” David’s half-hearted diatribe died to a mumble.
“Kind of cute?” asked Laura.
David recovered and asserted, “I’ll say it right now. I don’t feel the least bit challenged by my father for the affections of Jenny. Even though he does have a lot of money and the good looks I must share the burden of bearing.”
