"Not to my knowledge," Tamra said, then shrugged. "But you never know. Actually, it's an extrapolation of the theories of Emile Durkheim that, if you look hard enough, you're connected somehow to everyone you meet, by no more than six steps. Take Safa and our new hire, Qui, for example. Let us say that the odd incident with Dr. Motwani and Nurse Costa had never occurred, and so I had never felt the need to bring her up, and you had never met her. And some odd incident occurred wherein Qui and Safa bump into each other in the street. Literally bump. Since they are both polite individuals, they apologize and go on their way, both thinking the other is a perfect stranger in no way connected to themselves. But, we know that Qui knows Vu, who knows me, who knows Safa. They are two total strangers who are nonetheless connected to each other, and in only three steps."
"Sorry, I'm an academician, I can't help but lecture from time to time, even if I'm not in lecture hall," Tamra laughed. "Well, do you remember the story we were discussing about the capture of the last great air pirates the other day? Well, it seems him and his one of his henchman, a native of Tahiti or some such, each had a daughter, both of whom escaped when their fathers were captured. In an aeroplane equipped for aquatic takeoffs and landings, if you can believe such a thing. Well, it seems the two daughters, a
Jocasta Pagonis and a
Leinani Smith --- no actual surname, but the boarding school she enrolled in demanded one, so Smith was used --- were at a boarding school the same time our Doctor Matwani was. One of those boarding schools in Switzerland who only require their students be actively gifted and that their tuitions be paid in advanced, or so Doctor Motwani tells me. The bit of trivia came up because the story is still in the newspaper, though it's slowly migrating to the back pages. Just rather odd to think that two young woman, heirs to a pirate dynasty, or someone out in the Pacific ocean at this very moment, and I'm two steps removed from them. Thought Doctor Motwani assures me that they're both rather nice woman, with Leinari being mechanically inclined, and Jocasta being something of an adventuress, and with neither displaying piratical tendencies."
"And speaking of adventures, we had a visit today from a supplier of backpack parachutes. I' know about parachutes, of course, but these new backpack varieties come with a thing called a ripcord. Seemed a reasonable safety precaution to acquire for the crew, but I wanted to talk to you and the twins about it first, obviously. I have a card and a promise of a live demonstration if we want. Provided we provide the transportation to altitude."
