Secrets in the Stars (Family Law)

by Mackey Chandler

  Brownie kept his conversation private and didn't share it with the bridge. After awhile Gordon inquired if Captain Fenton had his new orders.

  "Yes sir. I informed him, and he acknowledged them."

  "Did he wonder why we wanted a bag of dirt?" Gordon asked.

  "No sir, he did ask if I knew what would be an acceptable size. I hope you don't mind my initiative, but since we seemed to be providing an additional sample for the alien device, I suggested that a sample filling a pillowcase would be appropriate."

  "We encourage initiative, Brownie. That was a perfectly reasonable response," Gordon said.

  "Fenton isn't big on questioning orders, is he?" Thor asked.

  "No, and I wondered how he'd respond, but I can't say that's an entirely bad quality," Gordon allowed. "Initiative is fine, but I also don't want a debating society when I give an order. I think we have a good balance so far."

  Chapter 8

  The Caterpillars brought out one of the blankets that had been laid out as a trading area on the previous visit by The Champion William. The camera and display were set to the side. Jon hoped they didn't take it back. The espresso, however, was positioned on the blanket as if Jon was offering it in trade. It was a brilliant use of the system. Opposite the cup they put a decent roll of gold wire, several loops of a substantial gauge and a hand's breadth across. The aliens knew from previous trading that the Humans and their allies valued gold.

  That was innovative trading, but they went further. To the side there was an even bigger roll of the same wire, several kilograms easily. There was nothing offered in trade opposite it – yet.

  "Captain , I want to explain what I think I'm being offered here. I'd appreciate your take, everybody's take on it in the shuttle really. We have a small enough group to discuss this," Jon said.

  "We're watching. Wait a minute please, Jon. This is a for-all-hands message," Lord Byron announced on com. "I think most of you are watching the video of Specialist Burris' meeting with the Caterpillars. Please take a moment if you can do so safely, and text me an opinion of what the aliens intend. Give them a minute or two, Jon, and then go ahead and tell us your understanding of their actions."

  "I believe they are showing their interest in coffee," Jon said in a bit. "They want the cup and sample if nothing else. It occurs to me that they seem more advanced than us in some ways. They might be able to analyze the coffee sufficiently to synthesize it or at least most of its components. But the large coil suggests they'd like a bigger sample. They may not understand it's an, uh, infusion."

  "I see. I have my com tech reading the responses,” said Lord Byron. “I instructed the flight engineer to see how much coffee we have aboard. It's not going to be a huge amount. OK, coms says that basically four of seven agree with you that they want coffee. I concur, despite the fellow who says the cup may impress him, so make that six of nine including us. I think it's a really bad trade to only gain a little extra gold for it however," Lord Byron said. "At this distance from home I suspect coffee is already worth more than its weight in gold."

  "What are your orders then, sir?" Jon asked.

  "Let's just the two of us discuss it before we get to the orders stage. We value gold and they know that, but face it, we found enough gold around the brown dwarfs to permanently depress the value of gold and other precious metals if they all hit the market. Their value is going to be more a function of transportation cost within our lifetimes."

  "I have to agree with that," Jon said. "We're going to see those values revised to be more like that of indium or erbium and palladium."

  "Exactly. So I'm more worried about nailing down the tech than a one-time trade. They moved their equipment off to the side. They seem distracted by the coffee. Let's not be distracted ourselves. The tech is what we are interested in getting. Are you sure they are going to offer the video equipment to us since they kept ours?" Lord Byron asked.

  "Not a hundred percent sir. I'm worried about that a little," Jon admitted. "I may have messed up and muddied the issue by bringing my coffee with me."

  "Yes, I'm worried too. I was just told we have a kilo bag of coffee still sealed up and a partial bag that has some used. What I'm thinking is you should drag the blanket over to their video equipment and place the coffee so it is obviously a trade for that, not the gold. I'll send out the sealed bag to put beside the cup."

  "If I may suggest. They don't have the cultural background. They may not even cook. Perhaps a small sample from the open bag ground, so they know to process it that way," Jon said.

  "An excellent suggestion. I just stopped the fellow bringing you the sealed bag and sent him back to get a sample of fresh ground. So, you are the fellow out on the pointy end. Does that course of action make sense to you?" Lord Byron asked.

  "It's pretty much what I'd have suggested. Are you going to run it past the crew?" Jon asked.

  "No, I wanted opinions on assessing the situation. We don't do consensus on what to do about it. Go ahead Mr. Burris, proceed with those actions."

  "Aye, sir. I'll start moving things now and your man should have the coffee to me before I'm done."

  * * *

  "I know we're getting pretty close to wrapping up the survey of this system," Lee said. "Can we hang around long enough to try my approach to getting the Caterpillars to show us how to use the machine?"

  "Yes, if they accept another delegation at their lock and let them in as quickly as they did this time," Gordon agreed. "There's a limit how long I'll make all these ships and everybody aboard them sit on their hands waiting for them to open up and welcome another shuttle."

  "I don't think I've ever seen Derf sit on their hands. Can you do that?" Lee asked.

  "Easily for the lower set," Gordon said. "True hands are a bit of a stretch. You have to bend the back and it hurts the shoulder, but it is a human expression I picked up for the meaning, not any physical reality." He looked a little peeved with her nit-picking.

  "Why have them go later and wait to be admitted?" Lee asked, returning to the original conversation. "They're going to be opening the hold hatch to let out the shuttle they have now." After several people gave her dark looks she amended that: "I mean, we assume and hope they will, just like before. Why not have another shuttle waiting for the hatch to open and just trade spots. We were saying how big it is. Lots of room to pass each other through the opening, even."

  "Don't you think that's rather pushy, and presuming on their hospitality?" Gordon asked.

  "Well yeah," Lee agreed, totally unrepentant. "But if I'd never been pushy we'd be back on Derfhome, sitting around the hot tub, getting fat and counting our share payments off Providence."

  "You may be surprised to know your own culture has not always had this obsession with thinness," Gordon informed her. He seemed to quell a stronger reply. "Indeed, in studying English I found many older phrases, such as 'fat and happy', which indicated a certain plumpness was associated with prosperity rather than sloth in your not too distant history. However, I'll say this: We can propose the idea, and if anyone volunteers to fly the mission and man it then we can do it, but when the hatch opens I'd suggest we ask Lord Byron and Jon Burris if they'd stay in the hold and help guide the new exchange. They have the most experience and I give it much better odds of success with their direction."

  "That's a great idea," Lee agreed. "When will The Champion William's shuttle get back with the bag of dirt?" Lee wondered. "Can they stick the Caterpillars' machine in it and be waiting by the hatch pretty soon?"

  "Captain Fenton has very wisely been unwilling to risk his command by playing with the machine absent any guidance. He has been storing it in the freight lock so that if it showed any sign of unwanted activity he could flush it out the lock. I very much approve of his caution," Gordon said. "It also means their shuttle, which will be back soon, can put it aboard quickly when it returns. However, The Champion William is going to shift orbit closer to us and the Caterpillars with the shuttle grappled, as they
can do that faster than the shuttle can do so on its own."

  "Any idea how long," Lee persisted.

  "Not nearly fast enough for you I'm sure," Gordon said. "Brownie, can you give us an estimate?"

  "Somewhere on the far side of four hours," Brownie replied. "Even a lavish waste of fuel would only shave a half hour or so off that," he said before Lee could ask.

  * * *

  The Caterpillars seemed stumped at what the sealed bag had to do with anything. It was picked up, rolled over to examine it on all sides, and set back down. The ground coffee in a snap-top container, however, produced a flurry of activity. Several new Caterpillars showed up with new instruments and took samples. As close as Jon could tell they only needed a single grit of the coffee to put in the new machines. They were bulkier than the hand-held, rather tentacle-held, instruments so presumably they were of greater analytical ability.

  Now that he knew what to look for, Jon realized the alien tentacle waving in front of the device was controlling the display of the instrument. From the side he couldn't tell what it was projecting. If there was no keyboard maybe the waving had a data input mode too.

  Jon was relieved because they removed both the cup and sample of ground. Once you took the trade item away the deal was finalized. So far they hadn't tried to go back on any trade where they had removed the offering indicating acceptance. He technically could remove the bag of coffee if they didn't, Jon supposed, but it didn't feel right.

  "Captain, I suspect they are not familiar with our packaging and have no idea what the bag of coffee represents," Jon said.

  "What do you propose to do, Mr. Burris?"

  "I think in the interests of a fair trade I should open it for them. The color and odor should inform them it is the source of the ground form they have. Lord knows it is a small enough trade for the tech we are getting, and if they really don't want it I suppose we can still recover it."

  There was an unusually long pause for Lord Byron. "Yes, although just as you didn't care to drink coffee that had been stirred with a tentacle, we might not care to use the beans if they have been examined too... intimately. But that's a minor quibble. Please, go ahead and show them how to open the bag."

  Jon went to the trading blanket and picked up the bag. He wondered if he'd have to wave or something, but a Caterpillar turned away from the new activity and observed him, probably his usual handler. He hadn't been watching as closely as he should have to be sure.

  He pointed to the notch in the metalized plastic and, grasping it firmly between forefinger and thumb, ripped the top edge of the bag off. The seal inside had a sliding sealer and locked with an audible click at the end of its travel. Jon demonstrated opening it and reclosing it. Then when he opened it again he took a few beans in his hand, displaying them on his palm, and tilted the bag to show the Caterpillar the rest.

  The Caterpillar looked them all over, standing much closer than he had dared before. Jon caught a little whiff of ammonia again. The alien came close enough to use one of its very thin tentacles to pick up a single coffee bean. He was so meticulous Jon never felt it touch his hand, just the bean. Apparently they were just as fussy and cautious about touching as humans. Jon wondered if they'd seen him actually take a sip of his espresso given that aversion or didn't understand his lips were more than a speaking orifice. The bean disappeared to the lower edge of the alien's face. They must have a mouth or a nose down there but it wasn't obvious. He was tempted to get down on his belly to see, but dignity won out over curiosity. He wasn't sure his captain would approve.

  After a few seconds there was a distinct >crunch< and the alien froze in place for an instant. When he moved again he tilted his head and looked at Jon eyeball to eyeball. It was the first time he'd received such a direct stare from one of them. The hoot he blasted out caught Jon by surprise and startled him. A couple of the other aliens came over and they all looked.

  His alien daintily took the remaining three beans in his hand and, turning, distributed them to the others, who still were not as bold as him around the Human. They all treated them like candies and none took any over to the mobile lab equipment. Only when Jon put the bag back down on the blanket did they gather some beans to take over to the researchers. Some of them definitely never made it all the way. His special alien took the bag of beans with both main tentacles and carried it to one of the floating carts. He left two other aliens standing on each side of it. Jon wondered if they were guards.

  "You don't have to worry about any beans coming back," Jon told Lord Byron.

  "I saw that. Looks like they're pretty popular. Well, maybe we don't have to teach them how to brew it. I'd like to send two crewmen out with a cart and remove the alien video gear before they decide we don't want it. I don't want to go through timidly moving it toward the cart like they did, and waiting to see if they object. Ours was a gift, these were bought fair and square."

  "Please do. I'll stay close here, and if they look like they want to recover it I'll try to dissuade them. If they get insistent I'll show them a deal is a deal, and go take the coffee back."

  "Very good, Mr. Burris, but don't get insistent to the point of getting hurt," he warned.

  "They seem reluctant to actually touch me. I don't think they'd want that kind of contact. I can't imagine them wrestling it away from me."

  "I don't know, they seem pretty fond of it. I'm afraid these fellows are well ahead of us in certain areas. I don't want to provoke them, but we must insist on respect and being treated as peers from the start," Lord Byron said.

  "Perhaps. Don't forget they thought the self-cleaning glass should be a big deal we'd want. I'd be surprised if we aren't ahead in some areas. I have noticed nothing in the hold and none of their equipment seems to be painted. Some discoveries are a predictable progression, and some are serendipity. "

  "I think he is a Fargoer," Lord Byron quipped. He was taking a good natured poke at their strange customs in names. He might really know a Fargoer named Serendipity. "Your pickup team is out of the lock, Mr. Burris."

  Jon looked over his shoulder and there were two crew in work coveralls, each pulling a hand cart like a heavy duty child's play wagon, along with padded blankets. They walked up and past Jon with complete indifference from the Caterpillars, and put the alien gear on the carts with no objections.

  "Captain, if they ignore me for another ten minutes or so may I assume our business is concluded and return to the shuttle?" Jon asked.

  "You can stand and fold your chair up right now," Lord Byron said. "If they don't take a hint and demonstrate they have other business, come on back in. I'd say we've accomplished our mission and more. I'm not sure everybody in our fleet is going to be thrilled to find out the Caterpillars failed to reproduce our video because it was too primitive, but it sure looks that way to me."

  * * *

  The shuttle sat patiently. They didn't power up anything. The Caterpillars took their time piling everything back on their hover carts and exited the hold. Lord Byron called all the crew to flight stations when the hold pressure started dropping, but still didn't activate anything that could be sensed externally. If the aliens changed their minds and decided to come out for another pow-wow he'd send somebody out to treat with them.

  When the big door swept open they weren't surprised to find they were still in the same system with their fleet. They expected to hear the familiar radio chatter. What they didn't expect was the shuttle from The Champion William hanging right outside the hatch asking them if they'd care to stay a bit longer and help the other crew interact with the aliens on another mission.

  "Gerald," Lord Byron called to the officer on coms. "Send as much of our video and voice records of the trade to the High Hopes as you can before the hatch closes again. And inquire who is senior in charge here, me or the commander of the other shuttle."

  "Of course we shall be delighted to lend our expertise," Lord Byron told Burt Wong from The Champion William. The fact Captain Fenton had also sent h
is XO to command the shuttle spoke to how important he regarded the mission. Lord Byron wondered if he was rated to pilot it himself or just command it. It was awkward they were both XOs and he hoped Gordon had thought to designate a leader. If they had to decide it would be awkward.

  "Commander Gordon says you are the lead, and Jon number two, since you guys have all the experience. He says enjoy your task force command, and suggests you refrain from fleet maneuvers no matter how big their hold is," Gerald relayed.

  "Ah, a disappointment, but we'll restrain ourselves," Lord Byron said, amused.

  "Mr. Wong," he sent to the other shuttle, "I assume you are recording the transmission we are sending out. If you would please take time to review the material after you are grounded, and share any thoughts you have on our trading session."

  "Aye, sir. We'll start looking at it even as it's streaming," Wong agreed. The other shuttle drifted down to the deck gently as they watched. They could have put three of them end to end and not been crowded before the far bulkhead.

  "Got it all sent," Gerald said as the hatch slid closed. "Apparently they don't mind us holding a party here."

  "I'm sure if they weren't welcome the little tug drones that snatched the Biter ship so easily would have blocked the new shuttle at the hatch, if they didn't want them to enter," Lord Byron reminded him. "Or evicted us," he added after a little thought.

  "I've been wondering where they keep those," Gerald remarked. "I didn't see where they docked when they got through pushing on The Champion William before. I don't see any hatches to indicate they are stored in here, and there's nothing like a Caterpillar shuttle. This may be a hold rather than a hangar, even given the huge external hatch."

  "We have never seen a Caterpillar shuttle. It's an assumption they use them," Lord Byron said.

  "What else could they use? Do you think they land those kilometer long spaceships on planetary surfaces?" Gerald asked.