Friends in the Stars

by Mackey Chandler

  “Lee doesn’t usually rush us like this,” Born said, worried.

  “Maybe she is going to fire you and put me in charge,” Musical said, stoking Born’s insecurity shamelessly.

  “I don’t actually remember her ever putting me in charge,” Born objected. “I thought she gave us a mandate as partners.”

  “How modest of you, yet you order me around like a hired workman,” Musical said.

  “I do? But we get paid the same. If I’m the driving force I should get paid more.”

  “Driving force? More like a pain in the butt,” Musical said.

  “Someone has to examine it from the finely nuanced vision of theoretical physics instead of the narrow pragmatic view of engineering,” Born said.

  “Make it work you mean. You could always ditch me and enlist your peer, Leonardo, to make the nuts and the bolts of it work,” Musical suggested.

  “Technically he’s a peer of my boss, who never bothers me as long as I don’t burn the lab down. I’m sure it irritates his sense of self-importance to even need to speak with us directly. I’d trust Leonardo as far as you could throw him,” Born said.

  “I’d be doing good to lie on the floor and trip him,” Musical said. A Badger was about a tenth of the mass of a full grown male Derf.

  Born just smiled without saying anything.

  “You’re picturing him falling on me, aren’t you? You might as well admit it, because I know what a crude low sense of humor you have.”

  “I do have a mental picture of a Badger tail sticking out from under a big brown pile of lard,” Born said, drawing a mound shape with his hands.

  “I don’t think that’s the right English word,” Musical said. “Maybe Lee has some fresh data. Don’t assume it is bad.”

  “Singh isn’t going to give us data. It’s their policy to keep us locked out. If anything I expect he’s here to pressure us to quit,” Born worried. “I hope not, since we’re almost ready to do some remote testing. It would be terrible to be cut off before we have a chance to try it. I think we are close to several breakthroughs. We had a setback, but I think things are going really well.”

  “Maybe the Central Humans decided to share their secrets after all, and we’ll get the design prints handed to us on a platter, so all that is left is detail work,” Musical said.

  “Yeah sure, and maybe Lee gene engineered a red tree to grow Ceres dollars on one side and solars on the other. It’s about as likely,” Born countered.

  “We should still take the time to clean up and get the lab smell off us,” Musical said. “No reason not to make a good appearance.”

  “Sure, I can comb out your pelt,” Born offered, looking extra innocent.

  “Coat,” Musical reminded him, irritated, “coat. You know the difference.”

  * * *

  “This is Lee, I’m at your elevator. You have to OK it to come down and pick me up.”

  “House, can you send the elevator down to bring a guest up?”

  “Do you wish to set up permissions or allow anyone in the suite to admit people?” a woman’s voice asked from all around them.

  “May that be edited later?” Jeff asked.

  “Yes, the first person who was granted access must touch the pad again to edit.”

  “Let anyone invite guests up for the time being,” Jeff said. “House, send the elevator down now to bring a guest up.”

  “Thank you, command in process.”

  “Hi Jeff,” Lee said when she stepped in, as if they’d just seen each other just last week. She was dressed casually and didn’t have a visible gun but wore a very fancy decorative dagger. The one detail that absolutely established her status were gold hoop earrings for each of her voyages of discovery, with Sapphire and Emerald stones dangling. Jeff understood each stone represented the discovery of a water world or a living world. It was a display of staggering wealth beyond mere land holdings or the ownership of starships.

  “This is interesting. You have the same carpet and wall colors as my place.”

  She waved at the Foys and looked hard at Strangelove. “You’re Red Tree,” she said.

  “Yes Mistress,” he said, and volunteered nothing more.

  She turned back to Jeff, who had stood for her, but he sat again and waved her to take a seat by him. “If you’re on a long-term lease I’d think you could decorate any way you’d like,” Jeff said, “at your own expense of course.”

  “Maybe, if I get tired of it,” Lee said. “I like it just fine for right now. Are you going to keep this place or is it just for this trip?”

  “I hadn’t considered that. Perhaps I should keep it. If we grow closer and do more business it’s good to have a permanent place for people who come from Central, and the Foys may eventually have people from other clans than Red Tree come to the City who they wouldn’t want at guest the embassy.”

  “Is that why you are here?” Lee asked. It wasn’t meant to drop a bomb in the conversation going straight to such a blunt question. It would have been rude or aggressive for most people. Jeff didn’t as much as blink.

  “Absolutely,” Jeff agreed. “We screwed up, then you screwed up, and we’d really rather not continue taking turns at it. Rather, time to stop doing that.”

  “Tell me the timeline,” Lee requested.

  “We should have asked and offered a full alliance and shared technologies before, but we didn’t trust you. We accept that was an error. That ignored our own history of developing the tech, which was not trouble-free. We should have known you’d have the same difficulties and we could bear responsibility for not helping you.

  “We were using gravitational tech as a weapon against surface targets on Earth to gain our independence, targeting military installations in San Diego, and unleashed far more destruction over a wider area than we intended. We triggered what is now known as The Great San Diego Earthquake by poking deep in the Earth under our targets with a gravity lance, though that name for it came along later.”

  “The same as my guys generated an earthquake in the City recently?” Lee asked.

  “Yes, we saw your net searches and news of the quake after that and assumed you’d done the same.”

  “You can track my net searches?” Lee demanded, not pleased.

  “Pretty much anything you or your researchers search against your com account on the Earth nets,” Jeff said, without apology.

  “Well isn’t that sweet,” Lee said.

  “Anonymity is really difficult even from inside the beast,” Jeff admitted. “It would take real effort and routing through other star systems to hide ship mail.”

  “So, you know everything Born and Musical have been searching,” Lee said.

  Jeff said nothing because it wasn’t a question.

  “How did we screw up?” Lee asked him. “It seems to me we’re doing pretty good.”

  “Because you came close to causing a huge disaster. If the region under Derfhome was as seismically active as San Diego you could have destroyed the town with thousands killed. This tech should be tested carefully away from population centers. There are similar drawbacks and hazards in other applications of the tech, and we don’t want blood on our hands from refusing to share what we know.”

  “I had a big discussion with Born about that,” Lee said. “The Mothers apparently aren’t as strict about liability as Humans. After thinking on it I decided it is largely that Human judges serve the law and here the law serves the Mothers. They wish to get things done and once an unintended mistake happens there is little to be gained from punishing the person who made it. There isn’t that vindictive idea of punishment for manslaughter Humans have.

  “You’d have to display a really reckless disregard for life and limb for them to want to make a public example of you. But then, unlike a Human judge, they are in a lot better position to fire people from jobs at which they failed. They can assign you to a new job that is a sentence in everything but name. There is no union or professional society trying to sa
ve an incompetent’s position. Indeed, the Mothers are a lot better at accepting some of the blame for not removing a person before they did harm.”

  “That sounds rational, and I understand the advantages,” Jeff said, “but I don’t feel that way. Now sometimes, trying to assign blame to a group is stupid or outright prejudiced, especially if people had no choice about being part of a group. Yet I once bombarded a Chinese spaceport off the map because they stole my ship. There were lots of people there who didn’t directly steal my ship, but they worked for and supported their government that was happy to do so. What can I reasonably expect of people? They worked for thieves and yet the other choices they had in life may have been really bad. They may have had really limited opportunity to do anything else but work for crooks.”

  “I had to either harm people who were relatively innocent, or risk our very survival by letting them steal my ship. I still have bad dreams and conflicted feelings about it.”

  “Sometimes there are no good choices,” Lee insisted.

  “Well, we decided we no longer have any compelling interest in keeping our gravitational tech from you. Every indication is you will have the same interests and reasons as us not to supply it to the Earth powers. We still do see that as something that would be chaos, but we can’t enforce it,” Jeff said, frowning.

  “You don’t have to enforce it. I’ve been to Earth. I know how crazy it is from the inside. We don’t need that loose among the stars. We need friends among the stars. We’re prepared to work with you, and I think you will find the Badgers and the Bills can be reasonable people. The Badger, Talker, is a true friend to me, and that’s something they don’t treat lightly in their culture. Turn the Earth governments loose with your drive right now and we’d have interstellar war in a year,” Lee predicted.

  “You encourage me that I’m doing the right thing, but it scares me,” Jeff admitted.

  “What else do you want?” Lee asked.

  “If you will share in turn, that would be well received, but we’re demanding nothing. I am charged to make a full disclosure to you by my sovereign.”

  He lifted his hand and showed Heather’s ring. It was the mate to the one on Eileen’s hand.

  “There are just a couple small secrets that are not mine to give,” Lee said. “I’d have to get permission from the other owners and shareholders of the Little Fleet. But I don’t expect that to be any great impediment even if they refuse.”

  “Fair enough,” Jeff said. “You may be unhappy we don’t know as much as you expect, and our source of materials is limited and may, in the end, be inferior to yours. We can both endeavour to be reasonable about each other’s limitations.”

  “Done then,” Lee said, and held out her hand. They touched lightly, not a grasp and shake, and it was a contract.

  The other three were sitting like statues and Lee became aware of them and blushed.

  “One does not mean to ignore you entirely,” she said.

  “Mistress, one does not interrupt history being made,” Strangelove said, softly. “I am greatly privileged to witness it.”

  That seemed to satisfy the Foys too.

  “Would you write it up in brief, plain terms, Eileen?” Jeff asked. “Our Sovereign will want it as an addendum to the previous treaty, but this lays no additional burden on the Mothers, so no need to go to them.”

  “No need,” Lee agreed. “But I have my own seal and authority to bind them as their Voice. It would be respectful to include them.”

  She opened her hand and displayed her new seal.

  Strangelove looked shocked. They Mothers had given it to her in front of witnesses, but apparently they saw no need to publicize an internal affair.

  Eileen worked her pad and stopped, frowning in concentration and tapped a few times again. She handed it to Victor and said, “Proofread that and make sure I didn’t leave some stupid typo in it that will haunt me for eternity.”

  “Precise as always my dear and exactly what I heard them agree to.”

  Eileen took the pad back and approached them but wasn’t sure of the protocol and laid it on the table between them.

  Jeff gave a single slow nod that was almost a bow for Lee to read it first.

  “This speaks to sharing all the gravitational tech, from both of us. I want to make sure of your mind on this. Is that your intent?” Lee asked.

  “They are all so tied together, and we are both working to advance their use, I don’t see as a practical matter how we could divide them up into separate applications at this time. We could discover something new the treaty didn’t cover, and I don’t want to tempt us, or those under us, to bicker over details. It should be broad,” Jeff said.

  “Agreed,” Lee said, and handed it over.

  “It looks correct to me,” Jeff said. “Now, does Derf law require this to be published as a contract? That could create political problems for us.”

  “No,” Lee said, “not any more than the Mother would publish their declarations of law as a public contract. Agreements between sovereign entities are shared between them and revealed at their pleasure. Neither is there anyone superior to enforce them but their own honor as peers and by force of arms if all else fails.”

  Lee held her breath and waited for Jeff to object she wasn’t a sovereign entity, but he didn’t as much as blink.

  “House, is there a printer in this suite with some decent quality paper?” Jeff asked.

  “There is one in the com desk that stocks four grades of paper, transparent film, and card stock,” the computer answered.

  “Print the document I’m uploading on the best presentation grade paper, with blank room on the bottom for signatures,” Jeff instructed. “Make it about four times the commonest book size and the print proportional. We’ll want a sample copy now.”

  “Processing.”

  The end of the document appeared before the word was finished.

  Eileen brought the copy to him, looking it over along the way. Jeff handed it to Lee and she looked a little surprised.

  “It’s much nicer than the standard letter paper. I didn’t know it could do that.”

  “Is that a yes then?” Jeff asked.

  “Oh, yes, I think it’s rather nice.

  “House, make us another nine copies the same as the last,” Jeff ordered.

  “Now the manual part,” Jeff said and produced a pen. He signed it with a flourish and pressed his hanko down, overlapping the ‘J’ of his signature. Lee signed her short name rather than full Derf name because the Mothers’ seal included that. Lee’s didn’t have an integral printer, so she had to ink it then stamp across her signature. It took some time to do all ten.

  “That’s the hard part,” Lee said. “My researchers are coming soon. Would you like to come over to my apartment and we’ll all have a little lunch together before we get into round two with them?”

  “If you don’t mind, let’s just have a bite together here,” Jeff suggested. “We could all shift over to your place if you want, but why bother? It’s the same kitchen. I’m happy to host, but I’m not much at arranging dinner parties, would you do the honors of telling room service what we need?” Jeff asked.

  “You’re over thinking it,” Lee said. “Watch how easy it is.”

  “House, we’d like a buffet served for four humans, two Derf, and a Badger. The humans all have gene modified metabolisms, so figure double portions. Label or segregate the badger portions where safety dictates. Go heavy on cold appetizers and hot desserts, coffee, mineral water, and beer. “Maintain temperature and offer any leftovers worth saving to staff or local charities.”

  “Processing order. A printout of the proposed menu will be on your com desk if you wish to examine it for modification,” the house computer responded.

  “They’re really good if they can work from such simple orders,” Jeff said. “I’d expect to be pestered with checklists and hundreds of choices.”

  “Why do you think I live here?” Lee said.
<
br />   “OK, you convince me to keep this suite on a multi-year lease. It will make it easier for the Foys to spy on you from next door,” Jeff quipped.

  “And easier for me to keep an eye on Central business,” Lee shot right back.

  “Oh! We need some tubes or folios or something for these treaties,” Jeff said.

  “I’ll talk to the Concierge Service,” Lee said. “Watch, they’ll have them here before we are done with dinner.”

  Chapter 19

  Musical was always a little intimidated by visiting the Old Hotel. Everything was scaled for Derf, and Badgers ran even a bit smaller than Humans. Even the homes of great families tended to be snug inside no matter how imposing from the outside. The only thing that came close to the imposing cavernous lobby in Musicals experience was the Great Hall of Justice. He compensated by being extra snarky and irreverent.

  He let Born inquire of the check-in desk what elevator to take, and was given a guide to walk them to the correct lift instead of just telling them the number. There were only four of them clustered after all. Maybe the fellow wanted to be right there so if they were denied entry, he could give them what Lee called the bum’s rush.

  Even when Jeff answered and sent the elevator down the fellow stood there until they were safely in the car and the doors closed. Musical felt like they were under suspicion, but the fellow was so polite about it he had no opportunity to complain.

  When the door opened and they entered the suite, there were more people than expected. There was a Derf present neither of them knew, and a Human couple seated closely by him, with a human standing talking to them. There were a couple other Derf with Lee, setting up a buffet, but they had on the green vests that marked them as hotel workers. It smelled of food in the room strongly. The strange Human standing must be Singh. He turned to them smiling.

  “Hello, I’m Jeff Singh,” he said, before Lee could come over and do introductions. “I’m glad to finally meet both of you.”

  He offered Musical his hand in the Human manner and Musical used to Spacers didn’t grab and pump, but gave Jeff’s hand a feather’s touch. Born not being an idiot noted the style and emulated it. You could find devotees of both styles on Derfhome. You could usually anticipate which was coming by how they held their thumb. Neither researcher expected such a warm greeting for a business meeting.