by Ken Pence
Where do I come in all this you ask? I was out in the desert, west of Tucson, trying to figure out which topics the synthesist group should pursue. Then into that mix you throw an alien. I ran into Rett.
Yes -- enter Rett, the Tros, the Ullumff, and the ES ships. Enter a weak World Government and the unaligned nations who suffered massive losses of cheap labor. I’ll mention that later, but Rett's an alien and to make a long story short... I got my hands on a device, from him, that we could deconstruct, figure out how it worked, and duplicate without outside groups. We had plenty of ingenuity. We were able to improve on it and that, in turn, spurred a host of other inventions. We developed space travel. No – No – I mean practical, honest to god, interstellar travel. We, the synthesist group, developed powerful weapons because we had huge resources of energy now. Lots of things were just waiting for better power sources. We made new friends, and we made powerful enemies. I'm writing this because I have the time to do so and because I am being pursued by some of those enemies.
Did I mention that we have been to another star system? I visited Tau Ceti, and some in my crew have seen and engaged with beings from Tau Ceti. We have an alien who lives with us – still -- we keep saying and we keep planning to send him to the nearest large trade center, but it's never worked out...yet.
Rett is an odd being. He has skin like a rhinoceros, walks on two legs and has opposable thumbs on each hand. He is very smart, but he's arrogant. We also have a treaty with the Exploration Service. The Exploration Service is a military branch of the Confederation of Planets that essentially polices this region of the spiral arm. Earth is considered a very remote trading outpost. We set up a quarantine trading station on the moon, and that's worked out fairly well. We've had a couple of visitors, and we've had quite a few interlopers try to bypass the moon and go straight to Earth…we’ve enough ships that we’ve managed to, mostly, nip that in the bud. Hell. I guess it was the treaty that started a lot of the trouble. They, the Confederation, gave us a bunch of manuals and we thought they were the gospel on how to treat alien species. We thought they were what we should use every day – all day – to design our trading station.
We designed everything according to those damn manuals. We had no way to know that they were just exemplary, desired, designs for trading stations. We knew they showed a bunch of different races and they said that these races were accommodated by different temperatures in different humidity, in different lighting frequencies, in different auditory environments and with different smells. We designed it all – did everything they said in the manuals. We didn’t even realize it was a model standard and not a standard that anyone had ever achieved. It was no wonder, when the other races came here they thought we were some high socialized -- highly developed race. They didn't know we were just new guys on the block.
Well. We did this design in record time because we had almost a year from the time we got the manuals until we had had the moon base operational. One of the things we learned when we took apart Rett’s belt was that there was an alteration in perceived time when you are within the field – you can speed up your experiences. You speed up your perceived time…or there is less resistance inertia to time flow – haven’t gotten that quite figured out yet. We get up to 30 times normal in a high gravity environment like a planet, though there were periods where he had logistical problems getting enough food, air, and supplies in and getting waste and heat out. Getting rid of heat is one of the issues we had to overcome but it only took us six months -- six months relative. We did the same thing that would normally take us 15 years to do so we were able to build modern ships and update an old moon base. According to the manuals – our modern, exemplary, trading station on the moon and abandoned base was unique among all worlds. Well… it took up 15 years’ worth of resources in a six- month period. In fact, we created a lot of enemies. There were a lot of spinoff technologies that we were able to develop, sure, but it took a while to disseminate that information and it made a lot of people angry since they considered us wasting huge resources and getting nothing – seemingly – in return. They didn't realize what was going on and they were angry they weren't consulted – at first. They were angry that a little group from a university in Arizona negotiated Earth’s future. That really pissed off a lot of folks...imagine taking all the politicians out of the loop.
You realize that this hit people really fast. It was hush-hush pretty much when we started, but after three or four months -- word leaked out and the fact that we were dealing with aliens hit the public really hard, especially when they realized we were really travelling to other worlds and beings from many worlds were travelling here. Oh, there was a really cool documentary produced by the World Government but that never hit the public airwaves – we thought it had but it hadn’t. The world didn’t realize there was only one alien currently on Earth and that was Rett. Others had come down in a ship, but they didn't move far from that ship – besides, only members of the military had seen them. So. It was hard for a lot of people to accept the trading base on the moon that they could only see in documentaries and newscasts. Aliens were coming near Earth and going into quarantine – mainly to keep aliens away from the planet itself. It was a way to keep traders -- interstellar traders away from the general Earth population. It kind of worked – at first.
The world government was trying to put a good face on our travel and on the trade, but so far, the Earth hadn’t had much to show for it. Let me take that back. We have developed a lot of things as spinoffs of the technologies we learned from other worlds, but most of it was developed on Earth. It was fleshed out, so to speak, on Earth. It was figured out -- we decomposed their technology… we took it apart and figured what made it work. The aliens went nuts about our microelectronics because ours was so compact and powerful. Those aliens could put stuff in the space without any care to weight or size so why make it small. Their electronics – generally their stuff was pretty crude. They had computers yes, slow, but recognizable as computers. They had pretty decent weapons only because they had huge energy sources and a two hundred year head start over us. They were VERY touchy about letting us get our hands on those. They had powerful communications but their sensors weren’t as good as ours – at least none we’ve seen so far. Half of what we do is bluff.
How did we do anything to defend ourselves in a relatively short time? The relative time fields we were able to develop let us build a fleet of enforcement ships to protect ourselves. Very fast also, but you’ve got to realize we burned up people in the process. If you spend 15 years in relative time field, then, you age 15 years. We weren't able to stop the aging process very much and the fact that the Earth lost a lot of specialists during the viral B epidemics decades ago – didn’t help current medical practice. Epidemics and anti-aging research got kicked in the teeth with that one.
We traded, early on, for some star maps, and for some translation learning machines that harness many other languages of these interstellar races. The problem we found out was that the language cylinders we got were upper class only – very little trade language. The languages were from high society speech like you were speaking with a dignified British or royal, high-court dialect. So when some alien visitors came to trade…Earth people came across as highly cultured with a trading station that was better than any other station because we thought that was the way…from those damn manuals. Aliens went crazy over, everything any trader saw at Earth's trade station. I don't mean that they came to trade with us at the moon. They came to Earth. They wanted to trade and skip the middleman. Well that's what they tried and that's where a lot of the trouble started.
You’d think with real aliens, with a trading station on the moon, with actual interstellar craft, with nearly unlimited power available to anywhere on earth, the media would react to the alien, Rett, and he’d be a media sensation. He isn't. I think it's odd, but most of the population think it's a hoax, some method of government manipulation. The corporations were not happy. I sent
schematics, diagrams, and specifications -- very detailed specifications out over the Net on how to manufacture standalone power generators. The catalyst needed for them was, luckily, known and we could get an ample supply of waste radioactive material around all our aging fission plants. Corporations never did figure a good way to get rid of that stuff without reprocessing using breeder reactors and they were reluctant to build those puppies. They were still cooling that waste with ultra clean water, dropping it down through the Earth’s crust and other nonsense but, at least, they have a disposal market source now, where they can sell some material. It's lucky the technology came around so, now, we have the power to break down the radioactive waste into elemental particles. Therefore, that’s what’s been going on.
Then I get into the predicament I'm in now and you ask – what predicament? That will take a little more explanation. I'm currently in a ship located at a Lagrange point between the moon and Earth. I'm not defending the Earth from aliens...Nothing so romantic. I’m waiting here to meet a cruise ship full of aliens before they go to Earth. I'm also trying to keep the hooks of some very selfish corporations out of the Earth-Exploration Service treaty, and keep Earth corporations from controlling the lunar trading base and trying to keep vast numbers of alien traders away from Earth ‘til our new trade centers are ready...Susan says I’m very trying...
Washington State Incursion
(Seven months earlier...)
Shin-Young Lee is an apple farmer in Washington State. He just experienced an interesting 24-hours -- as he tells it. In his own words… (from interviews)
Cashmere, Washington is about in the middle of the state but it’s still off the beaten path…interstellar–wise… and I suppose, US-wise also. Only about 2% of the population here are Asian (Thai, Korean, Chinese – they lump us all together). Most folks around here are Caucasian, hell – most are Armenian but that’s another story. See – I thought this fella, Rett, was the only alien on Earth. Guess what we’re told about that moon base and aliens is true…a bit ‘cause I had some business a while ago. I was alone in the orchards just north of Snow Lakes and this ship – a space ship all right – came down right next to my orchard one evenin’.
I just stood there with my jaw hanging open and this feller – guess it was a guy came out and started jabberin’. Knew it had to do with my apples so I figured out what he wanted. He wanted to trade for my apples. Big ole feller too – all wrinkly skin with big ole eyes that swung around – like a kid lookin’ out for his parents. It took a while before he indicated how much he wanted. I had a pickup truck full that I was samplin’ the different varieties I was growin’... so I had a bushel of Golden Delicious, Gala, Braeburn, Granny Smith, Cripps Pink, and Honeycrisp. I hadn’t picked any of my Cameo, Fuji or Red Delicious yet ‘cause it was getting’ late, but these all looked pretty good. Plenty of rainfall and mild weather had helped.
Well, this feller nearly fell over when I gave him a slice of a couple of different ones – he was a bit leery when I pulled open my pocketknife and handed him pieces. Not sure if it was the knife or my big smile that spooked him. Anyway – we started hagglin’ – guess we were ‘cause it was hard to get ideas across for payment. We settled on a little bar of gold – looked like gold and it dented like gold – a little bar of gold for every bushel. Guess he didn’t see, in the dark, that I had automatic pickers ready to harvest tractor-trailer truck loads of the things. We grow apples in a big way up here in Washington. So. I got this big inspiration. Just ‘cause I grow apples doesn’t mean I’m a slow farmer and all. I have a college degree in agriculture and business and the business part covers a lot of ground – high tech stuff.
I motioned for him to wait and pointed to the ground where he was and held my palms out to him and pointed for him to wait – pointed at my MemDex, pointed at the ground again and went back to my truck. I had some presents for my nieces that I thought might be put to better use. I had these little how-to books on growing apples with a lot of pictures. I came out with them and showed him a few pictures and the pack of seeds that came with each and he nearly fell off the ramp trying to get them. We started waving arms and such but I guess I finally got through to him – he brought out a bunch of books and a little box – manuals I guess – printed on the slickest paper you ever saw. I had paid ten bucks apiece – on sale – for the three books I had but I indicated I couldn’t understand and this guy – pretty sharp holds out his hands – paws – whatever and points at the ground for me to wait. He hollars up the ramp and another guy – being – comes waddling out with this big box and headset. He sets it down.
There on the ground, he lays out the six little gold bars and three books and this box – he holds out a little cylinder and puts it in the box. Now he holds up both hands – might as well call them hands, points at his pile and then uses a big gesture – points at my truck full of apples and indicates swapping. No fleas on this dog – he was quick on the uptake. I grinned real big and stuck out my hand. He jerked back a bit – guess I shocked him – don’t know if it was the hand or the smile but he reached out and we shook on it. Awkward, but he got the drift – like I say – this feller was smart. Skin was softer than it looked but really hot compared to mine – hotter than a dog. He said a couple of things with his eyes swiveled back up the ramp. Two of his crew came down and emptied my truck in about half a minute. They were all headed back in when there was a shout from inside the ship and the guy --he looks up and skedaddles up the ramp.
That ship closes up and shot out of there like a dog with its tail on fire -- and zoomed away. If it hadn’t been for my empty truck and all the stuff on the ground, I would have thought it was a dream. What happened then sucked but guess it could have been worse. Another ship lands but this one is longer and has English lettering, so I knew it had to be one of ours – didn’t really believe we had anything like it – but seeing is believin’. This door opens on this ship and out come a half dozen military folks with serious expressions and even more serious lookin’ weird weapons. One starts hollarin’ at me to not move – like I could have moved if I wanted too. My jaw was still hangin’ open and this guy realizes I’m not a threat to anybody and they all lower their weapons and start looking around. This first guy asks me what I know and when I can talk again – took a minute – I tell him my story. He nods and looks over my loot. He pulls out a little meter thing and looks at each piece of metal, the books and the box.
His guys load up the box and the manuals with the little box but he leaves the metal bars. I protest but he tells me to shut up and that I’m lucky they don’t execute me on the spot. He tells me not to tell anyone but knows I will anyway. He said I broke treaty laws in trading directly with these folks...what treaty? He also says he’s going to take the language trainer – guess it was that box thing and the manuals but I can keep the metal. I asked him if it was because it was worthless. He laughs and says – hardly worthless. Then he tells me I have about two kilos of gold, two kilos of rhodium, and two kilos of platinum. I was flabbergasted. That other stuff sells for more than gold. Whoa – might buy me a new truck with that and I can certainly buy more books for my nieces with seed packs in them. It would be ten years before they could grow bearing fruit trees from the seed packs in those books anyway. No harm done.
New recruits for the ERF
Colonel Brad Kyger was giving his welcoming speech to new candidates for the Earth Regulatory Force. It was cut and dried by this time after a full year of real time and over fifteen years of relative time – give or take a year. Some were angry that Brad got promoted so fast – but the ones angry were too dull witted to realize he had spent twelve years of his lifespan in this organization so far – twelve of the fifteen in relative time – speeded up in a stressed space field (SSF). You have to use an acronym for everything in the military – it’s a law. Many of the recruits had quietly slunk away earlier when they realized they wouldn’t get thirty times the pay when working in a relative time field – though they wo
uld get housing, food, medical and entertainment of a sort. They would certainly have time to develop any skills.
The Exploration Service explained that as a self-policing entity, Earth had to enforce its own laws. Did I mention that aliens didn’t understand intellectual property rights... at all? No interstellar patents – sell them something and they expect to reverse engineer it – if they can. Foodstuffs – make sure it doesn’t have insects but they weren’t really good at screening for bacteria, molds or viruses. Now, you could impound or destroy any ship you catch breaking trading rules but they didn’t mention how hard it was to catch the damn things. Earth foodstuffs were the newest rage – somewhere – wherever all these ships come from. We, Earth, had had no clue about the Uoott Culture Guide. The new edition had evidently come out praising Earth, Earth’s trading station, Earth food, friendly people – great trade goods, cool electronics – every being wanted to visit and get rich. None wanted to stop at the trading station except when they had to stop. Guess they figured if an airless outpost is so cool – how much better is the planet...and the Uoott Manual said the people here were neato swell – or the damn equivalent in Trade. It did say we strictly enforce regulations but the Earth Regulatory Force was having its own trouble just then.
Brad had just spoken to his chief of staff and got the latest reports. “Humm...two incursions this month so far...one in Saint Augustine, Florida and the other in Cashmere, Washington. Somebody must be feeding these people information. Apples in Washington, that’s easy -- but how am I to know that Florida raised peppers these aliens liked? Have we any idea how they got the information – they come through our Net – we detect them when they get into the solar system and they are going slow like they’re going to the Moonbase and then a few of them, not all – shoot off for remote places on Earth. These last two in the US – it’s hard enough when we have to catch them when they head to some remote country on Earth but these last two were in the US...what the hell? It’s not like they were heading to Taiwan for stinky tofu – we set off every countries’ early warning systems – not that they can do anything about it but I expect we’ll have problems shortly when other countries start putting up their own ships. We haven’t had trouble since Hawkeye and his group got shut down but we’ve discovered three new relative field enclosures that aren’t ours.”
