by Ken Pence
“He should get here in about eight hours. Why don’t you get your people settled in and grab some sleep. It always gets hectic when ships are in port,” Brad said. “Hopefully, it will be quieter this time with UmBllatt and crew.”
Andrew grinned, nodded and wearily headed to his quarters.
***
Captain UmBllatt had the docking manual with him this time and he had made his crew study the other manuals as his ship approached the lunar base. They would not be caught unprepared this time. He would not let these little creatures...no, people...he must remind himself that they were people after the nice treatment they had given him the first trip here. Maybe they had been embarrassed by the pirate attack the last trip. They would not cheat him this time either and he would make profit. He turned to the navigator. “Take us down,” he commanded.
The trip navigator was one of the ten original visitors, and he turned over the ship to the excellent landing system of the Earth moon. The ship landed rapidly with perfectly synchronized motions and an imperceptible touchdown.
“Good job, navigator. I think you are getting better at this. Best job you’ve ever done. That will show these beings how civilized beings perform,” the Captain said.
The navigator grunted acknowledgement realizing that whatever system this planet used was superior to any port anywhere and he had been to several Central Worlds ports. None were as sophisticated as this system – this was better than the manuals but he took the praise and said nothing. Why dissuade the Captain as to his prowess? He wanted to be included in the crew that got to go to the base.
***
Colonel Kyger had trained with the Ullumff language cylinder and had practiced with Ling as much as possible as had several of the moon staff. All personnel were required to master Trade language training but many had had to use the second-rate language training that Andrew had originally made. They only had two Trade cylinders from the Washington incursion and for some reason couldn’t get them to work with any attempted training device clone, they, on Earth, had made. Now he’d get to see if his training was adequate. He ordered the gravity adjusted to 1.25 Earth normal since the Ullumff home world was 1.47 Earth gravity. He also ordered a light breeze and adjusted temperature to 31 Celsius and changed the lighting to the brighter spectrum designated in the Trade Habitat manual. Ling had an armload of yellow keytags for the crew.
Captain UmBllatt emerged from his vessel and saw the two beings waiting for him. Humm – gravity, temperature and light seem ideal. He didn’t hesitate and went down the ramp without waiting for crew. There had been a minor riot until the Captain pointed to two of the crew who must stay aboard. The others lined up in order of seniority.
"I desire your trade here to be successful for all," Brad recited in Ullumff as best he could.
“Tank U. I study urr spek too. Your Ullumff is much better than my Englis,“ the Captain said.
“Thank you,” Brad said in Ullumff. “You honor us. We also require more teaching machines and many more, language cylinders with Trade Standard.”
Require...UmBllatt thought. Here is trade opportunity and he speaks it aloud at our first greeting. Obviously, he has little skill at trade. He noticed that the female? – the being with the utters had quietly spoken English into a device.
Ling approached the Captain and in her little squeaky voice – squeaky sounding to the Captain anyway – “Here are keytags for you and your crew. Again, you need only follow the yellow markings on the floor. Those pathways are safe for you and your crew. I will escort you to your accommodations where you can refresh yourselves. Do you wish to see your rooms before you eat and drink? The banquet will be ready whenever you are settled.”
The Captain thought how much this would cost him – they will gnaw our oculars in charges for this service. Better not to show how this reception had unsettled him...a brave front. He was no miser but he could not keep from asking, “How much will these rooms and food cost?”
Ling smelled a sulfurous scent coming from the Captain. She wrinkled her nose but kept he composure. They had misjudged these scents on their first meeting. She didn’t know what emotion this scent indicated but she was not going to be daunted by this one. “The first planetary rotation is complimentary. There is a nominal charge for any supplies you replace on your ship. There is no charge for docking under thirty planetary rotations.”
Captain UmBllatt absorbed the stipulations with unease though it had lessened slightly. So... this is how they will gouge us – delaying us inordinately so they can hit us with hidden fees. Knowing the trap lessened his fear. Complimentary?
Ling noticed the sulfur smell diminish and concluded that the Captain might be concerned about cost. Ling decided to explain, “Captain. There is no charge for you docking here 30 days or less. Complimentary means there is no cost for you the first day or during any trade negotiations. We want repeat business. The best way to get repeat business is to give repeat customers the best deals with many perks.”
“What are perks?” the Captain asked.
“Perks are bonuses or incentives for our best customers. Here are your rooms. This hall is reserved for your crew. Please explain to your crew to wear your keytags at all times and to only go where there are yellow floor lines,” Ling explained and noticed that the sulfur smell completely disappeared and a large acrid smell began to fill the corridor.
The Captain turned and bellowed to his crew. He explained what he would do to anyone foolish enough to wander outside the corridors marked by the yellow lines and told them to meet him shortly in this room. He indicated his room and then told the crew that if they needed anything to say, computer and then ask any question in Trade to the yellow square on the wall.
He ordered the crew to return to his room, without fail, in the equivalent of two hours’ time. He told his navigator to share his room with him and the first officer. He ordered him to go explain how everything worked in each room to every crew member. He wanted to show off his familiarity of this station to his crew and knew it would take the navigator an hour or more to explain everything. The crew was dumbfounded by his speech because it verified rumors that had passed among the veteran crewmembers on their journey from their home world.
Shortly, an enormous Earther came in carrying books of some sort. At least, he was big for these beings but not as large as an Ullumff by any means. He handed books to the Captain and crew of each room.
The Captain turned to Ling. “What are these?” he asked as his oculars swung to focus on the petite being.
“Sir, Captain. These are catalogs of merchandise we have in stock for trade. The section in the back is the intellectual property we have translated into Trade language for our session. The last section are generalized items or information we want, mediums of exchange and prohibited items,” Ling said and noticed the acrid smell was redoubled in the hallway as well as noticing many of the crew were expelling gas. It was getting so smelly that the air handlers were having trouble filtering out the volatile organics – whew. These boys were getting stinky, she thought...typical males.
Captain UmBllatt was stunned. These catalogs were printed on Riz – the non-aging print medium but they were in color! There had been no color printing in many centuries. “lectual propty?” the Captain asked.
“Oh. Sorry. Intellectual property is how something works -- like the Riz material in your manuals,” Ling said.
“We did not show you how to make Riz,” the Captain stated.
“Oh. I know but I’m sure you would have shown us if we had asked,” she said.
I have no idea how to make the stuff, the Captain thought but he didn’t tell Ling that... he would not have shown her how if he did. It was huge that these beings would trade for knowledge like this – wouldn’t it put them out of business if others could duplicate their work? He turned from her without another word and proceeded into the room just in front of his first officer. The Captain expelled a huge amount of gas just before the door shut.
Ling returned to Andrew, Susan and Brad who were standing around looking at the viewscreens from the corridor. “Well. How’d I do?” she said as she bounced into the room. The 0.8 gravity in this section made her feel wonderful after the 1.25 gravity with the aliens’ section.
Brad turned to Andrew. “Let’s dial down the gravity in the unoccupied sections outside of the yellow lined pathways. Remember the Captain’s meandering last time. Lunar gravity would make it difficult for any of them to get around.”
“Afraid I agree with you. No use tempting fate again. I want pairs of guards in pressure suits just outside the ship and near their designated free areas – a little discomfort for a few of our people now means we don’t get into trouble later,” Andrew said.
Susan came sweeping into the room with a tray. “Jack Black -- neat for you, Brad,” and handed him the drink. “Frozen margaritas for the rest of us non-discriminating types,” she said raising her drink. “Uffa,” she said and when Andrew looked confused, she said, “You realize the Ullumff drink also...cheers,” she said and raised her drink again. They all chuckled and took sips.
Ling turned to Susan, “Banquet? Ready as we can be for a no-bovine enzyme/vegan feast with plenty of strong beer and fruit juices. Already heard about your flatulent encounter – congratulations?”
“I guess,” Ling said. “They seemed really smelly when the catalogs showed up. I think it blew them away. I just wish the air handlers had blown some of that smell away too. By the way Colonel,” Ling turned to Brad. “There was a distinct sulfur smell prior to the acrid smell. The acrid smell is excitement as is the flatulence but sulfur? I think it is caused by uneasiness or fear,” Ling said.
“Will note that,” Brad said as he sipped his drink with a sigh. See you folks in a bit after I make sure our security is adequate.
“He seems really uptight right now. Your thoughts?” Ling asked.
“Let’s see. We were attacked the last time these folks were here and several of our people were killed. The Captain, there, went wandering and depressurized a section of the base, the diplomat was against us and ran away and there have been six trading incursions on Earth in the last year and we currently have moles in his organization and approaching illegal trader ships.”
Ling laughed at that part, “Sorry I hadn’t forgotten that,” she said and Andrew continued.
“...And – he is about to promoted to brigadier general...” he let the sentence die to build the suspense.
“We knew that Andrew. Why isn’t he delegating more instead of doing stuff himself? Checking on the guards? That’s what a sergeant might do,” Susan asked.
“Good question. I have it from a good source, Tod, that he might not get to go on our little, upcoming expedition if they promote him beforehand.”
Ling turned to them both. “Does Fran know? They’ve been together – ish – for six years considering the Enclosure time. Have they broken up...?” she asked as her voice trailed off.
“I don’t think so,” Susan said. “I think he loves her but she’s planning on going and six months is too long apart. This would definitely be a long distance relationship.” She turned to Andrew and pulled him close. “You wouldn’t dare leave me for so long – would you?” she said. Better not think of it big boy...she thought and pulled him tight around the waist.
He looked at her and grinned a lopsided grin. Wouldn’t think of it, he thought.
Welcome Back
Captain UmBllatt was again discomfited by these beings. This catalog was an utterly fabulous idea. This book alone would be worth the trip and they gave away seven. Think what he could sell this for at home. I may have trouble getting them back from my crew since they saw how many were given out and they were to share profits. Complimentary. What a concept! How will they stay in business? I better trade with them as much as I can now, so they won’t be out of business the next time I come. These accommodations are even nicer than last time. No port fees for thirty planetary revolutions. He agreed with that concept. He had seen more than one trading post dry up because the port fees were too high. Nominal charges for supplies – that was water in the desert. Of course, nominal, might have other meanings here but he was beginning to doubt it. What a paradise, he had discovered. He was going to get even richer. He leaned over and grabbed the bowl of peanuts again as he drank his third little beer from the complimentary storage in the little refrigerated device. Heaven…His brother was such a fool to skip this...a lumbering fool.
Colonel Brad Kyger was upset. He knew command wanted the upcoming expedition to succeed. Indeed. It was imperative that it succeeds. The opposition to funding the Regulatory Force was getting very vocal and strong. So much financial support had to be funneled into the ERF because of the needs of building in a short time within the Enclosure. Groups were forming to oppose alien contact and reports were leaking to the press about the incursions. It was as much a “we didn’t get to play” as anything else. Business groups griped that they weren’t allowed to profit from the trade and everyone thought they were experts themselves. Nothing is impossible if you know nothing, Brad thought. “Anything can be accomplished if you don’t have to do the work yourself” was another old saying that came to mind. The sale of newly designed power sources had literally paid for all their salaries and their research, this base and, of course, the Enclosure but the leaders forgot that fact.
Enormous monies had been paid to get to work in the Enclosure with its thirty times normal time within. A year outside the Enclosure was thirty years inside and the World Government made it more than thirty times more expensive to perform research within it. The new power supplies were being made in huge numbers. The developed world had much of the radioactive wastes to process and retrieve the necessary catalysts for the new power systems. Independent of a power grid you could start a company anywhere. Vehicle manufacturers were converting some of their electric concept cars to production and no one wanted any of the old petrol driven engines. Why would you want that complicated, smelly, engine with only a 200,000 mile lifetime range (or only about 4,500 hours of operation at best) when you could get a clean, electrically powered vehicle with few moving parts that lasted twice as long or better.
Wait ‘til the stressed field flying belts with pressors hit the markets in a few years...so much for borders to countries or interstellar travel for the masses. Weapons and enforcement would be a big issue too so the World Government had better start geting stronger – or go down blazing. Too much expansion and success is just as destabilizing as the stagnation that can come from overregulation. The new power sources would make it possible for any group to travel to the stars within a few years and we had better learn as much as we can as soon as we can. New training aids could be prepared for anyone IF we could get the information we needed. Already, some corporations were launching experimental deep-space probes from leaked design information. It wouldn’t be long before the trickle became a flood. Brad’s job, my job – was to keep the treaty but I owed it to the human race to make sure I limited the damage to the race from such an exodus and lessen the harm done to the race because of this travel.
Brad keyed the file from Lieutenant General Randolph Sykes and opened it. He sat up in his chair and listened to the man explain why he didn’t visit as planned. The last lines were particularly interesting. – “You are hereby commissioned as a Brigadier General assigned to the extraterrestrial section of the Earth Regulatory Force. You are to lead the expedition as soon as your team has completed the latest trade negotiations. Major General Watanabe will take over your current duties of this system’s Regulatory Force. I will still be your immediate supervisor until we’re a little larger but you will essentially be the first stage of our Expeditionary Forces. We’ve determined from simulations that we need to expand rapidly or be overwhelmed. I’ve sent you a little present – the packet in your desk explains our reasoning and fleshes out the details. Congratulations General. Good luck Brad. Sykes out.
&n
bsp; Brad was stunned as he pulled open the drawer. He had thought they were going to assign him to a desk on Earth. There was a virtual folder with a series of instructions and an actual small box. He manually keyed the virtual screen projection and the information scrolled for him as he read. It was half an hour before he finished. He touched confirm and the message disappeared and a schematic and virtual tabbed folder appeared named ODIN. He was overwhelmed. Odin was a ship. It could be called a cruiser, but it was five times the size of anything currently in the fleet. Brad opened the little box that contained insignia for duty and dress uniforms. Brad studied the material before returning it to the encryption folder. His aide came in to let him know the banquet was imminent. He handed the little box to his aide, Lieutenant Atassi, who opened it and took his collar stars out.
Atassi looked at the insignia, smiled and said, “Congratulations, General. This is an honor.”
“Remember there is always a price to pay for any new responsibility,” Brad said, “but thank you. Let’s go chow, Lieutenant.”
Captain UmBllatt had assembled his crew in his stateroom, where Ling met them again. She led them to the banquet room next to the kitchens. The room was lined with the latest viewscreens, which depicted animal documentaries from Earth in 3D with an advanced projection sound system. A lion would roar and the Ullumff would see the 3D attack lunge and they would cower. It was almost mundane for the humans. They had grown up with 3D and were used to it. To see the large Ullumff cower and then be enthralled was a sight to see. The sulfur, fear smell followed by the excitement acrid smell was putting off any eating so Brad ordered them to turn off the programs and show only pastoral scenes. The banquet then got underway.
They had determined the last trip that the Ullumff had liked country music, reggae and jazz so those strains started playing quietly and the visitors started grazing through the food. They could glom food in enormous quantities. Andrew had arranged labels for all the different foods with the names phonetically spelled out in Trade for the traders. That way they would know what they were getting when they traded the next day; at least, with foodstuffs. The traders were trying to pronounce jalapeno peppers, ale, lager and malt among other things. They were almost through all the peppers already. The crew from the last visit would hand some of the hottest peppers to the new guys and when they bit – their ears flattened, eyes stretched out and they actually bleated before running to get vast quantities for beer – and returning to the line. Corn chips were almost as popular and the apple varieties were going down famously.
