by Ken Pence
“We…we,” Ratnaike stammered. “You are telepathic.”
Rex closed his eyes briefly and turned toward the audience. “Yes – others wish to ask questions…they also understand English now but it feels odd in my mouth. We use audible tones, yells, and celebratory sounds but rarely use what you consider speech,” Rex said and turned to another section of the auditorium.
“Yes…yes… many questions …your companion is female and you are male?”
“Yes,” Ratnaike said remembering that DiCarlo was very female.
Rex looked at the audience again. “They obviously are evolved to sense prey by visual and auditory means,”
Rex said as much a response to the silver suited aliens as for the audience. “You wish what from us? I sense many different needs – the thoughts are chaotic to me.”
Ratnaike turned to DiCarlo who shrugged and then nodded slightly.
“Ah…approval with a head movement. We use many subtle variations also.”
“We wish to set up stores for trade and hotel for travelers. We are also looking to set up colonies – though not on inhabited planets,” Ratnaike stated.
Rex closed his eyes for a moment and the audience rose to their feet and started to leave.
“We have several thousand questions we would like to ask you and your people,” DiCarlo said.
“Yes,” Rex said, “with a condition.”
“You have conditions before you will answer any questions?” DiCarlo asked.
“No. We will answer any questions we are able to answer. Yes to your proposals. There is one condition for setting up trade establishments,” Rex said.
“Just one?” Ratnaike asked.
“It is a large one. We wish to colonize our other landmasses. This is the only one that is inhabited. We cannot get to the other continents and want your help,” Rex stated.
“What keeps you from going? Your buildings are technologically advanced. You should have ships that can cover the distance as we have not seen evidence of large storms that would prevent it,” Captain Ratnaike said. “If you know of other continents then you must have traveled to them.”
“We have not,” Rex said. “The aliens who visited us many years ago gave us maps that show all the other land masses in great detail and we can determine distances from what we know from our own land masses.”
“You knew that you could build ships that could travel that far,” DiCarlo said. “Why not do it?”
“This would be easier if you could learn like we learn,” Rex said. “Please come with me – I wish to show you something.”
“We can show you how to build larger ships – that should be no problem,” the Captain said.
“Captain, it is the sea monsters,” Rex said, “…and also the reason we have telepathy.”
“Our people believed that sea monsters lived away from land until we realized it was just fear and superstition,” DiCarlo said as they walked to a large, adjacent building.
“This is a museum of sorts. These buildings represent what you would call a research facility. My colleagues are researchers and generally more inquisitive about this world and life. Ah…here it is…” Rex said as the room lit up with a soft bright light as they entered. “Oh…” Rex said. “We use a chemical light…one of the many things we can trade.” He indicated a huge skeleton hung from the ceiling. “A sea monster…”
“Good lord, that thing must be forty meters long DiCarlo. Look at those teeth and claws. Those lower appendages look like a land animal. Are any of these still alive?”
“Yes. This is a small one. Large ones have been spotted that make this one look tiny. The smaller ones like this can come up the rivers for a short time in fresh water and crawl a good distance on land. These are not the only threats from the sea. The most adventurous of my people catch small creatures at the edge of the water. We have tried to cross in large ships. These creatures and many others come and surround our ships. We have used poisons and explosives but we have lost many of my people.”
“You said that these creatures were why your people developed telepathy.” Ratnaike said.
“Yes. We were living in communal groups and developed empathy so we could survive the many predators. The ones who survived were the ones who could detect the minds of the predators. You startled me in the forest when I felt your minds but could not see you. I thought I was about to die. We share thoughts within a short distance about the size of the auditorium we were in. They all can speak English now. That is why we agreed to your proposal so rapidly. My colleagues left and contacted the majority of our city.”
“You could fly over the oceans but that requires quite a bit of technology,” DiCarlo said.
“I do not understand,” Rex said and closed his eyes. “There are too many concepts for me to understand but you think we would be capable of this feat?”
“Yes,” Captain Ratnaike said turning to DiCarlo. “Dirigibles – electric or internal combustion?” he said.
“Electrolysis for hydrogen, natural wind to start. We can just train one of them and they can share with the rest. We would need some knowledge of chemistry, fluids, thermodynamics, material science, and electricity,” DiCarlo responded. “Best if we use large bags, or bladders, inside a rigid structure. When the pilot wants to descend, the vehicle needs to be heavier, so the hydrogen in the main body of the craft is compressed and put into storage chambers. That creates a relative vacuum inside the body, which draws air from the outside. Air is heavier than hydrogen, so the vehicle sinks. To rise again, the stored hydrogen is released back into the body of the aircraft, pushing the air out of the bags and replacing the volume it filled with lightweight hydrogen.”
“Your words show so many concepts that I do not understand but realize that this…these, technologies can be combined to travel high above water,” Rex said. “Our population has been tightly controlled for centuries.”
“This cannot be done overnight,” DiCarlo said.
“We understand. It is agreed. I see you wish to return to your ship. This way. We will talk again soon. I will have a young one waiting for you.” Rex started walking back toward their ship.
“Why are you called Rex?” the captain asked.
“That was your name for me. You thought of your naming conventions and you thought the words Tyrannosaurus Rex because of my face. We do not use naming conventions like you do. Ours are more like, “I am the one in the brown robe a short distance to your right.”
“That seems very cumbersome and long. Rex is shorter,” Ratnaike said.
Rex said. “You must need names for every person then – that seems very difficult to remember. We greet another person with information about ourselves and when we last met. We disagree by showing why we disagree – it has been a very stable relationship. We see you as a mass of conflicting information but I find your presences very interesting but tiring. I am exhausted trying to understand your thoughts. I will leave you here. Until you return.”
“Thank you. We will be very tired trying to explain you people to our people. Excuse me but what do you people call yourselves and this world,” the captain asked.
“I have never considered those questions before but we call our people the select and our planet we call the world.”
“Thank you,” the Captain said and made the ship visible again.
Rex jumped back and fell on his bottom. “Eek,” he said. “Your vessel is huge.”
“Rex. I am sorry to tell you but this is almost the smallest vessel we use. Some are much bigger than your whole city and hold as many beings from several planets,” the captain stated.
“I will take these visions back to my people,” Rex said, turned and walked away.
“Holy shit,” DiCarlo said as she and her captain reentered the ship. “That was weird – wonderful but weird. We still don’t know anything about these people…the select. Now we call this planet World?”
The Captain sat down and ran a hand through his close-cropped
hair. “That was the most rational meeting I’ve ever had. No drawn- out negotiations…I never felt threatened…did you?” he asked.
“No and that is weird. Need to ask about that. I don’t like the way they could see into our minds. I felt naked,” she said. “I should have felt more fear. Don’t you think we gave in pretty easily whenever they asked us to do anything? Let’s separate tomorrow and one stay with the ship, which they were not able to see. You go with them tomorrow and I’ll stay with the ship – I’ll keep it about ten times the distance they said they detect it. We need some ground rules too,” she said.
“I agree…went way too smoothly. Tomorrow you are to keep your distance and do not join me for any reason…that’s an order. I will so order the Hasta so the ship will obey whether we change our minds. Let’s get this report out. I think we may have been influenced to give them technology – we could escort any of their ships and discourage any sea creatures with lasers or a field extended around their ships but I don’t like the idea of being under their influence. We’ll test tomorrow,” the captain said. “I have some suggestions to make this safer.”
***
Captain Ratnaike left the ship early. The ship rose to four kilometers from the surface where it could monitor him and the city’s inhabitants. The captain’s suit Dex was given instructions that the suit was to not be removed for any reason and was instructed to actively repel any attempts to take it off. A young select met the captain and escorted him to another area of the research complex. This being said nothing as they walked. It left the captain in a room with three, seated, serious looking beings.
“You have the technology training we requested?” the being in the center said.
“No. I thought we needed to work out the details first,” the captain replied.
“We will agree to any reasonable terms. Why do you not do as you said you would do? We will wait until you have retrieved this…” the being said.
“We do not like being coerced. I think we will not be able to…” the captain started to say and then he realized that he had already agreed to the terms and these people had been very accepting. He would call DiCarlo to bring a tech-training cylinder. He keyed his radio. “Ensign, please prepare the tech-training cylinder and meet me at this location. Acknowledge.”
DiCarlo responded immediately. “Copy your transmission captain. I will take over the discussion now per your orders.” The suit released an anesthetic into the captain’s system and he blacked out.
“We will not be coerced,” said the speaker on the captain’s suit in his synthesized voice but powered by DiCarlo’s words over their comm system. The three beings started looking all around them…it was if the captain had become invisible.
“I think I will return to my ship,” the captain’s speaker said and the suit helmet sealed and began walking toward the door. The three jumped up and attempted to grasp the suit or block the door. The suit knocked them back and the door was sealed. The suit drew its molecular disruptor and dissolved a large portion of the wall. A large group of beings were coming into the corridor to block his way. The suit holstered the disruptor, drew out the small tetanizer and began stunning the groups in front and back with the powerful beams.
There were large groups of beings converging on the patio outside the facility. The suit pointed the stunner at this crowd and they reluctantly fell back. The captain’s suit became invisible and launched itself upward to rendezvous with the ship. The suit Dex had functioned perfectly and he was retrieved without incident. Once he was safely inside the ship began to descend slowly and became visible. The second phase of the test began as DiCarlo said, “Ascend…ascend…ascend…ascend…ascend…” the ship continued its descent. She shook her head after a minute of this repetition and said, “Descend…”
The ship immediately became invisible and rose to its original elevation. DiCarlo shook her head and looked around the cabin. “What was that distance, Hasta?”
The ship, Hasta, responded, “Your commands changed at an elevation a bit over half a klick, Ma’am.”
DiCarlo had always liked the southern mannerisms of the ship Dex. After they had revived the captain, it would be on to phase three. The captain was groggy and angry. The anesthetic always made him grumpy…the perfect mode to handle this situation. The captain launched the small unit and it landed in the plaza outside the building where he had been coerced.
One of the beings walked by the unit and the captain spoke to him in English. “I have a message for the select leaders. Do I have their attention?”
The being appeared startled for a few seconds and then briefly closed its eyes. It waved its arms in front of him and they passed through the hologram image. It then moved a step back. The image spoke. “We approached you in friendship and you coerced us. It was a grave mistake. You would be better off if you walk into the sea.”
The creature said, “…but you are like the creatures from the sea. You should do as we command. The sea creatures have evolved so they do not respond to our commands unless we try hard. You are not evolved and are therefore prey for us to control. You should understand this fact.”
Captain Ratnaike was not feeling politically correct. He would report this communal response and would recommend the response to this threat. These people posed a threat to any space faring race that encountered them. I bet the progeny would handle these folks – maybe we could use the progeny so we wouldn’t have to erase this race. His report would make several recommendations along those lines before resorting to eradication.
Flies in the Ointment
“Did you see the report from the Hasta at Omega Sagittarii?” Admiral Kyger asked Andrew. “I agree with the contact team that we should send a few of our reconstituted lamlee…pardon me…progeny.”
“Let’s call them progeny general – they earned it with the lives they saved on boarding operations against the Allung. Lee Post gave us the insight we needed for the jump technology. I think they’ve earned a name other than self-assembled lamlee clones,” Andrew said.
“You’re right. The right to citizenship offer after serving with the ERF worries me a little.”
“Everything I do worries me a little Admiral. It’s the stuff that worries me a lot that keeps me up nights. I’ve detailed a destroyer with an all-progeny crew to set up trade relations with the select.”
“What are their orders if they can’t reach agreement with those folks…there’s evidence they destroyed at least one previous star faring contact.”
“My orders are to prepare another land mass for colonization.”
Kyger raised his eyebrows. “…Ah…less said the better. I’m afraid I agree…maybe it will work out.”
***
The destroyer, Havoc, rendezvoused with the Hasta contact crew upon arrival at Omega Sagittarii. Ratnaike reviewed the video and reports. Lee Post, the first reassembled progeny returned to his ship and sped to the surface.
The destroyer landed on the plaza outside the research facility and pedestrians who had been on the plaza had been pushed aside before landing. A team of progeny stepped out of ship and approached the most senior looking of the select present.
“We are here to conduct negotiations for a trade agreement,” Lee Post said in Trade. He assumed that since the contact crew had trained Rex in Trade as he had in English and they had learned communally.
“You are not like the others…we can not…” said the being.
“You can not do this…” Lee said and the being threw its hands to its head and shrieked.
“Stop what you are doing…stop…please stop…” the being sobbed. “Why do not make us do your bidding?”
“Why should I stop? You coerced others to do YOUR bidding. Is it not the same thing? Cannot the stronger make the weaker obey? I think we will stay here and have you serve us. Would not that be the way it should be? Bring me food and water,” Lee Post said and his team stood while the beings around them all scurried away to fetch food and drink.
The select returned with platters of fruit and vegetables with dried fish. “Here is what you wanted. Give us back our freedom. It is not right to be coerced like this…we are thinking creatures.”
“I am not sure you are… You tried to coerce other thinking creatures a short time ago. That shows a lack of judgment. Those creatures from Earth could, and may still, remove all traces of your race from this planet. They travel between the stars and you decided you could use your advantage to exploit them. That shows you were not thinking. Explain why you think it is to humans’ advantage to let you live…I will decide this today,” Lee Post said. “Do not respond rashly as it will decide the fate of your race.”
It was over an hour from then that the aliens around the team had closed their eyes. There was some obvious discussion going on around them – telepathically.
“We have decided. We would like to trade but realize we might try, inadvertently, to influence beings from other worlds should they visit here. We will build a trade center in the near future but your kind could check on us several times a year on prescheduled dates to ensure there is no undue influence. Would that be acceptable?”
Lee Post grinned just like Andrew would. “No. You will start the trade facility now, today. We will leave a contingent of beings like me with you to monitor the construction and for any and all transactions. Should any of your members attempt to coerce any other beings from other than your own planet – this land mass will be cleansed of all lower beings. All aliens visiting this planet must be accompanied by one of my team. We will continually monitor all transactions. Do you understand and agree to these terms?”
“We understand but do not like these terms. We wish to have the deal we made with the humans.”
“That bargain is no longer on the table, as they say on Earth. It is now – take it or leave it,” Lee said.
