by Ken Pence
“Our two guys timed it and each sphere burned for about three and a quarter minutes. They dropped in nine but before the tenth one – water squirted out of the hole and filled the pool and started flowing down the spillway. They then slid over the edges of the pool and sprayed some circular buildings. They are cleaning up the video before they transmit it but our guys said it was eerie. The structures they built had doorways that would allow humans to enter upright. They also had a table and cubes that could be used as seats. The other side had spillways back to the sea and a small pool on the inside,” the captain finished and sat waiting for questions.
“How do you think we ought to approach this planet? What do they have that we need or want?” Andrew asked.
“Just the construction techniques alone would be worth a stop Commodore. We examined the structures and they are made of carbon nanotubes – no – we don’t know how they do it. Plus they have those chemical spheres that apparently cut through 100 meters of rock. We went in after that Slosh construction team left the area. We went in and the room heated up and a chemical light came on automatically. It was pretty slick,” the captain said.
Andrew turned to Phillips. “Gene, you’ve been sitting quietly.”
“What about property rights? What do they trade with the other races?”
Captain Ratnaike answered reluctantly. “We don’t know that much yet but it looks like others are allowed to build anywhere on any landmass. Almost every building is the local construction – they are incredibly durable but the locals seem to build buildings for whichever race comes. They trade lamlee – we saw a huge stir at the bazaar area and it appeared to be a trade involving lamlee and some chemical lighting technology.”
“How did you discover this information captain?” Gene Phillips asked.
The Captain looked at Andrew, shrugged and said, “We had a person go in invisibility mode.”
“Ah,” Phillips said. “Commodore, I think we need to set up an Earth pavilion and a hotel there. I have some people I’d like to put on the ground.”
“Little premature isn’t it?” Andrew said. “We hardly have any information.”
“Captain, did your person see any of the locals sharing food?” Phillips asked.
“In one instance we saw a Ullumff eating something like sushi. He didn’t seem to enjoy it. The locals eat live food – looked like crab.”
“Commodore, looks like an opportunity to start a new business. Let’s do it.”
“Just like that? You have enough information to put a team there?” Andrew asked and Phillips nodded and smiled. “Well then. Let’s try this.”
Getting Sloshed (Tau)
The expedition ships formed a jumble…a clump….a gaggle about five light years out from Slosh – the nickname of Tau Sagittarii 4. The scout team of Ratnaike and DiCarlo were landing on the small island with the Hasta as did the Junior II, the retrofitted Allung destroyer. Captain Darby with twenty of his troopers deployed to secure the ship and the perimeter. Lee Post and five of progeny had accompanied Commodore Williams and crew to explore the area. Fifteen minutes later the building had all been swept for occupants and surveillance and declared secure. They were beginning to examine the area when one of the progeny reported locals emerging from the sea and approaching up the gently sloping spillways.
The indigenous beings looked cephalopod-ish – but they actually moved similar to bipeds with braced lower – appendages. Some of its arms were wrapped around its middle and two free arms looked like tentacles of Earth creatures. They were brownish in color but lightened upon exiting the sea to more the color of the buildings – a dun tan. They wore harnesses that carried tools and weapons. Their mantle top contained large eyes that were able to swivel and a beaklike mouth. There appeared to be a translation device hung around their neck. They made some rapid clicks and high-pitched noises before their translator began speaking in Trade to the closest progeny.
“Welcome to Sea – our name for our planet. You are the beings from Earth. We have heard of you and wish to trade. Do you have devices that work under water?”
The progeny looked at Lee Post and answered, “We have some that work under water that we can trade.”
“Good. We have a few devices we have adapted for the atmosphere and some that only work under water.”
“My name is untranslatable but you may call me Hammer. I possess the traits to trade in atmosphere as only a few of my kind desire.”
“Where did you learn of us?” asked the progeny.
“We heard of you a while ago from the Hllumff and built these buildings to service your kind. Are they adequate?” asked Hammer.
Eugene Phillips stepped forward and interjected himself into the conversation, ”My name is Eugene Phillips and I build hotels. I want to build a hotel on your main island. How do I get approval? The hotel would earn trade by charging guests to stay there.”
“You would build a Eugene Hotel here?” said Hammer.
“Yes,” said Philips.
The creature looked stunned and it rocked back on its braces and then began pulsing and rattling off clicks and shrieks. It turned back to Phillips. “What we have to trade to get you to build this building?”
Phillips looked nonplussed and Andrew had been about to interrupt but decided to say nothing and just watch. He recovered quickly, “ I will want you to supply foodstuffs that you enjoy. We will trade for anything you bring and we want you to train us in how you like your food. Is this acceptable?”
“That is acceptable. You have our permission to start,” Hammer said. “We have wanted to be able to spend more time above the water but we could not sustain ourselves and other species rarely stay long enough for us to trade properly. Too bad you cannot accommodate my people.”
Phillips looked taken aback. “We accommodate any species in any gravity, temperature, pressure, atmosphere,” he boasted.
“We have long wanted that ability. We are sad you cannot visit us in our cities,” Hammer said.
Andrew motioned to Phillips. “Good job, Gene. Who would have thought?”
Desiree motioned to DiCarlo. She told her what she wanted to say to the natives and then DiCarlo began to speak in Hammer’s own tongue from the recently acquired learning cylinder in clicks and squeals. “We can visit you for a short time. You will need to talk with us through devices we will give you. Some of our security detail would need to accompany us if that is permitted.”
This pronouncement was not expected by the natives but they clicked/squealed among themselves for a bit and then started heading back into the water.
“Lee, front and center. Need you to have your people lead the ways and take notes. Go ahead and handle whatever trade you can do and your people get 10% of whatever profits we can make. Weapons – technology – you have a good handle on what we have and what we don’t have. We will go along for a short time just to put in an appearance but we can’t stay in these suits too long,” Commodore Williams explained.
Lee Post stood for a long time without saying anything. “You are relying on us a lot. We have not had this much autonomy before. We might make decisions that are wrong.”
Andrew answered. “Yes but your people do a good job and deserve the trust. You may not need the wealth but you will be better served by being less dependent on your biological cousins.”
“You consider us cousins?” Lee Post asked Andrew.
“We trust you. You are friends. We both need the experience in dealing with water-based life if we are to find and deal with the Ylee. Use whatever means you need to establish trade relations with these beings,” Andrew said.
Desiree, Tod, John, Susan, DiCarlo, and Andrew had the ERF set up a perimeter and then the six with eight progeny marched off into the water. The experience was eerie for the humans as they entered the water it soon got darker and they had to use the pressor units in their suits to move. The progeny didn’t breathe and used some form of magnetohydrodynamic propulsion because they were parallelin
g the course of native, Hammer.
Hammer noticed the entourage of surface beings following and pulled up short, as did the other locals. Its translator didn’t work under water but it was obvious that it/he hadn’t expected them to follow immediately. Tod adjusted his field density and gave Hammer a small rectangular box with a wire mesh harness and pantomimed putting it against its torso. Tod then nodded to DiCarlo who spoke to Hammer and the device transmitted the sounds into Trade when the device contacted the local’s body. Hammer looked shocked but recovered rapidly and spoke in clicks and whistles.
Desiree and DiCarlo had been the only ones to train in the locals’ language.
“How is this possible?” Hammer asked. “No other species has followed us here. How can we speak?”
“We wish to trade with you. We will have our people build a hotel on your main land mass but we would like to see how you live. Is this acceptable? We wish to trade and even though it is uncomfortable for humans to stay here long – our allies,” Desiree indicated the progeny calmly floating in an upright position around them, “…the progeny can withstand this easily – it is more like their natural environment.”
“I do not understand. Please come then. Few of my race, understand the surface. To them it is a foreign place that may as well not exist. They are only now beginning to see the benefit of trade with the items brought from the surface. Follow,” Hammer said and started surging forward and down.
The group began to see light ahead and structures in graceful curves and many pastel colors. Some form of glow seemed to emanate and lit the buildings -- strangely beautiful. Natives began to emerge from what was a small village and began to follow the group but they kept a wary distance. They approached a large structure like an inverted bowl. It had large scalloped entrances around its huge base. John asked a Desiree a question which she asked Hammer.
“We have structures not to protect us from rain or wind but they were originally to protect us from predators and currents. We can build anything we can imagine now and no predators threaten us here.”
“Thank you, Hammer. What do your people call themselves? What would you have us call you? Will you show us around? Where would you like to trade?”
“We call ourselves the…” then there was a series of clicks and squeals. “Our food may seem strange to you – some even like cooked food but that is considered a perversion. How do we heat anything you would ask? The surface beings call us Squishees, which is fine with us. Let me show you something,” he said and led them to another building that had a trace of white fluid coming out the top like a smoke stack.
“We have cleaned the effluent in recent centuries because of pollution but we use this heating source throughout our history.”
The room they entered was brightly lit but still filled with water. There were ceramic furnaces that surrounded what would have been volcanic smokers on Earth.
Tod talked a moment with Desiree. Desiree asked Hammer. “How do you get temperatures hot enough to melt metals?”
“Ah. In recent centuries we are able to add chemicals and pressure – we also remove water. It is much harder to do some things but we are ahead of most cultures in chemistry and biology. We are an extremely old race.”
“How far back does your recorded history go?” Desiree asked.
“We have about 100,000 years of records but many of the older archives are scattered. We have only had recent contact with other races for the past 1,000 years or so. Many of the people… “ Hammer made that odd sound combination indicating his race…”do not believe you are real. I am considered insane but they tolerate my oddities since my followers bring items unavailable here.”
A large group of squishees drifted closer and as they brushed Hammer they could hear the exchange of conversation and would jerk away and invariably touch and grasp like a chain. Soon all were touching someone who was in contact with Hammer.
“I have several items that are considered popular on the surface,” he said as one of his followers came forward with a sack of the spheres that the humans had seen burn through meters of igneous rock for the well on the surface. “We use these to cut through rock on the surface. We also have lighting that lasts many years and is easily renewed or controlled,” he said and laid them out on a platform that rose out of the solid looking plaza.
“I’d like to know how he does that…” Andrew asked Susan. “Do you think it's a he?”
“Definitely,” Susan said. “I want to examine those. We might be able to duplicate the spheres but the lighting – that will take some work.”
DiCarlo opened her pack and handed out several trade items that had been designed for any severe environment. The Rimloff ionization speakers wouldn’t work under water but the contact pulse speakers would.
Desiree took one of the items and handed it to Hammer.
“What is this?” Hammer said but the screen on the small rectangular box with handles on the side lit up as Hammer grabbed both sides and the screen showed a 3D video of sliding down a mountain on a snow board and the view would change as you tilted the device so you had to avoid trees and rocks and snarling beasts.
Sound was transmitted through contact and the squishes still in contact drifted all around Hammer until it looked like a glob of Squishees trying to see in three dimensions. Hammer touched the screen and the view changed to a plane flying through fantastic buildings and forests. Hammer jerked his tentacle away from one side but the Squishees stayed in contact to see what he would say.
“How many different scenes are there and how long will it continue to work? We cannot make something like this here…click/squeal…you know you will probably not be able to duplicate the lighting…shrewd. Do you have other items?”
Desiree pulled out three rolled bundles to expose a sound synthesizer made to work under water. She touched a control and a deep, resonant beat filled the water around them. The Squishees looked alarmed but Desiree touched another control and a chirp began an unusual beat and speeded up or slowed down as she touched controls. “These will work for many years unless they are treated roughly. You can create music with this and the last…”
“What is music?” Hammer asked.
The humans were shocked. DiCarlo took a handful of items out of her bag and handed one to Desiree. She adjusted it to Reggae and handed it back to Hammer. The effect was electric. He jerked straight and changed color, as did the others who were still in contact. Squishees came and touched others and the effect was repeated. The mass of beings relaxed until the next song started and their color changed to a bright red. They started moving their tentacles. Hammer jerked his tentacle away and set it on the platform and the mass relaxed and turned back to a muddy brown color.
Desiree explained all the items and capabilities as best she could and then pulled out a language-training device and said, “This is the only one I have that is designed for under water and it is only designed to train in Trade. That is all we have for now.”
***
They had worked out an acceptable trade but the humans had been underwater for almost four hours and were getting hungry. They could have stayed in their suits for several days since they did not chaff or touch their skin with the electrostatic repulsion but they still were uncomfortable after a time – maybe psychological but most beings don’t want to drink their recycled urine for long.
Andrew had nibbled some supplements from his suit but was still exhausted from the strain of contact. They were about to leave when the natives closest to them suddenly started to dart away. Hammer and his associates were about the only ones left when a large group of bright red Squishes came rushing toward them.
The Surface group was surrounded and the newcomers were obviously armed with weapons like spears. One of Hammer’s followers tried to take a video player and leave when a large newcomer jabbed him with the spear. An electric shock caused the follower to float motionless – obviously unconscious. The newcomers then moved forward and wrapped their tentacle
s around the humans – or tried to do so.
The humans did not struggle and Andrew nodded to the progeny who were wrapped tightly by tentacles. The progeny grabbed the tentacles enwrapping them and pulled them off even though they were incredibly strong. It looked like an adult grabbing and infant’s arm and pulling it away. They then pulled the massively strong arms of neighboring Squishees together and tied them in a nice knot. They could pull themselves apart with great effort but the demonstration was enlightening for the newcomers.
The newcomers then grabbed all of Hammer’s followers and jabbed toward Hammer. Andrew reached forward and used his suit strength to snap the spear into several pieces. DiCarlo then began talking with the clicks and whistles of the native tongue. She had apparently taken a transmitter and placed it against the leader of the newcomers.
“Why do you assault us? You have tried to injure us and have injured those with which we trade,” she said in an approximation through the native’s language.
“You are unclean surface dwellers. You cannot subvert the…” it said with that untranslatable clicks and squeals. “You are violent and cannot be here. It is against the creator’s plan.”
“We are not currently violent. Who are you and why should we listen to you?”
“It is impossible for you to be here and you cannot have learned our language. I am the senior custodian of our heritage. All who have contacted you will be purged.”
Andrew drew DiCarlo’s attention and shook his head slowly side-to-side and pointed to the senior custodian and then drew his finger across his neck.
She wasn’t sure what he meant – surely he didn’t mean for her to kill him – then she realized what he wanted. “It is happening so it is possible. If you harm any of this being’s followers or anyone in this village -- we will hunt you down and eat you for dinner. DiCarlo reached out like lightning with her enhanced suit reflexes and grabbed the eyestalks of the custodian. “Can you give me a reason I should not just rip these off?” she said and there was a little squirt of dark fluid from under the custodian. “We can live here easily.” She nodded to Lee Post.
