by Ken Pence
The matriarch raged. These people knew she was the one that threatened them…but they were offering her a deal. They said they were traders and warriors – not entertainers. If they did not think of themselves as entertainers and they could do this – she realized she might be out of her depth. She would watch the rest of the performance and see what else they did. That first part of the show had her heart racing in her chest and she knew the males loved it. The new diamond was exquisite – beautiful and at least one carat more than her old one. If they could do this – what else could they do? The presentation on the defeat of the Allung had made her want a mate – how long ago had she wanted to mate? She couldn’t wait for the next part of the show.
The lights dimmed after the progeny had been through the crowd swapping beautiful, faceted semi-precious and precious stones for rocks – some polished. The clientele would spread the word though they didn’t know that there would be no new performances until a trade center was built.
The lights dimmed and came back up on LeiLei in a copy of the movie Flashdance. She had rehearsed the scene with the same music and the same water splash and she looked erotic as hell. The Lemsa in the audience went wild. She wore the precious stones of nobility but the rags of the project whores and the dance drove them crazy. The progeny had to keep them mounting the stage – and each other. They were fired up. The lights faded and then came up as LeiLei sang I will Always Love You – they pounded on tables and roared. Next LeiLei and Tod – yes Tod sang a duet in Lemsa, Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, and it worked because there was a slang word in Lemsa similar to ‘ain’t’ and so it worked. The audience loved it. She followed that with Nasty Boys, a Janet Jackson song that had the place roaring. The progeny had to force them off the stage. She sang several others but finished with Toxic by Brittany Spears a forgotten performer from the late twentieth century that oozed sexuality and they used 3D video effects with the aid of the holographic projectors.
The scene faded and then she finished with Just Dance by Lady Gaga and a Michael Jackson song, Beat It, complete with his dance movements LeiLei had practiced upon discovering his videos. Tod chuckled when he saw the progeny doing moonwalks to this song. The place roared – at least the audience did. We singled out the wealthy patron. We assumed she was the one that has sent the goons – the owner confirmed her identity once she was pointed out. He said her name was Sesishiak, the richest controller of the dock area.
We sent a progeny to bow and invite her to meet in the dressing room. She was reticent but our messenger guaranteed she would leave wealthier than when she entered and gave her a small box that contained five lamlee. He explained that it was the fee we would pay just for her to hear our proposition. She raised her eyebrows in an Earth-like expression – she seemed intrigued and agreed.
***
“Thank you for coming,” Tod said. “My name is Tod and I represent the Earth Regulatory Service. This is my wife, Desiree. You saw some of the others. We wish to establish trade with your planet. I think we can make you fabulously rich.”
“I am already rich, young one,” she said and Tod laughed.
“Hardly,” he said. “Your people scrape out a living on this planet yet you could travel the galaxy and see its wonders and delights before you reach middle age.”
“Young one, “ she said to contradict him. “I am well past middle age.”
“Hardly…not according to medical science in other parts of the galaxy. I am just a youngster – yes – but I have had my life extended to triple what it would have been without the medical science in other parts of the galaxy. You could run across the savannahs on Earth or visit the cascade falls on Bellatrix with young suitors vying for your every whim with double your life span.”
“You paint a pretty picture young one…Tod…” she said. “Long life in a more youthful body would be nice.”
“Thank you. The people near the spaceport live in squalor and yet have the talents we need. We wish to erase the slums there and build a large hotel and trade center at our cost. We would employ and educate the populace and we need your approval. With you behind us we could do this without destroying the rest of the upper class. We would funnel 10% of the profits to your accounts just for your continued support,” Tod explained. “Many would stop working for your class.”
“Why should I believe you are this powerful simply because you put on a good show?” she said.
“You liked it then?” LeiLei interrupted.
The matriarch turned to Tod.
He explained, “She is seventeen.”
“Ah,” said the matriarch turning back to LeiLei. “Yes, young one. You gave me much joy. How did you come to meet these beings?” she asked feeling the guilt of her mistake in letting slavers do this a decade ago.
“I was taken from my home near the port when I was seven. These people rescued me from the slavers and freed a whole world – and many since,” LeiLei said proudly.
“Thank you,” she said and turned to Tod. “I will convince my contemporaries to support you. You realize that my class will be broken by your actions.”
Tod paused before he answered. “Yes. Except for you,” he said. “I realize we chose correctly to contact you – if you understand the ramifications.”
“I want the people to know that I helped,” she said.
“I totally agree. I would like you to be seen in the districts as they are upgraded and I look forward to your suggestions and influence. You know your people better than we could,” he said with no pretense. “We shake hands to seal a deal in my culture.”
“I look forward to working with you,” she said as she deftly shook hands like she’d been doing it all her life.
***
The arrangements with the principals in the slums near the spaceport went rapidly. The first arrangements were the plans for the removal of the current housing but that couldn’t happen until they had alternative housing. We built a temporary city using the spray graphite method from the Sloshies on Tau Sagittarii. We gave the displaced a salary they would be missing at their former jobs and proceeded to level the slums. It would cause some inflation of prices but not much. Phillips laid out a standard Eugene Hotel, which was anything but a routine hotel. It was exquisite. The trade center was modern and had room for many-many shops. We built a large education center that was named after Sesishiak, the upper crust supporter of the renovation.
Sesishiak had many useful suggestions that were implemented whenever possible. It gave her ownership to see her suggestions implemented and she did become involved. New block housing was constructed using the Sloshies method with Earth power systems, electronics and full sanitation systems. The Lemsa took to the improvements like naturals. We introduced a few of our best-selling electronic devices and helped them upgrade their tech knowledge.
Lemsa traders leapt on the chance of adding jump technology to their trade ships. We left huge supplies of learning cylinders we had duplicated – many tech ones. We recruited the gang-leader, Temsla, and a large force of locals to provide regional security. We used a temporary time acceleration facility in a remote region of the planet to train these people so we wouldn’t be here longer than usual and disassembled it after use. We left Epsilon Lupi 6 in a lot better shape – with a response force in case of attack and quite a few orbital defense platforms – much better. We were headed to 59 Sagittarii – our longest jump so far of 1020 light years.
59 Sagittarii
59 Sagittarii was our first system where we knew nothing more than the Allung charts. We didn’t even have rumors of a culture there. It was a K-type orange star, a bit cooler than Sol. It was much larger than Sol. It was further from Earth than we’ve ever been, about 1,200 light years. We jumped to within eight light years of the star and rearranged our raggedly spaced expedition. This one had strung them all over the charts and it took several days to get them squared away. One of the settlers’ ships was lost. We have no idea what happened with them. We spent days hopping
and scanning, forward and back, along the route – nothing. The expedition did learn about jumping large distances and we would be better synchronized the next time. We would have more oversight prior to jumping to confirm coordinates and timing. We suspected they just stayed at speed for way too long.
Scanning the 59 Sagittarii system proved a disappointment. There were two marginally habitable prospects – a cloudy planet in an orbit as the second from the sun. There was a large moon around a gas giant that also looked promising. The large moon appeared to be totally covered by water except for a sparse collection of islands. We detected no electromagnetic activity and no jump signatures. We sent two of our scouts to each. The two ships over the inner planet released five satellites each and began recording data.
The cloudy planet did not appear inhabited and was relatively stable tectonically. The atmosphere was about the same as Earth during the Devonian period about 400 million years ago. Gravity was only slightly higher and there was a touch more methane in the atmosphere with a bit less oxygen content but higher atmospheric pressure than on Earth – breathable. There was abundant plant life with the equivalent of trees. It was a pristine wilderness, pre-large land animals. The prospective settlers looking for independence wanted to send teams to the surface and we agreed. All were very cautious of the sea after our experience on Omega Sagittarii III with its LARGE sea creatures.
It came down to having a detailed survey of the planet looking for tectonic plates. There were volcanoes on the planet but none close or dangerous looking to keep from colonizing. There was enough axial tilt to provide some seasons and a molten core producing a planetary magnetic field – a good prospect.
The middle-eastern contingent decided Allah promised this planet to them and they would stay. We searched for an ideal location and found a site near a freshwater river that had plenty of mineral deposits nearby. It looked unlikely to flood and was far from tectonic plate boundaries. There were large fish-like creatures in the river that could be eaten – if they did not eat the fisherman first. Every planet has its hidden hazards.
We used the Sloshies method of construction with the heated and cooled graphite spray foam to build initial housing. The spray method was incredibly easy to duplicate and the settlers unloaded their heavy equipment, algae tanks, et al. They had machinery to make machinery to make machinery. We constructed a medium sized-spaceport and trading center but told them it would be a long time before they got visitors. They had many of the Earth power supplies. They had detailed maps and we left the satellites for communications and navigation. They weren’t in geosynchronous orbits but we didn’t adopt them – they would have to make it on their own. We promised to send a ship yearly should we live through the journey. We sent a fifth scout back to Earth with details of our travels and discoveries so far.
***
The scout ships around the water moon had to resort to gravimetric scanning. The details from the satellites became more detailed. It soon became clear that there was a mystery here. Fractal shapes – not random but made by intelligent design showed at several locations around the moon.
Andrew’s Dex pinged. “Yes – what have you got?”
“There was or is intelligent life here. Do we have permission to explore further,” the scout captain asked.
“You’ll have to do better than that, Captain,” Andrew replied to Tom Bashir – a go getting captain like Ratnaike. “What have you got so far?”
“Radiation is high over the largest site – it’s in ruins. Looks like a bunch of nukes were set off there. We used a sonar map of that area and there seem to be areas scoured out deep into the bedrock. There are smaller areas around the moon that appear untouched. They are in the same fractal patterns but smaller. The rest of the sites are in much deeper water however.” Bashir said.
“Where were you thinking of going?” Andrew asked and Tom came into the room and sat down.
“We found another site that is bigger than the rest and not so deep. It’s near the equator,” he said.
“Explore it but Lee Post will be in charge. He is built for a water environment. Take as many as he needs but you go with him – for advice.”
Bashir repeated back the orders and signed off.
Tod chuckled. “Tom was dying to go in on his own. Lee Post continues to amaze me every day. So you sent Tom for advice – to Lee Post? Ah…the other way around. You taking up Brad’s habit,” he said when noticing the amber liquid in Andrew’s glass.
“Oh,” Andrew said and swirled the liquid around looking at the beautiful color. “Not Jack Black…a rare Amontillado Escuadrilla…sherry. Try some?”
“Sure. Why the little glasses?” he asked as Andrew poured him a glass. “Deity…this is delicious.”
“Small glass because it is 1,200 light years for the next bottle and this is almost my last one,”
“One…almost,” Tod said and chuckled. “Desiree took a while to get over the guys she messed up back on Lupi 6.”
“Was she depressed?” Andrew asked.
“Doesn’t hit her that way. She gets…randy,” Tod said and blushed.
Andrew snorted and almost spilled his drink. He chuckled. “Susan is same way. Guess it's a celebration of life – like a I’m still here.”
“You worried about this sortie?” Tod asked.
“All I know is that the Allung came here almost 1,800 years ago and got stopped cold. No Allung came back except one ship and the crew was dead. The Allung had records of this system but we know no details. They never came back and tried many other routes deeper into the Arm. They failed each time.”
Tod took a sip of his sherry – holding his glass in both hands. He looked up, “I take that answer as a yes.”
Andrew nodded. “Yes. Big time. We don’t know this was the Ylee – it could have been something else.”
***
From the Report of Captain Tom Bashir
Lee Post assigned nine more of his people to the exploration detail. He added my copilot, Ensign Amingwa and me. We approached the indicated area and landed on the surface of the water – ship held in place by pressors. We entered the water after the feeble humans checked their equipment – that’s how we felt anyway. We used pressors to control our movement. We had to use a type of laser communication in the near infrared that worked line-of-sight.
We used acoustic and near infrared means to see through the darkening water. It is transparent to those frequencies. We drove to the area that showed up in our scans. We approached the floor of the sea and noticed that the floor of the ocean was indeed a floor. It was free of sand in many areas but sand and silt covered all the edges – a battle that was losing to the natural elements. There was a clear area around what were obviously buildings. Lee Post started moving faster and moved toward a central building that looked familiar. It struck me that it looked like the Ylee fountain building we had found on Bellatrix.
Suddenly – out of nowhere came shapes that had strange weapons pointed at us. The weapons looked lethal but the handlers looked like Earth cephalopods. They surrounded us completely and Lee Post did the damndest thing. He reached out with his arms and they changed to tentacles. It was freaky. The creatures around us started clicking in what was an Ylee dialect we had all had to learn before we left on this expedition. I couldn’t understand what was being conveyed but Lee gently took the tentacle of one of the creatures around us and stuck the end of it right into his head. He then took his own arm/tentacle and stuck it in the creature’s head.
They must be like the progeny – living lamlee that had stayed in their original form. The remainder of the creatures around us put a tentacle into the head of the one near them and then into the one, obviously communicating with Lee Post. They had lowered weapons – which flowed back into their bodies. It was so weird. We were in this position for a good ten minutes so there must have been an enormous amount of data being transferred after listening to Commodore Williams when he described the original reconstitution of Le
e Post.
All but first one of the creatures disappeared and we were standing – floating there waiting for tentacles to be removed. They removed tentacles and Lee’s tentacles turned back to arms and he directed us back up to the ship. Octi One – my name for him – followed us up to the ship. I was a bit reluctant to let it into the ship but figured Lee Post wouldn’t let it harm us. First thing he said to me had me worried though.
He said, ”I wasn’t sure I should let this one onto the ship but it is difficult to lie when sharing information. I would not have done so if we had not had the upgrade to resist coercion after Omega Sagittarii III. I’ll bet you have a name for this guy already – don’t you Captain?”
Tom chuckled, “Octi One.”
“Knew it,” Lee Post said smiling. “We have a lot to discuss but we need to visit Commodore Williams. These folks have a problem and so do we.”
***
Lee Post sat down in Commodore Williams with a ragtag looking human. Captain Bashir stood up as Andrew came in, as did Lieutenant Commander Lee Post. The other individual sat still – not saying anything.
“Who is this Commander Post?”
“Sir. This is Octi One – Captain Bashir was good enough to give him a name.”
“Should we talk in front of him?” Andrew said.
“He insisted on it. He wishes to assess what I told him. He did not believe it. He is a lamlee construct as I am – though he never disassociated out of water like we did. It seems it kept the progeny…fresh. He is considered old even in lamlee terms,” Lee Post said.
“Does he understand me? English? Trade? Ylee?”
“I gave him access to much of our knowledge. He knows how we met and how the progeny were granted resident status and some were even given citizen status. He wanted to know if he and his colleagues could gain the same status by joining the ERF. He said he would not give us the information we need without that guarantee.”
