Authors: Ken Pence
Latima drove me to the offices where we had reopened the negotiations. LeAt and LeToms looked relieved when we came in. General Lallaman motioned Latima over to him and filled in the general on what had transpired. I figured it would take a few minutes and just sit with LeAt. I told them loud enough to be overheard, that General Lallaman had helped him retrieve his friend but he had been shot and killed by the kidnappers. Lallaman nodded to me in acknowledgement. LeAt started going over a list of conditions that had been sticking points while we were ‘extracting’ Skip. The general looked over the list again and then looked up at me. He slid the list back to LeAt who started to protest. Lallaman held up his hand.
“We agree,” he stated and then went on. “I think the LesMa government would approve all these if a certain asteroid is diverted beforehand. The government will be overjoyed if they do not have to support a military occupation of Xale that has nearly bankrupted us. Eliminating the Twasolo smuggling and new technology will aid both planets. Captain Kobe,” Lallaman said. “I understand that is your title. We also have a tentative agreement to work out when you return. I think my people would feel better if Service Chief Latima and Battle Chief Lomsolo accompanied (Cassandra translated that word for me on the fly) you.”
“I agree General. I trust those two men with my life. We will leave after we’ve eaten something and…rested a little. I would like to get Skip’s flight suit back for his family. I do not know where it was taken,” I said mainly because I didn’t want the LesMa to have access to the tech in the suit. The built-in functions with the nano-fitting would be too much too soon. They would have already gotten ideas how it worked but it would be years before they could work it out and I didn’t want them to have access yet. “You will also need to provide both men with pressure suits for the trip. General. Is that possible?”
“I’m sure it is. I am sorry about your friend. I will try to get his suit returned and we will find out who hired those kidnappers,” Lallaman said.
“It was LeChak LeSlur Three, general. My friend, Skip, told me before he died. The kidnappers did not think he could speak their language. He had learned in prison and they mentioned how much LeChak had paid them. He also mentioned that LeChak’s son, LeSlur, had objected and been nearly killed for disagreeing with his father.”
General Lallaman talked to Chief Latima and then turned back to me. “Chief Latima will arrange food and a place to clean up. I will make sure LeChak receives justice. LeAt. I will prepare formal documents for signature. Is that acceptable?”
I had been concentrating on my grief for Skip and hadn’t been paying any attention to LeToms or LeAt. I hadn’t really told them what really happened and they had sat quietly by during my interplay with the General. I never would have been quiet for that long.
“That is acceptable,” LeAt said. “I didn’t think it would be this easy.”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. “Zhast. Do you think it will get easier? Now you will have no support from LesMa. You will truly be on your own. You will need trade with LesMa and Earth to survive. There will be people who violate the agreements. Some people at home may protest and fight their new government. It isn’t going to be easy. What is your immigration policy, taxes, or enforcement policies? This is like teenage sex. You think it’s hard to get the girl in bed and then she gets pregnant and you are a father. It only gets harder from here. I am going to grab a meal and a drink. See you later.” I walked out with Latima.
****
Latima and Lomsolo looked ungainly in their new suits – ducks out of water are more graceful. We boarded Cassandra. My two newbies were struggling to get their bulky suits into the ship’s seats. I noticed they were still wearing their newly acquired communications gear in their big helmets. Cassandra greeted them and asked it they would like to hear some Earth music. They agreed and Cassandra started playing some classic music videos and displaying them on the men’s visors. I noticed their faces and tapping feet with some of the country music videos. Some of them were a bit much and Cassandra would change to something else. It was an excellent way for them to be distracted as they left orbit and approached the asteroid in a few hours. The asteroid was about 65-70 meters in diameter and took about an hour of pressure before Cassandra announced it was on a safe trajectory. She displayed the trajectory before and after deflection for her passengers.
We returned to the Thraman Complex and landed without incident. Cassandra brought us in without even a bump on the landing.
“Will you get me refueled?” I asked.
Latima said, “You know we could not provide fuel. You wouldn’t be able to realign any asteroids that way.”
“I have enough fuel to drop a dozen rocks on LesMa and fly home or to Xale. My ship can do that without me. You know she monitors everything near me…don’t you.”
“I have been approached on ways to stop you,” he said.
“I know that Chief. I would do the same thing if someone threatened me. I want to leave your worlds better than I found them. I have to limit the technology a bit to have that happen.”
“You mean you want to control us,” he said.
“No. On my world – explorers with advanced weapons and technology overcame less,” Cassandra had to help me again, “
sophisticated
natives. The natives were destroyed. I do not want that to happen. I would like to offer a ride to one of your people to come to my world. I do not know if I can even get back or how much time has passed since I left.”
“I will get your ship refueled and let General Lalliman know of your offer. Why would you not know how much time has passed since you left? It has only been two months since you arrived in our system.”
“We traveled faster than light, I think. Everything slows down for people traveling faster than light and it could have been much longer since I traveled twenty-four light years.”
“Light years?”
“The distance light travels in twenty-four years. Light travels at,” Cassandra gave me the LesMa conversion and I told them.
“Zhast. What if it has been forty-eight of your years since you left when you return?”
Latima asked.
I realized he might be a Sector Chief but he wasn’t dumb. “I would be upset. That would make travel very difficult. Your goods might be obsolete by the time you delivered them. We don’t know. No one on my planet had done this before me. I don’t even know if I can return.”
“I think we can find a volunteer. Why not three? You have three empty seats.”
“I want to offer one seat to Twlise – if she wants it. I think we should finalize agreements this week if Lalliman is correct. It would never happen that fast on Earth,” I said and heard four gunshots. “What was that?” I asked.
“Oh that. I think the trial for Skip’s kidnappers just ended. LeChak will have his shortly if the general is correct,” Lomsolo said matter-of-factly. “I’ll get the fuel truck.”
“That would never happen on my planet either. It would be a long, drawn out trial.”
“Why would you do that? It seems cruel to victims and the offenders.”
“I agree,” I said…many of the customs of Earth would seem like a travesty when looked at from the point of view from this planet.
****
I met with LeAt and LeToms shortly after returning. They had been amazed at how fast the negotiations had proceeded. They had been promised a completed agreement within three days. They were enthusiastic and had conveyed the news to Xale. They noted that Twlise had asked about me and said she had a surprise for me when I came back. I wasn’t sure what that was – hoped it wasn’t pregnancy between species or diseases or something like that. I couldn’t think of any good surprises – well I could imagine some types that could be fun.
The trade agreements were progressing and LesMa had brought in experts to help Xale draft policy on immigration and customs. I thought it was a fantastic idea and wished they would assist us with the trade agreement. LesMa sent me a little dude that represented a LesMa merchants’ guild… ‘kinda’…not quite. It was a voluntary grouping of experienced merchants who mentored new entrants. The government on LesMa allowed almost anything and everything. Twasolo prohibition was new and suggested by…guess who…General Lesto – the guy General Lalliman shot on the return to Lesma. His policy had not been popular and had been reluctantly agreed upon because Lesto was the local commander.
I learned dealing in drugs were not criminal offenses except Twasolo and that had been repealed with the proposed Xale trade agreement. The government was a mixture of free trade and socialism-ish. Health care here was pay what you can but there was no health insurance coverage like on Earth.
“How did you come up with these comprehensive agreements so fast? They seem very thorough.” I asked the little trade representative.
He seemed unfazed. “Oh. We are just tweaking an agreement we had with another country on LesMa. They were an odd people who had their own religion and practices.”
“So how well did this past agreement work?” I asked.
“Pretty well. It has been about seventy years without many violations.”
“Violations. What would be a big violation?” I was curious.
“It would have to be something like claiming our land or sending their citizens or troops to attack us. We would send our military in to stop them.”
“So how about what I did with Xale?” I had to know.
“Most of the citizens were not agreeing with the policy on Xale. You just speeded up the process. There had been protests about the military on Xale already and when ‘the Butcher’s activities’ became known – the government had to change. The asteroids did speed up the process but the public understood that Xale had no other weapons.”
“Really. The citizens weren’t scared? Angry?”
“Some were angry that the asteroids had damaged their hunting weekend but those pretty girls on Xale that we saw on television with the hundreds of people behind them convinced us that all of Xale was committed to change.”
I didn’t dissuade him by telling him all the video broadcasts were composite CGI effects Cassandra had put together and only about 25% of the Xale population actively pushed for change…yea for computer graphics and PsyOps.
****
Sector Chief Latima decided he wanted to go to Earth by way of Xale and would be a guinea pig for the LesMa delegation. General Lalliman wasn’t desirous of going himself and neither was the trade representative – we never even got around to learning his name even though he was a fount of wisdom on trade policy. LeAt’s agreement (the one to be presented to the governing body in Thraman City) was going with us…it had already been signed by General Lalliman.
I had no sooner stepped down the ladder than Twlise came running up to me and gave me a big hug with tears running down her cheeks. “I thought you had left me and you were going to get killed. I heard about Skip. I’m so sorry,” she said. She gave me a big kiss and leaned back. “I have a special surprise for you. They gave me a big house that used to be owned by General Lesto’s people.”
“What’s been happening here? What’s the big surprise?” I asked.
“Okay. I going to surprise you,” she said and just looked at him.
I was just looking at her and didn’t know what she had in mind and then it hit me. “You said that in English. How did you ever learn any English?”
“Cassandra is smart. She made a
Dex
before you left and put English in it. I have been practicing with Professor LeEck. He is good at English now too. We want to go Earth with you.”
“I think LesMa is easy but
English
is very difficult. There are many words that sound similar…like
walk
and
work
.”