"It's kind of creepy to be so empty," Jon Burris finally said.
"Yeah, let Ernie know we have an oddball system for him to study. Maybe he'll have some theory what could have happened to make it so different," Gordon said.
"Maybe it just never formed planets at the very start," Brownie guessed.
"Perhaps something passed through and perturbed the planets," Thor suggested. "Another star passing close or a free giant planet without a star."
"Or some aliens needed the material for something and mined the system for the mass," Lee said.
"I'm not comfortable with that idea," Gordon said, after a silence where they all thought about it.
"It seemed like a possibility," Lee said, defensively.
"Oh it could be true," Gordon admitted. "I'm still not comfortable with it."
"Amen," said Thor, who was not notably religious.
"Aliens who have fast kilometer-long ships are bad enough," Jon Burris agreed. "We're not ready for somebody who moves planets around or disassembles them."
"I sort of figured we would get to that point," Lee said. "Maybe not real soon, but I can imagine it. If you can imagine it the rest is engineering."
"Sometimes, you people do scare me," Talker admitted, in a small voice.
What was there to say to that? They stopped talking and were glad the other shift came on in a few minutes.
Chapter 20
"I'd like to try making a message with the corrections they showed us, but I'm not sure what we need to say," Lee told Talker. "I mean... there's all kinds of things we need to say, but I'm not sure what is within our ability yet. Showing them a travel itinerary is kind of hard to expand into anything real abstract. Gordon apparently taught them 'yes' but I'm not even sure how to teach them 'no'. I had a lot more success with you guys because I could do hands and fingers. I can't do tentacles."
"I think you are imagining barriers that aren't that important," Talker said. "You know Luke and his assistants went back to their other duties? They made the excuse we have the 3D setup here. But the truth was they sent a lot of different images and voice to the Caterpillars and didn't make any headway. They got absolutely zero response from the Caterpillars. And Gordon didn't argue with them at all. We may not be chatting like you and I do, but we at least got a response from just a couple messages."
Gordon raised an eyebrow at his name, but declined to get involved.
"OK, when we were first tried to talk with you guys, what worked that we could do with the Caterpillars? Did you see our transmissions? Were you in the loop back on Far Away?"
"I wasn't at first, but when I knew I was going to go meet you on the station I reviewed the recordings. Not just the accumulated vocabulary but how we got the first words. I was particularly amused and enjoyed watching when you cut a sandwich up on camera," Talker said.
"I'm not sure the caterpillars would know what a sandwich was if they saw one," Lee said.
"You're getting hung up on the differences again. You had no idea if we ate sandwiches when you started disassembling them and cutting them into fractions. You weren't afraid to do it because we're so similar. A Badger like me is so like you it's easy to fool yourself into thinking he's just a Human in a furry suit and a funny nose."
"You do eat sandwiches. I saw them," Lee protested.
"That's not the point. You didn't know that at the time. But the language lesson still worked. It would have worked with a block of clay, which I doubt you have on a ship. Do you have something else semi-solid and homogenous aboard that can be cut in chunks?" Talker asked.
"Tofu," Thor supplied, distastefully. He'd been following the conversation.
Talker paused to look it up on the web fraction, and frowned. "It doesn't look very appetizing in the illustration. Maybe it's a poor photograph," he decided.
"I don't consider it food," Thor told him, "but you could cut it to demonstrate division. Maybe you've found an actual use for it."
"Even if they don't have hands and fingers, they still need to learn the words for them," Talker told Lee. "After all, we have words for their body parts. And we'll need their words too, of course."
"All right. I'm seeing it. I assume Luke tried sending pictures of a hand or doing something with his hand in video. So I still need to find a way to put it in a matrix."
"OK, that's our next goal then," Talker agreed.
* * *
The next system was binary with a faint companion around a bigger star. It also had a complex of satellites around a brown dwarf orbiting both stars, just like they'd found on the way out. It was great to find another, but having both the Badgers and Bills along worried Gordon. This was definitely within the cone of space aimed back at the regions of Human space they intended to cede. But would that hold up when they saw how rich the system was with the wealth of metals? Humans and Derf both had had wars across borders in their histories over resources.
After arranging for the fleet to take up station near the brown dwarf Gordon called Ernie Goddard in for a private consultation in his cabin. Ernie arrived looking like he was going to his own hanging, but relaxed when Gordon invited him to share lunch and got his private supply of Fargone rum out.
"Can you establish from our data how this system relates to the other brown dwarf systems?" Gordon asked. "If there is a line or arch we can find other such treasure troves along it would be of great benefit."
"I'll plot a 3D model of it for you. But you realize this will be one point widely separated from the others. You don't like to make detours, but if you could do a loop to either side and find another brown dwarf cluster it would establish it with much more certainty. Would you consider sending somebody on a loop between us and the other systems we found on our outbound leg?" Ernie asked.
"Perhaps. I was more interested in establishing if a line of them continued outside our territorial cone, out into the space we agreed with the Badgers would be open to everybody," Gordon said.
"Are you regretting they gave away too much too easily when they came to that agreement?" Ernie asked, alarmed. "It's the whole basis of their expectations in coming back with us. I realize I am very junior to you, but I'd think long and hard before doing anything that makes them think you'd try to get them to repudiate it. At the very least discuss it with your Mother and the Fargone Spox privately."
"No Ernie," Gordon said, a little hurt. "You think badly of me too easily. I'm worried about the opposite, that it may appear we got all the prime sources of metals between us and if their civilizations want any, they will have to repudiate it or war with us. As far as being junior, I've always welcomed advice and initiative from the crews."
"Oh good, and I thank you," Ernie said, relieved, "but even if they wanted to, the Badgers and all their friends couldn't start to wage war on us.
"Today," Gordon said, stabbing a finger on the lunch table between them. "Twenty years or a hundred in the future? We don't know. Do you imagine Humans thought Derf could ever wage war on them when they found us, planet bound, and much less a threat than these folk are right now? No, it's the future I'm worried about. I'd like them to know for a certainty that they aren't bargaining foolishly to impoverish themselves."
"Ah... well then, loop away from our claims and see what is in a line leading off into neutral space," Ernie agreed. "Perhaps even invite them to send the Dart to do so."
"Make the chart and I'll do exactly that," Gordon vowed. "I'll even slow up and let the Sharp Claws escort them if they want to do a fast reconnoiter and catch up to us. After all they don't have to survey it in detail. Just establish the system type and claim it."
"I'll have Brownie help me," Ernie agreed. "His navigation skills are more applicable to this than my puttering around with surveys where all the work is done for you."
"I'll tell him right now to help you before we want to leave this system. We might as well survey it while you two are researching it. I might like to speak with the ranking Badgers and Bills before we move on. And te
lling the Third Mum and the Spox what I'm doing is a good idea too," Gordon agreed.
* * *
"The Caterpillars have to know our binary numbers or they wouldn't have learned to follow Brownie’s signal for synchronization and his countdown to jump," Lee said. Nobody challenged that.
"First thing we are going to do in the next transmission is relate binary numbers to Arabic numbers and the spoken word in English. We want to limit the size, so for this first one we are doing a grid twelve by twelve."
Talker picked it up... "If they are half as bright as we think they will see the system and respond with a similar grid. We're going to transmit the grid with zero in the first square, and an audio file for zero. Then the grid with one in the second square and the audio file, continuing all the way around each number in turn. Both binary and Arabic symbols in both. Any comments?"
"Why don't you put a small square like an actual object in each square starting at one?" Thor said. "Then two squares, etc, etc... "
Lee and Talker looked at each other.
"I don't see why not," Talker allowed. Lee nodded agreement.
"I don't think you should put binary and Arabic both in the same transmission," Ha-bob-bob-brie said. "It may confuse them. Especially when the same symbols are used in both.
"What Ha-bob-bob-brie said," Thor seconded. Brownie agreed too.
"OK, just binary then. We'll teach them Arabic numerals in a later message," Lee said.
"Who did you pick for the audio file?" Gordon asked.
"Uh, me, because I may still sit and do the block cutting thing again," Lee explained.
"Yes the wave forms should match consistently," Talker agreed.
"That makes sense," Gordon allowed.
"Anything else?" Lee asked like she was afraid there might be. But no, they were done.
"We'll send it then, as soon as Talker takes the Arabic out and puts the squares in."
* * *
"Jon set me a conference call with all the captains and the political reps for everybody, both fleet and aliens," Gordon said.
It amused Talker that Derf, Humans and Hin were all 'fleet' and Badgers and Bills were still alien. He had every confidence if they signed up as crew on the next voyage of exploration he'd been told was already being planned, then they'd become 'fleet' too. It made trusting these strange folk a lot easier. They had less prejudice between species frankly than in his own group.
Gordon had given his third clan Mother and the Fargone Spox a private heads up, and questioned the crew of the Sharp Claws, but he was going to present it to all of them as if it was fresh now.
"You may be aware we found two stellar systems on our outbound journey that had brown dwarfs in them like the one we just entered," Gordon said addressing the conference. "If the information on it hasn't been of interest to you it is in the public files of our fleet net. We consider them significant finds and left claim markers on them. The systems are exceedingly rich in heavy metals. To the point we expect them to alter the economies of all our associated worlds.
"Ernie Goddard and others of our crew developed a theory of brown dwarf formation that anticipates they may be found along a line or arch. Now, three points, two of which are close together, are insufficient to predict an exact line to explore along which we may find another. However it does give us an approximate vector along which there is a higher probability of making such a find. I'm sending you a plot of the three stars and their relationship to examine.
"Since we are not that far within the cone of territorial sovereignty you are considering ceding, it is likely that there are brown dwarf systems in a line leading from our previous discoveries through this system off into neutral space.
"If you'd care to send the Dart to make a fast check of the first three or four systems along that line I'd be willing to hold the fleet here to do a thorough survey of this system while you look. It would give you a significant asset to offset your expenses in coming along with us. Perhaps it would justify it back home, as well as showing it is worth continuing to expand despite any problems the Biters have given you in continuing to do so.
"One problem is that we think such systems may have been mined by the race who we have been calling the Plate Builders. So you might be more likely encounter them in those systems. They displayed such aggressive behavior to the Caterpillars you may be reluctant to send an unarmed, slower ship to look for such a system. With that in mind I asked the crew of the Sharp Claws if they would volunteer to provide escort for you, if you go, and they agreed.
"If you accept the offer we intend to send The Champion William in the opposite direction, towards our previous line of travel, to see if they can find any more brown dwarf systems between here and our previous finds. We intend to simply mark any such finds without an extensive and time consuming survey.
"You can consult with each other and I'd appreciate your coming to a decision by two shift changes from now, so we can get on with surveying this star system and know what resources we'll have and what is leaving."
"Commander Gordon, no need to wait for an answer. It's within my authority to command this since the Dart is a Badger vessel. I agree to this offer right now."
"I didn't know for sure you stood between me and the captains," Gordon said. "Any other problems to resolve before we wrap this up as a done deal?"
"Yes, I'm concerned such a find would be a property of the Badgers only," the Captain Twin of the Deep Space Explorer Green spoke up. "Your civilization has an arrangement that benefits all factions, but we have no such thing in place. If you give such a prize to the Badgers alone it will be destabilizing and damage your relationship with the Bills and other races of our association unrepresented in this hastily assembled expedition. I urge you to make this side expedition open to Bills, and guarantee some access to the other races not present or it will leave the Badgers dominating our commerce. It might even lead to the sort of conflicts we all avoided before the Biters found us."
"War is what you mean plainly," Gordon said, and the threat didn't please him. "This is a problem that arises to some degree from your own politics. When we arrived at Far Away we spoke with everyone. But nobody would commit to trading with us. We almost came to the point of leaving without any trade agreement. We did exactly that with another race we found, so believe we will do it. That was the point we were at, ready to leave, when we finally asked the Badgers if they would trade with us rather than continuing to try to reach agreements with everyone. We had no idea you had all privately agreed not to seek such an exclusive pact unless we offered it. That is what we were told after offering a trading pact to the Badgers. Did they lie to us?" Gordon asked the Bill captain directly.
"No... Even with translation it is a simple enough matter I'm sure that captures the essence of the situation accurately," Twin allowed.
"Why?" Gordon asked.
"That may be too general a question to translate well," the Bill captain said. He looked down, not wanting to make eye contact.
"Or it's just plain uncomfortable for you to honestly discuss motives," Gordon said. "Let me tell you how it looked to me, and if you want to protest I have a dark and suspicious mind I really don't care. You are free to so without penalty. All of you could have come to an agreement with us, but as long as any of you thought you might get the advantage over the others you kept stringing us along and avoiding an agreement that would benefit everyone. It just happened that the Badgers put more effort into talking with us, or were better at it, and then they simply out-waited you.
"Given that you were each seeking your own advantage, perhaps past the point of reasonableness, I have little sympathy now, since you are just sorry you didn't get the trade agreement and exclude them. Now you'd like us to correct the results of your collective actions? No, I have no authority to impose solutions on your group.
"But this offer isn't part of our trade agreement with the Badgers. We have all kinds of trades in plants and materials and technology with them, bu
t this voyage back with us is a separate political accommodation. Our Faraway Spox and my Third Mother arranged it for the purpose of establishing a relationship for the entities they represent. If you buy weapons or other things visiting our worlds they won't be under our trade agreement with the Badgers either. We certainly have no agreement to find real estate for anybody but us on the way back. I was offering that freely as a gift, and can set the terms or withdraw it. I thought it was a kindness, not a blow to the stability of your entire civilization.
"But that being the case, can you two agree to share anything you find out there in an equitable manner? Including the lesser species that have less access to space than you? If you can't I'll just leave you to your own devices. You can mount competing expeditions from home later when it becomes possible. And protect yourselves from kilometer long plate ships or other hazards.
"Make up your minds now, because I'm not feeling very charitable at the moment," Gordon said.
"I have no problem at all promising to come to an agreement with the Bills on sharing," Talker said. "We shall also see benefits or actual access flow to the minor races."
"I too will pledge to reach an agreement," Captain Twin said. In my case I am commander and Spox both of necessity, since we had much less of an official presence at Far Away. Does this mean Green will accompany them?"
"No, the Green is too slow. That's why I'm sending our destroyer and not a DSE. You, or better yet, somebody you pick, can go on the Dart and see to your interests." Gordon fixed Talker with a gaze lacking any patience at all. "Your courier can accommodate him aboard, can't they?"
"Certainly, a few supplies transferred over and no problem. Bills have gone on our ships many times. We're familiar what to do," Talker agreed. Both of them looked a little shell shocked.
"Then do so and inform Captain Frost when you are ready to depart. Any other questions?" Gordon asked, leaning forward aggressively and showing a smile that was toothy and not at all pleasant. In fact he visibly ground his fangs a bit in irritation.
Secrets in the Stars (Family Law) Page 24