by Russell Fine
Neither Jeffery nor Debbie said anything for a while. Then Jeffery asked, “How is that possible? People from Earth never live that long.”
“I have no idea. I have scheduled a meeting with Dr. Kavits for later this morning. He is in charge of the laboratory where the analysis was performed. Perhaps he can answer your questions. While we are there, I will give him the samples I received from Dr. Weber.”
“Thank you arranging the meeting.”
“I also set up an appointment for us this afternoon with the trade representative from Torblit.”
“It sounds like we’ll have a busy day,” Jeffery replied.
Later that morning, Garlut took them to the university medical laboratory for the meeting with Dr. Kavits. They didn’t use the shuttle. Debbie and Jeffery had the opportunity to experience the moving walkways. They left Garlut’s building and walked a few hundred feet to a stairway that went down twenty-five feet and then entered a large room. Around the room were five large doorways with writing over them. Each doorway went in a different direction. Debbie and Jeffery followed their host through one of the doorways onto a slow-moving walkway.
Jeffery looked around. The room was crowded, but the people seemed to ignore him and Debbie. He asked, “Garlut, we are obviously different from the native people but they don’t seem to notice us at all. Are aliens that common?
“Yes, about twenty-five percent of the population on Coplent is alien, and your appearance in not that different.”
As they stood on the walkway it began moving faster. It appeared to be solid, but it obviously was not. Jeffery didn’t understand how it worked, but he wanted to find out. The longer they stood on it the faster it moved.
Garlut said, “The walkway will match the speed of another one which will appear on our right shortly. We will simply step over to the other walkway that will take us to our next transfer spot.”
Jeffery was still confused about how it worked. He said, “Okay, we’ll follow you. Can you tell me how this system works?”
“The walkways are made of a material that appears solid, but becomes somewhat fluid when exposed to a strong magnetic field. That allows the speed of the system to vary depending on how the magnetic field is applied. It took a long time to build, but they are very reliable. The one you are standing on has been running for one hundred and fifty years without a failure. Please follow me.”
Just as Garlut stopped talking, the other walkway appeared on their right. They stepped over to it without any problems and continued on their journey as they moved along their walkway, others were moving along their own paths. Many other species were around them and then, as they drew closer to their destination, there were less. A few minutes later, they moved to the right again onto the walkway that went to the university. This one slowed down as they approached their destination. They stepped off and a few moments later they were in a room that looked identical to the one near Garlut’s apartment building.
They walked out of the room and up to street level. Garlut pointed to a large building a half mile away and said, “The laboratory is in that building.”
A few minutes later, they were in the building. Garlut said something to a receptionist and they walked up one flight of stairs, going through a door at the top of the stairway. Jeffery and Debbie put on their translators as they stepped through the doorway. They followed Garlut to a large office with the door open. Inside was a man who appeared slightly older than Garlut. He was also taller. Jeffery guessed he was at least seven feet tall. The man saw them and walked over. When he was a few feet away he said to Garlut, “Good morning, my friend. Are these the people from Earth you told me about?”
“Yes.” Pointing to Jeffery he said, “This is Admiral Jeffery Whitestone. He is the commanding officer of Earth’s first starship.”
Then pointing to Debbie, he said, “This is his companion and second in command. Her name is Captain Debbie Whitestone. Also, his life companion.”
“I am pleased to meet you, Admiral. Captain. I am Dr. Kavits. Please sit down. I am sure you have some questions.”
“Thank you,” Jeffery said as they all sat down at a large table. “Please, call us by our first names, Jeffery and Debbie. I have several questions.”
After Dr. Kavits was seated he said, “Please ask anything you like.”
“Do you know a lot about the anatomy of Earth people?”
“We have been studying them for a long time, almost one thousand years. However, all the information we have is from reports and scans. You are the first people from Earth I have ever met. Regardless of those facts, I am certain our analysis is correct.”
“The average life span for us is about ninety of our years. You said the remains we found belong to a man who lived to be more than twice that. I don’t doubt your results, but can you explain how he lived that long, and can you determine a cause of death?” Jeffery inquired.
“Our analysis has not been completed. His age and time of death were easy to find, but the cause of his death may be impossible to determine. The examination of his remains showed no signs of trauma. He could have died from starvation, dehydration, or simply old age. We are trying to find out if we can detect anything unusual in his bone material. You can help with our analysis by providing us with blood samples and full body scans. Are you willing to do that?”
“Yes, we’ll be happy to if it will help you. I also have a favor to ask. Garlut has some blood samples from some of our people who have been stricken with an unknown disease. Our doctors have been unable to find a cure. We were hoping you may be able to offer us some assistance.”
“I would be my pleasure to assist, but that will take some time. How long are you going to be here?”
“I’m not sure. Since Coplent is sending ships to Earth on a regular basis, and your ships are much faster than ours, if you find anything that would be helpful would you please send it to Earth on the next outbound ship.”
“I think that is a good idea. It will save a lot of time. I will be back in a moment with my assistant, Marcet. She will perform the scans and take your blood samples.”
Dr. Kavits left his office and came back a minute later with a young woman wearing a white lab coat. She was tall and thin, like most of the people on Coplent. However, she had red hair and up to this point everybody Jeffery and Debbie had met from Coplent had black hair. She walked up and said, “My name is Marcet. It is a pleasure to meet you. Please follow me. This will not take long.”
They followed Marcet out of the office to an examination room. She said, “Please sit and I will take your samples.” They were expecting to see a syringe, but instead Marcet picked up a device that looked like a round plastic tube six inches long and perhaps a half inch in diameter. Both ends of the tube were flat and on the side were several small buttons. She pressed a few of the buttons, then pressed a few keys on a computer terminal on the desk. She walked up to Jeffery and pressed the device lightly against his neck. Jeffery felt a small vibration and she removed the device from his neck saying, “Please remove all of your clothing so I can do the body scan.”
Jeffery hesitated for a moment. Marcet noticed his hesitation and asked, “Is that a concern as I do not want to make you uncomfortable.”
“No, it isn’t a problem. I was just surprised,” Jeffery said as he stood up and began undressing.
While Jeffery was removing his clothes, Marcet took a blood sample from Debbie. When Marcet finished, Debbie stood and removed her clothes.
At the back of the room was a plastic disk three feet in diameter mounted in the floor. Marcet directed Jeffery to stand on the disk with his feet slightly spread apart and his arms pointing forward. Marcet watched as Jeffery got into the correct position and said, “Please stand still for a moment.” She had a small device in her hand and she pressed a button. There was a brief, high-pitched sound. “Thank you, we are all done. Debbie, please stand on the scanner.”
Debbie went over to the plastic disk on the floor and
assumed the same pose Jeffery had done. A moment later, she heard the high-pitched sound again. Marcet said they could both get dressed.
A few minutes passed and they were back in Dr. Kavits’ office. “Thank you. I hope you did not find anything uncomfortable, Dr. Kavits said. “Up to this time all of our tissue samples from Earth have been taken from deceased subjects and they are old. The most recent ones are from almost two hundred years ago. Your samples will allow us to compare your DNA to that of the remains. I should be able to complete my analysis before the end of the day.”
“Thank you for your help with this. I will be waiting for your report,” Garlut said. He turned toward Jeffery and Debbie and said, “We should go so Dr. Kavits can begin his analysis.”
They all got up to leave and Jeffery said, “Thank you, Dr. Kavits. We really appreciate what you are doing for us.”
“You are most welcome. I will contact Garlut when I have the results.”
They left the office and returned to the moving sidewalk. As they stepped on it, Garlut said, “We have to go back and get my shuttle. Our next appointment with the trade representative from Torblit is too far to use the moving walkways.”
“How far is it?” Jeffery asked.
“It is a two-hour trip. It will take one-half hour to reach the high-speed travel zone, an hour in that zone, and another one-half hour to land. It will give you an opportunity to see other parts of Coplent.”
When they arrived at Garlut’s apartment building, they took an elevator directly to the roof. They went to Garlut’s shuttle and got in. Garlut turned on the shuttle and pressed a switch on the dashboard. A small keyboard appeared, Garlut typed for a few moments, and then said, “I have to tell the control system where we are going and then we have to wait for clearance. That usually takes point one hours.”
Just as he finished speaking, something appeared on the screen in the middle of the dashboard. “That is our clearance. Once we reach an altitude above ten thousand feet, the automatic system will take over and we can just watch the scenery until we drop down to ten thousand feet again.”
“That’s amazing. We have nothing like this on Earth. Did you use this system when we flew down to the surface from my ship?” Jeffery asked.
“I did tell the system where we were going, but because we did not use the high-speed travel zone, it was not necessary to use the automatic control. We dropped straight through the zone instead of traveling in it.”
Jeffery nodded and said, “A system like this isn’t needed on Earth. At least not yet. If we have to travel long distances, we use commercial transportation.”
A few moments later, they heard a warble sound and Garlut said, “We’re on automatic control now.”
Jeffery and Debbie watched out the window as the shuttle gained altitude. As they watched above them, they could see the travel zone. It looked like a busy highway on Earth, but all of the vehicles in it were traveling at the same speed. The forward speed of the shuttle began to increase and then it was merged flawlessly into the flow of traffic. They traveled with the rest of the traffic for a half hour and then veered off to the left and entered another travel zone. This one had fewer vehicles on it. After several minutes, the shuttle dropped out of the travel zone and slowed down. There was another warble sound that indicated Garlut now had control of the shuttle.
“How high were we?” Debbie asked.
“In Earth terms, we were thirty-five miles above the surface. We were traveling at three thousand miles per hour, although I am sure you did not think we were moving that fast.”
“I didn’t hear a sonic boom when we exceeded the speed of sound. And there were zero G-forces on us. Why not?” Debbie asked.
“Our shuttles are designed to minimize the effects of exceeding that speed. These shuttles also eliminate almost all outside noise. If you were outside all you would have heard was a soft ‘pop.’ The G-forces are eliminated by the same gravity emitter used in the beds and chairs in the apartment, just modified for travel.”
As they descended, Jeffery noticed this part of Coplent didn’t look very different from the other parts. It was filled with big buildings. Jeffery decided he really didn’t like Coplent. The people were very nice, but the excessive number of tall buildings and the lack of green space was a turnoff for him.
As he looked out the window, the shuttle approached a building that appeared to be the same size as the apartment building Garlut lived in. They landed on the roof, and after Garlut parked the shuttle, he said, “Here we are, one-quarter hours early.”
As they got out of the shuttle, Garlut added, “I have never been here before, but the design of all these big buildings are similar, so I am sure I can find our destination. We have to go to room 90-173.”
They followed Garlut to a bank of elevators and took the elevator to the 90th floor. They exited and walked a few hundred feet to their destination. They went inside and found themselves in a room about twenty-five feet square. There were several tables with chairs around them. At the far end of the room a woman was seated at a desk. As they approached, she said, “Good afternoon. How can I help you?”
“We have an appointment with Representative Drabord. My name is Garlut, and this is the commanding officer of the Earth ship Star Rover, Admiral Jeffery Whitestone.”
“Representative Drabord is expecting you. Please be seated for a moment while I get him.”
“Thank you,” Garlut replied.
They sat down but only had to wait a short time before a short, heavy-set man with pale blue skin walked up to them. He looked like Glencet, but older. He said, “I am Drabord. It is a pleasure to meet you. Please, follow me to my office.”
They followed Drabord to his office. It was small and there was a large window that took up almost the entire wall. In front of the window was a large but short desk. It appeared to be the perfect size for somebody who was only five feet tall. The chairs opposite the desk were for taller people and they were very comfortable. When everyone was seated, Drabord asked, “How can I help you, Admiral?”
“I met Captain Glencet in the Procolt System,” Jeffery said. “We were there to explore Procolt 2. Captain Glencet agreed to allow us to explore the planet in exchange for some of the cargo we had aboard. He liked two of the items so much that he wanted me to contact you when I got to Coplent to arrange to purchase some of them.”
“What are these items he liked so much?” Drabord asked.
“The first item was a portable power source that will supply electricity for an infinite length of time. We have units on Earth that still function properly after more than one hundred years.”
From the look on Drabord’s face, it was apparent he didn’t believe such an item existed.
Jeffery continued, “I can see you don’t believe such a power source exists, but I can assure you it does. Captain Glencet didn’t believe me either, so I gave him one to examine. After he assured himself it was as I described he said he wanted to buy some, but I didn’t have a price at that time.”
“Do you have a price now?”
This time Garlut answered, “The units will cost point fifteen hirodim each. They will be manufactured to meet the electrical requirements that Captain Glencet specified and will be available to be picked up in one year. At the present time, Earth has only one starship so, they are unable to make deliveries.”
“Are they guaranteed?”
“Of course, all products from Earth have the standard trade group guarantee.”
“Can you provide me with a sample unit?”
“Yes, it will be delivered here in two days.”
“After I examine it, I will let you know if we want to purchase any. They are very expensive, but if they work as described I believe the price is reasonable. What is the other item Glencet wished to purchase?”
“It’s a food product we call chocolate. I have a sample with me,” Jeffery said as he reached into his pocket and took out a chocolate candy bar which he handed to the repr
esentative.
Drabord looked at the candy bar for a few moments. Then he smelled it, but there was almost no smell through the wrapper. Jeffery said, “You have to remove the wrapper first.”
Drabord didn’t say anything. He unwrapped the candy bar, smelled it, and then he smiled broadly. “This smells wonderful.” They watched as he broke off a small piece and tasted it. A moment later he said, “This tastes even better than it smells. I can understand why Glencet would want to buy this. How much is it?”
“A case with one hundred fifty bars is only .0005 hirodim,” Garlut replied.
“That seems reasonable. Is the time frame the same?”
“No, I’ll have ten thousand cases on Coplent in one hundred twenty days. There will be regular shipments arriving from Earth after that time.”
“I will contact you after I have evaluated the power supply,” Drabord said. “Thank you for coming.”
“Thank you for meeting with us,” Jeffery replied.
When they were in the hallway outside Drabord’s office, Jeffery turned to Debbie and said, “Do you realize we just sold cases of chocolate bars for $50,000 each?”
Garlut smiled and said, “I told you Earth would find being a member of the trading group very profitable. But you should know some of that profit goes to Coplent. We pay Earth .0003 hirodim per case and we sell it for .0005. That gives us some profit and covers the cost of transporting the chocolate to Coplent and other distribution points.”
They went back to the shuttle and began the trip back to Garlut’s apartment building. Midway. There was a loud beep and an image appeared on the screen in the dashboard of the shuttle. Garlut spent a few seconds reading the image and said, “This is the report from Dr. Kavits. As a result of the information you provided, he was able to determine that his original estimates were fairly accurate. He now states the man you found was one hundred and eighty-four years old at the time of his death and the death occurred seventeen years ago. He also said the DNA found in the remains show signs of mutation. He discovered the DNA samples from the bones that formed the hands and feet were not identical to the DNA found in the hip bone. Dr. Kavits believes some type of radiation exposure must be occurring on Procolt 2 that slowly modifies the DNA of living organisms. In the case of our skeleton it substantially increased his life span, but the effects of radiation may not always be beneficial. He still is unable to determine how Mr. Brown died.”