"Yes, I beg your patience... if... I need a word..."
"Rude," Lee figured out and supplied. "Just follow your custom. We are the outsiders here. We need to learn to do things your way."
"He offers to let you view room... if... you want."
"Do you want a separate room, Thor?" Lee asked. "I'll share with you too if you want."
"That's fine. You don't snore do you?"
"Do I?" she asked Gordon and got a little negative shake of his head and a grin. The hotel clerk froze like a frightened rabbit and Talker looked distressed too.
"Sorry, Humans smile the same as Derf and we're used to each other," he said from behind a true hand. "it's really not a display of aggression, it's a sign of pleasure."
The clerk shuddered, twitchy muscles rippling down his shoulders. "I've... adjust to worse."
The key was a little square stick that might have been pad memory. You just had to have it on you, not apply it to the door. The inside was more spacious than they expected, a suite really. The view of the planet everything they expected. There were four areas with slightly raised pads. Lee went to one right away and pushed on it. She guessed right, it was soft.
"May one adjust the pad for hard or soft?" she asked.
"That... is... an interesting idea. No they not... are not? Not sure how you'd do that."
"Another thing to sell you," Thor suggested and went to check out the other room.
"May one adjust the gravity around the sleeping pad to be less?" Lee asked.
"No again," Talker said, surprised they could tell. He started to open his mouth again, but snapped it shut. Trader had turned his head to look at him.
"The shower is neat," Thor called. They all crowded in there, the Badgers staying in the short hall since they filled it.
The shower was a glass wall to the ceiling, but not an open door to it. You had to walk in and then make a turn, so there was no way to splash outside. It had two shower heads opposed to each other that looked capable of cleaning ground cars. The toilet looked formidable for Humans but might be a bit dainty for Derf.
"This will do very nicely," Gordon informed them.
"Good. We shall see you tomorrow. After you rest and eat. Tell the... clerk... to call Talker or Trader. He'll let us know you are... ready... again."
"Thank you," Lee said. "We usually say, "Good night, late in our day like this."
"Good night... now," Talker agreed and they withdrew with no further formality.
"Assume we are bugged," Thor said after they were gone.
"Of course," Gordon nodded.
"We could speak Derf," Lee suggested.
"That would just put off their understanding us some months," Thor speculated. "I'm afraid of saying something that might offend, or give them significant advantages I don't ever want them to have."
"OK," Lee agreed and she seemed to mean it. "How about notes?"
"Cameras can be tiny too," Thor said. "They know our writing, or will soon."
"This is hard. They get to go discuss everything we talked about and decide between them what to say tomorrow, consult with their translators even and we can't."
"Maybe," Thor said, grinning freely again. "They have no idea what our snooping capabilities are, or how miniaturized. Unless they go strip themselves of every item they carried and lock themselves in a vault that is a Faraday cage I wouldn't assume we weren't listening if I were them."
"Maybe they aren't as paranoid as you," Lee said.
"It's not an illness if you can't afford to be wrong."
"It was awkward today. The conversation jumped all around and hit on so many unrelated things. I feel like we should have some system to go through a list made up ahead of time. Is it always going to be so hard to get to know new races?" Lee wondered.
"I don't see any way around it once you get past numbers, parts of the body and the common actions like come, go, stay. When you get to cultural things there can't be any standard list and if we have emotions in common enough to name them I'm delighted, Gordon said. "I'm sure we'll run into something eventually like a giant mollusk or a starfish with which we have a hard time finding anything in common."
Lee nodded, thinking about that. "Can I try the shower first?"
"Sure, I'll lay out supper and start it heating when you are gone," Gordon offered.
* * *
"This little Human. Do you think it credible she actually owns starships? Do you know of any among our races that own a private starship?" Talker asked.
"Yes, because they didn't make a big enough point of it for it to be a lie. You notice when he spoke of the other race and world they found he admitted they could have taken it by force?" Trader asked.
"Yes, I caught that."
"I thought the important point was not that they could do it, but the economy of how he described it. "Take them out." Unless I have gotten no sense of their manner of speaking, they way he said that indicates to me it wasn't just possible, but easy. They tend to say how they will do things. He didn't say bombard and reduce their cities until they are conquered, like it would be a process, it was simply trivial in his mind. Perhaps as trivial as vaporizing the rear off a Biter's war ship."
"The Hinth. He doesn't say much," Talker said. He managed to make it an accusation.
"Yes, if I'd just met them I'd think he was in charge and hiding it behind these others!"
"Because that's what one of us might do?" Talker asked.
"Yes, Like the ancient tale of the king who went to parley with his rival and dressed his aide in his clothes and observed from behind," Trader reminisced.
"I don't think they are that subtle. Especially the young girl. She would spill her thoughts out even if they were accusing or she found us repugnant," Talker said.
"Yes, I can imagine her saying, 'Get over it." Easily," Trader agreed.
"I'm a little afraid of Ha-bob-bob-brie . I am already starting to read the others faces and gestures, but he is sometimes freezes for long moments and I can't even see him breath.
"Honestly, I think he is more subordinate than what you think. He's just being respectful of the others. But I noticed he always moved so he had a direct line to the girl open. His eyes always are on whoever is paying attention to her," Trader explained.
"You think him a bodyguard?" Talker asked, surprised. "You think she needs one with that father?"
"Gordon is huge and powerful, but watching the bird-like one, I don't think I've ever seen him move as fast as he is capable. A couple times I saw him start to move quickly and deliberately stifle it. Of course he may not be an official bodyguard, but just value her greatly."
"Well if the classic education my father insisted I add to all my other studies has any merit it tells me Ha-bob-bob-brie's economy with words should be taken as a sign of wisdom," Talker said.
"Yes, well, the others, they use so many words. It is significant the times they don't. And they are richer than us," Trader concluded. "To spend treasure to slowly change planets! And is that bad? If they are rich enough not to feel the need to steal from that other race is that a bad thing? After all if we agree to trade with them might not some of that wealth rub off?"
"The little one casually let go of a chunk of platinum worth more than I make in a tenth year." Talker pointed out.
"See? And did she demand a strict accounting? Already you profit!" Trader joked.
"Oh no. I think I shall dispose of it for her, show a strict accounting and not take a fee," Talker decided. "I'd rather buy her good opinion than grasp for a petty onetime fee. She was uncomfortable feeling obligated to me. I suspect that is a cultural trait. So it is desirable for me to see she feels herself gifted, or at least not shorted. It is a handle on her," he said with a grasping motion.
"You act canny. I may make a trader of you yet."
Chapter 11
Gordon put his kit away from cooking. There was no small sink in the bathroom, so they rinsed their dishes in the shower. It felt weird but worked. The waste basket w
as just what it appeared to be, they checked for sure with the clerk when he brought in their water by gestures. So their wrappers went in there. They feared plugging the pipes to put them down the toilet.
Lee occupied herself on her hand pad while the Derf showered. Fed and cleaned they felt better. Talker had instructed the hotel and they brought them three jugs of what they were assured was distilled water. It appeared to be in glass, with a metal screw cap, but a very thin strong glass. There was alien script etched right on the glass, not on a label.
"I'd like to go back to the bar," Gordon announced. "I can draw a molecule for ethyl alcohol. And I am curious about their music and seeing what their working folk look like."
"Do you think that's a good idea without one of the Badgers?" Lee wondered.
"We are not prisoners. I'd say we have been in stranger places, with less friendly natives."
"Yeah, you got that right," Lee had to allow, remembering Earth.
"I thought we might walk along, maybe stop at the observation lounge and chat on the way."
"Ah...I think that's a great idea," Lee said, clueing up.
Outside the hotel Lee asked, "How freely do you feel we can talk out here?"
"A lot more than in the room. I doubt they have bugged all the public corridors."
"I've been thinking about how Talker took my platinum for our rooms."
"Did that surprise you?"
"Not then, but I got to thinking about it. If it was us getting the platinum we wouldn't value it as much as we would have six months ago. We found a huge deposit which lowers its value and the other brown dwarf system we found is likely to have more platinum deposits too. Our attitude has shifted."
"Of course," Gordon agreed, not getting her point yet.
"What Ernie deduced with Jon's help is that these sort of brown dwarf systems may be a limited and local phenomena. Platinum is suddenly less precious to us, but the people back home don't know it yet. The point is, the Badgers seem to still value it on the same scale our people back home do."
"Oh...They haven't found any similar brown dwarf systems, or if they have, they can't exploit them."
"Yeah, they can be hard to get into by jump ship," Lee reminded him.
"So we are in a very much better situation as far as resources. At least in metals," Gordon said.
"We would do well not to reveal just how much we found and which direction," Thor said.
"Exactly. We need to take our claims to Earth and make sure all the forces of our races all support our claims. If the Badgers and their friends expand their frontier aggressively towards our territory they could be in possession and difficult to argue with, or worse, need to be dislodged," Lee explained.
"Which is precisely why you were so hot to do this entire voyage and exactly the scenario you wished to prevent," Thor acknowledged. "Damn, you were dead right about grabbing the real estate before somebody else." They came to the viewing area and passed it after Gordon tapped his ear. Lee liked it so much it might be an obvious place they'd return.
"This suggests something else to me," Gordon told them. "We discovered two metal rich brown dwarf systems near each other. If there is a line or arch of them they may run at right angles to our line of travel. We may have just cut across them. It would be smart to search along a line drawn between them each way to see what else we may find. And in negotiating with the Badgers we should try to establish a frontier that encourages them to spread out along a plane from here, but not any closer toward us."
"But how far do they go the other way? Can they expand the other direction without feeling hemmed in? Is there anything or anyone else in their way?" Gordon asked.
"It's sixty some light years back to our last big find. We could negotiate some of that away if we need too. But the more we yield the better their chances of stumbling on a brown dwarf system as the spread out away from this point. The line or arch may cross over into their area," Lee guessed.
"Well we have a bargaining chip," Thor said. "We can agree not to expand past them here. We just need to define the orientation of the plane we'll agree not to cross. We need to see if we can get the Third Mother and the spoxfrom Fargone to understand what is at stake and see the need to negotiate a deal. It's really not our place as traders."
A trio of Badgers passed them in the corridor going the other way. They knew their expressions well enough already to tell they were surprised. Gordon remembered not to smile.
"I guess we better just stay one night and beg off to return to our ships for consultations," Lee said. She sounded disappointed.
"How long were you thinking we'd stay?" Gordon asked, surprised.
"I was hoping we'd get to go down to the world at least briefly," she admitted.
"Maybe we will. Before we go home at least," Thor said. "I entertained similar hopes myself. Which reminds me, you notice something else different about this group of races?"
"What?" Lee asked.
"We weren't quarantined and scrubbed and tested to death before coming on their station."
"You're right. I was thinking entirely of other issues. Either they have no history of problems from alien biospheres, or they are so advanced biologically they are confident they can deal with them." Gordon suggested. "I'm not sure I want to be the one to suggest it might be a problem to them."
"We may not be so lucky. We really need to isolate and spend some time making sure we are clear when we go back to the High Hopes," Thor said. "We aren't really set up for isolation, but we should make some effort until we see it is safe. I think the High Hopes shouldn't dock or exchange shuttle traffic with the other ships. Let's say two weeks before we trade any people or supplies."
"Has there ever been a serious disease transmitted from a new world?" Lee asked.
"No," Thor admitted after a reluctant pause. "There is a sort of fungal infection from Thorn that is nasty to treat and several insect analogues on Thorn and Harmony they don't want on any new worlds, but I've always agreed it is too great a risk. If one ever is found you could wipe out a world without any immunity.
"I agree," Gordon said. "Who wants that as their legacy?"
"Crud," Lee muttered.
* * *
The bar was loud. The music was mostly percussive. There were two Badgers at the door they took to be bouncers. They looked hard at Lee and Ha-bob-bob-brie in front, frowning that subtle little back corner of the mouth curl they'd come to know on Badgers. But Thor and Gordon were right behind, shoulders touching to squeeze through the door together. Thor put a possessive true hand on Lee's shoulder and Gordon smiled at them. They were hard core and didn't flinch at Gordon's smile, but they were smart enough not to step in front of them.
They stopped inside the door, let their eyes adjust to the dim lighting, and looked the place over. A Badger, with of all things a plain old apron, hurried up to them. Gordon had his pad out and asked it for a translation for table. Miraculously it had one, complete with a graphic and he showed it to the host. He made an unmistakable come along gesture and led them to a back corner.
As they approached the table, staff was scurrying to remove odd chairs and they placed a single upholstered chair for Lee that was oversize, but likely everything was. They placed cushioned pads for the Derf and a sort of padded roll on which to lean. It was pretty impressive improvisation and quickly done too. Ha-bob-bob-brie was easiest of all, he was happy standing.
"What kind of money you want? Silver, gold or platinum?" Gordon asked. He displayed the translation screen and the three sorts of coins on his palm.
"These are good," the host said, touching the silver. But he didn't take it, apparently you paid at the end here too.
Gordon showed a screen with a water molecule and the translation. That got a yes. Then a screen with ethyl alcohol and the translation. He then showed the same word they were pretty sure was 'clear'. Look same as water, he wrote.
"Yes, yes," the host supplied a new word. Gordon tentatively entered it as vodka.
<
br /> The bottle when it came was smaller than the human bottles they were used to, maybe three hundred milliliters. It was decorated though, printed directly on the glass the same as the water jugs. However where the water jugs looked like lab reagent containers the liqueur bottles were bright and had images, in this case a picture of a Badger holding a glass. Whatever it was supposed to evoke was beyond their reading yet. The glasses were plain however and impossibly delicate looking.
"Even vodka might give you an allergic reaction if potatoes made you sick," Lee worried.
"I'll just touch a single drop to my tongue. If it gets irritated or if I feel any ill effects I'll stop." He promised.
Ha-bob-bob-brie volunteered, "I have a very good nose. If I may smell it I can warn if it has anything toxic. I smell taint in food long before the cooks declare something is spoiled."
"Nothing," he declared after putting it right by his nostrils. "Not much flavor either."
"This is like when you took aspirin with my folks." Lee said, disapproving.
"I haven't heard that story," Thor said, interested.
"They made their first good claim and all got so drunk together they had to declare a full day shut-down to recover. Everybody was hung over and they took aspirin, so Gordon took the bottle chugged a handful down guesstimated on his larger mass. It didn't kill him, but he had no idea."
"This was after you were old enough to witness and remember it?"
"Oh no, long before me. He admitted it to Gwen, the vet they called in when he got shot in the head on the moon."
"Well that explains a lot," Thor said, looking at Gordon askance.
"It was a silly antique .38," Gordon said, frowning. "It didn't even give me a concussion, just a headache. It certainly didn't affect my mentality or judgment."
"It sounds like there wasn't anything to impair..."
"It worked. And this booze has no effect on my tongue. I'll try a little more. I wonder if they have ice if you want it?" He poured maybe ten milliliters in the glass and smelled it.
"Down the hatch," he announced and threw it back. "Good stuff. I can't taste any hint of what it was distilled from. Probably run through the still at least three times."
Family Law 2: The Long Voyage of the Little Fleet Page 17