The waiter came back and asked if they were happy with the alcohol. After a little back and forth they assured him it was fine but they were proceeding cautiously. He agreed that solid cold water was available and hurried off to get it.
"I imagine in a couple years you'll be able to come in here and order a ham sandwich and a beer," Gordon said, wistfully. He was ready tonight.
"Look, look," Lee said. "One of the cat analogs. I don't want to point." They got a better look at it than any of the videos. The nose was more pointed than a real cat, the ears the best match and the whiskers actually thicker, almost like a moustache, but it was sleek and it moved beautifully.
"I got that on my spex," Thor said. "Luke will be happy to see it."
Badgers drank from a glass, like they'd been given, Sasquatch used a straw and Bills tipped a footed tube that looked like a piece of laboratory ware. While they were inspecting the others the others were inspecting them. It seemed pretty certain a lot of them had not heard of Humans and Derf, or seen any video of them from the interest level. This was Ha-bob-bob-brie's first time on station so he had to be a novelty.
Several people looked over their shoulder gawking, abruptly turning their backs. The noise level went down. They couldn't see the entrance from their table, but someone had apparently made a grand entry and there wasn't anybody waving them over or happy to see them.
Two Biters stomped into the bar. Stopping in the middle they looked around. The host didn't greet them or offer to seat them. When the first Biter saw Gordon and Thor seated behind the table with Lee between them he nudged the other one, then turned and addressed them.
"I don't want to drink with you," the translator rendered it.
"I wasn't going to invite you," Gordon answered, amused.
This required a pause to analyze.
"Ah, to say differently. We do not want to drink in the same place."
"That's fine with us. Don't let the door hit your butt on the way out." Thor suggested.
"We propose you leave."
"We were here first," Lee pointed out.
"It speaks. I thought anything so small a pet," the Biter said.
"Wow, I can't believe they have pet in the data base already," Thor said.
"Perhaps you need removed," the Biter said, actually taking a step toward them. He had some sort of weapon at shoulder, not his waist, being built low and front heavy like a Bulldog. He touched it, but mercifully refrained from drawing it.
Ha-bob-bob-brie's hand went up with almost disinterested slowness to the sword handle over his shoulder, and he bent his knees a little. Lee made a palm down 'hold' gesture under the edge of the table where the Biter wouldn't see, hoping he understood it. He seemed to, hand stopping, but not dropping. He just twitched one eye and was very still.
Gordon stood up. He made a process of it, slowly, so they tracked his face up until it was near the overhead and their heads were tilted back. He looked a lot smaller sitting on the deck behind the table, leaning over on a cushion. Thor didn't bother to get up. Gordon didn't really need any backup. He had a pistol he ignored and his heavier middle hand with the claws went to the ax handle just behind the head. The double bit ax was not simply ceremonial, it was fifteen kilograms sharpened to a shaving edge, on a two-thirds meter composite shank. The cutting edge was an arc as long as Lee's forearm and had a little hook on the bottom like a can opener, for peeling open armor. It should work just as well on the sort of hard carapace covering the Biters, who didn't step any closer.
"Please, honored customers, allow me to show you to a private room," the host begged. It was interesting, he gave a little bow. They hadn't seen that before, but Lee noticed he didn't get between them. "No need to be served in the common public room."
"Very well, lead on," the Biter commanded. He didn't look at Gordon again, just dismissed him from his mind to all appearances, but Lee bet he'd remember.
Gordon made himself comfortable again and tossed back a third sample of the local vodka, about fifty milliliter this time. It didn't seem to have anything toxic to Derf. Lee wasn't so bold and noticed Thor refrained from trying it too. But Ha-bob-bob-brie pushed his glass over and took it without any hesitation. They should have brought some of their own brandy or bourbon. It might even be something they could offer for trade goods.
Lee looked across Thor and just mouthed 'thank you' at Ha-bob-bob-brie. He did the little scrunchy thing again with his eyes and nodded. That was definitely amusement.
"Is everything satisfactory?" Their host was back with more ice.
"Entirely. I'm sorry we aren't enjoying the food and other drinks. We just have to wait for some testing to make sure nothing will make us ill. Your patience with us not spending much this visit is appreciated. We'll be back I'm sure."
"You are smart to be cautious. The Badgers can drink the spirits the Sasquatch make, but not the reverse. And the Bills have their own sort that nobody else can stand, although it doesn't make them sick. It just tastes bad to others. Will your races be trading distilled spirits eventually?"
"We were just discussing that. We wish we'd have thought to bring our own and we'd have been happy to pay you to serve them. I'm sure they will be a trade item. All three of our races have ethyl alcohol based drinks. Some just fermented and some distilled. I'll bring a couple by next time we go to our ship. Lee here prefers a drink called Bourbon from the Human home world and we Derf like a sweet brandy, our own or Human's. The Hinth make these bitter spirits that set my teeth on edge, but Humans like to mix a small amount in drinks to cut the sweet. That didn't translate well did it?" Gordon said looking at the screen.
"Set your teeth on the edge of what?" their host asked, baffled.
"A colloquial expression, not literal. It seems an unpleasant feeling, sort of like meeting Biters," he said, getting a little dig in.
"The bitters are strong," Ha-bob-bob-brie allowed, "But it wakes you up in the morning!"
"I thank you so much for not letting things keep going the direction they were," the host said to Gordon. He gave Ha-bob-bob-brie however a very wary look.
"Seems to me you are the one who defused things and very skillfully I'd add." That took some work from the translators, to convey what a fuse was, but it was well worth adding to the database.
"We'll go back to our hotel now. I hope we do more business on a bigger scale soon. Take whatever you feel proper," Gordon offered, holding a large hand with Fargone silver coins out to their host.
He waved it away with a gesture Human or Derf found normal and needed no translation.
"Lots of time to make money later. It was worth seeing the Biter freeze in his tracks to host you. Take the rest of the bottle back to your hotel please. Perhaps show it to your shipmates."
"Thank you. We'll be back soon."
"How is it that the barkeeper speaks better English than Talker or Trader? Lee asked.
"It's the translation program," Gordon explained. "I was watching and it updated three times even while we were speaking with Talker and Trader. They seemed to speak better when we left them than when we first met. They do have a lot of people and expert systems working away at it full time."
Out in the corridor, away from the entry, Thor looked around to see nobody was close to overhear. "Is it just me or are the Biters not very well liked?"
"I didn't see anybody buying them a round. But quite a few seemed afraid of them," Lee said. "They quickly turned their back and minded their own business. But most of them seemed comfortable to look at us, which is odd because I got the impression a lot of people haven't heard about us yet. They must not feature us on what passes for news."
"Or these guys in the bar might be like freight movers and vacuum rats back home. They work long hours and want a beer on the way home and don't watch the news for days at a time," Lee decided.
"That could be. And we have no reputation yet, but the Biters have a bad one," Gordon said.
"Oh you have a reputation now," Lee assured him.
"There wasn't a one of them in that bar who needed to read the translation on your pad, to know you were ready to do to a little trim job on the Biter's butt," she said, making a chopping motion, "just like we did to their ship."
Ha-bob-bob-brie caught her eye in a bit when the others weren't looking. He made the same chopping motion down by his side. It really seemed to amuse him.
* * *
Back at the hotel Gordon inquired about placing a call to his ship. He was informed there were com connections to use at dock, but apparently they were not in use as that dock showed no response. He left a message with Talker to inform his ship they had com connections if they could get or make copies of the connectors and the signal protocols. The hotel offered a courier to run to dock and Gordon sent a message to bring the third Mother and the spox from Fargone in while they slept and they'd be back to the ship in the morning to meet with them.
The lights took some getting used to. They were hard to get dim without going completely dark. Eventually they gave up and turned them off setting a little flashlight Lee carried shining in a bare corner of the room with a ration bar over it as a shade. It gave just enough light to find the bath in the night.
There was no lock that they could see so Lee made a stack of self heating meals in front of the door and placed the half empty bottle of vodka on top. It should make a racket if somebody opened it in the night. She resolved to get a proper wedge like she'd seen her father use long ago, if she had to have one made on the ship. Ha-bob-bob-brie observed these preparations and cocked his head askance. "Little sister do not concern yourself with that. One place is as good as another to stand and sleep. I shall just stand in front of the door so that if it should swing in during the night I'll be awakened."
"But you might get hurt," Lee worried.
"Honest, I'm not nearly as delicate as you seem to think," Ha-bob-bob-brie assured her.
* * *
The next morning Gordon had the hotel call Talker and Trader. He suggested they bring breakfast and talk while they made their own breakfast. By the time all of them were showered and in fresh clothing the Badgers were at the door. It had a speaker that let them announce themselves rather than a bell or buzzer.
Talker was carrying a box with a handle that looked pretty much like a small ice chest. They adjusted the table in the common area to a better height, which the travelers hadn't known was possible and laid out their breakfast, both sitting on one side.
"Oh my, Gordon, Thor, you have to see this. The Badgers eat sushi," Lee said.
"Is not offensive?" Talker asked, worried.
"Not at all. It's an art form in the Japanese culture. It is visually attractive, it looks good, as well as being good to eat."
"The Biters would be offended it has vegetation in it," Trader told them.
"It wouldn't bother me if it had some Biter in it," Thor said, darkly.
That made the Badgers laugh so hard one rolled on his back.
"That is bad. So, so," Trader had to search his pad for human words. "Bad, nasty, uncivilized, hateful, unkind, vulgar. I wish I'd thought of it first."
"I'm sure it would make you sick early in the morning," Talker said. That started them laughing all over again.
Gordon was setting up to fix their own breakfast. "We have vegetation in our food too. This is scrambled eggs and has pepper and onions, both vegetables, in it." He showed them the foil package with a picture on it, mixing water in it.
"What are eggs? I see eggs in the biology section of our dictionary, but they are so tiny, they can't be practical for food."
"Birds lay huge eggs to reproduce. They gestate externally. These are chicken eggs, because they are cheap and have a mild flavor. They are about this big," he said, holding up his finger and thumb cocked apart.
"Can you show me a picture of a chicken, please?" Talker asked.
The picture Gordon brought up was a Rhode Island Red.
"How big?"
Gordon enclosed a volume with his hands. "Humans eat the bird too, but they are too much work in my opinion. Not enough meat on them for a Derf and all sorts of bones to deal with."
"The Hinth is a bird?" Talker asked, looking over both shoulders. Ha-bob-bob-brie was in the bath.
"Very bird-like, but not related to Earth birds at all. But I see where you are going. They do lay eggs. In fact they have three sexes, male, female and nest sitters. They aren't happy to discuss it though, it's something they get all stressed and unhappy to discuss."
"I wonder how he feels about you eating eggs?" Talker asked.
"That's a very good question. In fact I never considered it. I'm glad you asked. It might be upsetting to see us cooking shell eggs. One egg pretty much looks like another. He has to has seen these freeze-dried sort in the ship's mess before, so he either doesn't know the source or doesn't care. Please don't enlighten him."
That meant Gordon had to explain freeze-drying while he heated sausage patties from individual pouches, hash browns, coffee, biscuits and freeze-dried orange juice. It sounded like the freeze drying process was going to be something they could sell also. With everything made they all sat and ate. Nobody spoke for a little, too busy enjoying it. Trader noted their things smelled good, but they would have to have testing to be safe too.
"This is good time to tell you," Talker stopped. "This is a good time to tell you," he corrected. "After more talk, we are certain we do not have anything like patents, the Bills have something similar just for their world. They have an administrator who your people say is pretty much the same as a king, or in their case a queen. She can by ancient custom grant somebody an exclusive use of their invention for life, but it only applies to Bills on their own world."
"Not much good for us," Lee said.
"Yes, but all of our races have similar contract law and have agreed what parts to share. So your culture's idea of protecting a process can be done by what your people call a non-disclosure agreement."
"Oh? I didn't think of that because the law isn't as strongly defended everywhere as others," Gordon told him. "That and non-compete agreements are often attacked by Human lawyers as to restrictive and denying a person the right to make a living. Humans are big on rights. On Derfhome the Mother's word is law and you better not break it. I have no idea what the Hinth do. They have only recently started traveling and doing much business off their world, so a lot of their culture and law isn't common knowledge yet. It took a lot of effort to recruit and supply the few we have."
"Why did you make the effort then?" Trader asked. "Do they have some rare skill?"
"I hoped it would speak well of us that we could get along, if we met others, like you."
"It does, but the way you damaged the Biter vessel makes us worry. Tell us, with no evasion. I made sure that was the right word. Do you war with ships?" Talker demanded.
"Yes."
"Well that is clear enough. I don't know if I should be happy there is someone to counter the Biters or afraid you will fight with them."
"There is no profit in fighting. This is why we developed the claims system I told you about. It wasn't developed because we can't or won't fight. We do it because we are so good at fighting that it is much better not to."
When they didn't say anything for awhile Gordon said, "No evasion."
"That is a frightening self-evaluation. All three races?" Talker asked.
"It isn't strictly by race," Lee spoke quickly wanting to be the first to tell him, so she could soften it. "Gordon's clan just had a war with the Earth nation from which my parents came and with who they kept their ship registry. But I am a citizen of Red Tree Clan and most of the crew fighting in Red Tree ships were Derfhome or Fargone Humans. So we fought mixed for race, but united by culture and law. Red Tree hadn't fought a war in over a thousand years, so they are hardly war-like."
"That is very hard for us to understand."
"You will find a lot hard to understand. There are different human cultures I find stranger than Gordon's trib
e. The Fargoer's are much different than any Earth culture and there is an entire world of Japanese. I could talk about how strange they are for days. There are several hundred nations on Earth and honestly some of them contain multiple cultures. The Swiss for example, even being a tiny nation, use four languages and have several regions with different ways of life. Are any of your worlds like that?"
"No, no evasion here either. We all seem to have made our way of life and language all the same, what is your word?"
"Homogenous."
"Thank you, homogenous, before we got star flight."
"New Japan is pretty homogenous. They like it that way." Lee said. "But that's how Japan is back on Earth. They have never welcomed foreigners in."
"But somebody said something about the Biters," Gordon said, "I can't remember exactly what, but indicating they fight among themselves."
"Yes, they do, but they are pretty much the same. They have one language and they have similar tech. They even pretty much have the same taste in food and music and how they build homes," Talker admitted, "but yes, they fight among themselves clan to clan."
"Why?" Lee asked.
"Talker looked at Trader for help. "I think they enjoy it. It might be as simple as they want to take what the other Biters have."
"They will find we don't fight for fun," Thor told him, sounding disgusted.
"We saw the Biter's ship. We don't understand how you did that at all," Trader revealed.
"Good. Maybe we won't have to do it again. We're not going to give lessons how."
"With us no, but the Biters I'm not so sure. They sent a message home that they were very badly damaged. I'm not sure what sort of a response they will get. If one ship comes to rescue them and see how bad the damage is we will be relieved. But if a fleet comes we are afraid they will fight you immediately, rather than try to talk at all. It seems likely."
"We'd say it is their nature. All I can promise is if we see a fleet we will withdraw from the station. We don't want to endanger you or your station," Gordon promised.
"You will not flee for your home regions" Trader asked.
Family Law 2: The Long Voyage of the Little Fleet Page 18