by P H Campbell
They agreed that the planets would have to be good examples of the best, worst and average in each society regarding how they treated their people. The examples also had to be functional, established societies. Colonies would have issues that weren't the norm for most of the other already settled planets.
The delegation had already worked out what they expected to do when they got to each planet.
The delegation would collect the facts about each location and they wanted to visit each side in a particular order. They were looking for specific places that would highlight their differences, not only for each side, but between that side and The World's way of doing things. Those places were to include examples of daily life, the technology, the social order, businesses and manufacturing, rules and regulations, and might include spur-of-the-moment things that caught the delegation's interest. With that in mind, they delineated their requirements of what they wanted to see then would let the two sides deal with exactly where they were and the best schedule for visiting all of them, also based on the order they'd be visiting them.
And all of them agreed it was the best plan.
They sat down with Cinder and Dr. Treah to detail their needs.
"We really only need to visit three kinds of places on each side," Seren told them, speaking for the entire group. "We need to see your average, your best and your worst. You can decide where and what that will be. But we'll be working into any contract a clause that if what you show us wasn't factually correct or misrepresented things as they were, the contract, or treaty, or whatever you want to call it, is void and the other side gets the goodies. If both sides lie… well… we'll burn that bridge if we get to it, but I imagine that won't be pretty for anyone."
"How long will the visits be in each place?" Dr. Treah inquired.
"Uh, I'm a bit hazy about time differences outside of years, but I figure ten days is good, however long you folks measure a day," Seren replied.
"A standard day is about fifteen percent shorter than your days are," Cinder told her, "but local days may be more than enough, since most are actually longer."
"Not having experienced a day length differently than what we have here, which would you recommend for our purposes?" Seren asked.
Cinder and Dr. Treah looked at one another and discussed it. They eventually reached a mutual agreement to stick to the local times for each place while they were there, but only remain a set amount of time, with a minimum of ten World days of time spent at each. They'd depart after being on a planet least a hundred units, delaying any departure only if local conditions didn't allow it when they were to depart. That meant the number of local days for each planet might vary, but probably not by enough to be disruptive.
Arranging an itinerary of inspection and hopping from world to world would give a travel agent migraines if there were no computers to help. Since it was all programmed into the computers, it was actually a simple matter of just checking the arrival time, and the calculated departure time. The two sides just wanted to be sure they had equal and enough "time" to visit the places they went to and to make the arrangements to receive the delegation ahead of time for both sides.
With the time spent to appraise each location settled, they left it up to each side to come up with the itinerary. There was, however, one more provision.
"We want to see each level of side, one after the other," Seren added. "We know that means a lot more space travel. But we think it's important to compare equivalent sides with fresher memories. We can see the next level up on the side we're on, but we want to compare each level back to back as much as possible."
This was a less than optimal schedule, since it was faster to stay on one side until that side had been "assessed" before crossing over to the other side. But Cinder and Dr. Treah realized that it would be fairer for them both to not be first, or last, to get inspected The two Spacers understood what they wanted. After more discussion over which planets would be assessed, with a mind to keeping the border crossings to as few as possible, it was eventually settled to go to the Shade first, see their lowest level of society, then over to the UGW, and see their lowest and average level, then back to the Shade to see the average and highest level, then back to the UGW to see their highest level, then home to The World.
Since neither side had the time to work out the specific places on each planet they'd visit, the two sides would work out that detail would in flight. The longer distances between worlds their itinerary created allowed enough time for both sides to determine their individual itineraries, and would transmit that information to the Twin's ship while they were en route to their next destination.
Once Cinder and Dr. Treah retreated to their ships to contact their people and get the ball rolling on selecting the places they'd be going – something each promised would be done within the unit – Looie looked at the remaining group and asked, "Anyone know how to play poker?"
Once the delegation understood the translation of "poker", they all denied knowledge of how to play any card games.
"Well, that's good," Looie nodded, knowing that the group would need to have something to do while in transit. "We'll probably have a shit-ton of time for you to learn."
Within a unit the two representatives were back, with the full itinerary, and the time frames for their journey. Their expected range of return dates were only one day apart. Most of their time – about sixty percent of it – would be in transit. While it was an exceptionally important thing impacting all of them, no one's lives were in jeopardy, so no one would use the McGrew Port wouldn't for more immediate transportation.
Each destination would have its own representative to meet them, and both Cinder and Dr. Treah would accompany the delegation to all their destinations.
The only glitch in the plan came up when Seren found out from Cinder that the Shade Alliance didn't exactly have credits for payment. It was a matter of accepting them in exchange for services. And that was all they'd do. The government wouldn't pay for the fuel or supplies for the Twins without better assurances it would compensate the suppliers for their goods.
With even odds that The Worlders would choose the UGW side, accommodating The Worlders on the Shade Alliance side would mean The Worlders taking without giving fair goods in exchange.
The Shade Alliances' position did not please Cinder, but Seren understood it. "So, they want someone to pay for the beans and coal," she shrugged. "What do we already have that they might want?"
"Gold or silver," Cinder told her, her anger over the pettiness of the Council glaringly obvious. "We use them in a lot of our tech. Paying someone to take us around won't cost a lot. Fuel will be more expensive."
"Get me some numbers and we can probably work out a deal," Seren replied, adding, "Just make sure they know that if we think it's not fair, we won't bother checking out the Shade Alliance."
A hint of a smile came to Cinder's face as she approvingly observed, "You'd make a great Alliance member." She departed for the comm room.
Looie and Ash looked at each other, knowing there wasn't a lot they could do to help the situation. They had to wait for the Council of Black to once again become enlightened by Cinder's uncompromising and practical approach to life.
Noticing their exchanged looks, Seren asked the Twins, "Are things so bad in the Shade Alliance that they can't gamble on their own future?"
"Yes," Ash reluctantly nodded. "Credits are tight, resources are tighter. Fuel especially. We only have one system, but five inhabited planets, and we're already overpopulated. It may seem petty, and it is, that they won't finance their own side of this like the UGW will, but it's not because they don't want to, or that it's our way of doing things normally. It's just how desperate we are for the resources this system of yours has."
Seren didn't know whether to be happy about that news, or sad. She was happy that Ash had been perfectly honest with her. But the news itself was troubling.
With the arrangements and itinerary set, there were few things
left to do. Seren wanted one more day to be sure the situation at home would remain stable for the duration of their voyage – the Colonists were still undecided about what to do and there were still major issues that would take time to resolve returning to a non-crisis footing, but the Grand Council or the individual nations would take care of that, since they were more likely now to work together to resolve mutual issues than before the crisis.
There were enough Borderlandians who spoke English to communicate with the colonists, and the colonists were mostly beginning to learn Common.
It was still in flux, but Seren's often unique negotiating skills wouldn't be required for some time.
If any time was a good one to go on an extended vacation, now wasn't perfect, but it was the soonest time reasonably available.
Once the representatives communicated the schedule and departure times to their governments, they had nothing more to do but leave. With little fanfare, the Twins ship took off, carrying the delegation and the two faction's representatives to the stars.
CHAPTER 6
The trip to the "worst" of the Shade Alliance wasn't long – less than seven World days – and that time consisted mostly of getting to know the others in the delegation and learning new things. The one thing they all quickly learned was that traveling in H-Space was boring. There was nothing to see, nothing to navigate, no watches to stand.
Koreen was intently interested in the properties of H-Space. Markov spent his time marveling at the tech and engineering that surrounded him. Gliff was also interested in the machinery. Though neither spoke "engineering" in the native tongue of the other, both were quick to establish a means of communicating to discuss their findings and debate concepts. They seemed to bond well, which was good since Gliff didn't even glance at Koreen, and mostly ignored her when she was around.
Koreen wasn't happy about that.
Because of Gliff's rudeness, she spent most of her time with her daughter, teaching the nanny-bot Ash and Looie had suggested would be a better care-giver the proper care and feeding of a Human child. At least, "proper" according to Koreen.
"What's that?" Koreen demanded when the nanny-bot got a bottle for little Katrina Seren Gravtok's feeding.
"It is a formula specifically created for optimum nutritional value for your child, Koreen," the nanny-bot replied.
"Th' only optimally nutritional meal my baby gets comes from her momma," Koreen insisted, hauling out one of her large breasts and holding out her hands to receive her child.
"That is an acceptable alternative," the nanny-bot agreed, carefully handing over baby Katrina to her. "However, the feeding schedule suggests that from time to time you will be unavailable for feedings. Do you intend to pump and store your breast-milk for such occasions?"
"How long's it gonna be good for?" Koreen wondered, placing daughter to nipple and letting her feed.
"Given our preservation methods, indefinitely," the nanny-bot told her.
"When Katrina's done, I'll be wantin' ta check out that pump thing," Koreen tentatively agreed. "My boobs get pretty full and this little shit ain't that good at gettin' rid of th' excess."
"Given the physiological differences between you and your daughter, that is not unexpected," the nanny-bot pointed out. "Your physiology requires a significantly higher content of fat than your daughter's does."
"You sayin' I'm fat?" Koreen eyed the bot.
"To maintain the dimensions you are now, you require more fat than your daughter does to grow," the nanny-bot replied unemotionally. "Your breast milk is more suitable for someone of your physiology than someone of your daughter's."
"So?" Koreen shrugged. "What's that mean?"
"Your daughter becomes satiated much sooner than would someone of her age with a physiology similar to yours," the nanny-bot told her. "So she drinks considerably less milk than you can produce."
"So if she was like me – an Electrian – she'd eat more and my boobs wouldn't feel like they're gonna explode all the time?" Koreen asked.
"That is a likely conclusion," the nanny-bot agreed.
"Well, then, bring on the pump, and if I can have one ta take with me, that'd be great," Koreen decided. "My nipples get real sore trying ta squeeze it all out myself. And that way, she don't have ta wait for momma ta get home t' be fed."
That was the beginning of Koreen learning to trust the nanny-bot. It wasn't until the nanny-bot showed Koreen how to burp her daughter – without having her throw up all over her back – that she figured the nanny-bot knew what it was doing and that trust was at least deepened, if not entirely cemented.
The first stop on the list was to one of the five planets in the UGC 1182 system – UGC 1182-F. The summary frankly described it as a frozen hellhole and was where the Shade Alliance imprisoned those who couldn't pay their debts. There, the prisoners "paid off" their debts by working long, hard hours with little to distract them.
Debts weren't necessarily financial. Crimes were often the cause, but they also included regular debtors. Those charged with a crime had to pay back the cost of the crime, plus interest. Time served wasn't the coin of the realm. What someone did, and for how long, determined their pay rate. The terms of imprisonment also required them to pay for their own room and board, which added to the time they spent there. This meant there was little else to do besides work and sleep.
It was not a good vacation spot.
It was cold and remote, barely on the edge of the system's habitable zone. That the UGC 1182 system had five planets in the "habitable zone" of the system was unusual enough. But UGC 1182-F was with no question the most marginally inhabitable one of the lot. Daytime temperatures at the equator were in the low teens Fahrenheit. Night-time went well below zero. It was one of two of the five inhabitable planets that hadn't evolved intelligent life. Nor had the Shade terraformed it to conform to a more temperate climate.
No one escaped from it. No one wanted to live there. Even the Shade did little more than ensure they had food. Operationally, with a few exceptions, trustees who were themselves trying to pay off debts and work their way back into Shade society ran the place. Earning that was much further off for the rest of the inmates.
Given the circumstances, on-planet accommodations for visitors, let alone a delegation, were pretty much nonexistent. If they wanted to stay their full time, they'd have to return to the ship for eating, sleeping and recreation.
"You're not painting an entirely positive picture Ambassador Cinder," Dr. Treah pointed out once Cinder finished her description of the first destination.
"Seren wanted the truth about things," Cinder replied. "This is the worst of the worst of our lot."
"I believe we can do better," Dr. Treah remarked.
"How do you folks handle your criminals?" Cinder asked of Seren.
"For the Borderlandians, not much differently than you do," Seren replied. "The Electrians have prisons and executions. The Magentians have executions, and prisons. We don't kill anyone as Borderlandians, at least not execution-style. But we do put them to work much like you do. Once they've repaid their debts, they're usually punted out to another city where no one knows them. They can start new lives without having a bad reputation. No one keeps score like that."
"What direction is your planet going regarding criminal punishments?" Dr. Treah asked Seren.
"We've been working on decreasing the executions," Seren admitted. "If someone dies during hard labor, that's usually their own fault. But just up and killing someone isn't productive for any society. If someone re-offends, they go to the mines for life. We've been trying to get the Magentians and Electrians to adopt a similar policy."
"We don't want a lot o' people ta be in prison," Gliff added. "But we don't got a lot o' mines ta toss 'em into, neither. It's a drain on society ta keep everyone alive – especially them who's done society wrong."
"Magentians are coming around to the no execution philosophy rather rapidly, now," Walentia reported. "Our entire social order was undermi
ned when the magic left, upon which our society's technology was almost entirely reliant. But it was the inequity of the use of magic in the first place that led to the more authoritarian kind of society we had. We've been taking our cues in handling criminal matters from Seren and the Borderlandians ever since Seren sent the magic back where it came from."
"I admit I keep hearing about this magic," Dr. Treah mentioned, having had her crews talk to the locals about local conditions and customs. "Can you tell me more about it?"
"It was a sentient entity from a different dimension," Seren explained. "It could make things happen according to the will of the person who could talk to it. And by talking to it, I don't mean have a conversation with it. It didn't work like that. The concepts were so different, conversation wasn't possible. It was mostly a matter of understanding the intent, if not the details, and the magic would do that. It didn't much matter what the "that" was, provided it didn't involve directly inflicting harm or death on anyone else."
"So, it had nothing to do with the inherent qualities of your planet?" Dr. Treah asked pointedly.
Seren shook her head, "No, once it was returned to wherever it came from, it took its ability to do magic with it."
"So there is no longer any magic on your planet?" Dr. Treah persisted in her questioning.
"Nothing more than there was before that entity arrived," Seren replied honestly. "And it arrived five hundred years after the colonists arrived from Earth."
"You seem unusually fixated on a phenomenon we no longer deal with," Morlendrus mentioned to Dr. Treah.
Treah gave them a small smile, and said cryptically, "I have a personal interest in any reports of "magic". I ask only for the sake of personal curiosity. I hope you'll pardon my indulging in my obsession."