Chapter 40 (Landing plus one hundred thirty-seven): Sho’ito
“Ethics? Keep ‘em. Honesty? Don’t count on it. Integrity? Run from it! Give me a business partner with good old enlightened self-interest, any day. It’s as solid as bedrock and predictable as sunrise. Hell, give me an enemy with enlightened self-interest, and in a week I’ll turn him into that business partner.” - the ‘Chadworth Chronicles’ (vol.II, pg.223.60), diary of Roe Singh Chadworth, 23rd century A.D. post-Terran explorer and trader, co-founder of the Mercantile Doctrine.
“These are good!” said Admiral Dunning, popping yet another tiny fruit pastry into her mouth. Lord Tsano, seated across the table in the palace’s octagonal conference room, smiled benevolently and said:
“Talam would be pleased to make a small gift of a supply of these for Lucinda Fleetmaster. Although they are best fresh within an hour of the oven, while a little of the baker’s heat remains.” Luce’s eyes rolled appreciatively at the image. “Perhaps we could even arrange to send a supply up to the starship, when your duties take you there?” The Admiral fairly beamed back at him, chewed daintily and said:
“I accept your outrageous bribe, and ask what comparable gift I could make in return?” Well, looks like starting with refreshments was a good idea, at least we’ve got off to a congenial start, Kirrah mused, as several bottles of New Rochelle’s finest boysenberry schnapps were negotiated in exchange.
Along the straight side of the semicircular conference table were arrayed Scribemaster Taiwi, Guildmaster Delima, Slaetra, Lord Tsano, Brai'klao the law professor, Kirrah and Issthe shu’Ro. After some careful deliberation in both camps, Kirrah had been placed by unanimous consent on the Talamae side for these negotiations, since her value to the Talamae as Warmaster, and to both parties as ‘guide into friendship’, far exceeded her value to the Regnum as a surplus Survey Lieutenant.
Along the curved side of the table, Admiral Dunning sat relaxed in the center, for all the world as though sharing tea and petit-fours with friends in their garden. To her left were Marissa Taggart of United Dominion Farms, Irving Baldwin of Planetation Corp and Ensign Karen Auracotta, the Argosy’s official Contact Specialist (Second Class) and looking somewhat out of her depth.
On the Admiral’s right sat Dr. Pennington and Elizabeth Einarson of RegNet News. The reporter was still smoldering at Kirrah’s order that, outside of this meeting, no 3V may be shot in Talamae territory until royalty rights were negotiated. She was hiding her frustration reasonably well behind her tiny 3V recorder. Especially since being informed in no uncertain terms that this particular ‘mere’ Survey Lieutenant could, in fact, speak with the force of law on-planet, and further informed of the likely consequences, both professional and personal, of offending a potential Regnum ally.
Whoops, everyone’s waiting, I guess that means refreshment are over. I’m on, Kirrah realized. She rose to address the assembled dignitaries.
“The Talamae thank the representatives of the Regnum for their interest in negotiations, and recognize the sacrifices made in being present.” …like being stripped of every flunkey and piece of equipment larger than carry-on luggage, and crammed into available seaman’s bunks aboard the Admiral’s destroyer, Kirrah’s inner voice added. Well, you wanted to be here…
“I also wish to express the Talamae’s thanks for the Regnum’s efforts in sweeping this city of the deadly smartshots. I understand with available Marines and twenty Navy volunteers, the job may be completed in three or four more days.
“Now. I believe our first order of business is the negotiation of a military treaty between Talamae and the Regnum Draconis.” Heads nodding all around, and on the Regnum side, body language settled in for the long process of negotiation. “I understand the elements of this treaty to be as follows,” she continued, referring to notes on her wristcomp.
“First, the Regnum Draconis and the Talamae acknowledge one another’s status as sovereign states, and nothing in this agreement shall make a protectorate, ward, province, or possession of the state of Talam, or establish any such thing in this stellar system.
“Second, the Regnum Draconis offers military forces sufficient to defend this world as though defending a Regnum world, also the other worlds and space about this sun, from any other forces, except where prohibited by Civilium law or future ruling. This defense shall continue under Regnum tactical command and at Regnum expense until requested otherwise by a three fourths majority of the Talamae parliament and not less than three of the Talamae executive and the duly elected head of state, but in any event for a minimum of five local years.
“In exchange Talam offers to Regnum citizens while on-planet the same protection and rights accorded any lawfully visiting foreign nationals. Talam further grants the Regnum Draconis sovereign rights over the designated Embassy grounds outside the city of Talameths'cha, plus a twenty-year irrevocable lease on a naval base on this planet’s second moon, the location to be selected by Regnum Navy but not exceeding forty thousand square doi’la, plus two more bases within this system, locations to be selected at the discretion of the Regnum Navy.
“The Regnum forces under the command of Lucinda Fleetmaster express their intent to provide a surface garrison to assist in the defense of Talam. However both parties recognize that until the state of war with O’dai, and possible Kruss forces is resolved, no on-planet use of Regnum force is advisable except in self-defense or defense of Talam against off-planet technology.
“Talam welcomes the Regnum Draconis presence and declares its intent to enter into trade where mutually beneficial, while reserving the right to limit such trade as it sees fit to protect its cultural sovereignty and citizens´ well-being.
“Ladies and gentlemen, is that a complete and accurate statement of our intent?” More nods of agreement. “Lord Tsano, are you prepared to ratify this treaty on behalf of Talam at this time?” Now we’re seeing a few raised Regnum eyebrows, Kirrah noted.
“I am,” said the King.
“Ahhh, excuse me,” Garth Pennington was looking a little oddly around the table: “am I to understand that you are empowered to speak for this entire nation, and prepared to consummate this agreement immediately?”
“Yes, are you not?” The ex-blacksmith’ eyes narrowed slightly, and whatever he was about to say died as Kirrah raised her hand.
“Dr. Pennington, you will find the Talamae do things a little more …directly, than you may be used to. I find it rather refreshing, do you not?”
“I certainly do! But do you not need time to, to… study the wording? Time to consult… I mean to say, isn’t there a committee looking into this or …something?”
“We have already had several months to ‘consult’, Dr. Pennington. There is nothing in this agreement that I have not already discussed with the Talamae leadership and found agreement on. In exchange for Navy bases in this system, the Regnum defends Talam off-planet. The rest will develop as we live with one another and study mutual benefit. Why make it complex?”
“Excuse me, ma’am, sir,” said Ensign Auracotta, the Contact Specialist. “But the Regnum is a new culture to the Talamae. Frankly, ma’am, how do they know they can trust us?”
“Oh, we don’t trust you,” said Slaetra with a hint of impatience. “We trust Kirrah, and she trusts you. That is the job of a ‘guide into friendship’.” Several negotiators at the Talamae side of the table were looking a little puzzled, slightly discomfited. Except Issthe, who was just looking…
“There is a Talamae expression,” Kirrah replied. “You will have trouble translating it properly. The words are ‘two lives balanced’. It means a bond, a kinship, a trusted partnership, a mutual defense agreement, and more. It means your enemies are our enemies, and ours are yours, live or die. It means that, in all things, while not becoming subject to one another, we seek ways of cooperating which make us both stronger… power with one another, not power over. Look up my notes on the word ‘kaetha'sha’.
“This is what is bein
g offered in this treaty, and all you need to do to accept it - no, to join with Talam in it - is to state your intent and clasp the hand of that large gentleman in the blue robes. But you had better mean it, because they will not break it, even if you do. They would quite literally die first, every one of them.” Kirrah’s gaze moved from one to the other of the Regnum guests, challenging, probing. Admiral Dunning’s eyes met hers with an almost audible snick!, like a magazine sliding into the power socket of a heavy beamer. Dr. Pennington was staring from Kirrah to Admiral Dunning, and the other Mercantiles were looking puzzled or embarrassed. Elizabeth was looking quite boggled, but her camera was steady. After an awkward pause, Dr. Pennington said:
“I’m afraid this is rather beyond my scope as King’s Counsel, Admiral… if it’s not beyond yours as well.” The Admiral looked at him thoughtfully for a moment, gazed back across the table to Kirrah, let her eyes linger over Lord Tsano, Slaetra, Issthe.
“Garth, do you see any way the proposed treaty is to the Regnum’s dis-advantage?”
“Well, no, but…”
“Is it, in any legal or ethical sense, taking unfair advantage of these fine indegenes?”
“Well, knowing our needs here, no, it gives us both exactly what we rather badly want, it just seems so…” his hands waved in the air before him.
“So fast?” Kirrah prompted. “So easy? So sane?”
“So kaetha'sha,” Admiral Dunning said, standing decisively and walking around the table. She offered her hand to Lord Tsano, in the Talamae style of handshake. “On behalf of the Regnum Draconis, I join with Talam in these terms. So be it.” When the two returned to their seats, the atmosphere of the room had shifted palpably.
“I told you we needn’t spend the entire meeting on the basics, Dr. Pennington,” Kirrah said lightly. “Now, here’s a list of things I believe would be of immediate trade interest to the Talamae…”
Twenty minutes later, things did not seem quite so rosy.
“Ms. Roehl, I understood you to say that we were allies, looking for ways to cooperate. Yet not one of Planetation’s generous proposals has elicited the slightest bit of interest, aside from a few med facilities and a bit of comm gear. This is simply frustrating, when we have so much to offer!”
“Apparently, Mr. Baldwin, the idea of ‘kaetha'sha’ has not been communicated clearly,” Kirrah replied. “It is a subtle concept for us who were raised in Regnum capitalism, but perfectly simple. The problem is not what you offer, but what you want in return. And Talam agreed to be your ally, not your market.”
“But what’s wrong with our offer? We supply tools, farm implements, power, data grid, basic fabricators, cheap housing, and in return we simply ask for mining rights on a few asteroids Talam will not be ready to reach for a generation! And what’s wrong with Regnum capitalism, it has served us very well!”
“If you look around, do you see a city starving, lacking shelter, desperate for a place to plug in their info-consoles and 3V’s? No, Mr. Baldwin. These people are already happy. Start from there. And there’s nothing wrong with capitalism. You are sitting in a city full of capitalists. Every city block, we call them a ‘vai'atho’, has its own business. Everyone in the block participates. Anyone is free to start their own block. If it looks like a good idea, others will join. If it takes off, it will grow and divide and there’ll be two of them. If it falls on hard times, its neighbors will help, up to a point, then its people will be absorbed by other, more successful businesses.
“You look at this city and see a simple people in a primitive economy, Mr. Baldwin. So did I, at first. But what is actually here, when you’ve had time to notice, is one of the most sophisticated models of civic cooperation I have ever heard of, and it’s all driven by nothing more than enlightened self-interest, evolved over generations and both stable and flexible. Would you tell this gentleman again please, Guildmaster Delima, why you are not interested in his ‘fabricators’?”
“But I am very interested in his fabricators, Kirrah Warmaster. They sound like a craftsman’s dream. They can make many wonderful things. But to start immediately with a new tool we have not used before, and do not understand, would be foolish. Our carpenters and smiths and tanners and jewelers would see this device do all their labor, and within a tenday half our vai'athoz would be empty and the entire city would be in an uproar, no one knowing where to put themselves. We simply need to introduce this technology rather more carefully, not refuse it.
“Furthermore we would be exporting metals and minerals from our sky, which we have never seen, yet which we may someday need, and which we surely do not know the new value of. Your Reg’num has many wonders. I believe in some ways it is made of the same threads as our little nation, but the weave is very different. We must learn what is valued and what is cheap, otherwise we are as children at the market, spending our small family’s food allotment on sweets and pretty feathers.” At least Baldwin had the decency to look a little abashed, Kirrah thought. A tonne of cadmium for a two-hundred-credit fabricator, really!
“In contrast,” said Taiwi shu'Wdatha in his mild, medium-toned voice, “I am rather interested in what Marissa shu’Taggart had to say about new crops for our farmers. We could benefit not only our own nation but our trading partners, by growing new kinds of produce.”
“United Dominion would be delighted to sell seedstock to Talam, Mister Wdatha,” said Madam Taggart. To Kirrah’s relief, the translation program was handling the names and titles without offending anyone.
Ms. Taggart’s next words were interrupted by a rising howl coming from some distance outside, through the windows and walls of the palace. The howl rose to a roar, then added a basso ripping-cloth growl. Windows shook, two drinking flasks on the table rattled together, tiny bits of dust shook loose from the ceiling and drifted down. Several semi-alarmed looks were exchanged, not just among the Talamae. Gradually the sounds faded.
“My, my! I apologize for the interruption, everyone,” said Admiral Dunning. “That was one of our shuttles taking off, and by the way, one less Kruss on your planet. I assure you, once we get a chance to install a proper SkyLift system, things will be a lot quieter. Even commercial shuttles make less noise than that.
“Meanwhile I’ll get some basic noise abatement procedures in place for the pilots. No one likes noisy neighbors. You were saying, Madame Taggart?”
“Yes, thank you, Admiral. I was saying that while we’d be delighted to sell seedstock to Talam, most of the value of what we sell is not simply the seed, but the benefits we have built into the seed. Thus if we sell a fruit plant which is easy to grow and resists disease, it is sold only to Talam, and its fruit but not its viable seeds may be traded to other nations. We reserve the exclusive right to trade its seeds, since we created them. It is a concept which may be new to Talam, we call it ‘Designer’s Rights’.”
Slaetra responded, “Indeed we have a similar concept, Marissa shu’Taggart. We value the one who creates a new design, or art, or type of business. One of the most common ways a new vai'atho starts, is by selling the right to some fresh creation, to others who wish to manufacture it. If I remember, the Oven Maker’s Block was started by the family that made the first of those little pastries your Fleetmaster is so fond of.”
“What we are hearing,” said Dr. Pennington to his fellow Mercantiles, “is a sale of Designer’s Rights to raise capital for the creation of a new business. As Guildmaster Delima said, ‘same threads - different weave’. May I ask,” he turned back to the Talamae, “how does the government of Talam enforce these rights to protect a new designer’s ideas?” A few blank looks, seeming to converge on Lord Tsano. He replied:
“Why would the government need to protect a new idea? Everyone benefits from those who create, it is a treasured gift. It would not be in our interest to simply steal from someone. If that happened, everyone would soon cease to create, and we would all be poorer.” Looking confused and a little anxious, Dr. Pennington replied:
“Sure
ly it is good for Talam, but if you do not prohibit it by law, what would prevent anyone from starting a rival business using the same idea, and profiting from it as well?”
“Why, of course we all would prevent it,” said Lord Tsano, as though explaining a most elementary fact of economic and social life. “Once the real creator let it be known that another was stealing his idea, no one would conduct business with the thief. Any kind of business. To do so, would be to vote for thievery.”
“And you do this, this ‘Designer’s Rights’ enforcement, simply by consensus, without a formal law?” To Kirrah’s eye, the Regnum lawyer was actually cringing at the thought. Although Admiral Dunning was looking very interested.
“Not enforcement, but kaetha'sha,” Lord Tsano responded. “We all want the power of new ideas, thus we all give the benefit to their creator. When the young couple who created those pastries found they were very popular, they traded the creation of it to the city of Talameths'cha, so every bakery could make them. In exchange the city gave them part ownership of a new vai'atho. The rest of the building cost was supplied by a family moving out of another vai'atho with too many stone masons, and they united with the bakers. The masons built the rest of the building, and then together they started making improved ovens and selling them to other bakeries, another new idea. The Oven Maker’s Block became even more prosperous when the baker’s daughter married an ironsmith, my great-uncle actually, and they could make and sell improved metal baking tools as well. Since then their children have started three or four new vai'athoz.”
“This is very interesting, Lord Tsano,” said Madame Taggart, “and we have much to admire and learn about your ways. But we simply cannot trade seedstock with Talam, unless for those seeds your government makes and enforces laws that protect the concept of ‘Designers Rights’ as the Regnum does. Otherwise we could see a valuable seed line traded to other nations on this planet, and then possibly to another Regnum Mercantile, and from there to any other Mercantile or business in the entire Regnum. We could lose tremendously valuable rights over a single sale.” Now!, Kirrah fairly beamed the thought at the King. Ask her now!
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