by Moulton, CD
[ New cultures, such as the Jornians, generally tend to want to accumulate funds for a few years, but they soon outgrow that stage. We haven't altogether done away with the desire for a better lifestyle or even from blatant greed, but the greed is more and more rare. ]
*There are too many examples in the empire to ignore. One very quickly sees the dissatisfied races are those who haven't matured past certain negative traits. Greed is definitely not a sign of maturity. There are far too many things available from too many diverse sources for that to be meaningful. There's a greed for personal power among a few races still in a juvenile stage. It's also an exercise in pointlessness that leads to just such a thing as the fall of the Krofpth Empire. Those people are now re-emerging as natural leaders, but they're mature enough to see they can lead without holding power.*
"That's something I can see," Kaf agreed. "With power comes responsibility. No culture can long tolerate the irresponsible use of power."
"Personal power in any culture is counterproductive to that society," Nol said. "It becomes a difficult goal for those who don't have it and a disappointment to those who gain it. We'll make our system work, I think. I think we would fit well into your empire, wouldn't we? The Chee-il people you spoke of could teach us something, I also think. We could possibly teach them, too!"
[ I agree, but I also suggest you will have to vote on which status you want with the empire. That also is for you alone to decide. Our primary purpose here isn't to get new members in the empire. We simply want to meet more people and explore more worlds. It has become a simple fact of our exploratory instincts that people who come into contact with the empire will wish to become part of that cooperative entity. Don't I sound wise? ]
"Wise? Hmm. Well, how about pompous and egocentric?" Z answered innocently, getting grins from their guests.
"We'll arrange a way for you to talk with our people," Kaf agreed. "What will the options be?"
*Tell us to go away, join the empire, join as associates, don't join, but trade with us. You can not join and not trade with us, but can have contact or you can come up with your own choice. The one thing you can't do is to go among the empire's worlds and deny their coming here.*
"Could we let them come here, but not go there?" Kaf asked, grinning.
[ Certainly. That would be restricting yourselves, not others. I think perhaps we can have fun discussions. You have a good sense of the ridiculous and of fun. We like that in people. ]
"You mean we can have a lot of debates knowing all along we'll join?" Nol asked.
"Yeah," Z said. "It's a good way for questions to be asked and answered and can be fun. We all like silliness if it's fun and doesn't hurt anyone."
*Why not set up something like you had at Kroon? You could insult each other and ask embarrassing questions and even show extreme ignorance. This time it would be mostly for fun and not something on which the fate of a race of people and a world would hinge.* Maita told them the story of Kroon and ran the debate with translations into Draqian. (Book two, Settling In)
"I don't understand the religious part," Kaf said. "I'd think religion would be a very personal thing. It seems from that to be a form of government there. A confused one! I don't think such a form of government could hope for any form of stability. It would fall very quickly."
[ Religion had taken over the government. It's changed now. It was on its last gasp when we got there. Our aim was to give them something else to build a new form of government on. They had a plague (Book twenty one: After the Old Gods) that came at the very worst possible time, but are a strong people and have done very well. ]
"I think that would be fun," Nol agreed. "We could throw in questions about personal habits and rules and use it to show the different views of different people. Everybody likes a good show. Make it both entertainment as well as educational."
*We're all in a silly mood, but let's do it! We can have the broadcast from here or from some other place you choose. We can be deliberately insulting.*
"That Kroon thing was from your cargo bay," Kaf suggested. "That looks comfortable."
They agreed on that for the next evening. It would even be advertised as informational fun.
Thing and Z were lounging back in the pilot's chair watching one such advertisement an hour before they were to hold the debate.
"There is to be a debate among some of our people and the aliens from the Maitan Empire in one hour on this channel," the announcer said. "This debate will be very serious in content and information, but is expected to be light and even comical in method. Our representatives, Nol Prat and Kaf Yallin, told this reporter these people and even the intelligent machine they use for a spaceship each have very interesting senses of humor and that they take few things seriously. They are almost insulting to one another and to others once those others understand the humor and won't take offense. An example is the fact they are holding this debate so we may choose to enter their empire or to refuse entry. Nol says our choices, as will be made plain, range from welcoming the empire as our absolute rulers to telling them, as he says the Terran, Z, said, 'To get out and stay the hell out.'
"This person, for one, will not miss one word of this strange encounter! Of the nine choices Kaf has published, this reporter chooses to join the empire as a full trading member, but to retain full rule of this world for ourselves. The only empire law we would be forced in any way to follow is, apparently, that we rid ourselves of nuclear military devices. As we have none it isn't too great a sacrifice. We can, as Maita, the intelligent machine, suggests, 'Learn to live with it.'"
[ I agree. This will be fun. Joining in that way is exactly what they'll elect to do. ]
Maita set up a semicircular table where Thing, Z and a servo floater to represent Maita would sit on one side and Kaf, Nol and another would represent Draq on the other end. A moderator would be in the center of the half-circle facing them.
The cameras and sound equipment were in place. There would be no interruptions of the broadcast and no time limit. They would question in rotation. Before the broadcast, Thing rode up to the cargo bay sitting on Z's shoulder. There were Draqians all over the central floor, going in and out of all the rooms except the alien atmosphere room. Nol, Kaf and their other debater were in the O dome on the top of the ship. The moderator, a tall woman called Fan Yarntry, was directing the placement of cameras and props. Just before broadcast time, Nol and Kaf introduced Gen Kroffit to the crew. They seated themselves around and Z noticed Kaf was grinning a bit too much. He knew Thing had consulted with her in private and was sure some kind of trickery was planned. He knew Thing's sense of humor intimately so would be prepared. Fan explained the rules, which would be that they would each ask one question of the aliens, then the aliens would each have the choice of asking a question of the Draqians. Fan could ask a question at the end of each series.
Nol was first and asked about the military of the Maitan Empire and Thing explained there was little, if any. Kaf then asked why Maita was called Maita. *Z gave me the name. It was the Maitans who originally built me.*
Gen asked about medical care. [ Most worlds handle the medical facilities independently. The traders guild will soon establish stations on the beacons left by the Krofpth Empire, which contain medical facilities, and there is Hospital, a research world where beings from anywhere are treated. There's a ship that travels anywhere in case of plague or other extreme emergency. The planet, Feach, is famous among the entire empire as easily the finest medical researchers known. Anyone may call on the Maitan Empire for help in medical emergencies. No one need have relations of any type whatever with the empire. Such services are outside of empires and politics. We are at this very moment emplacing Hospital personnel on the stations established by the old Krofpth Empire, which will greatly shorten response time anywhere in the galaxy. ]
The crew passed on questions that round and Gen asked what taxes or other charges supported Hospital and the ship. *There are no charges. The empire owns t
he vacation worlds and a small percent of profits there go to sustaining medical facilities everywhere.*
Nol asked about the choices the Draqians had about joining. Maita took a few minutes to cover the various possibilities. Z knew that whatever was coming was coming now. Kaf could barely control herself and Thing was watching Z a little too closely and overly casually.
"The Terran Z," she said. "Have you gotten any since you came here?"
So that was the joke! Thing apparently told her of his sexual inhibitions and this was to be a big joke at his expense. Maybe he could turn it around on her – and Thing.
"Gotten any what?" he asked innocently.
"Sex," she said, grinning hugely.
Z looked unconcerned as he said, "Well, no.... You see, I've been here on Maita and Thing doesn't excite me that way. Are you offering?"
She laughed at that and Thing jumped to wrap its tentacles around his head.
[ You dirty...! You had us figured all along! ]
Z grabbed a tentacle and pulled, but Thing held and managed to grab the chair arm with another tentacle.
*If any of you are wondering if we've lost our minds, there's a longstanding joke among us about Z's inhibitions about sex. Thing contrived with Kaf to make a joke about sex, but Z figured it out and turned the joke around on them. You two knock it off! You can play later.*
"I'm trying to knock it off!" Z cried. "It won't let loose of the chair!"
Thing climbed over Z's head and back to its seat on the table where it tried to look innocent. It was a wonderful way to break any tension and all the participants began playing little tricks on one another. It was really a farce, but still showed everyone the true nature of the beings they were dealing with. They were very well-liked and well-received from that point.
Z was asked questions about not only his own but other races' views on sexual mores. Other questions about all details of life in the empire were asked and answered. The broadcast lasted for more than four hours. They were all exhausted when it was over and Maita delivered one of the fantastic meals they had discussed to all participants in the session. They talked for awhile, then Thing and Z cleaned up and rested. There was to be discussion for two days, then the vote. The results of the vote were foregone.
Maita stayed on Draq for three more days until two trader ships arrived, then left.
*We seem to have some kind of problem. I'm going to reverse course. It seems a trader ship was attacked.*
"Where?" Z asked.
*It seems the traders found the psiltripium world. When they attempted to land on it they were attacked. They called for help, but when the next ship arrived it was too late. There's something or someone on that world who's attacking anything that approaches without warning. I have the world located on pinpoint coordinates and have told the traders to leave. Fleet's standing by.*
[ I agree. Even if it's an indigenous population they can't fire on anyone without warning! No trader would attempt to land on a world that was occupied if there was a warning. It's totally intolerable! Besides, we know damned well there was no indigenous population! There was no way that world would ever develop even viral lifeforms! ]
"We know that definite fact! There ISN'T any INDIGENOUS population. It couldn't have evolved in the time since the Krofpth empire was there and there certainly wasn't anything on that type world to start with! I agree! No population of any size could survive the planet's leaving orbit and moving into cold space even if they could've survived conditions there BEFORE it left orbit."
*They were attacked with an old-style fusion missile. It was laser guided. It was too close before they spotted it for them to shield. They survived long enough to give a readout about it. It was produced in the Maitan Empire three hundred years ago. That was obvious from the laser guidance system’s emanations. You know what that means?*
"Oh, for Christ's sake! I hope you're wrong! This is something we DO NOT need!
"It's the first thing I thought of!"
[ Immins! ] (Followed by a very colorful and inventive string of invective – from all of them.)
Oh, Groan!
Under ordinary circumstances Z would be rolling on the floor helpless with laughter. Maita had let loose with a long and very complex string of acid invective in several languages. To hear a machine swearing so effectively was certainly unique!
These weren't ordinary circumstances. If there were, indeed, Immins on that runaway world Z and Thing would both outdo Maita's swearing. Z had much more experience with the form.
They had thought the Immin race was extinct for a hundred years or more. They had gone through a period of a hundred years when the empire was established where the Immins were a part of so much of everything wrong they came to expect serious trouble anywhere the race was involved. Immins had expanded into many parts of space (In stolen ships. They didn't have the ability to design and build their own) and cropped up at almost every spot where serious crimes were a major problem that Immin and criminal became very nearly synonymous. They were inherently delusional, particularly the females, to believe they could be rulers of the universe or more by building large armies and destroying the populations of any world who dared to resist them and taking over whatever government was already in place.
They had almost been successful with a couple of worlds. Two planets had been infected with a genetically engineered bacterium that killed off large portions of the people on them. They had dropped nuclear devices on other worlds, which always sent Maita into a fury even when there was no population. They had spread dangerously contaminated foodstuffs across a large section of space – foodstuffs with such cumulative slow poisons as thallium. The toxins caused severe nervous system damage and slow painful death after a few years of ingesting it. In the meanwhile it caused genetic damage to the children born in the period.
The one thing that saved so many worlds from the Immins was their penchant for attempting to kill off each other as well as anyone else in their way. Almost all their plots involved taking power away from whoever was leader of even their own small group. Most times they were fought by increasing the mistrust among their leaders and instigating internecine wars.
The males were almost always involved in the more petit forms of criminality. They were often murderers and thieves and worse, but on a much smaller scale. They didn't have the drive for personal power the females had. They seemed perfectly willing to allow dominant females to use them in any way they chose.
Maita exiled the race back to Orta, their home planet, many years ago where they destroyed themselves with nuclear wars. A small pocket of them was found on occasion somewhere far across the galaxy – such as this one.
[ Maita, they would have to have been on that world for most of a hundred years! I still can't believe it! I don't want to believe it! I'm so damned disgusted I can't even think! ]
"What if they're.... What if they caused that.... Maita, could they have made that world fly out of orbit? – I mean, knowing all the while where it would go? Is that kind of thing even possible? – I know it is! We did it to save Vendu! (Book two: Settling In)"
*With a large diffusion engine at a pole, yes. Moving it with explosives like the antimatter we used would have torn it apart because of the already established wobble.*
[ That would mean they're established on a nearby world. They would've moved the planet out of orbit for the specific purpose of forcing the psiltripium to the surface. That would mean they slung the world out of orbit, then were able to turn the diffusion engine to increase the spin of the world. You can bet the largest deposit of psiltripium in one lump ever discovered is right about on the surface of that world. My only question would be what they intend to do with it. There's no way they could hope to sell it through any empire channels and now they have attacked a traders guild ship so they simply made more trouble than they can hope to extract themselves from. The guild will go after them in force! ]
“How long ago? Can't you trace decay on emissions from
a diffusion engine? If we can find when this thing was done we can understand a lot, I think.
"They probably don't know anything about what was going on in the empire, and definitely don't have any idea that the empire expanded anywhere near this area of space. They won't know about the traders guild."
*I agree, though they should know how well traders stick together even without a guild. They always have. They won't know there are now millions of traders instead of a few thousand. I'll drop out of IDmode when we're fairly close and trace backward. We can see if they're trying to accelerate it or decelerate it. We can determine how long ago they started. The distance is ... such.... It was no more than a hundred fifty years ago nor less than a hundred twenty so we don't need the rest. It took them fifteen to eighteen years to get out here in TTH one, which is the best they had then. They started before we quarantined them on Orta or probably before the Pweetoo wars (Book one: Flight of the Maita) even and probably didn't set a field so time dilatation would make them age only two or three years during that trip. There's definitely the likelihood they have no idea there are no more Immins in the empire. I would be willing to quarantine them out here if they've grabbed an unoccupied world. If they've subjugated an occupied world it won't bode well for them. I won't forgive their shooting an unarmed trader ship without warning! Nothing ever changes with Immins! Nothing! Even clear across the galaxy and a hundred fifty years displaced from Orta, they're exactly the same! The lousy damned...!!*
It went into another spate of swearing in a few more of the languages it left out before. It was interesting if a bit terrifying to see a machine that had completely lost its temper. Thing didn't lose its temper – quite. It was so exasperated it was incoherent, though. Z knew something between the two emotions with large doses of both. The anger and disgust seemed to move across them in waves with a bit of calmer response followed by swearing and fury followed by a calmer period. After a time the pendulum-swing of emotions came to a midpoint, a sort of seething fury, and finally stabilized.