Another Word for Magic

by Mackey Chandler

  “That’s why I hate to fly in,” Lee said. “It disrupts work for everybody to run and see. Then they all have to talk about it. I’d walk in if we didn’t have time-critical news.”

  “And what would that be, Missy Lee?” a huge armored up Derf asked. “And where is Strangelove? He’s supposed to be guarding this one.”

  “We refused him coming along because we’d have had to hire a freight flier, and he’ll be right there to pick up guarding Jeff when we return. We’re perfectly safe here,” Lee insisted. “This is Jeff, as you guessed, and April.”

  They both nodded politely. “This is the Champion of Red Tree, Garrett.”

  He nodded politely too, almost a bow, but his wrinkled snout and flat ears said what he thought of the idea safety could be perfected anywhere. He didn’t bother to verbalize it. Lee got the message.

  “Jeff and April are peers and partners to Heather of Central, and if you want to hear the news, come with us and listen while we tell the Mothers,” Lee invited.

  “I shall, and to keep an eye on all of you since you dumped Strangelove.”

  “Dumped is such a harsh word,” Lee objected. “We’ll be with him again the instant we step off transport back at Derfhome City,” Lee promised.

  “From the timing, you stayed overnight in Fishtown, didn’t you?” Garrett asked. “I’d have assigned a couple of soldiers to watch you while you were there if I’d known.”

  “We are not without resources,” Jeff said trying to jolly him. “It may not look like it but we have on armor superior to yours, and we’re both survivors of multiple assassination attempts.

  “Oh yes, I find that so encouraging,” Garrett said, and turned to lead them in.

  It was gloomy inside despite several skylights far overhead. It took the time they walked to the Mother’s table to adjust to it.

  “Mum, Mothers, these are April Lewis and Jeffery Singh on the business of the Sovereign of Central. They have news and requests. Jeff came ahead and has shared information with my researchers out of concern for their safety and that of others. We expect it to speed up our understanding of gravitational tech. April joined us yesterday.”

  “It’s good to meet allies,” the First Mother said. “You are welcome to our hospitality, and we thank you again for our system protection. Sit and talk with us and share refreshment. What exactly are you here to do that the Foys could not do for your queen?”

  Jeff took that as leave to sit right across from the Mothers. He glanced at Lee who didn’t give him any sign he was being presumptuous. She was taking a seat at the table too. Jeff then nodded at April for her to field the question. Soon mugs of beer appeared for them.

  “Jeff came ahead of me. He’s the developer of our stardrive and neither of the Foys has the technical background to explain it to Lee’s people. Since he left, the situation in the Solar System has changed. We came under attack again by the nation of North America. I’m surprised the pause in hostilities lasted as long as it did. None of the other Earth nations joined in the attack, but that doesn’t mean they are friendly at all. We had to abandon the location of the three habitats. Beta has gone to Fargone, Gamma at least temporarily has gone to orbit Mars, and Home is going to arrive in your system late today or tomorrow. I’m here to ask if we should stay or move on. If you do want us to stay, where we should locate and how we should comport ourselves in your domain.”

  “Comport? Now there’s a word I had to look up,” the First Mother said. “I don’t get many of those in English now. I take it this isn’t a temporary retreat. Do you intend to abandon your places in the Solar System forever?”

  “I can’t imagine we’d ever be welcomed back,” April said. “It was a near thing that they failed to kill us all. They made the mistake of declaring a deadline for us to surrender and setting the attack in motion to hit us minutes after, on the assumption we would not yield.”

  “So, they bargained in bad faith,” the First Mum said. “We had the experience of that with the same people ourselves. We decided not to destroy them also. There are times I’m still not sure that was the right decision.”

  “It is still an option we retain,” April noted. “Our reasons for staying our hand were slightly different. The planet itself is a storehouse of history and biologicals. They still discover new species. It would be a shame to destroy it over the actions of the temporary residents. We’ve removed samples of everything we can in case we are forced to do so.”

  “Will they not pursue you to finish their war?” The Third Mother asked.

  “That won’t be easy. I cleared Earth orbit of most of the USNA spaceships. Heather has sent her captains to remove all the permanent starbases that nation established. There are other Earth nations with armed vessels but only China has any significant number and a history of hostility to us. They are divided into at least three major factions and some ethnic regions that broke away. Who controls what assets in the heavens is uncertain. They have never established forward bases like the USNA. One suspects they don’t assume they can safely retain control of them the way North America feels theirs will always obey.”

  “Then you aren’t bringing trouble to us,” the Third Mum stated as fact.

  “I don’t expect that, no. If it does show up it will be of a nature the Foys could handle even without all the assets we bring with Home. I would like to sell you on Home as an asset to the Derf and Derfhome,” April said. “Heather still intends to keep Central on the Moon for the foreseeable future. It is near impervious to attack and gives us a base from which to observe Earth and make sure they don’t surprise us like they might without any eyes there.”

  “What will it cost us to acquire this asset?” the Second Mother asked. “I’ve noticed that when merchants tell me how much I can save I often conclude I can save a full hundred percent off their best price by not buying at all.”

  “You would have more humans living on your world, I’m sure,” April said carefully. “The Earth has been unsafe to visit and there is pent-up demand to walk under an open sky and see natural things. You of course don’t have to host them at all in any of the clan territories. This is like a private residence in their custom. They would visit the trade towns. There will probably be some who want to live in the trade towns and pursue business here.

  “I don’t see them competing with town Derf because the sort of skills they have from living on a hab are very different than planet dwellers. They’ll bring in new skills and quite a bit of money. I wouldn’t blame you for being suspicious of Humans in general, given you had to war with them. The people on Home have gone through a selection process that removed a lot of the undesirables. First when Mitsubishi selected the workers back when M3 was populated. Then, the revolution selected among them further, for those who didn’t run back to Earth. I’m prejudiced, but I fancy they are a different culture. They are smarter, better behaved, and just a bit saner.”

  “There will be problems if we allow this,” the First Mother said with certainty. “The question is if it is worth the trouble or within our ability to control by simple decree. You have been trained to command and experienced holding it,” she told April. “Surely, you have been told the principle that it is foolish to issue an order you know won’t be obeyed? We must consider if we will be creating such a hazard.

  “I’ve read a great deal about Humans, and watched videos and flat films dating back to the First Atomic War and even some earlier,” the First Mother continued. “I remember there are those of you who dislike crowds and towns. People who yearn for wild places. They go off into the woods, or bush, or jungle. Homesteaders and farmers also, with a desire for land. A lot of your stories romanticize them. I find it hard to believe that has died out entirely. How can we prevent them from going off as far from the trade towns as they can, and soon we’d have hermit shacks and villages following Human custom existing independently? They may encroach on clan territory and become nuisances or worse.”

  “Don’t you have Derf w
ho do the same?” April asked her.

  “Very few. Those who leave the clan go to town. The few who would choose not to do that are actual outlaws or the handful who are mentally ill and can’t get along with others. I could count the ones I’ve known to do that on two hands with digits unused.

  “Each trade town has been free to form local councils and regulate themselves. Mothers make law for all Derf, but towns make their own rules. As long as there is order, neighboring clans leave them to their own devices. None of them have grown to where there is conflict.”

  “Perhaps simply make it a law that outside the clans one must work with a trade town to occupy any land,” April suggested. “You can choose to enforce it or not outside your territory, just like you exercise discretion applying your law to the towns.

  “Maybe,” the First Mother said. “That would imply we are not merely allowing them to make their own local rules, as we have until now, but approving them and giving them permanence if Humans are to depend on those rules. To step in and void them could be messy and we haven’t had to do so yet.”

  “I would not suggest that only applies to Humans,” April clarified. “It should apply equally to Derf. You could make it the specific point of such a law that if anyone finds such town rules oppressive, they can appeal to the Mothers to issue a law to rectify it. That seems to me to be the present situation, you just never formalized it. You should. It’s always better in my opinion to spell things out than to have unspoken rules that supposedly everyone knows. It always amazes those who know and accept such rules when others don’t.”

  The First Mother looked surprised.

  “This is true. It always seemed heavy-handed to serve them notice we could step in and demand they alter their rules. It would suggest we intended to do so. We’ve never had to, so perhaps there is no point in retaining it as an unspoken right. We rarely take suggestions for declaring new law, but we’ll carefully discuss and consider this one.”

  “It’s always good to have a safety valve for pressures short of armed rebellion, I think some might welcome knowing your precise limits instead of guessing,” April said.

  “You speak from a different perspective,” the First Mum said. “We think of rebellion in the form of the male’s prerogatives to change leadership within the clan. The trade towns have never had the numbers or organization to present such a hazard. You may very well be correct that it is becoming a possibility. The fact there are already Humans living in the trade towns who share your perspective increases the likelihood of that. You do seem a contrary species. However, it is too late to ban them, because the right to be treated equally is basic to our Treaty with Man.”

  “Better to get ahead of it then, before there is a problem,” April said.

  “And yet, we could refuse to extend a welcome to this habitat and such a huge number of new Humans in our close heavens without breaking the treaty that speaks to our world. It never thought to address our relations in the heavens. That was an oversight since we didn’t have space ships, but one that may turn out to benefit us. Those who can arrive by ship are far fewer and more easily absorbed. Tell us again why we shouldn’t take that easy way out, by rejecting disruptive changes?”

  “Let Jeff address that, please,” April said.

  “We did not just scatter in fright without thinking,” Jeff said. “It would have served our purposes better to have stayed together. We had a unified Assembly on all three habs voting the same issues. Now that we are apart, we will naturally change and diverge for each of us to deal with our unique circumstances. We recognized it would be a greater burden to dump all three habs on one populated planet. But we were not prepared to all go together to a planet without a compatible biosphere.

  “Home has an older, closer, relationship with Fargone, but we didn’t send it there. Fargone has a mature shipbuilding industry that wouldn’t welcome new competition. Home also has advanced clinics and practitioners of life extension therapies. Derfhome can benefit better from bringing both those businesses here where it is a fresh market.

  “Beta being newer has much less industry than Home and will be welcome at Fargone. They will be more of a market for Fargone goods than competitors. They also have a smaller population that is pretty much all life extended. That works better with Fargone’s very restrictive immigration policies. All that depends on Fargone recognizing those benefits and being persuaded.

  “Gamma has the most divergent population of all the habs. It has more people who are wealthy refugees wishing to leave Earth’s restrictive governments. That doesn’t mean they favor the same political model Home and Beta followed. Their votes in the Assembly were already diverging from the consensus of the older established habs.

  “I predict they will have the greatest exchange of people who want to relocate after this first emergency move to orbiting Mars. They will have people leave to go back to Earth, to the Moon, and other Habs. Some few I expect to come all the way to rejoin Home or Beta. They were placed by Mars as a temporary measure. We’ll move them if they can arrive at a consensus and request it, but I’m not sure where they might pick. I couldn’t start to predict how their Assembly, separate from Home and Beta, would vote on the matter. They may even try to remain there, which I would consider a mistake.”

  “And if we say we don’t want you, keep on moving, what would you do?” the Third Mother asked.

  “My thinking at the moment is that I would present to the Assembly a motion to seek refuge at New Japan,” Jeff said. “They are isolationist, but Home started as Mitsubishi 3. We have a greater number of residents able to speak Japanese and familiar with their customs. If they don’t want us, I’d suggest moving on to the material rich brown dwarfs Lee discovered, or press on the rest of the way to Far Away if the Badgers would host us. We have several options and maybe somebody else will have a better idea.”

  “That last is an audacious plan,” the Third Mother said.

  “Is it? I have no idea how our Assembly would receive it. The journey is long, and you’ve made an agreement with them about a frontier. I’d send a delegation ahead to get permission before doing that, However, I think they might very well want us if asked.”

  “Why? What do you have to offer them Lee’s Little Fleet didn’t?”

  “Protection for one thing. As good as the Little Fleet demonstrated or better. They have the constant problem of the Biters and now they’ve seen other starfaring species exist that should worry them as well. Lee’s fleet didn’t want a mercenary role.”

  Jeff shut up, aware he was on the edge of over-sell if he kept babbling.

  “Where would you position yourself if you stay?” the First Mother asked.

  “Keeping in mind we already have a space station,” the Third chimed in.

  “If you embrace the idea of us staying, we would hope to orbit Derfhome rather than off in another part of your system,” Jeff said. “If you want us off in your outer system, I think most Homies would take that as a sign they aren’t really welcome but merely tolerated.

  “I’d suggest in a trailing or leading position to your existing station. It would greatly facilitate business between them if they were within line of sight of each other, not around the curve of the planet. Our three habs danced around a common center in a halo orbit, on the far side of the Moon from Earth. That worked very well. There was a dedicated shuttle making cheap circuits of the habs several times a day. They were all close enough to share a common data network with a tolerable lag.”

  “We found to our astonishment when we visited the heavens that we have Humans who though not a clan member, consider themselves citizens of Derfhome by residence in a trade town. How would your station dwellers see themselves?” the Second Mother asked.

  “I can’t answer how they may like to see themselves,” Jeff replied. “Especially twenty or thirty years from now. Home has its own political system just as you do. We do have those who consider themselves citizens of both Home and Central. One a democr
acy and one a monarchy. Neither has prohibited dual citizenship. Lee is a citizen of Fargone, I understand. If she can balance her responsibilities to Red Tree and Fargone, how much easier the limited rules of a trade town and Home citizenship?

  “I can’t see any great influx of Humans invited to be subjects of the Mothers when their skills are so unsuited to clan life. But your political system isn’t that different from Heather’s Central. She lacks the advantage of three sitting executives, but she does have Peers and others who give her counsel. The biggest difference is that her subjects are free to find their personal advantage in most economic matters without considering if it supports the community. Yet, if most of them manage to thrive by their choices, how could the community suffer for their successes?” Jeff asked. “There will always be a few who fail, self-directed or supervised.”

  Lee had never seen all three Mothers blink in astonishment together, struggling to come to terms with such a radical idea. She had to struggle a little not to smile at it. Could they possibly think the vast majority of clan Derf would pick inappropriately to work or live in poverty without their direction? The fact that Jeff went right on talking, oblivious to the damage he was doing to their worldview, made it even funnier.

  “Of course, you can simply decree dual citizenship is prohibited if you wish. I don’t think that would be a deal-breaker from our side. April and I intend to buy properties on Beta and perhaps Gamma. I can see a time when between Home, Central, Beta, Gamma, Hawaii, Derfhome, and Fargone we could end up citizens of seven or more states.”

  “We’ll discuss these ideas,” the First Mother promised. Jeff looked disappointed because that signaled nothing would be decided today, unaware of how his casual remarks had rattled them. His face was so readable the First Mother added. “We are appreciative and friendly to Central and Home as allies. This is a step closer. It’s a sharing of common territory. We have to consider the past immediate consequences and consider second and third-order effects. We are deciding for other clans who may disagree and challenge us.