Family Law 3: Secrets in the Stars (11 page)

"Somewhere on the far side of four hours," Brownie replied. "Even a lavish waste of fuel would only shave a half hour or so off that," he said before Lee could ask.

* * *

The Caterpillars seemed stumped at what the sealed bag had to do with anything. It was picked up, rolled over to examine it on all sides, and set back down. The ground coffee in a snap-top container, however, produced a flurry of activity. Several new Caterpillars showed up with new instruments and took samples. As close as Jon could tell they only needed a single grit of the coffee to put in the new machines. They were bulkier than the hand-held, rather tentacle-held, instruments so presumably they were of greater analytical ability.

Now that he knew what to look for, Jon realized the alien tentacle waving in front of the device was controlling the display of the instrument. From the side he couldn't tell what it was projecting. If there was no keyboard maybe the waving had a data input mode too.

Jon was relieved because they removed both the cup and sample of ground. Once you took the trade item away the deal was finalized. So far they hadn't tried to go back on any trade where they had removed the offering indicating acceptance. He technically could remove the bag of coffee if they didn't, Jon supposed, but it didn't feel right.

"Captain, I suspect they are not familiar with our packaging and have no idea what the bag of coffee represents," Jon said.

"What do you propose to do, Mr. Burris?"

"I think in the interests of a fair trade I should open it for them. The color and odor should inform them it is the source of the ground form they have. Lord knows it is a small enough trade for the tech we are getting, and if they really don't want it I suppose we can still recover it."

There was an unusually long pause for Lord Byron. "Yes, although just as you didn't care to drink coffee that had been stirred with a tentacle, we might not care to use the beans if they have been examined too... intimately. But that's a minor quibble. Please, go ahead and show them how to open the bag."

Jon went to the trading blanket and picked up the bag. He wondered if he'd have to wave or something, but a Caterpillar turned away from the new activity and observed him, probably his usual handler. He hadn't been watching as closely as he should have to be sure.

He pointed to the notch in the metalized plastic and, grasping it firmly between forefinger and thumb, ripped the top edge of the bag off. The seal inside had a sliding sealer and locked with an audible click at the end of its travel. Jon demonstrated opening it and reclosing it. Then when he opened it again he took a few beans in his hand, displaying them on his palm, and tilted the bag to show the Caterpillar the rest.

The Caterpillar looked them all over, standing much closer than he had dared before. Jon caught a little whiff of ammonia again. The alien came close enough to use one of its very thin tentacles to pick up a single coffee bean. He was so meticulous Jon never felt it touch his hand, just the bean. Apparently they were just as fussy and cautious about touching as humans. Jon wondered if they'd seen him actually take a sip of his espresso given that aversion or didn't understand his lips were more than a speaking orifice. The bean disappeared to the lower edge of the alien's face. They must have a mouth or a nose down there but it wasn't obvious. He was tempted to get down on his belly to see, but dignity won out over curiosity. He wasn't sure his captain would approve.

After a few seconds there was a distinct >crunch< and the alien froze in place for an instant. When he moved again he tilted his head and looked at Jon eyeball to eyeball. It was the first time he'd received such a direct stare from one of them. The hoot he blasted out caught Jon by surprise and startled him. A couple of the other aliens came over and they all looked.

His alien daintily took the remaining three beans in his hand and, turning, distributed them to the others, who still were not as bold as him around the Human. They all treated them like candies and none took any over to the mobile lab equipment. Only when Jon put the bag back down on the blanket did they gather some beans to take over to the researchers. Some of them definitely never made it all the way. His special alien took the bag of beans with both main tentacles and carried it to one of the floating carts. He left two other aliens standing on each side of it. Jon wondered if they were guards.

"You don't have to worry about any beans coming back," Jon told Lord Byron.

"I saw that. Looks like they're pretty popular. Well, maybe we don't have to teach them how to brew it. I'd like to send two crewmen out with a cart and remove the alien video gear before they decide we don't want it. I don't want to go through timidly moving it toward the cart like they did, and waiting to see if they object. Ours was a gift, these were bought fair and square."

"Please do. I'll stay close here, and if they look like they want to recover it I'll try to dissuade them. If they get insistent I'll show them a deal is a deal, and go take the coffee back."

"Very good, Mr. Burris, but don't get insistent to the point of getting hurt," he warned.

"They seem reluctant to actually touch me. I don't think they'd want that kind of contact. I can't imagine them wrestling it away from me."

"I don't know, they seem pretty fond of it. I'm afraid these fellows are well ahead of us in certain areas. I don't want to provoke them, but we
must
insist on respect and being treated as peers from the start," Lord Byron said.

"Perhaps. Don't forget they thought the self-cleaning glass should be a big deal we'd want. I'd be surprised if we aren't ahead in some areas. I have noticed nothing in the hold and none of their equipment seems to be painted. Some discoveries are a predictable progression, and some are serendipity. "

"I think he is a Fargoer," Lord Byron quipped. He was taking a good natured poke at their strange customs in names. He might really know a Fargoer named Serendipity. "Your pickup team is out of the lock, Mr. Burris."

Jon looked over his shoulder and there were two crew in work coveralls, each pulling a hand cart like a heavy duty child's play wagon, along with padded blankets. They walked up and past Jon with complete indifference from the Caterpillars, and put the alien gear on the carts with no objections.

"Captain, if they ignore me for another ten minutes or so may I assume our business is concluded and return to the shuttle?" Jon asked.

"You can stand and fold your chair up right now," Lord Byron said. "If they don't take a hint and demonstrate they have other business, come on back in. I'd say we've accomplished our mission and more. I'm not sure everybody in our fleet is going to be thrilled to find out the Caterpillars failed to reproduce our video because it was too primitive, but it sure looks that way to me."

* * *

The shuttle sat patiently. They didn't power up anything. The Caterpillars took their time piling everything back on their hover carts and exited the hold. Lord Byron called all the crew to flight stations when the hold pressure started dropping, but still didn't activate anything that could be sensed externally. If the aliens changed their minds and decided to come out for another pow-wow he'd send somebody out to treat with them.

When the big door swept open they weren't surprised to find they were still in the same system with their fleet. They expected to hear the familiar radio chatter. What they didn't expect was the shuttle from
The Champion William
hanging right outside the hatch asking them if they'd care to stay a bit longer and help the other crew interact with the aliens on another mission.

"Gerald," Lord Byron called to the officer on coms. "Send as much of our video and voice records of the trade to the
High Hopes
as you can before the hatch closes again. And inquire who is senior in charge here, me or the commander of the other shuttle."

"Of course we shall be delighted to lend our expertise," Lord Byron told Burt Wong from
The Champion William.
The fact Captain Fenton had also sent his XO to command the shuttle spoke to how important he regarded the mission. Lord Byron wondered if he was rated to pilot it himself or just command it. It was awkward they were both XOs and he hoped Gordon had thought to designate a leader. If they had to decide it would be awkward.

"Commander Gordon says you are the lead, and Jon number two, since you guys have all the experience. He says enjoy your task force command, and suggests you refrain from fleet maneuvers no matter how big their hold is," Gerald relayed.

"Ah, a disappointment, but we'll restrain ourselves," Lord Byron said, amused.

"Mr. Wong," he sent to the other shuttle, "I assume you are recording the transmission we are sending out. If you would please take time to review the material after you are grounded, and share any thoughts you have on our trading session."

"Aye, sir. We'll start looking at it even as it's streaming," Wong agreed. The other shuttle drifted down to the deck gently as they watched. They could have put three of them end to end and not been crowded before the far bulkhead.

"Got it all sent," Gerald said as the hatch slid closed. "Apparently they don't mind us holding a party here."

"I'm sure if they weren't welcome the little tug drones that snatched the Biter ship so easily would have blocked the new shuttle at the hatch, if they didn't want them to enter," Lord Byron reminded him. "Or evicted us," he added after a little thought.

"I've been wondering where they keep those," Gerald remarked. "I didn't see where they docked when they got through pushing on
The Champion William
before
.
I don't see any hatches to indicate they are stored in here, and there's nothing like a Caterpillar shuttle. This may be a hold rather than a hangar, even given the huge external hatch."

"We have never seen a Caterpillar shuttle. It's an assumption they use them," Lord Byron said.

"What else
could
they use? Do you think they land those kilometer long spaceships on planetary surfaces?" Gerald asked.

* * *

"I'm embarrassed," Thor admitted.

"Well, that's remarkable all on its own," Lee said.

"Yes, it does happen, rarely," Thor said. "You just don't see it that often to recognize it, because I'm so rarely wrong."

"That sort of ruins any humility the admission held," Lee complained.

"Lord Byron was right," Thor said, ignoring Lee. "We are still close enough to analog video and vacuum tube scanning screens that we recognized them when we saw the Bunnies using them on the way out. If we were just a little further advanced we might not have been able to cobble up some sort of conversion scheme to display their transmissions.

"If we'd needed to have the fabbers make a cathode ray tube I doubt we have anybody on board who is sufficiently familiar with them, or has enough engineering data to reproduce them. I can't imagine we have actual plans. The Caterpillars must be in much the same situation needing to make a plain old 2D flat screen to display our video on. I just hope we can figure out how their stuff works when we get a close look at that gear."

"Maybe now that they have a couple screens they can just use them to view our transmissions. Does what we gave them have all the processing they need onboard to do that from an antenna signal?" Lee asked.

"Yes it does,
if
they realize that, we'll see. I'm curious if they will set up the camera and use it to transmit to us primitives," Gordon said sardonically.

"Don't worry, we can still sell them basket work and fetishes," Lee predicted.

Chapter 9

"That's remarkable," Burt Wong said after watching the recording of the aliens taking the fleet's video gear away and trading their own. "They might have let you have their gear as an even swap. However I understood your exchange with Jon Burris. It was certainly brilliant, and prudent, to make sure they let you keep it as a trade."

"
They
initiated interest in the coffee," Lord Byron pointed out. "It was a fortunate accident Jon took a cup out with him as he was sleep deprived and needed the caffeine. However, he seemed to perk right up at all the activity he precipitated."

"Gordon made clear he wanted Jon to tackle this next problem too," Wong said. "I hope he's as resourceful with it. We have that strange little machine the Caterpillars gave
The Champion William
in trade. Miss Anderson proposed we walk around it and look helpless and clueless to see if the Caterpillars won't take pity on us and show how to use the bloody thing."

"I can do helpless and clueless. You just drag one wing like it is broken and walk in circles," Jon said, hanging one arm limply. "We may find out if they are predators if it excites them."

"Dear God, I hope you don't joke about that with Ha-bob-bob-brie," Wong said.

"You underestimate him," Jon said, smiling. "I've been making all sorts of cracks about flightless birds and he handles it just fine, except he's developed an obsession with penguins, and is talking about buying a tuxedo."

Wong looked alarmed, with his mouth hanging open, then dubious. Finally you could see him decide to drop it when he closed his mouth and composed himself. "I'll have the machine at our lock whenever you want to take it. The original dirt they supplied is still in their bag, and the soil we picked up locally is in a similar plastic slider bag with handles."

"Thank you. We'll be over and pick it up when the Caterpillars run the pressure back up to where I don't need a suit," Jon told him.

When he broke the connection Lord Byron looked at him oddly. "You've really been needling Ha-bob-bob-brie about being flightless?"

"Yes, but he makes all sorts of tactless comments to me about hairless apes," Jon said. "Ha-bob-bob-brie has a
much
better sense of humor than Mr. Wong."

"I find it remarkable that is possible, Mr. Burris," Lord Byron said.

"It's even worse than you think. They have three sexes and lay eggs, but we've been trading dirty jokes and they're
funny
."