Steven Gordon 3: The Modloch Empire (19 page)

‘
When you helped your
Human friend to seal this deal, did you suspect then that they were
planning to leave?’

The Chief’s head dropped, ‘Yes sire, I
did. There was already plenty of evidence to suggest it. I also
knew of the difficulty they were having and why they wished to
leave. I thought maybe if I helped them Charlie wouldn’t leave,
that they would be able to stay.’

‘
If the venture was a
success.’

‘
Charlie tested the
music out on my staff. They all loved it. I knew he was up to
something then. I knew it would be a success or I wouldn’t have
bothered. I didn’t realize at the time I would be doing something
to displease my Emperor. I can do nothing more than apologise
sire.’

‘
Your apology is
accepted Chief. You are in my eyes completely exonerated. We have
all underestimated the Human race. I myself find them quite
fascinating. I can see now the plans I had in mind for them were
completely futile. None of them would have came to fruition. So how
do we bind them to us Chief? Can you answer that
question?’

‘
Be a genuine friend
to them sire. Charlie saved my life, yet I have found if I wish for
his help, all I have to do is ask. I am the one beholden to him,
yet this venture was the very first time he ever asked for my help.
I didn’t feel obligated to help sire, I genuinely wanted to
help.’

‘
Is friendship so
important to them?’

‘
I believe so
sire.’

‘
With this single
bank account, they now have a foothold in this universe. If I
ordered it closed now, they would find out and begin to consider us
an adversary. Until now they have had nothing they could offer any
race. Our laws have until now prevented them trading anything they
have of value. The thing is Chief, they don’t even realise what
they have yet.’

‘
Do you mean paper
sire?’

‘
That is exactly what
I mean Chief. They cannot trade their precious metals or minerals.
We hold the contracts for all seeds and grasses. This paper,
however, is a completely different commodity. There are no laws or
restrictions on it. They could also use their own banks for trade.
It would mean a steady income of all universal currencies. Once
they are established as a rare commodity trader, they would be
allowed to open accounts here.’

‘
How is that
sire?’

‘
Rare commodities
comes under the same laws as music and arts.’

‘
Ah! I
understand.’

‘
The thing is, if the
Humans approach it correctly, they could earn enough money to
actually establish a bank.’

‘
You mean, if they
have enough universal money to trade with sire?’

‘
Exactly. Money likes
money.’

‘
There is only one
thing though – one Human already knows the value of
paper.’

‘
Let me guess:
Charlie?’

‘
Yes sire. He had
paper copies of copyright laws and a Modloch translation. The
company owner told him how precious paper was. Charlie made a gift
of them to the company director to help sweeten the
deal.’

‘
Very smart of him.
In that case, I had better move quickly. It may take time for news
from him to travel to the top. If I tell the King then he will go
directly to the politicians. I can also help them establish trade
properly and in a way that will be beneficial to the Human race as
a whole. Do you think that will earn me their friendship,
Chief?’

‘
I think you are
certainly on the right track, sire.’

‘
Is there anything
else you can think of that might help?’

‘
Integration sire.
Some form of joint task force. Training places in our academies and
on board our ships. We are an aggressive species sire, but the
Humans are more so. We work well together. They have another
commodity that isn’t bound by any universal laws.’

‘
What is
that.’

‘
Creatures they call
pets sire.’

‘
What on Modloch is a
pet!?’

CHAPTER 24

It had all gone horribly wrong. When
Buzz had told Steven, Charlie refused to accept his apology. Steven
had tried again when they had met in the dinning hall. Steven had
kept his voice low but Charlie had told him very loudly to stick
his apology up his arse and walked out. He was now at a loss.
Amanda firmly believed that Charlie needed to be hospitalised. The
other diners had all looked embarrassed. Now he was waiting for
Charlie in his office and had no idea what to do or what to
say.

The lift slid down and Charlie
appeared. He looked round. Steven expected him to be angry but he
seemed anything but.

He stepped off the lift. ‘Now was this
so bloody hard Stevie?’

Steven’s jaw dropped, ‘What?’

‘
This, a wee quiet
word. Was it so bloody hard?’

‘
Uh...
No.’

‘
There you go. Just
think how much embarrassment you would have saved yourself if you
had just tried this a wee bit earlier.’

Steven wasn’t sure what to say, ‘I
don’t really understand you Charlie.’

‘
Let me put you in
the picture. You found out I had sold music to a Modloch music
company. You immediately jumped to the conclusion that I had been
making a few bob on the side. You got pissed off and gathered all
the senior staff together to give me a bollocking, and more than
likely kick my arse off the ship. Right or wrong?’

Steven flushed bright red, ‘Something
like that.’

‘
OK, let’s throw a
wee scenario at you. Let’s just imagine for one minute that when
you found out and came to your conclusion you hadn’t acted like a
tit and instead pulled me down here for a wee chat. I am sure if
you had contained yourself for a few minutes, and said something
like, “Hey Charlie, I heard you have gone into the music business
bud, what’s going on?” I would have replied with “Hey Stevie, great
news, I managed to get round all these bloody awkward laws and
opened up a bank account for the fleet. Here let me show you the
details.” Now how do you think that would have panned
out?’

‘
Oh... Well, better’
The penny dropped.

‘
I would imagine so.
How many times have you pulled that little stunt, bollocking people
in front of others? Once? Twice? Many times?’ Charlie sat down in
the chair opposite Steven. ‘There are ways of doing things properly
Stevie, and you either don’t know them, or you are being an
ignorant prick.’ Charlie sat back and waited for a
reply.

Steven tried to gather his shattered
thoughts, ‘I was just trying to apologise to you in the
canteen.’

‘
Aye I know. You
tried to make an arse out of me Stevie, instead I made an arse out
of you twice. It seems you didn’t learn your lesson the first time
round. If you find yourself in a situation like this again you
invite them down for a wee talk. Then if you think it necessary you
bring in the big guns. After you have tried to find out all of the
relevant facts first. Forearmed is forewarned and all
that.’

Steven slumped. ‘OK, I get it
Charlie.’

‘
I’m glad you do
Stevie. You never know, you might just stop losing so many
people.’

‘
You
think?’

‘
Oh aye, I do.’
Charlie leaned forward, ‘Do you think I’ve been idle since I
arrived here?’ He didn’t wait for an answer, ‘I have spent twenty
years in the army. It is my job to look after a platoon of thirty
men, to wipe their noses or boot their arses when needed. I have
broken in a half dozen sprog officers and treated them exactly the
same. I like to believe that when they left the platoon they were
better men for it. Now I have you. You and this ship saved my life
and I owe you big time. When you brought me here you thought you
were protecting me. Looking after me. I am going to return the
favour, repay my debt by making you the best damn officer I ever
worked with. I have been reading the minds of the people in this
ship, and those you have come into contact with while I’ve been
here. I’m not talking about raking through their minds like a thief
in the night, I am talking about those thoughts that are pushed
out, shouted out if you want, when you were in their
presence.

‘
You have absolutely
no problems with the military contingent on board. They adore you.
Think you are the bee’s knees. They like the way you make a
decision and stick with it. They admire the way you put yourself in
harm’s way and take no shit from anyone. They don’t mind if you
bawl them out, they are used to it.

‘
The civilians on
board this ship view you in an entirely different way. Many think
you are an arrogant arsehole. They are aware that you never
completed whatever course you were doing at college before your
accident. They are also aware that you have never bothered to try
and finish it. Of all of the civilians on board this ship, you are
by far the least qualified. You don’t even write any scientific
papers, it is as though you deem yourself above it. None of that
may be true of course but that is exactly how they feel. Of course,
many of the positions on board this ship have been taken over by
youngsters at the academy who have more of a military background,
but there is still a core of civilians that have stuck by you. You
may feel that you have nothing to prove, and that they and many
others were fools for ridiculing you and those papers you did
publish when you were young. You are now writing whole new chapters
in astral navigation, but not a single thing have you put forward
for your peers to peruse. Do you really think that is the right and
proper thing to do?’

‘
I don’t really have
the time to piss about Charlie.’ Steven shrugged.

‘
Don’t give me that
pish: make the time. You are riding roughshod over these people
Stevie, and you know it. You think you don’t care about roughing
their feathers, and you won’t be the first genius to feel that way
either. Before you go any farther though, why don’t you take a wee
look at some of the history books, and find out exactly what
happened to those people? It will always come back and bite you on
the arse. They have their pride Stevie; they have worked very hard
to get where they are today. They will turn on you and they can
hurt you.’ Charlie stood, ‘Here endeth the first lesson. I want you
to have a wee think about the things I have said and remember this
one thing: I am no bloody genius, but I could see most of this
without reading a single mind.’

He made it half way to the door, ‘Oh!
by the way. Before I forget. The Modloch think paper is a precious
commodity. They stopped using it a thousand years ago. They now
only have it in museums. A single piece of blank paper can be worth
thousands, and I can’t find it on the prohibited list either. You
might want to have someone check it out.’

Charlie left and a few minutes later
Buzz appeared, ‘Just come to check you were all right partner.’

Steven slid down in his seat, ‘Yeah I’m
fine.’

‘
Did you have it out
with him?’

Steven shook his head, ‘Barely got a
word in.’

‘
You don’t look
great.’

‘
My fellow countrymen
have a saying for how I am feeling, I think they call it being
“reamed”. How could that have gone so wrong? I was supposed to be
giving him the lecture!’

Buzz burst out laughing, ‘Yeah, that’s
pretty much how I felt after talking to him.’

‘
What did he say to
you?’

‘
Lots and lots and
lots. I had the pleasure of his company for a lot longer than you
did. There is one thing he said to me that keeps going round and
round in my head though.’

‘
What’s
that?’

‘
He said when you
were both young he used to protect you from the local bullies, but
he never protected you from yourself.’

‘
Did you understand
what he meant by that?’

‘
Yeah I
did.’

‘
Is that why you
decided that I should handle it myself?’

‘
Pretty
much.’

Steven sighed, ‘Do you think he is
going insane?’

‘
Oh hell
no!’

‘
Me neither. Thing is
Buzz, I know exactly what he means as well.’

‘
Was he the same way
as a kid?’

‘
Yeah, pretty much.
He is a little more articulate now though.’

‘
You know I didn’t
really like Charlie to begin with. I really didn’t want to like
him.’

‘
I think there are a
few others who feel the same.’

‘
I think he has
earned his spurs though.’

Steven suddenly sat up. ‘Oh shit!’

‘
What!’

‘
Paper.’

‘
What about
it?’

‘
Something Charlie
just said. We need to check it out.’

CHAPTER 25

Lady Jane sat uncomfortably on
the edge of a large couch, her most treasured possession in front
of her. She watched the Emperor with great suspicion. Her
encyclopaedia of the Earth’s solar system sat between them.

Mindful of Gairloch’s precautions and
of the bacteria the Chief Engineer had warned about, they had come
ready. The book was put into a unit and sterilised before the
Emperor would touch it. They just hadn’t realised how large the
book actually was. It didn’t fit into the sterilising unit, and
there was a frustrating half hour while they waited for one large
enough. When the light on the top glowed amber The Emperor’s
assistant had removed the book and then the box. The book was laid
down in front of the Emperor. His eyes devoured it for a long time
and he even wore a pair of dark gloves.