Carinae Sector: 01 - Traders' Scourge - Part 2 - Maveen Offer (29 page)

‘As I mentioned earlier, all our males are experiencing an increase in aggression, though this has not reached a dangerous level as yet and is not likely for some time. However it would be a tragedy to safely regain space only to have fighting start between crew members. Interestingly, Garendestat states that he feels no increase in aggression and this concerns me. For either something is wrong with most of our other males or Garendestat?’

Samantha considered the latest observation Emeria had made as they reached the outside of the ship to rejoin the others.

                                                            ***

Captain Narindestat stood quietly with Garendestat and Halbindestat at one end of the awning, as Steve conferred with the senior members of the mission team. They were all suitably impressed by the inspection, even if the weapons technology had been hard to follow. Samantha and Rebecca walked under the awning and went to greet their respective partners, as Emeria moved across to quietly talk to Captain Narindestat and Garendestat.

‘Captain we gave made progress on the biology and medical areas that concern us due to the assistance of the humans. I will give a full formal briefing on our findings at the end of the day.’

Captain Narindestat was intrigued by the medical officers’ quick report, and he drew Emeria to one side to obtain the gist of the morning discoveries in several whispered paragraphs. He looked thoughtful for several moments, then moved closer to the humans and gave a low formal bow.

‘I thank you on behalf of my crew as your medical technology has been of great assistance to us.’

Steve and his senior team members had in the meantime got a brief run down of the mornings discoveries. Steve had yet again reminded them all of their agreement to keep the tattoo losses confidential, and the reasons why they had to do so.

‘Well Captain hopefully this will go some way to assuring you of our good intentions. Now we should start discussing this two part deal you are recommending. However I must tell you we are still wary of the Maveen, due in part to our limited involvement with them.’

Captain Narindestat gave a start, but recovered before casually picked up a large drink he had placed on a nearby table. He sipped the drink thoughtfully as he looked at the humans under the awning for several moments before he replied.

‘I will go and talk with the Maveen lead probe again, and my engineers will raise one edge of the awning to admit the probe. Now I will not guarantee that the lead probe will even talk to you. Please wait here and I will be back soon.’

The Trader captain replaced his drink and determinedly strode from the awning over to the line of resting Maveen probes.

                                                            ***

The Maveen lead probe watched as the Trader captain approached with no great surprise. The group of probes had evaluated that they would have to take a riskier line of involvement with the humans to achieve their goals. Captain Narindestat strode up to probe five and brusquely called out.

‘Are you awake and are you going to help with these negotiations in a direct manner now?’

The lead probe replied in a calm metallic voice as it rose several meters into the air.

‘Captain, you address probe five not me. Note that it was always my intention to help in the negotiations.’

Captain Narindestat stifled a snort of indignation as he now addressed the lead probe.

‘How am I supposed to know one identical Maveen probe from another? Now don’t answer that, as I have to bring you into this meeting with the humans as soon as possible.’

The lead probe considered the Trader captain for several seconds even though it already knew what it wanted to say.

‘Captain, we have sampled the biology of this world, and we have found that the humans have not looked after the ecology of this planet since their industrial revolution. Also we are aware that the interaction with the galactic races will increase risks on human survival for many centuries to come. We will therefore increase the size of our deal to address these two issues.’

The probe then listed the changes in the deal to the dumbfounded Trader captain. Narindestat responded in a flurry of gestures, and sharp comments, as he paced up and down in front of the lead probe.

‘You cannot be serious in what you are suggesting in your changes. The galactic races will turn up in force for sure if you go ahead with your final proposal. The original plan was better as it could be argued that what came here on our ship left on our ship. I am starting to think this world is affecting your programming.’

The lead probe regarded Captain Narindestat in silence for several more seconds. The Trader had moved closer to a secret the Maveen would never reveal, but he could not be permitted to even surmise in that direction. The Maveen lead probe now gave a shrill beep of annoyance. The tactic seemed to once again have the desired affect, and the Trader captain stopped pacing around to balefully glare back. Satisfied now on Captain Narindestat’s discomfort, the Maveen lead probe spoke again.

‘Captain, do not worry about the details of our deal. We only need to add one ship to give you the required means to leave this world quickly. Here is how we are going to do this deal, and I will then address the humans as well as I want no misunderstandings on their part.’

Captain Narindestat listened for several minutes as the lead probe repeated his earlier points and added extra information.

                                                            ***

Garendestat looked over at the Maveen probes as he heard the shrill beep from the lead probe. He then looked over at the chief engineer who tried to ignore what he had just heard. Garendestat was not in such a conciliatory mood, and he dryly observed to both the humans and the Traders what he felt was occurring.

‘It looks like father is having another troubled meeting with the lead probe. I am sure the Maveen are programmed to be both demanding and obtuse, and we are not the only ones to think of them in this manner.’

Halbindestat gave Garendestat a measured look, who for his part just adjusted his arm sling. The chief engineer decided to let his comment slide, as the lieutenant was not on the ship, even if he was on duty. Emeria looked at Garendestat and he locked eyes with her for several moments. He then smiled and moved to the edge of the awning to further regard the Maveen probes.

Rebecca hauled out her data tablet and moved across to speak with Samantha. Samantha looked at the now open data tablet, and then her eyes sought out Emeria, who soon crossed the several meters separating them. Emeria glanced at the images on the data tablet as Samantha asked her a question.

‘Emeria, has your race ever experienced nitrogen narcosis?’

Emeria looked at the images of Garendestat when he first arrived on the human ship and it all started to make sense from her perspective. Garendestat saw them looking at the data tablet and moved across to stand by Emeria’s side. Samantha looked up at his much taller height and gave him a smile as she spoke.

‘Garendestat, did you have any pains in your joints and a bad headache as you ascended into shallower depths or immediately afterwards?’

Garendestat reached into a large hip pocket on his uniform to fetch his view finder as he replied.

‘I certainly did experience those symptoms, though my suit protected me by pressurising my body to compensate. I guess the compensation may not have been adequate at the time. Note that my view finder has a copy of the suit data for analysis.’

Emeria sequestered the view finder and in moments was viewing the air pressure profile. A couple of short intakes of breath indicated both her concern and panic as she fought to calm her emotions. Samantha asked the question that concerned her as Emeria now lent against Garendestat for support.

‘So is the suit data indicating both oxygen and nitrogen over pressures for your race?’

Emeria nodded and then replied after a few more moments to compose herself.

‘Yes the suit did a remarkable job of keeping him alive. He experienced a near lethal dose of oxygen and nitrogen poisoning. No wonder you could not get much out of him over the first day or so.’

Samantha then drew an interesting conclusion from the information.

‘So Garendestat is the only one to both experience an over pressure and to not experience any increases in aggression. I think that this is significant as it can be a major source of trauma for humans as well.’

Garendestat studiously avoided making a reply, as he was watching Captain Narindestat led the Maveen lead probe underneath the now raised awning. The two human medics and Emeria moved to one side and whispered amongst themselves as they looked in turn at the data tablet and the view finder. The Maveen probe halted after partially entering the awning and came to rest on the ground.

                                                            ***

Captain Narindestat straightened his ornate jacket and called the assorted assembly of humans, Traders and the sole Maveen to order. Steve had just walked back in with the other members of the human mission team. He had been off again inspecting the two damaged sneak ships and the equipment stockpile with his mission team and several Trader crew members. The Trader captain stood in front of the Maveen lead probe and turned to address the meeting.

‘Now that we are all assembled here I ask that only the lead probe, Steve and myself speak initially as there will be time for questions later hopefully. Lead probe, I do not want any shrill noises and remember you promised to answer all reasonable questions from the humans.’

Steve and the lead probe gave curt replies and the Trader captain continued to speak.

‘The deal involving the two damaged sneak ships and the equipment stockpile is understood, has been agreed to, and is a prerequisite for another deal with the Maveen. We are all in agreement that if you do not like their deal, both we and the Maveen are still free to complete our own arrangements and leave your planet.’

Captain Narindestat was quietly hopeful that this would be the case, as he was still very concerned about the humans being attacked by other galactic races. However the lead probe’s instructions had been explicit and he continued to speak.

‘The Maveen offer this deal, and it has to be decided upon urgently and in confidence due to our need to leave your world as soon as we can do so. I understand that you have no singular planetary authority but I recommend you accept this deal. The Maveen are known in the galaxy as the eternal helpers or the makers of worlds, and it is in this role that their offer is made.’

The Trader captain paused for effect and eyed the several video recorders the humans had trained on him, before continuing again in a stronger voice.

‘The Maveen offer the humans of Earth, as one people at peace, another world to immediately colonise over several days only. The world is like your planet, but towards the edge of the galaxy and knowing the Maveen, it will be very suitable to your needs. All you have to do is to assemble all that is going to this new world at agreed marshalling points and the Maveen will take you to this world. The only limitations are that no nuclear weapons are to be taken to this world and the weight limit is ten thousand tonnes per item. To be a viable colony you are entitled to send several million people to this new world.’

As Captain Narindestat paused, Steve took the opportunity to speak.

‘But how are you going to do this lead probe? I see no ship apart from the Trader main ship and yet you said the colonisation of this world would occur very quickly?’

The lead probe now came active, and a thin blue light painted an image of the galaxy on the underneath of the awning as the probe addressed the meeting.

‘We are Maveen, a leading galactic race and we use several forms of advanced transportation. We have hyper gate technology that will allow you to step through one gate and be instantly transferred to another world. The limitations are due to size and power of the gate we can make on the surface of a planet due to gravity. For in space we can make far larger gates. We have brought one gate ship with us and we will then bring through many other gate ships and probes to conduct our end of the deal by forming multiple gates.’

The Trader captain thanked the lead probe for the explanation and continued on again.

‘Now you will need to send through as much as possible at each of the marshalling points to create a self sufficient colony. Your race then must be prepared to have no contact with the colony for at least several hundred years or possibly forever. We will not come back to Earth any time soon as it is too close to the centre of the galaxy for us to safely access frequently. However, I can give you my personal assurance that my ship will be a frequent visitor to the colony world. Finally the Maveen will temporarily be on your world in large numbers and you cannot attack them, as they will use lethal force to defend themselves.’

Steve looked around at the amazed looks on the faces of his mission team as he listed out two more questions.

‘So what is our end of the deal with the Maveen? Also the scale of what you are proposing is immense, and it could take weeks of planning just to get everything organised. Do not think I am refusing the deal because I am not. But then what do you mean by the statement of no contact for several hundred years or forever?’

Now the lead probe made a lengthy reply, and the metallic voice sounded cool and alien to human ears.

‘The main concession we want from your race is a serious commitment to address the ecological damage you are doing to your world. Now even if the best results for the transfer do occur, it could take several hundred years for both planets to obtain the required levels of technology to restore contact with each other. We will help the new colony, but are not planning on returning here to your world. This is because a formal alliance with your species offers the Maveen no benefits and could risk your own survival. The second part of the earlier statement has a dire explanation, in that either or both worlds could be destroyed in the future due to galactic conflict outside our abilities to influence or mitigate. We seek not to alarm you, but our own presence here has added to a risk that began the moment the pandemic engulfed your world. We offer this deal to give the human race two chances at survival rather than one, and we admittedly gain from it ourselves by being able to quickly leave your world.’