Trade World Saga 1: Manual Interpretation (35 page)

Captain UmBllatt was frustrated and he had a headache that hurt from the base of his oculars to his...feet. I didn't learn who had supplied these beings with their technology but it would cost them in negotiations. He looked forward to the upcoming meetings while his crew stayed fixed to the 'entertainment center'. He couldn't understand what was so fascinating even though the picture quality and animals were excellent...but...he jerked his eyes away and went in to prop himself up for a rest.

The posturing for the negotiations started immediately in the morning. Captain UmBllatt came in with two crewmembers and plopped against his props that he used instead of chairs. He started looking around and bellowed, "Are there no writing implements?"

Well...who would have thought that writing implements would have caused such consternation but they had. The Earth crew didn't know what the Ullumff used to write on or what they were used to writing with so he assumed that they would be bringing their own.

Andrew, Susan and Oshira, the diplomat from the first negotiations, had just arrived after a time-expanded two-day trip (for them). Andrew was perturbed, as he had expected to be introduced before any trouble began. Oshira leaned over to Andrew, seeing his discomfiture and said sotto voce, "It's an old ploy even on Earth. Find the one inconsequential thing you don't see and ask for it...it throws off the competition. "Take mine," Oshira said in Ullumff and handed the Captain a decent pen that you had to click downward to make the point appear. A station tech brought several pads of unlined paper and a container of pens and placed them next to the Captain and his aides. UmBllatt acted like the tech smelled and did not acknowledge the service as he snorted and stamped. Oshira noted the interplay and knew he had some tough, seasoned negotiators before. He relished the Ullumff language lesson and he had been one of the first to use the many learning cylinders when they had been first brought to Earth. He respected Andrew more now and knew he was more than just a bright kid... but... Andrew didn't have the pain of extensive experience -- that was why the World Government had sent him along to be an advisor. He appreciated going into this negotiation with the knowledge gleaned from the manuals that had been digitized at the first meeting with aliens on Earth. Andrew apparently didn't know that he had spent three months of accelerated practice and pronunciation practice with the latest language technology. Most helpful were repeated visits to Rett (with chilled fruit juice in hand) who was fairly fluent in Ullumff and several other languages though stubborn and always acted as if he was dying to go do some more research. He'd gone into negotiations cold before and he felt a little better prepared this time. He also appreciated that Colonel Kyger had not overreacted to the little excursion of the Captain last night but marveled at the physical prowess of these beings.

Andrew started to introduce everyone and then thought better of it. He then welcomed the others to this trade session, as outlined in the manuals, and started talking about the list of items that had been transmitted by their navigator as they were inbound to Earth.

UmBllatt listened and marveled at the simplicity of this...
pen
. These beings had many little ideas and he knew this trip was going to make him wealthy beyond his dreams. He'd split the trinkets with his crew but he'd take the technological ideas and sell those. He clicked the
pen
and grunted with pleasure as the young male outlined what Earth was currently looking to receive. Yes. He was going to be fabulously rich but how could these beings have been contacted by an advanced race and he hadn't known about it. He had better contact the ES when he returned; so, exploiters would not ruin this world. He grunted with amusement and asked the being to repeat his list again. Yes he could produce language recording and manuals...star charts...they can have my old ones for a price...very old ones.

Oshira knew that this being was very experienced and appreciated more than these Ullumff knew. He had many decades of dealing with truculent statesmen and generals and… you name it. They will not get the better of us...but...they must go away satisfied.

Andrew had just paused after reading the list of wanted information and trade goods. "I think I'll bring in one of those items now?" he said to Oshira.

"Yes, but why did you want those? You sure...?"

"Yes. I'll get one now. It has been altered to
Trade
symbols. Make a big deal of it...it's solar powered."

Oshira nodded and Andrew left only to return in seconds with a fancy gray plastic box. He then bowed and handed it to Oshira with two hands. Oshira took it gravely and placed the box on the table in front of him.

UmBllatt was puzzled at this action and was intrigued in spite of himself. What were these beings up to? The old one was about to speak... already I read some of their body language...a naive... helpless race.

"It is customary on our planet to give a gift to a trading partner to show good faith. The importance of the gift shows the value placed on the venture." Oshira gently picked up the box and laid it in front of UmBllatt. He had grave concerns about the propriety of this particular gift. "It is customary on our planet for the visiting trader to give something back of equal value...but you are not from our planet..."

Oshira's speech in Ullumff grunts and snorts was quite impressive to Ling who had been amazed at how fast Oshira had picked up
Trade
. What were these two up to?

Captain UmBllatt knew a classic
I want something of equal value in return
. Now he was obligated to give something back equal to their gift. A bribe for the trader who is working for someone else or a way to ease the negotiations...I am curious about what is in this lovely hide colored box. He turned the box around and over but did not see the way to open it and felt foolish. He snorted in disgust.

The navigator had seen the odd catch on one side of the box with lightly raised lettering in
Trade
!
Trade
!!! Though a tremendous breech of protocol -- he leaned out of his prop and popped open the box as instructed by the text on top.

UmBllatt was aside himself with fury and the navigator turned his oculars to the ground and hastily retreated.

Ling and the others at the table smelled the arousing cinnamon smell coming from the captain, inhaled deeply and smiled.

“Good grief. He smells divine,” Ling whispered to Brad.

The Ullumff captain calmed himself quickly when he noticed that all the beings around the table had caught his anger scent and bared their teeth in response. Calm...calmly. UmBllatt turned his attention back to the box. I will now see if I have to give something, worthwhile or worthless, to these primitives. Inside was another gray plastic...device of some kind with twenty-one small raised squares and a digit width strip of a different colored material above the squares. Each square had markings in
Trade
except for the strip across the top that appeared blank. On, he read: Off, Add, Subtract, Multiply, Divide, Equal and he couldn't believe it...Square Root. It had all twelve numerals clearly labeled in
Trade
!
Trade
!!! This proves that this race has had contact with an advanced race. Surely, this must be a hoax. He touched the square marked
On
. The strip on top displayed a placeholder symbol. He jerked the box closer and carefully examined the device for hidden wires connecting it to something else. He pressed the symbol for twelve and sure enough -- the strip across the top displayed the numerical twelve. It was amazing. He pressed
Multiply
and then he pressed
five
and then hesitatingly pressed
Equal
. It was amazing. It displayed sixty. How could this be?

The navigator smelled an intense scent of curiosity coming from the captain. What could have triggered that, he thought as he leaned forward and swiveled his oculars to see better. He couldn't believe it. The device was a calculator. He was amazed.

UmBllatt did not notice a way to open the device so it could be repaired with whatever it used to make it work. He turned the device around and studied it for seams or hinges or something to open it up.

The acrid, harsh smell hit the humans sitting around the table pretty hard. It was very sharp and unpleasant. They must have missed the mark with this gift idea. The captain appeared to toy with the device politely and then turned it over like he was looking to see if it would do anything else.

Oshira was angry at Andrew now. What a foolish idea...to give these beings a simple calculator...even though it had been altered to a base twelve numerical system with lettering in
Trade
. That smell must mean that they were angry or upset.

"If it is not correct I will take it back," Oshira said and leaned forward as if he intended to take it back.

UmBllatt jerked the calculator close to him and said, "It is...acceptable."

Andrew noted the captain's reaction in spite of the smell and smiled. He knew he had been right and smiled wider.

UmBllatt noticed that the young male was baring his teeth. I had better show my appreciation for this gift but I must ask a question first, "What powers this device? How long will it last?"

Andrew answered, "It is solar powered and will last many planetary revolutions unless it is hit sharply or stepped on."

Impossible, thought UmBllatt. This device is too small. "There is no sunlight here. How does it function?"

"It is powered by visible light and if there is enough light to see the display, then there is enough light to make it work."

UmBllatt felt chastised that these beings had given him such a precious gift. The technology this would release would be monumental. I must give them something precious in return. He switched to
Trade
as he slowly took the fiber-strand necklace with a walnut sized perforated, metal ball from around his neck. "Take this with my thanks." He handed the necklace to Oshira who took it with ill grace.

"What is it?"

"It is the dung of my father's, father's, father from my home planet."

Oshira nodded and everyone of the human's looked grave except Andrew who smiled hugely.

UmBllatt's crew were amazed at the captain's generosity and knew that the captain would not have given such a precious gift if he hadn't been stunned by the gift from these beings.

The room reeked with the acrid odor of surprise and the humans smelled the scent and looked more, and more solemn except Andrew who grinned from ear to ear.

UmBllatt noticed that the young one was still baring his teeth and questioned that his necklace was not enough of a gift in return -- he would have to stop now and go back and give more.

"We must retire to our ship for some time," he said in
Trade
to be polite. "We will return shortly."

Oshira was aghast as the alien assemblage leaned back, pivoted surprising gracefully and walked out.

Andrew guessed what the aliens were doing but it was plain that everyone else had a different interpretation of the alien's behavior. Now, all he had to do was convince them they didn't need to panic. Brad had started arguing with Oshira about what they should do next when Susan spoke up.

"Hey gang. Shouldn't we cut the field so those guys CAN go back to their ship. There’s the little matter of a hell of a stressed space field between them and their ship if I recall. It has been hours for us but only minutes to the folks on their ship. Might raise a few eyebrows...I mean questions...when they get back to the rest of their crew...when they start comparing notes. What'ya think?"

"You've ruined these negotiations with that dinky calculator," Oshira raged. "UmBllatt must know that those are a dime a dozen, else, why would he have given us a dung necklace...a gift in kind. We're lucky to get that much. I knew I shouldn't have gone along with you on your hunch Williams, no matter what that Rett says."

"Look. We're not going to get anywhere with blind speculation," Andrew said. "I think you are reading them wrong and they are blown away by the electronics. I see how they look at broadcasts and vids. They are hooked and have never seen anything like it. We could run anything and they'd sit and watch it if it had a decent picture. Those animal movies are fascinating to me and I'm from this planet. I can imagine looking at high definition documentaries in English when I visit another planet...hell...you couldn't drive me away. They don't have anything like this."

Oshira bit his lip and decided he'd have to save this venture himself. He couldn't believe the World Government, weak as it was, would let this young man try to do what professionals were needed to do. This was a total disaster and he didn't want it to be remembered as his disaster. It took a man of stature and experience to handle a man, a being, like this UmBllatt. Let Williams and all the others have their way. He'd prepared for this contingency, if it ever arose, and he'd get back control of the situation before this group damaged negotiations any further. Oshira glanced around the room once more and headed to his quarters as rapidly as possible.