Star Traders

The Earth Princess slowly passed over the Arcturian base searching for the designated landing area Aris had identified. Jayne saw the flashing lights a bit off to her right and headed for them.

Eric and three ships stood off ready to attack should there be any irregularities. The base defenses were silent, however. It looked like Aris was upholding his end of the bargain. They assumed it was a “he” and not a “she”. Hell, it’s possible that it was just that. An “It”.

The Earth Princess settled slowly to the ground. Eric was not happy that Jayne insisted on doing this alone, with only her crew and Larn for protection. He remembered the duplicity of Ahern in trying to capture the ship and learn about its drive. Granted this situation was somewhat different. The Arcturians were not in a very good position to learn much fast enough to save their lives. Jayne seemed to think that made all the difference in the world. He certainly hoped so. Losing Jayne was not in Eric’s future plans. On the contrary, his plans were to have her around…Forever.

The Earth Princess hung a few inches off the ground in the designated area. Jayne waited. She was not about to be the first one to move. She waited until she saw movement from a building about 100 feet away. A contingent of Arcturians left the building and headed for the Earth Princess. Jayne thought she recognized Aris, but, as always is the case with a new race, all of these Arcturians looked alike. The contingency stopped close the ship.

Jayne lowered the ramp slowly. Two squads of ten armed Larn marched down the ramp and lined up on either side facing the ramp. They were good at precision movements. The group was impressive, even to Jayne. She was surprised to see the Larn were slightly larger than the Arcturians. This was something she hadn’t thought of. The Larn seemed to look down on them.

Jayne walked slowly down the ramp to meet the Arcturians. One of them stepped forward.

“Captain Rice, I assume?” the creature said with the now familiar lisp. He raised an arm in what she thought was probably a salute of some kind. She repeated the gesture.

“Yes. And you are Aris?” she asked.

“Yes. Come, let us get out of this sun.” Aris said.

Only then did she see that they were all protected from the sun’s rays by a head scarf that acted as a shade. Evidently our sun is somewhat stronger than they are accustomed to, she thought.

“Lead on. I will follow,” Jayne said with a gesture to lead the way.

“We have constructed a meeting place in the building ahead of us,” Aris explained. “You would be uncomfortable in our abodes. You are a much taller race than we are, and our buildings would seem cramped to you, though I was not aware your warriors were of such small stature.” he said, eyeing the Larn.

“I will expect my guards to come along with me in the building. They are quite harmless unless I am threatened in some way.” Jayne said.

“I understand your concern, Captain. You are very brave to come to your enemy in this manner.” Aris said gravely.

“Not so, Aris. There are four ships lying just outside your range of effective fire. I assure you that your base is well within their range,” Jayne said as she walked toward the building. The Larn followed closely.

“I have little doubt of that,” Aris said. “We have a great respect for your fire power. We have experienced it first hand, remember!” He made a sound that Jayne felt was laughter.

They have a sense of humor, anyway, Jayne thought as she entered the building.

Aris walked to the head of the table and Jayne pulled a short chair close to his side. She felt she was sitting with her knees near her chin.

“Let me apologize for the oversight with the chair, Captain,” Aris said. “It’s something none of us thought of.”

“It’s ok, Aris. I doubt we are going to be here long enough for me to get overly uncomfortable. What did you have in mind?”

“You are in a power position, Captain, as I’m sure you are well aware.” Aris said. “We come to you with hat in hand, so to speak. All we ask now is time. We need time to replenish our supplies, with your permission. We will then decide upon a destination and leave this system. We have no desire to fight you. We would be eliminated.”

“That’s an extreme position on your part. You have no real proof you will find a livable planet regardless of which direction you go.”

“That’s true, Captain. But staying here is not an option.” Aris spread his arms. “At least we have a chance to find something.”

“I have a proposition for you and your people, Aris. One that might just solve your problem and help us out at the same time.” Jayne offered.

“We are prepared to listen to any possible solution, Captain,” Aris said eagerly. “Blasting off into unknown space is not a decision I relish, as you can imagine.”

“Suppose, Aris, that I could get you to a planet exactly like this one. Suppose, too, that the planet is at the present time totally unpopulated. And suppose, also, that it is only about a month away. Would you be interested?”

“Interested?” Aris cried. “We would be forever grateful for such an opportunity!”

“How grateful is that?” Jayne asked. “Would you be grateful enough to destroy all of your arms? Would you be grateful enough to have us as trading partners? Would you be grateful enough to study what trade items you may need from us, and study what we may trade with from your culture? Are you willing to open trade relations with us without reservation?”

“Captain,” Aris sighed. “Such conditions we would accept even if the situation were reversed. This is what we wished to do with your people from the onset. The answer to your questions is a resounding yes! We are not by nature a warlike race. Faced with our extinction, we felt we had little choice. But now you are offering us a choice. We can state without reservation that we will be forever grateful to you and your people.”

“You answer quite quickly, Aris.” Jayne said gravely. “One of the things you must understand is that the human race IS a warlike race. Sometime in the future, perhaps thousands of years, our two races may come into conflict. In the meantime, let us be friends. Let us find mutual ground to agree and trade.”

“Perhaps this is premature, Captain, but I am extremely interested in how you are going to find a world for us.” Aris inquired.

Jayne explained the ten Universes of the Sol system to Aris. She told him that the best world for them would be E-9, two universes from Earth.

“This will give each of us a buffer zone so that we will not be so close as to be abrasive with one another,” Jayne explained.

“Be that as it may, Captain. My question is; how soon can we begin transporting my people to this world you have promised us?” Aris said. “Now that you have raised the possibility, I am anxious to get started.”

“I can understand that, Aris. We can begin the transfer as soon as you can get your ships in space and off the surface of the moon. You have some 10,000 ships from our estimate. We will be able to transfer at least 100 of them safely at one time. We have twenty two ships that have the equipment necessary to make that transfer. From the looks of it, a few more than twenty trips for each of our ships will do it.

“Here’s the way it will work,” Jayne said, “Your ships will surround our transfer ship within a certain distance from it. The transfer ship will transfer anything within a certain sphere around it. Those 100 ships will gather around the transfer ship as close as possible. That ship will then decide when it is safe for that transfer to occur. Upon the completion of the transfer you will find yourself in space close to the moon, with the planet below you. You will no doubt recognize the terrain you wish to occupy. That planet is identical to this one. You are welcome to do so. Each of our ships will make twenty trips, transferring your ships to E-9. You are then on your own to establish your culture there. We will contact you regularly to see if you need help. You cannot contact us. I think you can understand why. It will take some time before we will trust you completely. Remember; you attacked us. We will see about trust another time. We will begin in three days. That should give you enough time to arrange for the movement.” Jayne stood.

“At the risk of sounding maudlin, Captain. I wish to thank you from the bottom of all our souls for this opportunity.” Aris said gravely.

“Hey Aris, I have an idea! I love your clothes. How about you making me a wardrobe out of that fabulous material!”

“Captain, I will do better than that! I’ll make your entire crew wardrobes out of it! I can get your measurement from comparisons from recordings,” Aris smiled. “And should you need some of this material in the future, we have plenty, and it’s easy to acquire for us.”

Jayne left the building with her entourage and boarded the Earth Princess, making a graceful lift off, thinking about how great a trade item that material would be.

Jayne called another meeting of the captains on Earth Princess. She gave all of them and after action report of the situation at the present time.

“I have a plan,” she started.

Jake groaned loudly. Lars rolled his eyes toward the ceiling.

“Here we go again!” Eric grinned.

“It’s about how to get our ship off the Whitehouse lawn…”