CHAPTER 11 (Almost into the black – financially speaking, that is)
The long journey home was finally getting near. The blackness of space had become like a dark dream. The vision of the blue ring of air around good old Terra became the bright spot in this part of our journey. In the mind’s eye, it replaced the scattered stars in the cold black of space. We carried rich cargoes indeed. Many months had been invested in hauling goods along trade routes and a few weeks spent taking ‘side roads’ to infrequently visited systems. It had nothing to do with avoiding customs officials. Nothing. Really.
We had many cases of precious Mup and Jhen wines from the octopod Khreshnards. The prize of our haul was obtained in a trading deal on one of the remote Terran mining outposts. In a completely fair trade involving no psychic drinks or drugs, we obtained two real living Christmas trees which were gratuitously decorated with hand made paper and popcorn chains and genuine ancient aluminum foil shaped into a star on each top!! That’s how we were able to wrangle so much Mup and Jhen from the Khreshnards. We showed them old holograms and then they couldn’t wait to festoon the tree with lights. Since their system is so infrequently visited not many know very much about them. This is the edge that allowed Captain Hotshot Dolan to negotiate our windfall. That they have eight legs and eight eyes is obvious from the holostills. Captain Hotshot saw an opportunity.
We spent many sleeping hours studying their language. They have no sound mechanisms and rely on light in quick changing subtle shades. Their eyes collect light normally just like ours, except that theirs also emit light. They are masters of mirrors and clear but reflective glass. One of them can talk to another a great distance away in a remote area as easily as addressing a crowd gathered among glittering structures of one of their cities.
Captain Dolan became Master Dolan with his invention. It looks like a spinning wheel on a handle. The wheel flickers with light around its perimeter. Here is what we did. We tied the holodeck mind sensor to the ship’s communication system, which sent the appropriate signals to our device. As soon as he thought a sentence it was instantly emitted from the lights on the wheel in the Khreshnardian language. He explained, educated and then displayed a hologram of a fully festooned Christmas tree complete with lights. The attending Kreshnards dropped all pretense and it was clearthey would clearly give almost anything to acquire one. Well, they got it. But at a dear price, which we were now carrying a portion of, home to Terra.
We would be rich!
And we still had the other genuine Christmas tree to rent out for displays! Captain Hotshot negotiated a coup with the Kreshnards. Their amazing abilities with light were applied to decorating our remaining tree with lights twinkling in musical sequences stirring the emotions to great joy. Captain Hotshot and myself, Commander Scorpion, spent many an hour imbibing Mup and Jhen samples, while gazing at the dazzling lights of the tree.
Our ship’s computer analysis confirmed that no harmful effects were buried in the light display. The Kreshnards made it clear that they wanted us to come back with more such treasures and would not poison the well. But I diverge. The customs duty from the great cargo that we carried would be enormous. That is, if we followed the normal trade routes. Thus our journey took many more weeks than normal. Mup and Jhen was stashed in several roids familiar to us in the great clouds at the fringe of our home system of Sol. We now carried only a tenth of our entire haul. We would pay the duty and set up our auction, periodically taking a brief respite. The respite was to dart out and grab another batch to replenish our auction stock. We knew how to ‘refine’ our bookkeeping. Again, I diverge.
It was a moment ago that things suddenly changed. The ship’s computer sensors detected a change in the light display and sounded an alarm. We rushed to see what had happened and found the room had been automatically quarantined by the ship’s safety system. Peering into the display of the quarantined room we suddenly realized that our trip home was doomed. The lights on the tree … were … oooh nooo! Hatching! After a moment of stunned silence Captain Dolan and Commander Scorpion turned to each other with the same simultaneous thought. Captain Dolan called up a display of the cargo hold to check the cases of Mup and Jhen. The display was useless since one of the containers must have popped and thick wine was oozing down the lens. That brings us to this very moment. We need to immediately do a physical inspection of our cargo. More later! Gotta go!!!
Computer! Edit and transmit. Now! Cdr. Scorp.
The long journey home was finally getting near. The blackness of space had become like a dark dream. The vision of the blue ring of air around good old Terra became the bright spot in this part of our journey. In the mind’s eye, it replaced the scattered stars in the cold black of space. We carried rich cargoes indeed. Many months had been invested in hauling goods along trade routes and a few weeks spent taking ‘side roads’ to infrequently visited systems. It had nothing to do with avoiding customs officials. Nothing. Really.
We had many cases of precious Mup and Jhen wines from the octopod Khreshnards. The prize of our haul was obtained in a trading deal on one of the remote Terran mining outposts. In a completely fair trade involving no psychic drinks or drugs, we obtained two real living Christmas trees which were gratuitously decorated with hand made paper and popcorn chains and genuine ancient aluminum foil shaped into a star on each top!! That’s how we were able to wrangle so much Mup and Jhen from the Khreshnards. We showed them old holograms and then they couldn’t wait to festoon the tree with lights. Since their system is so infrequently visited not many know very much about them. This is the edge that allowed Captain Hotshot Dolan to negotiate our windfall. That they have eight legs and eight eyes is obvious from the holostills. Captain Hotshot saw an opportunity.
We spent many sleeping hours studying their language. They have no sound mechanisms and rely on light in quick changing subtle shades. Their eyes collect light normally just like ours, except that theirs also emit light. They are masters of mirrors and clear but reflective glass. One of them can talk to another a great distance away in a remote area as easily as addressing a crowd gathered among glittering structures of one of their cities.
Captain Dolan became Master Dolan with his invention. It looks like a spinning wheel on a handle. The wheel flickers with light around its perimeter. Here is what we did. We tied the holodeck mind sensor to the ship’s communication system, which sent the appropriate signals to our device. As soon as he thought a sentence it was instantly emitted from the lights on the wheel in the Khreshnardian language. He explained, educated and then displayed a hologram of a fully festooned Christmas tree complete with lights. The attending Kreshnards dropped all pretense and it was clearthey would clearly give almost anything to acquire one. Well, they got it. But at a dear price, which we were now carrying a portion of, home to Terra.
We would be rich!
And we still had the other genuine Christmas tree to rent out for displays! Captain Hotshot negotiated a coup with the Kreshnards. Their amazing abilities with light were applied to decorating our remaining tree with lights twinkling in musical sequences stirring the emotions to great joy. Captain Hotshot and myself, Commander Scorpion, spent many an hour imbibing Mup and Jhen samples, while gazing at the dazzling lights of the tree.
Our ship’s computer analysis confirmed that no harmful effects were buried in the light display. The Kreshnards made it clear that they wanted us to come back with more such treasures and would not poison the well. But I diverge. The customs duty from the great cargo that we carried would be enormous. That is, if we followed the normal trade routes. Thus our journey took many more weeks than normal. Mup and Jhen was stashed in several roids familiar to us in the great clouds at the fringe of our home system of Sol. We now carried only a tenth of our entire haul. We would pay the duty and set up our auction, periodically taking a brief respite. The respite was to dart out and grab another batch to replenish our auction stock. We knew how to ‘refine’ our bookkeeping. Again, I diverge.
It was a moment ago that things suddenly changed. The ship’s computer sensors detected a change in the light display and sounded an alarm. We rushed to see what had happened and found the room had been automatically quarantined by the ship’s safety system. Peering into the display of the quarantined room we suddenly realized that our trip home was doomed. The lights on the tree … were … oooh nooo! Hatching! After a moment of stunned silence Captain Dolan and Commander Scorpion turned to each other with the same simultaneous thought. Captain Dolan called up a display of the cargo hold to check the cases of Mup and Jhen. The display was useless since one of the containers must have popped and thick wine was oozing down the lens. That brings us to this very moment. We need to immediately do a physical inspection of our cargo. More later! Gotta go!!!
Computer! Edit and transmit. Now! Cdr. Scorp.
posted by Mike and Tina at 8:46 AM
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