TRADE WORLD
SAGA
Ken R. Pence
TRADE WORLD SAGA
COMPLETE
© 2013 Ken R. Pence
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the author.
Contents
Copyrights
MANUAL INTERPRETATION PROLOGUE
RETT SAVED BY the ALIEN
ANDREW LEARNS TRADE
REVERSE ENGINEERING – NEW POWER
REVIEWING RETT’S Interrogation
BRAD PROTECTS PROJECT
NEW Weapons
ES PATROL RECAPTURES RETT
TEACHING TRADE
STRESSED SPACE FIELD
ULTIMATUM
FLEEING THE EARTH
RETT TORTURED ABOUT CONTAMINATION
PRESSOR AND RELTIVE TIME
ES DISCOVERS EARTH TECH
APPROACHING TAU CETI
LANDING ON TAU CETI
EXPLORING TAU CETI
SUIT MALFUNCTION
MICROELECTRONICS 101
HLLOUGE
STUDYING EARTH FROM ORBIT
BATTLE OVER EARTH
GENERAL ALEXANDER COMPLICATES
RETT AND ANDREW BACK TOGETHER
NEGOTIATIONS
RETT TO THE RESCUE
GENERAL INTERRUPTION
TREATY TALKS RESUMED
EARTH TREATY FINALIZED
THE EARTH REGULATORY FORCE
SETTING UP THE MOON BASE
Ullumff TRADER
THE SMELL WILL TELL
OSHIRA AND ALEXANDER
About the Author
PATENTLY OBVIOUS PROLOGUE
Patents and History
Washington State Incursion
New recruits for the ERF
Life Extension
Leaks
End Runs
THE LUNAR MEET
Welcome Back
UmBllatt’s Knowledge
The Odin
Comm Entanglement
The Shuttles
The Departure
Be Sirius
Procyon
Tau Ceti
Political Motivation
Heave to
68 Eridani
To Bellatrix
Shanghai Tavern
Outfitting the Queen
The Return
Welcoming Arms
About the Author
A Certain Expertise Copyrights
PROLOGUE
Eugene Bradley
Osprey’s First Flight
The New Tourist Destination
Deeper Into the Spiral Arm
Test Tech
The Allung Brotherhood
Allung The Way
Developing The Ylee Drive
The Prototype
The ES at Bellatrix
The Demo
Self Correcting Error
A Short Hop
The Threat from Earth
Rett Returns
Saiph at Last
Survivors
Reserves
Intellectual Property
Reinforcements
Jumping to Conclusions
Letting the Cat Out of the Bag
Rotten to the Core
About the Author
Ramblings about the technology in this novel
Core Values Copyrights
The Journal of John Brattor
The Exodus and the Expedition
The Expedition Prepares
Omega Sagittarii III Friends
Flies in the Ointment
Tau Sagittarii – A Wet Bazaar
Getting Sloshed (Tau)
A VicVic Trip Home
An Entertaining Ploy
The Fats Cats
Negotiations
59 Sagittarii
Ylee Whiz
Trade Center Trouble
Public Outrage
The Enigma
A Ylee Bit of Influence
Ylee Panic
The Alien Enclosure
The Breakout and Break In
Market Research
The Maker Makers
The Big Trade
About the Author
The Technology in this Novel
MANUAL INTERPRETATION – Earth develops near unlimited energy sources, getting its first interstellar trip and battles the Exploration Service.
PATENTLY OBVIOUS – Earth is learning to trade off planet and has to fight every culture it meets.
A CERTAIN EXPERTISE – Earth enforces its trade routes and develops the Ylee drive while battling a race of advanced slavers.
CORE VALUES – Earth travels to the Galaxy Core to search for the originators of the lamlee.
PROLOGUE
The Technician was able to decipher the power supply but only after radiation burns from an intensely radioactive fission reactor. No one could believe the directed signal strength of the unit was as strong as it was, and no amount of fine chipping could unravel the gray and tan blocks of ceramic-like material. One suddenly faced with microprocessors in epoxy blocks was not likely to understand much more by chipping them into bits.
One must understand that many planets near the galaxy's core obtained fusion power and inertia-reduction fields before there was any other form of spaceflight. They certainly didn't start the move to space by using chemical reaction principles. Therefore, they were never concerned about how much something weighed or how little space a device would take so it could fit into a nosecone of a rocket. The Exploration Service had computers but nothing approaching the memory density, speed, or ability of any Earth computer. A common Mem-Dex was faster and had more memory storage than any computer on board the Exploration Service ship.
The officers and crew of the E. S. ship could not comprehend how Earth microelectronics worked, but they were willing to appreciate it for the advanced technology it was. A being may not understand how a piece of intricate jewelry is made but that doesn't lessen the fact that the being values the beauty of it.
Odd to die this way, Rett thought. It is interesting to know exactly how and why my bodily functions will cease...Ironic that my passing will not be noted by my colleagues...Those who knew of my trip would think the cause of my demise quite strange...Then again...most thought I would not return anyway... Few of those who aided me in building my ship could conceive of the need for constructing a vehicle for personal use…ships had always been built by groups…powerful groups…not by an individualist who wanted affiliation with no being.
***
It was a very pleasant day for a hike. With the sun beaming down on his broad shoulders, Andrew set a brisk pace through the rocky hills north of Tucson, Arizona, treading firmly on the weather worn path. Andrew always tried to get out of his dormitory and into the desert hills when he was troubled. The peaceful, near barren surroundings and his steady gait had always refreshed him but today was different. As he walked, he ran his hand through his shock of unruly black hair with a sense of frustration.
As the leader of his design group, Andrew was relegated to the job of naming their synthesist project. He had run a feasibility and resources program on the two projects he contemplated. The university synthesist committee had named both projects radical and beyond the capability of the group's financial allotment. With only this weekend left to decide the group project, Andrew had chosen solitude instead of companionship to aid his creativity.
Andrew was ready to start back to the University when he saw the body. From the hill, even at this distance
, Andrew knew the person was in trouble, for its positioning was unnatural.
***
Rett struggled to upright himself again to no avail. Rett reflected on the cause of his predicament. He swiveled his eyes down the control module of his stressed space field belt. Again, he attempted to rip the belt from his middle, but he was unsuccessful.
When the control module had cracked, full power was thrown to the 'stressed space' field. This field forced him into a faster subjective time than his surroundings and nearly eliminated the effects of inertia on objects entering the field around his body. Oxygen would still slowly diffuse through the field though not fast enough to do me much good. Soon the carbon dioxide levels would rise too high for consciousness. Any objects or material dropped, thrown, or thrust quickly into the field would slow or stop. Objects could be slowly pushed through the field if one was patient however.
Now this protective field is to be my killer, Rett thought. Not only has this full strength field eliminated friction between me, and my surroundings. It is making me endure a slow death of exhaustion and asphyxiation. I cannot even walk back to my vehicle. Now I'm lying with my head lower than my feet. Friction is vital, Rett considered, when you want to stand and walk back to your ship.
After many abortive attempts at constructive movement, it is plain that I am doomed, Rett thought. It is similar to trying to climb out of a vertical hole with feet and hands unable to touch the walls. I can think of no way to turn off my unit and the power supply will long outlast me. I built this belt well in that respect at least.
For one of this planet's rotations on its axis, I will relatively spend two rotations. My body energy will be spent well before this world turns far on that axis. It is anticlimactic to face a death where I will die relatively of asphyxiation, Rett noted.
With time passing very tediously, Rett thought of his trip and his race, the Tros.
Only a short time ago, he was enjoying his solitude and work with occasional colleagues who dropped by for mating or assistance with research. Only a short time ago, he was enjoying the thick, blowing atmosphere and the warmth of his home planet. Only a short time ago, he developed this mobile stressed space field generator; now he only has a short time left because of it. It is a pity to die without the comforts of my own habitat, he thought.
The Tros had gone into space early in their technological development, thus proving their superiority. With the discovery of the 'stressed space' field, they could reduce inertial effects (gravity) and alter the nature of space. Through they didn't understand the field’s operational parameters at first since they had obtained it from the inferior race that had first visited their planet openly, they could produce and control such a field.
When aliens from the galactic confederation also introduced cold fusion for a power source and the stressed space field, they were able to leave the bounds of the home planet without delay. That other race had acted like they understood that power generation and had said they had had it for many years, they were short lived and most were inferior in intellect to the Tros. As the Tros adapted this new technology and allowed it spread throughout their culture, splinter groups that disagreed with the government would simply take into space.
Taking to space instead of facing problems on the surface was not as bad as it seems. Many of the amateur attempts failed, but that only purified the race by eliminating the incompetent. The professional or wealthy splinter groups could then go into space. Solitude and long periods in confinement did not bother the Tros like it did other inferior races…who thrived on sacrifice to concentrate. That is the crux of it.
The Tros thrive on achieving perfection and other inferior races just do something and then never improve it. They want to put their own stamp on procedures and devices to make them more Tros-friendly. They need no labels. If a being doesn’t recognize what a device is and how it is used, they would not want that being touching their equipment. Other inferior races may label their devices…how crude and ignorant to the Tros.
Now with almost unlimited power and the elimination of inertial effects (gravity) it was possible to build crude, airtight ships that could travel between stars. The stressed space fields protected them from radiation that some found out about early in testing…a self-correcting error.
I am such a wit, Rett thought. Stuck here and I can still make humor. When you aren't concerned about power, you could almost aim where you pleased with visual line-of-sight directional equipment.
Celestial navigation came natural to Tros. Inferior races used complicated calculations and unbelievable redundancy in equipment and calculations. Tros would travel to a new star in the time it took inferiors to ‘calculate the parameters’ of a journey. These inferior races tried to stock their ships with unending varieties of sustenance to ‘keep it interesting’ while traveling.
Rett realizes, I just found out about this neurotic trait. Stick some food on board and get going… if you don’t have enough you will never do it again… that is the Tros philosophy.
There were many voyages before my ancestors landed on the planet I now call home, Rett thought. This trip may have been foolish for me though… foolish to risk all on a trip outside all regular trade and passenger routes, simply to test a portable version of a stressed space-field generator. No Tros had ever designed and built a device so compact and efficient as mine. It must have been faulty materials that caused my control unit to break. Now I lie under an alien sky and watch the sun and stars pass over me. I feel as if I am dead already because I am so tired and alone.
Rett smelled the native approaching well before he could swivel his eyes into focus. Even with this planet's thin atmosphere and allowing for the distortion caused by the field, smell was still Rett's best source of information. The atmosphere stung his eyes causing his protective eye membranes to slide over his eyes, further obscuring his vision...too much sulfite and oxygen he surmised. Now a native came to insult Rett by seeing his awkward death.
***
Andrew did not know that thirty minutes had passed for Rett in the fifteen minutes it took him to traverse the rocky slope down to the 'man'.
"Are you hurt? Can I help?" Andrew called as he approached within earshot. Obviously, the man was hurt or he couldn't talk since he made no attempt to respond.
***
The native is making primitive jabbering because I see the mouth moving, Rett thought. Even though sound was unrecognizable through the field, he could see the native raise and lower its arms. As the native moved closer, Rett could see the native opening and closing its mouth more as it made its ponderously slow way toward him. Rett felt uneasy at the uninvited approach of the native.
***
As soon as Andrew came within clear view of the man, he stopped dead in his tracks. What the hell? he thought. The man was shorter than an average male with arms and legs almost as thick as Andrew's waist. The skin that was visible was gray and wrinkled like that of a rhinoceros. The man's face was what stopped his mission of mercy in its infancy. What a face! It had bulging eyes set almost on the sides of the head. Both eyes swiveled to look at Andrew and there was a long black scar over the right one. The ears were cup like and mobile too because they twitched and swiveled back and forth incessantly.
The being, Andrew noticed, had no protruding nose, just horny slits and a large mouth. Thank you for the fact I can't see your teeth, rhino face, Andrew thought. It had no hair. The being had a rounded chin and almost no neck. He was wearing (Andrew guessed it was a he) a one-piece grayish-brown jumpsuit, which blended well with the surrounding rock. The clothing did look remarkably like a jumpsuit, or flight suit with boots (more like slippers) sewn or molded to the rest. Its hands were exposed and showed four digits but they were thicker and stubbier than human with no fingernails. Two opposable sets of digits!
Andrew braced himself and finally worked up courage to walk toward the steadily gazing alien. He walked with hands palm-outward in what he hoped was a symbol of peaceful i
ntent.
"It's okay. I won't hurt you," Andrew said with his voice slightly quaking. “I just hope you won't hurt me!”
It was a shock for Rett to have his death thoughts interrupted. It was also startling to see the native reaching very slowly with both of its hands to grab his head even though he knew it couldn't reach him.
Andrew reached forward to upright the man so his head would be above his feet. As his hands got within a hand spread of the man, he encountered a physical resistance like reaching into a vat of syrup. Suddenly Andrew's fingers began to tingle as if they were asleep. Even as he jerked away from the man, his fingers began to show signs of bruising and began to throb.
***
Rett wondered what the uncivilized being would do now that it appeared to have injured it by shoving its hands into his stressed space field. Any child would know better, Rett mused. Now the native will probably attempt to kill me or go get others. Perhaps it will worship me like a god. No, it just stands there looking at its injured hands. It couldn't be very intelligent.
***
Andrew indeed looked stupidly at his hands-- but began to think in terms that were far from stupid. This man is not from this planet even though he appears humanoid. He appeared to be an oxygen breather since his rather flattened nostrils flare very rapidly. His chest rises and falls in tempo with that. Why was he here like this? Was he injured? His breathing is pretty rapid...maybe he, it, is in shock.
Andrew walked around the man but no tear or other obvious injury or reason for the man's dilemma was visible. Andrew extended one of his less damaged fingers, very slowly and cautiously toward the prostrate alien. As soon as any resistance or tingling was felt, Andrew would jerk his finger away. Andrew did this at various points over the alien's body as the gray skinned one swiveled its eyes up at him dispassionately.