TS6 - Chapter 24

Kat’s index finger tapped against her knee, an almost inaudible metronome more fit for speed metal or hyperpop than a march or waltz.  Her cup of coffee sat in front of her, steaming but untouched while Dorrik stood silently, leaning against a wall of the conference room, both sets of arms crossed in front of his chest.

“When do you think he’ll-” she began only for Dorrik to interrupt, his voice trying to project a calm that didn’t match the troubled expression on his face.

“Dringbek will arrive when he thinks that you’ve waited long enough.  Right now he is trying to send a message.  He is stating that although you are one of the most important people on this planet, you must still wait for an opportunity to speak to him, not the other way around.”

She closed her eyes, willing her finger to stop beating its nervous rhythm against her leg as she leaned back in her chair.  A deep breath in and out steadied her slightly, but at the same time Dorrik’s words actually managed to calm her slightly.

A petty power play was strangely human.  In a world full of aliens and unknown motives, it was comforting to see Dringbek acting like a run of the mill type-A jerk.

Footsteps outside echoed down the hallway outside the conference room, a pair of 3445 members in APEX suits almost drowning out Dringbek’s quiet footfalls.  Kat opened her eyes and leaned forward, steepling her fingers in front of her face as she adopted an expression stolen from Belle.

She locked her gaze on the door, ready to make immediate eye contact with Dringbek the moment he stepped into the room.  If the stallesp was going to play games with her, she was going to play games right back.

The door whooshed open, revealing Dringbek in a truly opulent robe crafted from some sort of unknown fabric and studded with gems, each of which looked as valuable as a mid-sized town.

Kat unleashed a wintry smile, exposing her teeth as she stared him down.

“So good of you to join us Dringbek.  I must apologize for the local traffic.  Clearly it held you up and delayed your arrival.  After all, your itinerary for the day was empty so there surely was no other good reason for you to delay our meeting.”

“But his hotel is in the same building as-”  Dorrik began only for Kat to interject.

“Obviously there was a lot of foot traffic.  Crowds gawking and holding him up.  Clearly an envoy would not try to delay a meeting like a child throwing a tantrum.  That behavior would be so far beneath him that it isn’t even worth bringing it up.”

Dringbek froze in the doorway, momentarily floored by her onslaught.  Before he could respond, Kat inclined her head to the mercenary behind him, prompting the power-suited human to gently push the stallesp diplomat into the room.

“I-” Dringbek began, only to cough once, clearly trying to buy time as his beady eyes darted back and forth, taking in Dorrik’s glowering form before he forced his face into the stallesp equivalent of a smile.  “You are exactly correct Candidate Debs.  There was a large crowd standing in the hallway.  I could have ordered the guards you assigned me to clear them out with force, but I thought it would be best to avoid an incident so I resolved myself to arrive a couple of minutes late.  I hope you understand.”

All of Kat’s earlier nervousness was gone.  The anxiety that had hovered over her during the pointless wait instantly dismissed by the second she seized the initiative from the stallesp dignitary.

“I understand what happened perfectly,” she replied, her bleak smile unchanged.  “Do not worry, I will take steps to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.”

Dringbek just stared at her for a couple of unblinking seconds before shaking his head once and chuckling dryly.

“You seem different today, Candidate,” he said.  “Less accommodating.  More predatory.  It is a bit jarring to try and reconcile the sudden shift.”

“There is no shift,” Kat replied immediately.  “I have always been exceedingly polite with you under the circumstances, never according you less respect than you have earned.”

“Then was there a shift in circumstances?”  Dringbek asked.  “I am simply trying to identify what warranted such a dramatic-”

“I am simply in a poor mood,” Kat responded, cutting him off.  “Last night a number of ill-informed individuals attempted to kill my avatar in the Tower of Somnus.  They did not manage to touch a hair on my head, and in all honesty I came out of the situation noticeably wealthier due to the gear they were carrying, but at the same time it was an annoyance.”

“Obviously,” Dringbek replied, inclining his head toward her.  “No one enjoys a surprise and I’m sure that being attacked was an unwelcome one at that.”

“I wouldn’t say the attack itself was a surprise,” Kat said, unsteepling her hands.  “Combat is a given in the Tower and it would be foolish of me not to be ready to fight each and every team encountered outside of a village.  The actual surprise was the information I acquired after questioning the survivor.”

“Oh?”  The stallesp questioned.  “There was a survivor?  That truly is a surprise.”

“I am sure the organizers of the attempt did not mean for that to happen,” she replied.  “It is bad form, the mark of an amateur.  That said, compared to the intrigue and political violence of Earth, most Consensus races truly are amateurs.  For all your technology and military might, it is rare to see an alien race that can maneuver and plot on the level of a low-tier executive let alone a shareholder.”

“It’s strange to contemplate,” Kat continued.  “If one were to strip away your technology, magic, and inherited superiority, you wouldn’t survive a month in the arcology that raised me.  For all of your airs, the GroCorp machine would’ve chewed you up and spit you out.”

Dringbek’s eyes narrowed, but he did not take the bait.  When he responded, his voice and face didn’t betray any excitement or aggravation.

“Possibly true, but who could know for sure?  It might be that you are only seeing what lies on the surface.  Many asteroids contain precious minerals buried deep beneath a drab nickel iron exterior.”

“Perhaps,” Kat replied, “and perhaps the asteroid simply is nickel iron but the prospector scanning it is so convinced that he is about to find a big score that he ignores his ship’s readings and just assumes that he has found a core of iridium where nothing of value remains.”

“I feel like we have strayed afield from our earlier discussion,” Dringbek said, smiling back at her.  “I believe you were discussing a recent attempt on your avatar?  Did you manage to learn anything from the survivor?  I’m sure you interrogated them.”

“Of course,” Kat replied.  “Regardless, you are right.  It is time to move on to the actual reasons that I called this meeting.  I have already talked with Clan Ahn about the specifics of putting in a space port.  If Earth has a spaceport, it is going to want trade partners and here you are.  A potential trade partner.”

“Oh?”  Dringbek asked.  “That is a very different turn from what I expected from this conversation.  What are you thinking?”

“You clearly want minerals,” Kat responded.  “That can be arranged.  We would be more than happy to export entertainment and cultural products as well.  I’m not sure how large the market will be for either of those, but it is worth exploring those markets.”

“I can’t say that I’m not interested,” Dringbek replied.  “A number of stallesp corporations are looking for a port to refuel and repair in this sector.  We would be more than happy to build and operate a station in Earth orbit for those purposes.”

“We would insist on ownership and operation,” Kat said.  “If your race does not build the station, we would build one on our own time.  If you are anxious for a refueling port, it might be worth your while to construct a station on our behalf.  If not?  Well, your people can always land their ships to refuel at our ground space port.  Honestly, we would prefer that.  It would force them to spend time in our hotels and money in our stores and casinos.”

“That would cost hundreds of millions if not billions of credits,” Dringbek observed, a hint of a frown creasing his furry muzzle.

“And I would thank you for your investment in human development,” Kat replied.  “Of course, we can talk about offsetting some of that cost against the fine your race was assessed for interfering with my race’s probationary period.”

That made the frown blossom fully on the stallesp’s face.

“I thought we could talk about the amount of that fine.  As it stands it is a bit… ruinous.  Obviously the Galactic Consensus thought the amount was appropriate, but I am sure you can understand why the average stallesp might grow resentful about the levels of reparations that you are asking of us.”

“My race is not asking anything,” Kat responded.  “The Consensus assessed the fine.  I understand that the stallesp have stated that the attempts to intervene in our development were the results of rogue elements, but I can’t help but notice that those rogue elements appear to exist to this day.  That is part of the reason why I cannot let you own or operate a space station.  It is hard to trust your entire race implicitly when it has done so much to prove that trust isn’t warranted.”

Dringbek opened his mouth to reply, but Kat continued speaking, brushing past any attempt on the stallesp’s part to protest his innocence.  

“That said, I am a firm believer in redemption.  If your people can show that they aren’t going to continue a feud of any sort, I would be perfectly happy to convert your fine into economic development assistance at very favorable rates.”

The stallesp walked forward, pulling out a chair and sitting down across from Kat.  He leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms in front of his chest and eyeing her contemplatively.

“What would the stallesp need to do to show that we weren’t interested in an ongoing feud?”  Dringbek asked.  “Hypothetically.”

“I have heard that there are still rogue elements trying to interfere with my planet’s development,” Kat answered.  “Individuals have been illegally supporting ascendent candidates.  Other individuals have been illegally interfering with the tower climbs of ascendant candidates.  Both of these aren’t terribly friendly actions.  Downright antisocial really.”

“Understandable,” the stallesp agreed.  “Again, hypothetically, if I were able to root these individuals out and make sure that Earth remained untroubled, what sort of relief would that earn the stallesp?”

Kat leaned back in her chair, her smile growing.  The bait had been set and her target was nibbling at it.  Now all she needed was to yank back on the pole and catch her prey.

“Bringing equipment out to Earth would surely cost the stallesp time, effort and money,” she replied.  “I don’t see a huge problem with giving you a thirty percent credit on top of the market rate for any equipment.”

“While I would appreciate it,” Dringbek said with a wince, “but a huge part of the problem is that the fine is far too large.  A credit against its size would help, but if the fee is enough to bankrupt a company five times over, cutting it in half means almost nothing.  The corporation is still bankrupt.”

She almost had him.  Just a little more.

“I would be happy to look over your racial finances with a team of accountants,” Kat replied.  “If you are truly approaching bankruptcy, that wouldn’t be profitable for us.  After all, we want a healthy trade partner, not someone forced into the poorhouse.”

That drew a wince from Dringbek.  He smoothed his expression in the blink of an eye, but that didn’t change the fact that she’d drawn blood.

“I’m not sure that I will be able to accommodate that request unfortunately,” Dringbek responded.  “Proprietary information.  I’m sure you understand.”

“Of course,” Kat responded, her expression unchanged, “but I’m sure you understand that I can’t take you at your word that your race is about to go bankrupt without some sort of financial data to back that up.  That said, we haven’t talked about the products that Earth would want delivered by the stallesp.”

Dringbek cocked his head to the side, squinting his beady eyes at her.

“My goal is for Earth to develop its commercial and manufacturing industries,” she continued, “but I don’t have terribly strong feelings as to what we will be manufacturing.  What goods do the stallesp need in this area?  We have already talked about your race constructing a spaceport for us, a place for your crews to refuel and relax as they trade with the other species in this sector.  If we knew what other things you wished to purchase and distribute in this area, Earth could buy the machinery to construct it and then sell the product to you so that you could make even more of a profit re-selling it to other nearby worlds.”

“So your plan is for us to take a loss in the short term in exchange for opening up new markets that will turn us a profit in the long run?”  The stallesp questioned.  “That was not my original goal when I was sent to Earth, but it is not a completely unworkable solution.  Still, I can’t help but notice that the one unchanged factor no matter the circumstance is that Earth benefits greatly from the stallesp response.  You are asking for us to give you the capital equipment you need to make more money from your future interactions with us.”

“That’s the beauty of capitalism,” Kat replied.  “As a famous man once said, there is no person on Earth that knows how to make a pencil.  The wood it is made from?  I have no idea where it is from.  Maybe the tree was cut down in the Pacific Northwest.  To cut down that tree, it took a saw.  To make that saw, it took steel.  To make steel, it took iron ore.  The center of the pencil, people call it lead but it’s actually compressed graphite.  I think it’s mined in South America.  The rubber of the eraser comes from Southeast Asia.  The rubber tree isn’t even native to that location, it was imported from South America.  The rest of the pencil? The brass ferrule?  The yellow paint?  The glue that holds it together?  Literally thousands of people co-operate to make each pencil.”

“That could be us,” she continued.  “Any one location can specialize in producing one thing, but a proper supply chain involves dozens of people working together, each specializing in one step of the process in order to make sure that the whole is more efficient and cheaper than each of its individual parts.  Humanity will benefit from my proposal, but so will the stallesp.  So long as your race benefits, why would you care overly much about how much Earth gains from the transaction?”

Dringbek nodded slowly, his fuzzy brow furrowed.

“This man that said all of this.  He must have been a great man.  Someone renowned in your culture in order to come to such a conclusion.”

“He was certainly a man,” Kat replied, unwilling to completely agree with him.  “He was an economist and a lot of people respected his opinion.”

“I will think on your proposal and communicate with my superiors,” Dringbek responded.  “Once again, it wasn’t the sort of deal that I expected to reach when I first traveled to your planet, but it satisfies enough of our concerns to be worth further consideration.  I don’t know whether or not it is worth enough consideration to hunt down the rogue agents that appear to insist on interfering with your world’s ascension, but you have given me a lot to think about.”

“Then think it over,” Kat replied.  “Just remember.  If we can’t come to some sort of agreement, Earth will still need capital to establish ourselves in the Galactic Consensus.  If we can’t acquire that money in a pleasant way, I won’t have any choice but to demand the full fine, payable immediately so that we can begin construction immediately.

Dringbek stood up, clasping his hands together and bowing slightly.

“Thank you for the conversation,” he said.  “You’ve given me a lot to think over.  I have only one question before I go and discuss these matters with my superiors.”

“Ask away,” Kat said, waving a hand to urge the alien to continue.

“What is a pencil?”

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