Steven Gordon 3: The Modloch Empire (13 page)

Rannalld shifted uncomfortably, ‘How
big would the men be, do you suppose?’

‘
Average about this.’
Steven demonstrated on his hand.

Rannalld snorted, ‘Is that all?’

‘
I believe
so.’

‘
But didn’t an Albany
mate with a Human woman? How did they manage?’

‘
She was of a
different race, where the men and women are much larger. Orlath was
also a teenager and hadn’t reached full maturity.’

Rannalld’s head dropped, ‘We are
about...’ He indicated the length on his arm.

‘
That’s what I
thought, if you tried to mate with her you could seriously injure
or even kill her.’

Rannalld was silent for a long time.
The sound of women laughing reached their ears. ‘It is such a
shame. I have never met a female who was so wondrous. Those that I
meet are always vying for position. She is clean of mind, body and
heart. I can see why my brother thought so highly of her and
declared her his benefactor. Did she really kill the man who was
responsible for the death of her people?’

‘
Yes, that is
true.’

‘
There is only one
recorded incident of Modloch women taking up arms to protect their
own. That was over a thousand years ago; the statue to their
bravery still stands.’

‘
I thought your
females would have been quite fearsome.’

‘
Our females are very
submissive. Most would shield their young with their own bodies,
but few have been recorded taking up arms. That is why there is
none in our armed forces. Other species are different.’

‘
The Albany females
certainly fought.’

Rannalld nodded, ‘So I heard, as did
many of yours.’

‘
Humanity had a big
hang up about that for many centuries. However, it is not unusual
for a Human female to take up arms to protect her own.’

‘
We Modloch admire
that in a species. The sons of those females I mentioned earlier
all became great warriors.’

‘
They won their fight
then.’

‘
No, they all died.
They put their children in a life pod and launched it. After that
they fought to the death. The delay prevented the enemy from
perusing the life pods until it was too late. The life pods reached
one of our battleship groups that was racing to their recue. The
fleet caught the enemy still surrounding the colony ships and wiped
them out. On board one of the colony ships, the women were found
clustered around the life pods with weapons in their hands, and a
few prisoners told of how the women fought them for hours, until
all were dead.’

‘
Tragic.’

‘
Maybe. As I said
their sons grew to be great warriors, and so was born a belief that
sons born of women of great courage shall also become great
warriors.’

They were silent for a long time.
Rannalld seemed sad. Occasionally laughter drifted out to them.
Steven also caught the smell of frying fish.

‘
Aren’t you going to
join them? I think by the strange smell that the fish are
edible.’

‘
I was never a great
lover of fish Rannalld.’

‘
I thought meat was
meat. If you ate one, then you ate all.’

‘
No, it doesn’t work
like that. We all have different tastes. With fish you either love
it or hate it.’

‘
Do you think Mya
likes me as a friend?’

‘
Komoru told me that
Mya believes that you are a gift.’

His head came up a little, ‘She too is
a gift.’

‘
I take it you aren’t
mated then Rannalld?’

‘
Would I be inquiring
if I was?’

‘
Of course. I
apologise.’

Rannalld waved a hand, ‘We males don’t
normally mate until we mature fully. Thirty to thirty five years
old. We like to marry young females who have just reached sexual
maturity and came in to season for the first time. By then the
males will have settled into their professions. This gives the
females a clearer view of a prospective mate: who he is, what has
he achieved in life so far, and what he might achieve in the
future. They will let a male within their social circle know that
they are willing to consider a mating.’

‘
That seems a long
time for the males to have to wait.’

‘
Does it? There are
females out there who will accommodate a young male and teach him
the things he needs to know. Birth control is severely restricted.
Mated women have free access, as do widows. Not that I am
suggesting mated women cheat on their husbands. No need to. With
all the wars we fight there are always plenty widows.'

Steven nodded, ‘The merry widow.’

Rannalld was surprised, ‘You have read
the book!’

Steven burst out laughing, ‘No, it is a
Human saying. It may well also have been a book at one time.’

‘
Then it seems our
races aren’t too far apart after all.’ They both laughed until
their sides hurt.

CHAPTER 19

‘
You look really out
of place.’

Charlie wasn’t bothered, ‘Don’t care. I
see you managed to get your ambassadorial robes out of the
cleaners.’

The Chief snorted, ‘I wore them once
then they were burned when I fell ill. These are replacements. The
Emperor made me pay for them myself.’

Charlie checked the cuff links on his
suit. ‘Well you’re not the only one that feels odd. This is my
first suit.’

‘
The first suit to
ever be worn in the Modloch Empire. You look smart Charlie, but
weird.’

‘
Aye well, from what
I have been able to find out, arty types dress fucking weird on
every planet. We should fit right in.’

‘
Still not sure this
is going to work.’

‘
It is all legal and
above-board.’

They were sitting in a small room.
Small trees grew next to the large window, which let in a lot of
light. The seating was typically Modloch. For the Chief
comfortable, for Charlie huge. A young female secretary seemed to
be squirming in her seat.

‘
By the way that
female is rubbing her arse against that seat, I would say you were
a big hit already.’

The Chief looked down his long nose,
‘Don’t be vulgar Charlie. It isn’t anywhere near the mating
season.’ He looked back up with a bit of a sniff. A few minutes
later he looked back at Charlie, ‘Do you think she likes me?’

‘
It would seem you
are quite famous and the highest ranked Modloch male that has
passed through these doors in a while. She knows you are single and
is at this moment having strange fantasies about you.’

‘
You’re shitting
me!’

‘
What’s all the
squealing about?’

‘
I don’t
know.’

Charlie shook his head, ‘OK, enough of
that. Smile at her.’

The Chief couldn’t help himself and
smiled. He was rewarded with one twice as big. She came to her
feet, ‘Would you like something to drink ambassador? You and your,
uh, Human thing.’

The Chief beamed, ‘I would love
something. I would only feed the Human thing a little water though.
They react badly to most of our drinks.’

‘
We have Takana, or
Elone.’

‘
Takana will be
fine.’

‘
I will be straight
back.’

‘
I’m fine, nothing
for me thank you.’ Charlie called after her as she walked
away.

She hesitated for a moment and stared
at Charlie, ‘Oh! OK Human.’

She disappeared and the Chiefs head
snapped round, ‘Well?’

‘
What’s a
Heyostie?’

‘
Why?’

‘
She is wondering if
you would accept one from a class of female like her.’

The Chief took a deep breath,
‘Honestly?’

‘
What the hell is
it?’

‘
It is a form of
greeting.’

‘
Oh aye? Is that all
it is?’

‘
No, a female who has
reached a certain age and has sexually matured will let a male of
her choice know that she will consider a formal mating with
him.’

‘
Sounds a bit weird
to me.’

‘
It’s just how it is
done Charlie.’

‘
Aye well,
considering the images I was getting from her mind, I think she is
already on the honeymoon.’

‘
Charlie... where
have you been all my life?’

‘
Rhetorical
question?’

‘
Obviously!’

The both laughed. She returned and
handed the Chief his glass. Her hand lingered on his for a split
second longer than necessary.

The Chief beamed, ‘Thank you very
much.’

She beamed back, ‘A pleasure,
ambassador.’

It was another ten minutes before she
stood and ushered them into another room. Charlie thought it would
have suited the offices of any music company back on Earth. It was
certainly an over the top display of wealth, and the two soldiers
felt out of place.

A grizzled old Modloch got to his feet
and bowed low. ‘Ambassador, you grace this humble company with your
presence. I am the owner Grotivh. When I heard you were coming
today I took the opportunity to meet you personally. How may we be
of assistance?’

‘
I am acting as a
patron for my friend here. His name is Charlie Murison. He wishes
to approach you about selling and distributing Human music
throughout the Empire.’

‘
We don’t normally
deal with outsiders Ambassador. They have to be exceptional.
However, in honour of your greatness, we will certainly listen to
his proposal.’

He turned to Charlie, ‘How do I address
a Human properly?’

Charlie bowed low, ‘You do the Human
race a great honour. Friends are addressed by their first names. As
we are not yet acquainted, Mr Murison shall suffice.’

‘
Then please take a
seat and make your pitch Mr Murison.’

‘
Thank you sir. I am
an executive from the PD music company of Earth. It is my job to
seek out new markets for our company.’

‘
Don’t you mean your
artists?’

‘
No sir, I don’t. We
are a public domain company. After a period of seventy years from
the time a particular piece of music has been released, or from
when the recording artist passes away, their music enters the
public domain. We represent the families or descendants of those
artists. Of course if there are none then the proceeds of any music
we promote comes to the company.’

‘
I see. Do you have a
copy of your copyright laws Mr Murison?’

‘
I most certainly
do.’ Charlie produce a paper copy, beautifully bound by Babes, and
slid it across.

The owner seemed frightened to touch
it, ‘Is that paper?’

‘
Yes sir it
is.’

He snapped a finger, ‘Do I have
gloves?’

Behind him sat half a dozen executives.
One female got up and ran from the room.

‘
Blayah, come here
and witness this.’ He looked up, ‘Blayah is our copyright
lawyer.’

Charlie produced an e-pad, ‘The top
pages are in Human English while the Modloch translation is in the
back half. This is an electronic copy that has been verified by our
office of foreign affairs.’

The lawyer took possession of the e-pad
while the female appeared with gloves. The owner put on the gloves
and turned the pages with the greatest of respect. Paper was a very
precious commodity; the owner himself had never seen it outside of
a museum. He almost smiled.

‘
The copy you are
holding sir is for your own records. The company can take an
electronic copy from my pad, or apply to our office of foreign
affairs for a copy of their own.’

He sat back, ‘You are making a gift of
this? It is too much.’

‘
We consider it an
expression of good will, and wish for you to accept it as it is
given.’

‘
I don’t know what to
say. Thank you.’ He paused to wait for the lawyer to catch
up.

‘
This is all genuine
sir. All of the electronic signatures required are in
place.’

‘
Thank you Blayah.
With that in place Mr Murison, we can move forward. So your company
deals with the music of musicians who are already deceased, and of
which the copyright on their music has already expired.’

‘
Yes.’

‘
That saves both of
our companies a lot of problems.’

‘
Indeed.’

‘
Of course, once they
are released here, then copyright for that piece of music shall
once more come into effect. This company shall hold the new
copyright, which will prohibit the selling of that particular piece
of music to anyone else on this side of the barrier. Do you
understand that?’

‘
Of course sir. We
did our research before approaching you.’

‘
Good. Now what do
you have for us?’ Charlie took out the boom box. ‘Wait. We can only
accept music in the form of a master disc that is legally
registered with your company on your home planet.’

Charlie reached into his bag and
produced a large golden disc in a clear case. ‘All ready sir.’

‘
I see. Excellent. So
this is a demonstration. Please, play your machine.’