The Many Worlds of Dean: Book 1 - Mars (10 page)

Dean now knew this was the alien’s attempt
to place himself in the superior position. Dean smiled and stood
from where he had been sitting, his tall frame, plus the extra four
centimeters his new boots gave him, easily left him towering over
the much shorter alien.

Quillitonoxic looked up at Dean, grunted,
and said. “My sampling tests have shown that ice cream has great
potential to become a highly demanded product. I believe we should
begin production as soon as possible. Since I have the necessary
influence and as I would have to provide the entirety of the
startup capital, I believe a partnership between you and I, in
which I hold an eighty percent stake and you hold a twenty percent
stake, would be most fair.”

“Sorry Quill, it’s fifty-fifty or I find a
new partner.”

If an alien face could look shocked, his
certainly did as he asked, “Why would I give you fifty percent for
a recipe. One that I could simply retrieve from the computer you
used to acquire the components.”

Dean smiled an almost evil grin as he said,
“First off, you can’t get the recipe from the computer. During my
research, I happened to stumble across your privacy laws. They are
really very thorough. Just making that threat could be considered a
violation. But don’t worry, I won’t have you arrested. You need to
be aware, I also figured out how to encrypt all of my interactions
with the computer. Second, I should get fifty percent because
without my recipe, you have nothing; except of course, a large debt
you were kind enough to guarantee.”

Quillitonoxic seemed to visibly shrink as
Dean spoke. He was silent for a moment and then replied, “You
possess much more intelligence than I had credited you with.
Therefore you leave me little choice but to accept your offer. You
do realize that equal partnerships are almost unheard of on my
world?”

Dean grinned and said, “Yep, but the way I
see it, an amazing new product should come from an amazing new
business. Besides, now I can let you know the best part.”

“What best part?”

“What I showed you was the base product.
I’ve been holding back the part that will make us both extremely
wealthy.”

“Base product? But what could be better than
ice cream?”

Dean smiled and said, “Ice cream…with
toppings.”

For the remainder of the day, Dean and
Quillitonoxic worked out the final details of their partnership and
had the computer create the necessary legal documents to make it
official. Once Dean had verbally agreed to the contract, the
computer automatically filed the documents with the appropriate
authorities.

With the details of their new business
settled, Dean showed Quillitonoxic the ingredients required to make
the ice cream and had the computer display the process. Afterwards,
the alien was silent for a long moment. Finally, he shook his head
from side to side and said, “I cannot believe that is all there is
to it. It is so simple. Why have we not discovered this before
now?”

“Sometimes the simplest things are the
easiest to overlook, “Dean replied sagely.

Quillitonoxic looked at Dean with an odd
expression. “Yes, you are correct of course.”

“Hey,” Dean said suddenly. “Why don’t we go
out to dinner and celebrate?”

“I think that is a most wonderful idea,”
Quillitonoxic said with a smile.

Dean and Quillitonoxic made their way back
to the same restaurant they had eaten at on Deans first day on
Garrosh. Upon entering, they were greeted warmly by a Gorroshtic
named Quinsil. Quinsil was the owner and operator of the restaurant
and best friend to Quillitonoxic. On one of his daily visits,
Quillitonoxic had explained to Dean how Quinsil had been his best
friend since they were both very young. Quinsil showed the pair to
an empty table and departed to serve other customers. Quillitonoxic
pushed a button on the table which brought a lighted display
showing what items were available to order.

“So my friend, what would you like to
order?” Quillitonoxic asked.

Dean, suddenly remembering the credit
account Quillitonoxic had set up for him, began to wonder just how
much money he had available to him. “Uh,” he began, “how much is
left in my credit account?”

“Not to worry my friend, once I realized how
much we are likely to make by selling your ice cream, I had the
bank triple your credit account.” Quillitonoxic replied cheerfully.
“That should be sufficient to maintain you until profits begin to
arrive.”

“Thank you very much. You have been very
kind since I arrived,” Dean said.

“Nonsense, I have simply been protecting my
investment.”

Dean began to reply when a new being entered
the room from the door that led to the kitchen. Dean immediately
snapped his mouth shut and stared in amazement. Quillitonoxic,
seeing Dean’s reaction, turned to look in the direction Dean was
staring. Walking across the room with an empty container in her
hands was the most beautiful thing Dean had ever seen. And, what
had frozen his brain in mid-process was that she appeared to be
human!

“Quill,” Dean asked, forgetting his promise
not to use the shortened name in public, “how is there another
human here?

Shaking his head in an odd fashion that Dean
had come to understand was laughter, Quillitonoxic replied, “You
are mistaken. That being is not of the same species as you.”

“I don’t understand,” Dean said.

“That being is of a species that is very
similar to yours, but is from a different world,” he explained.
“With trillions of worlds all developing life independently, nature
only has so many ways to design a being and many different species
end up looking much alike. There are over one thousand known
species that are either nearly indistinguishable from, or closely
resembles, the Gorroshtic. I did not want to tell you this before,
but your species is what is known as a lesser being. This is
because, while most body types are represented on many worlds, your
body type is extremely rare. I am only aware of one planet, other
than your own, that contains a species that looks like you. That
being you are so rudely staring at, comes from that world.”

Dean composed himself and turned to look at
Quillitonoxic. “Who is she?”

“I do not know. We can ask Quinsil when he
returns.”

Dean turned to once again stare at the
striking figure clearing dishes from a table across the room. She
was tall, maybe even taller than him. She had dark hair that hung
down to the backs of her knees. She was thin and lithe, but shapely
in all the right places. When she turned to head back to the
kitchen, Dean could see that there was no white showing in her
eyes. They appeared as black as the deepest cavern.

As the alien woman disappeared back into the
kitchen, Quinsil approached their table. “Have you decided what you
would like to order?” he asked.

“Quinsil,” Dean spoke up quickly, “who was
that girl that was clearing dishes from that table?”

Quinsil looked around in confusion before
understanding lit his features. “Oh, you must mean Meriyl. Why do
you ask?”

“She just looks very similar to my species,”
Dean replied. “I was curious who she is. Does she work here?”

“Now that you mention it, there is a
resemblance. I hadn’t noticed before. As for her working here, of
course she does, I own her.”

“What do you mean, you own her?” Dean asked
with a sudden tension in his voice.

“She was caught stealing food from a small
stand I own on another planet,” he explained. “By our laws, I own
her until such time as she has repaid what she took one hundred
times. Unfortunately for her, she took several of the most valuable
items sold at that stand. It will be many years before she has paid
her debt.”

Dean was stunned. He hadn’t come across any
mention of forced slavery during his research.

Without noticing Deans change in demeanor,
Quinsil asked, “Would you be interested in purchasing her services
for the night? Her species is very rare, but no one here would be
interested in her.”

“What do you mean?” Dean asked.

“Many mammalian species engage in
reproductive activities for recreation. I was inquiring if you
would like to purchase such an activity with Meriyl.”

Disgusted at the request, Dean shook his
head and said, “No, thank you. I can’t believe you would force a
person to have sex for money.”

Giving the alien equivalent of a shrug,
Quinsil replied, “It is a very common practice among the many
worlds. It is fine if you are not interested. I was merely
attempting to help her earn her way to freedom a little sooner.”
Finally sensing Dean’s discomfort, he quickly changed the
conversation. “Would you like to order now?”

“I think I’ve lost my appetite,” Dean
replied angrily.

The next two weeks went by in a blur. Dean
and Quillitonoxic spent every waking hour setting up their factory
for producing ice cream. At Dean’s urging, Quillitonoxic had been
convinced to pay a little extra to lease factory space close to the
building that housed The Path, and also where Dean continued to
reside.

The factory space was on the bottom floor of
a ten story building just one block away from where Dean resided.
The building was colored a bright white, just as all the buildings
surrounding it. Once Dean got a close up look, he could see it was
constructed of some form of stone.

The space Quillitonoxic had leased was
massive, and took up half the ground floor of the building. Each
day saw the space becoming more and more full as large machines
were maneuvered into place. Quillitonoxic had explained that there
were easily programmable machines available which could perform
every function of the manufacturing process. They would only need
to hire a few employees to monitor the machines.

Dean spent his nights studying the operating
manuals to the various machines. He found the programming to be
really straightforward, and was able to master the task quickly.
Once he knew what he was doing, he began assembling and programming
equipment like a man possessed.

Dean worked feverishly to get everything set
up, but his mind continued to dwell on the attractive, human-like
female he had seen at the restaurant. He just couldn’t seem to get
her out of his mind. And, every time he thought of her living in
slavery, and being offered for sex, his anger flared brightly. Once
he realized he would not be able to get her out of his head, he
resolved to do whatever he could to help her, once his business
began to show profits. This only motivated him to work harder.

Once the factory had been readied for
production, Quillitonoxic took dean to an office building on the
other side of the city. There he met another Gorroshtic, named
Hueristerylic, who would be servicing their marketing account.
Hueristerylic explained they would need to come up with a brand
name, and then discuss if they wanted to market the product
themselves, or negotiate with an existing retailer.

Creating a brand name that would appeal to
most Gorroshtic turned out to be extremely difficult. After several
hours of debate, they decided to brand it as “DDQ Ice Cream”; the
DD representing Dean Danforth, and the Q for Quillitonoxic. Nobody
was really happy with it, but it was better than any of the others
they had proposed. Besides, Dean liked that it reminded him of
Dairy Queen, colloquially known as DQ, back on earth.

After settling on a name, they began a long
winded debate regarding how the product was to be sold.
Quillitonoxic wanted to open stores under their own brand, but Dean
finally convinced him that the costs would become overwhelming. In
the end, it was decided that they would seek out existing retailers
and hope for a favorable deal.

With that part settled, Dean and
Quillitonoxic spent the next five days meeting with various
retailers. Every meeting seemed to go the same way. They were
initially met with severe doubt, or even outright disdain. The
executives at each company would openly scoff when Quillitonoxic
stated how much they wanted for their product. They would be not so
politely informed that the company would not offer even a tenth of
the requested price, no matter how good the product was.

At that point, Dean would produce a cooler
he kept between his feet, and pass out small samples of ice cream
to each of the executives. They would look at the small container
in front of them with obvious doubt. Then, there was always one
brave individual that would take the first taste. Seeing the look
of pure joy on that individuals face was usually enough to get the
others to try it.

The negotiations would then begin in
earnest. Once Dean and Quillitonoxic were able to get the
executives to agree to as high a price as possible, Dean would
produce a second sample covered in a sweet berry sauce and some
locally grown nuts. After that, they were usually able to secure an
agreement for more than they had originally asked for. Dean figured
that if he could recreate chocolate, he would probably end up the
richest person in the universe.

The pair ended up being extremely lucky they
had insisted on a ten day cancellation clause allowing them to
cancel all previous contracts. The fifth company they visited,
which also happened to be one of the largest, offered a sum twice
that of all the previous contracts put together, if they were given
exclusive rights to the product. They had even provided a five
million credit advance, which covered all of the initial costs
Quillitonoxic had paid to get their factory up and running, paid
Quillitonoxic back what he had loaned Dean, and still left a
sizable amount in each of their accounts. Dean and Quillitonoxic
both left that meeting smiling wildly.