CHAPTER 14
The trip back to Sylon was delayed in favor of ironing out a treaty with Earth. Their ambassador preferred not to hear their plea until the Krylon ambassador concluded their business. The trio of men pulled together to come up with an enticing package and a few hours after sending it, the Earth ambassador requested to speak by holo-vid.
Ambassador MacDowell’s face popped onto the view screen, expecting to see the three princes. Instead, he was faced only with Ambassador Kredor.
“I am sorry to disappoint, but our leaders wish the treaty negotiations to be handled by experts. I understand their needs perfectly and have been appointed to oversee all contact with Earth.”
“Understood. I prefer that we be allowed to forge the treaty ourselves. I am learning at some cost all the ways others can ruin my best laid plans.”
“Would you like to come aboard our vessel to discuss this matter in more detail or wait until Ambassador Teric has left?”
“Your alliance alone is offering what Earth is most interested in securing. I would speak with you, now if at all possible.”
“We rather thought you might feel that way. There is a Candorian shuttle holding over your city. I will ask them to land.”
“I will make my way to the landing pad and be with you shortly.”
Ambassador Kredor sat back in his seat. The princes were clever to a fault. Their plan practically guaranteed thousands of human brides for the Krylon and Shardon on Sylon. The only real issue was whether they keep it secret until it was too late. Kredor fretted over the situation right up until the door slid open and Ambassador MacDowell walked through it.
“Welcome, Ambassador MacDowell. Have a seat and make yourself comfortable.”
“Is your offer real?”
“I guarantee you that it is. As you might be aware, a human female and her mother have come to our ship.”
“I did hear of this situation. The younger was taken when our ozone layer collapsed. Amongst the chaos, your people were unsure what to do with her. Her mother and small sister recently joined her.”
“They have both taken as their mates, two of the princes that now rule Sylon. They have advocated not only for fair and responsible treatment of human females brought to our world, but also for the males on Earth. Their compassion knows no bounds and their males can apparently deny them nothing.”
“The Sylon princes are offering the people of Earth an entire continent on your home world in exchange for human brides?”
“We are offering you much more than simply land. We are offering your people a fresh start. We offer not only the land, but equal leadership on our world. One human will be chosen by and from the humans who reside there to rule equally with the other princes. We also offer you safe passage on our ships for any who wish to live. Naturally, we would not have space for all the people of Earth but we will take all that we can.”
“All you want in return is access to any females who wish to mate with you?”
“We require a draw of one thousand a month over the next year, as your people prepare to relocate. We will host whatever scouting parties Earth wishes to send to our home world and give them whatever assistance they need to break ground on a human city.”
“Go on.”
“The most important facet of this plan is that it remain unknown to other worlds. If other species hear that we are planning to relocate large numbers of people from your world, the Galactic Council will get involved. If that happens, the red tape will be never ending.”
“Aren’t you a member world? If so, you are obligated to follow their mandates even as we speak.”
“The princes have broken with the imperial house and the Krylon home world. We have petitioned to join the Galactic Council and foresee no problems. However, the process sometimes takes a full solar year, which is an equivalent of fourteen Earth months. Your people must be made ready and actually be relocated prior to the end of that time. Our fastest ships can carry us there in six months. That means you must ready a scouting party immediately and have your people prepared to leave within eight Earth months. Only those settled before our membership solidifies are guaranteed settlement on our world.”
“I get the feeling there is something you aren’t telling me.”
“Our people will not tolerate any abuse of females or children. The penalty for such crimes is death.”
“Sounds harsh but doable.”
“We expect you to only bring males who won’t continuously fight with us over females or discourage their women from joining with us. If that becomes a problem, you should know in advance we will simply eliminate them. We offer this deal with the understanding that we continue to get access to human females inter-generationally. We have confidence in our ability to woo brides. We just respectfully request that no additional barriers be placed there intentionally by your males. The female’s choices will be final.”
“Anything else?”
“We refuse to permit the corporations who have destroyed your world free reign on our world. If we find your kind exploiting our planet, the penalty will be immediate death.”
“Go green or die. That should have been on a billboard at some point. Is there anything else we should take into consideration?”
“We request mostly stable families be sent to settle on our world. We welcome children. There will be no more one child rules. If population gets to be an issue at some point in the future, we will seek out another habitable world. As long as you deal in good faith with us, the princes of our world will never forsake you.”
“We are humbled by your generous offer. I am to take your words back to Earth Gov and ask for time to decide. Between you and me, I cannot imagine them turning you down. I will get started on selecting the first thousand brides and ask our military to put together a scouting team.”
“We care not who is chosen as long as they are cooperative and willing to participate in building a settlement. If you send a bunch of high-ranking politicians who refuse to get their hands dirty, we will be forced to eliminate them in order to make room for men willing to stay on task.”
“I can tell you right now, they aren’t going to like your people killing everyone who doesn’t follow the rules.”
“When I say we, I mean you will be asked to handle that yourselves. Remember, you are part of the we moving forward.”
“I see where you’re going with that.”
“Please look at it from our standpoint. We are traversing huge distances and giving humans a stake in our world. It’s not like we can drag every uncooperative person all the way back to Earth. It’s not fair to take resources away from the settlers to expend on law breakers. Some worlds get rid of undesirables by indenturing them to ships heading for deep space. Our people do not believe in such things.”
“I suppose that’s all true. I don’t suppose we should stay focused on the big picture here, which is human beings given the opportunity to survive the devastation of our world.”
“Agreed. We look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible. Remember, no one can know or the Galactic Council will have much to say. I have included all the information we just shared in written form. We will need the signatures of Earth Gov’s ruling body affixed in the appropriate places then the princes will add their signature.”
“I understand perfectly. I will see it done.”