Chapter 12 Chapter Twelve

The Sisu is flying in a spherical space with a distance of 900 light-years as its center and a diameter of 900 light years (but it has never been to the earth).From Lothian to Finster, from Finster to Thoth IV, and then from Thoth IV to Woolamulla, they chose to do business in places with abundant supplies, no police protection, and no rules and regulations. The story about the Sisu Free Trade Ships says that the first Sisu were built on Earth, and that the first Captain Klausar was born there (quietly, so no one can hear), a Vlakki.But that was six ships ago.It is said that that part of the history of the ship is basically true, not playing the piano randomly.The Sisu, which currently provides shelter for the family, is registered at New Finlandia on the planet Shiva III.In fact, it has never been to this port, but its registration fee is still worth it.After payment and registration, in order to pursue profits, as long as it is necessary to enter this civilized planet, the Sisu has the legal right to berth at this port.Khiva III is indeed a very considerate planet, it has never made a fuss or troubled anyone in terms of inspections and declarations.If there are any omissions in the formalities, paying a certain fine will be enough to make up for it.Therefore, many trading ships find it most convenient to register there.

On the planet Finster, Thorby learned another way of trading. The local fracchi have a pseudo-Latinized scientific name, and free traders call them "nasty slobs."They use telepathy to live in symbiosis with dexterous, bony-handed, lemur-like animals.Telepathy or something is just speculation.It is said that the slow-moving, huge, and dominant Vlaki only uses his brains, and that the lemurs are dedicated to it. The planet produces beautifully carved gemstones, raw copper, and a weed that extracts alkaloids for psychotherapy.Of course there are some other things.Since the locals do not speak or write, it is difficult to communicate.

A method of trading was in progress, unknown to Soapy, the silent auction method invented by Phoenician merchants.In the past, Phoenician merchants used this method to do business with the backward countries of Africa unknown to civilized society. Sisu traders moved their goods overboard: heavy metals that the locals needed, permanent clocks that they had found useful, and some goods that the Sisu intended to teach them to use.After moving, everyone went back to the ship. Soapy said to the officer, Ali Krausser-Drotar, "We left those things overboard? If we were in Jubul, we would turn around and the cargo would be gone."

"Didn't you see they took up arms this morning?" "I was in the lower deck." "Already equipped with weapons and personnel. Those guys have no morals, but they are very clever. As long as the boss is watching, they will be as honest as the treasurer in the bank." "Then what do we do next?" "Wait. Now they are looking at the goods. After a while, a day or two, they will pile their own goods next to ours. We can only wait, wait a little longer, maybe they will pile more Goods, and maybe exchange some goods for something else. But we can also be self-defeating, because we don’t want to back down, and miss what we want to buy. We can also do this: take a certain stock of ours Divided into two, it means that we like each other's goods, but disagree with their price.

“It can also happen that we don’t want the shipment, no matter what the price. So we move our stock next to what they want to sell and we want to buy, but still don’t touch their stuff, just wait. "After a while, people stopped moving the goods. At that point, the price was what we wanted. So we took what they offered and left ours on the premises. They came and moved Our goods. We ship back everything else that hasn't been priced yet, and they ship back things that we don't think the price is right for. "But that's not the end. Now both sides know what the other wants and how much they will pay. So they start making an offer. At the same time, we also make an offer based on what they might accept. This way, more The sale is done. After the second bargain, we unload all the goods that both parties are satisfied with and want. There will be no problem. I don't know that on a planet that buys and sells through language Will business be better than here?"

"You're right. But isn't it a waste of time?" "The last thing we need is time, don't you think?" In this kind of slow-motion auction, the price can be determined without moving a hair of the other party's goods, but it requires repeated trials.Gadgets that sold well in Lothian were hardly wanted in Finster, and the 72 discount knife that was originally intended to be sold to the planet Woolamulla was sold at a high price.But the boutiques on the ship are not considered goods at all in their eyes. Although Grandma Clausa is not in good health, sometimes she has to be helped out of bed for inspection, which is a pain for the nursing staff.As she approached Finster, she was furious with the children's playroom and the bachelor's quarters.First, she set her sights on a stack of thrilling picture books.She ordered them all to be confiscated, arguing they were "Vlakey dross".

The news was that grandma only wanted to search the children's playroom, boudoir and kitchen, but the male bachelors were also inspected.Granny checked their bedroom before they could hide the pictures taped to the wall. Grandma was shocked.As a result, the pictures were confiscated as well as the comic strips, and the magazines from which the pictures were cut out were also searched.These prohibited books and pictures were sent to the logistics department to be destroyed on the spot. When the escort saw these things there, he suddenly had an idea.So these things were moved to the stalls outside the ship.

Next to these waste papers such as books and pictures, exquisitely carved and peculiarly shaped local diamonds appeared, including chrysoberyl, garnet, opal and quartz. The porter blinked at the jewels, and told the captain of the situation. Immediately rearranged those picture albums and magazines, and changed them to be sold in units of books.As a result, more diamonds keep coming. In the end, each picture book was torn into pieces, and each piece was placed separately. The price was: one coloring page for one diamond.By this time, the bachelors who had managed to hide the portraits of their beloved beauties also displayed a public-spirited integrity and actively strived for high profits.Then again, they can buy these things again in the next civilized spaceport.Meanwhile, the children's playroom has been scoured for more thrilling comic strips.

For the first time in the history of the Sisu, these comic strips and beauty magazines bought them fine diamonds many times their weight. Starting from Finster, stop at Thoth IV, the next landing point is Woolamulla.During the "zigzag" trade journey, every step forward is a step closer to the upcoming meeting place of space free traders.As a result, there was an air of excitement and revelry all over the ship.The crew can leave work at hand to practice their instruments.The work on duty has also been re-arranged to free up space for everyone to practice chorus.The Sisu also set up a training platform for the athletes. Except for the crew members who are on duty in combat positions, everyone else does not have to be on duty and devote themselves to training.In order to fully express the achievements of the Sisu, many plans were proposed and quarrels were fierce.

In order to arrange the party, long telegrams kept flying to the distant space.The chief engineer strongly protested this waste, pointing out the high price of tritium energy.But the patriarch happily approved of these expense vouchers.As the celebration time approached, the patriarch had an unusual smile on her face, as if she knew something but didn't say it.Twice Thorby caught her smiling at him, and was troubled.He thought, it's better to hide away first, so as not to attract grandma's attention.But on one recent occasion, Thorby had been grudgingly "in the spotlight" in Granny's mind—he had the honor of dining with her for taking down a marauding ship.

The frightening signal came while the Sisu was lifting off Finster.No one expected to be attacked here, because there are no spaceships in this space.It had only been four hours since the jump alarm went off, and the Sisu was only traveling 5 percent of the speed of light.There is no hope of fleeing, only fighting. The port side computer was down due to a malfunction, it was "unhinged", and the electronic instrument maintenance crew on board had been desperately trying to fix it since the jump began.Soapy's nephew, Jerry, had already gone back to control the spaceship. Although the newcomer Kenan Drata had passed the training on the long flight from Lothian, he was still a young man, so Soapy treated him very badly. rest assured.Jerry insisted that even though Soapy hadn't actually fought a marauder, he was perfectly capable of doing such a job on his own.Soapy didn't argue with him.He knew that Jerry wanted to go back to the control room for a good reason, because that was his job.The second reason is less obvious: the computer room is where Jerry and his alternate sister used to work.In this way, the task of defending the Sisu fell to Soapy's shoulders. Therefore, when the looting ship suddenly appeared, it was up to Soapy to destroy it. From the very beginning, Soapy was acutely aware that the computer on the other side was no longer working.He was a little apprehensive.The fire controller's greatest comfort is that there is a group of fire control personnel on the other side of the ship, which will make him feel like, "Well, even if I screw up, people with better brains than me will nail it The enemy's." Indeed, the Sisu share such a thought, and it brings about a crucial sense of relief. But this time, Thorby had no safety net.The Finsters don't understand interstellar flight, and that UFO couldn't have been theirs.It couldn't have been a trade ship either, since it was too powerful.Also unlikely to be a Confederate defense ship, since Finster was still many light-years away from civilization.Soapy was quite sure that in an hour's time these conjectures would be confirmed.He had to be ready to fire the missiles, or, in an hour, he would be a slave again, and the whole family would end up with him. These thoughts disrupted his plans and train of thought. But after a while, he forgot about the failed computer on the other side, the family, and even the marauder.Because the activities of the marauding ship had become data, entered into his console, and the problems that had arisen had become the subjects he was trained to deal with.The emergency readiness siren was still going off, and his teammate slammed in, strapped on his seat belt and sat in another chair, but Soapy didn't hear a bit of it, nor did he hear the siren stop.After this, when Jerry, sent by the captain, came in, Soapy didn't see it either.Jerry motioned the boy who had just come in to stand up, sat himself in the chair, looked at the toggle switch on the console but didn't touch it.Jerry didn't speak, just glanced at the equipment in front of Soapy, and began to calculate his answer, so that if Soapy missed two shots, he could switch the switch and use the data he calculated to make up shots quickly.But Soapy hadn't the slightest idea what Jerry was doing. It didn't take long before Krause's strong bass voice came from the intercom: "The starboard tracker...do you need me to change the direction of the spaceship to facilitate your operation?" Soapy did not hear the captain speak.Jerry looked at Soapy, and replied, "I suggest it, Captain." "very good." Meanwhile, the senior fire controller on the port side came in, which was a serious violation.He watched the silent battle with sweat on his face.But Soapy didn't notice his expression at all.Except for knobs, switches, keys, and a high-speed brain, it seemed that nothing existed to Soapy.For just a moment, he suddenly wanted to sneeze, which made him worry to death, but he suppressed the sneeze unconsciously. At the last moment, Soapy made a very slight correction, then clicked a button as if absent-mindedly.One click of the button tells the computer to issue a shooting command according to the designed ballistic trajectory.Two seconds later, a nuclear bomb was launched. Jerry was reaching for the switch when he saw Soapy looking mad and ordered another shot in case the target cut power and changed direction.Jerry stopped moving.Immediately afterwards, the incoming data disappeared—the trade ship lost sight of its target, its detection system disabled. Post-mortem analysis showed that the anesthesia light did hit the trade ship 71 seconds after the missile was launched.After the computer stopped running, Jerry put down his work and saw Soapy still staring at the control panel in a daze... After a while, Soapy became active again, wanting to calculate again based on the last data that appeared.Jerry put his hand on his shoulder and said, "It's over, Thorby." "what?" "You hit it and it was beautiful. Marta would be proud of you." The Sisu, which was hit by the anesthesia light, was "blind" for a day, and the maintenance personnel spent a whole day repairing the photoelectric equipment.There was nothing to do that day, and the captain kept praising Soapy.A day later, the ship "saw" again, and two days later, it sailed into the reassuring darkness of multidimensional space.As mentioned earlier, the celebration banquet for Thorby was held that night. As usual, the patriarch's grandma gave a speech, thanking everyone for the family's survival again, and specifically mentioned that the child of the Sisu sitting beside her is the key figure in protecting the happiness of the family and achieving outstanding military exploits.After the speech, she sat down to eat, and was served by her daughter-in-law. Soapy didn't like to be praised, and he didn't remember the battle very well, and he didn't think they should honor him.He had been a little shocked ever since he knocked down the marauding ship, and then he began to dream. He knew that those people were nothing but bandits.Bandits and slave traders wanted to rob the Sisu, and wanted to make everyone in this family their slaves.He had long hated those slave traders deeply.There was nothing so inhuman as slavery, and he hated them, so to speak, before he knew the word "slave traders" in his childhood. He believed Pop would applaud him for taking down the marauder.He knew that although his father had a gentle temperament, he would never be soft on slave traders, even if all the slave traders in the galaxy were wiped out, he would not shed a single tear. However, Soapy was not happy about it, because he thought of the sudden death of the living people in the ship, and in the instant of the fire, they were smashed and left this world forever.He looked at his index finger that fired the missile, and doubts arose in his heart.He was obsessed with that old contradiction: wanting to eat meat, but wanting someone else to be the butcher. The celebration banquet was held for him, but Soapy had missed three nights of sleep before, and now he was obviously a little listless.I have no appetite for meals. Halfway through the party, Soapy became aware that Granny was watching him.When he got nervous, food spilled on him. "Hi!" she snapped, "Did you sleep well just now?" "Uh, sorry, Grandma. Are you talking to me?" Soapy saw his mother's warning look, but it was too late, and grandma was already angry. "I'm waiting for you to talk to me!" "Mmm...it's a good day." "Are you talking about the weather? I didn't find anything different today. Will it still rain in space?" "I mean it was a good dinner tonight. Yes, it was really good. Thank you, Grandma." "That's right. Boy, it's the custom to have a polite conversation with a gentleman and a lady when they dine together. Perhaps it's not the way of Vlakki, but it's an established custom among fellow countrymen." changing customs." "Yes, Grandma. Thank you, Grandma." "Then let's start over and talk about it. Yes, it was a good night, we tried to make everyone feel equal, and at the same time, we also saw the value of everyone. This time, the family finally saw the good in you, of course , nor is it an extremely great merit. Congratulations. Now it's your turn to talk." Soapy blushed and was speechless. Grandma snorted, "What did you do for the party?" "Well, I don't know, Grandma. You know, I can't sing, I can't dance, I can't play, I can only play chess, ball... Besides, I've never seen a party, so I don't know what a party is like." "Hmph! So you haven't seen it yet." Soapy felt ashamed and said, "Grandma...you must have been to many parties, can you tell me about it?" This sentence hit grandma's heart, and her serious expression suddenly relaxed.The old woman said in a low voice, "They don't have parties like the ones I had when I was a girl..." Except for occasional sounds of surprise and curiosity, Soapy just listened and said nothing.Everyone else was waiting for grandma to issue an "imperial decree" that they could leave, but she kept going on: "...I tell you, back then, I could go on any ship I wanted, and I could choose whatever ship I wanted. At the beginning, I was a young and lively girl with delicate feet and a beautiful nose. All the ships of my compatriots proposed to my grandma to change me, but I knew at that time that Sisu was the most suitable for me. So I insisted on changing to Sisu. Oh, I was so alive at that time! I danced all night, and I was still full of energy to participate in the sports meeting the next day..." Not the funniest dinner, but not a disappointment either. Soapy had no other talents, so he had to choose to be an actor at the party. Aunt Athene Krausser-Fogus, head of the restaurant department and the best cook, has a penchant for literature and writes quickly.She wrote a script about the life of the first captain, Clauser, which fully reflected the pure and noble character of the Clauser family.The first captain, Klausar, was a perfect man with iron will. Because he hated what Fraggie did, he built the Sisu with his own hands and let his wife (the name in the draft was named Fergus, Before the script was sent to grandma for review, it was changed to the name of grandma when she was a girl) and her own children served as crew members.The script ends with them flying off into space, spreading civilization and wealth across the universe. Soapy plays the first captain, Klauthar.After the audition, someone actually asked him to play this role, which frightened him so much that he froze there.Aunt Athena seemed as surprised as he was: her voice choked up a little at the mention of Thorby's name and role.But grandma seemed very happy.She often came to rehearsals and made suggestions, which were respectfully accepted. The heroine who plays with Thorby is Royen Garcia, who was exchanged from the El Ned trading ship.Suobi was unwilling to exchange Marta, but he did not dislike Luoyan.He found that Luo Yan was easy to get along with.She is a gentle, dark-skinned beauty.When the plot required Soapy to kiss her despite the taboo of the spaceship, and in front of his grandmother and everyone, he was so scared that he forgot his lines. But he did his best.Grandma snorted in disgust and said, "What are you doing! Did you tell you to bite her? Don't let her go, she's not a radiation, she's your wife, fool. You just carried her into the boat, You're alone with her, and you love her. Now get on with it... No, no! Where's Athena?!" Soapy looked around for help, but saw Fritz with a smirk on his face, Roll your eyes.That doesn't help much. "Athena! Come here, daughter, and you show this big, spoiled young fool how to kiss a woman. Go and kiss him yourself, and let him try again. Every position." Athena was twice as old as Soapy, so Soapy was not overly embarrassed this time.Then, he clumsily imitated her movements, and finally kissed Luoyan without tripping over her feet. This must be a good show, because still milk is very satisfied.She was looking forward to seeing the play at the party. But she died in Woollamulla.