The Zarathian looked at me, his head tilting to one side as if looking at me at an angle would reduce the debt. He was looking old, I didn’t realise Zarathians went wrinkly.

  “How do I owe you money, Del Bird?” Gary asked.

  “I ordered a disruptor blaster from you. I never received it.”

  “You never picked it up. That is an omission on your part. An omission you are rectifying now.”

  “You still have it? After a hundred and fifty years?” I asked in amazement.

  “Why would I not?” the alien asked, he turned around and pulled back a tapestry to reveal a black window into nothingness, reached inside and pulled out a gold and black gun shaped object to a sound like paper tearing. Then he turned around and handed me the object. I took it absentmindedly, looking at the window into nothingness.

  “What the fuck is that?” I asked, nodding to the blackness.

  “That is not for humans.”

  “I can’t believe he opened it in front of you. It’s his personal pocket storage dimension and as far as I can ascertain, Zarathian’s ain’t allowed to have them either.” Molly said.

  “Ooo, forbidden technology. I like forbidden technology. Where can I get one?” I asked.

  “Ha, ha, ha. This is why I live amongst humans. When seeing a new technology, their first question is ‘how do we get hold of it?’ And the second is ‘can we make it go bang?’ Only after these questions have been asked, is safety considered and at no point is the forbidden nature of the technology taken into account. That was found in an abandoned progenitor species Habitat.” Gary said.

  “A Habitat? How big was this Habitat?” I asked carefully.

  “We heard your conversation with my partner. It is more than big enough to fulfil your needs.”

  “I take it you know where this Habitat is and you are willing to tell me?” I said.

  “It is not an easy place to get to. Dangerous.”

  “Harder and more dangerous than Threading the Needle?”

  “A similar challenge. But less time critical. I did it many human generations ago. An act of desperation and ultimately futile. We can take you there.”

  “You’re not going to tell me where it is?”

  “No. I have spent five hundred of your years in human space. Like my partner, I need to rejuvenate so I will be travelling with you.”

  “How do you know I have a ship?”

  “Ha ha ha. You are on Jeckon. You are Del Bird. You have that disruptor blaster. If you do not have a ship in five days you are not the human I think you are.”

  “We really did just come in here for a wrist-com for Vanessa,” Zia said plaintively.

  “How is your lovely wife?” Gary asked me, ignoring Zia.

  “Vindictive and murderous,” I said.

  “She has not changed then. Tell her I said squwchwchwch,” Gary replied.

  “Doesn’t that mean ‘look at my sexy tentacles’ in Kraken?” I asked.

  “Bran, please. Can we just buy a wrist-com without acquiring any more weapons, getting involved in an illegal rejuv ring, or conspiring to, well, do anything illegal, at least, not in front of me. I like my new job and don’t want to lose it.” Zia pleaded.

  “Fine. Which wrist-com did you want to get Vanessa?” I asked.

  “Umm, the obsidian one there.”

  “Nice. It would match her cold black heart.”

  “Don’t be so mean. Can we have a look?” Zia asked Molly.

  Half an hour later we left the shop. I was considerably poorer but had found, not only a really nice wrist-com for Vanessa, but also several interesting and useful grey-market devices of non-human origin which my antique wrist-com had no problem syncing with. We found a post office, sent the wrist-com to the hospital, then bought drinks and snacks.

  Zia took me down one of the many lakes and ponds that dotted the base of the canyon. It was surprisingly quiet and uncrowded here given that we were less than a couple of hundred metres from one of the busiest areas of one of the biggest cities in human space.

  We sat down in a copse of trees next to a small stream of crystal clear water. Zia took off her shoes and dangled her feet in the water. Sipping my coffee, I watched small fish investigate her pale feet.

  “This is nice,” I said. For a moment Zia was silent, then she turned to me.

  “I’m glad you fucking think so. I brought you here to make sure we’re not under surveillance because I want to know what the fuck is going on.” I checked one of my new devices.

  “No one’s watching us specifically, just the normal city surveillance systems that are watching all the time.”

  “What. The. Fuck.” Zia said, staring at me in horror.

  “You don’t get a city utopia this utopian without keeping an eye on everything all the time. I suspect the rabble rousers and problem citizens are encouraged to go to Crystal Springs.”

  “I was encouraged to go to Crystal Springs and I didn’t… Oh, maybe I did. But I’m a good girl now.”

  “And you’ve been let back in again to enjoy the utopian goodness. Of course, this is just conjecture on my part.”

  “So this surveillance could be just a figment of your imagination.”

  “Oh, no that’s real.” I said, showing Zia the display on my wrist-com.

  “Fuck. Don’t you care? I mean, with the stuff you talked about in the shop and that thing you have in your pocket..” I pulled out the disruptor blaster.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “You mean this.”

  “Fuucck. Put it away, I don’t want to see your weapon.”

  “That’s not what you told Vanessa,” I couldn’t resist saying. Zia’s face and neck turned a bright red and she suddenly found the little fish very interesting. I put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, then removed it quickly when I realised the touch could be misconstrued.

  “Molly pretty much wrote the book on unauthorised information gathering. That shop is probably one of the best shielded spaces in human space so no-one will ever know what went on in there. Not without parting with large amounts of cash. Also, one of my new toys is generating an anti-surveillance field.” I reassured her.

  “Why did you even buy all that stuff, especially that blaster?”

  “This stuff is embargoed alien technology a tier above our technological development. You buy that sort of stuff when you find it. As for the blaster, I’m mostly certain it's non-lethal, it's a kind of EMP device, more of a proof of concept device for melding two disparate alien technologies rather than a piece of serious military hardware.”

  “So it’s harmless?”

  “My initial design brief was for it to disable FYT suits so definitely not harmless. Not something you’d want falling into the wrong hands.”

  “Half the galaxy would say your hands are the wrong ones.” Zia pointed out.

  “Only half?”

  “And what was all that talk about Deathworlds no one wants?”

  “Oh, Vanessa wants me to find a new homeworld for the Neko, an unoccupied one. Most alien species aren’t adaptable as humans so they class anything that can’t be terraformed into uniform perfection as a Deathworld,” I said casually.

  “Fuuck, They told me you’d been unfrozen for something big… I didn’t realise it was that big. No wonder everyone’s been saying it was above their pay grade when I asked.”

  “You don’t get much bigger. To tell you the truth, I never expected to get a lead that quickly. And for a possible Progenitor Habitat too.”

  “Okay, what do you mean when you say Habitat? I thought habitats were just space stations with domes on.”

  “In human space, yes. In the rest of the galaxy they are more like artificial planets. Some of them are even able to travel between systems…” I started enthusiastically.

  “Right. And what species are Progenitors again?” Zia asked. I recalibrated my thought process.

  “They didn’t teach you this at school? The Progenitors aren’t just one species, they are many, they are… umm… the ones who came before, the ones who uplifted the oldest of the Uplift species.”

  “They didn’t teach us anything about aliens at school. I mean, I know about the Zarathians because of that historical drama a few years ago, and the Krakens because, well, umm, tentacles,” Zia said and blushed.

  “Yeah, the Krakens do have a touchy feely approach to inter-species diplomacy, and us humans have more than the average amount of holes which some are willing to have filled in the name of inter-species diplomacy.”

  “Ewww. Is that what they call it?”

  “The official name for it is Rishathra. And it's been going on since two Progenitor species met an unbelievably long time ago and discovered close bodily contact was a pleasant way of reaching mutual understanding.”

  “Okay, okay. Let's get back to what the Progenitors actually are. Apart from total degenerates, that is.”

  “That’s rich, coming from someone who has their own harem.”

  “It’s not a harem, it’s a polycule. And we’re all humans. I’m a doctor, I would have noticed if I was sleeping with an alien.”

  “Are you sure? One of them is green. That is not a normal skin colour for humans,” I teased. Zia giggled.

  “Amie hasn’t always been green. She just did it for a fancy dress competition and didn’t realise it would be semi-permanent. In a year or so she’ll be back to her natural brown. But you were telling me about the Progenitors?”

  “Yes, young lady. Now please pay attention. The sentient species, at least in this little corner of the Galaxy, are split into four, no, actually five, rough groups. There’s the Progenitors, the ancient ones, the first species to colonise the Galaxy. They’re the ones who’ve buggered off to a higher plane of existence, forgotten that reproduction is essential for continuation of the species, been exterminated, or just mysteriously disappeared, leaving some really cool stuff lying around for their successors.”

  “Who are their successors? Humans?”

  “Definitely not humans. These various Progenitor species bumped into other, less technologically advanced species that they thought had potential, or maybe make a useful slave race, so they uplifted them. Over time this process became formalised, the Uplifted finding species of their own and becoming Sponsors. There are tests and criteria that every species is meant to pass and fulfil before they’re allowed to play with the next level of technology. Then there are the Observed, essentially potential Upliftable species, there’s a lot of competition to get to Uplift a species.”

  “I bet. Which species Uplifted humans? Was it the Zarathians? Was that why we had that war?” Zia asked. I grinned.

  “No, that was the Zarathians trying and failing to become our Sponsor species. Humans don’t have a Sponsor species. The Earth is in an out of the way, unexciting backwater of the Galaxy and no-one’s admitting that they knew we existed until we turned up at the Kraken homeworld asking if we could play galactic civilisations with them.”

  “Does that sort of thing happen often, random species turning up, I mean?”

  “No. There’s been one other instance in recorded history. And that recorded history goes back way before hominids evolved on Earth. Most species are Uplifted when they’re getting used to the concept of agriculture and tool use, or coming up with excuses why they don’t require either, so when we turned up it caused a bit of a galactic kerfuffle.”

  “I bet.”

  “We have defied classification for a thousand years. Technically we’re still an Observed species, but there are also arguments that we are a Sponsor species due to the Neko, not to mention that the Kraken and Zarathians have dropped strong hints that they consider themselves under our protection. There have even been motions put forward that we are to be classed as a new Progenitor species and all Progenitor relics should be passed to us, although I suspect that started as a joke made by the Krakens.”

  “So if there are aliens with far more advanced technology than we have, why doesn’t one of them just come and take us over.”

  “It would be considered rude for a fully blown Sponsor species to attack a far less technologically advanced race.”

  “Really? Rude?”

  “Exceptionally. They are expected to use their Uplifted as proxies. There’s a great deal of status in being a grandparent sponsor species. Of course, if it all goes wrong, there is a chance you could lose your Uplifted species.”

  “So the Zarathians were just a proxy species?”

  “Yeah. And our victory was so overwhelming, whoever the Sponsor species was, not only abandoned the Zarathians, but fled our corner of the galaxy. It’s given us humans a certain reputation within the Galactic community.”

  “Oh, what was that?”

  “Well, there is a big difference between the formal dealings of the Galactic Council of Sentient Species which has to make sure the exact meaning of what the delegates of species of pure energy that evolved in the outer atmosphere of a gas giant is understandable to the delegates of a newly contacted species that evolved in a volcanic vent. Whereas out there, in the real galaxy it’s a lot messier and humans, it turns out, are much better at messy than formal. So before the Zarathian war humans were seen as being overcautious and timid, now we’re seen as a dynamic can-do species who doesn’t have time for five year long debates. And also a species you don’t want to upset.”

  “It sounds like there are a lot of misunderstandings though,”

  “Oh yes, but there is a general assumption of goodwill between non-warring species, so you can usually back out of any situations of mutual incomprehension. I’m really surprised you weren’t taught any of this in school.”

  “I wish I had been. I’m sure it would have been far more interesting than Personal Finances or Home Maintenance. I wish I could come with you.” Zia sighed. I took a mental step back and considered Zia as a crewmate. While she had problems with personal space and inappropriate contact, we did work well together. She was clean, tidy, intelligent and adaptable, and a doctor. She’d also become a close personal friend although I had to admit to myself I found her physically attractive. But Vanessa had said she liked her and Vanessa didn’t make friends easily.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” Zia asked.

  “You could put in a request to be included,” I said carefully, making a decision, “but it would be as a crewmember, not as a friend.”

  “You’ve suddenly got very serious.”

  “You could be applying for a mission that changes human history. Or we could fail spectacularly. And being a known associate of myself and Vanessa will put a big target on your back.” Zia nodded seriously. Then she yawned.

  “I think I’ll sleep on it and I mean sleep. Do you mind if we cut today’s expedition short? It’s all caught up with me.”

  “Nah, I’ve got a hundred years of history to catch up on. What I’ve just told you is a century out of date. Something might have happened out there,” I gestured to the universe above the roof of the city, “that might be the reason no-one travels anymore.”

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