6 + 9 = 13
Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2024 1:05 pm
A tale from the spacelanes of the Ooniverse by C. B.
I. Arrival
A transition gap to witchspace ripped open and in the middle of a rapidly disintegrating cloud of tachyons the "Bonny Baffalu" materialized in the Riredi system. The Black Racer class courier ship had covered the distance from Ceesxe to Riredi with a total of nine witchspace jumps in good time and was now on the last leg of its journey, the transit flight from the jump point to the space station.
Captain Leopold "Leo" Eccles, the commander of the "Bonny Baffalu", sat relaxed in his pilot's chair and had begun officially required safety checks according to the checklist that had to be completed after every space jump. Safety was a word of great importance at his employer, Riredisec Inc. The three other important words were reliability, speed and discretion.
The company, which specialized in high-security interstellar transport, had been in business for several standard years in this highly competitive market and enjoyed an impeccable reputation throughout the sector when it came to transporting particularly valuable, sensitive or secret cargo from A to B.
The current cargo of the "Bonny Baffalu" consisted of fifteen containers owned by the Riredian government, which had to be transported discreetly from Ceesxe to their destination on the Riredi space station. The flight had been free of trouble and without any special incidents or unpleasant encounters. This was no great surprise, because Antonio Tomaso Ortensio Ursio „Atou“ Bedidiso, flight engineer and second crew member on the "Bonny Baffalu", had planned the route so that - with one exception - it would lead exclusively through safe and at least relatively safe star systems: From Riredi via - Reinen - Xexedi - Usle - Biorle - Socelage - Gerege - Anbeen - Veis - to Ceesxe and back the other way.
The risk factor in terms of safety on the route was the Veis system, but there was no way of avoiding it. It was widely known that the local dictator was not too strict about enforcing GalCop laws, which attracted many shady characters to the system. Atou had been a little worried about this in the early planning phase and turned to B-ZERG-3-4BB7623309A8, Riredisec's contact in the Riredian government. B-ZERG-3-4BB7623309A8 had immediately taken care to ensure a safe transit through the Veis system. He had somehow arranged for a military maneuver by the Galactic Navy to take place in the Veis system at the time the "Bonny Baffalu" was passing through. The strong military presence had reduced the activities of shady rabble to practically zero during the critical period. The effort made showed how important it was to the Riredians that the transport reached its destination safely and discreetly.
In general, the security and secrecy measures for this particular transport were exceptionally high. The Riredian government had insisted that the loading of the ship on Ceesxe and the subsequent unloading at the Riredi station be carried out exclusively by its own personnel and that no one else was allowed to be present.
All cargo containers had been lined with activated Mu-metal, which effectively prevented their contents from being scanned by normal cargo scanners from the outside. This made the journey considerably more complicated, as it meant that they could not land at any station to stock up on fuel. The fuel for the jump to the next system had to be laboriously harvested from the suns in each system on the way. Even though the Riredian government had enough foreign policy influence to be able to ensure at any time that customs in all transit systems would have allowed the "Bonny Baffalu" to land on the space stations and take off again even with non-scanned cargo, this could have attracted attention in certain circles, which they wanted to avoid at all costs.
To be able to clearly identify each individual container from the outside despite of the heavy shielding, all of them contained very special crystal from which a clear signature could be measured using a military muon-neutrino scanner. Riredisec had insisted on this. If they were going to take responsibility for an unknown cargo in a sealed cargo hold isolated from the ship's systems, they at least wanted to be able to provide irrefutable proof that this exact cargo had been handed over again later at the destination. It was finally agreed that after the cargo hold on Ceesxe was sealed, a scan would be carried out by representatives of the government there as trustees and both parties would receive a measurement report showing the number of containers measured and the resonance signature of each one. A second measurement was to be taken immediately after the arrival at Riredi Station. If the values of both measurements matched, the transport was considered to have been carried out properly.
After having overcome the last small part of its journey, the "Bonny Baffalu" flew into the huge landing bay of Riredi Station. It passed the outer gate of lock number 2, which led to the military sector and the hangars of the Riredian Navy. The second agreed scan took place inside the lock. The automatic hangar parking system then hooked the "Bonny Baffalu" and maneuvered it through the hangar to its berth, where the ship was to be unloaded later.
The crew used the time of the transfer to the berth to carry out the prescribed checks after landing. They were early and clearance to unload the cargo would only be given in one or two hours, when Marscha Dutcheven and the people from the processing department had completed all the formalities with the Riredians. Leo preferred not to have anything to do with the administrative stuff and was happy to leave it to the experts. His job had been to get the cargo to Riredi Station safely and without incident, and he and his flight engineer had done an excellent job, as always.
II. Curiosity
After completing the checklist, Leo switched the ship's systems to lie-down mode. He stretched comfortably, yawned, switched on the external cameras and took a look around, almost bored. Suddenly, as if electrified, he stood up from his seat with a jerk and switched on the on-board intercom: "Atou, no matter what you're doing, drop everything and come to the bridge immediately. There's trouble."
Outside in the hangar there was a lot going on. At least 30 space soldiers from the Riredian Navy were stationed at strategically important and neuralgic points, equiped with ultra-modern combat armor and heavy weapons.
As far as Leo, who knew a little about the Riredian military, could tell, there were at least three platoons of airlock breakers. This special unit was trained for boarding spacecraft and space stations and widely famous for fearing neither death nor the Bemaeraian evil Noseoid as well as always doing the least expected, even though the last was completely contrary to the Riredian mentality.
But it wasn't the military presence that made Lee jump. That had been announced and was just another security measure, similar to the one that had been in place when the ship was being loaded. What had unsettled Lee were the five people who had just entered the hangar from the lock to the express tube shuttle and were walking towards the ship's berth: Marscha Dutcheven, flanked by four Riredisec security guards. If Theodor "Mister T" Nickels, the head of the Government Contracts Department at Riredisec, had sent his right-hand woman and closest confidant personally instead of simply calling via intercom, that could only mean one thing: Something had gone terribly wrong somewhere and there was a blaze.
Leo and Atou let the delegation in and received them on the bridge. After a brief, wordless nod as a greeting, Marscha got straight to the point: "Gentlemen, as you can imagine, I am not here for pleasure or to give you a warm welcome. I have been instructed to take you immediately to Mister Nickels. You two are not touching anything on the ship for the time being! I will now make a copy of the communication, sensor and lock logs, the flight recorder data as well as all records and documents relating to the cargo on board - in your presence, if you wish so. After that, I will disconnect and seal the on-board computer and all data storage devices. We will then take the express tube shuttle directly to headquarters, where Mister Nickels is already waiting for us. In our absence, two of our security colleagues will take over on-board security until further notice. The other two will accompany us."
"Don't you want to tell us what's going on first?" Atou turned to Marscha, somewhat angerily. "The whole show here looks almost like an arrest! What are we being accused of? I am not aware of having done anything that would justify the measures that are currently being taken. And I am quite sure that it is the same with Captain Eccles." "I understand that you are upset, but I am not authorized to give you any explanations or clarifications.“ Marscha replied coldly. "My only task is to take the both of you and the secured data to Mister Nickels immediately. You will find out everything else directly from him. But if you want some advice from me: take a few fresh diaper inserts for your space suits with you before we leave. From what Mister Nickels said about you both when he sent me to get you, I am convinced that you will need them." That hit home. Atou swallowed dryly and then remained silent.
Leo was much less impressed. He had known Marscha for too long and too well and her "nice" manner, when she was under extreme pressure. He just shrugged his shoulders and said: "Let it go, Atou. We'll just follow Miss Dutcheven to our boss and hear what Mister T has on his mind. I'm honestly curious what it is, because don't have the slightest idea. And unlike other people, Mister T is both authorized and competent to explain the situation and the specific problem to us in more detail." The dig had hit home with Marscha, even though she summoned up her self-control - witch she had a good supply of - to not let it show in the slightest. Marscha and Leo were like cat and dog. They never missed an opportunity to get on each other's nerves. Apart from that, they had a high opinion of each other's abilities in their respective fields and respected each other, although neither of them would have ever openly admitted that.
III. Nightmare
When they arrived at headquarters, Marscha left the two security guards at the entrance to the Government Contracts Department and went on alone with Leo and Atou to the central control room, which Mister T. somewhat understatedly called his "office." Mister T was already standing up waiting for them, which showed how tense he was, and he got straight to work: "Ah, Marscha, you've collected the two heroes, very good. Immediately carry out an evaluation and summary check of the data you brought with you and determine whether there are any anomalies. And order a medical shuttle, because when I'm done with the two of them, they ‘ll need one. Or, no, you'd better order a corpse transport straight away!" Marscha gave Leo and Atou an indefinable look, then sat down at a terminal and began the analysis without saying another word.
"So, and now to you two," Mister T turned to Leo and Atou with flashes in his eyes. "Which of you two Begeabian morons will be the first to explain to me how we got into this mess so neck deep? Who wants to explain to me why two years before my retirement I'll probably have to explain to my wife that I've been fired without further notice? Who's going to start?"
"Mister T, I hate to say that, but I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about.” Leo made the beginning. ”You better explain to us what the nature of the problem is before you continue to act like a madman and end up having a heart attack from all the excitement. What the heck is going on here?“
„You want to know what the nature of the problem is, Leo? THAT is the nature of the problem!!" Mister T snapped at him and slammed his data pad onto the central control desk with such force that you were afraid both would shatter into a thousand pieces. Leo took the data pad and looked at the display. It showed the report with the measured values from the entrance scan of the cargo on the "Bonny Baffalu". Leo skimmed through the report and felt his stomach clench. Without a word, he passed the pad on to Atou, who had already tried to read over his shoulder.
When Atou had read the first few lines, he suddenly sucked in a sharp breath and then blurted out: "No! No, no, no, that CAN'T be right, that's completely impossible! There MUST be a measurement error!" Right at the top of the report, where the total number of measured cargo containers was recorded, was the number 13. But it should have said 15 at this point! Two cargo containers were missing.
"Atou is absolutely right, Mister T, that can only be a measurement error," said Leo (and sincerely hoped that this really was the case.) "There is simply no other explanation. We didn't ourselves on Ceesxe that exactly 15 containers were loaded as our Riredian clients had insisted that no one except their own people be present during the loading. However, we monitored the scan that the Ceesxeian trustees made of the sealed cargo hold all the more closely. Everything went perfectly smoothe. They used one of their own state-of-the-art devices and you know what that means with the Ceesxeians: malfunction excluded. Nevertheless, they even took a reference measurement on a calibrated test object in our presence. You can also find the report for this in the cargo documents. I would bet my life that we took off from Ceesxe with 15 containers on board. The flight here was less eventful and even more boring than your last birthday party. There were no incidents, no close encounters, absolutely nothing.
As instructed, we did not land at any station, but instead, in accordance with the regulations for this transport, we only harvested fuel from the suns. The error must be somewhere here, within the Riredi station.”
At this point Marscha intervened again: "The first summary quick analysis of the ship's data confirms Captain Eccles' description, Theodor. There is not the slightest indication of any irregularities. We can only say anything conclusive after a more detailed analysis, but I highly doubt that this will lead to a different result. And we can rule out the possibility that Captain Eccles or his onboard engineer manipulated the data. The two of them had neither the necessary technical equipment on board nor the necessary technical knowledge and mental abilities. (With the last comment, Mascha had gone one point ahead again for today.)
Mister T crept back to the chair behind his control desk, sank heavily into it and took a deep breath: "This is all a nightmare! A complete disaster! An incident like this on the first important order from the Riredian government, after we had to spend more than two years building up customer trust with little things! And we're running out of time! I expect Admiral B-ZERG - that was Mister T's short name for B-ZERG-3-4BB7623309A8 - to turn up here at any moment and demand an explanation from me. Our clients know just as well as we do that the relevant measured values do not match, and two containers are missing. I'm just surprised that they haven't sprung into action yet. Admiral B-ZERG is probably just checking how much diplomatic trouble it will cause if he and a detachment of soldiers take over our shop and arrest everyone. My last hope is that Kytomee will find out something. As soon as I saw the report, I sent her off to do a thorough technical check of the scanner together with the Riredian engineer and to go through the procedure again for possible sources of error. According to the transport contract, we can request this at any time. If Kytomee doesn't find anything, I have no other choice but to inform the board and report the matter to internal audit."
IV. Kytomee
"Uh... Mister T, who was Kytomee again?" asked Leo. "I actually know pretty much everyone in our little department personally, but with that name, I don't remember ever having heard this name before."
"That's quite possible, Leo," replied Mister T. "Kytomee doesn't have much to do with field service. She's been with us for almost two standard years and works in the data center most of the time. She is our specialist in data processing technology. Marscha herself recruited her and has a high opinion of her. And by the way, so do I.”
“Great,” Leo thought to himself. “As if one dragon on a team with a quantum computer where other people have a heart isn’t enough. That´ll be fun!”
“You’re about to meet Kytomee,” Mister T continued. “A message from her just popped up on my monitor saying that she’s back at headquarters and just wants to check something quickly. She’ll come here afterwards and report back to me. Our next step will depend on her report.”
A short time later, the automatic door to Mister T's office opened and Kytomee came into the room. She greeted everyone present with a friendly nod and a brief "Hello" and then went straight to Mister T. Leo raised his eyebrows slightly in surprise for a moment before returning the greeting in a friendly manner. This was certainly not how he had imagined his workmate. Then he cast an annoyed sideways glance at his flight engineer standing next to him, who had simply remained quite rudely silent. When Leo saw what was going on, his growing anger immediately disappeared. He audibly sucked in air, rolled his eyes briefly upwards and shook his head in second-hand embarrassment. Then he held the back of his left hand under Atou's chin and flipped it upwards with a short jerk, causing his teeth to audibly click together. That brought Atou back to the real world and his face turned red like a lobster in boiling water when he realized he had been staring at Kytomee. Embarrassed, he lowered his gaze and mumbled something barely audible, which was probably meant to be an apology.
Kytomee was not human. She came from the planet Usatqura, as Leo had immediately recognized, and like most of her people was an exceptionally attractive appearance, also in human eyes. Her slender body was humanoid in shape, only a little smaller, wirier and in a few places a little curvier than that of a human. The head on top was somewhat reminiscent of that of a lioness, because her people had evolved from cat-like creatures. All visible parts of her body were covered with short, blond-yellow and white fur, which had darker markings in some places. On her head she had a somewhat wild-looking mane cut into a short hairstyle, which she had dyed purple with red streaks. She wore the beige and orange overalls of Riredisec's technical staff, which only accentuated her figure. Her naturally black, glossy lips had something exotic about them. But the by far most striking thing about her were her expressive, amber-colored eyes, which were enchanting in the truest sense of the word, as was clearly demonstrated by Atou, whose head was still as red as a matchstick.
Leo chewed on his cheeks and began to solve math problems in his head. Mister T stared silently and meaningfully at his spread fingers. Both knew the special mentality of the people of Usatqura and therefore made a sincere effort not to laugh under any circumstances. They both knew how much Kytomee would have felt personally hurt and exposed by laughter at this point. It was common knowledge that Usatqurarians had no sense of the funny in a scene like the one that had just played out with Atou. Kytomee would have completely misunderstood a laugh. Marscha who, as always, was the embodiment of self-control didn't change her expression and finally resolved the unpleasant situation by audibly clearing her throat and directing everyone's attention back to the important things. "How is it, Kytomee? Have you been able to find out anything that can help us?"
Kytomee nodded eagerly: "I have, Miss Dutcheven. It took me a short while to figure it out, but it's all..." Kytomee didn't get any further because at that moment the receptionist called Mister T: "Sir, here at the reception is the representative of the Riredian government, who you said would most likely be coming today. He is being accompanied by two... er... soldiers? He wishes to speak to you personally, sir."
V. Twist
Mister T let out a quiet curse between his teeth and began to think feverishly about how he could buy himself some more time without it seeming suspicuous. But at that moment Kytomee said to him very calmly: “Mister Nickels, please ask Admiral B-ZERK and his companions to come to your office.”
Mister T briefly interrupted the transmission to reception: “Have you lost all of your mind, Kytomee?” he hissed. “What should I tell him? Like that two of his precious cargo containers simply dissolved like a load of Trumbels while harvesting fuel on a sun? You haven’t known the Riredians as long or as well as I have. They don’t take a relaxed approach to an incident like this and won’t accept any excuses. Admiral B-ZERG will probably have me shot on the spot or even worse!”
Kytomee put on a knowing smile that made her seem even more charming than she already was. “Mister Nickels, nothing like that will happen. Quite the opposite, I assure you! You will be more than satisfied with the outcome of the visit. Trust me." Mister T cast a quick, desperate glance first at Leo and Atou, then a longer one at Marscha.
Marscha finally nodded slowly: "Ask Admiral B-ZERG to come in, Theodor. If Kytomee says it will turn out well, then she is completely sure. You can trust Kytomee just as you trust me."
Mister T took a deep breath: "Very well." Then he switched the intercom back on and said to the reception: "Please have the security service lead the delegation from the Riredian government directly to my office."
When they entered his office, Mister T recognized at first glance that Admiral B-ZERK's two companions were neither ordinary soldiers nor special forces. These two were guardians from the white order, a sworn troop of hand-picked elite warriors who formed the personal bodyguard of the three protective mothers, the rulers of the planet Riredi. Their battle armor, which harmoniously combined the latest technology and traditional materials, was just as extraordinary as their weaponry, which consisted of a kind of high energy ray weapon integrated into a spear with several handles and a long, whitish-shimmering blade made of what was apparently a ceramic material.
Mister T was well versed in the Riredian culture and customs and knew that it was an honor and expression of high appreciation that Admiral B-ZERK had appeared together with this escort. The Riredians were an ancient people who had evolved from insects. Compared to humans, they had only a very limited spectrum of emotions. Appreciation was one of the few they knew but expressed it very differently than humans and other peoples did.
The universal simultaneous translator spoke when Admiral B-ZERK began to speak, and translated the high-frequency sounds with which Riredians communicate into words that humans can hear and understand. As usual, Admiral B-ZERG communicated directly, succinctly, and without any embellishment. He dispensed with a greeting, small talk, or any kind of politeness, and got straight to the point, in true Riredian fashion: "The transport contract has been properly fulfilled by Riredisec in every respect. I am hereby handing you the corresponding confirmation."
With these words, he handed Mister T. a holographically sealed confirmation on foil that the service owed under the contract had been properly provided and without defects and had been accepted without reservation. The personal handover of the foil was a further sign of appreciation, because Admiral B-ZERK could have simply transmitted the confirmation using the usual data transfer process.
"We will begin unloading in half an hour on your time scale.” Admiral B-ZERG continued. “Until then, withdraw your people from the ship and leave it to us until the unloading is complete. I have also been instructed to convey to you the appreciation of the three protective mothers that the important transport arrived at the station safely, without incident and without causing any fuss.
According to our knowledge of human culture, it is customary for you to invite your business partner to share a high-quality meal at no cost to the business partner as an expression of appreciation between business partners and the desire to continue the business relationship.
You call this an "invitation to dinner." I hereby convey such an invitation to you, Mister Nickels. Coordinate with my administrative assistant a time that is convenient for you and the five companions you will bring with you. I have chosen the Xeerian restaurant in Sector 3, Level 12, Section 2 on this station as the place for the shared meal. According to my information, it is the one with the highest costs on the entire station. Do you have any more questions?"
After Mister T had negated that, Admiral B-ZERG and his two companions left the office without saying goodbye, just as they had entered it. Everything that needed to be communicated had been communicated and so there was no reason to stay any longer.
VI. Number magic
After the Riredian delegation had left, there was almost half a minute of deep silence, and all eyes were on Kytomee. She was clearly enjoying her role as the white knight who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, slayed the monster with a single blow, saved the village and all people in and turned everything for the better. Finally, Mister T broke the silence: "O.K., Kytomee, you obviously know a lot more than all of us put together. Please explain to us what just happened. And please be direct in short, understandable words, without digressions. My need for excitement is already more than covered for today."
"Of course, with pleasure, Mister Nickels." replied Kytomee. "The cargo arrived here at the station complete and intact, and the entrance scan confirmed exactly that. The muon-neutrino scanner in the lock to the Riredian Navy hangars is a Riredian military device that outputs and records all measurement values as duodecimal numbers. As you probably know, the Riredians do not calculate in the decimal system like most humans do, but in the duodecimal system, i.e. with the number 12 as the base. Apart from the mathematically favorable features of this number system, there are probably also cultural and/or religious reasons to this. You know the Riredians' penchant for the number three and multiples of three.
Because the Riredian symbolic script is difficult for humans to read, you - without attaching any importance to this intermediate step or even consciously doing it - quite naturally did not look at the original report provided by the scanner, but had it translated by the universal translator of your data pad. In doing so, you neglected to instruct the universal translator that all numerical values should be converted to the decimal system. The universal translator therefore recorded all measured values as duodecimal numbers in the translation, i.e. in the same number system in which they were recorded in the original report. Therefore, in the field "total number of containers" the digit sequence 1-3 was in the translation.
However, this digit sequence stands for the number fifteen in the duodecimal system and not for the number thirteen as in the decimal system. You read the digit sequence 1-3 as thirteen and concluded from this that two containers were missing. You then obviously did not take a closer look at the actual measured values of the individual signatures of each container in detail.
Otherwise you would have noticed that, firstly, in the original report and in the translation as well there are a total of fifteen lines with measured signature value entries and, secondly, that in the measured values not only the digits 0 - 9 appear, but sometimes also a mirrored, upside down 2 or 3. These are the two digits required in addition to 0 - 9 to be able to depict numbers as a sequence of digits in the duodecimal system. When I discovered this, I made another translation of the original measurement report, this time with converted values. I then compared these with the values in the initial report of the Ceesxean trustees, which had been prepared before departure. All the values matched exactly. Calculations on Ceesxe are also made in the decimal system, so the values in the trustees' report were also noted as decimal numbers."
When Kytomee had finished her explanation, there were again a few seconds of silence. Then Mister T sank back into his chair, took a deep breath, and you could see how all the tension of the last few hours suddenly fell away from him. "Oh my goodness!" he exclaimed. "OH MY GOODNESS!"
VII. Dinners
When he had regained his composure and had secretly wiped away a tear of relief that had welled up from the corner of his eye, Mr T continued: "After everything has turned out well in the end and you will all receive a bonus payment - that was new, though! -, there is only one final question left to answer: Who is coming with me to the Xeerian restaurant to receive the appreciation from the Riredian government? Four of the six seats we have are fixed: I myself have to go because I was specifically named by Admiral B-ZERK and therefore have no choice. The same goes for Mr. Huxley and Mrs. Drapmallen, who represent the company's board of directors here on this station. And finally, Karen Ziller from the Internal Audit Department. Just as she let me dance at the last internal audit, I owe her a real culinary adventure that she will not forget soon. And in that case, she cannot refuse. Does anyone of you want to come along and help me voluntarily? Kytomee, perhaps?"
But Kytomee immediately raised her hands defensively: "Mr. Nickels, I'm an Usatquran! You don't expect me to eat fried Xeerian wolf meat! Or boiled wolf meat. Or wolf meat marinated in acid. Or wolf ears in wolf meat sauce. Or deep-fried wolf paws. Or one of the more than 250 other dishes made from and with all possible and impossible body parts of Xeerian wolves! And as you surely know they don't have anything else on the menu that doesn't contain wolf. So please don't be mad at me if I pass. Besides, I already have been invited to a different dinner, to the Riedquatian specialty restaurant on level 18.”
After these words, she turned her gaze directly to Atou: “That’s exactly what you said earlier, wasn’t it, or did I misunderstand you because you murmured so quietly, Mister … what’s your name? I don’t think you’ve introduced yourself to me yet?”
Leo had to kick Atou lightly in the shin from the side before his flight engineer realized that he had just been offered the opportunity, in the most charming way possible, to make up for his embarrassing slip-up from earlier and at the same time get to know Kytomee better. Finally, he reacted: “What … uh … Yes. Yes. Of course.” Then he had composed himself somewhat.
“Of course, you understood that absolutely correct earlier, Miss Kytomee. I am Atou Bedidiso, the flight engineer on the “Bonny Baffalu”. Call me Atou. Shall we meet tomorrow evening at the reception here at the company headquarters an hour after the evening shift change and then take the express tube shuttle to the restaurant together? I would be very happy and would take care of the reservation."
Kytomee smiled and nodded with a wink of her eyes to show her agreement. Leo and Mister T grinned broadly and contentedly and even Marscha had the corners of her mouth slightly raised. Leo decided to mark the day in red in his personal calendar when he had been able to experience this live: A hint of a smile on Marscha Dutcheven's face!
„Very good!" Mt. T. spoke up again. “Then Marscha and Leo will accompany me to the Xeerian restaurant to receive the appreciation from the Riredian government.”
Leo started to squirm: “Yes, you know, Mister T, wolf really isn´t my thing and exotic meat always gives me stomach problems and…
“Yes, and to me it´s the same, Theodor.” Marscha joined in. “You know, I generally only eat very little meat and if at all then only white meat and Xeerian wolf as you know is deep purple meat and pretty heavy food and…”
But Mister T showed no mercy: “Stop it now, no excuses! You two are accompanying me, this is an official order! We are not going there for fun. We must defend the interests of the company together with the board of directors on the bloodiest culinary battlefield on this entire station! It will do you two quarrelers good to finally sit together across from a real common enemy who is staring at you from a huge serving plate with grilled red eyes.”
+ + +
I. Arrival
A transition gap to witchspace ripped open and in the middle of a rapidly disintegrating cloud of tachyons the "Bonny Baffalu" materialized in the Riredi system. The Black Racer class courier ship had covered the distance from Ceesxe to Riredi with a total of nine witchspace jumps in good time and was now on the last leg of its journey, the transit flight from the jump point to the space station.
Captain Leopold "Leo" Eccles, the commander of the "Bonny Baffalu", sat relaxed in his pilot's chair and had begun officially required safety checks according to the checklist that had to be completed after every space jump. Safety was a word of great importance at his employer, Riredisec Inc. The three other important words were reliability, speed and discretion.
The company, which specialized in high-security interstellar transport, had been in business for several standard years in this highly competitive market and enjoyed an impeccable reputation throughout the sector when it came to transporting particularly valuable, sensitive or secret cargo from A to B.
The current cargo of the "Bonny Baffalu" consisted of fifteen containers owned by the Riredian government, which had to be transported discreetly from Ceesxe to their destination on the Riredi space station. The flight had been free of trouble and without any special incidents or unpleasant encounters. This was no great surprise, because Antonio Tomaso Ortensio Ursio „Atou“ Bedidiso, flight engineer and second crew member on the "Bonny Baffalu", had planned the route so that - with one exception - it would lead exclusively through safe and at least relatively safe star systems: From Riredi via - Reinen - Xexedi - Usle - Biorle - Socelage - Gerege - Anbeen - Veis - to Ceesxe and back the other way.
The risk factor in terms of safety on the route was the Veis system, but there was no way of avoiding it. It was widely known that the local dictator was not too strict about enforcing GalCop laws, which attracted many shady characters to the system. Atou had been a little worried about this in the early planning phase and turned to B-ZERG-3-4BB7623309A8, Riredisec's contact in the Riredian government. B-ZERG-3-4BB7623309A8 had immediately taken care to ensure a safe transit through the Veis system. He had somehow arranged for a military maneuver by the Galactic Navy to take place in the Veis system at the time the "Bonny Baffalu" was passing through. The strong military presence had reduced the activities of shady rabble to practically zero during the critical period. The effort made showed how important it was to the Riredians that the transport reached its destination safely and discreetly.
In general, the security and secrecy measures for this particular transport were exceptionally high. The Riredian government had insisted that the loading of the ship on Ceesxe and the subsequent unloading at the Riredi station be carried out exclusively by its own personnel and that no one else was allowed to be present.
All cargo containers had been lined with activated Mu-metal, which effectively prevented their contents from being scanned by normal cargo scanners from the outside. This made the journey considerably more complicated, as it meant that they could not land at any station to stock up on fuel. The fuel for the jump to the next system had to be laboriously harvested from the suns in each system on the way. Even though the Riredian government had enough foreign policy influence to be able to ensure at any time that customs in all transit systems would have allowed the "Bonny Baffalu" to land on the space stations and take off again even with non-scanned cargo, this could have attracted attention in certain circles, which they wanted to avoid at all costs.
To be able to clearly identify each individual container from the outside despite of the heavy shielding, all of them contained very special crystal from which a clear signature could be measured using a military muon-neutrino scanner. Riredisec had insisted on this. If they were going to take responsibility for an unknown cargo in a sealed cargo hold isolated from the ship's systems, they at least wanted to be able to provide irrefutable proof that this exact cargo had been handed over again later at the destination. It was finally agreed that after the cargo hold on Ceesxe was sealed, a scan would be carried out by representatives of the government there as trustees and both parties would receive a measurement report showing the number of containers measured and the resonance signature of each one. A second measurement was to be taken immediately after the arrival at Riredi Station. If the values of both measurements matched, the transport was considered to have been carried out properly.
After having overcome the last small part of its journey, the "Bonny Baffalu" flew into the huge landing bay of Riredi Station. It passed the outer gate of lock number 2, which led to the military sector and the hangars of the Riredian Navy. The second agreed scan took place inside the lock. The automatic hangar parking system then hooked the "Bonny Baffalu" and maneuvered it through the hangar to its berth, where the ship was to be unloaded later.
The crew used the time of the transfer to the berth to carry out the prescribed checks after landing. They were early and clearance to unload the cargo would only be given in one or two hours, when Marscha Dutcheven and the people from the processing department had completed all the formalities with the Riredians. Leo preferred not to have anything to do with the administrative stuff and was happy to leave it to the experts. His job had been to get the cargo to Riredi Station safely and without incident, and he and his flight engineer had done an excellent job, as always.
II. Curiosity
After completing the checklist, Leo switched the ship's systems to lie-down mode. He stretched comfortably, yawned, switched on the external cameras and took a look around, almost bored. Suddenly, as if electrified, he stood up from his seat with a jerk and switched on the on-board intercom: "Atou, no matter what you're doing, drop everything and come to the bridge immediately. There's trouble."
Outside in the hangar there was a lot going on. At least 30 space soldiers from the Riredian Navy were stationed at strategically important and neuralgic points, equiped with ultra-modern combat armor and heavy weapons.
As far as Leo, who knew a little about the Riredian military, could tell, there were at least three platoons of airlock breakers. This special unit was trained for boarding spacecraft and space stations and widely famous for fearing neither death nor the Bemaeraian evil Noseoid as well as always doing the least expected, even though the last was completely contrary to the Riredian mentality.
But it wasn't the military presence that made Lee jump. That had been announced and was just another security measure, similar to the one that had been in place when the ship was being loaded. What had unsettled Lee were the five people who had just entered the hangar from the lock to the express tube shuttle and were walking towards the ship's berth: Marscha Dutcheven, flanked by four Riredisec security guards. If Theodor "Mister T" Nickels, the head of the Government Contracts Department at Riredisec, had sent his right-hand woman and closest confidant personally instead of simply calling via intercom, that could only mean one thing: Something had gone terribly wrong somewhere and there was a blaze.
Leo and Atou let the delegation in and received them on the bridge. After a brief, wordless nod as a greeting, Marscha got straight to the point: "Gentlemen, as you can imagine, I am not here for pleasure or to give you a warm welcome. I have been instructed to take you immediately to Mister Nickels. You two are not touching anything on the ship for the time being! I will now make a copy of the communication, sensor and lock logs, the flight recorder data as well as all records and documents relating to the cargo on board - in your presence, if you wish so. After that, I will disconnect and seal the on-board computer and all data storage devices. We will then take the express tube shuttle directly to headquarters, where Mister Nickels is already waiting for us. In our absence, two of our security colleagues will take over on-board security until further notice. The other two will accompany us."
"Don't you want to tell us what's going on first?" Atou turned to Marscha, somewhat angerily. "The whole show here looks almost like an arrest! What are we being accused of? I am not aware of having done anything that would justify the measures that are currently being taken. And I am quite sure that it is the same with Captain Eccles." "I understand that you are upset, but I am not authorized to give you any explanations or clarifications.“ Marscha replied coldly. "My only task is to take the both of you and the secured data to Mister Nickels immediately. You will find out everything else directly from him. But if you want some advice from me: take a few fresh diaper inserts for your space suits with you before we leave. From what Mister Nickels said about you both when he sent me to get you, I am convinced that you will need them." That hit home. Atou swallowed dryly and then remained silent.
Leo was much less impressed. He had known Marscha for too long and too well and her "nice" manner, when she was under extreme pressure. He just shrugged his shoulders and said: "Let it go, Atou. We'll just follow Miss Dutcheven to our boss and hear what Mister T has on his mind. I'm honestly curious what it is, because don't have the slightest idea. And unlike other people, Mister T is both authorized and competent to explain the situation and the specific problem to us in more detail." The dig had hit home with Marscha, even though she summoned up her self-control - witch she had a good supply of - to not let it show in the slightest. Marscha and Leo were like cat and dog. They never missed an opportunity to get on each other's nerves. Apart from that, they had a high opinion of each other's abilities in their respective fields and respected each other, although neither of them would have ever openly admitted that.
III. Nightmare
When they arrived at headquarters, Marscha left the two security guards at the entrance to the Government Contracts Department and went on alone with Leo and Atou to the central control room, which Mister T. somewhat understatedly called his "office." Mister T was already standing up waiting for them, which showed how tense he was, and he got straight to work: "Ah, Marscha, you've collected the two heroes, very good. Immediately carry out an evaluation and summary check of the data you brought with you and determine whether there are any anomalies. And order a medical shuttle, because when I'm done with the two of them, they ‘ll need one. Or, no, you'd better order a corpse transport straight away!" Marscha gave Leo and Atou an indefinable look, then sat down at a terminal and began the analysis without saying another word.
"So, and now to you two," Mister T turned to Leo and Atou with flashes in his eyes. "Which of you two Begeabian morons will be the first to explain to me how we got into this mess so neck deep? Who wants to explain to me why two years before my retirement I'll probably have to explain to my wife that I've been fired without further notice? Who's going to start?"
"Mister T, I hate to say that, but I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about.” Leo made the beginning. ”You better explain to us what the nature of the problem is before you continue to act like a madman and end up having a heart attack from all the excitement. What the heck is going on here?“
„You want to know what the nature of the problem is, Leo? THAT is the nature of the problem!!" Mister T snapped at him and slammed his data pad onto the central control desk with such force that you were afraid both would shatter into a thousand pieces. Leo took the data pad and looked at the display. It showed the report with the measured values from the entrance scan of the cargo on the "Bonny Baffalu". Leo skimmed through the report and felt his stomach clench. Without a word, he passed the pad on to Atou, who had already tried to read over his shoulder.
When Atou had read the first few lines, he suddenly sucked in a sharp breath and then blurted out: "No! No, no, no, that CAN'T be right, that's completely impossible! There MUST be a measurement error!" Right at the top of the report, where the total number of measured cargo containers was recorded, was the number 13. But it should have said 15 at this point! Two cargo containers were missing.
"Atou is absolutely right, Mister T, that can only be a measurement error," said Leo (and sincerely hoped that this really was the case.) "There is simply no other explanation. We didn't ourselves on Ceesxe that exactly 15 containers were loaded as our Riredian clients had insisted that no one except their own people be present during the loading. However, we monitored the scan that the Ceesxeian trustees made of the sealed cargo hold all the more closely. Everything went perfectly smoothe. They used one of their own state-of-the-art devices and you know what that means with the Ceesxeians: malfunction excluded. Nevertheless, they even took a reference measurement on a calibrated test object in our presence. You can also find the report for this in the cargo documents. I would bet my life that we took off from Ceesxe with 15 containers on board. The flight here was less eventful and even more boring than your last birthday party. There were no incidents, no close encounters, absolutely nothing.
As instructed, we did not land at any station, but instead, in accordance with the regulations for this transport, we only harvested fuel from the suns. The error must be somewhere here, within the Riredi station.”
At this point Marscha intervened again: "The first summary quick analysis of the ship's data confirms Captain Eccles' description, Theodor. There is not the slightest indication of any irregularities. We can only say anything conclusive after a more detailed analysis, but I highly doubt that this will lead to a different result. And we can rule out the possibility that Captain Eccles or his onboard engineer manipulated the data. The two of them had neither the necessary technical equipment on board nor the necessary technical knowledge and mental abilities. (With the last comment, Mascha had gone one point ahead again for today.)
Mister T crept back to the chair behind his control desk, sank heavily into it and took a deep breath: "This is all a nightmare! A complete disaster! An incident like this on the first important order from the Riredian government, after we had to spend more than two years building up customer trust with little things! And we're running out of time! I expect Admiral B-ZERG - that was Mister T's short name for B-ZERG-3-4BB7623309A8 - to turn up here at any moment and demand an explanation from me. Our clients know just as well as we do that the relevant measured values do not match, and two containers are missing. I'm just surprised that they haven't sprung into action yet. Admiral B-ZERG is probably just checking how much diplomatic trouble it will cause if he and a detachment of soldiers take over our shop and arrest everyone. My last hope is that Kytomee will find out something. As soon as I saw the report, I sent her off to do a thorough technical check of the scanner together with the Riredian engineer and to go through the procedure again for possible sources of error. According to the transport contract, we can request this at any time. If Kytomee doesn't find anything, I have no other choice but to inform the board and report the matter to internal audit."
IV. Kytomee
"Uh... Mister T, who was Kytomee again?" asked Leo. "I actually know pretty much everyone in our little department personally, but with that name, I don't remember ever having heard this name before."
"That's quite possible, Leo," replied Mister T. "Kytomee doesn't have much to do with field service. She's been with us for almost two standard years and works in the data center most of the time. She is our specialist in data processing technology. Marscha herself recruited her and has a high opinion of her. And by the way, so do I.”
“Great,” Leo thought to himself. “As if one dragon on a team with a quantum computer where other people have a heart isn’t enough. That´ll be fun!”
“You’re about to meet Kytomee,” Mister T continued. “A message from her just popped up on my monitor saying that she’s back at headquarters and just wants to check something quickly. She’ll come here afterwards and report back to me. Our next step will depend on her report.”
A short time later, the automatic door to Mister T's office opened and Kytomee came into the room. She greeted everyone present with a friendly nod and a brief "Hello" and then went straight to Mister T. Leo raised his eyebrows slightly in surprise for a moment before returning the greeting in a friendly manner. This was certainly not how he had imagined his workmate. Then he cast an annoyed sideways glance at his flight engineer standing next to him, who had simply remained quite rudely silent. When Leo saw what was going on, his growing anger immediately disappeared. He audibly sucked in air, rolled his eyes briefly upwards and shook his head in second-hand embarrassment. Then he held the back of his left hand under Atou's chin and flipped it upwards with a short jerk, causing his teeth to audibly click together. That brought Atou back to the real world and his face turned red like a lobster in boiling water when he realized he had been staring at Kytomee. Embarrassed, he lowered his gaze and mumbled something barely audible, which was probably meant to be an apology.
Kytomee was not human. She came from the planet Usatqura, as Leo had immediately recognized, and like most of her people was an exceptionally attractive appearance, also in human eyes. Her slender body was humanoid in shape, only a little smaller, wirier and in a few places a little curvier than that of a human. The head on top was somewhat reminiscent of that of a lioness, because her people had evolved from cat-like creatures. All visible parts of her body were covered with short, blond-yellow and white fur, which had darker markings in some places. On her head she had a somewhat wild-looking mane cut into a short hairstyle, which she had dyed purple with red streaks. She wore the beige and orange overalls of Riredisec's technical staff, which only accentuated her figure. Her naturally black, glossy lips had something exotic about them. But the by far most striking thing about her were her expressive, amber-colored eyes, which were enchanting in the truest sense of the word, as was clearly demonstrated by Atou, whose head was still as red as a matchstick.
Leo chewed on his cheeks and began to solve math problems in his head. Mister T stared silently and meaningfully at his spread fingers. Both knew the special mentality of the people of Usatqura and therefore made a sincere effort not to laugh under any circumstances. They both knew how much Kytomee would have felt personally hurt and exposed by laughter at this point. It was common knowledge that Usatqurarians had no sense of the funny in a scene like the one that had just played out with Atou. Kytomee would have completely misunderstood a laugh. Marscha who, as always, was the embodiment of self-control didn't change her expression and finally resolved the unpleasant situation by audibly clearing her throat and directing everyone's attention back to the important things. "How is it, Kytomee? Have you been able to find out anything that can help us?"
Kytomee nodded eagerly: "I have, Miss Dutcheven. It took me a short while to figure it out, but it's all..." Kytomee didn't get any further because at that moment the receptionist called Mister T: "Sir, here at the reception is the representative of the Riredian government, who you said would most likely be coming today. He is being accompanied by two... er... soldiers? He wishes to speak to you personally, sir."
V. Twist
Mister T let out a quiet curse between his teeth and began to think feverishly about how he could buy himself some more time without it seeming suspicuous. But at that moment Kytomee said to him very calmly: “Mister Nickels, please ask Admiral B-ZERK and his companions to come to your office.”
Mister T briefly interrupted the transmission to reception: “Have you lost all of your mind, Kytomee?” he hissed. “What should I tell him? Like that two of his precious cargo containers simply dissolved like a load of Trumbels while harvesting fuel on a sun? You haven’t known the Riredians as long or as well as I have. They don’t take a relaxed approach to an incident like this and won’t accept any excuses. Admiral B-ZERG will probably have me shot on the spot or even worse!”
Kytomee put on a knowing smile that made her seem even more charming than she already was. “Mister Nickels, nothing like that will happen. Quite the opposite, I assure you! You will be more than satisfied with the outcome of the visit. Trust me." Mister T cast a quick, desperate glance first at Leo and Atou, then a longer one at Marscha.
Marscha finally nodded slowly: "Ask Admiral B-ZERG to come in, Theodor. If Kytomee says it will turn out well, then she is completely sure. You can trust Kytomee just as you trust me."
Mister T took a deep breath: "Very well." Then he switched the intercom back on and said to the reception: "Please have the security service lead the delegation from the Riredian government directly to my office."
When they entered his office, Mister T recognized at first glance that Admiral B-ZERK's two companions were neither ordinary soldiers nor special forces. These two were guardians from the white order, a sworn troop of hand-picked elite warriors who formed the personal bodyguard of the three protective mothers, the rulers of the planet Riredi. Their battle armor, which harmoniously combined the latest technology and traditional materials, was just as extraordinary as their weaponry, which consisted of a kind of high energy ray weapon integrated into a spear with several handles and a long, whitish-shimmering blade made of what was apparently a ceramic material.
Mister T was well versed in the Riredian culture and customs and knew that it was an honor and expression of high appreciation that Admiral B-ZERK had appeared together with this escort. The Riredians were an ancient people who had evolved from insects. Compared to humans, they had only a very limited spectrum of emotions. Appreciation was one of the few they knew but expressed it very differently than humans and other peoples did.
The universal simultaneous translator spoke when Admiral B-ZERK began to speak, and translated the high-frequency sounds with which Riredians communicate into words that humans can hear and understand. As usual, Admiral B-ZERG communicated directly, succinctly, and without any embellishment. He dispensed with a greeting, small talk, or any kind of politeness, and got straight to the point, in true Riredian fashion: "The transport contract has been properly fulfilled by Riredisec in every respect. I am hereby handing you the corresponding confirmation."
With these words, he handed Mister T. a holographically sealed confirmation on foil that the service owed under the contract had been properly provided and without defects and had been accepted without reservation. The personal handover of the foil was a further sign of appreciation, because Admiral B-ZERK could have simply transmitted the confirmation using the usual data transfer process.
"We will begin unloading in half an hour on your time scale.” Admiral B-ZERG continued. “Until then, withdraw your people from the ship and leave it to us until the unloading is complete. I have also been instructed to convey to you the appreciation of the three protective mothers that the important transport arrived at the station safely, without incident and without causing any fuss.
According to our knowledge of human culture, it is customary for you to invite your business partner to share a high-quality meal at no cost to the business partner as an expression of appreciation between business partners and the desire to continue the business relationship.
You call this an "invitation to dinner." I hereby convey such an invitation to you, Mister Nickels. Coordinate with my administrative assistant a time that is convenient for you and the five companions you will bring with you. I have chosen the Xeerian restaurant in Sector 3, Level 12, Section 2 on this station as the place for the shared meal. According to my information, it is the one with the highest costs on the entire station. Do you have any more questions?"
After Mister T had negated that, Admiral B-ZERG and his two companions left the office without saying goodbye, just as they had entered it. Everything that needed to be communicated had been communicated and so there was no reason to stay any longer.
VI. Number magic
After the Riredian delegation had left, there was almost half a minute of deep silence, and all eyes were on Kytomee. She was clearly enjoying her role as the white knight who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, slayed the monster with a single blow, saved the village and all people in and turned everything for the better. Finally, Mister T broke the silence: "O.K., Kytomee, you obviously know a lot more than all of us put together. Please explain to us what just happened. And please be direct in short, understandable words, without digressions. My need for excitement is already more than covered for today."
"Of course, with pleasure, Mister Nickels." replied Kytomee. "The cargo arrived here at the station complete and intact, and the entrance scan confirmed exactly that. The muon-neutrino scanner in the lock to the Riredian Navy hangars is a Riredian military device that outputs and records all measurement values as duodecimal numbers. As you probably know, the Riredians do not calculate in the decimal system like most humans do, but in the duodecimal system, i.e. with the number 12 as the base. Apart from the mathematically favorable features of this number system, there are probably also cultural and/or religious reasons to this. You know the Riredians' penchant for the number three and multiples of three.
Because the Riredian symbolic script is difficult for humans to read, you - without attaching any importance to this intermediate step or even consciously doing it - quite naturally did not look at the original report provided by the scanner, but had it translated by the universal translator of your data pad. In doing so, you neglected to instruct the universal translator that all numerical values should be converted to the decimal system. The universal translator therefore recorded all measured values as duodecimal numbers in the translation, i.e. in the same number system in which they were recorded in the original report. Therefore, in the field "total number of containers" the digit sequence 1-3 was in the translation.
However, this digit sequence stands for the number fifteen in the duodecimal system and not for the number thirteen as in the decimal system. You read the digit sequence 1-3 as thirteen and concluded from this that two containers were missing. You then obviously did not take a closer look at the actual measured values of the individual signatures of each container in detail.
Otherwise you would have noticed that, firstly, in the original report and in the translation as well there are a total of fifteen lines with measured signature value entries and, secondly, that in the measured values not only the digits 0 - 9 appear, but sometimes also a mirrored, upside down 2 or 3. These are the two digits required in addition to 0 - 9 to be able to depict numbers as a sequence of digits in the duodecimal system. When I discovered this, I made another translation of the original measurement report, this time with converted values. I then compared these with the values in the initial report of the Ceesxean trustees, which had been prepared before departure. All the values matched exactly. Calculations on Ceesxe are also made in the decimal system, so the values in the trustees' report were also noted as decimal numbers."
When Kytomee had finished her explanation, there were again a few seconds of silence. Then Mister T sank back into his chair, took a deep breath, and you could see how all the tension of the last few hours suddenly fell away from him. "Oh my goodness!" he exclaimed. "OH MY GOODNESS!"
VII. Dinners
When he had regained his composure and had secretly wiped away a tear of relief that had welled up from the corner of his eye, Mr T continued: "After everything has turned out well in the end and you will all receive a bonus payment - that was new, though! -, there is only one final question left to answer: Who is coming with me to the Xeerian restaurant to receive the appreciation from the Riredian government? Four of the six seats we have are fixed: I myself have to go because I was specifically named by Admiral B-ZERK and therefore have no choice. The same goes for Mr. Huxley and Mrs. Drapmallen, who represent the company's board of directors here on this station. And finally, Karen Ziller from the Internal Audit Department. Just as she let me dance at the last internal audit, I owe her a real culinary adventure that she will not forget soon. And in that case, she cannot refuse. Does anyone of you want to come along and help me voluntarily? Kytomee, perhaps?"
But Kytomee immediately raised her hands defensively: "Mr. Nickels, I'm an Usatquran! You don't expect me to eat fried Xeerian wolf meat! Or boiled wolf meat. Or wolf meat marinated in acid. Or wolf ears in wolf meat sauce. Or deep-fried wolf paws. Or one of the more than 250 other dishes made from and with all possible and impossible body parts of Xeerian wolves! And as you surely know they don't have anything else on the menu that doesn't contain wolf. So please don't be mad at me if I pass. Besides, I already have been invited to a different dinner, to the Riedquatian specialty restaurant on level 18.”
After these words, she turned her gaze directly to Atou: “That’s exactly what you said earlier, wasn’t it, or did I misunderstand you because you murmured so quietly, Mister … what’s your name? I don’t think you’ve introduced yourself to me yet?”
Leo had to kick Atou lightly in the shin from the side before his flight engineer realized that he had just been offered the opportunity, in the most charming way possible, to make up for his embarrassing slip-up from earlier and at the same time get to know Kytomee better. Finally, he reacted: “What … uh … Yes. Yes. Of course.” Then he had composed himself somewhat.
“Of course, you understood that absolutely correct earlier, Miss Kytomee. I am Atou Bedidiso, the flight engineer on the “Bonny Baffalu”. Call me Atou. Shall we meet tomorrow evening at the reception here at the company headquarters an hour after the evening shift change and then take the express tube shuttle to the restaurant together? I would be very happy and would take care of the reservation."
Kytomee smiled and nodded with a wink of her eyes to show her agreement. Leo and Mister T grinned broadly and contentedly and even Marscha had the corners of her mouth slightly raised. Leo decided to mark the day in red in his personal calendar when he had been able to experience this live: A hint of a smile on Marscha Dutcheven's face!
„Very good!" Mt. T. spoke up again. “Then Marscha and Leo will accompany me to the Xeerian restaurant to receive the appreciation from the Riredian government.”
Leo started to squirm: “Yes, you know, Mister T, wolf really isn´t my thing and exotic meat always gives me stomach problems and…
“Yes, and to me it´s the same, Theodor.” Marscha joined in. “You know, I generally only eat very little meat and if at all then only white meat and Xeerian wolf as you know is deep purple meat and pretty heavy food and…”
But Mister T showed no mercy: “Stop it now, no excuses! You two are accompanying me, this is an official order! We are not going there for fun. We must defend the interests of the company together with the board of directors on the bloodiest culinary battlefield on this entire station! It will do you two quarrelers good to finally sit together across from a real common enemy who is staring at you from a huge serving plate with grilled red eyes.”
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