ABLE (Jim Able: Offworld Book 1) by Ed Charlton (the first e reader .TXT) 📕

need a high-res IR scanner for?”

Madhar smiled again. “You don’t realize how funny that question is.”

Jim was, again, at a loss.

“They are a law unto themselves, my alien friend. Asking why they do anything is like asking a blancar why it pops in the pan! Give it up. Go home. Absolutely give up on talking to anyone in government about him. They’d laugh you back into space.”

Jim looked out across the lake.

“How can I find him?”

Madhar shook her head slowly. “How did you find me?”

“Do they have their own messaging system?”

“No. We have theirs. But, of course, they do things slightly differently. The address format is the same: first name, ‘V’ for a separator, second name, separator, then where we have institution or business or government department, they have level of authority within their religion. The teachers and prophets are ‘Regde1,’ poets and thinkers are ‘Regde2,’ and so forth; I don’t know the full story. You watch television. Find a documentary about them; they are always making them. The fourth part of the address is the community, I think. They have several quite large towns.”

“But you’ve no idea how I can find him?” Jim pointed at the image again.

“No. Not a clue.”

They sat in silence for a while as the sunlight sparkled through the trees and caught the soot rising from the dying fire.

“Is there anyone in the government who has regular contact with them? Someone in charge of the buying of electricity, perhaps?”

Madhar shook her head again. “It’s not so simple. Alliances come and go, and they are experts at playing us off against each other. Wait a moment.”

She went inside the house. Jim waited and savored the morning on this strange little world. He liked it.

His host returned with an address on a small piece of paper.

wehorulanVjiirVregde4Vapp

“This is the only one I have had contact with recently, and that was two years ago. He wanted my help in boosting transfer rates in an older generation of computer chips. I couldn’t help much. He might know how you can trace your ‘Edward.’”

“Thank you. I’ll send him a message.”

“That’s something I was going to ask. How did you get into our message system?”

“I opened an account.”

“But how did you pay for it?”

“A nice credit agency gave me a number.”

“But you need an address for that!”

“There’s a really short period when you can use your account to put down a deposit before they come and find you. They’ll be calling for me today sometime.”

“That’s...illegal. And your message privileges won’t last long.”

“I suppose not, once they find I’m a fraud.”

“I’ll lend you one of mine.”

She took back the paper and wrote a new message-ID and a password.

“You’re a kind and generous person.”

“So are you. You realize that by allowing me to film our talk, you’ve made me very rich.”

“Really?”

“The success of my show depends on ratings. My salary depends on those ratings. You’ve given me a world exclusive. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Madhar Nect. Can I impose upon you further? It would help if I had a proper computer interface to your networks.”

She laughed, “I could probably be shot for giving our technology to an alien!”

“I’ll bring it back.”

Madhar took Jim into the house again and loaded him up with some surprisingly sophisticated equipment.

As Jim was about to climb aboard the flier to leave, he noticed Madhar was looking over his flier once more.

She mused, “We used chemical rockets for our first spaceships.”

Jim froze. “What did you say?”

“For our first spaceships, they had highly explosive propellant.”

“What spaceships? I thought you weren’t interested in space travel.”

“It was a long time ago.”

“Wh-what happened?”

“Well, you know, it’s a rather long story,” she looked at Jim’s ship from front to back and front again, “but it’s one I’m particularly saddened by.”

“Please, go on.”

“The governing alliance of the day boasted that they could put people on Mainworld. It was a political thing. They thought they could keep the alliance going if there was a Great Work to focus everybody’s attention. So they did it: they built the ships; proved the technology; sent some brave boys into orbit, then into orbit around Mainworld; and, finally, they landed there.”

She paused and sighed. “When the Regdenir found out, they were furious. They had assumed it wasn’t possible, so they had done nothing to stop the program. But once it happened, then the storm came. They traded influence, enough to bring the alliance down. They cut off vital power supplies for several days. They made sure that no one went back. They killed the space organization by starving it of funds and people. For them, you see, it was sacrilegious to touch Mainworld. Of course, in those days, we thought we might be the only sentient life in the universe.” Madhar looked into Jim’s eyes and said quietly, “We could have been out there with you all by now.”

“Maybe they think differently now. Now one of them has been out and about?”

“Tree-climbers! Save us from tree-climbers!”

#

wehorulanVjiirVregde4Vapp

Greetings, Wehorulan Jiir.

I am a friend of Madhar Nect, with whom you corresponded some time ago.

I am in need of your help.

I wish to correspond with a Barottin Regdenir who has used the name “Edward.”

He has recently purchased some advanced scientific equipment.

I do not represent any government agency. I am not investigating any crime.

I hope you can be of help.

g101VnectVlatsinVux

#

g101VnectVlatsinVux

It is not our practice to enter open-ended correspondence with others.

In return for the willingness to help me shown by Madhar Nect, I offer this.

For a period of eight days you may access our message system with this ID:

aaaaVjiirVregde99Vapp

First password aaaa

Begin at regde99Vaudnir.

You will find it has limited access, but it may be sufficient for your search.

Rest in Beauty.

wehorulanVjiirVregde4Vapp

#

Jim sighed as he read the message. He doubted this would be any good.

He had again taken up his position above Mainworld. The TV prattled on in the background. He had tried to find a documentary about the Regdenir, as Madhar had suggested. Nothing had been broadcast during the External Intelligence Agency’s monitoring, nor during the week since he