Chess With a Dragon by David Gerrold Read Free Book Online

for what purpose?”
    â€œNo, sir. Do you want me to ask?”
    â€œUhh . . . I’d rather you didn’t. I don’t think I’d like the answer. Never mind, go on.”
    â€œUh—yes, sir.” Kasahra turned the page gratefully. “Independently, we’ve determined that we can probably place a half-million individuals per year in various tourist facilities. That’s more a courtesy than a source of income, but it does credit us with triple bonuses against the interest on our debt.”
    â€œTourist facilities?” interrupted Madja.
    â€œZoos,” said Kasahara. “On some planets, there’s considerable curiosity about who else lives in the galaxy. There are over a hundred thousand major zoos served by the InterChange. Fortunately, we’re listed as a herding species so they’d have to take a minimal size representation—no less than fifty individuals per facility, no more than six million.”
    â€œSix million?”
    â€œThat’s for the colony creatures—ants, bees, termites, bacteriological colonies and the like. I think we’d be limited to several hundred individuals per facility; but even so, that would give us at least one form of acceptable service, and the payments on our interest would be large enough to justify the effort. Unfortunately, the payments are only against the interest; none of it can be credited against the principal—so even though the zoo option can help control the rate of growth of our debt, it can’t provide us with any kind of a permanent solution.”
    â€œGood,” said the Ambassador. “Anything else?”
    â€œUm. Yes.” Kasahara was already looking ahead to the next offer. He glanced up with a paler-than-usual expression. “Uh—we have an offer from a consortium of six neo-reptilian species. They’re willing to accept our entire indenture as it currently stands plus a yearly stipend for future information acquisitions.”
    â€œWell, that sounds more like it!” remarked one of the younger assistants. He was ignored by almost everyone at the table.
    â€œRight,” said the Ambassador. “What do they want to buy?”
    â€œUm . . . they want the right to begin biological experimentation on the human species—with an eye toward eventually mutating us into something useful. For one thing, they don’t think we have enough sexes; that’s why we breed so fast. However, they do guarantee no resale of individuals for either food or larval incubators—”
    â€œHm,” suggested Anne Larson. “I wonder if we could do that one with volunteers?”
    Kasahara looked across the table at her. “They require a minimum of one hundred thousand non-refundable units per month for experimentation, plus total autonomy over the species’ colonization and growth—uh, that includes the homeworld.”
    â€œThat answers that,” said Larson.
    The Ambassador’s expression was unreadable. He merely offered, “I think we might have some difficulty presenting that option to the home office. Please go on, Nori.”
    â€œYes sir. We also have two inquiries from bacteriological colonies. They’re asking if we would consent to biological compatibility testing. If compatibility is possible, they would like toopen negotiations for a symbiotic relationship. Um—these species don’t live on worlds, they live inside other species. Two viral species have also requested testing, I think. I’m not sure this was translated correctly. We’d have to guarantee freedom from anti-biotic and white-cell contamination. They guarantee no protection for the hosts; mostly they seem to be interested in breeding sites. Maybe they’re preparing for a war too? Along the same lines, several parasitical races have indicated their willingness to um . . . test for biological compatibility.”
    â€œHmf,” said the Ambassador