Descending Road - ARLEN WINS AGREEMENT by Dana W. Paxson

ARLEN WINS AGREEMENT

1529 4D

Arlen rejoiced. The Regional Government’s Oversight Council had called in the corporations; there was no other way. ArCorp was the biggest in mining, and Arlen himself had just been appointed to obtain the ores requested by these aliens.

Pleased with his coup, Arlen sat in his great chamber near the City‘s top, scanning the sensi newsfeeds for information. He tapped a long hard fingernail impatiently on the brushed-steel tabletop and flicked off all the feed screens but one, sending them coiling back up into their ceiling recesses.

The sensi story off the andro Shiexxikh newsfeed continued, images of the alien ship sliding past each other over faces of City officials: “This item released by the Regional Government – for the first time in recorded history since the Colonization and the founding of the Archives over ten thousand years ago, we have non-human visitors to our world. No interviews, they say; these folks are here to establish restricted trade, and they’ll be working with ArCorp to set up agreements on ores and metals. The RG has offered a special compensation deal to andros to volunteer to body-host the aliens in their visits here; we’re taking that offer cautiously.”

That was andro code for “forget it”; Shiexxikh was allowed their newsfeed pump onto the Sensi only if they kept their andro-sided opinions sounding moderate. Their editors were far more rabid than their statements; Arlen made a note to check on their newsfeed license again.

“The aliens will have City access only in Poly Town, in Sobi Zone. There is no word on the disappearance of the doctor who–“

He flicked it off. So andros, for whom Poly Town was too dangerous anyway, would have no uncontrolled access to the aliens. That would prevent any unfortunate discoveries by andros; if any of them wandered into Poly Town, they wouldn’t get out alive. That suited Arlen quite well.

Story List	SURPRISE ME	Author Page
USER SURVEY	PUZZLE ME	MAKE ELM MARK

HOVER Lucida Bright BARE	HOVER Lucida Bright FULL	HOVER Palatino Linotype BARE
HOVER Palatino Linotype FULL	HOVER Times New Roman BARE	HOVER Times New Roman FULL
PAD Arial BARE	PAD Arial FULL	PAD Lucida Bright BARE
PAD Lucida Bright FULL	PAD Times New Roman BARE	PAD Times New Roman FULL


	ARLEN WINS AGREEMENT 1529 4D Arlen rejoiced. The Regional Government’s Oversight Council had called in the corporations; there was no other way. ArCorp was the biggest in mining, and Arlen himself had just been appointed to obtain the ores requested by these aliens. Pleased with his coup, Arlen sat in his great chamber near the City‘s top, scanning the sensi newsfeeds for information. He tapped a long hard fingernail impatiently on the brushed-steel tabletop and flicked off all the feed screens but one, sending them coiling back up into their ceiling recesses. The sensi story off the andro Shiexxikh newsfeed continued, images of the alien ship sliding past each other over faces of City officials: “This item released by the Regional Government – for the first time in recorded history since the Colonization and the founding of the Archives over ten thousand years ago, we have non-human visitors to our world. No interviews, they say; these folks are here to establish restricted trade, and they’ll be working with ArCorp to set up agreements on ores and metals. The RG has offered a special compensation deal to andros to volunteer to body-host the aliens in their visits here; we’re taking that offer cautiously.” That was andro code for “forget it”; Shiexxikh was allowed their newsfeed pump onto the Sensi only if they kept their andro-sided opinions sounding moderate. Their editors were far more rabid than their statements; Arlen made a note to check on their newsfeed license again. “The aliens will have City access only in Poly Town, in Sobi Zone. There is no word on the disappearance of the doctor who–“ He flicked it off. So andros, for whom Poly Town was too dangerous anyway, would have no uncontrolled access to the aliens. That would prevent any unfortunate discoveries by andros; if any of them wandered into Poly Town, they wouldn’t get out alive. That suited Arlen quite well.