Ambassador Ford: Diplomatic Mission to Kepler 1649c
by
J. N. Wdowski
Chapter One - Audience
Ford’s footsteps echoed down the blue marble halls of the palace's main corridor. Imperial Gaulgarrr guards stood at attention at about every ten meters as he made his way to the throne room of Emperor Rooggath the 35th. Drops of sweat on his brow revealed his nervousness. A month after his arrival this was his first time he was being granted an audience with the emperor.
Waiting outside the large double gold doors to the throne room Minister Golock greeted him.
“Ambassador Ford.” the stocky, ivory-skinned, Gaulgarrr spoke with a heavy alien accent. His large round catlike eyes made it easier for him to see in Kepler-1649C's lightly dimmed world. Their world received 25% less light from its star than the Earth did from its sun.
Ford nervously smiled to the Gaulgarrr. “Thank you, Minister.” He replied in English, still unable to speak Gaulgarrrian. The language used combinations of grunts and deep throated gurgles making it very difficult to master. Their spoken language sounded so animal and primitive to the human ear that Ford at first found it hard to believe the Gaulgarrr were on the edge of becoming a space faring species. Although, he had to admit their written language was intriguing, entertaining, and thought provoking.
Kepler-1649C was 300 light years away from the Solar System. Even aboard the Arctic Tern class ambassador ship, with its state-of-the-art faster than light de-mass engines; it still took Ford three months to arrive on the alien world. The trip did give Ford plenty of time to read in the original Gaulgarrrian, several of the Gaulgarrr’s most famous novels and historical works. Written Gaulgarrrian was not a phonetic language like written English. It was an iconic language much like Chinese or Ancient Egyptian. One could actually learn to read it without knowing the spoken language. Much like anyone can read a “no smoking sign” no matter what one’s mother tongue is.
"You will be summoned soon. When you are; always maintain direct eye contact with the emperor. We will stop approximately two of your Earth yards before him. Wait for him to speak to you. Precisely answer the emperor’s questions. No more and no less. I will translate for you."
“I understand. Thank you, Minister Golock.” He attempted to speak the minister’s family name in his best Gaulgarrrian.
“You are improving.” Golock smiled.
Two large raps on the floor sounded from behind the large doors. The two imperial guards at attention in front of the doors ceremoniously marched in sync with each other taking hold of the gold door handles. Timed together they pulled the heavy doors open revealing the majesty of the imperial throne room.
Ford took a deep breath of the heavier oxygenated air of the Gaulgarrrs’ home world. The air of Kepler-1649C was one of its greatest benefits of being assigned there. Ford found that even though their world's gravity was six percent heavier than Earth’s, its rich oxygen made it easier to be more active than back on Earth’s lesser gravity.
Even though the world received less sun light than the Earth, its flora was able to produce more oxygen into its atmosphere. One of Ford’s assignments was to obtain some of Kepler-1649C’s local plant life to be transplanted and cultivated on Earth's Mars Class planets. Several of these worlds were dotted around stars in a sphere of 150 light years from the Solar System. The oxygen output of these plants would greatly benefit those colonies in terraforming their worlds.
Entering the imperial throne room the two imperial guards closed the heavy doors behind them.
In the distance, at the other end of the room was a very traditional looking throne upon a raised platform consisting of four steps above the rest of the room. Golock had explained to him earlier that each step represented the classes in the Gaulgarrr society. The first and widest step represented those that worked the lands and fed the world. The next step represented the craftsmen and builders of their society. The step above that, and less wide again, represented the military that maintained peace and order. The final and smallest step in width represented the educated and administrative class of the state.
Atop them all, sat in his imperial throne, Rooggath the 35th.
As they walked the distance of the long hall, they kept their eyes on the throne, ignoring all the inquisitive courtiers that stood behind the line of imperial guards on both sides of them. The walk across the imperial courtroom seemed to take as long as the hallway to reach the room. “They must love walking.” Ford thought to himself. The figure on the throne got clearer as they got closer.
Minister Golock stopped before the throne along with Ford. Ford looked forward at the Emperor that sat on the throne and was surprised to see a young Gaulgarrr boy. Ford guessed he could not be older than a six- or seven-year-old earth child. Behind the throne stood several very attractive young Gaulgarrr women in beautiful gowns and jewelry. Their catlike eyes peeked at him from behind fans they held. The courtroom was not hot, he did not understand their need for the fans. He noticed each fan bore a different Gaulgarrr word; they were the coat of arms of each of the most important families of the Empire.
The emperor grunted and gurgled in his native tongue to Ford.
“His Imperial highness hopes you had a pleasant trip.” Golock translated for Ford.
“Yes, it gave me the time to read many of your finest works of literature.” Ford spoke to the child emperor with Minister Golock translating.
One of the women behind the throne leaned to the emperor’s ear and whispered something to him. The boy emperor not losing eye contact with Ford asked another question.
“How many wives do you have?” Golock translated.
“On my world, a man may have only one wife. At a time that is. I personally have never been married.”
After the translation the women behind the throne all giggled at his answer.
The boy emperor though did not seem interested in the human alien’s answer to the question. He ignored the giggles, and asked his own question.
“Why are you here?” Golock seemed a bit set back by the bluntness of the emperor’s question yet translated it verbatim.
“I am here to represent the government of the United States of America of the planet Earth. We wish to establish friendship with your world and hope we may trade. We are very much interested in your flora.”
The boy emperor seemed confused by Ford’s answer.
“Your world does not have one government?” Golock began to translate. “And you have traveled the stars for our plants?” Golock too was confused by Ford’s answer.
“Yes.” Ford answered directly, noticing a strange tension in the room from his reply.
“How many different governments are there on your world?” Golock translated the boy emperor’s question.
“Since the collapse of the Chinese communist government it is 200 at the moment.” The young ambassador honestly answered.
Golock, not looking at Ford asked in a whisper, “I do not understand this word ‘communist’”
Ford not taking his eyes off the Emperor whispered, “I’ll explain later. For now just tell him ‘200 at the moment.’”
The emperor was getting impatient for a reply to his simple question.
A bit disturbed that Ford had given more in his original answer than the Emperor had asked for, Golock apologized to the boy emperor and gave the modified simple answer of “At the moment 200.”
“200?” Golock translated the response. “200, at the moment?”
“Yes, yet we do have international organizations, so these nations can cooperate with each other.” Ford sensed the Gaulgarrr’s uneasiness of the earth not being a single unified government.
“How many of these international organizations are there?” The next question was translated.
“There are two major international organizations. Not including the unaligned nations.” Ford felt the room get colder the more he explained.
The emperor shook his head as if he disapproved the answer. He then waved his hand at Golock turning his head away from the two. Golock took Ford by the arm pulling him away from the throne. “We have been dismissed; for now.”
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