Chapter 4

While returning to Earth, I had a lot of time to think about my past activities on Earth, and the changes that my new position would require in regard to my relations with the people of Earth.

I had been telling lies of omission to many people since my arrival on Earth. I don’t like lying, but most of Earth’s people were not ready to learn the truth about my being an alien from outer space or about some aspects of my being a D-Hopper.

When a D-Hopper opens a planet, they can choose to do so without registering the planet with the D-Hopping Guild. Unfortunately, without being a registered planet, the population receives no protection from the Multiverse. Without protection, unscrupulous D-Hoppers would take advantage of the people of Earth. It shames me to admit it, but as in most professions, there are D-Hoppers who will mistreat others.

Registering a planet with the Multiverse provides its population with a degree of Multiverse protection. The population’s technological level is assessed and import limitations are placed on the levels of technology that can be sold on the planet. The Multiverse’s Ambassador can authorize a particular type of merchandise and can ban inappropriate merchandise. The Ambassador to the planet can also ban rapacious traders from trading on the planet. These bans are enforced by the Multiverse Police.

However, in registering a planet, the D-Hopper incurs an obligation to help the people of the planet to become integrated into the Multiverse. This was described as a minor task at the D-Hopping University. What the University didn’t know was the Guild would try to recruit the D-Hopper who registered the planet to be its Ambassador. The position of Ambassador is usually an immense task requiring many years of dedicated effort. I accepted the appointment. Now I am the Ambassador and Earth is my responsibility. The people of Earth who know I’m from the Multiverse are not aware that I registered Earth with the Multiverse, nor are they aware of what that means.

I took Bill and Sue with me on my most recent trading trip to the Multiverse. What I told them about why I wanted to take them with me was the truth, but it was not the whole truth. The rules of my Guild require that I evaluate the ability of Earth’s humans to accept and adapt to the Multiverse culture, and I used Bill and Sue for that purpose. I didn’t explain that reason to them, for telling them what I was doing would have invalidated my evaluation. They faced many cultural differences and seemed to adapt to the differences. They didn’t like the way a number of things were done in the Multiverse, but at least they didn’t totally reject the Multiverse’s way of doing things. So during the trip, I registered Earth with the D-Hopping Guild.

While I was registering Earth with the Multiverse, Guild Master Moore asked me if I was ready to dedicate the rest of my life to the effort of preparing Earth for entry to the Multiverse. He was actually asking if I was willing to accept the responsibilities that went with registering Earth with the Guild. When I accepted the task of helping Earth, he made me the Multiverse’s Ambassador to Earth.

As the Ambassador, I feel I incurred an obligation to be truthful with Earth’s people about my activities. Well, as truthful as I can be for there are some things that the people of Earth are not ready to learn about Multiverse membership. They will learn these things in time, but not now.

One of the things I need to be truthful about from now on is that I am from another planet. Currently, only a few people on Earth know that fact. When I present my Ambassadorial Credentials to the Earth Authorities, I will be announcing that fact to the world.

Before I present my credentials, I want to tell the people close to me as much of the truth as I can. I suspect they will be upset with me for my past misrepresentations and half-truths. The most important thing for me is to be truthful with Matt, Charlie, Alan, Bill, and Sue. I also need to apologize to them for not being completely truthful. I find that to be a conflict in that I am apologizing to them for not being truthful, while at the same time I will be hiding facts from them. I will have to consider my wording carefully to prevent misleading them again.

During my last trading trip, I acquired three slaves and the guardianship of a young woman. Before I announce my presence here on Earth, I need to begin the process of introducing my four ladies to Earth. It will take years to completely familiarize them with Earth, but I can at least start the process. They should be far enough along in a month for me to apologize to my friends. I expect that my apology will include an almost full disclosure of the truth. I hope they will forgive me for I would very much like their assistance in arranging the announcement of my Ambassadorial status. I will also need help with fulfilling my Ambassadorial duties. My life will get very complicated after my presence on Earth is announced.

I started my four ladies indoctrination in the differences between the Multiverse and Earth during our trip back to Earth, but hearing about something and experiencing it are two different things. I explained that the people of Earth had a narrower frequency range for hearing and speech than we did. Trade Speak uses sounds pitched too high for Earth’s humans to hear and for their vocal cords to generate; some sounds exceed forty-five kHz. It will therefore be necessary for the ladies to learn to speak English. We will also have to learn to keep the strength of their voices low and soft when speaking Trade Speak for the higher frequencies can result in pain for the people near us if we are speaking loudly. I let them know that they would also have to change their names to something that Earth’s humans can hear and say. I selected Earth names that sounded similar to their actual names. My Chef became Betty and the housekeeper would be Carol. I named the former Slave Handler Rita and her younger sister Cindy.

Before this trip, I had stored the equipment that I didn’t want to take to Earth on an uninhabited planet wrapped in a tarp. I decided to call the planet Wayside, and it’s in a universe next to Earth’s universe. When we arrived at Wayside, we erected the portable shelter that I bought on Vora. A tarp is adequate for a small amount of equipment, but with seven of us, we now had a large amount of equipment and supplies to store. We mounted the shelter’s solar panel on top of the shelter, and connected it to the lights and battery chargers. We then placed the energy weapons’ power packs in their chargers; put our weapons, tents, and other equipment in the portable shelter; and made sure that the watertight door was securely latched. On our final hop to Earth, the only things we took with us were our personal purchases, dirty clothes, unused food, and backpacks of gold and platinum.

We arrived at my home in the early evening. Bill and Sue would need another day or two to recuperate before returning to work. They headed for home taking their dirty clothes and purchases with them. I would spend the next several weeks educating my ladies and selling the gold and platinum. I also needed to decide how much I should pay Bill and Sue for their assistance; my initial thought, was to give each of them five or ten percent of my net profit.

I had planned to bring back two slaves, and to give each of them a room. I had set up two bedrooms, but I now had four women. I showed Rita and Cindy to one bedroom, and Betty and Carol to the other. I told them to leave their belongings in their new rooms and join me around the dining room table. We need a larger place to live as soon as we can find one, and I also need to build a facility to use as my home and Embassy.

“Ladies, I need to set some rules for your safety.

“As Rita knows from experience, sugar shock is not pleasant. Therefore, until I have sanitized our food supply to remove items containing sugar, do not eat or drink anything unless I approve it. Betty, until then, you need to check with me before you cook a meal so I can let you know what’s unsafe.

“Do not use any of the equipment in the house until I have shown you how to use it safely. Some of the equipment is dangerous, if used improperly.

“Do not go outside of the house without my permission. This area is relatively safe, but the crime rate on Earth is over thirty times greater than the Multiverse’s average rate. The laws are also different from those of Slave World, so you could get into trouble very easily. For example, the people of Earth have a phobia about nudity. It’s illegal to appear nude in public. However, there are private clubs where people can go and be nude outdoors.

“When I take you somewhere, stay close to me and check with me before you do something that I have not said is okay.

“Does anyone have any questions about these rules?”

There were no questions, so I decided to continue our meeting with the subject of sugar.

“Ladies, the sugar content in most of Earth’s prepared foods is very high. Some of the natural foods have extremely high amounts of natural sugar. Some foods have sugar added to them, so they taste good. It’s important for you to realize that by Multiverse standards everyone on this planet is a sugar addict. However, they consider this to be normal.”

Rita asked, “How can people afford to purchase their food, since sugar is so expensive?”

After thinking about it for a moment, I went into the kitchen and returned with a five-pound bag of sugar and a bowl. I poured some sugar from the bag into the bowl and scooped up a handful; I allowed the granules to flow between my fingers. I said, “This is pure, undiluted sugar. You need to remember that D-Hoppers buy common items in one universe at a low price, and sell the item in another universe for a high price. In the Multiverse, I can sell this five-pound bag of sugar for about eighty-two thousand dollars. On Earth, it cost me less than five dollars. Does that answer your question?”

Rita and the other ladies shrugged their shoulders with their chins raised to indicate that they understood; this is a yes in Multiverse body language. To signify no, they would have dropped their chins onto their chests before shrugging their shoulders. I made a note to myself to talk with them about the difference in Earth and Multiverse body language. They needed to become accustomed to using Earth’s body language.

“We will start your desensitization to sugar, tomorrow. We will do this by having you drink a sugar solution. Tomorrow’s solution will be very weak. Over time, I will increase the amount of sugar in the solution until you are drinking an extremely strong sugar solution. It will take about two months to complete the desensitization process. Until then, remember to be careful about what you eat. Some of Earth’s foods resemble Multiverse foods, but they have a higher sugar content.

“I think we are all tired, so I suggest that Betty and I check the pantry for breakfast foods, while the rest of you get ready for bed.”

While the other ladies were getting ready for bed, Betty and I went to the kitchen and checked the pantry contents. As we went through the pantry and refrigerator, I pointed out the foods Betty could use for making breakfast tomorrow morning.

Toward the back of the pantry, I saw a jar of black peppercorns, “Betty, have you ever cooked with black pepper?”

“No, I was limited to the inexpensive seasonings. Black pepper was too expensive a seasoning for the restaurants I worked at.”

I handed the peppercorns and a pepper mill to her and said, “Here, now you can try seasoning foods with black pepper. I will show you how to grind the peppercorns tomorrow. You need to be careful to not over season the food, for black pepper can be hot to the tongue if you are not used to it.”

She opened the jar, inhaled the aroma, and smiled at me.

The ladies were accustomed to bathing before retiring, so when Betty and I got to the second floor, we were met by the other ladies. They wanted me to show them how to use the shower. In the Multiverse, liquid soap and shampoo dispensers feed the showerheads according to the setting selected by the person taking a shower. Bathtubs have a similar arrangement using a flexible shower wand. Bars of soap and bottles of shampoo were all new to them. I had to demonstrate the use of these items to the ladies by taking a shower. It was interesting to watch as the four ladies took their showers and the remarks they made to each other regarding this new bathing experience. Nudity is an accepted thing on most Multiverse worlds, but most people wear clothing to protect their bodies from the sun and injury. That was one of the cultural differences that surprised Bill and Sue when they first saw a man walking down the street wearing nothing but shoes.

However, seeing my four ladies undressed in this setting was arousing to me.

My three slaves had worked out a rotation for providing me pleasure at night. The order was never the same, so I think the rotation was based on which of them needed sex the most. Tonight it was Betty’s turn to please me. When they were through showering, Betty and I retired to the master bedroom. I’m not sure which of us received the most pleasure, but I was well satisfied. I was beginning to become concerned about my ability to please a different woman every night, especially with three extremely passionate women sharing me. When Cindy joined the rotation, I would probably be overwhelmed. The memory of Cindy taking her shower and thinking about her joining the rotation had been very arousing. Betty had noticed my arousal, so it was quite a while before we went to sleep.

I showed Betty how to use the gas stove before breakfast, so after we ate, I showed Betty, Carol, and Rita how to use the dishwasher, and where I stored the various kitchen-cleaning supplies. Using stick-on labels, I labeled the cleaning supplies with their Multiverse names. When we finished, the ladies and I gathered around the dining room table for a short meeting.

“Ladies, the most important thing you need to do is learn to read, write, and speak English. We will establish a language class as soon as possible. I think that we should create an English–Trade Speak dictionary as part of the classwork for we will need to teach English to additional people in the near future.

“We talked about sugar last night. Remember Earth’s people are sugar addicts. However, they feel their consumption of sugar is normal and they do not think of themselves as addicts. The only time that they experience the symptoms of sugar withdrawal is when they restrict their sugar intake in order to lose weight. However, the elimination of sugar from their diets is virtually impossible, so they never experience the full effects of sugar withdrawal.”

Cindy asked, “Why is it that they can’t eliminate sugar from their diets?”

“They can eliminate foods that are high in refined sugar, but if you recall, many of their foods, which contain refined sugar, are required for a balanced diet. They don’t go into sugar shock because they never diet long enough for their systems to change and the natural sugars they consume helps to maintain their desire for sweet things, and that means they continue to eat some refined sugar. The result is they maintain their tolerance to refined sugar.”

Telling the ladies to wait for me, I went into the kitchen and made a very weak solution of sugar water. I returned to the dining room with a pitcher of sugar water and five glasses. I poured each of us a small glass of sugar water.

“This is a weak sugar solution. Cindy, these ladies will be staying here with me so they have to desensitize themselves to sugar. If you want to remain on Earth with us, you need to become desensitized also.”

Picking up my glass, I drank my sugar water. The four ladies drank theirs afterwards, although it took them a while to work up the nerve to drink theirs.

With that taken care of, I called Matt and arranged for a meeting in three weeks. I let him know that my situation had changed dramatically and I needed to revise some plans. I made it clear that four ladies had returned with me and I needed some alone time with them before our meeting. I also called Bill and asked him to arrange an appointment for either tomorrow or the next day for us to sell the bullion we brought back. He said he would get back to me as soon as the details were confirmed.

I informed the ladies that my food supply was low and we needed to go to a supermarket to replenish the pantry. I made it clear to them that they were not to sample any food or drink that may be offered to them at the store for it may be high in sugar. I also made sure they were aware that the trip would be a culture shock for many of the day-to-day activities here on Earth were done very differently than in the Multiverse. Before we left, I spoke the words yes and no. As I said each word, I demonstrated the Earth gest
ures for Yes by nodding my head up and down and for No by shaking my head from side to side. I also demonstrated several other gestures and said the Multiverse and Earth words for those gestures.