Chapter 8

From Vora, it was only one hop to First Stop. Since we were now based on Slave World, we needed to consider a different planet as our point of arrival and departure. It didn’t make much sense to make three hops to and from Slave World when that would be our first stop. We needed a planet near the Timwitte Universe, which is the universe in which Slave World was located, to be our new First Stop planet. Whatever planet we used should not be commonly used as a rest stop by other D-Hoppers. I would discuss that with Sereine during our return to Earth.

Once we arrived at First Stop, everyone changed into their travel clothes and collected their weapons and travel gear. Sereine and I were waiting for everyone to finish when she said, “Doug, we need to find a different planet for First Stop.”

I laughed, and explained my laughter by telling her I had planned to discuss that with her during one of our rest stops. I made the last hop to First Stop, so when everyone was ready, Sereine hopped us and the shipping containers we were taking back to Earth with us, to our first rest stop. Most of the shipping containers, which Sereine had previously hopped from my parent’s place of business to First Stop, were left on First Stop for our next trip.

The trip back to Earth was uneventful, but by the time Sereine and I got to Wayside, we were both exhausted. Sereine and I had decided to leave one of Sergei’s six shipping containers on First Stop and take three of my folk’s lighter shipping containers with us. The eight shipping containers had been a pain to hop. Their combined weight and volume was more than the utility equipment we had hopped to Earth some months before and we had been pushing our limits to hop that! We both agreed we had overestimated our ability to handle this load.

The trip had taken almost twice the time we normally required to get from First Stop to Wayside because of the extended rest breaks we had needed to recuperate. In retrospect, I think our egos had pushed us into continuing on with all eight of the containers. What we should have done was leave several behind and then gone back for them later. Hopefully this will not be a problem in the future for we now know our limits. All we need to do is remember we do have a limit and what that limit is.

During our trip back to Wayside, I was surprised when Kim initiated further conversation about slavery during one of our rest breaks. It had only been a couple of days since Sereine had taken her and the others on a visit to the Slave Market.

During the rest stop, we had been comparing the social problems on Earth with those that exist within the Multiverse, when Kim said, “I don’t know what to think.”

“What do you mean?” Ken replied.

“I have been told that certain things are right and others are wrong my entire life, and I believed what I was told. My friends agreed that what we have been taught is true.

“Now, Doug, and everyone in our group tells me that my beliefs are wrong.

“They not only tell me that my friends and I are wrong, but they explain to me why what they are saying is true. I never heard about the things that Abby told me back in Washington, and I didn’t want to accept them. I researched the things she said, and I not only learned that they are true, but I found out that the truth was far more widespread than what she said.

“Since then and since visiting the Slave Market, I find myself questioning everything that I have been told. What I found before this trip is that most of what Abby said was true and documented; I believe the undocumented parts of what she said are also true. I can’t see how what my friends and I believe is true, and at the same time believe what everyone told me to be true. One of us has to be wrong, but it seems like we are both right. What the slaves said in the Slave Market was also disturbing.”

It was evident that Kim had been disturbed by the conversation between Ken and me, so I said, “Kim, that is not what Abby was trying to tell you. Abby wasn’t trying to say you were wrong, she was just pointing out the same things have happened to other racial groups. The practice of slavery has been in existence on Earth, since the first human defeated someone in combat and kept them as their prisoner.

“You and your friends were focusing your attention on what happened to your ancestors during the past four hundred years, and you were overlooking the fact that the same things have happened to every other racial group. Most of what you have been told is true; however, I doubt it’s all true. Furthermore, forming an opinion on something, while deliberately ignoring facts that affect the decision, is likely to lead to an erroneous conclusion.

“While I have lived here on Earth, I have heard and read about Earth’s experts and their solutions for fixing the problems that racial discrimination causes your society. The solutions sound good, but they fail to address the root causes of racial discrimination, therefore they will probably fail.”

I had been listening in on the conversations between Kim, Ken, and Kendrick, while we were at the estate. Thinking back to what I had learned of the history and culture that existed before the Multiverse Government had been formed, I recalled a similar controversy. It seemed to me that Earth’s problem with race relations was almost the same thing that the Multiverse had struggled with over ten thousand years ago. Back then, the issue was about the planet on which you had been born, rather than race.

Kim turned her attention to me, saying, “So you live on Earth for a couple of years, and you think that you understand our problems well enough to tell us how to fix them. Just what do you think is wrong and what do you propose as a fix?”

“Kim, people can argue this issue into the ground, if they want to, but the problem is not going to be fixed using the tactics that each of the Earth experts profess as The Solution. The reason why is, their solutions focus on the symptoms of the problem instead of the root cause. There is a solution, but I have never heard anyone here on Earth mention it. I suspect that the reason for this is, everyone here on Earth is so embroiled in living with the consequences of the problem that they have never stepped back far enough to see the real problem, or how to fix it.”

Kim lashed out with, “You don’t understand the problem, Doug. You have lived on Earth for less than five years. You can’t take in all the things that contribute to the issue and really understand how we feel.”

“You are right, Kim. I don’t understand everything about the racial issues here on Earth. All I am saying is, the Multiverse had a similar problem that existed for thousands of years before we came to understand the causes and developed an approach that fixed the problem. Well, fixed is not accurate. We still have occasions when the issue comes up, but the recurrences are rare, and are usually associated with our Provisional Member Worlds.

“Before we continue this conversation, Kim, I want to know why you brought the topic up. We both know you had a conversation with Abby in my hotel room in Washington, and Ken and I talked about slavery at his house on the ranch. We talked about slavery at the estate, and now we are addressing the issue of slavery again. Are we discussing it to understand each other’s beliefs or are we trying to create a solution?

“It seems to me that you and Ken are trying to fix a problem, Kim, but what is the problem we are addressing? Is it the problem on Earth, or what you perceive to be a problem in the Multiverse?”

Ken said, “I don’t know about Kim, but I’m trying to understand why slavery is acceptable in the Multiverse, when it is wrong on Earth. I think I got my answer from Kendrick, but I need to think about it for a while, before I decide on what to think of the situation.”

Kim asked, “What answer did you get out of your conversation, Ken?”

“I actually got several things out of our conversation.

“Kendrick pointed out the Earth and Multiverse Governments both do things that are illegal for their citizens to do. He is right about that. It seems like I am condoning the actions of our government as proper, if I don’t oppose what they are doing in my name. I used to think the death penalty was an acceptable punishment for some crimes. Lately, I have questioned that belief, but have done nothing to change it. If I disagree with an action of my government and do nothing to change that action, then I am condoning the action. So, I have to consider whether Multiverse citizens approve of their governments actions, or if they just take no action regarding sentencing people to slavery.

“In addition to that, there is the issue of: Is the death penalty an appropriate punishment. Granted, being sent to a penal planet isn’t a death sentence, but if the criminal has only a minimal chance of surviving the sentence, then it is, effectively, a death sentence. But, before I can decide on that issue, I need to consider the issue of, ‘Is it proper for a government to do, that which is improper for an individual to do?’ On a moral basis, I say, ‘No it isn’t; a government should be held to the same standards as its citizens.’ If I accept that, I have to say the death penalty is wrong for I am not allowed to inflict death on people who harm me; of course, that ignores self-defense.

“I also have to take into consideration that, when the Multiverse Legal System finds a person guilty of a crime and hands down a potential death sentence, it will sometimes offer the guilty party the optional punishment of slavery for life. When the guilty party accepts the optional punishment, it is not the Legal System condemning them to slavery. It is the guilty party voluntarily giving up their rights in exchange for a sentence that they feel is less severe than the one ordered by the court.

“With that in mind, I have to ask myself, Is it appropriate of me to criticize the Multiverse government for the practice of slavery in the Multiverse, when the choice of slavery is being made by the convicted party choosing to be a slave? I suppose I am saying that the institution of slavery in the Multiverse is created by the slaves accepting slavery as a punishment. Therefore, if they didn’t accept that optional form of punishment, there would be no slavery in the Multiverse.”

Kim asked, “But what about slavery on Earth, Ken. Do you think it is right there?”

“Kim, slavery is wrong when a person’s rights are taken away from them, and when they are unwillingly forced to serve another person as a slave. It doesn’t matter to me, if it happens in the Multiverse or back on Earth.”

“Then you agree that what was done to my ancestors was wrong?”

“Well personally, yes it was wrong; but that calls up other issues that I would rather not go into at this time.”

“What issues are you thinking of, Ken?”

“The issue of whether it is right to judge a person’s actions in the context of today’s social and moral standards, when those standards were not in existence at the time the person took those actions.

“You are right about slavery being wrong according to today’s standards. I’m not saying that what was done back then was right or wrong. Before I commit one way or the other, I need to know what society’s opinion of and position on slavery was like, back then.”

The discussion between Kim and Ken interrupted my story of the problem the Multiverse had with the planet on which a citizen was born. As Kim and Ken’s discussion ended, Ken said, “What was the problem you started telling us about, Doug, and how did they resolve it?”

“As I was saying, we had lived with the problem for more than two thousand years. The fledgling organization that founded the Multiverse Government was a group of Multiverse traders and trade organizations, which were the forerunners of today’s Trade Guilds. The people who started these organizations knew that we needed to have a central authority to govern all of the Universes and their worlds. They also knew that our problem would continue to divide the planets, until a method of resolving it was found. They commissioned a study to define the problem, its cause, and to determine the best method of resolving the problem.

“What the commission learned was the problem started when the D-Hoppers first established the trade routes between Universes. Actually, the problem always existed for it is a basic part of human nature. Put a group of humans together, and they start thinking that they are better than everyone and everything around them. The other members of the group usually reinforce that impression. The bigger the group of humans is, the stronger this sense of superiority becomes.

“When the first D-Hopper, Roger Dalis, completed the first known successful hop from his home world to Vora, the people of Vora learned there were other humans living on other worlds. The people of Vora began to learn about D-Hopping. In time, they learned how to control the ability. That was about twelve thousand years ago. They began using the ability to establish contact with the other planets in their Universe, and they shared their knowledge of D-Hopping with the people of the other planets where the D-Hop ability existed. They eventually learned how to use the Fourth Dimension’s force axes, to travel to other universes, and that discovery led to the trade routes we currently have with the worlds of distant Universes.

“As contact was made with more and more planets, an attitude of superiority began to become prevalent. The people of every planet felt that their people were superior to the citizens of the other planets. When D-Hoppers started trading with the planets of other Universes, they found that this attitude was present on almost all of the planets they visited.

“At first, the problem was expressed as a personal opinion about people from other planets. Over the next thousand years, these attitudes solidified on all of the planets D-Hoppers visited. The citizens of every known planet expressed anger and hatred toward anyone who came from a different planet. As trade continued to spread through the Multiverse, the early trade guilds were established. As the trade guilds gained power, they began a movement to control trade between planets. This movement formed a consortium of member worlds that over time evolved into what is now known as the Multiverse Government.

“The consortium realized that the discrimination expressed to traders on the Member Worlds that comprised the consortium was detrimental to trade. They decided this situation had to be changed, and that is why they commissioned the study to determine the best way to put an end to this hatred of people from other planets.

“The leading scientists in the field of Social Interrelations from all of the member planets met and created a committee to analyze the problem and form a recommendation of how it could be resolved. It took the committee less than a year to define the problem and to identify its underlying causes. However, creating a solution for the problem was a far more difficult task. After fifteen years of research and trying different solutions, the committee formed a subcommittee of its members to examine why the solutions they had implemented in trial programs had failed to affect the problem.

“Three years later, the subcommittee presented its report to the committee. The report was about one page in length, but it was attached to volumes of backup information gleaned from volumes of data defining the different solutions the committee had tried.