Chapter 15

Back on Earth...

“Meri, what do you think of this Multiverse Ambassador?” asked Janis Huff.

Janis Huff’s aide and personal assistant Merideth (Meri) Charles responded, “I’m not sure what you mean by think of him.”

“Don’t worry about what I mean. Just tell me what your thoughts are about him.”

“I haven’t given him much thought, Janis. He seems like a nice enough person. I know what he has said about his reasons for coming to Earth, and I know most of what people have been saying about him. However, I hear contradictory things about him, so I really don’t know what to believe.

“If he is the trader he claims to be, then I would expect him to sell Multiverse merchandise here on Earth. He says that most of what he could import is prohibited, and he can’t sell it here on Earth. I heard that he is not allowed to sell the Multiverse’s medical technology and medicines here on Earth. However, I heard he intends to sell medical equipment and medications to those countries in Africa. I don’t understand why he is going to sell merchandise that he is not allowed to sell here on Earth. That makes me wonder how scrupulous he is and it makes me wonder if we can trust what he is telling us.

“I suppose you could say he is having a problem with being a trader and an Ambassador at the same time. The trader wants to do business with us, and the Ambassador is saying ‘Yes, but not that merchandise.’ Then the trader sells the merchandise the Ambassador side of him said wasn’t for sale. I suspect that there is something going on that’s not apparent to me.”

“It sort of sounds as if you have a few doubts about the Ambassador, Meri.”

“Maybe, but I am not sure I would call them doubts. It’s more a sense of not understanding him. I don’t understand why he does some of the things that he reportedly does. That makes me ask myself ‘Why did he do that?’ It’s not that I don’t trust him; it’s more that I don’t understand him. I suspect that he is a far more complex person than he seems to be. However, he seems honest, straightforward, and transparent at the same time. I suppose my bottom line is my instincts and what I hear are in conflict, and that confuses me.”

“I have a similar impression of him, Meri. It seems like there is more to his actions than meet the eye. That medical equipment is a prime example. To start with, it was the media, not him, that said he wouldn’t sell the equipment here on Earth. The American Medical Association is opposed to him selling Multiverse medical equipment here in the United States, so he said ‘Okay, I won’t sell it here.’

“I think the key question, Meri, is what he meant by ‘here’. Did he mean here in the US or did he mean here on Earth? The media is presenting their interpretation of his comment, which is ‘He said he wouldn’t sell it on Earth, and he is doing it anyway.’ I wouldn’t trust the media’s interpretation for they like to create controversy, as controversy sells papers and airtime, and increases ratings. It would not be the first time the media has knowingly presented a false interpretation of a situation for their own betterment. I always distrust an interpretation that starts out with the phrase ‘It appears’ or some other indefinite qualifier.

“Did you know he is negotiating with several countries in Europe to sell the equipment there?”

“No, Janis, I hadn’t heard about that.”

“Well, he is. On the surface, it looks like he meant here in the US. The trader side of him is selling the equipment in places like Africa and Europe, and he is complying with our local manufacturers by not selling it here in the US, even though the US Government has not prohibited its sale. I don’t think anyone has bothered to ask him if the Multiverse regulations allow him to sell those products here on Earth, but I suspect it is permissible to do so.

“I have no problem with him selling those products, Meri. In fact, his sales strategy seems to be a very subtle and brilliant approach on both commercial and political levels. If that’s true, Ambassador Smith is far more than just a simple trader tasked with performing a few political duties for the Multiverse.”

“What do you mean, Janis?”

“Well, you need to keep in mind Ambassador Smith has acknowledged that he has goals that he wants to attain. He said that he intends to foster trade between Earth and the Multiverse, and that he will work toward convincing Earth’s people to join the Multiverse. Keep those two things at in the back of your mind as his long-term goals.

“The current situation is that the AMA has come out and said that he cannot sell his equipment in the United States, even though it’s the FDA’s decision to make. Thus, his decision to sell equipment to other countries does not challenge the AMA’s position. The FDA’s failure to express a position makes it appear they support the AMA. When the people of other countries reap the benefits of the advanced technology and medicines, our citizens will want to know why we are being denied the same benefits.

“I suspect Ambassador Smith will tell us that he is only complying with the FDA and AMA’s decisions, and that he will not sell his products where they aren’t allowed to be sold. That will result in the American public putting pressure on the FDA and the American medical community. The FDA will probably respond that he never applied for permission to sell his equipment and medicines in the US. The American public will pressure the AMA into reversing their position. If you think about it, it’s probably the manufacturers of the equipment that’s currently in use and the drug manufacturers that have pressured the AMA into taking their current position.”

“That’s a smart way to get around the AMA, Janis, but I would not say it’s subtle.”

“Yes, you are right. That part of his strategy isn’t subtle. The subtle part is the overall effect his plan has on Earth’s people. For instance, on a commercial level he will get to sell equipment in the US and other countries, on a political level he is complying with the dictates of local authorities, and his success is just one step in achieving his long-term goals. Keep in mind that the drug manufacturers will be his most difficult battle. By winning the battle of selling medical equipment in the US, he will have the public already supporting him. That is especially true when they learn how inexpensive his medicines will be for them to buy.

“What I expect to see here in the US, is a grass-roots movement to support him in getting AMA and FDA approval to sell his equipment and drugs. He may even secretly fund that movement, which is what I would do if I were in his position. When he receives FDA approval, the people of Earth will view him and the Multiverse by association, as the ‘Good Guys’ who are willing to aid the people of Earth. The AMA, FDA, and those who oppose him will be looked upon as the ‘Bad Guys’ for trying to prevent us from getting good medical treatment at a reasonable cost.

“One of the things I am not sure of is the stance the Health Insurance Companies will take. My instincts tell me they will side with Ambassador Smith. From a financial point of view, the less they have to pay on claims, the more money they will earn. However, that will create a problem for them for they will not be able to justify the continuation of extremely high premiums for health insurance. My guess is they will reduce the premiums slightly, and reduce their reimbursements to doctors and pharmacies by a greater percentage. The end result will be they make more money. That’s why I think they will support Ambassador Smith.

“This impression of being the ‘Good Guy’ will help him immensely, Meri, when it comes to the real battle, which is going to be between him and the drug companies. Dan, Jake, and I were able to get an initial copy of the medications he is authorized to sell on Earth. I suspect his unofficial release of this list to key political sources is the opening salvo in his war with the drug companies. I suspect the media will get a copy also from him or from one of the politicians that support them, and they will definitely publish that listing and will contrast his prices with the current prices charged by the major drug manufacturers.

“I am accepting the claims he has made for these medications to be safe. The medicines are much cheaper than the equivalent items sold by the drug companies. You need to keep in mind that the American public has been accusing the drug manufacturing and distribution companies of price gouging for years. Assuming that he is successful in gaining FDA approval, he is comparatively going to be selling quality ‘prescription’ drugs for almost nothing.”

“Can he really do that, Janis?”

“Oh, yes, he can definitely do that, if he can prove to the FDA that the drugs are safe to use. That’s where he will have his main battle. If you are not in the know, you would be surprised at the markup the drug companies impose on the public. They will want to protect their current inflated profit margins. Some of the less costly drugs cost the drug companies less than five cents a pill to make, but by the time it gets to the consumer, the consumer pays a dollar a pill or more.

“What Ambassador Smith needs to be careful of is retribution. The drug companies will not like it if he starts selling prescription drugs at ten to twenty percent of their list price. If he creates a suitable distribution system, and can import a sufficient volume of drugs, he can put the drug companies out of business or at least force them to reduce their prices to a reasonable level.”

“But that will only happen in the US, Janis, if he gets permission to sell his drugs here.”

“No, you missed the subtlety of the point I made earlier, Meri. Ambassador Smith will start by selling his drugs in the poorer countries. The citizens of the countries where he does not sell his drugs will want their medications at the lower price. Those governments will be pressured into approving him selling the medications in their countries. The countries that allow the sale of Ambassador Smith’s drugs will sell directly to the citizens of those countries that refuse to allow Ambassador Smith’s drugs to be sold in their countries. It will be the same situation as the US citizens who currently buy drugs from Canada and other countries at lower prices, and Ambassador Smith’s prices will be even lower than the current Canadian prices.

“What will eventually happen is Ambassador Smith will import medications from the Multiverse that will cure diseases that we can treat, but not cure, with our current medications. You may not know it, Meri, but one of his people was diagnosed with a deadly form of cancer, and the Multiverse doctor cured it in two or three days with a simple injection. When the American public learns that he has drugs that can cure diseases like cancer, they will start a grass-roots movement to force the FDA to approve any and all medication that he imports. The real subtlety in his first clash is the trust and goodwill he will gain by introducing advanced medical equipment into the US.

“The bottom line, Meri, is his company will eventually receive permission to sell drugs in the US, and he will become a major competitor of the US drug manufacturers. The drug companies will then claim that he has an unfair advantage over US companies and have their pet Congressmen introduce legislation for higher import duties, or they will do something else that will keep the price of his drugs high in the US. He in turn will circumvent the drug companies’ legislation by only selling his drugs overseas. That will result in a backlash at the drug companies and Congress. Eventually the drug companies will go out of business or reduce their prices, and the people in the US will get to buy drugs at a reasonable price.

“Of course, one of the drug companies’ alternatives is to have him killed. But, that’s only a short-term solution for the Multiverse will replace him and their traders will import the equipment and medications. Unfortunately, some of the medical equipment and drug company executives are not into looking at the long-term effects. They will most likely act on their view of the short-term situation.”

“Well, Janis, I for one would like to see prices come down on drugs, and other things. I know the drug manufacturers say they are not collaborating to keep the prices up, and they say they need the higher prices to recover their development costs. The way I see it is, they recover their costs in far less time than they claim, so most of their government-approved higher prices is pure ‘public gouging’ for profit. What they say about not collaborating may be true. However, just because they don’t make formal agreements amongst themselves, doesn’t mean it’s not a conspiracy. One company sets their prices high and their competitors match the prices instead of staying or setting a lower price. I call that a conspiracy of silence. There are a lot of companies that do that type of thing. I think it’s criminal, even if we can’t prove what they are doing.”

“Mari, are you saying that you approve of Ambassador Smith’s approach to breaking the American boycott on his products?”

“I hadn’t looked at it that way, Janis, but, yes. I have no problem with lower prices.

“What I would like to know is how low the prices would go if the drug manufactures stopped gouging us and accepted a reasonable profit. The current companies not competing with each other is causing us problems. Having only one supplier with no competition in the marketplace can also cause us a lot of problems. We need a balance. If Ambassador Smith can create a balanced, competitive market, then yes, I will support his efforts.”

Meanwhile in the Multiverse 

One or two of my Earth guests were up early the next morning, and made it down to the restaurant in time for breakfast. Most of us slept in until almost lunchtime. Thanks to Sereine’s thoughtfulness, Ken and Bashira got their first experience with the wonders of ‘Feel Good’ pills. Judging from everyone’s comments, ‘Feel Good’ pills will be one of my first imports. No one enjoys a major hangover, so the limitation of not drinking for the rest of the day was a small price compared to avoiding the pain and nausea typical of a major hangover.

After lunch, my wives and I returned to our room to finish recovering from our efforts at preparing for the wedding and everything we went through yesterday. Well, besides the time we spent recovering, we also engaged in a few other pleasant activities. If I’m not mistaken, Betty and Carol were still being affected by the hormones of their anti-fertility implants, which Misty had removed. It was too late for Cindy to get pregnant, and Rita was about to start her ovulation period. During the inactive portion of our recovery time, we managed to organize everyone into having dinner together.

Most of our Multiverse guests, including a few of my wives’ close friends, had stopped by to say goodbye. They then left Vora to return to their homes. My wives had made arrangements with President Jenson and Chairman Smart’s D-Hoppers to take their friends back to Slave World when they left. Dinner that evening was with Mom and Dad, some of my family, my Earth guests, my new people, and the five of us. Thanks to ‘Feel Good’ pills, we were all in good spirits; but no one was ready to go out and party again, tonight!

Most of our dinner conversation was centered on what we had planned for the next day or two, until we left to return to Earth. I had comm calls to make tomorrow, to Kevin and Sergei. My wives were quick to remind me that we would spend most of tomorrow opening wedding gifts and sending out Twixt messages to those we had invited to our wedding. Tom told me the recordings from the wedding and reception would be ready for pick up in two days, so I made a note to myself to get the recordings before we left for Earth. I also needed to buy a video data chip player before we left, so we could watch the video. Note to self: determine if we need a video recording capability for the Embassy?

Sereine and Sandy volunteered to take our Earth guests and the new people on another sightseeing tour. My bodyguards rolled their eyes, for they were as tired as the rest of us. Harold and Samson gave them a stern look. I knew their ‘eye rolling’ was mostly for show. Besides, as Matt said, they would be interested in doing something tomorrow as long as it wasn’t too strenuous. Everyone was still tired from last night’s partying. ‘Feel Good’ pills help you to feel better, but they don’t restore your energy level. My wives and I decided to rest for the rest of the day.

My parents and the most of my relatives would be returning to their homes after breakfast, tomorrow. However, there were a few of my relatives who decided to remain in Cinnity for an additional day or two. Now don’t get me wrong; I do like my relatives, even the distant ones I am not close to. But, a few of them reminded me of Henry Archer’s general opinion of the Archer Family. When I think of this small group of relatives, I can better understand Henry’s decision to not name an heir to his estate from his family.

My wives and I wanted to sleep in, but we had to get up and go to breakfast. Our duties as hosts required that we have breakfast with the last of our guests, before they left for their homes. Besides, opening the presents we had received and writing letters to our invitees would take a long time. With the exception of a few bodyguards, my wives, and me, the rest of my party got to sleep-in this morning.

During the reception, I had observed Guild Master Kevin Moore in what had appeared to be a serious conversation with Councilwoman Maribel Stanton. I wanted to find out if their conversation was something I needed to be aware of, before I left for Earth.

“Morning, Kevin. I hope you and your wife enjoyed yourselves the other evening.”

“We did, Doug. We don’t go out all that often, so we really enjoyed the opportunity to dance and socialize with other people.”

“That’s good, Kevin. One of the reasons I commed you this morning was I saw you and Maribel talking. Was that something that I need to be aware of before I return to Earth?”

“No, not really, Doug. We were talking about several of the things that you will need to do within the next several years. Most of it was about what she expected of you once the Embassy was established. We can talk more about that, the next time you visit me. I really don’t want to take up your time with unnecessary business while you are on your honeymoon.”

With a short laugh, I said, “Thanks, Kevin. I am sure my wives will appreciate that. However, I thought our conversation might help me to avoid doing my part in writing out the messages thanking all of our wedding guests. From the looks of things, it isn’t working. My wives seem to be patiently waiting for me to join them, so we can start.”

After a short laugh, Kevin and I said our goodbyes and I commed Sergei.

“Morning, Sergei, this is Doug.”

“Morning, Doug, how are you and your new wives doing?”

“We’re doing pretty good. Up to now, we have just been relaxing and recovering from the reception. Today, we are starting on sending out Twixts to everyone we invited. I suspect that will take all day, so I wanted to discuss getting everyone together, so we could depart together as a group for our trip back to Earth.”

“All right, Doug, my people are ready to go whenever you are ready to depart.”

“Good, I am planning to leave two days from now. Tell your D-Hopper, Dan Staffer, that I will meet him and your installation team at our departure planet, which we call First Stop, at nine in the morning, Vora time, two days from now. Will that be okay with your people?”

“Yes, it sounds good to me, Doug. If there is a problem, I will let you know by the end of business tomorrow.”

“All right, Sergei, I will see you on my next trip. Bye for now.”

“Bye, Doug, and have a good trip.”

I had left several storage shelters with my folks when we returned home from our last trip and they had added another. I made a note to myself to see that any shelters and other items we were going to take with us were moved to our old First Stop planet tomorrow; since Dan Staffer did not know about our new First Stop.

We may not be able to take everything necessary with us, but we would take all that we could on this trip. The important items would be the tools and equipment Sergei’s people would need to do the security installation. I wonder if we would be setting some type of record for the largest number of people to be transported during one hop.

I heard Rita calling out to me, “Come on, Doug. Let’s get this started, so we can finish up today. We don’t want to spend any more time on this than we have to, right now.”

“All right, I’m coming.

With a smile I asked, “How do my wives want to do this?”

Rita said, “We decided Betty and Carol will open the presents, and they will tell us who each present is from. I will mark the person’s name off on my list of invitees, and record what they gave us. Cindy has the list of invitees with Twixt addresses on her computer. She will use her Twixt messaging program to prepare a Twixt message for each person who gave us a present. You are to move the unopened presents to Betty and Carol, and after they have rewrapped the presents, you are to move the presents to that cleared area by the wall. If you have time, you can pack the presents in boxes for taking them back to Earth.

“Yesterday, I used the attendee register to identify those who attended our wedding. Cindy and I drafted four messages that we can use. Here are printouts of the generic messages for people who attended our wedding and gave us a gift and for the people were unable to attend the wedding, but sent us a gift. If they are okay with you, then all we have to do is fill in the salutation names and identify the gift they sent us. I also have generic messages for the people we invited, but did not give us a gift. We can talk about those, later.”

Betty and Carol told me they had already seen the messages and were okay with them, so I said, “These seem fine to me, Rita. Let’s get started and see how your plan works out.”

We all moved over to the table and got ready to start. I moved a stack of presents to where Betty and Carol could reach them. They each grabbed a present and started opening it. Carol finished opening her present before Betty. She told Rita whom it was from, and then held it up for all of us to see and admire. Rita told Cindy that they had been at the wedding.

Cindy created a message for that person, inserted the appropriate message text, and updated the boilerplate salutation and gift description entries. While Cindy was creating the message, Carol had repacked the present in its original packaging. I took the gift from Carol and moved it to a safe place on the other side of the room and Carol started opening another present. Once Cindy saved the message to a data chip, Betty told Rita whom her present was from and held the present up to show it to us.

Rita’s approach seemed to be working fine. By the time we stopped for lunch, we had processed more than half of the presents. Betty and Carol thought we would be done by the middle of the afternoon. I agreed with them, but reminded them that while we may be over halfway finished preparing the messages and rewrapping the presents, I had not had time to pack the presents into boxes. We had to finish opening the remaining presents and creating messages. Then we needed to consolidate the presents into larger boxes that are more suitable for loading into the storage containers we would be taking back to Earth.

When we finished opening the presents, Rita said, “Doug, Cindy and I will prepare the Twixts for the people who did not send us a present. You, Betty, and Carol can begin packing the presents into larger boxes. When we finish preparing the messages, Cindy and I will take them downstairs and see that they are transmitted to the invitees. If everything goes well, we should be done a little after dinnertime.”

“That sounds good, Rita, but what about any presents that may still be in transit to my parents’ house?”

“That’s not a problem, Doug. On our next visit, we can open the presents and send out follow-up messages thanking the senders for their presents, which will explain we had not received the present before we left for Earth.”

“That sounds good to me, Rita. It’s a shame that mail between planets takes so long to deliver.”

“Yeah, I know. Do you think there is some faster way to get mail from one planet to another?”

During the rest of our lunch break, I thought about how the Multiverse Government’s Package Delivery Service functioned. The Twixt network was the best way to send short written messages, but it wasn’t designed to transmit long written documents. Things like books, videos, and physical packages were transported between planets by one of the package delivery services. Well, there was one exception to that, and that was the Twixt Video channels that the media used to transmit their programs. The average person could not afford the cost of transmitting long data transmissions by Twixt.

The Multiverse Government has a Package Delivery Service that would get a package from one planet to another in a reasonable amount of time and at a reasonable price. When the Government’s service was too slow, someone could send a package to another planet using one of the privately-owned delivery services. The private services could get a package to the recipient in less than half the time, but the cost was very high for private delivery service. Although, the cost of shipping something like a book using a private delivery service was still less than the cost of twixting the book to its recipient.

One of the things that took the Government’s delivery service so long to get a package from the sender to the recipient was the way the Government’s delivery service was structured and operated.

About four hundred years ago, the Multiverse Government performed the most recent update to its package delivery network. At that time, the officials evaluated the inhabited universes in Multiverse’s Known Universes to determine the universe closest to the center of the inhabited universes. They determined the center of the inhabited universes was the Victor Universe and that Kottle was the best planet for supporting the transshipment of packages between universes. They then laid out routes to all of the universes that contained Member Worlds and Provisional Member Worlds. For each universe serviced by a route, a planet was designated to be that universe’s central transshipment point for distribution of packages to the universe’s planets.

On each planet, the local government picked up packages from the shippers and transported the packages to the planet’s central collection point. They also delivered the packages the central collection point had received to the recipient. Each planet transported its packages between the planet’s collection point and their universe’s central transshipment planet.

The Multiverse Government was responsible for delivering packages to the universes’ central transshipment planets, and for picking up packages being sent to other planets.

Kottle was the center of the Multiverse Government’s package delivery network. As the network extended out from Kottle, a route would divide at a stop into two or more outbound routes. A 3-dimensional representation of the network’s routes would resemble the root ball of a large plant with the individual roots dividing as they extended further and further from the plant’s trunk.

On Kottle, all of the packages to be delivered to a specific universe along the D-Hopper’s route, or a route that splits off of the route, were packed in one or more storage containers and the storage containers were then placed in very large freight shelters. As the D-Hopper’s route split, the D-Hopper would drop off the freight shelters containing packages for the new outbound routes’ destinations. Those packages would be delivered by other D-Hoppers.

When the D-Hopper was ready to begin his route, he would leave Kottle on his outbound route with a large number of freight shelters. One group of freight shelters carried the containers of packages that were to be delivered to the planets of the universes along the D-Hopper’s route. The second group of freight shelters carried containers of packages that were to be transshipped to routes that serviced other universes.

When the D-Hopper reached his first stop, the storage containers of packages to be delivered to the planets of that universe were removed from the respective freight shelters. If the route split into two or more outbound routes, the freight shelters to be routed along those routes were also dropped off at the planet. Containers containing packages for universes further along the D-Hopper’s outbound route were loaded into the respective freight shelters, The D-Hopper also received freight shelters containing packages that would be transshipped somewhere along his outbound route to another outbound route. When all of the packages had been transshipped and the D-Hopper was ready to depart, he hopped to the next stop on the route and the process was repeated at that stop. After about five or six stops, the D-Hopper would turn the outbound freight shelters over to another D-Hopper.