Chapter 19: Merfolk at War

The Merfolk war is not our war. We decline to fight but we offer to assist in negotiating a peace. The Five Aunts council decided this is our best course and function. I was recused from the decision process. I maintain the pretext, I recused myself.

The rational is we intend to settle the entire planet and want cordial relations with all the Homarus Cephalopod’s cities. Homarus americanus is the American lobster. Lobsters belong to the genus Homarus and octopus and squid are cephalopods. Of course those are Terran species.

What do the Merfolk call themselves?

“ O0oo0o00OOOoooooO0o.”

A froth of bubbles with the pops and pips when they bust and swinging on a rusty hinge gate for all the squeaks simultaneously uttered. Unpronounceable. We call them Merfolk.

It will take awhile, but we are a prolific species, and we will fill the planet. We will benefit from trade with all the Merfolk cities. We do not want enemies.

What did we get from Merfolk? Electricity and they provided the cable to the shore. Actually, the cable is the generator, too.

Back on Earth, there are electric eels and more than sixty varieties of electric rays, among them, one ray called the Torpedo Fish. The rays live in salt water, and the eels in freshwater South American rivers.

The electric worms on this planet live in freshwater seas and can grow to over a hundred meters long, each. They can be connected together by their jaws and teeth. They are mindless and tenacious.

They are naturally immobile, meaning they don’t swim. They latch onto an immovable object with their jaws and stream in the current.

The larger worms produce more energy than the shorter worms, but even the shortest produce more than a kilowatt of electricity. When connected head to tail, they in effect, become one hugely long worm, capable of producing thousands of kilowatts of high voltage electricity.

The tentacles of the Merfolk are a naturally occurring rubber like material and an excellent insulator. They are natural born electricians.

We want quality relations with all the Merfolk.

The Merfolk treat their females with special regard. Makes sense. We don’t harvest female crabs with egg clusters, so you could say we treat them special. We revere motherhood among our own species too. At least, we give it token lip service.

Pipsqueak isn’t much upset over the male soldier guards killed. Soldiers die honorably defending the females. The kidnapings of the females, many juvenile or adolescent, is a war crime. Will they call off the war, if we negotiate the return of their stolen females?

We have leave to try.

Pipsqueak gives us coordinates to the enemy city, then guides us there. This was a very valuable exercise. With Merfolk coordinates to two locations, here and there, compared to our own observed coordinates, creates an instant translation index. Now we can discuss any location on the planet with the Merfolk, using their coordinate system.

Explaining to Pipsqueak, we would not actually be the the negotiators but mediators during his negotiation with his enemy, took considerable explaining. It was an entirely alien idea to Pipsqueak. The mediator inhibited the negotiation devolving into violence he readily grasped. The mediator could also suggest compromises the principles are too intensely involved to recognize until prompted, required some leap of faith. Not entirely convinced, Pipsqueak agreed to a trial peace parley.

We brought refreshments, the crabs.

The meeting occurred on a barely awash reef. I found not a singled dry spot to stand or sit, so had a stool delivered to me to perch upon, with my heels hooked in the rungs to keep my feet from soaking in the wash. Wet they already are and no immediate remedy for that.

Pipsqueak immediately demanded twice the number of females stolen, be immediately surrendered and returned, or face the consequences. The alternative, annihilation of his opponents city by his all powerful allies, the Skyfolk. Us.

A bold opening position with zero chance it will ever be acceded to. By them or us Skyfolk. What surprises me most about this proceeding, is the lack of names. Pure generalities. A dozen females are stolen, two dozen required in recompense. Specific individuals never mentioned. I asked Pipsqueak about this oddity. Weren’t the families of the stolen girls anxious over their daughters?

“Nope.”

No such concept exists in their culture. The females have clusters of hundreds of eggs frequently, nearly continuously, a constant series. The females swim in a soup of the sperm milt from hundreds or maybe thousands of males. Everybody does. The eggs are fertilized haphazardly, and very few eggs are fertilized from sperm donated by the same male. Hatchings from the same egg batch, are only half siblings. Fathers unknown, and mothers? Who cares. The mothers don’t care for the hatchings. They are on their own, and most do not survive.

As a practical matter, the original stolen females would be rejected if they were offered. Fresh blood is good for the city’s genepool.

Understood. Practical.

Negotiation stalled at fifteen in recompense for the dozen stolen. Neither side will budge. Let’s take a break. Crabby now? Lunch is a big success.

Negotiations start anew with two dozen females recompense for the dozen stolen. The original opening demand by Pipsqueak is acceded to, the negotiation at this point is how many crabs are given to the foe.