Chapter 2

Xylloc not what a human would call a paradise planet. For one thing, it rained all of the time. Of course, that was not literally true, but it seemed that way to Bruce and Brenda. They went down in the shuttle with Heartfullofjoy because they wanted to experience the ride. It was like an amusement park ride, combined roller coaster and bumper cars! The atmosphere was so violently unstable that the locals had never developed machines for flight, let alone, space travel. They were completely dependent on visitors like the Happytravelers for all their interplanetary communication. But, they didn't seem to mind.

Interplanetary commerce was always in luxury items and ideas; it was simply impossible to transfer items in bulk by spaceship. However, Bruce and Brenda immediately realized that TP could solve this problem, but they wondered if it might also create new problems.

The three were walking through the spaceport, progressing through the usual custom and immigration controls, when Brenda suddenly disappeared for a moment. When she returned, Bruce asked, "Where did you go? It's almost time to restock our air supply."

Brenda announced with a grin, "Not any longer. I have a solution to that problem! It dawned on me that we should be able to modify our helmets to let in only oxygen and nitrogen and keep out all other gases and, at the same time, expel carbon dioxide. I even worked out a way to keep the partial pressures of the two gases within acceptable ranges. As long as there is at least 5% oxygen in the local atmosphere, we can get enough to breathe. Our only concern will be that the carbon dioxide we exhale is not too toxic for the local people around us. The added feature of this modification is that we would not have to suffer with foul smells! I still have to work on letting in good smells. Here's the modification."

"That's wonderful, Brenda! I always tell everybody that you are the smartest person I know!"

"Flattery will get you anywhere with me! Thanks."

They were finally through customs and ready to visit the trading center. Heartfullofjoy was here to trade an idea, and she warned Bruce and Brenda that the negotiations could be long and tedious. Trading hard goods was usually an easy proposition, since both sides could see what they were trading for, but ideas were sometimes hard to get across.

"What is your idea you want to trade?"

"Surely, you have noticed that the locals look like globs of colorless, featureless jelly. Well, my idea is to get them to color their skin with various patterns to fit their professions or personalities. I ran across a formulation for a skin dye that is harmless to their type of body, but would wear long enough to be commercially feasible."

"Would it help if the person you are negotiating with could see an example of what you were trying to get across? Brenda and I can change our body shape and color to practically anything; maybe we could act as your sales assistants."

"That would be a great help! I would appreciate the assistance. How quickly can you change?"

"That all depends on what you want. My guess is that we could change in less than 30 seconds to look like one of the locals. The color change is virtually instantaneous."

"Let's try it! I'll tell you what to do at each stage of the negotiations."

They walked into one of the many office cubicals and faced a local person. "Good day, Mr. Blixel. I am Heartfullofjoy and these are my associates, Bruce and Brenda. We are here to discuss a wonderful new idea which should sweep your planet. It is a new cosmetic treatment which is not permanent, but is beautiful. Everyone can use it and the cost for materials is low. Everything you need can be found locally, so you do not have to depend on interplanetary trade to keep you in business."

"That sounds like a usable idea, but I don't have enough data to put a value on it."

The two negotiators talked for a while, just as any salesman would handle a "cold call" on a prospective customer. After laying some groundwork, Heartfullofjoy asked Bruce to assume the shape of Mr. Blixel. "Now turn orange... now green... now black and white stripes... now purple. Thank you, you may return to your normal shape and color."

"Now, Mr. Blixel, I have two formulations to offer, one is a cream which can be applied by hand for use in intricate designs and the other is a liquid which can be sprayed on for all-over color. What will you offer me in exchange for this wonderful business opportunity?"

The negotiations now became dull and boring to Bruce and Brenda, so they left to do some sight seeing. The local Xyllocites were as interesting to watch as any thing else. They looked like amoeba as they slid along the ground by rippling their underside. They reshaped themselves as needed into baskets or buckets for carrying goods, but they seemed to have no concept of a cart, or other wheeled vehicle. They dragged a sledge if their burden was too large or too heavy to carry, but this was an obvious struggle, particularly if the load required more than one person to pull it.

Bruce and Brenda looked at each other as the same idea hit them at the same time: they would sell the idea of the wheel! Since they both realized that they were not skilled and experienced salesmen, Heartfullofjoy was the obvious partner to ask to join their team.

When Heartfullofjoy left the negotiating office looking like she was very pleased with herself, Brenda and Bruce walked up and sprung their idea on her. She looked at them for a moment and began to shake. The two humans were afraid that something seriously wrong had happened, but Heartfullofjoy recovered and apologized for laughing so hard, but she was laughing at herself. She moved on wheels, herself, but had never thought of trying to sell that idea to the Xyllocites. "I will gladly act as your agent. I'll set up an appropriate appointment for as soon as possible."

With that, Heartfullofjoy went to a smaller cubical and returned after a short time. "We are in luck! An appropriate person is available right now and we can talk to him. Actually, it would be better if you did not attend this meeting since you might get upset at some of the things I may have to say. I hope you don't mind."

"No, you are the negotiator and we will bow to your wishes. We will TP to the ship and wait for you there."

Several hours later, Heartfullofjoy returned in the shuttle. She was exhausted by her flight and begged to rest before discussing the results of the wheel negotiations. She did say that she was successful, and the humans should be pleased at the result.

Brenda and Bruce decided to take the opportunity to return to their own home and sleep in their own bed. After they had slept and cuddled for a while, they began to talk about their trip, so far. Bruce wondered what the effect of ET visits might have on the earth, so they POVed around a while looking for such parallel universes. They found hundreds, some with spectacularly good results and some with spectacularly bad results, but this was what one should expect when infinite possibilities were in play. They promised to do something about the worst cases when their vacation was over.

They returned to the ship when Heartfullofjoy was ready for company. She said that the Xyllocites were so pleased with the wheel idea that they had offered an exclusive right to sell copies of their art all over the galaxy. Their art was what, on earth, was termed abstract, and it was extremely popular with those who had been lucky enough to see it. Heartfullofjoy had brought two examples to show them and they were awestruck by the "paintings."

Bruce took the samples to his office in the EU and made several copies. He returned and gave Heartfullofjoy one of each to display in the ship where everybody could enjoy them.

Heartfullofjoy had to return to Xylloc to work out the details of the art transfer and she asked Brenda and Bruce to accompany her. This time, Bruce TPed the shuttle to near the ground and let Heartfullofjoy take over for the landing. This way, they wouldn't upset the locals by suddenly appearing on their doorstep. Their trip through customs was sped up by the fact that they had been through just the previous day and were known traders.

They were introduced to some government officials and engaged in some small talk for politeness' sake. Bruce asked how long it would take to make copies of the artwork and store it in a warehouse for pickup. He was told that the job could be completed within one year, so Bruce proposed that the Xyllocites do that and they would be back in one year to pick up the copies. In a private comment, Heartfullofjoy worried that they would have trouble with making that appointment, but Brenda told her not to worry. After some more general conversation, the three returned to their ship.