The Charm, Part 1

Date: 08/27/2001
From: ThomasMalthus

He sat at the end of the conference table, trying not to exude the raw fear that he felt. He was not used to dealing with those who were not of his own kind. As he looked over the various participants of this meeting, he grew more and more uneasy. When he saw one particular member of the opposing side, he nearly jumped out of his seat.

Addressing the leading Lesion trade delegate, the man hissed, "It's bad enough I have to deal with you Mekkans. Did you have to invite a Cerellian along, too?"

The little alien creature looked at him angrily. "First of all we are not Mekkans, we are Larnani. Therefore you can stop having your words translated into Lakairnan and switch to Gayars, the language we prefer. Only a human could make such an idiotic mistake. Secondly, we certainly did not invite Zandokh," at the human's incomprehension, he reidentified him, "the Cerellian. He invited himself." The Larnani was silent as the Cerellian's forehead throbbed. "He seeks to remind us that he is a silent partner in our corporation and that he has every right to be here. If you find his presence offensive, good. It was the effect he desired. He also says your hair makes you look stupid."

The man suddenly felt ridiculous in his suit and tie. It was certainly not his normal attire. Cerellians had a way of unnerving him. Of course, with what they did to humans... "Fine," he said through gritted teeth. "But I don't want my mind violated. The grey," he said, using the derogatory name for Cerellians, "enters Larnani brains only."

The alien being's forehead pulsated more quickly now. The head of the Lesion delegation spoke for him. "He agrees to this. He says he would not sully himself by entering a human mind, and that it would be distasteful for any self-respecting Cerellian to do so." While the human male seethed, the Larnani continued. "I believe we can skip the formal introductions and get down to business."

"Fine with me," the man replied. The fear returned quickly.

***
"If I have to spend one more second on this Earth, I'll go insane," Wade complained loudly. Of course, she had to speak loudly, as the words of others walking around her came close to drowning her words out completely.

"That is a shame, Miss Welles," the Professor commented. "Seeing as there are about 120 seconds until we slide, your insanity appears imminent."

"Ha ha, Professor," Wade shot back. "So funny I forgot to hit you in the shoulder." Wade then proceeded to do just that. "Or not."

The Englishman rubbed his shoulder. "Well, pardon me for trying to get something humorous out of this horrendous world," Professor Arturo groused.

"Are you sure we couldn't have just slid from our hotel room?" Remmy asked, covering his ears as best as possible.

"We had to be out of there by 11 and didn't have enough money to rent the room for another night just so we could stay off the street for a few hours," the Professor reminded him. "Therefore we will have to endure this racket for another minute or so."

"I don't know, guys," Quinn said in a mellow tone of voice. "This place isn't too bad." All three other sliders looked at him like he was nuts. "At least these people know how to manage their time."

Rembrandt took another look around him. Everyone was talking over each other all at once. Apparently people were able to hear and speak at the same time. It gave him a headache just to think about how that would work.

"But at what cost?" Arturo lamented. "The art of conversation, the give-and-take of speaking with another individual, is lost in favor of this...this...deafening roar." His arm gestured out to the people around him. The four sliders wound their way into a quiet spot to slide.

"I'll be glad to get out of here, too," Rembrandt commented. "The way they play music on this world, five songs at a time overlapping each other." He shuddered.

Arturo pointed the timer at a wall and pressed the button to activate the vortex. He then stepped through it. Rembrandt jumped through next, followed in rapid succession by Wade and Quinn.

***
"We believe we have made a generous offer," the Larnani spoke smoothly. All the other heads bobbed up and down in agreement.

All except one that is. "16000 creds is not an offer," the only human at the table replied with what he hoped was indignancy. "It's an insult. SE has built an economic empire on this world, you can't just buy it for zarnan feed."

"Might I remind you that we do not need to buy it," the Larnani said evilly from across the table. "You may have gained quite a bit of economic power in the few years you've been here, human, but this is still our world to do with as we please. Your company can be ours in the blink of a human eye, with your agreement or without it."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that," the man grinned back. "About any of it, as a matter of fact. If you were running this world as much as you thought you were, we wouldn't even be having this conversation."

"Things have changed on this world," the little creature (he was a little under four and a half feet tall) gloated. "For both my kind and yours. And I believe you know which side now holds more power or you would never have agreed to this meeting."

"I came to this meeting," he replied, trying to save face as much as possible, "so that I could see if you wanted to make a serious offer to buy our corporation. Since you came here only to insult me and to flaunt your new Lesion-engineered social status, I believe we have nothing further to discuss." He then got up from the table and walked out dramatically. Or at least he tried to. He was shoved back into his chair by two Larnani guards in full armor.

"You brought armed guards?!" the businessman asked incredulously.

"Why, of course," another Larnani remarked. "What's a hostile takeover without them?"

***
Professor Maximilian Arturo landed hard on the metal ground. Metal ground? What kind of world was this? Before he could get up to investigate, Rembrandt came flailing through the vortex and landed right on top of him. "Owww!" he exclaimed.

"Sorry, Professor," Rembrandt apologized unconvincingly. Wade and Quinn both experienced similarly hard landings as they came out of the vortex.

"Do any of you take my age into consideration before you physically assault me for your own amusement?" the Professor demanded. "I'm not getting any younger, you know." As he tried to stand up and move, he could not do so without considerable pain. "I think you broke something, Mr. Brown."

Rembrandt carefully examined himself. "Nope, I feel fine, Professor."

Arturo looked at him foully. "You broke something of mine, you blistering idiot!!"

"Think you can make it to a doctor?" Quinn asked with concern.

"And we would pay for that with what, our good looks?" Wade asked cynically. "We need jobs."

"How long are we here?" Rembrandt asked.

"A little less than a week," the Professor answered. "Which will seem like an eternity with this tremendous pain in my backside, especially sleeping on these damned metal streets since we have no money to pay for a hotel room!"

"Stay here with the Professor, Rembrandt," Quinn said, taking charge of the situation. "Wade and I are going job hunting."

"Oh we are, are we?" Wade asked playfully.

"Unless you've got a better idea," Quinn responded matter-of-factly. In fact, Wade had none, so she accompanied Quinn without further protest.

The two of them examined the city around them. The look of the construction was distinctly artificial. In addition to the metal streets, every building appeared to be made of the same type of material. The sky wasn't visible, as the buildings seemed to stretch up to some distant point unseen from the ground. There were so many of them that the city was filled with shadow. Flying cars, much like the ones they had seen on the Mekkan homeworld, flew overhead while the ordinary gas-powered variety operated on the ground. The look of those cars was reminiscent of those from the 1930s and 40s.

The pedestrians were another matter. It wasn't as though they were unfriendly, but they did seem to keep to themselves. The people there were a hodgepodge of culture, with no dominant race or ethnicity to be seen.

"What kind of a world is this?" Wade asked aloud.

"Don't know," Quinn replied disinterestedly. "I suspect we'll find out before we have to slide out though. It seems we always do." The physics genius stopped in front of a store that, after his translator chip kicked in, he found out was called "The Enchanted Orb". There was a sign in front that read "Now Hiring".

"What do you think, Wade?" Quinn asked.

"As good a place to start as any," she replied, looking over the place and wondering what kind of mischief they could get into on this world.

ThomasMalthus

I just knew ...

Date: 08/27/2001
From: The_Seer

... that all those landings would catch up to Arturo sooner or later. Great job so far, these are always interesting to read.

The wait was worth it

Date: 08/27/2001
From: nole9

I kept meaning to read your fanfic, but I always saw that it was part #4 or something. So I decided to start reading the first one that I saw the begining of. Well, I am going to have to check back more often, because I am enjoyed this first part, you set the stage nicely, lots of questions.
How are the sliders going to fit in to alien business dealings? What's the deal with the one human? Why would he go alone to a meeting like that?

Thanks for posting this.

nole9

Is your other work archieved somewhere?
Thanks.

TM & nole9

Date: 08/27/2001
From: DieselMickeyDolenz

TM - Looks like another outstanding fic is underway. I knew we hadn't seen the last of Lesion. Great job.

nole9 - All TM's stories in this series are archived on Blinker's site. http://slidersweb.net/blinker

DMD

Tres bien, TM! Et nole9, un mot SVP....

Date: 08/28/2001
From: Recall317

TM, you are one of the few Fanfic writers who has successfully brought in 'alien' races outside of Kromaggs. These alt-worlds are great. This story is off to a promising beginning.

And nole9, what DMD meant to say was that Blinker houses all of TM's stories at the Otherworlds:

http://slidersweb.net/otherworlds/

ThomasMalthus occupies Earth 2013.

R317

Well I'll be a polka-dotted zarnan!

Date: 08/28/2001
From: Blinker

We're already back in alien territory. How time flies when you're reading good fan fiction...

More creatures to sculpt! YES!

- Blinker 7:-P
http://slidersweb.net/blinker

"If you find his presence offensive, good. It was the effect he desired. He also says your hair makes you look stupid."

Wow, guys!

Date: 08/28/2001
From: ThomasMalthus

Thanks for the abundant replies of kind words. Nole9: welcome aboard! TheSeer: Did you know you're being MSTed? DMD: Thanks for helping nole out! Recall317: Merci beaucoup aussi! Blinker: you everlovin' son of a zarnan, how are ya?

ThomasMalthus

A nice way to return to the board!

Date: 09/05/2001
From: sliderules

Well, I checked the board for the first time in a while, and I was treated to this great story! Thomas, you never fail at writing a great story, and this was noe xception! To put it bluntly, you da man Malthus!

sliderules
"I'm pheclempt. Talk amongst yourselves! Topic: a peanut is neither a pea nor a nut. Discuss."

Original URL http://bboard.scifi.com/bboard/browse.cgi/1/5/545/26634
Nominated by DMD