A Larger Universe by James L Gillaspy Page A

a bunch
of junk."
    This sent Valin scurrying to an undistinguished point on the
workroom's wall, where he pressed his thumb hard enough to make it turn white. 
A small door slid into the wall under his hand exposing a grill and small
keypad.   After pressing a few keys, he talked rapidly into the grill.  It had
to be an intercom, the first Tommy had seen on the ship. 
    Feron, the leader of the team that had traded for the
computer equipment and books from Earth, met Valin and Tommy at a nearby
storage compartment.  His hands shook as he opened the compartment door.  He
stood to one side as Tommy looked into the warehouse-sized room. 
    Hundreds of Earth-style pallets covered the huge chamber's
floor.  Each Pallet held stacks of boxes wrapped with wide sheets of clear
plastic.
    Much of what Tommy knew about specific items of equipment
came from reading and looking at the pictures in the many catalogs that he used
to receive from computer equipment retailers.  A few purchases made with his
dad's credit card had gotten him on two mailing lists and then many mailing
lists as the first companies sold their list to others.  Those catalogs had
been some of Tommy's favorite fantasy reading, full of things he would buy, if
he had the money.  He was reading a catalog the day his Dad brought up selling
his download software.  The money hadn't mattered to him, but getting the
gadgets in the catalog had.
    With Valin's and Feron's help, he began unwrapping plastic
and removing boxes from the pallets nearest the door and stacking individual
boxes on the left and right side of the room:  left for outdated, and right for
at least relatively new.  When they had unloaded fifteen pallets, the aisle
between the left and right side was much closer to the right wall.  This
could take a week , he thought, and walked down the right wall, examining
each pallet.  Tommy had started back toward the entrance when he realized he
hadn't seen a single box of software.  He was about to reveal the futility of
what they were doing when he found several pallets of software boxes in a far
corner of the room.
    Tommy hadn't told his helpers why he had directed them to
move the boxes to one of the two stacks.  With his revelation that they had
more old than new equipment, Feron slumped against one of the stacks,
scattering a few boxes to the floor.
    "Will you and your family give comfort to my wife and
children, my friend?" he said to Valin.
    Valin squatted down beside Feron and put his arm around his
shoulders.  "Of course.  As you would to mine."
    "Will you wait until after I see them to tell the
lords?"
    "You should tell the lords."
    "If I do, I must do so now.  I want to tell my family
goodbye.  If you tell the lords, I'll have a few minutes to talk with my
wife."
    Tommy looked from one man to the other.  "Wait a
minute.  What's going to happen to you?"
    "The lords do not allow failure of this
magnitude," Valin said.  "Your feral brethren swindled Feron.  He
will pay with his life."
    "How will anyone know if we don't tell them?"
    Valin looked up at Tommy.  "They will know, whether we
tell them or not.  Someone will tell them, or they will find out in some other
way.  If we delay, they'll punish me, too, and our wives and children will be
punished.”  Valin’s lips pulled back against his teeth.  “You should consider
yourself.  Their anger will send you back to the stables permanently."
    "Wait a minute.  Let's think this through, first,"
Tommy said.
    "What is there to think about?  You have said most of
these boxes contain outdated and useless equipment.  You called it junk.  The
lords do not trade for junk."
    "Well, that was my opinion.  I wouldn't have bought any
of this back home, but it's not junk if you can use it for something.  What
were you planning to do with this stuff?"
    Valin looked at Feron.  "What harm can there be in
telling him?  At least the lords didn't tell us not to tell him."  When
Feron nodded,