12 Lawrence - And food, . . . Oh my (1/2)
I stepped out of the Transporter booth into the bright morning light. The Gravity felt somewhat heavier than what I considered normal. The temperature was definitely on the hot, muggy side. I noticed a young man waiting respectfully to greet me, so I gave him my full attention.
”Good morning, Mr. Young. Welcome to Caribbia. I'm Jack Hill, the embassies undersecretary, and your assistant. We hadn't expected you till late tomorrow afternoon?”
”Yes . . . well, something came up, so I had to leave early.”
[You meant to say; it was to keep something from coming up,] Imp chuckled.
Ignoring Imp's perverted sense of humor, I paid courteous attention to Jack. He seemed like a pleasant young man, excepting a clothing fetish, about one point eight meters, and eighty-two kilo's, blonde almost white hair and a golden brown complexion. His smile seemed slightly impish on his otherwise pleasant face. I put him at around my age, possibly a few months less.
”As you say, Sir,” Jack said, with a twinkle in his eye. I wondered if Miss Lushbt had sent a message through, advising of my change in plans. If so, just what had she said?
”Your suite is not quite ready. Perhaps you would care to join me for breakfast?”
”I'd be delighted,” I replied. In my haste to leave, I had skipped lunch, and it was more than time for dinner according to my stomach.
The breakfast was amazing. On Draco things had always been quiet and reserved, funereal you might say. Here it was more like a festival. Nowhere did I see a uniform. Sarongs or bright shorts and loud open front shirts seemed the self-chosen uniform here.
[Who was out of uniform?] Imp pounced on my thought.
Most of the women wore a skimpy halter, or a bikini, top, a few . . . just a tan (until I became acclimated this caused me no end of trouble). A sarong typically completed the outfit. Whatever the personal choice of attire, nearly all had chosen loud, bold, colorful clothing.
And food, . . . Oh my, it was laid out at a long table. There were bowls full of all kinds of fresh fruits. Stack after stack of many different varieties of steaming bread. I saw cereals; hot and cold, quivering mounds of yogurt, and all sorts of delicacies from the sea. And obviously—hot fluffy omelets drenched in melted cheese, stuffed with the ubiquitous pork sausage. (It seemed that no matter where humans traveled to in the universe; chicken eggs, pork, and coffee beans always followed.) I could have gained two pounds just looking at all of the choices. Luckily our health benefits include antiobesity shots if we wanted them, also immunization for just about anything on any planet.
”Around here the Ambassador doesn't need to put on a show for the natives, so he doesn't. He enjoys life, and he expects us to enjoy it also. I think you'll like him from what I've heard of you. He takes life in big bites,” Jack observed.
Stepping on a nearby chair, he put his fingers to his lips and whistled. ”This is our new Senior, Larry Young when you get a chance stop by and say 'Hello.”—stepping down he said, ”You're introduced—let's eat,” as he headed to the table.
We piled it on as if this was to be the only meal of the day. ”To do this justice will take a while so let me brief you now,” and interspersed with introductions and the other necessary pauses to consume such a culinary feast he proceeded, ”Caribbia is different from most other worlds. Unlike most of the worlds, there was no native human population when we arrived here.”
That was something no scientist had an explanation for, theories galore, but nothing that matched all the observed facts. On virtually every Terran type planet the imperial scouts had landed on we had found a human type population. Human to the point that interbreeding was the norm, not the exception, and frequently similar mythologies. As a child in church I had been taught that God had created man in his image, that worlds without number had he created—whatever the case, I knew the scientific jury was still out. Bemused by everything that had occurred on the last day, my mind started wandering, and I forced myself to listen to Jack.
”We found virtually no native life forms at all—just a few of the lower level algae's, a variety of Medusa, simple ferns and the like. Our ecologists had a field day, they ran several large capacity computers into complete-breakdown to get the answers, but the results have been impressive—a world of imported beauty and ecologically balanced life.
”It all adds up to a perfect vacation spot. We have a gravity rating of point-nine-nine Gee and no axial tilt, a mild G class sun like old Sol. The landmasses are limited to small islands with the biggest, about the size of Australia on Terra, being owned by the Disney Company. There is no moon, so we don't have to worry about tides, other than a negligible solar tide. Temperature wise we have very little axial tilt, so there are no seasons, or rather just one and it is perfect for a tropical paradise. The nights here were made for lovers, the Milky Way is big and bright, and the sky is crystal clear. We have no major mineral deposits, the only major occupations other than tourism is farming—primarily on several huge islands near the pole and, energy production; the purification of heavy water for fusion cells, which is our only major export. So other than the tourist trade and service and support for the local population, that is it.” After breakfast, Jack showed me my residential suite suspended over the ocean on stilts. Large open windows let the breezes cool the rooms naturally.
My office, on the second floor from the top, was in a monolithic tower, anchored to the bedrock of the planet itself. It was attached to New Hawaii, the largest island; excepting the one Disney had developed, by a bridge—creating an illusion that the Imperium was not a part of this world. Its presence dominated the horizon, towering fifteen stories above the ocean. It was a fair walk from the multitude of Empire supplied residencies scattered around the bay and the monolith. However, I could appreciate the separation and noticed most of the personnel used the walk as a chance to socialize with their fellows.
Caribbia was an exception to the rule as there was no native population, so rather than just provide the interface between the local planetary government, we became the local government, which makes some sense. I mean why create a unique organization when it was so easy to adapt the existing one. However, Ambassador D'Natng unlike so many other ambassadors', when given the same opportunity, actually followed the Imperial example and tried to interfere with the local population as little as possible. We had a larger than usual contingent of Imperial Marines here as they were also the local police.
My Com, which was running Office MMMDCCCLIX, was filled almost to capacity with E-Mail accumulated during the interval when there had been no Senior Secretary. Primarily I acted as a filter trying to send those items, that must be seen, to the ambassador and disposing of the rest in whatever manner was appropriate; reject, approve, return for more study, pass to another department, etcetera. My goal was; to not bother the ambassador, which in direct contrast to old Harump, the Draconian ambassador, was just what Ambassador D'Nating wanted.