The intergalactic federation has been now in existence for several eons. While not perfect, it has been doing its best always to stem the tides of war and allow situations to be dealt with most compassionately. As a historical archiver, I have come to this meeting with the human delegation. They have been in the federation for 5000 years and have been an outstanding member. While at first, they did not enjoy some of the secrecy that we would not share with them, they work hard to make sure and are good neighbors. Their biggest issue has been that they have not established new trade contracts as most contracts were established before entering the federation. As part of their 5000-year meeting, they will discover why and how our laws work the way they do. This is to deal with code 1.43.14
Code 1.43.14
To claim a solar system, one must have put the technology through the system. Any path taken in standard space will also be deemed that space to be 1.5 light-years in all directions of said route. If the people do not actively build, the space can be colonized by the second species to arrive. Once the first race can prove that their technology was there, two actions can be taken. One: The second nation pays out 1% of the product value of the space for each year from the initial claim into indefinite. Two: The system must be turned over in 10 standard years to the initial owners.
Today we will explain why this Code was written this way and why it helps keep stabilization in the galaxy. The humans do not know of it yet, but several pieces of technology predate most of the FTL lifeforms. Thus, many territories are controlled by a race spread out so long ago that no one can challenge the ownership. The Federation has collected the funds for this past race for their return. Thus the federation is funded almost wholly through the investments and interest gained through this vast wealth. Today’s meeting can be genuinely shocking for any species as so many species found that their home planets maybe actually owned by this ancient civilization. We never share this information right away with a new species due to the desire for rebellion but allow a 5000-year integration, so they have become dependent on the federation before this information is shared. Most species never share this with their populations as it could start an uprising and create shock waves, and the few that have shared it are done in such a controlled manner it will never leak out. Two systems just decided to forget and paid it as part of a tax system. They seemed happy with that.
The human delegation consists of three humans, each of them to be dressed to represent their portion of society that they represent. Without knowing ahead of time, they brought one for the military, a politician, and an artist. They should have brought an accountant, but they will have time to get their payment in place. We have sent three also one for politics, science, and accounting. I will be in attendance to record the event, and complete copies will be sent to both sides for the records. The meeting place is always at the great hidden museum. The delegation’s meeting was both very formal, and the humans brought a gift in a box.
For the official record:
To represent the Federation;
Gamblone Minister of Affairs (Jeen species)
Fklam Dean of Science and History (Rol species)
Qan Head of Treasury and Opportunity (Cvax species)
To Represent Humans:
Thomas Bayard Ambassador
Ieyasu General of Combined Human Forces
Jubal Lamech Curator of Human Arts
The actual meeting could start as they finally sat down at a long table.
Gamblone: Thank you for attending; let us get down to work.
Thomas: Yes, we are pretty curious what this is all about, so we did not have much to plan, but we do bring this present to hopefully be put into this great museum of the universe.
Gamblone: Well, it is about what your civilization owes to those who had claimed your systems of Sol, Vron or you documented as AC+79 3888, and several space routes in the area.
Thomas: Huh, I do not understand.
Jubal: Pardon, before this gets even more complicated, I have a gift here that we would like to give; then I can dismiss myself.
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Fklam: Not yet; it may be of some value to allow humans a little leeway in paying the price in the time frame. This is a significant time frame that goes back to humanity’s earliest years.
Qan: handed over the document with code 1.43.14 and the funds required assessment, including space you usually travel through. If you turn to page 23, the total amount held by the federation and the time frame to do it in. With such long time frames, it will be about 11987 years at an 80% rate to pay it off. While this is a significant amount, you can reduce the time by relinquishing your systems under our control.
Ieyasu: This is outrageous; the humans will not settle for this!
Gamblone: While humans have come far and are considered excellent warriors, the whole known universe is what you would be fighting. You know it is not a battle you can not win.
Thomas: Okay, let us take a moment; please show who or how they had marked our systems.
Fklam: Of course, we have prepared to show you this information as we are not out to hurt you, but this small code has kept us from war and resolved so many issues over time. It was over a few eons ago. Our mathematicians put in 20th and 21st century before your 3rd age a race had sent out advanced technology throughout the system. The exact race is thought to be no longer alive as they have not been heard from. Once the code was put in place, we found these traces all over the galaxy. We believe that they may have seeded a lot of worlds with technology. When you first came to us, we ran the numbers, and following flight paths of millions of years, we found that you had this same near experience.
Ieyasu: Can you prove the math?
Fklam: Yes, pages 11 to 19 show the path. What is interesting is you were visited by multiple times. Yet you are still one of the last ones to the stars.
Thomas: Well, we had started to space a few times, but politics, wars, and natural disasters made it very delayed. What did these vessels look like?
Fklam: Sadly, they have eroded over time. We do have part of one of the machines. It had ended up in orbit around this planet. It was found it had reached here before many races had reached space. Our best took ten years to try to pluck it from the heavens.
Thomas: So you have no physical evidence?
Fklam: We have fragments; we even have a copy of one of the transmissions.
Qan: Of course, we would allow some time for you to process all of this information. We have a recording brought to this room now as it is very sensitive.
Jubal: Well, is this a good time for the gift.
Qan: Please wait, one issue at a time.
Gamblone: Ah, it has arrived. This is a piece of the gold disk, and now the gold ring is all left. It took many minds to solve this, and sadly the method to work it has been lost to time.
Thomas: This does not show us anything.
Fklan: We know that, but here is the partial recording of the sound message left intact.
The celestial sound was played. All the humans looked more confused than the one called Jubal whispered something to the other two.
Thomas: Pardon you are saying the creator has ownership of our systems.
Gamblone: Yes, most known systems and several warp holes and travel lanes.
Thomas: So the federation is holding or escrow most of the system.
Qan: Yes, So do you have any other questions? We will give you a standard week to deal with payment start.
Thomas: After this revelation, we do not need a week but a month to straighten this out.
Qan: You will start your payments on time. We have helped your kind, and we welcomed into the galaxy at large.
Ieyasa: While you have never been hostile, contracts were made without our consent. We can not enter a trade as contracts were written so long ago we can never be part of. You are right, but also, there is a feeling you were setting us up.
Gamblone: We do not want a war. No one will profit from it. Let us look at your present, and I am sure that Fklam will properly appraise your gift.
Thomas: I do not think you fully understand this situation.
Gamblone: Please do not give us the famous human stubbornness.
Thomas: Show them the present.
The human Jubal opened a box and brought out a machine with a round top and arm. Then brought out a golden disk. The Federation delegates stood up.
Fklam: That is a fantastic replica of one of the historical disks. This is proof that the first ones visited you.
Jubal: A replica, yes. This is a so-called message in a bottle we sent out a long time ago. Your ring is significantly degraded, but I recognized the notes, and second, you are playing the speed wrong.
Thomas: We will leave this playing for you to think about and we will meet in one month.
The disk started to play. Sounds many songs and sounds, some only heard from the other artifacts that the humans could never have known about.
Ieyasu: I think you do not want to be rash. Also, all the different militaries would owe us, so let us keep this quiet for now.
Jubal: Oh, the writer and performer of that song is Chuck Berry. I will send you his collection of work.
The three humans stood up as they walked out of the building.
As a pure observer to this situation, we, the Federation, are preparing to work with the humans. IF a deal is not worked out, I guess they are the owners of this galaxy. Let us hope that they are kind and benevolent owners. Our great minds are still shocked that a civilization had sent objects into space, not knowing what would happen. Humans diverted resources when they still had not had their last wars. They sent a message to the stars stating that they were here. It seems the universe has a twisted form of humor that they were stuck planet-bound but never stopped reaching for the stars.