The Data Traders

Durable IP

The Data Trader’s Guild is fundamentally based on the concept that traders are free agents and thus have the ability to move from one ship’s company to another. For this reason, it is against guild law for ships to engage in employment contracts that strip traders of their rights to IP that they purchase on behalf of the ship. While IP sharing agreements are allowed and encouraged, no such agreement shall seek more than 49% ownership of any IP purchased by a trader, regardless of the other aspects of their employment agreement. All such agreements must be registered with a guild signed node within 30 days of execution.

Excerpted With Permission

Data Trader’s Handbook

Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

“Ready for transition from FTL.” Ollu looked like she could sleep for a week. “Transition, now.”

With little fanfare, the Theo slipped back into normal space. Leo brought up the long range scanners and focused on where the nine o’clock buoy should be. “Right on target, nine is within ten klicks of predicted.” He did some calculations. “About eight hours until we are in the latency envelope for nine.”

Ollu slumped down over her console. “Let’s all get some sleep. We’ll coast down for eight hours before we try to maneuver.”

A full eight hours of rack time had restored all three of them to a semblance of normalcy. Reassembled on the bridge, they contemplated their next steps.

“We’ve been over this again and again. We need ship handlers.” Ollu was obviously not thrilled to go over this well worn argument.

Leo was looking stubborn. “I’m not saying we’re not, just saying we should post for traders also.”

“Think about it Leo, if you see a ship come into a system advertising a hundred or a thousand empty births, won’t you ask questions? We gotta keep this low key.”

Ramona, as usual, had to play peacemaker. “Why not just reduce speed and stay in system longer? Then we will have plenty of time to bring crew on in waves.”

Normally, a Data Ark would cut across a system elliptic as quickly as possible to pick up a single bouy and then right back out of a system. Time in system was time not moving bits. Leo nodded. “Yeah, I think we have to. We just can’t go on without more crew.”

Ollu started pressing keys. A system diagram appeared on the main display. “OK, if we deccel burn now, we can cut an arc here towards the 12 o’clock.” A curving line appeared, arcing away from the 9 o’clock buoy and around the system towards the 12 o’clock buoy.

“What happens if we keep going around to the three?”

Ollu just looked at Ramona. “Why would we want to do that?”

Ramona brought up another chart on her display. “We want to keep going away from where we started. If we exit the system from around the three, we can pick from six systems without having to maneuver too much.”

Leo shook his head. “Why do we want to keep going that way?”

Ramona looked at Leo with what was becoming a familiar expression. “Leo, think about it. If Gunny is going to do anything or let the other masters know what happened, they will have to send messages or any pursuit using data arks. Moving away from them means we stay ahead of any possible ambush.”

“Ambush? Why would they ambush us?”

“Leo, you said it yourself. They killed everyone on this ship to hide whatever is in those banned files. Why wouldn’t they do the same to us?”

Ollu tapped her lips with the tip of her finger. “That assumes he knows what was on the ship and why it was abandoned.”

Ramona nodded. “True, but don’t you think it’s safer to assume he does?”

Ollu sighed. “Yes, unfortunately I think you’re right.”

A light started to flash on Leo’s console. “We’re inside the latency envelope.”

He looked at the two women with him on the bridge. The both nodded. Leo started tapping keys. “Releasing locks.” It had taken a few days, but he had figured out a way to lock the automated systems with a single system master command. He didn’t want to have the same problem the Reggie did if for some reason they needed to stop the automated trading systems.

Ollu turned to her console. “I’ll write up the job requisitions. This is a major system; I expect we should be able to hire a couple dozen crew easily.”

Leo sat down at one of the consoles and started typing. Ramona looked a question in his direction. “I’m writing a search program. I should be able to find any Guild members in system by tracking Guilder spend. Anyone spending Guilders rather than local currency might be a trader.”

Ramon still looked puzzled. “Why do that?”

“Keeping a low profile. If there are Guild members in system, we may be able to hire them without posting ‘help wanted’ all over the system.”

Ramona walked over and read the query over Leo’s shoulder. “You can track Guilder transactions?”

Leo grinned. “Helps to own your own currency. Guilders are just another entry in the trade database. All Guild ships automatically replicate trade records with system buoys whenever we enter a system.”

Ramona just shook her head. She had heard people back home on Raeburn’s World railing about how evil and omnipotent the Guild was, but never really thought about how tight a stranglehold they held on interplanetary trade. It was truly breathtaking to consider the power a relatively small number of people had amassed. She had seen estimates that the Guild composed less than 0.0001% of the human population in the galaxy but controlled almost half of all human wealth.

Leo was watching the results stream across his console. There were literally millions of transactions over the last month, but he was looking for spend patterns. The goal was to find someone who EXCLUSIVELY used Guilders which was unlikely to be a local. Most non-traders would have access to Guilders but few would use them for anything but transactions with a Guild vessel.

Leo edited out any period where a Guild ship had visited the system. This left him with only a few thousand transactions. Then he sorted them by transfer ID number. One came out on top with almost half the transactions during “quiet” periods when no guild ship was in system.

“Here we go. It looks like we have someone who is a member of the guild spending guilders.”

“Who is it, can you tell?”

“No, these transactions are anonymized. We know they are here, but we don’t know their name.”

Ollu leaned back in her chair. “Check the news.”

Leo looked at her, confused. “What?”

“Check the local news sites. Don’t you think a trader living on a local station would be considered news? The gossip rags would at least talk about the rich foreigner living the high life.”

“Rich foreigner?”

“Yeah. How do you think the locals feel about the Guild? You’re not one of them, that’s for sure.”

Shaking his head, Leo wrote another query. This time using the local news streams. “Umm. Yeah. How’s this for a headline, ‘UNITY’S MOST ELIGIBLE BATCHELOR IS A TRADER BORN’ or this one ‘RICH BASTARD TRADER SPENDS HIS TIME DRINKING OUR BOOZE AND CHASING OUR WOMEN.’”

Ollu laughed. “Yeah. Bet you a guilder he’s a master.”

Leo shook his head. “No bet. I bet YOU a guilder he’s an A&E specialist.”

Ollu laughed harder. “No bet.”

Ramona looked confused.

“A&E masters are known for living the life. Drugs, sex and trading is what they’re supposed to live for.”

Leo shook his head again. “That’s just a stereotype.”

Ollu looked doubtful. “Uh huh.” She smiled again. “Bet on it?”

Leo just started writing a message addressed to the trader on Unity station. The gossip rag had named him as Craig Linton. There was a Master Trader named Craig Linton registered with the Guild, Leo hoped it was the same person.

A few hours later, they had their answer. “He’s agreed to shuttle out and meet with us.”

Ollu was reading through applicants to her ship handler advert. “What did you tell him?”

“Just that we were looking to bring on another master for a long term contract. Nothing else.”

“Good.”

Leo had taken the time to print out a new uniform and ship boots between the many items he’d tried to get completed in the two days they had been in system. Although there was no way they could operate a full buy side operation, the sell side operation had been running and they had made enough on data transfer to pay the operating costs of the ship and a crew that they didn’t have. Luckily for Leo and the rest of the Theo, data trading was immensely profitable, and they could operate indefinitely at lower than normal revenue levels.

As Leo waited for the personnel shuttle to dock, he reviewed Craig’s service record. He was fairly old, 140 years, which was on the high side for an active trader but not unheard of. Leo’s grandmother had traded until she was 160 and finally retired on an orbital. Interestingly, Craig had moved around quite a bit. Leo saw several times when Craig lasted less than a year on a ship. This was fairly unusual since most Trader vessels were common shares corporations and shares didn’t normally start vesting until after the first year as a member of the ship’s compliment. Share dilution for durable IP also meant that when you moved vessels, you normally lost some percentage of your net worth. Not what a master trader really wanted if things were going well.

Leo glanced down at the chronometer. It was about time for Craig’s appointment. Three… Two.. One…

Nothing happened. The hatch remained stubbornly closed.

Leo watched the time incredulously as seconds passed, then minutes. It wasn’t until a full five minutes passed that the hatch opened and a rumpled looking older trader sauntered out.

Leo couldn’t help himself, he blurted out the first thig that came to his mind. “You are late, Master Trader.”

The older trader looked at Leo as if noticing him for the first time. “And who the hell are you?”

Taken aback, Leo answered honestly. “I am Master Trader Leo Timur.”

For the first time Linton seemed to really look at Leo. Examining him from head to toe with his eyes finally resting on the master’s insignia on Leo’s collar. “Go run and tell your daddy that a real Master is here and wants to talk to the grownups.”

Leo had no idea what to say. “My father is still on the Connor Loic. I am the Guild Master of this vessel and half owner.”

Linton snorted. “…and who owns the other half? A pygmy goat from Alpha Centauri?”

“No, Master Trader Channah.”

Linton threw his head back and laughed. He laughed so hard, he leaned against a bulkhead and tears streamed down his face. Gasping for breath, he was able to ask, “Olufunke Channah?”

Leo wasn’t sure if he was offended or amused by this performance. “Yes, that’s right. Do you know her?”

“Oh God, you’re gonna kill this old bastard.” Continuing to laugh, he eventually sat down on the deck. “I’m an old man, you can’t just drop shit like this on me.” Finally, Linton was able to control himself. “Are you honestly telling me that a child and Ollu Channah own this ship?”

Leo was getting angry now. “This is my ship. I am inclined to put you on the next shuttle off.”

Linton waved his hand in a shushing motion. “Relax, kid. I’m just surprised. I find it funny that the ‘rebel ship handler’ herself is now an owner. Don’t be offended that I think of you as a child, I have several great-grandchildren older than you.”

“Wait, what? Who is the rebel ship handler?”

Linton sighed. “Kid, don’t you watch vids? ‘Rebel Ship Handler’ was my highest grossing vid at the time. Doubled my lifetime score.”

Now Leo was very confused. “What does a vid have to do with Ollu? She’s not an actor is she?”

Linton laughed again, but without the manic edge. “No, the whole vid was based on a real life incident when a ship handler decked a master trader for being a total asshole. Made like seven seasons by the end of it.”

“And it was based on Ollu?”

“Well the phrase we use in the biz is ‘inspired by real events.’”

At the point, Leo had no idea how to feel. He had gone from confused to angry to intrigued in the space of a minute or two. He really wanted to just boot this arrogant master trader right off his ship, but he also felt like there was an opportunity to benefit from a trader who operated in a completely different world than he did. As he stood there, wondering what to do, Ramona walked into the compartment.

“Leo, what the hell? Are you going to bring the new nugget up to the conference room or what?”

Leo just looked at her.

Ramona turned and looked at Linton for the first time. “Who is the fossil?”

Leo tensed, expecting an explosion. Linton laughed yet again. “I’m Craig Fucking Linton.” He turned back to Leo. “Who is this piece of ass?”

Leo had no idea what to do. Ramona solved the problem by walking up to Linton and poking him in the chest with a long index finger. “I’m Ramona Fucking Eddington. Anytime you think you got the balls for some, come get it.” With a last firm poke, she pushed Linton back into the bulkhead.

For a moment, everything was quiet in the small personnel airlock. Leo and Ramona were facing Linton with scowls, ready for a fight. Linton just laughed again. “Right. I’m not the muscle, sweetheart, I’m the entertainment. You want booze or drugs, I’m your man. You want a fight, look elsewhere. OK?”

Ramona shook her head. “Not sure if we should hire him or just shove him out the airlock.”

Linton smiled. “Not an uncommon dilemma. I think my last two wives would both agree with your assessment.”

Leo shook his head. “Let’s introduce him to Ollu. We can decide what to do later.”

Craig smiled again. “Oh, yes please.”

As Leo and Ramona escorted Linton into the conference room they had decided to use for interviews, he considered their options and what he knew about Linton. According to Guild records, Linton’s lifetime score was incredibly high. He was net positive over two BILLION guilders. A seemingly impossible number considering that it only included his durable IP and that he must have left billions on the table as he moved from ship to ship. It beggared belief that someone with that high of a score would still be working as a trader instead of buying their own ship or some other pursuit.

When they finally made it into the conference room, Ollu was waiting. Astonishingly, Linton was polite. Coming to near perfect attention, he made a saluting gesture with his hand as he was introduced to Ollu. “Master Trader Channah, it is truly a pleasure to meet you at last.”

Ollu had a bemused smile on her face as she answered. “A pleasure to meet you, Master Trader Linton. I believe you have me at a disadvantage.”

Linton bowed from the waist. “My apologies Master Trader. Thirty years ago, I was approached with a concept for a vid project that was titled ‘Rebel Ship Handler.’ I have wanted to meet you ever since, but never had the opportunity.”

Ollu was completely still. “Oh, no. Not that.”

Linton smiled. “Oh yes. All of that.”

Ollu sat down hard. “After all these years?”

Linton sat down and placed his hand over hers on the table. “Fame may be fleeting my dear, but I would never forget.”

Ollu looked at Leo. “Put him out the nearest airlock.”

Leo was stunned for a moment, not knowing if she was joking or not. “What?”

“Godammn trader born.” She turned to Ramona. “Space him.”

Ramona grinned. “You got it.” She grabbed Linton by one arm. “We are gonna take a long walk out of a short airlock, you little shit.”

Leo was caught off guard. He had assumed Ollu was kidding, but now he wasn’t so sure. “WAIT! He’s worth over a billion guilders to us!”

Linton was starting to panic. “YES! YES! Listen to junior there. I have guilders coming out of my asshole!”

Ollu sighed. “It’s not just about guilders.” She looked at Linton. “Will you behave?”

For the first time, Linton seemed to seriously consider the question. “I’m not sure if I can. This is who I am now.”

Ollu looked at Ramona, then at Leo. Leo, shook his head. “Well, that’s the first honest thing I’ve heard so far.”

Leo sighed. “Look, Linton. Craig. We are trying to bootstrap a new ship here. We’re desperately short of crew and traders. We could use your help but you seem to just want to be an asshole.” Leo sat down at the table and looked at Linton. “What’s it gonna be? You want to grandstand or do you want to roll up your sleeves and be a part of something real?”

Linton looked at Leo for the first time. “Look, kid; I haven’t actually worked at being a trader for almost fifty years. I’m not sure I remember how. Usually, I get hired on for all the IP I own and then I hang out until I get bored.” He looked around the conference room. “How the fuck did you get this ship anyway?”

Leo shook his head. “It’s a long story.”

Craig rocked back in his chair and put one foot on the table. “I’m old, kid. Got no place I gotta be right now. Pitch me a story.”