for
accommodation, sort out busking (was a license needed?), look at
selling music of each type. That started another debate as Helene
told them all that,
“According to the Commercial Law here, there
is no copyright on another planet; copyright is only valid on its
planet of origin. That includes books, intellectual property, art,
music, patents etc.”
The ideas exploded. One woman was a
sculptor. There were several artists. One child had surmised that
all fabrics looked and felt synthetic and if so woollen, silk,
cotton, linen and leather garments might have an added rarity value
here in fabric.
Several people were writers or journalists
and were going to try to get stories published. Several of these
had been bored and written stories on the voyage here.
An engineer, a draughtswoman and a real
estate agent were going to look at selling ideas and designs to
architects. Almost everyone had brought music on varying
storers.
And everyone was delegated to look for or
think of any service, product, ideas, device, invention etc whether
the thing or the design could be sold.
By the time the meeting closed, spirits were
revived and people were rising to the challenge.
Iwygin watched, listened, and
surreptitiously recorded to get accurate and verifiable evidence.
It listened to their suggestions and possible solutions to various
problems. None would solve the problem of course, but it was very
interesting and revealing to listen to how they thought and how
they problem solved.
“We must find a Race or Person to sponsor
us. Iwygin will not sponsor us but has given us valuable advice and
will aid us in other ways. It suggests we ask the Priskya to be
sponsors as this is their planet. The Priskya are large fish that
look a bit like sharks. We can speak with them via the Translators.
Dan and I will try to negotiate this. Alan and Iwygin are in the
process of negotiating the equivalent of temporary work permits for
us all.
Next, on the advice of Iwygin and Helene, we
have altered our debt from a collective debt to an individual debt.
This means we each have the equivalent of 8,400 units, owed to the
Civil Police. We are disputing the debt. We are trying to reduce or
eliminate it claiming false representation and the fact that we
made payment in advance, and for a return journey. We are claiming
the price paid for the return journey, which we now won’t get,
should more than cancel out the debt of the American Team. We are
therefore claiming;
- Deliberate false representation,
- That Paswalda accepted payment for a service
without acknowledging such nor giving a receipt,
- Fraud via paying for something which is now denied
us (the return journey),
- something called ‘intent to cause jeopardy via
debt peonage,’
-‘malicious intent’.
We are claiming to have been overcharged and
to owe nothing, explaining that we paid in trade goods. Of course
the trader claims that he bought the goods off other Terrans, but
at this stage the Civil Police have judged our explanation to be
reasonable. Our Slavery Debt Level has been fixed at 16,800. Iwygin
says that’s reasonable, a bit low but not unreasonable. Going
individual makes each one of us responsible for our own debts but
no one else’s,” she said looking pointedly at Mathew whose
extravagant tastes were well known. There was the sound of a
disruption and Mathew and most of his Toadies walked out. Sarah
ignored them and continued.
“Oh and a 10% interest charge starts from
tomorrow.” There was a collective groan. “Each of us must look for
any way possible, but legal, to both earn money and live as cheaply
as possible. The method must be legal. Penalties here are fines,
slavery and execution. Eat only the food we brought with us, don’t
try to buy any food and waste trade goods.” She paused.
“Our problem though is that we must also
balance the cost of legal action against our lack of ability to pay
for it which will increase our debt. Bit of a ‘catch 22’
accommodation, sort out busking (was a license needed?), look at
selling music of each type. That started another debate as Helene
told them all that,
“According to the Commercial Law here, there
is no copyright on another planet; copyright is only valid on its
planet of origin. That includes books, intellectual property, art,
music, patents etc.”
The ideas exploded. One woman was a
sculptor. There were several artists. One child had surmised that
all fabrics looked and felt synthetic and if so woollen, silk,
cotton, linen and leather garments might have an added rarity value
here in fabric.
Several people were writers or journalists
and were going to try to get stories published. Several of these
had been bored and written stories on the voyage here.
An engineer, a draughtswoman and a real
estate agent were going to look at selling ideas and designs to
architects. Almost everyone had brought music on varying
storers.
And everyone was delegated to look for or
think of any service, product, ideas, device, invention etc whether
the thing or the design could be sold.
By the time the meeting closed, spirits were
revived and people were rising to the challenge.
Iwygin watched, listened, and
surreptitiously recorded to get accurate and verifiable evidence.
It listened to their suggestions and possible solutions to various
problems. None would solve the problem of course, but it was very
interesting and revealing to listen to how they thought and how
they problem solved.
“We must find a Race or Person to sponsor
us. Iwygin will not sponsor us but has given us valuable advice and
will aid us in other ways. It suggests we ask the Priskya to be
sponsors as this is their planet. The Priskya are large fish that
look a bit like sharks. We can speak with them via the Translators.
Dan and I will try to negotiate this. Alan and Iwygin are in the
process of negotiating the equivalent of temporary work permits for
us all.
Next, on the advice of Iwygin and Helene, we
have altered our debt from a collective debt to an individual debt.
This means we each have the equivalent of 8,400 units, owed to the
Civil Police. We are disputing the debt. We are trying to reduce or
eliminate it claiming false representation and the fact that we
made payment in advance, and for a return journey. We are claiming
the price paid for the return journey, which we now won’t get,
should more than cancel out the debt of the American Team. We are
therefore claiming;
- Deliberate false representation,
- That Paswalda accepted payment for a service
without acknowledging such nor giving a receipt,
- Fraud via paying for something which is now denied
us (the return journey),
- something called ‘intent to cause jeopardy via
debt peonage,’
-‘malicious intent’.
We are claiming to have been overcharged and
to owe nothing, explaining that we paid in trade goods. Of course
the trader claims that he bought the goods off other Terrans, but
at this stage the Civil Police have judged our explanation to be
reasonable. Our Slavery Debt Level has been fixed at 16,800. Iwygin
says that’s reasonable, a bit low but not unreasonable. Going
individual makes each one of us responsible for our own debts but
no one else’s,” she said looking pointedly at Mathew whose
extravagant tastes were well known. There was the sound of a
disruption and Mathew and most of his Toadies walked out. Sarah
ignored them and continued.
“Oh and a 10% interest charge starts from
tomorrow.” There was a collective groan. “Each of us must look for
any way possible, but legal, to both earn money and live as cheaply
as possible. The method must be legal. Penalties here are fines,
slavery and execution. Eat only the food we brought with us, don’t
try to buy any food and waste trade goods.” She paused.
“Our problem though is that we must also
balance the cost of legal action against our lack of ability to pay
for it which will increase our debt. Bit of a ‘catch 22’
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