Fair Trade by Mackey Chandler

Author:Mackey Chandler [Chandler, Mackey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-09-22T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

“Amazing, you can patent plants?” Three Fingers asked the lawyer in a conference call. Perhaps he hadn’t understood. It seemed bizarre.

“Absolutely. Not just those you’ve genetically altered like most of your food plants. If you find one previously unknown those are fair game. If you have samples of the original or can restore them that’s fine too. If any of them are edible by humans that will be valuable. If any of them taste good they could be worth billions of dollars. I strongly recommend you don’t release samples until you’ve done private testing and determined if they have potential. There’s no point in starting the clock ticking on your patent rights until you are ready to release it commercially”

“Your clocks tick?” Blue asked and looked down. “I see your dictionary defines it as a sharp noise and even mentions a clock, a nasty little parasite, or a point in time.”

“Yes, clocks used to be mechanical with a little ratchet thingy inside.” He made a repeated motion with his curved hand but didn’t know the name for a pawl.

“OK, it’s in our dictionary now,” Blue said.

“We’ll get to this as soon as we can,” Three Fingers promised. “Right now, we are working to find if any of the native plants are suitable for us. That’s more a more important matter of survival than quickly generating more income. India got most of our actual food-producing equipment from the ship but soon we’ll reproduce it in the US using local materials. By then we hope to be adapting some native plants.”

“Are you having any success now?” That was just curiosity on the lawyer’s part.

“Yes, we obtained a can of pork and beans on our first landing and it proved lethal in animal testing. We wanted to determine which of its ingredients was toxic. It turns out beans and bacon are not at all objectionable. Sugar is safe too. However, the tomatoes in the sauce are poison to all the organisms we have on our ship. The only other thing we are sure is safe now is rice.”

“You’re omnivores then if you tolerate the bacon?” the attorney asked.

“Much better than merely tolerate,” Three Fingers assured him. “It’s wonderful.”

“Oh, crewman Pons also determined your beverage Tequila isn’t lethal. He’s in cabin arrest because he traded his ship communicator for a bottle of the stuff. He’s feeling quite ill but I was assured a human would have similar distress if they consumed the same unreasonable quantity. If he wasn’t confined to his cabin, he wouldn’t be fit for duty anyway,” Blue said, disgusted.

“If I may suggest, I wouldn’t make a point of telling the public you are omnivores, that you do testing on your animals, or that you can metabolize alcohol,” their attorney advised. “There are large groups of humans, who can be rather militant, who see virtue in avoiding those things.”

“Sometimes, I think it isn’t safe to say anything,” Blue complained.

Their patent counselor perked up and looked favorably impressed.

“Do you know? I believe I could make a lawyer out of you,” he declared.

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