The Rising (Part 4 - Common Cause)

Ran'el stopped talking as a soft pinging sound drew his attention back to the information panel that reappeared on the wall.

He quickly moved to glance at the display, and smiled when he saw the reason for the interruption. Quickly waving a finger at the panel's display size control, he expanded it to fill almost the entire wall, then stepped back to look at the screen.

A few seconds later, a window opened on the screen, quickly filling the entire screen, then clearing to reveal the smiling face of a man of about Ran'el's age.

"Hiya, country bumpkins! Do you have electricity where you are?"

Ereyn laughed out loud as her brother pulled off his impersonation of a New Yorker from almost thousand years ago speaking to someone "not from here".

In the 21st century, when humans still occupied only the homeplanet, it was fashionable for people from the northern island continent to think of the rest of the world (which apart from a few exceptions was effectively one landmass) as farmers and "third-world" citizens.

The peculiar speaking style Enkern adopted in his greeting had been out of fashion ever since "the rest of the world" essentially united in economic and social understanding, resulting in alienation of the island continent. It wasn't long before islanders came to their senses and stopped acting like they owned the world (or being "global policemen"), but for a while it was common to see tantrums not unlike a tired child fighting the inevitable sleep.

"Hi there, brother dear, we are on the far side of the Boran nebula, three days away from you. What news from Kartan-3?"

Enkern had moved to Kartan-3 two years earlier, as part of the engineering team that set up the Galactic Network master node there. A network expert, he was also a bit of a network history buff, and often regaled people with his outrageous tales of how people hung onto the legacy IPv4 network protocol even when it was throttling them.

"Uncle Enkern! Daddy is telling us the story of the Trade Lords and the rebellion!"

Jandar's uncle grinned.

"So where have you reached? Has he told you about the Trade Lords supporting the rebellion yet?"

Jandar nodded. "Yes, he just told us about the first Trade Lord".

"Ah, then you haven't yet heard it all. Ran'el, can I tell the part about the second Trade Lord?"

"No!" yelled Ran'el and Ereyn in unison, knowing Enkern's penchant for "adding spice" to his stories - spice that was definitely not meant for children's ears.

Enkern faked a sulking face, then grinned again.

"OK ok - I'll let Ran'el tell it in his own boring way. I'll leave you alone before I fall asleep hearing it, but before I do - Ran'el, the Kartan-3 GNNID system has been upgraded, so you can now switch to full capability level."

Ran'el sighed with relief. Ever since they left the waystation on Jupiter's moon Io, they had been connected to the Galactic network in reduced capability mode, limiting their bandwidth to a few gigabits per second. This meant that they had to rely on stored entertainment for the most part, reserving bandwidth for news and technical information. It would be good to be able to scan the network again for new music and other forms of entertainment.

"Thanks, Enkern. See you in a couple of days"

The screen blanked out, shrunk back to its original size, and faded from view.

"Daddy, daddy, go on. Tell me about the second Trade Lord!"

Ran'el settled in a floater, and continued.

"While the people milled around the first Trade Lord, thanking him for his support, the second Trade Lord silently walked through the gate. Silence fell, as people realised who he was.

While the Trade Lords often transacted between themselves, they could hardly be said to be friends. Rivalry was fierce, and justifiably so, for markets were expanding, but nevertheless limited. It was not uncommon for Trade Lords to form alliances with smaller Trade Lords, but it was *very* rare to have two such big Trade Lords join together in a common cause.

The second Trade Lord, a giant just like the first one, may not have been the Empire's largest distributor, but he and the Empire had a point in history that they shared, until it was realised that such an alliance would not work. At one time, the Empire was actually developing the main tools for this Trade Lord, but then appropriated them for themselves, renaming them.

While this Trade Lord was a known supporter of the rebellion, it was inconceivable to have him here, at this coming together, supporting the same cause as his rival!

And yet, there he was. Undeniably, the rebel's cause was strong enough to overcome the Imperial Warrior's mighty threats. In the far away distance, once could hear the agitated Rocking of the Chair.....

[ANNOUNCEMENT]

The Bangalore Linux User Group is happy to announce the second of its sponsors - IBM has confirmed its Gold Sponsorship for Linux Bangalore/2002!

IBM has, in the past, been a great supporter of the Linux Community's efforts, and we would like to thank them sincerely for their continuing support of the Linux and OpenSource community.

[/ANNOUNCEMENT]