//------------------------------// // Sol 107 // Story: The Maretian // by Kris Overstreet //------------------------------// AMICITAS FLIGHT THREE – MISSION DAY 106 ARES III SOL 107 “Mark?” Cherry Berry asked. “What means ‘license’?” “What does ‘license’ mean?” Mark corrected her automatically. Cherry rolled her eyes. “What does ‘license’ mean?” “Where do you see it?” “Here. In email.” Cherry turned the computer screen so Mark could read it. The text read: Bandai International congratulates you on surviving on a hostile planet. We just thought you’d like to know that there are millions, even billions of people on Earth rooting for you who can’t wait for you to land safe on Earth where we can welcome you properly. Of course, a great many people, especially children, can’t wait for your rescue. They want to have you in their lives now, and some unscrupulous people are already taking advantage of them by producing unauthorized dolls and other toys using the likenesses of yourself and your crew. These are generally of poor quality and reflect poorly on you- an injustice we at Bandai wish to correct. If you agree to license your likenesses to Bandai for use in producing official toys for the children of Earth, we can guarantee that the resulting product will be high quality and faithful to the original (i. e. yourselves). Furthermore, Bandai as a license holder would have legal standing to act on your behalf to punish the greedy people who are making the poor-quality knock-off toys we mentioned. Attached find a draft contract for you to consult. In the absence of your normal legal counsel, we have approached NASA’s legal department to act on your behalf in this matter. Please contact them if you have any questions on the terms and conditions, which we consider very generous. Mark read it again, frowned, and said, “License is permission to do a thing. In this case, a company wants to buy your name and face.” “What??” Cherry Berry’s forehooves flew to her face. “You said you have no magic! I still using those!” “No, no,” Mark reassured her. “Not like that. They’re asking you to give them permission to make toys of you and your crew. Nobody else would be allowed to make those toys.” “Oh,” Cherry Berry said, and added in Equestrian, “I wonder how Flim and Flam got into this universe.” “Sorry?” Mark asked. “I understood ‘how’ and ‘got into this.’” “Nothing,” Cherry Berry sighed, using the same tone she’d heard Mark use about a thousand times when asked to explain something he didn’t want to. “I need ask home.” She left the computer on the work table, dropping down from the stool she’d been seated on and trotting through the bare, moist soil they’d been preparing for replanting. Starlight Glimmer’s spacesuit had been left on a sample case for ease of communications with Equus. “Dragonfly!” she called out. “Important message home. I want your hoof!” “Aw, bossmare,” Dragonfly giggled, “I never knew you were interested.” “Ha ha. Get splashing,” Cherry said as she switched on Starlight’s suit life support. AMICITAS: Amicitas calling Baltimare, use suit SG for replies, over. ESA: Baltimare calling Amicitas, over. AMICITAS: Company from Mark’s world wants to use crew’s names and images to make toys, etc. Please advise. Over. ESA: Since when did Flim and Flam make it over there, over? AMICITAS: I know, right? But this is serious. You said cooperate with Mark’s people, keep them happy, over. ESA: Stand by, will ask Chrysalis, over. AMICITAS: Standing by, over. ESA: Open bidding. Ask Mark’s space agency to manage the bids. – C. Also give preference to educational toy makers. – TS Over. AMICITAS: Thanks for advice, will pass on word. Out. ESA: Stand by, Amicitas, over. AMICITAS: Standing by, what? Over. ESA: Since Mark gets messages from home, we think it would be good to send crew messages from here. One per day. Over. AMICITAS: Understood. When? Over. ESA: First one now if you like. We have 10,000 and more letters here for all of you. We keep best ones in life support room. Prepare for message for Spitfire, over. AMICITAS: Ready to receive, over. ESA: Quote. The Wonderbolts team isn’t the same without you. We fly missing-mare at every show and will fly it until we rescue you. You may have left the team, but you never stopped being a Wonderbolt. We’re coming for you as soon as we can, and when you get back your old job is right where you left it. But don’t ask for your old records, because I kinda broke a few. Stay awesome! – Rainbow Dash and the Wonderbolts. End quote. Over. AMICITAS: Message received. Thank you. Looking forward to tomorrow’s. Out. Fireball set Starlight Glimmer in the copilot’s seat with a thump. The unicorn grit her teeth to repress a grunt of pain. The bone-knit wasn’t totally ineffective, but it wasn’t the miracle medicine it would have been back in Equestria, either. Her broken forelimb was knitting up, but it was a long way from healed. “I still think this is stupid,” he grumbled, sitting in the pilot’s seat and reaching over to turn on the backup radio. “Stupid questions. Doesn’t get us any closer to home.” “It doesn’t hurt,” Starlight replied. “And who knows? Friendship can do amazing things. So let’s be friends with Earth, hm?” Fireball grunted, punched one more button, and spoke. “Hermes, this Friendship on 108.6 maygahurt,” he said. “Hermes, Friendship, comm check.” “It’s megahertz,” Starlight said. “And repeat it so they get it if they weren’t listening the first time,” “It’s their stupid idea,” Fireball insisted. “Their idea and their time. They ought to be listening.” “Repeat it anyway,” Starlight insisted. “Please.” Fireball rumbled in his throat, but he repeated it, this time pronouncing megahertz correctly. Five and a half minutes later, both Fireball and Starlight heard in their headsets, “Friendship, this is Hermes, reading you two by five. Ready for scheduled transmission, over.” Starlight made herself a little more comfortable. This would take a lot longer than the humans were expecting. “Hermes, Friendship, reading you five by five. Broadcast begins…” Johannsen fought the urge to curl in on herself. She trusted her fellow Ares III crewmembers, even if they were all crowding her station listening to this incredible combination of babble and horse sounds. “Did Mark say this was Welsh?” Martinez asked. “Because it sounds more like horse-Russian to me.” “No, it is Welsh,” Vogel insisted. “Or possibly Flemish. It is not guttural enough to be Russian.” “He was wrong about ‘l’ being every other consonant, though,” Beck added, “ ‘L’ is only every fifth consonant. ‘Ch’ is the one that comes every other one.” “You’re recording this, right, Johannsen?” Lewis asked. “And not any of us?” “Affirmative,” Johannsen said. The babble stopped for a moment. Then, in English, the same voice continued, “Greetings, Earth. This is Starlight Glimmer. Some of you have asked the crew of our ship to answer a few questions so you can know us better. To help with this, I have sent this message first in our own language; now I send it again in yours. “Since our languages are very similar in grammar, we hope this will help you understand our other communications in the future, and that someday we will be able to talk one to another clearly, with full understanding, as friends do.” “Oh,” Beck muttered, “that explains it. Good idea.” “Sehr gut,” Vogel agreed. The interview began, with Starlight reading both questions and answers, leaving a long pause between the two as requested by NASA. INTERVIEW #1 What is your name? “Starlight Glimmer.” What did you do on your ship? “I helped create the Sparkle Drive. I was aboard to observe it and to collect science data from a trip to a nearby planet.” How did you get into space flight? “My teacher Twilight Sparkle wrote a report explaining that our world orbited the Sun and that the princesses moved the world to keep it from freezing one side to the Sun at all times. Almost everyone thought the world was flat before then. Rocket travel was a fantasy. When everyone decided to make a space flight program, Twilight Sparkle made one for our country, and I helped.” Who do you have waiting for you back home? “I have a lot of friends, including my best friend Tricky and my childhood friend Sunburst. And of course Twilight and Spike and Small Pink Pie and… well, many others.” What are your impressions of humans? “Humans are very much like ponies. I think we will be very good friends once we can communicate freely with one another.” Do you look forward to visiting Earth after your rescue? “I would love to see Earth! Your technology is amazing! I can’t wait to see all the wonders you have to show us!” What will you do when you finally go home? “I will do what I’ve always tried to do, sometimes not as well as others. I will work to make friends and to make the world a better place for everyone.” What is your favorite disco song? “Dancing Queen.” If there were one little thing (not a ship) you could have from home, what would it be? “About a thousand sheets of paper. We don’t have any and it drives me nuts!” What message do you have for the people of Earth? “Everyone can be friends if everyone works at it. Where I come from friendship is the most powerful force in the world. By working together and thinking of one another, we can accomplish anything.” “That was sweet,” Johannsen said softly. “A little saccharine if you ask me,” Martinez said. “And that ‘favorite disco’ question? Commander, was that you?” “I plead the fifth,” Lewis said, not doing well at suppressing a smile. Over the speakers, the tinny voice said, “This concludes our transmission. Thank you, Hermes. Thank you, Earth. Until tomorrow, Friendship out.”