Fenestra yawned and rolled over and took her comp off the charging hook. She stilled the beeping and looked at the snip. “Request for screeny meeting, Trader Xosta, trade mission P’Rania.”
She sat up and stared. She had never heard of that planet! And they wanted to talk to her?
She put her skirt on and went downstairs to the hobby room and accepted the Screeny request. The screen resolved and she stared at the apparition that appeared. It was… she presumed a male… almost completely covered in a very rough weave hooded robe, long sleeves, rough gloves, and a band of cloth across his face which left only his eyes uncovered.
“Trader Fenestra?” he asked. A male indeed. A very deep voice and, when he spoke, she could just see his beard peeking out from underneath the band.
“Yes?” she said.
“I would like to discuss a trade deal with you, if this is an appropriate time.”
“Well, it is the middle of the night, as it turns out, but I am awake so let us discuss it. Did you send me a snip?”
“No. We prefer face to face discussions. I would prefer to be there in person, but there are several difficulties to that.”
“I could meet you at the spaceport.”
“That would avoid one of the difficulties but, no, it would still be very problematic for me. I hope you will excuse me.”
“This is fine for me,” she said. “What kind of deal do you wish to discuss?”
“We would like to have you be our unique contact on this planet.”
“What?” she asked, sitting further up. “An exclusive?”
“Not… not in the normal sense. We would like to leave goods here, for you to sell for us, on consignment… I believe the term is.”
“I don’t understand… so you would rent space in our warehouses?”
“Yes. And pay you a certain commission on the sales.”
“I can see possibilities in that. What do you have for sale?”
“There are two commodities in particular which we believe would be interesting.” He reached down and picked up… what was it? It was a rectangular solid that was transparent but… but had some sort of design inside of them.
“This is a type of art that we produce,” he said, turning the block around. “They are hand made, not machine produced. Our women produce these during the long winter, building them up one layer at a time. And each one is unique. We are hoping to develop a market for them.”
“That is fascinating!” she said, visions of piles of bits echoing in her head. Art could be a hard market but extremely profitable. “And what is the other product?”
He put the block down and picked up a small vial. “This is an oil that we harvest from a small rabbit like creature that lives in many areas of our planet.”
“What is it used for?”
“It is a spice. An extremely powerful spice. Our women typically dilute a vial like this in at least a benth of oil and use that as a spice.”
“And you have a price that you wish for these?”
“We do not,” he said. “I have a list of products that we would like to return with and I am hoping that we will see a profit after bringing down a full load.”
She thought. “So… I still don’t quite understand why you need us? I mean, I am thrilled by the business but I will have to write a pre-contract and it will be difficult in this case to describe what advantages you will gain from this.”
He shook his head. “I cannot tell you everything, but I hope I can tell you enough for you to understand. Our planet has some very strong cultural mores. We believe that certain contact with outsiders is contaminating. Neither the culture of Libertas nor the culture of Ephemera is… is helpful in our dealings. However our research showed us that you would be the… least contaminating… of all of the possible contacts. I am afraid I cannot tell you why. However I will state this very clearly in the pre-contract, and send it to you. We have done our research in this area. Specifically you with myself, as it happens. Again, I cannot say why.”
“Well, very well. Can you send some samples down?”
“Indeed I have already done so. They should be waiting for you at your warehouse. I sent down a dozen samples of the artwork and two vials of the oil.”
“Well, I will look them over.”
Contract Marriage
Contract marriage is an adult dystopia examining the issues of marriage. Like 1984 and Brave New World, Contract Marriage treats the relations between the sexes as a fundamental aspect of how a society is formed and, thus, how a society can go wrong.
Unlike those dystopias, Contract Marriage isn’t all horrible all of the time. The characters for the most part have a good time and get along in their society. But the issues of sexuality, of marriage or not, monogamy or not, faithfulness or not, and gender roles… keep coming up and causing tension and conflict and joy and pain.
My desire is that my readers would be thinking along with my characters about these issues and perhaps even arrive at the same place (minus the flying cars).
Thank you for reading Von’s Substack. I would love it if you commented! I love hearing from readers, especially critical comments. I would love to start more letter exchanges, so if there’s a subject you’re interested in, get writing and tag me!
Being ‘restacked’ and mentioned in ‘notes’ is very important for lesser-known stacks so… feel free! I’m semi-retired and write as a ministry (and for fun) so you don’t need to feel guilty you aren’t paying for anything, but if you enjoy my writing (even if you dramatically disagree with it), then restack, please! Or mention me in one of your own posts.
If I don’t write you back it is almost certain that I didn’t see it, so please feel free to comment and link to your post. Or if you just think I would be interested in your post!
If you get lost, check out my ‘Table of Contents’ which I try to keep up to date.
Von also writes as ‘Arthur Yeomans’. Under that name he writes children’s, YA, and adult fiction from a Christian perspective. His books are published by Wise Path Books and include the children’s/YA books:
The Bobtails meet the Preacher’s Kid: A Christian historical fiction chapter book about four orphans who go to live with their aunt on a dairy farm.
The Bobtails and the Cousins: The sequel to Preacher’s Kid. The aunt has married, and the cousins come to visit. Meaning town kids dealing with chores and manure and…
The Bobtails go to France: The sequel to cousins. The Bobtails, and Preacher’s Kid, get to take a trip to New York, London, Paris, and a small town in France. To get some cheese.
and
No Ordinary School: A brilliant but socially clueless boy gets recruited for a special school. Where he makes a lot of money, gets a girl, and solves a mystery.
As well as GK Chesterton’s wonderful book, “What’s Wrong with the World”, for which ‘Arthur’ wrote most of the annotations.
Arthur also has a substack, and a website. On the substack you can listen to some of his published books. Free.
Thanks again, God Bless, Soli Deo gloria,
Von
Other Stories
Contract Marriage is not my only story on Substack. I have two light dystopias, or cultural sci-fi, or one of them is military sci-fi with aliens… Science Fiction can be difficult to categorise :)
Article 17: Intro
·
8 JANUARY 2024
She was pretty, popular, snobby, and a planetary governor’s daughter. He was the son of shopkeepers, a social misfit, and a decorated hero. She thought she was there to dance. He had other ideas.
And a fantasy-esque series of morality tales:
The Oracle at Toko-Ri
·
1 MAY 2023
Next Post →
Prologue IP0
·
11 AUGUST 2023
Island People is a young adult fantasy book centring on a young prince. The book starts with his kidnapping and follows his adventures as he not only escapes from his kidnapper but gains critical allies and friends.
Without a Word
Without a Word is a historical fiction story set in 1808 and follows the struggles of a young woman, betrothed against her will to an older man. A Christian woman, and a man of very questionable morals.
Without a Word attempts to contrast Biblical advice against the advice of this age, even the advice of the church. It concerns a young, immature woman growing in her own Godliness through her obedience to an ungodly man. And who knows, perhaps she shall even win her husband.
no i haven't. did i missed the link lol
I'm taking it as a sci fi rewrite of Plato's Republic. Not a recipe for a new form of society but an expose of that form taken to it's logical conclusion. Been a fun read.