The Travelling Salesman in Space
How viable is interplanetary commerce?
Look at the universe…
Focus
Find a spiral galaxy…
Focus
Find a tiny solar system, far in the outer reaches…
Focus
Find a tiny blue planet…
Click!
This is Earth (local name). It’s a backwards place: the tech level of its inhabitants now is about the same as most of the rest of the galaxy was several millennia ago. They’ve only just got into space travel, and even then the furthest they’ve gone is an unmanned probe to the edge of their own system. See data file IN-sbrsbc2MW/Sol/3 for complete details.
But nevertheless, you’re the SB(rs)bc II (Milky Way) representative of the Imperial Intergalactic Interplanetary Industrial Issociation (we’re yet to get round to changing that name), more commonly known as I5. It’s your job to liaise with officers from Terra with a view towards bringing them into the trade associations.
First, your ship. We’ve reserved a Stralyx-class long-range frigate for this mission. Try not to show them your weapons, Representative. They’re pretty jumpy about ‘aliens’, they’d likely try to shoot you. With lead, can you believe? Your ship can do Warp 10. 10 c, in their terms — you’d better start learning those so that you can fit in. We’ve also taken the liberty of installing a wormhole-based gate system. You’re dealing with 2.5 million light years here, but you take that down to just 250 if you go via gate. You’ll be there in 2 and a half years.
I’m legally required to remind you of I5’s Disclaimer to Representatives at this point. Here’s a copy.
The Imperial Intergalactic Interplanetary Industrial Issociation (“I5”) takes no responsibility for any personal or property damage caused by inhabitants of other planets. You accept that any such damage is probably the result of Your own actions and that We therefore have nothing to do with it.
By undertaking this assignment, You agree that I5 will not be liable to You or to any representative of your target planet who may return with You for any change in the commercial environment over time that invalidates any claims You may have made at your target. You are expected to accurately predict the future commercial environment and to use Your prediction to provide evidence to the inhabitants of Your target planet.
What’s that? The second paragraph? Oh, ignore that. You’re new here, aren’t you? Well, it’s only a 6-year assignment. What could possibly change in that time?
Now, your brief is to try to bring these people into the trade associations. They’ve got a hell of a lot of nitrogen on that planet, and they’re just ignoring it for the most part. We can put it to much better use as fuel, so offer them whatever you think they’ll take. I’m sorry we can’t give you better advice here, but honestly you’ll be best placed to judge what they want. Take stock of our resources before you leave, base your estimates on that — I mean, we’re only going to get richer from this point, eh?
If we can’t pay up what you offered? Oh, don’t worry about that, it’ll get sorted out. You have to pay it, obviously. Now, moving on — let’s see… ah yes, their micro-organisms. They’ve got microorganisms — I think they call them bacteria — that actually produce nitrogen. If you could persuade them to send a sample of them back with the rep they send back with you, then our scientists can breed them. Try to make sure they don’t realise that you’ve conned them out of a major income source, they won’t be very happy. Touchy creatures, they are — and I’m sure you won’t cause us to invoke the first paragraph of that disclaimer…
This was going to be a nice sciencey article about the mathematics, economics, and practicality of interplanetary trade, but then it turned into this. Oh well!
