Pleas to the Pleiades

Their spacecraft landed on a grassy planet of a star system not far from Alpheratz. The group was met by a diplomatic team of people who resembled people from Earth, but had longer horse-like mouths. They co-existed with Pegasus creatures – winged horses.

Pegasus himself appeared, or at least it was his great-great-great-to-the-nth-degree grandson, if not the original winged horse. “I am Pegasus, the leader of the winged horses.”

Another horse-mouthed guy showed up. “And I am Laron, the leader of the people here.”

Jimmie and Candor looked at each other to decide station and rank, for it was obvious that this planet had two levels of bureaucratic hierarchy.

Jimmie said, “I am Memnon, Captain of this ship, of Earth, near Sirius.”

“And I am Prince Candor, of Mars, a planet neighbor in the same system near Sirius. But my dragon people are from Thuban system, north of Sirius.”

Laron, the horse-mouthed human, said, “We know these details. We even like your music, which is already on our radios. And we know that you, Jimmie Memnon, are a lineal descendant of Agamemnon, who fought the war you call the Trojan War.”

Jimmie did not particularly like foreigners’ views of any history they had only learned in books. At least these horseys got to the point more than bureaucrats usually do.

“Do you know why we fought that war?” he asked.

Pegasus answered, “I remember because I was there. Your ancestor built a huge wooden horse. I watched his men build one of the most successful deceptions of your planet’s military history. Are you doing this again?”

Candor rustled his feathers uncomfortably.

Jimmie answered Pegasus, “No. We are simply explorers of peace. No Trojan Horse.”

“Then why did you bring this dragon with you?” Pegasus asked.

Laron interceded. “We will be honest and direct with you. We are all vegetarians here. Please do not bring your meat out of your spacecraft.”

Pegasus added, “Also, if you could be so kind as to not eat or cook it while you are here, we would be most grateful. And please, do not wear leather or fur.”

Candor grumbled.

Osha interjected, “May I say something? Many or most of our people on Mars are vegetarians, either out of necessity or philosophy.”

“Yeah. And you seem to have lived very long, Pegasus, on your diet of grass. Several thousand years,” Khlilia added, unsure of which side she was on.

Pegasus said, “Hmmm … we have wondered what happened to Earth. Now you are on Mars? With your carnivorous dragon friends?”

Candor grumbled more, his feathers ruffling back.

Laron said, as Pegasus nodded, “Do you not know … that we made a legal agreement with your planet long ago?”

Jimmie was not amused. “What kind of agreement?”

Laron said, “To not make your kind of engine. It’s illegal.”

“And why? It helps us to travel and make friends.”

Candor grumbled more and more, his feathers ruffling back more and more.

Pegasus answered after a time, “It also has military weapons applications.”

Laron added, “We do not like the implications of this, given your history.”

Candor interjected after several more grumbles. “Listen please. I am not of the usual Thuban Hierarchy. I am willing to be a vegetarian while here. Maximum one month.”

Pegasus said, “But your engine is still illegal.”

Jimmie was getting a bit impatient with winged horses who had made agreements that he could not abide. “For us, it is illegal for you to make agreements without our conscious citizens’ consent and consensus. A horse is a horse, of course, of course, and you are the most famous one that ever existed. You can fly, and I respect you. But I love and respect my nice California Palomino more. I miss him. He was happy only to walk, trot, and gallop on the happy trails of the western USA.

“In Ukraine, I found a swallow. She had flown into the school building where I was teaching English. I caught her and released her. Soon, you will release us.”

Back on Mars, General Wood was courting the Martian matriarch Helena.

“I need to know what kind of technology Jimmie Memnon developed here.”

“General, none of us here were interested, except his friend Osha, whom he apparently has taken with him. We’re rather anti-technology here, unless it is for music, oxygen, or irrigation. Make yourself comfortable and eat my cookies. Then go back to Earth and bring us back some more food, seeds, and farming technology.”

Binger Shaker busted in. “And bring us back some more fresh oysters – I bet you can’t do it – and some smokes. What kind of Air Farce are you?”

Candor and Jimmie were talking alone together in their spacecraft, after the Pegasus conversation.

Jimmie said, “Candor, my dragon friend, is there something you are not telling me about all this?”

“They are vegetarians, but they do not support peace. Alpheratz people and the Pegasians made a treaty with Earth people long ago to stop technology like ours.” He paused and thought. “They did it because my people did bad things. You know I am an outcast among my own people. Still, vegetarianism is no guarantee of peaceful relations. Hitler said he was a vegetarian, but he killed six million Jews. ”

“Most Draconians from Thuban or elsewhere cannot be trusted. But I trust you.”

“We cannot trust the leadership of your planet, Mars neither, nor of Alpheratz, nor my home planets. None of them want us to roam the galaxy freely,” answered Candor.

“I think we should get out of here now.”

“As you say, Captain.”

Candor and Jimmie entered the bridge of their spacecraft, where Osha awaited their decisions. Khlilia was nowhere to be found, but she had left a goodbye note:

These people and the winged horses have the kind of peaceful and vegetarian society of which I have always dreamed. I have decided to stay here with them. Good luck on your journeys, Jimmie, Osha, and Prince of Candor. I have left you the synthesizer. After all, you were the one who bought it, and they don’t like to use electricity here much. I have taken only my surbahar-bandura.

Jimmie was heartbroken. It was clear that Khlilia had opted to remain among the vegetarians and Pegasus. “Can you find her, Candor?”

“Jimmie, my friend, my dear pet. Of course I can find her. But she does not want us to find her. And I think that you and I are never against the free-will decisions of anyone.”

Tears were welling up in the corners of Jimmie’s eyes. He resolved, “We’re headed for the myriad star systems further out on our Limb of the Galaxy. But I think we will be back.”