the video memo blaring in the IATA employee cafeteria stated, “to crew an exciting but potentially hazardous and rewarding expedition featuring the latest in Drebian/Terran technology. If you are interested in being one of the few, the brave, call extension 6508.” That brief message had begun a dizzying odyssey for Balin Jurgieniewski. He had been with the Intergalactic Assay and Trade Association for a mere five years, four months. His dream of becoming a trade ship captain had been heretofore laughed at, let alone unfulfilled. Men and women with four times his seniority were still without commands of their own. Everyone wanted to be a captain, sailing the stars in the command chair of a powerful vessel, or even one that had the training wheels off. Still, ‘potentially hazardous’ didn’t sound nearly as interesting as ‘rewarding.’ It wouldn’t hurt to find out if their idea of rewarding matched his. He applied for the job. As the personnel director explained it to him and the two other people who ‘made the cut’ (Jurgieniewski’s suspicion was that they were the only ones who applied), Humanity’s newest ally and trading partner, the strange, bloblike Drebs, were seeking to pay their debt for goods and services tendered to them by the Terran government by offering it their space travel technology, which lay far beyond its current reach.
