“There’s an interesting parallel in history,” I explained.

“Go on.”

“When the original Space Age was underway back in the 1950s and ’60s, part of the ideological struggle was the hypothesis surrounding first contact. The Soviet Union postulated that any civilization advanced enough to travel between the stars would logically be socialist, and would therefore choose to deal only with Moscow. The battle for ideological supremacy would be over, the world would undergo conversion to enlightenment, and the age of capitalism would be at an end.”

“Aliens are all communists? Bunch of bull. The Olyix are savvy traders.”

“Maybe. But today, instead of the Soviet Union, we have the Utopial culture.” I glanced over at Eldlund and Jessika, still chatting happily with Loi. “Who will explain, at great and boring length, how their post-scarcity equality is not socialism, but a technology-driven evolution of egalitarian humanist society.”

“Jeez, you mean Callum’s here to confirm starfaring aliens will all be—”

“Good little Utopials? Yes. Beware, my son, the end days of capitalism are nigh.”

“He’ll swing contact their way?”

“Utopial society is very benign and nurturing. The thinking goes that aliens will instinctively favor that.”

“Benign, my ass. Tranquil verging on stagnant, more like.”

“Indeed.”

“Oh, come on, you work for Connexion, for fuck’s sake. The Universal market economy worlds and habitats are goddamn dynamic. The Olyix don’t do much business with Utopials.”

“The Olyix are a single arkship colony who care only about continuing their voyage to the end of the universe, where they will meet their God at the End of Time. Anything else is secondary to that doctrine, so by necessity they adapt to local conditions. In the Sol system, trade with Earth and the habitats is the method by which they can acquire the energy to build up their supply of antimatter and continue that voyage. Therefore, they trade. The argument being, had they arrived at Delta Pavonis instead, they would now be following Utopial doctrine in their contact with Akitha.”

“Doesn’t that kind of blow the shit out of the pan-galactic Utopial theory, that every species will embrace post-scarcity benevolence?”

“In the case of the Olyix, yes. Which is why Callum is hoping for a more favorable outcome this time.”

“So what’s the deal with Yuri, then?”

I leaned in a little closer, lowering my voice. “I didn’t say this, but Yuri is a xenophobic son of a bitch. He’s got a real bug up his ass about the Olyix.”

“Why?”

“He doesn’t like Kcells, apparently.”

“That’s crazy. They’ve turned out to be a medical miracle. Goddamn cheap one, too. Everybody wins.”

I shrugged. “It’s just the way he is.” I smiled and sat back to watch if that particular seed of doubt would grow into anything I could use on my mission.

—