When Bulma and Vegeta entered the dining room they saw that the others where seated and already in deep discussion about something. Bulma saw her mother hurriedly bouncing around putting down more plates of food even though they had at least five robots that could easily do the work in half the time. Her mother insisted that when new guests arrive it was the job of the hostess to see to their needs, although Bulma was sure that these "guests" did not fit into the usual company that her mother usually had. Nevertheless she was buzzing around the strangers like a humming bird.
The dining room was extremely elegant and looked nothing like her fathers work station. This room was her mothers creation and literally screamed of royalty. There was a large deep mahogany table with gilded gold sidings designed to look like swirling branches, it seated about fifty people comfortably and there were portraits and tapestries everywhere. Her mother styled it after the old world styling when people did not have robots, and capsules or even electricity! She knew for a certainty that she would have hated growing up during that time without having one of her experiments to tinker with.
She looked around the room and saw that the men were already seated. King Vegeta had a place at the top of the table across her own father. To the Kings left was the big man called Nappa and to the King right was an empty chair, Bulma figured that it was meant for the arrogant prince. To Nappa's left sat the wild looking Bardock and Radditz whose hair touched the floor when he sat on the large winged chairs that accompanied the table. Chichi was no longer with them and she wondered where she had gotten to. Radditz seemed to be looking at the food her mother was setting before them with apparent relish and kept glancing to the top of the table to see if the King had begun to eat.
Prince Vegeta moved alongside her and took the empty chair that was offered to him, and Bulma moved to sit beside her father. She knew she was allowed to stay and hear this since her father took her to most of his meetings so that she could get a taste for corporate life. Even though her father hated getting out of his throne room, he set up meetings with different scientists, diplomats and political figures at least once a day so that he could stay on top of his empire.
Dr. Briefs said a brief word of welcome to the newcomers and asked them to start eating. The foreign men looked at each other and grinned and then began eating as if they were starved animals. Plate upon plate was taken and in a matter of seconds discarded off to the side. Roast Venison, gone. A whole lamb…gone. Five different types of chickens, sautéed for hours and slaved over by the kitchen staff….gone. Bulma stared in shock at the amount of food these men could eat! She looked at the King and Prince, they alone seemed to master the art of table manners, even though their pace of consuming their food was not any slower than the other men. Quite truly the ones named Bardock and Radditz seemed to be in a competition to see who could eat the most food in the most disgusting way… Radditz was winning. He had bits of chicken stuck in his hair and his hands were greasy with fats from the food.
When they finally began to slow and catch their breaths, King Vegeta cleared his throat and began in his slow carrying voice. "As I have mentioned, I am King Vegeta from the planet Vegeta-sei. I have come here on a mission of diplomacy and extend a hand to trade with your planet on behalf of Lord Freiza ruler of the planet Icejin and leader of the Planet Trade Organization. He has heard from his vast network that your planet has made some remarkable advances in the field of science due to your contributions and he wishes to trade knowledge with you." he said looking at her father.
"I don't understand… how does this Lord Freezer.. or whatever… know what we have made these advances? Our planet has never had contact with life outside of our own." her father said his eyes wide with curiosity. Vegeta chuckled quietly to himself at the mans mispronunciation of that idiot Freizas name.
"Oh? Forgive me, but Freiza has his informants all over the universe. There are aliens on this planet that you are certainly not aware of that have blended into your society. They have reported back to the main ship and told us of something called the Dynocaps and your advances in robotic engineering. We have also heard of your ability to synthesize DNA and create new forms of life. I believe you were behind the recreation of the creatures called dinosaurs on your planets and from what I've heard you were able to change their genetic composition and make them less violent and animalistic and give them more "human" qualities. Is that correct?" King Vegeta said.
"Well… yes that's all true…" Dr. Briefs said hesitating slightly. Bulma knew that her father did not like discussing his experiments with outsiders. For a genial and kind hearted man, he guarded his experiments dearly. Not a single person knew the formulas and equations that he had mastered for the Dynocaps or any of his other inventions. Even his staff of scientists, who were a team of the most notable minds of their time, were never allowed that kind of information. He never wrote the equations down on paper from fear of theft that even his hundreds of patents couldn't prevent and those rare blueprints that he did jot down were in a highly complicated code that her father hadn't shared with anyone.
No one except Bulma.
Bulma had known the formulas for most of her fathers creations since the age of five when she had demonstrated an already college level aptitude in the field of physics, engineering and robotics. Many times her and her father sat down late into the night discussing changes and upgrades that could be made to the products. Bulma contributions had helped even her father, and Dr. Briefs was sure that given the chance, his daughter would surpass even him in just a few short years. But he was careful not to say too much, Bulma was already susceptible to danger just by being the Kings daughter and the richest heiress on planet Earth. He kept her knowledge quiet, tutoring her himself and never letting her go to public schooling or even the highly acclaimed graduate program for astrophysics in West City University.
He had thought to enroll her only the previous summer, and he was sure that she would be accepted without a problem, but he feared for her life. There was already three failed kidnapping attempts, one that had cut a little to close for his liking, and the fact that Bulma was reckless and liked to sneak out on her own or with the Ox Kings daughter did not help with his blood pressure, even if the little Ox Princess was well learnt in the ways of martial arts like the Ox King himself.
Dr. Briefs turned his attention back to the men at his table. "I'm sure you know then, since you know so much already, that I do not share my findings with anyone. You could understand of course, the politics involved with advancements in the field of science."
"Of course, but Lord Freiza also knows that you have a large hunger for the unknown, and has said that if you agree he is willing to share his own trade secrets. We are not without our own exceptional technology. As members of the Planet Trade Organization, we have access to top of the line space vehicles that can travel through galaxies in only a matter of days, we are aware that your own planets contributions to space travel has been… sorely lacking. You're planet can greatly expand with our help… not only that but we have a healing system that we call the Rejuvenation Tank that speeds the healing process by eight hundred percent. Broken bones and spinal injuries would be laughingly easy to heal and you would have access to all that information. You can expand your empire to not only your planet, but to those planets surrounding yours."
Her fathers eyes widened at the thought of being able to tear apart the promised machinery and figuring out exactly how it worked… she could already see his hands twitch to the tool belt that was strapped around his waist. But she was not so easily convinced.
"Umm… I'm sorry but it just doesn't make sense." Bulma piped up. She was uneasy around this group but she just didn't think this trade was as easy as the man said it was.
Seven pairs of eyes swiveled to her direction as if noticing her for the first time. The foreign King and Prince seemed shocked that she would speak up when the others were discussing plans that Vegeta was sure she didn't understand.
"Bulma dear you shouldn't interrupt when big strong men talk" her mother scolded "now at your cake dear"
Her father however was used to her speaking her mind in meetings, and in fact encouraged it, nodded for her to continue.
"Well… its just that… it seems weird that five aliens come onto our planet and try to negotiate with us to "trade our knowledge" when they already stated that they work for a man that is leader of a planet trade … why would this Lord Frieza want to trade technology when he can have the whole planet?" Bulma said.
King Vegeta was slightly impressed with the young princesses astuteness. In fact, he had asked the Icejin almost the same question when he received the debriefing for this mission.
Flashback
"My lord, I don't understand. Why would you send us to this planet Earth to exchange in trade? It is a lowly planet that hasn't even expanded beyond its own galaxy. There is no profit in it to trade with a planet that has no connection with the galactic market and it is a pathetically small planet with only one sun and one moon. There would not even be any profit to size it directly." King Vegeta said bowing in front of the smaller creature in front of him. His lackeys Zarbon and Deidoria standing on either side of him
"My dear King, you disappoint me. So narrow minded in your thinking you Saiyans are. Destruction and land… ahh that's all you ever think about." Lord Freiza said looking mockingly at the bowed form of the prince. "you are right in thinking that the Earth itself is inconsequential to my empire, but what it has to offer is abundant. I have heard, from my many little spiders on that planet, that there is a man on that planet with the technology to put an entire space station into a capsule small enough to swallow… can you imagine the amount of weapons and vehicles we could hold in a single pocket with that kind of technology?"
King Vegeta gaped at the information… if what he said was true this technology would be worth trillions on the galactic market. Still… "but my lord, if this information is correct than why not just take the technology and the planet along with it?"
"Ahh well… the man we speak of guards his secrets most deeply… and I believe it'll be easier to have them believe we are friends rather than enemies. We will give them some of our old information and technology and they will look upon it as if it were a gift from god and will sell among themselves… what is the population? A few billion I heard and yet we will take it across the galaxies and go to a few billion planets."
"Yes my lord"
End of Flashback
"Trust me child, we have no need of this lone planet in the far corner of the universe, but we do want that information and we are willing to trade most generously." King Vegeta said his cold black eyes looking squarely into her blue ones. Bulma looked away hastily and turned back to her father.
"I agree to trading with your leader, but I will not give up my information. I will develop all the technology myself and you can ship it over but the information stays with me, that is the best I can do…" said firmly.
"Hmm… I understand the hesitancy old man. But how about we set up an agreement that would be beneficial to both of us? The journey over to the nearest space station to your planet is about a month for earths time… you are welcome to join us on the journey. Lord Freiza expected this sort of response and has offered a state of the art laboratory for you to work in and develop your technology along with a place for you to stay. He has offered this area for three months. Three months of trading… and if you are not satisfied with the end result, you can go back to your planet and we will not bother you…"