Chapter Summary: In which our girls buy a spaceship. Or two. And some rocket scientists.
Note: This would never happen in the real world. I hope. And the usual disclaimer about religion as depicted in this story - Not a reflection of the author's opinion.
Chapter Word Count: 2,965
Quinn sat in the uncomfortable wooden chair and listened while ten American senators grilled Rachel about their plans for NASA. If she could be anywhere else, she'd have gone, but Brittany had insisted that it was her turn to accompany Rachel to one of these hearings. Even if she didn't say anything important.
"Why should we turn over our nation's space agency to you, a bunch of alien women," the committee Chairman said, his voice seething with contempt.
"You don't have to, and we aren't asking you to just hand it over to us," Rachel said. "However, it is our understanding that you plan to shut it down because you don't feel you need it anymore."
"NASA's purpose is to explore space and with you aliens out there, their mission has been fulfilled," he said. "Its budget would be better used elsewhere for the American people."
"Doesn't NASA stand for 'National Aeronautics and Space Administration'?" Rachel said. "I believe, in addition to space activities, they provide research on a number of useful non-space related activities to make your air vehicles safer?"
"Yes," one of the other senators said. "But if they aren't going into space or sending out space probes, we have other federal agencies that can do what they do for less. We don't need five different agencies doing the same thing, wasting taxpayer money."
"So, you plan to shut NASA down, and rely on us for spaceflight?" Quinn asked, raising an eyebrow in disbelief, speaking for the first time since being introduced an hour ago.
"Why not," a third senator, the only woman on the committee, said. "You can reliably put satellites in orbit without using expensive rockets and if I understand it correctly you already have several space stations, including research facilities on Pluto."
"Who's going to pay us? We aren't a charity," Rachel said. "We also aren't some kind of space taxi service. If your scientists want to use our space stations for their experiments it won't be free."
"You have spaceships," the Chairman said. "Some big enough to carry large payloads."
"We do," Rachel said. "And they are already being used. They aren't just sitting there waiting for passengers."
"You can spare them to do some of the science NASA is doing. And for less," he said.
"What about commercial spaceflight? Don't you have private companies putting satellites in orbit, sending supplies to your space station and other things? Are we supposed to do for free what they do now?"
"Yes," a different senator said.
"What gives you the right to tell us how to use our equipment?" Quinn asked, frowning. "You aren't our government. We aren't citizens of your country. In fact, some of you think we shouldn't be allowed in, though I'm not sure why you would think we would want to live here instead of our enclave."
"So, you want us to do the work of your NASA? You are going to shut down your space and aeronautical R & D?" Rachel quickly added. "What about the thousands of people, highly trained people, you plan to make unemployed. Do you mind if they find work elsewhere? After all, you are going to fire all of them."
"Who would they work for?" the Chairman asked.
"I hear the Russians and the Chinese are hiring. They have no plans to throw themselves on the mercy of a bunch of alien 'girls' just to save a few dollars," Quinn said. "They are willing to negotiate for a look at some of our tech. And not small amounts."
"They can't do that!" one of the senators shouted.
"Why not? You just said you didn't need them anymore," Rachel said. "Though I suspect your military must be having fits at the idea that all of the engineers building their rockets and designing fancy air vehicles will be working for their enemies."
"We never said that," the Chairman said.
"I must have misunderstood you then," Rachel said. "It sounded like you were planning to shut down NASA and throw all of those hard working people, registered voters, on the streets to starve. Or work for the Chinese or Russians or some other country that realizes what a bargain they are. Or, you could turn NASA over to us."
"You haven't given us a good enough reason," the senator on the end said. "They won't be doing anything we need anymore so we might as well fire them. And if your alien technology is so great, why do you want them?"
"That's an excellent question," Rachel said. "Why do we want NASA when we already have better equipment, faster ways to travel, and already know the answers to questions they've only just started to ask? You could say that about any of our 'alien technology'," she said. "Why bother doing anything if we can solve all of those problems for you."
"So, you are offering us paradise? We just let you do whatever you want and we never have to do or think anything ever again?" the woman senator said.
"No! Never!" Rachel said. "We are not offering you anything. We have come here to your corner of the galaxy, and we are setting up several bases, and space stations, and yes, research stations, but we are not going to make this world a paradise for the lazy. We could just go into our enclave and ignore the rest of this world and its problems, and that is one of the alternatives we discussed. But, we looked at this world and its people and decided a little help was in order."
"So, you are just going to make our lives better? Some Star Trekian utopia? Do we have any say in this?" the Chairman said.
"Of course you do," Rachel said. "Pretend we aren't here. We aren't here on some mission to improve your lives. We aren't alien invaders promising cures for every disease you may have while secretly invading. We are here because this system is a crossroads. We're building a galactic police station. And it's to our benefit to spruce up the neighborhood and make the natives happy as we do it. Happy neighbors make better neighbors."
"And NASA?" he asked.
"Part of that 'sprucing up'," Rachel said. "Think of it as privatizing or outsourcing, if that helps. We take over, you still get the benefit of their expertise and we charge you less over time as we make improvements and as they learn how our technology works and integrate it into their work. And, due to the inevitable employee turnover, our technology slowly filters out into your industry and learning centers. It won't be instant, it will take years, but it doesn't provide the disruptive influence your philosophers and sociologists are afraid of."
"How can you be so sure it will be a positive experience?" asked another senator who'd been silent until then.
"Because it will? You'll have to have faith in the process. And just think of how happy your voters will be. Their lives won't change so fast they revolt. This year a faster computer. Next year a safer car. In ten years they'll be taking trips to the moon and a decade after that you'll be building cities on Venus and Mars. And it will feel normal. Not scary."
"We're a Christian nation," another formerly silent senator said. "You're atheists. How can you expect us to work with godless aliens?"
"No. we're not atheists," Rachel said. "I'm not sure where that idea comes from. But, we are also not followers of your Christ. How could we be? He is a native of your world. We also don't worship the Flying Spaghetti Monster I've heard some talking about. You have some of the strangest beliefs." Faint giggles could be heard from the back of the room.
"What do you believe?" the senator asked.
"Myself? Or our people in general?"
"Let's start with you," the senator said.
"I have simple beliefs," Rachel said. "Unlike some of our people, I don't believe I've ever come into contact with the Eternal All but I know something is out there. There is definitely some guiding force in the universe."
"So, you'd be willing to be born again?" the senator asked.
"Once isn't enough?" Rachel said, causing laughter from several parts of the chamber. "Some Clans do believe in reincarnation, but I suspect that isn't what you mean."
"Would you be willing to claim Jesus as your Lord?"
"For what reason?" Rachel said. "He isn't and isn't likely to be."
"How can we work with you then?" he asked, glowering at her.
"Isn't religious freedom one of the foundations of your country?" Rachel said. "Or did I misunderstand that also?"
"Yes," the Chairman said, glaring at the other senator. "It is against our laws to require such things as a condition of Federal contracts and has no place in this discussion."
"That's good," Quinn said. "I am a warrior, and your Jesus might have an interesting philosophy about protecting the weak and feeding the poor but he isn't a warrior's god. The failure of your religious crusades clearly show that. And the god of your Bible? He shows a streak of cruelty that would dishonor a Clan warrior.
I do not think you will get any converts to that religion from our Clan. They prefer straight forward leaders and gods. Yours are too full of contradictions for us. But that is really not a discussion for one such as myself. Our Weaver is the one to have a religious discussion with. She is able to talk directly with our gods at those times when we need their advice."
"Where is this Weaver?"
"She is currently on retreat," Rachel said, "in preparation for an upcoming meeting with your Pope."
"We don't have a pope," the senator said, making a face.
"He leads your largest Christian religion, yes?" Rachel said. "I was amazed at the palace he lives in. Your religious leaders seem to be very rich. Are your gods rich also?"
"He was a carpenter," the senator said.
"Interesting," Rachel said. "But let's get back to the important things. NASA? Are we getting it?"
"We have additional questions," the Chairman said. "Several things have been brought to our attention."
"Such as?"
"Apparently, your clan has been buying property and companies all over the world. Why?"
"Is it wrong for us to buy things?" Rachel asked. "Your entire culture is based on the idea of exchanging things of value. I believe you call it capitalism?"
"Yes," one of the senators said.
"We try to deal fairly," she said. "In the beginning we found it easier to pay for things instead of just taking them. For example, it seemed less stressful for everyone if we paid all of the foreign companies in our territory for their property instead of just taking it as was our right."
"You can't just take things," a senator protested.
"Our enclave is under our jurisdiction, our rules, our laws," Rachel said. "As such, yes we could have just taken everything. We don't really have a concept of individual ownership in the Clans. The Clan owns, the people use, as we say. But to avoid the inevitable conflicts when some company with a presence in our territory complained, we decided to pay them what our research determined was a fair value."
"You are Marxists!" the senator who'd earlier asked the questions about religion said. "We aren't selling NASA to a bunch of heathen Marxists!"
"Marxists? I'm not quite sure what you mean by that but it doesn't sound very complimentary," Rachel said.
"I don't believe your political-social terms really apply to us," Quinn added. "We've contributed several billions of your dollars to your economy since arriving. And we expect to contribute billions more over the next few years. But if you want us to spend it elsewhere I'm sure we can do that."
"Why did you buy the old Ghostbuster's office?" yet another senator asked. "And the other buildings in a two block radius?"
"You have a popular saying 'if you broke it you bought it' and we've been trying to follow that," Rachel said.
"What does that mean?" he said.
"We are self insured, which is an odd concept for us, so if something is damaged by our actions, we pay for it. Terrorists take over a building, as happened in this case? Before we remove them, we come to an arrangement with the owners of the property. Sometimes they just ask us to repair any damage that occurs when the terrorists are removed, other times they sell it to us. Either way, we're very upfront about such things. Which is more than most of your government agencies are."
"That doesn't explain the hotel in London you currently own," the senator said, waving a piece of paper. "And the one in New York, and a dozen other places, according to this."
"That really wasn't our idea," Rachel said. "When we bought out several Cancun based hotel management companies, we ended up owning their other assets. In some ways it is very convenient to not have to pay for a hotel room. But we hadn't intended to buy so much, or anything really."
"And you're paying taxes on this property?"
"Those fees to your government? Of course," Rachel said "The Clans, as a semi-nomadic people understand the uses of such things. Bureaucrats are the same, no matter what planet you're on. They all want their cut. Sometimes directly, like your taxes, sometimes under the table to grease the skids of commerce."
"Good," the Chairman said, nodding. "We can do business." Several other Senators murmured in agreement.
"Well, that was interesting," Rachel said, leaning back in her seat, exhausted after days of grilling by assorted Congressional committees. "Didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition. We just want to take over NASA, not join their multitude of churches or have our people converted."
"Politics and religion are very intertwined in our old homeland. You can't have one without the other," Brittany said. "But the two of you did fairly well, considering the hostile panels you were facing."
"Not sure what they were getting at with all of the religious questions," Rachel said.
"Grandstanding," Quinn said. "To show their voters that they've faced the girl aliens in their heathen multitudes and won."
"Well, that's a strange way of doing business," Rachel said. "Hopefully the upcoming meeting with the Pope will go better. He, at least, isn't going to ask us to convert. He's mostly just curious."
"You should have seen their reactions when you told them you'd been born once and that it was enough." Santana said.
"Did they really think we would fall for that?" Rachel said.
"Yes," Quinn said. "They are very narrow minded. They think we'll convert because they want us to, just by saying the magic words."
"Must not be very magical," Rachel said. "They didn't work."
"They should have offered magical beans," Santana said, smirking. "Those at least have some value. Unlike the words of a prophet who was killed by his own people."
"Not completely useless," Quinn said. "Just very old school old guy club."
"So, who's next?" Santana said. "We've got the Queen on our side already. Do we have to meet with the Russians?"
"Not without bodyguards," Rachel said, shaking her head. "As nice as the Russians themselves are, their government can be quite scary. I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to kidnap one of us."
"That would be a mistake," Quinn said. "One they would regret."
"Well, we can play nice for now. No one is trying to kidnap anyone," Brittany said. "And let's keep it that way."
"Yes, Lady Shadow, ma'am," Rachel said, to giggles from the others.
"Who are we meeting with next then, after the Pope?" Quinn said. "The Dali Lama?"
"We actually met with him last week," Rachel said, "but he asked that we not tell anyone."
"Huh," Santana said. "How long before we find out if they are letting us have NASA?"
"They have to vote on it, and then make a recommendation to the whole Congress. Could take a few days, weeks or months."
"As long as they don't shut it down before then," Santana said.
"If they do, it'll be cheaper for us," Brittany said. "We can just hire the ones we want, and not everyone. But that isn't going to happen. Worst case, they just say no."
"If you say so," Santana said. "My Chief is dying to grab the astronauts she worked with on the ISS. Doesn't want anyone else offering them jobs."
"Well, that's completely different," Quinn said. "The astronauts aren't going to be unemployed for long."
"I like how we managed to not mention that we're just buying up the whole place," Rachel said. "They fell for the 'you broke it, you bought it' idea."
"It's true, sort of," Brittany said. "We aren't just randomly buying buildings and land."
"I guess it could be worse," Rachel said. "If we started buying casinos they might actually get suspicious."
"Not sure what we would do with a casinos," Brittany said. "There are a couple in Cancun built for the tourists if you really want them."
"Not my idea of fun," Santana said. "If you need something exciting to do, asteroid mining can be fun, if a bit dangerous."
"I think I'll stick with sky diving," Quinn said.
"I believe you promised to take me," Rachel said. "When can we go?"
"As soon as your pressure suit is ready," Quinn said. "Which won't be until you find the time to be measured for it."
"I've been busy," Rachel said, pouting.
"If you want to do it you need to make the time," Quinn said. "And not rushing around."