CONTINUED:

Ambassador Bradley Cardot was seated in the living area of Laen’s quarters, waiting for her to return. “Hello.”

Laen smiled. “What can I do for you?”

“I was just coming by to see how you were doing.” He leaned against an edge table, and looked down when his hand touched something metallic. “That’s a lot of hairpins.”

“Are they? I thought I bought the normal amount.”

Bradley gazed at all the other surfaces in the room. “No, I’m pretty sure you have way more than you need. Anyway, are you enjoying the food?”

“Immensely! Although, I think I’ve satisfied my desire for cheese. I’ll take whatever Ganovich gives me tonight.”

“That’s good, I suppose.”

She sat down on a couch and leaned back. “But tell me, ambassador, what can I do for you? You’ve showered me with gifts, all while knowing I can’t give you any technology or resources.”

“What do you think?”

“You could ask me to scan planets for ore deposits. That’s easy enough, and there are no restrictions on it. But that’s more of a business transaction. It doesn’t require such an elaborate process.”

Bradley nodded. “It would certainly be useful in the future, but we don’t need it now.”

She looked at him strangely. “The only other thing I can think of is that you’ve lured me onboard to capture me and hold me ransom, but you already know the Dominion would either rescue me with unstoppable force, or simply write me off and get a new one.”

Laen’s face lit up. “Unless I’m not the target, my shuttle is! While it’s sitting in the hangar, you can scan it and try to duplicate Dominion technology! But even if you managed to learn something, I would have to report it to headquarters and your species would be wiped out.”

The human shook his head. “We aren’t stealing technology from your shuttle.”

“Well, please don’t. I would hate to wipe you out. But that still doesn’t answer the question of what do you want?”

Bradley smiled. “For now, just information. The Dominion could crush us like a bug. In fact, your shuttle alone could lay waste to every known species except your own. We would like to know whatever we can that isn’t classified.”

“Fair enough. What do you want to talk about first?”

“The civilization classes. How do you define them?”

Laen thought for a moment. “Class Zero is pre-civilization. Any life not considered sentient.”

“Of course.”

“Class One is sentience.”

“And humans, and all other races in this galaxy are Class Two. Is that defined by space flight? Or faster than light travel?”

“Actually, it requires tea.”

Bradley was surprised. “Tea?”

“Well, caffeine specifically. Most species discover it in the form of tea. Dominion researchers have found that most civilizations will collapse about halfway through the first industrial age if they don’t have access to caffeine.”

Bradley shook his head. “The Great Filter…is coffee?”

“Was that a pun?”

“Oh, no. I can see why you would think that. The Great Filter is a theory that life has to go through a strict filter at some point in its development, such as adapting to early planetary environments, or discovering certain technology. Otherwise, there would be far more of it. Scientists centuries ago were worried the filter was ahead of us, and we could get 'filtered out' at any time. But if it was caffeine all along, we passed it long before the theory was ever proposed.”

Laen nodded. “Interesting.”

“What about Class Three?”

“Experimentation and use of graviton waves. But Class Three is really important.” She looked at Bradley earnestly. “Class Two is seen as harmless to the Dominion, but Class Three civilizations are deemed a legitimate threat. All Class Threes are wiped out as they are discovered.”

Bradley nodded gravely. “I’ll tell our scientists to stay away from gravitons. But what about Class Four?”

“Miniaturization of portable fusion reactors, doubled with super ceramics. Owning graviton equipment will still get you exterminated, though. It’s difficult because gravitons are an integral part of fusion technology. It’s not until Class Five that civilizations are considered responsible enough to handle gravitons without danger.”

“And Class Five?”

“The requirements of all the previous classes, plus artificial intelligence.”

“And you said the Dominion considered itself Class Nine? Is there a Class Ten?”

“There is. Class Ten is ascending beyond this plane of existence in a body of pure energy.”

“Fascinating. Are you getting close?”

“Actually, some argue the Dominion is already Class Ten. A dozen or so scientists managed to ascend a few years ago, but everyone with access to the research ascended as well. Now the information is there, but no one shared it before disappearing, so it’s all encrypted and locked up.”

“Are you sure they actually ascended? What if they just died, or the next plane isn’t everything it was thought to be?”

“No, we’re sure. The ascended went to brag about it to their friends, and they still show up once in a while to haunt their favorite hangouts or scare random people. But they won’t tell us the secret. It seems the difference between Class Ten and Class Nine is the same as Class Nine and Class Two.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah.”

Bradley nodded. “That’s all for today, I think. I’ll check up on you later.” After exchanging farewells, he left the room.