A Fair Trade

"Brother Broderick!" Doc snaps. "I will thank you to remain quiet!"

The monk hushes up and sits back down without question.

Doc turns back to the Abbot. "Now, Father Nathan, calm yourself. You are not the first man to lay with a woman and you won't be the last. Your vows are not an issue here. Resolving our problem is."

Father Nathan seems to agree and comply. Doc sits back down on the sofa and Father Nathan returns to his chair.

Mark helps himself to more wine from the etched silver carafe.

"Father Nathan, I want to help you. You have come to this inhospitable place and spent your life studying the Heavens in search of the unknown. What if I could give you a scroll that would teach you more about the Heavens than you could learn in three life times? Then there would be no more need to stay here at the roof of the world and you could take your knowledge to the Church and the world. Tales of your past transgressions need not be known, and who would care if you had a dalliance? Most of the Cardinals have some little minx tucked away in the city of Rome. You would be an enlightened spark in Christendom and remembered as a great man. That would be a fine legacy to leave. Let me help you Father Nathan."

Father Nathan thinks about this. "So, what you propose is a trade three lifetime's worth of knowledge of the Heavens in return for the women from the valley?"

"Yes," Doc replies.

"Let me see this scroll."

"Let me see the women."

"How do I know this scroll is all you say it is?"

"You've seen my mind. How can you say it isn't?"

Nathan returns to his feet. "Alright. I will show you the women, and you will see they are not harmed. But I will not release them until this scroll is in my hands and I am satisfied of its veracity."

2 comments:

ERR said...

Interesting choice. There's no logical way he can argue with that.

+200 xp player bonus!


Now where are you gonna come up with this scroll?

Doc said...

Yea! 200 xp! Woo Hoo!

The scroll should be simple enough. Contact Steve and have him pull up some star charts with distances, trajectories, names, pictures, etc. and print them out on large sheets of pulp paper. It is important that it is printed on pulp paper, as pulp paper doesn't tend to hold up well or last long and we don't want this printed on something that will last like vellium as we don't want to screw up time too badly. Besides, Father Nathan is old and will die soon, with any luck the knowledge he gains will die with him.

Have Steve print these out and have Veronica fly over and drop it in some kind of orange cannister with a parachute and a flare so we can find it. We trade scroll for women and we are on our way as quick as we can.

Assuming that the swap goes smoothly, we are only faced with the problem of getting back to the Jeep and the ship.

Doc