Trade Secret (eARC) Read Online Free PDF Page B

their madness. The original Jethri Gobelyn, apprentice trader--that young man might have easily died at the hands of offended Liadens several times now.
    A collection of breath, a move to research, since clearly he still was not up to correspondence.
    In the back of his mind was the knowledge that Balance was still possible. Yes, Balance, both by him, and by those who thought his mere existence an affront worth murder. The Scouts . . . not all the Scouts deserved Balance, but some did. Not all Liadens, but some. He had much to learn.
    With a sigh, Jethri brought the comparative contracts part of the day's study live, with the Terran, Trade, and Liaden standard and legal dictionaries tabbed along with Traders Guild Concise Guidebook of Common Contracts . He laughed gently--he'd miss-called it the Guidebook of Common Conflicts to the librarian . . . who'd known exactly what he'd meant.
    Pressing the incoming mail button to hold, he stared straight ahead, and said, "Go."
    Taking Delivery was the topic he was starting with today. Lunch, four hours away, was his goal.

Chapter Two

    Clan Ixin's Tradeship Elthoria , in Jump

    Delivery was not so much the successful unloading of a ship at a specific place as it was a state of ecstasy achieved when--and if--a signature of acceptance and a signature of release of invoiced goods in good order as agreed (with exceptions noted and countersigned) could be affixed to the same document (in both hardcopy and electronic format, preferably) without reservation.
    Jethri pressed on. Some things were not as obvious as they appeared.
    The fact that stuff was dumped at a dock was good enough in some places--by deep mud he'd seen it himself with Paitor and Dyk shoving a last lonely plascrate of a make-weight shipment of protein flour into the dust at Marrakesh, the ship's ventilation working so hard it sounded like they had drifted too close to a star instead of landed on a habited world. In some places, it took multiple vid-captures, signatures on five lines of paper and stick-seals, ribbons, stamps, customs clips and . . . and . . .
    Ownership of goods changed at different times and different places, too. Sometimes, the book warned, things were sold that weren't owned--and so one needed to have financial recourse available, which varied by trade guild as well as by system, and even by planet and sometimes depending where on a planet . . .
    Recourse for goods being mishandled varied. In Liaden-run systems, the Code and its spin-offs were guides, but guides only, dealing with reputable people was especially important with Liadens because melant'i was serious stuff with them. In other places . . .
    Jethri routed the recourse stuff away to his notes: more of the legal stuff he wasn't exactly keen on. On non-Liaden worlds--which meant Terran mostly--there might be other things to do, other legal remedies and other legal requirements. He read on, skimming, knowing he'd have to come back and knowing that if he ever had his own ship he'd employ himself a law-jaw or an assistant who had that training, at least. Skimming, Terran basis shipping law special actions . . . See Writ of Completion, Writ of Garnishment, Writ of Safe Passage, Writ of Progression, Writ of Replevin, Writ of Certiorari . . . and back to normal trade without problems . . .
    Right. The proper bow of acknowledgment was the final finish on some ports, while in point of fact, in some delivery situations getting off-port without being fired on seemed to do the trick.
    He bowed a bow--a bow of acknowledgment--and the snap of his wrist startled him. He really needed to move more.
    Jethri let his mind focus and took delivery of the message that, yes, once again he'd let the words catch him, and the concepts, and he'd gone an extra hour. He, at least, was not on a firm food schedule at the cafeteria this day, but his stomach was growling and he really should see if the rest of the universe existed. His stomach growled again. More than once