I cross my arms and raise an eyebrow.
"So humanity is divided? There's no central government controlling these systems?

=="Of course not. There has to be a common community of interest and frequent contact to make a nation."

 *whispering under breath* Hm...just like Earth in my time. *normal voice* You still have contact with Earth, right?

=="Old Earth? Its a very long way away. The last Rakow to visit it was my Uncle Roger and that was before I was born. Its very powerful, and rich, I'm told. Uncle Roger said it had hundreds of towers that reached to space, and it had an artificial ring like Sudbury's Ring around it."

 What's its status? Who's Southerland,

=="Brian Southerland?!? He's the greatest physicist since...um...Newt Gingrich. They named a bunch of planets after him. Even Sudbury was named as the place he was supposedly buried."

 and these extraterrestrials you speak of...what are they?

=="Oh, you really want to talk to my cousin Lucinda. She's the Xenobiologist in the Family."

 Are any of them galactic powers like ourselves?

"Yes."
 And *referring to friends* just who are you talking to?"
=="Some of my brothers and sisters and cousins like to play jokes on me." She looks around hoping they'll spring up, and when they don't she turns back to you troubled.

I smirk as Joe asks me these questions. This Rakow family seems friendly enough, and from what I've heard, they have quite a reputation. I go ahead and place my camcorder on the table (facing us), shift a bit on my seat, and begin to explain.

"Trader, eh? Alrighty...I'm sorry, Joe, but unless you have the capability to travel to alternate universes, I'm afraid there's no way to make contact with my Earth. Even if you did, I'm pretty sure it'd be a chore to find it; who knows how many there are. Heck, the multiverse is probably infinite, even..."

===="Theoretically it is infinite. I can't explain the theory. One of my brothers might be able to. If not, I have an uncle I know can."  He smiles thoughtfully.  "Each of us in a Trader Family is encouraged to develop specialized talents along with the core curriculum.  And so, there's only thirty active Traders, what with the little kids and the revered elders bringing us up to seventy, but we manage to cover a lot of intellectual ground. However, I think you're probably right about interdimensional trade, but...." He looks thoughtful. "You could really make a lot of money that way."

I ponder for a moment. It would be rather cool if there was an alliance between different universes. You never know. Then I think about Joe's offer. Traders...heh, what do I have that would interest them? I'm like eight centuries behind these people... Then I remember.

"Give me a sec..." I quickly reach into my backpack and search for something of value (sort of), but nothing that's actually that useful to me. Then I find something: my baseball. Well, it's something. I take it out and show it to him.

"I've got somethin'. This is a baseball. It's used in an old Earth sport called, well, baseball." I chuckle, then continue. "I guess you people would consider this as an ancient artifact. I wish I could offer more, but all I have on me are things I absolutely need."

=="Artifacts are always useful. The farther away in time and space they come from the better. If you could write a history of how you got this, and any details about its use, and how its supposed to be used, that would be more valuable. It would give it provenance, I guess we'd call it."  He handles the ball between his fingers. "We could take it on consignment, o offer you a fixed rate that would be probably less.  But the better you write up the provenance file, the more money you'd make from it."  He smiles lightly. "Don't try to scam us. We've heard every lie and exzaggeration ever used. In fact, we take a class on detecting lies."



I ponder again, not satisfied with my offer. The only other option I had was to tell him my story. "Well, Joe...I've got a story, if that's any good. I'll tell you all about what happened to me. Be ready, this'll be a long one."

I then proceed to tell Joe everything, from the accident in the computer lab that made me this way, to the SAS picking me up in the Amazon, to my sudden relocation to Radix, Nevada. I paused to let it sink in before going on to explain my meeting with Julius, Jeremy, Rachel, and fellow Worldwalker, Lucas. I wonder where he is now, and I hope that he is well. Then I explain my showdown with the Leviathan, meeting up with McCallister (another 'walker), my fiery death via high-explosive tank shell, and me ending up here.

"...And that's about it. Heh, I know this all sounds pretty unbelievable, but I'm dead serious."

He listens, and then calls in one of his sisters, Rhonda. He makes you repeat the story, and she asks a number of details.  Finally, Rhonda is done. She hands you a fifteen thousand words personal history, and asks you to sign it to show its valid.

And then Joe smiles.

"We believe you because four centuries ago the first Rakow, Benedict Rakow, well he was in a spot of trouble. Aboard a crashing spaceship pursued by enemies with undamaged spaceships.  Suddenly there was a man on board.  This man analyzed the situation rapidly, destroyed the enemy spaceships, and crash-landed a ship that Benedict thought was fatally damaged.

Benedict was about to get skewered by a bit of metal from the ship when the man knocked him out of the way and got pierced himself.

As the man hung there, dying, Benedict asked the name of his benefactor and how he had gotten on the ship.

"I'm Lucas, a verser." And the man evaporated.  "Which is why for the last four hundred years, there's always been one son of the Rakow family with the name Lucas. Which is me. I'm Joseph Lucas Rakow."

===="Theoretically it is infinite. I can't explain the theory. One of my brothers might be able to. If not, I have an uncle I know can."  He smiles thoughtfully.  "Each of us in a Trader Family is encouraged to develop specialized talents along with the core curriculum.  And so, there's only thirty active Traders, what with the little kids and the revered elders bringing us up to seventy, but we manage to cover a lot of intellectual ground. However, I think you're probably right about interdimensional trade, but...." He looks thoughtful. "You could really make a lot of money that way."
--
I nod slowly, smiling. "I bet I could. If I ever find a way, I'll let you know. I hope." I doubted it, though. I didn't know what to expect in this universe, and something could happen at any moment that could verse me out, be it death or another cause.
------
=="Artifacts are always useful. The farther away in time and space they come from the better. If you could write a history of how you got this, and any details about its use, and how its supposed to be used, that would be more valuable. It would give it provenance, I guess we'd call it."  He handles the ball between his fingers. "We could take it on consignment, o offer you a fixed rate that would be probably less.  But the better you write up the provenance file, the more money you'd make from it."  He smiles lightly. "Don't try to scam us. We've heard every lie and exzaggeration ever used. In fact, we take a class on detecting lies."
--
"Mm-hm..." I nod. I could do that. Besides, if I was going to stick around in this universe, I might as well earn some cash. Or credits. Whatever currency they use here. "Sounds good to me. Heh, and don't worry. I wouldn't scam you. It's nothing really advanced; just a ball," I chuckle. "But it's got quite a history behind it."
------
He listens, and then calls in one of his sisters, Rhonda. He makes you repeat the story, and she asks a number of details.  Finally, Rhonda is done. She hands you a fifteen thousand words personal history, and asks you to sign it to show its valid.

And then Joe smiles.

"We believe you because four centuries ago the first Rakow, Benedict Rakow, well he was in a spot of trouble. Aboard a crashing spaceship pursued by enemies with undamaged spaceships.  Suddenly there was a man on board.  This man analyzed the situation rapidly, destroyed the enemy spaceships, and crash-landed a ship that Benedict thought was fatally damaged.

Benedict was about to get skewered by a bit of metal from the ship when the man knocked him out of the way and got pierced himself.

As the man hung there, dying, Benedict asked the name of his benefactor and how he had gotten on the ship.

"I'm Lucas, a verser." And the man evaporated.  "Which is why for the last four hundred years, there's always been one son of the Rakow family with the name Lucas. Which is me. I'm Joseph Lucas Rakow."
--
I smile politely and greet Rhonda when she comes in. I do repeat my story and answer her questions. Then I proceed to sign the document, or whatever it is. When Joe tells his own story, I listen, interested. Another verser...fascinating. Then he repeats the verser's words, and my eyes widen. "Lucas..." That had to be him. That must've been the Lucas I knew from Radix.
I smile and mutter, "Good man...what a story. That may be the Lucas I know. As I said before, he helped me quite a bit back in Radix. Unfortunately, I don't know where he is now. I can only hope he's safe and doing well. I hope that our paths cross again one day...but that'll probably be in another 'verse."