[ WP ] Water is the intergalactic currency .

`` That does n't make any sense,'' I said. 
 
 `` Well,'' Trade Minister Alan Jordan said, `` we've already brokered the agreement. They'll deliver us fresh water in exchange for elements of human culture: Music, art, that kind of thing.'' 
 
 `` Wait,'' I said, `` you already signed?'' 
 
 `` Of course! Why did you think an alien delegation was here all last week? Anyway, I'm talking to you because I'd like you to iron out any problems you can see in the agreement.'' 
 
 I was momentarily speechless, but finally managed: `` It would seem the time for that has passed.'' 
 
 Alan sighed. `` What's done is done. Now, tell me what we can do.'' 
 
 `` Well,'' I started, `` like I said, it does n't make sense.'' 
 
 `` Why not?'' The Trade Minister was good at his job, but he lacked the more specialized knowledge that really would have prevented this sort of problem. 
 
 `` Because water is *easy*. It's H2O, right? Hydrogen's the most abundant element there is. And even if oxygen is a bit more rare, it's still all over the place. If you ca n't get it in raw form, just grab some CO2 and break it down. Heck, worst case scenario, use fusion to transmute carbon or nitrogen into it.'' I explained. 
 
 `` Now that does n't make sense,'' Alan said. `` Breaking down CO2 is going to cost them energy, and transmuting elements? I'm not even a nuclear scientist and I know that'd take an absurd amount of power!'' 
 
 `` The aliens are capable of creating *antimatter*,'' I said. `` In bulk quantities, no less. They have enough energy to travel faster than light. They think of fusion power as quaint. Transmutation is nothing to them.'' 
 
 `` Suppose you're right,'' Alan said. `` Suppose it's as simple as all that. Why would the aliens pretend water is their currency? What do they have to gain?'' 
 
 `` Our culture,'' I said. `` You're thinking of the art or music as not being worth much because we have so much of it, and because we can always make more, but to the aliens? It's entirely unique. Not to mention, it's new. We've only been a part of the interstellar community for a few years now, and then only because the Volonians gave us some of their ships out of pity. That means artifacts from our culture, the first new culture to appear in nearly a century, are worth quite a bit.'' 
 
 Alan was nodding. `` And when the'human' craze inevitably dies down?'' 
 
 `` We're left with nothing,'' I said. `` Even worse, we'll have become dependent on our trade partners for fresh water.'' 
 
 `` So they give us something completely worthless to them,'' Alan said, `` and in return, we give them the most valuable resource we have?'' 
 
 `` Exactly,'' I said. `` We're getting ripped off.''
