Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition

by Moulton, CD

  "Now, these are standard solenoid coils. They're all over the place on a spaceship. These were also found in the wrong place. They've had the protective coating scraped here and here, exactly where the conveyor roller rails would touch! How odd!

  "Used coils are dropped into the elementizers. One doesn't place them in the parts bins. Not on a spaceship.

  "Now! We place the rails together like so and run them through our coils. We attach the orange lead from all the coils to one side of this wire and we wind the wire from each of the other sides along here underneath and hook it to this, which we stick up along the rail so anything between the two sets of rollers rubs along them.

  "Ah! Now we hook a wire to the end of our little piece of flat soft iron stock like so. I didn't bother to sharpen it like you did.

  "See how easy it was to figure?"

  "So what?" Sarn snapped. "You've got some coils and rollers and a piece of iron. Big deal!"

  Tab smiled at him and pointed the end of the thing directly at his stomach, then said, "We put these little springs here to hold the rollers tightly against the iron bar, like so. Then we take a standard power pack of any sort whatever and attach the wire from the orange to this lead and we touch this wire hanging on the iron to the green lead and..."

  Sarn screamed and dropped to the floor.

  "As I was saying, I touch this end to the green and, if there were any current whatever in the power pack, the iron would fly out to go right through Sarn's gut. It would be traveling at too much velocity for him to duck. That he knew exactly what would happen was obvious.

  "The angle of the shot shows it could have come only from your seats. You have motive, opportunity – what else do we need? We have you."

  "Even if you do you can't prove which one!" Nicht cried as Boost shouted, "Shut up, you fool!"

  "So? We don't have to know which one," Tab argued. "You had come together over a period of time to plan this thing, which means it's a conspiracy, which means we can prosecute any one of you. That one will be placed on the probe and the rest of you are just as surely caught.

  "Officers, you can now arrest them."

  Kit put his stuff back in the box as the police led the four Bentans out. They went back to their ships and were soon back on Perfect (Hah!) 3.

  "You know, I think they still think they'll get away with it," Tab said as they sat together in the pilot's dome on TR. "It's surprising how a person with the mental ability to do this can't see how it's hopeless to fight a judge machine. It was basically Boost's idea. He talked Nicht into it and his brothers naturally followed him. He was always the smart one in the family."

  "Nicht will get off pretty lightly," T6 said over the speaker system. "She was, as you say, talked into it by her husband. It was really coercion. The three men are going to be executed. You can't beat the machines."

  "It seems such a pity a mind that could dream that up is so totally crooked," Tab noted. "If he'd invented something productive the crime bit would be very small takings in contrast."

  "The whole family was oriented toward crime," TR said. "That's the way it goes! I fail to ever have any sympathy with the type. It sometimes seems to be a whole crooked universe."

  "I think we could use a vacation on New Zule," Tab suggested. "Those people always could restore my faith in things. So long as there's one race like that it's worth it!"

  No one, machine or organic, could deny that!

  Ninth Case

  "This is interesting," T6 said to Kit.

  Kit is a robot detective for the Maitan Empire, and T6 is his spaceship while being a part of him. While they are individuals they are also a single being. They are independently intelligent as well as collectively intelligent with the added abilities of the other pair in the T-K Detective Agency, Tab and TRD-60. They're robots, too, of course.

  "What's interesting?" Kit asked.

  "A case that's just coming in," T6 replied. "TR's handling it. You can listen in."

  The whole thing was then placed on the internal communications system. That way TR, Tab, T6 and Kit could all take part and hear everything. As it was coming in on fastcom it was received in digital writing, anyhow.

  ~T-K Det. Ag. TRD60 Perfect 3:

  ~There have been a series of burglaries.

  ~Expensive equipment.

  ~No clues. No ideas. Need help.

  ~Going bankrupt. Insurance refusals.

  ~Top security agency not avail. No place to turn. No money for your fees, but will make payment agreement.

  ~Znof Znuw. Erlicjh 4 code RT231-16E4~

  TR replied.

  ~Znof Znuw Erlicjh 4 RT231-16E4:

  ~Will arrive midday Septate 16.

  ~TRD60 Perfect 3~

  "It seems we have a case," Tab said. "Shall we take both ships?"

  "Why not?" T6 asked. "We can always come home if this is one of those boggy things where only you're needed."

  "Maybe you can stay and we'll come home," TR shot back.

  "No way!" Kit replied quickly. "YOU took the job!"

  "We leave tomorrow at what time here, TR?" Tab asked.

  "Oh, seven, seven ten should do it," TR replied. "You'll really love this one! The Ejahds are one of those unclassifiable lifeforms. They use a different system of logic than we do. This will be total confusion for everyone! It's possible you'll walk right in there and see what's happening, but you'll play hell making them see it!"

  They discussed the Ejahds and their strange way of thinking, but no one really knew anything useful. It was mostly a matter of empire records, which weren't clear. No one really understood the people.

  "Thing says their logic is as good as ours, but one must be inside of it to understand it," Tab complained. "Of course where Thing's concerned we can't hope to compete. It can understand any system of logic through its empathic talent."

  There was nothing else to do so they waited, then headed for Erlicjh in the morning.

  They arrived at the planet where they were instructed to land on the company field where Znof Znuw rushed out to meet them. It was a sort of tubular being with six legs and two sets of arms. It was covered in an orange-red fur, almost like velvet.

  "I'm sure you will want to see where the things were stolen so you can solve the case quickly," Znof greeted them. "When it is solved we will tell you all we know and will also give you the information about what was stolen and when and all of that."

  Kit looked over to Tab and shrugged.

  "Solve it first, THEN they give us the clues and evidence?" he sent to Tab.

  "We're going to HAVE to contact Thing on this one!" Tab returned. "Just go along with Znof until we can get back aboard the ships. We can attempt to understand their approach. Try to look intelligent and nod and look knowing or something. We can figure it out later – I hope! Maybe it will make sense to Thing, but I think we're going to have one frozen hell of a time learning anything from these people!"

  Znof showed them a warehouse with equipment stacked around, apparently at random. There was a large bare spot where equipment seemingly was removed. It then showed them two more such areas in two other warehouses. They tried to look knowing and nodded a lot (as per Tab's earlier instructions), asked for the dates things were taken and had them supplied, though they got strange looks from Znof and any others who heard what they wanted. At least they thought they were strange looks. They then returned to T6 to discuss it.

  "We know something was taken," Kit said. "We know when it was taken. I'd hoped we'd get a list of what was taken at the same time, but all we got was dates and warehouse numbers. T Six, call Thing. We need some insight here!"

  They waited until they got a fastcom link to Maita and thus to Thing. There was a two minute lag in the com so they knew the signal was going through more than twenty relays. Maita was a long distance from Elicjh!

  [ What do you need, Kit and Tab? Send as much information as you can at one time as the lag makes for difficulty in holding to a vein of thought. ]

&nb
sp; ~We are on Erlicjh. There have been a series of robberies of expensive equipment of a type not known to us. It was taken at three separate times from three separate warehouses. We were shown the places where the stuff was taken and were given the dates, though these people reacted strangely about giving us the dates. They say they will give us their clues and information after we have solved it (!!!). We can make no sense of this and have decided to let them volunteer things, but we have to gain some understanding of their system of logic. We see none so far.~

  They waited.

  [ It's all perfectly logical. You must solve the case with a minimum of knowledge of the facts. You know where the material was stored when it was taken. You must determine how to locate the stolen merchandise and those who absconded with it, how it was done and so forth. If your solution fits the facts as they already know them and has been reached by a second method it will hold up in a court there because it can easily and definitely be shown you weren't influenced by anyone outside. They weren't acting strangely when they gave you the dates. They don't want to give you so much of their information a court will claim you were influenced. No doubt they have several suspects and are hoping you will come to the conclusion that one or more of the same people they have come to suspect are the culprit there. They have no definite proof so called in someone who could be shown to have no personal interest whatever in the theft or the people involved directly. Tell them TR and/or T6 are a part of the solution. They trust machines so the weight of testimony of the ship's computers is great. ]

  ~How do we get further information? We are as much as totally helpless with no more than we have!~

  [ So sit around and cry about it! That way you won't have to think! I would imagine you have any number of little tricks when you start a case that wouldn't occur to them. The people there are neither thieves nor liars so it will be something an offworlder has done. They can't understand the act so won't know what to do about it. That's why they called you. They believe you are accomplished thieves yourself, though they will trust you because you are in their employ. Don't refuse fees. They can't trust you if you do, though you can make fees quite low. Tell them the empire pays you except for surety fees from the one who calls to hire you. That will be logical to them. You will then be on the side of the empire and the empire's laws first and to them second, which is the way things should be. It will also occur to them you are then ex-thieves because you accept payment from the empire so are bound to follow empire laws. ]

  They talked with Maita and Z a short while, then got together to decide how they were going to handle this.

  "I wish we knew their system for warehousing," Kit complained. "If we knew the bulk and weight of the individual items we.... I have an idea! T Six, can you determine what ships were here on these fields on the dates the stuff was taken?"

  "It's all on empire machines so I've already got it – or TR has," T6 replied. "Routine stuff. It was either the Maktowian freighter M three TC fifty one HC, or the Drarnian freighter 'Buk Starling'. The Maktowian job is crewed by Maktowians only, as few can stand the immense gravity they must maintain. Anything taken aboard their ship would have to be well-made indeed if it were not to collapse of its own weight. The Drarnian trader is crewed by whoever's handy and makes general runs. M three goes directly to Maktow."

  "What freight aboard?" Tab asked.

  "Electronic parts transhipments to Maktow," TR replied. "The Drarnian ship carries anything that will sell. You and Thing were on Maktow. I refuse to believe those people would steal. It's simply beyond any least possibility. That means we already know which ship the merchandise went aboard. See how much we progress? We've already identified the thieves – we just don't know what they took or how they got it out of there!"

  "I want to go back again and look around in those warehouses," Kit said. "We have to know what was taken now. I'm sure it wasn't something the whole crew was in on."

  "The captain and the loadmaster at a bare minimum," T6 suggested. "If we can discover what was taken we can trace the merchandise and can tag them with it."

  Tab and Kit went back to the warehouses and walked through them. Kit recorded the position of everything. He finally sent that he knew the system and they went back aboard TR and T6.

  "Find where they took the ship. Everywhere it's stopped," Kit said. "We'll split up and trace where they unloaded the loot. I think they simply loaded a part of the stuff from here while they were loading legitimate merchandise they were supposed to have. The Ejahds wouldn't think of stealing so they wouldn't check if each load had one thing that wasn't supposed to be there. We can check to find where they unloaded the stuff and we've got them."

  "What is it they took?" Tab asked.

  "Servos made to be operated by standard K-form beings in low to moderate gravity and with electronic control systems, but not fully automatic. Most are agricultural, though the lot lost in warehouse two could be mining," Kit answered. "They stack the stuff according to what type of being and what type of world and have a system within those boundaries of what equipment is in a given area with several subareas as to how the equipment is controlled. I'm sure it's easy for them, but I'd go nutzo trying to find anything in a hurry!"

  "TR, give us lists of legitimate cargo on that ship," Tab suggested. "Can you get the routes it followed somehow? Will that be in the empire recorders or maybe the traders guild machines?"

  "I've been working on it through the traders guild records," TR answered. "It's been fairly easy because that ship changes part of the crew on almost every stop. They list their ship and where it's been on their trade papers."

  "I'm checking on something else about that particular ship!" T6 interjected. "Ah! So! That's it, then! The captain, nav officer, com officer and loadmaster are the only ones who were on all the trips where the stuff's missing from here.

  "Listen to this! What a bunch! The captain is Drarnian, the com and nav officers are Bentans and the loadmaster is Jornian. Talk about a crew with a destiny! Only the Drarnians are new to us in criminal affairs. I'm checking with registration central ... they're prone to the same acts as the mammalian Bentans, though they're reptiles.

  "Now all we have to do is find the stuff."

  "I wish we could get serial numbers or something," Tab said. "I don't know how we'll prove it's from here."

  "I'll get that part," TR promised. "The stuff is only warehoused and transhipped here. It’s not manufactured here. There'll be manifests and guarantees and that sort of standard records regardless of the logic system of the handlers. I have a floater accessing individual warehouses' recorders.

  "Great colliding galaxies! It'll take forever to cross-check all of this stuff!"

  "How long exactly?" Kit asked.

  "Maybe twelve minutes nineteen point four oh eight three seven seconds from – mark! – approximately," TR replied. For a computer with TR's capacities that was almost forever.

  "That means forty two million items in four directions?" T6 asked.

  "Only sixteen million items, but I can't find their system of bookkeeping so I had to invent a system of listing and have to handle each item several times," TR answered. "You go to Bell, Distin, Creops, Narth and Zuunii and I'll take Krost, Czster, Dwone, Kloops and Drove."

  "You cut out Drove and Krost and I cut out Distin and Narth," T6 suggested. "They don't fit the kinds of things Kit says are missing. Wrong types of worlds."

  "Cut out Zuunii," Kit added. "They don't use machines to any great extent. Bell has everything totally automatic so all you have is Creops."

  "Nope! You don't even have Creops!" Tab said. "They aren't standard-sized people. They're very large.

  "Let's get Znof and whoever he wants to come along and we'll go to claim their merchandise. Czster is the only real choice."

  "I've got Thing again. We'll see if it thinks we have what these people want," T6 said. "Here's its answer."

  [ You seem to have done it. This is exactly what they expected. They never doubted
one moment you would solve the case. Now let's hope you’ve reached the same conclusions they did. ]

  They couldn't chat much so soon rang off and went to pick up Znof, who listened to their explanations and seemed quite pleased. They located the equipment on Czster, which was more than the Ejahds had expected. They had hoped only to stop the thefts. Their insurors had cancelled because they thought nothing was or could be done under the Erlicjh system about the thefts. Now that the stuff was found they fell all over themselves to try to get back into the good graces of the Ejahds, but Tab introduced the people to the empire system, which was cheaper and which wouldn't be cancelled when anyone had some bad luck and the insurer didn't understand the system.

  The four people on the Drarnian ship found quite a reception committee waiting for them when they landed on Zuunii and were taken to Erlicjh. The empire judge machines gave out severe sentences and turned all funds held by those four over to the Ejahds, who used part of them to pay the detectives' fees and part was put into the insurance fund. The robots and their ships learned a great deal about different peoples and different ways of thinking. All in all it was one of those things that bring about a lot more good to many more individuals than would have ever been thought.

  Some cases are like that.

  Tenth Case

  "Hmm. Odd. The Lirnian Psiltripium Economic Exhibition has disappeared," TRD-60 informed the two robot detectives and their other ship, T6.

  Detective one, Tab, who looked (And most everything else) like an amphibian Swaz, grinned at number two, Kit, who looked (Etc.) like a reptilian Kheth and winked in a very organic looking (Etc.) manner.

  "Say, what?" he replied.

  All four of the members of the T-K agency were independently intelligent and had distinct personalities, though they were usually linked through internal com systems that allowed them to share all their mental facilities and knowledge instantaneously. Considering the size of the memory banks and computing circuits aboard TR and T6, that was some combination!