by Moulton, CD
"I didn't pay much attention to what's being grown, but the floaters should be able to tell us. They've recorded everything there in detail. I suppose they really are doing something like that simply because that's the type of people they are. They would smuggle the stuff out from habit when it would be to their advantage to move it legally."
"The floaters already reported the Khloovsht," TR replied. "I built the whole scenario around it. It's there in the quantities we suggested. What are we going to do on Froltzar?"
"We're going to expose this to the people there so they can handle it themselves without undue embarrassment to themselves or the Isliponans," Kit said. "The people get along too well to let something like this mess up their relationship.
"Head for Froltzar!"
"You got it!" TR replied. The two ships got clearance and left atmosphere together.
They arrived at Froltzar together and landed at the empire diplomatic field.
"Let's get into the records so we can hand the authorities here the facts," Tab said. "Kit and T Six, you get the news media into it. They'll have files. I've got holographs of most of the ones we want to identify. TR and I'll meet with the authorities for crossreferences and we'll check for the spice sales."
"... we've identified thirty one of your most wanted criminals for you and told you where they are," Tab finished at the meeting of the authority on Froltzar. "All the empire asks is that you handle the situation carefully and in such a way that your good relationship with Islipona isn't jeopardized."
"I hope we can do this in a way where the Isliponans never know about it," the Inspector General replied. "It is a shameful thing that we allowed the worst dregs of our race to almost contaminate that beautiful place! The Isliponans are the best friends we have in the galaxy and we do this to them!"
"You didn't do a single solitary damned thing to them!" TR's floater said. "Don't get this guilt complex started. Just go in there and remove them. Tell Glarch you'll see that no such thing happens again and forget it. I know damned well the Isliponans will. I think you should make arrangements to grow the Khloovsht there in a kind of joint venture with them. There should be profit for both worlds in that."
"It'll help to repay a little of the great help the Isliponans have given us," the IG agreed. "We depend on their world for much of our food. We couldn't survive as a race without such help. It will be good to be able to offer something in return!"
"The Isliponans enjoy your company," Kit said. "They feel the food is trade for some of the good things your race gives them. You produce a lot of the things they use themselves. They're the first to admit they're naturally lazy and would do without if someone else didn't produce those things."
"It is strange that we are such good friends," the IG said. "They are mammals and we are reptiles. Perhaps the differences are the basis of our interest in one another. All of Froltzar extend our friendship and great respect to the empire and our great thanks to its agents, the T-K Detective Agency. We deeply appreciate your help and your discretion in this matter. We are proud to be part of the empire."
TR knew the period of obligatory praise would start so sent a message through the floater that an emergency had come up and the agents must leave immediately. Froltzar would handle what was basically a Frolt problem and blah, blah, blah. The ships left atmosphere for EC in less than a quarter hour.
"They'll take care of this and will be stronger for it," Tab said. "Another rather satisfying conclusion to a case!
"We ARE getting rather good, aren't we?"
See You Later!
Perfect 3 wasn't all that bad in reality. It was just that the name made one react badly, but that was the way it was and nobody was going to change it! Tab, back to being a Swaz and Kit, again a Kheth were lazing around the pilot's dome on TR, who was linked with T6 on the pad. They had just heard that Maita and crew would soon be back on EC so would go there to exchange stories with their friends.
Kit was working perfectly – as was T6 – in the agency and now all enjoyed the business. Things like the Leen case, particularly the two days on Islipona at its conclusion, then the case there could show them much about the reactions of mammals such as Z. They could be adjusted to react in the same manner from the same stimuli.
Tab wanted to talk with Thing about the logic system of the Ejahds and about some of the things he'd learned on that ship. Kit wanted to make a few pointed jokes with Z now that he could understand the underlying sexuality in Terran language. Time was on their side. They worked well together and could work as well with Maita, Z and Thing so they could all enjoy the excitement and adventure for as long as it would last.
That could be a very long time.
Flight of the Maita
Book 23
On the Dome
(c) 1988 by C. D. Moulton
The crew decide to go exploring while Tab and Kit are getting settled in the detective business. The Krofpth are discovered.
Critic comment
This is better. Nice little adventures, and Library is explained.
More than readable. – PA
Contents
Let’s Go!
Selfish Trip
Efete Stagnation
The Krofpth
Getting to Know You
Looking for Clues
Intelligence
A Few Places
Paranoia
Political Non-answers
Oh, Groan!
Fart?!
Ape Connection
Good Things
On the Dome
Let’s Go!
Maita, spaceship, intelligent being, and emperor of the Maitan Empire (through no desire of its own), watched on its sensors as Tab/TR and Kit/T6, two robot detectives designed and built by Maita and their ships, one of which was built by Maita, went into orbit and soon flashed into TTH drive.
Kit was new and was built as partner and part of T6, the ship Maita didn't build, but a ship who developed independent intelligence through the random replacement of parts with components designed for another purpose. TRD-60 was designed to be intelligent and independent, as was Tab. This trip was to be to teach the robots to work together.
Maita was often referred to as a "mother hen" type worrier by Z, the Terran member of the "crew", who was abducted from Earth three hundred MGS (Maitan Galactic Standard) years ago and who had been one of the two permanent organic members of Maita's crew ever since. The other organic member was Thing, the Mentan empath. Thing was a squarish, rubbery being with tentacles and eyes on stalks. It was one of the most intelligent beings ever discovered and the empire covered almost the entire galaxy in size, though much was still unexplored.
The two organics were on Maita right now, having come to say good fortunes to Tab and Kit and their ships. The organics and machines honestly cared for one another and worked well together. They played word games among themselves that were based mostly on insult and one-upmanship. People often thought they were about to come to blows if they weren't familiar with the game. Z and Thing also played physical jokes on one another as well as on the machines, but the machines had to take care if they joined in those because they were virtually indestructible while the organics were comparatively fragile. The organic members of "The Emperor's Crew" could be rebuilt almost entirely in the med machines, but the brain was not rebuildable. The robots could be totally rebuilt, but the experience of the individual was what made him an individual and those parts of the mind couldn't be replaced, making death as true a description of what destroying the brain was to a robot as to an organic.
Maita had speakers over the entire ship as well as on floaters the crew often used, Thing more than the others, as its tentacles weren't all that great for moving about on smooth surfaces.
The ships and robots were linked when in close proximity to one another through a type of very finely tuned gravitic/radio transception that few others could intercept. (The ships would invent a new tuning concept on gravitics during the
ir adventures that would make a system that it was as close to impossible as those things can be to intercept.)
Thing, being an empath who breathed through filter membranes couldn't speak directly so Maita designed circuits into its floaters, TR, T6 and even Tab and Kit as well as in itself to translate for Thing. As Thing used the same speakers as the rest of the ships a system was worked out three hundred years ago to differentiate between Maita and Thing. Neither used “normal” breaks in inflection or pauses to indicate paragraphing or thought separation so whatever either said was in one long paragraph. This was of necessity at first but, though it no longer was, they still used the system from pure habit.
Thing had a melodic middle "C" tuning fork sound ([ – ]) before and after what it said, while Maita used a bell tone (*). Maita was designing a system in the galactic fastcom system that wouldn’t carry those tones for any other station so the forms would soon be known throughout the empire and no one could realistically hope to impersonate either of them. The system would be carried on a fractal wave base that Thing was designing.
It had been quite some time since the group had gone exploring and things were running themselves very well, thank you. Maita was more a figurehead anymore, as machines ran the empire, which was one big trading guild for all practical purposes. Only the crew and the Zulians (That's another story) knew the emperor was a machine. Some cultures wouldn't like to know a machine was why the system worked.
Z and Thing were kept in excellent physical condition by Maita's medical machines so there was no reason they should ever die. There was no danger of their becoming bored, the great curse of long life because they figured that, should they explore one new planet every day in this galaxy, they wouldn't get to all of them in millions of years. There was always something new. They had one other great advantage: There were sockets in Z's earlobes in which he could wear what appeared to be fine quality diamonds, but which were, in reality, fully programmed data input chips. The sockets were wired directly to Z's brain so he had full use of everything on the "diamonds." Maita could use the probe on anyone of any type, then edit language and customs for the immediate use of the crew, Z through the crystals and Thing and the others through direct broadcast. Knowledge, skills and abilities were also programmable onto the chips.
Another thing was that Z could be modified to a large extent in the medical boxes on TR, T6 and Maita to be indistinguishable from many beings. Coupled with the language and intimate knowledge of the society he could accomplish great things among those beings.
The medical "boxes" were used to implant the sockets for the crystals as well as for medical and modification reasons. There were occasionally other beings who traveled with Maita who were also implanted with the data sockets to facilitate their interaction with the crew.
They decided before coming to see their friends off that they would next explore on the galactic central sphere, which was only very slightly known. Maita needed to be doing something to take its thoughts from Kit and Tab so announced they could leave at any time.
[ I'm ready, Maita. Everything's much as I want it and will take care of itself. ]
Thing had planted vast gardens under the ocean on Empire Center. It was from a high pressure planet so enjoyed working under two to three kilometers of water. The augmented membranes made breathing almost as easy in liquid as in gases.
*It's up to you, Z. How soon can you be ready to go?*
"I have some of Joe's People to take care of things, so I'm ready. Let's get this play on the stage!"
Z had an island on EC where he brought plants from hundreds of planets, most of them in forms that were like the orchids of Earth, which he had the galaxy's finest collection of – off of Earth itself, of course – well, he had a lot of things that were now extinct on Earth so he had a more complete collection of species as well as a huge inventory of hybrids he'd crossed himself. He also raised types of camellias, bromeliads, and allied types of plants. He’d found many that seemed identical to familiar plants from Earth in appearances, such as what seemed to him to be amaranthus, but were actually very different genetically. The amaranth looked, smelled, and even tasted exactly like the amaranth of Earth. The crew used it – or its identical structure made with the atomic architect aboard the ships (Minus toxins for whichever being was to eat it) – in many recipes. They had never found a plant or animal native to one world that would cross with even the closest form from another world (except in cases where the lifeforms were earlier transplanted in bioforming experiments where a basic gene construction matched) and probably never would.
"There's no reason to stay here!"
*Then we're off!*
"We get accused of that all the time!"
Both Maita and Thing had learned all of Z's idioms by now so didn't reply.
Selfish Trip
Maita made a stop at New Zule so the crew (including itself) could visit awhile with those delightful people and with Theron, the intelligent ship who ran the Zulians around the galaxy. There were a number of Parf, among the greatest artists in the empire, visiting to share their new techniques and skills. Some of the Woost, also great artists, landscape designers and architects were also congregated there, making this perhaps the greatest meeting of natural artists to ever take place anywhere.
The Zulians are an unclassifiable race with tubular whitish opalescent bodies, four hard bony plates on the bottom which they use to move along much like inchworms and four tentacles immediately below the "head." They are the most loved and respected race in the entire galaxy and have a number of artists on a par with the Parf.
The Parf are four-legged and two-armed beings with vestigial wings and feathers, the males are quite colorful while the females are a tan-grey.
Theron said it had been transporting Parf and Zulians back and forth between the worlds as well as making its regular trips to University. It was a truly happy machine now.
The Woost were also birdlike in many ways, but the females were very colorful as well as the males. Theron was just beginning to go to the Woost worlds and was excited about that, too.
This visit made Thing wonder how Searcher, another intelligent machine, was doing so they detoured a third of the way across the galaxy to wake the amazing planoforming complex that was Searcher to visit for awhile. They decided that, as they were visiting machines, they would visit the world of robots they had discovered (but agreed to keep silent about until the machines were ready to expand into the empire's galactic society).
Theron, Searcher and the Zulians (of course) knew about them.
They next went to Library to find what information they could about any lost civilizations in the area they planned to explore, though they were aware the odds of any of them surviving these many thousands of years were as much as nonexistent.
It was a happy time for the crew and for Maita. It was good to just float around being lazy and irresponsible for a few days every hundred years or so. It gave zest to life.
Z and Thing played a bit, but it was a close sort of loving teasing where the insults and jibes were forgotten. Those games were more fun when Tab, Kit and their ships were around anyhow or on EC where elaborate traps could be set up to augment the verbal abuse they heaped on one another.
Maita left the emergency call circuits open, cutting off everything else about the empire. It often said it could be blown to oblivion somewhere and that no one would even know it for a thousand years.
This was to be an exploratory trip and a selfish one. This was for Maita, Z and Thing. It was only incidentally for the Maitan Empire in the reports and recordings to be filed later. This was so the friends could be together "like old times" when the wonder of amazing new discoveries was still there. This was so they could be, according to Z, "Good old Flash Gordon and Dr. Who and Buck Rogers and the Space Patrol all rolled into one!" one more time. Maita had to admit there had been far too much of a sense of routine creeping into their explorations. It was true there were no more pirates
unless they turned up on the galactic domes, no new concepts in politico-religious tyrannies. Even fighting mad robot brains or insane machines of other sorts had become more of a routine than a real adventure.
Well, maybe not so with a truly powerful insane machine. There had only been the one – two, if you could consider the Tlessarian berserker machine as being insane.
It would be nice if Tab and Kit could be along with TRD-60 and T6, but it was better they become a unit. Kit had much to learn and they were, after all, immediately connected through fastcom if anything came up.
If a machine could sigh Maita did so then. It was a sigh of relief and expectation, but not of too great an expectation. They'd learned a long time ago that great anticipation generally led to disappointment. The expectation here was the close friends could again directly interact and learn to know each other anew. The sigh was of a contentment only this situation could bring.
That was what it was really about – that and worrying about Kit and Tab. Just a little. The mother hen complex.
Finally they had stalled long enough. They headed out.
*I'll head toward the south dome first. We've explored little fractions of both the domes, but no more than one one thousandths percent.*
[ We're safe from intergalactic drift now so let's start on the very outermost stars and work inward from there. I want to determine at what depth into the dome we're most likely to find the things we're looking for. ]
"We already know there's not much at more than halfway toward central plane. I'd say we'll still have to be inward a plazsi or two because there'll be too little radiation on the edge itself. Life needs a certain amount to diversify, I think."
[ Any stellar body has some internal radiation in its youth. The stars will individually produce enough, though I agree the diversity won't be there to as great a degree. ]