by Moulton, CD
The game broke up when several more people came in to use the table so Kit went to the bar to sit next to Namp.
"How did you do it?" Namp asked. "It's okay. I'm over my mad."
"I've got a mathematical talent," Kit replied. "Get your best computer and feed it any numbers you like as you tell them to me and I'll finish before the machine. I watch the cards as they're played and figure the odds on each card drawn. It doesn't always work, but it gives me a much better chance. If I see the order of the discards and the dealer shuffles three times I watch where the cut is made, I can figure within a couple of cards where some are.
"When you drew that last hand I'd say you were holding the primary, second, Torrid and Cut of Stars so you could win with any Star or with any high or low. The odds were tremendously in your favor. I would've bet as heavily if I held such a hand and didn't know what was coming up.
"I watched the order of the discards before, saw the second of Light and the second of Mists were discarded and I held the highs going to fill – so the deck held all four centers and two periods in the range of where you were to draw as well as no Stars for at least six draws. The cards on the deck were all losers. You drew the Center of Mists. You cheat from a marked deck. With my mathematical mind I will automatically make a matrix of the card backs so I can see the small irregularities immediately. Your methods are a bit crude. I don't know why someone hasn't killed you long ago."
"I'm careful who I use them on," he explained, honestly. "What do you really want here? It's not cards and it's not a spacer job. You're up to something and it don't have nothin' to do with getting a job on some tramp freight hauler."
"I followed someone, you might say," Kit answered. "It's got something to do with Jorn I think and I'm more than a little frightened by it. I don't know what's going on. My race has taken some bad knocks because of what a few have done and this has to be big. Very big!
"I don't want to be blamed for anything someone else did. I have to put up with a hell of a lot of prejudice as it is. I don't want anymore heaped on."
"Big?" Namp asked. "How so?"
"Do you know the emperor's on Grlaq?" Kit asked.
Namp spilled his drink all over himself and stared wide-eyed at Kit. The bartender, who was close, dropped a tray of glasses.
Well, surprise! Surprise! So they both knew something – and there was one little item that hadn't slipped by in the conversation, either. Kit grinned and toasted Namp with his glass, drained it and went out.
*
Tab checked into the spacer hotel and glanced at the register, photographing every slight detail for later perusal. He wished the place had a computer for such things because he could read the entire records that way.
He was checking in as a Jornian so facilities would have to be set for his comfort and the kitchen would have to be told a Jornian's food would have to be prepared. Everything was kept in special codes. The symbol for Jornian was 'J-6-M' on the book.
"What's the M for?" he asked.
"Male," the desk clerk answered. "Some races have really wild differences between their male and female requirements. It also tells us what to send if you request company for the night. If you do we have Jornian females. Two of them. Thirty five credits extra.
"I know you Jornians make a big deal out of not having whores among their women, but they stay pretty busy in a place this far from anything."
"I guess you don't need more than two ever," Tab said as he signed the book.
"Sometimes," the clerk said. "Seven B. East wing."
He slid the register under the desk and handed Tab a key.
Tab went to the elevator and to his room. He checked it over carefully, then went down to the restaurant on the first floor for noonmeal, though it was early yet. He sat where he could see the desk and the people who came in and out. It was a busy spot.
After the meal he went to the traders guild building where Z passed him coming out. They nodded at each other as strangers do when they passed.
Tab went to the desk where he found the clerk to be extremely nervous. He asked if that wasn't the emperor's companion, Z, who he just saw on the steps.
"Yes!" the clerk answered. "The emperor's personal ship is out there! It brought the Terran and the Mentan. Everyone thinks the emperor's aboard, but he never is seen in public so we don't know.
"I don't know what's going on. What the hell does the emperor want here?"
Tab groaned and asked if the Terran was asking about Jornians.
"Jornians?!" the clerk asked. "No, about ... some shipments. I'm not at liberty to say. Why do you think he would ask about Jornians?"
"Because of some stories I heard," Tab replied. "Some Jornian outlaws hijacked an empire ship or something such and the emperor was supposed to have blown his retros about not putting up with pirates in the Maitan Empire. You know how these things get out of hand. I don't want to go through a lot of crap everywhere I go because someone of my same race who I never even heard of did something stupid in some place I've never been! If the empire gets involved every Jornian out here is going to end up getting blamed for it!"
"The emperor's not like that at all!" the clerk protested. "He would never blame anyone for something someone else did! Besides, you could take the probe and you'd be cleared right off!"
"You got to be joking!" Tab cried. "Out here? Take the probe? I didn't say I never did nothing at all! I said I didn't have nothing to do with no hijacking! Get with the ion stream!"
"Well, that's your problem," the clerk replied with a smirk. "Can I help you with something?"
"I want to know if Jornians bought or sold any unregistered cargo," Tab said. "If I can find the hijackers and turn them in maybe the rest of us will be left alone. I guess ... but you said he didn't ask about Jornians.
"Anything you've heard? Believe me, I want this cleared up and the empire out of here! We don't need them sticking their fingers in our business!"
"You should know the traders guild won't deal in any unregistered cargo!" the clerk snapped haughtily. "Our reputation is completely beyond reproach in all ways!"
"I didn't ask if you dealt in it! I know you didn't!" Tab said in exasperation. "Like me on the probe, I know damned well you KNOW about those things whether you have anything to do with it or not!"
"The only cargoes I know about concerning Jornians are the ones that are regular runs," the clerk said. "Nothing has changed in years that I've heard of. That's the truth.
"I didn't know what the emperor wanted here, but you told me so I'll be straight with you. All the Terran wanted was a list of legitimate cargo over the years so I guess what he's looking for is what was delivered somewhere that ISN'T guild business! The emperor has enough facilities to traces everything back to its source.
"I wish him luck! More than half of what goes on here isn't through the guild!"
"See why I want to avoid the probe?" Tab asked, grinning at the clerk. He saluted and left, heading for the hotel to think. He had an idea as he entered. The restaurant was full now and no one was in the lobby. The foods were delivered in the restaurant by robots so he made one of them become confused by sending two added sets of commands on its wavelength. It knocked over a potted plant, then dumped its trays on the floor where there was no tray stand. It ran into the food and spun its wheels trying to back off, then slid into a table and turned it over to add to the confusion and mess. No one was hurt or even badly soiled by that, but all organic personnel ran to stop the machine at once, including the desk clerk. Tab quickly reached around the counter and took the book for the east wing, ran through all the pages for the past several years and replaced it. He then went to his room where he laid on the bed to bring each page up for study. He wanted to know about J-6, M or F!
Interesting. He stood, checked his appearance in the mirrors and went down to the lobby and out.
*
TRD-60 took sections four A and B, while T6 took C and D of sector 1. Maita took the near half of sector 2,
sections A and B.
There were literally millions of entries for the past fifteen years that had to be crosschecked for a number of items. It was a matter of working backward, really. There was little doubt but that it was all eventually handled through the four outlaw trader worlds in this section. It may have expanded over the past five years, but they all doubted that. The evidence from Savaraj was that this was a slow and steady building up of ... something. Once the lists were all gathered and each had "lifted" the information that might apply the two ships linked through their special channel to once again crosscheck the newly expanded pattern. They placed what they wanted to know on their mental "screen" to see if anything became obvious.
There were nine possibles, each of which was nearly equal in likelihood.
Then, they waited.
*
Thing took a carrier floater to the nearest warehouse where it announced itself as investigating something on orders of Emperor Maita and demanded to see the bills of lading for all ships loading from that company for the past five years. It was all handwritten, but Thing said it knew all of that was kept in separate computer records as well as on the paper. This was an emergency and time was critical. The emperor was just trying to prevent the necessity of Fleet coming into the sector because he didn't want to get too much of the empire's resources tied up in a silly investigation that would do nothing more than eat up funds and time – to no real end.
"It's in company code," the Eacheron foreman said. "Won't do you any good because no one but a couple of the big bosses know the key – and the guy who programs the thing, you know."
[ There's never before been a code I couldn't break and there isn't one now. I swear to you we aren't here to do anything to your business. This doesn't concern you except peripherally. What we want is to avoid having to send the fleet out here to become bogged down for years in a long investigative process that will tell us more than we want to know. We simply don't have the facilities to spread around like that. Everything is fairly well needed where it is at the moment. I'll promise we aren't after this company in any way. What we're after here will have to be extracted through a logical process only another Mentan would understand. This is something you don't even dream of! ]
Thing used its empathic projection to make the fellow trust it a bit more than normal, though there was every chance it could have gotten the information without it. This was a little faster. It wasn't going to be done very quickly under any circumstances, but there wasn't any better way.
The floater had a special socket TR had built into it. It was designed by Tab for the specific purpose of reading everything in a computer's permanent banks or to take anything off of software even without an access code. The fellow took Thing to the main computers and showed it the hundreds of software crystals, saying it was going to be almost impossible to get the stuff the emperor wanted without the codes. He didn't know most of the codes himself and didn't want to know because that'd just add to his job without adding anything to his pay. They had a fellow come in each evening to input the records of the day.
Thing inserted the variable-pin socket from the floater into the modem output port. The foreman asked what that was for.
[ I can't speak directly and can't, obviously, use a keyboard designed for fingers (Waving a tentacle) so I use a standard modem through the floater's computer. It's complicated, but it works. The circuits I use to the translator as much as push the keys on command. ]
"Well, you'll be here for days so I'll get back to my work," the fellow replied. "The emperor's responsible for any damage!"
Thing waved, then quickly inserted one crystal after another until all had been "read." It removed the modem socket three hours later, found and thanked the Eacheron, then went to the next warehouse to repeat the process. It then did its own crossreference studies, which took awhile longer. Finally it sat back to think for a few minutes, then asked the computer for a bit of other information. It thought again, made a deep mental sigh and went back to Maita.
*
Z went directly to the reception desk at the traders guild, announced he was there on empire business, showed the identification chit Maita prepared and asked for all listings of movements of certain types of heavy equipment. He then asked for listings of all movements of certain types of laboratory equipment, then for various other types of equipment. He was very careful not to ask for certain qualifications, as that would tend to color his results. These people knew what was going on out here and knew their own ability to do business was linked to it so would tend to give information on what THEY thought the empire wanted just to see that officialdom got the nine hells out as fast as possible. Business had to restrict itself while the emperor's agents were there.
He wasn't too sure he knew what he was after, but he got all the lists, put them into his case and headed back to Maita. He passed a Jornian on his way out and nodded, wondering if maybe he had been in the nick of time – if the others' questions maybe had alerted someone.
Of course not! That had been Tab! The little scar over the left eye identified him.
He went aboard Maita and had food sent to the pilot's dome, sat in the chair, chatted with Maita a moment, pulled the computer console around and began inputting all the data he'd gathered. It would take a little time, but so would the others' projects. No one was trying to beat the others in some kind of silly race. They all wanted answers and didn't care which one or which combination came up with the results they needed. They could play their games later. About two hours later he saw the indicator on T6's circuit telling him Kit was back aboard. He was deeply absorbed and only noted it subconsciously as he noted when Tab returned to TR a couple of hours after that.
He finished the input, read a part of it to be sure he got it fairly straight and asked his questions. His answers came onto the screen, then he called Maita's data banks for information about certain types of worlds in certain areas and figured that into the equation. If he had figured right it was one of those six worlds. It wouldn't take too long to search those six worlds if they had to. Maybe one of the others had information that would eliminate some of them without a search. One thing was dead sure. There was at least one other world the Jornian outlaws were building a base on – and they'd moved the equipment and had time to have it very well-defended.
He was tired. Exhausted. It had gone on for fifteen years so a few hours more wouldn't matter. He laid back and went to sleep.
*
Thing came aboard a half hour later than Z. It stowed the floater in the cargo hold and carried a crystal with it into room two, placed the crystal into the computers there, went to its cubicle to clean up and eat, then went to the pilot's dome to rest. Z was exhausted, too, and was asleep in the pilot's chair, so Thing curled up in his lap to sleep.
Maita called six hours later to wake them. *It's time we saw what we have. TR and Tab went into outer orbit some hours ago and T Six and Kit are on their way now. We'll rendezvous in a few minutes and compare notes. I have my own information input in conjunction with TR and T Six. All I'll say is that I'm sure there are one or more worlds being exploited in the manner Savaraj was to have been. They'll be armed by now, I can safely assume. I have it narrowed to eleven worlds.*
"Six," Z stated.
[ I'll say seven, but our comparisons may further reduce the possibilities. I don't think personally that any of us approached this from the same angle. That means there's a good chance we'll be able to reduce it to a lower number quickly. If we can get it to four or less we are as much as done with that part of it. ]
*We're with the others. We'll link. First Tab will tell us what he found and his logic and method. I'll plot everything on the main holovid so we can all study it and apply our own input.*
"My logic was that the rest of you would find the basic leads," Tab said. "I determined the cycle, thus determining there IS a cycle. I feel that'll determine which of the worlds – I'm sure you've each come up with a variety of worlds –
it could be. My logic was that they would use a schedule based on the day on the planet they're using. My method was to get into the hotel register where the Jornians stay on Grlaq and note when and at what time of the day they checked in. Over a period of years that'll give us a fairly accurate length of day when compared with the thirty two day month on Jorn. I assumed they would use one of those thirty two day months as a time-base from old habit.
"They arrived here every twenty eight and two thirds days Grlaq, which would probably be every thirty second day wherever they are so their day there is point eight eight five of the day here. Maitan standard time of the day here is twenty six point four four two hours so their day is twenty three point four oh hours MGS.
"If one of your suspect worlds has a twenty three point four oh hour day, that's it!"
*Kit?*
"I guess we're programmed a bit too much alike," Kit answered. "I thought of the time angle and that you'd make a list of possible worlds. I did one other thing, though. It may help in the long term to know approximately how long their year is. It would also tell us what kind of climate the world has if the seasons there change enough to be noticeable here.
"They drank warm drinks and wore somewhat too much clothing into the bar when they came directly from the ship to meet people there part of the time and were too loosely dressed and drank chilled drinks part of the time. I worried for a moment that perhaps the contrast here had reversed the seasons on their world of origin, but it doesn't matter. We want to know the length of their year, not what season it is now. I’ve determined that pretty exactly, I think.
"The overdress was for two to three visits, then normal for two to three, then so forth. It would vary. One year it was two visits, then three, then two, then three so we can deduce that two and a half is fair. That’s two and a half hot, two and a half cold, five intermediate over the course of the year. Their year is very nearly five hundred sixty six days here or about five hundred one MGS days. That should narrow it down a bit."