Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition (106 page)

"Hah! There
ain't no Frolt empire agents!" the security man cried.

"That's because
we're Klifts," Kit countered. "We're from Slentayll. We happen to
be very close to the Frolts in evolution and physical
characteristics.

"Come on. You
can tell me how you knew a lift did this when you can't see a
damned thing on the other side from over here."

Kit led the
protesting security officer away and Tab turned to the Frolts
standing around. "Is anyone going to tell me what this is all about
or am I going to have to find it for myself?" he asked.

The Frolts
exchanged looks and started drifting off. Tab saw one person who
got far too many of those looks, catalogued the fact and went to
inspect the body. He then went all over the area, checked the boxes
and the stacking, the forklift that ran into the stack, the
relationship between all the facilities and equipment and the
accident scene, recorded everything on the internals, then headed
to the security shed.

"This guy isn't
saying anything," Kit greeted.

"The probe will
get it for us," Tab replied.

"Hey! What?!
What probe? I ain't goin' on no probe!" the security man cried.

"His name's
Jztrt," Kit said. "You got it solved? He did it?"

"Yeah," Tab
answered. "The boxes had been stacked deliberately top-heavy along
that stretch and the lift hit the top with the forks in the only
place where that section would be knocked off. Funny thing how
those crates fell in such a way that anybody'd have to go through
the plant to get around to the scene or they'd have to come out
through this section by this shed.

"Tell me,
Jztrt. Why did it take you so much time to get from this shed to
the scene that Vrndt and I could come from out there on the
docks?"

"I don't know
what you're talking about!" Jztrt protested. "I was in the
plant!"

"You'd have to
use the side door I mentioned when I said the walks were blocked,"
Tab said conversationally. "Tell me. Why is that door closed and
locked from inside? I think you can see we've got you. We were on
the docks and heard the stuff fall. We ran right over. No one went
out through the one place they could have – the dock walk. There
isn't any way the driver of that lift could be anywhere except
right here in this shed. There isn't anyone else here and no one's
come from this area at all – except you. You didn't get the two
hundred meters from this shed to the scene until AFTER Vrndt and I
came all the way from the docks. Any judge machine has to reach the
conclusion we have. You – and only you – were – or could have been
– driving that lift. The stacking was against all rules. There was
only one small spot where this could have happened and you drove
directly to that spot.

"You can either
tell it to us or you can wait until the probe extracts it. You're
through!"

"I ain't sayin'
nothin'!" Jztrt said. "There ain't no way no judge machine can put
me on no probe! It were a accident!"

"And it was an
accident you hit the crates right there? With the forks halfway up?
With the crates stacked in that particular way?" Kit asked. "It
seems to me you'd WANT the probe to clear you!"

Jztrt stared at
the floor.

"Take him to
Glarch and to Islipona PD," TR ordered on the internals. "They'll
handle the trial. It won't be fast enough for you to find that one
everybody was looking at for answers out there, but he's likely to
be the one we want. This one doesn't have the intelligence to think
up this stuff. Either of you got any idea what this is all
about?"

"It's probably
some kind of thievery," Kit said. "Anyone who finds out anything
... no. Everyone knows exactly what's going on. They're scared.
It's thievery, I'd say. Anybody who talks too much has an
accident."

"I think it's
something else," Tab said. "We'll see. Here's the one I want to
find."

He sent the
recorded visual from when he asked anyone to tell him what was
happening earlier. TR would send a floater to find that
individual.

"We're turning
you and all the evidence over to the Islipona Police Department,"
Kit said aloud. "Hrst can use the com there to alert the local
office of internal affairs or whatever."

"The one you
want is called Frfth and is some kind of union officer or
something," T6 sent on the internals.

"Union?" Tab
asked aloud, then turned to Jztrt to cover the slip. "Do the
workers have any sort of union here?"

Jztrt looked
more nervous than ever as he mumbled there were no unions on worlds
with empire protection – as they should know if they were empire
agents.

Tab knew there
was no official union because the traders guild would ensure
workers of proper, safe, fairly paid workplaces through economic
persuasion. Unions were perfectly legal, but no one saw any purpose
in them anymore. When the police arrived and led Jztrt away after
taking sworn affidavits from Tab and Kit under empire seal the two
went into conference. TR and T6 were using small spy floaters to
discover everything they could about the place and were also
keeping close watch on Frfth.

"Okay," Tab
said. "It's a kickback scheme or something. Maybe blackmail in
addition. Frfth won't be top man in this scheme because the leader
is always away in some safe spot. I wish Z wasn't halfway across
the galaxy. He knows about this stuff from Terra. It was the normal
way they did things at one time if you can believe the books I've
read."

"What did the
heroes in the books do?" Kit asked.

"Too late," Tab
replied. "We can't infiltrate now because I announced out there
we're empire agents. It wouldn't do any good to try to go out and
come back in other disguises because they'll be suspicious of
newcomers. There's reasonable doubt enough to let Jztrt get away
with less than capital murder if he's got any sense at all so he
won't go on the probe and Frfth isn't going to talk to us. I'm
lost!"

"Great
detective you turned out to be!" TR snapped. "Why not start acting
like detectives? Why not go out there and dig out some clues or
whatever the nine hells you're SUPPOSED to be doing?"

Tab grinned at
Kit, stretched and stood. He looked thoughtful for a moment, then
headed toward the plant. He went directly to the main offices and
into the bookkeeping section. He'd already established himself as
an empire agent so only had to show the credentials to have free
use of the computers. He accessed the payroll while Kit went to the
local banking establishments to read their records. TR used a
floater to access the automatic inventory machines at the factory.
T6 handled the off-world financial transactions by individuals as
well as by the company.

Everyone was
back aboard T6, who was linked to TR on the next pad, in three
hours.

"What've we
got?" Kit asked.

"We'll each do
a listing of everything, then we'll compare," TR said. "Input
everything into the channel I've set up where it'll automatically
correlate and crossreference the whole mess."

Kit and
Tab plugged into the computers, then they waited while the millions
of items were processed. It took more than another hour, then TR
said, "This still doesn't make much sense."

"No kickbacks
in the pay?" Kit asked.

"There are
kickbacks, but not that much," T6 answered. "Everybody pays about
three percent into a fund that's nothing more than a bank account
for Frfth. It adds up to a lot simply because there are seven
hundred of them, but no one would kill all those people over
that."

"There isn't
any drain offworld," Tab said. "We don't have any way to find who
the big boss is – or even if there is one."

"No thefts of
product or anything else," T6 said. "No extra monies coming IN,
either.

"I refuse to
believe a run of bad luck! That was no accident we investigated a
few hours ago!"

"I'm checking
shipments of products," TR said. "It has to be some kind of....
Damn it! Everything is right as it should be!"

"Maybe not,"
Tab said. "I may have a little idea of my own! I'm going to snoop
around a little, then we're going to have to go to Froltzar. The
bunch of you can check on products, particularly products that're
illegal from Froltzar."

He walked out
before anyone could say anything more, spent an hour at the plant,
then went to the docks for the shipping areas onworld, got a large
floater and went out across the island. He was gone for more than
two hours when Kit finally asked TR what Tab was doing.

"Being cute!"
TR said shortly. "He's figured this thing out and is doing this to
get me pissed!"

"Weird
expression for a spaceship!" Kit replied with a grin. "Let's see
what he's doing and figure it out ourselves. Where is he?"

"He's looking
over the stuff they grow here for flavoring...! Oh, hell! How
damned obvious!" TR answered.

"Is it a drug?"
T6 asked.

"Either that or
a spice that's not supposed to grow anywhere but on ... Khamzar!
Next planet out from Froltzar in their system has some crap. It's
sort of a mild stimulant to reptiles and has a very distinct
flavor. It's called Khloovsht. Worth about two thousand credits a
hundred-kiloweight raw. Market is a thousand times what they can
produce," TR replied. "Let's have some fun with Tab when he gets
back!"

"Right!" Kit
agreed. "He always hates it when Thing is so far ahead of him. He's
coming back now according to the floater trace so you two can
follow my lead!"

They
waited until Tab came into the pilot's dome on T6 where Kit was
laying back in the pilot's chair.

"Let's head for
Froltzar and finish this thing up," Tab said. "I'd like to get back
to EC."

"Uh, maybe it
would be better if we go directly to Khamzar," Kit suggested.

"Khamzar?" Tab
asked.

"Well, the
Khloovsht is grown there so I imagine it'll be shipped through that
port to avoid drawing attention," T6 said. "I just wonder if the
quality of the stuff here is as good as the quality on
Khamzar."

"Wait a damned
minute here!" Tab demanded. "What is that stuff? The
Khloovsht?"

"The spice
they're growing here that's supposed to grow only on Khamzar," Kit
answered. "We wondered what you were doing so TR called Maita.
Thing told us it was obvious the deal was in psiltripium, blood
diamonds or a spice. There are no blood diamonds or psiltripium
here so it's a spice. Kloovsht is the only spice produced by
Froltzar that's produced nowhere else in the galaxy that we know
of. They're growing it here and shipping it out with the protein
spices. They should be able to produce a couple of metric tons per
halfyear that they could carry out without noticeable bulk on the
regular runs. A metric ton, wholesale, raw, would bring about a
million credits. Two million credits a year is enough to explain
the accidents. The kind of people who would do that sort of thing
explains why the people are so scared. Right?"

"It might be a
secondary part of it," Tab agreed, thinking. "Maybe it's even a
major part of it, but I don't think it ... I think you'd better
call Maita, TR."

"Uh, Maita?
What for?" TR asked.

"Remember the
time Thing and Z absorbed thallium and it interfered with their
ability to think?" Tab asked. "Have Maita test Thing for something
like that. If it missed the obvious that bad I'm worried. I love
that little lump of Silly Putty!"

"Missed what
obvious...?" Kit asked.

"That there's
nothing illegal about growing the spice here," Tab said. "They
wouldn't have to smuggle it out. They could put it in boxes with
big green letters and take it. Islipona wouldn't charge them any
more than they do for protein, which is actually negligible on
something like that. They certainly wouldn't kill anyone about
something like that!"

"Damn!" Kit
exploded. "I thought we had it figured out! It sounded so logical!
We didn't call Thing. We sorta figured what it must be and made up
the story."

"I'm relieved!"
Tab said. "You may be partially right. Maybe you have half of it
and I have half of it. It's possible they're growing and shipping
the spice to finance the other part. They wouldn't want anyone to
know about it if they're doing that. We'll have to go to Froltzar
to see."

"We're en
route," T6 said. "What did you find and how and why?"

"I could see
the reason people were being killed had nothing to do with the
plant or this area." Tab reported. "The scam or protection racket
or whatever Frfth is working is too petty for any connection with
whatever is behind the killings so I checked the whole thing. Frfth
will be taken into custody and charged with several petty crimes.
Jztrt can be put on the probe under the conspiracy laws. He didn't
have any connection with Frfth. The people at the plant were sort
of hoping he would be exposed because of that episode is why they
all looked at him.

"The Frolt are
in a stage of development much like Earth when it first went into
space and the people have psychological traits much like the
Terrans. They have big-time gangsters and military leaders who are
nothing but crooks of the worst type. They have politicians who
will work with those kinds to exploit anything or anyone they can
for personal gain. Greed.

"Those things
are illegal so more and more they are being caught, tried and
incarcerated for the rest of their lives and disgraced for all
time. They have a place to run to now. They each have large private
estates on a paradise planet. They are the 'foremen' at the spice
plantations. People like Jztrt are their 'enforcers' who get rid of
anyone who could expose what's going on back at Froltzar. It's as
simple as that. Frfth was using the deaths to scare people into
giving him money.