Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition (108 page)

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. ]

*The worlds
will tend to be much older out there. They'll have condensed and
cooled a good many years before those farther in, though we were
just at Library, which is proof enough there's been plenty of time
for the civilizations to rise to a fantastic point, then to decay
into oblivion and obscurity. I was planning to start at the exact
polar point and work inward in a spiral if that's all right?*

[ Yes. ]

"Fine with me.
Maybe spiral away and slightly more inward than the natural curve
of the dome. That would meet Thing's criterium at the same
time."

They ate,
cleaned up and rested. Maita was traveling in TTH14 only until they
were into the galactic central sphere about two thirds of the way,
then in TTH4 so they wouldn't be caught in IDmode drift and flung
out from the galaxy. Z was in the pilot's chair with Thing rolled
into a ball on his lap. They were sound asleep when Maita reached
the polar point. Maita would've let them sleep except for the fact
there was some kind of artifact there.

There shouldn't
be an artifact at the exact polar point! That was taking statistics
too far!

"What in the
Sam Hell is it? A neutron mass?" Z asked. "It's certainly shiny and
smooth enough to be!"

*I don't detect
nearly that much mass. It's hollow. It's not broadcasting on any
waves I can find and doesn't respond to light of any wavelength. It
may be dead except for some stored power. The power isn't in use at
the moment. It seems unlikely it's belligerent in any fashion, but
I've sent a floater to see what happens. I'll visual it from up
close.*

[ What size is
it? How far are we standing off? I know you don't detect weapons or
we'd be shielded. This is fascinating! It seems every time we come
away from the old sections we find all kinds of odd new things!
That’s definitely a manufactured body, Maita. It seems to be
maintained, and very well. ]

*We're a
hundred kilometers. It's six hundred nineteen meters in diameter.
No weapons-type sensory input. I'll project what the floater finds
on the main screen.*

The holovid
screen lit to show a bright smooth sphere against the backdrop of
black space. The nearest thing they could see beyond it was
Andromeda.

The floater
slowly moved closer, then began to circle, showing nothing but
smooth metal.

"Could it be
some sort of force field instead of metal?"

*Mostly
chrome-vanadium-steel with a small touch of psiltripium.*

[ Psiltripium?
Then whoever built it is very highly advanced scientifically!
Tremendously if they could alloy psiltripium! ]

"Look!"

A bright blue
light flashed on the sphere as the floater passed and a large
portal irised open. A platform extended from the opening.

"Whoa! Why
couldn't we see that door before it opened?"

[ Psiltripium.
It's so reflective you can't see seams. Maita? Do you think that's
why they used it? It doesn't have structural value that I know
about with that alloy. The technology behind that thing is also
beyond us, I think. Be careful, but I don't think it's dangerous. I
don't get anything on the empathy. There is no hostility or
suspicion whatever. ]

*It's so highly
reflective I imagine it's used mainly for its insulation
properties. It would keep a temperature level very steady with
little energy expenditure. Psiltripium will insulate in both
directions from most wavelengths so it's very good. As Thing says,
fascinating!*

The floater sat
on the platform, the platform retracted, the door irised shut, the
screen went black.

"What
happened?"

[ Maita didn't
consider one of the fine points about psiltripium. It reflects
radio waves, too! It's a VERY good insulant! ]

The screen lit
up again.

*But it
augments gravitics. We can use them here. The thing will act as a
natural amplifier.*

The floater was
in a large chamber that could hangar a small spaceship. There was
light, the monitors detected the temperature to be about sixty
absolute. There was a whisper that Maita worked on for more than an
hour, then a flat mechanical voice appeared, along with a display
on the screen.

Digital one ~
digital zero 0. ~ / ~0 / ~~ / ~00 / ~0~ / ~~0 / ~~~.

Acknowledge.
Yes ~ / No 0.

Maita sent
~ We have a basis to establish language. It will be a
purely computer language, though. I may be able to refine
it.~

They waited
again, then the voice said, "This unit understands and will adjust
temperature as directed as per directions from servo floater.

"Oxygen,
nitrogen, neon, carbon dioxide, hydrogen hydroxide vapor atmosphere
being provided as per directions from floater. Light range as per
directions from floater. Organics may come aboard four time
units.

"Welcome to
Beacon Point Two."

"I assume
Beacon Point One is the north polar beacon?"

Maita asked the
computer, who replied that such was indeed the case.

"There are
navigational beacons emplaced at eight points. The ninth point,
which is galactic center, contains a gravitic force bubble so it
was impractical to place a beacon there. As triangulation may be
determined at any point within the galactic mass it is redundant to
place one there. Your organics may now come aboard. Beacon Point
Two welcomes visitors. This station would prefer to offer your
organics sustenance, but it has been many thousands of gorbeks
since any was here. The last several visitors took such supplies as
were available and left nothing in their place."

*We have ample
food and will replenish your storage if you wish.*

"It would suit
the programming of this unit to have supplies in cases of
emergency," the voice answered.

[ You broadcast
navigational beacons? Do you have many other purposes? You have
ample food and supplies to what purpose? ]

"At one time we
served many functions. They were turned off by Sarvengct, very
sadly. This unit was placed on standby. Sarvengct said the empire
was dead, but another may evolve to take its place. There is a
place prepared that holds records of all of the empire's mistakes
if a new force has the intelligence to find it."

"That would be
Library," Z agreed. "We found it and think we have several
differences in our empire that will keep us viable. Maybe you can
give Maita the coordinates for that planet and we can decode where
everything is, Two – May I call you Two? It's simpler than the
whole thing.

"What kind of
signal did you broadcast?"

"Yes. Any
symbolism that indicates solely this unit is acceptable," Two
replied. "The computer, Maita, will translate it into this unit's
designation for reference. This unit broadcasts gravitic pulses on
a tight flat band. This unit will denote the proper bands to your
computer, Maita, if such information would prove useful."

The machine
sounded almost desperately hopeful to Z.

[ I don't think
we.... ]

"That would be
great! We can even establish an emergency station on you for when
our empire begins trade out here! Maybe this would also be a good
guild headquarters out-station. All your eight beacons could be
traders guild stations and your beacons could augment our own as
well as be homing beacons for the traders ... er, you can be
equipped to handle various kinds of races, I take it?"

"Take it? What?
Where?" Two asked.

*That is an
idiom of Z's race. It means 'as I understand the facts to be.' Z
uses various idioms. We have become familiar with most of them.
Please ask at any time you fail to understand those
expressions.*

"This unit
understands," Two answered. "This unit has specific facilities for
six widely disparate races at any one time. This unit would be able
to be placed again in service immediately!"

Z knew the
machine wasn't intelligent, but he could almost hear joy in the
words. Thing and Maita understood the motivation and would go along
with Z in this. Besides which, it was true a placement of such
stations all along the galactic rim would prove very useful to the
traders guild. Maita could equip them all with plenty of food and
supplies, which they would then have the responsibility to keep on
hand in the future, replacing anything they used through the
guild's services.