Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition (115 page)

*I think so.
There's something repressed. I wonder if they've given up one thing
to have another and now find that what they gave up was the thing
they sought. Does THAT make any sense?*

"In a way. I
think they've given up freedom in their search to be free. That
expresses it to me even if it doesn't make any sense to anyone
else. They gave up being slaves to a militaristic society to become
slaves to ... what? There's that one little factor we've missed, so
far."

*I'm not at all
certain they've given up their militaristic society. There were
clues in things they said – Glo in particular – that told me they
could never understand a non-militaristic government. I think
there's something deep in their psychology they've tried to
exorcize. I'm not sure they met with any success.*

"Maybe they
were successful. Now they have emptiness where before they at least
had whatever the feeling of power from the strong military gave
them."

*Maybe that's
it. Maybe they didn't completely give up the idea of control
through force of arms. There were some cynical questions about the
empire's lack of a fleet and so on. After this time they wouldn't
have any thoughts of armies if they had excised them. I agree there
are parts of their speech that seem strange. Pauses in the wrong
place. Nothing seems to connect. Would you know what I meant if I
were to suggest that they seem to be asking questions for someone
else? I mean other than the ones they told us about over their
radio.*

"That's kind of
what I'm trying to say, I guess. Play back those parts where they
talked about the empire's fleets on the holovid. Maybe we can pick
it out."

They watched
and listened. Z studied the expressions of the Krofpth, and saw the
look on Glo's face as she made the remarks about the number of
worlds in the empire, then asked about the number of warships.

"Hold that a
second, Maita! Look at her eyes and the curve of her mouth. I
wasn't looking at her at the time or I would've caught the body
language.

"Look at Happ,
how expectant. Look at Noblit over to the side there. They've
sprung a trap, but – run it ahead slow.

"See? Look at
her with her mouth open! Look at the suddenly wide-open eyes on
Happ and Noblit! They sprung their trap and we weren't in it! They
caught air!"

*Yes. The
bait's gone, the trap's sprung and it's empty. They recovered
quickly, but it was very definitely there. Somehow the pauses and
lapses were in other areas, too, but were mostly in military
areas.*

"That means
they DO have a military and they never changed. It's well hidden
and probably hasn't been used in any way in all those thousands of
years – except in one little way. I begin to see what's going on, I
think. Run the parts about Library again. I want to watch their
expressions. I was looking around at the city so much I missed the
most important parts of the conversations. I missed what their eyes
and expressions were saying. They haven't had any strangers to
practice the subterfuge on in a long time and give away their
thoughts much too easily."

Maita ran that
part of the conversations until Z said to stop.

"Look how
shocked she is that we'd allow free access of anyone to the place.
There's the hint there's information about weapons and I.... Maita,
they're afraid! I'll bet hearing that fastcom coming on-line scared
them shitless! They have this very stable society, they were
isolated and safe for thousands – hundreds of thousands – of years
and now they feel helpless. All they knew was armed force and they
know they can't fight anyone else. The ability to defend against a
military takeover is gone! They're scared!"

*Yet they're
also excited in a way. I think we have such a different psychology
in all things they simply can't understand us. That's why they
constantly refer to the fact I'm a machine. That's where the pauses
and lapses are. Referring to me and to machines who rule!*

Thing had been
listening to all of this through its internal empathy while at the
same time it was entertaining Happ. It could "hear" anything Maita
sent to it and could "talk" through the same talent, giving no
indication whatever to Happ.

[ We said and
did nothing they expected. They thought at first we were lying,
then that we were completely controlled, then that we didn't know
our own natures. Now they’re beginning to think perhaps it's their
own society who's too narrow, too structured. They still believe
they have the upper hand in this situation. They think they've
considered all possibilities and prepared well. They knew
eventually another race would arise and would find them, but they
didn't believe it would already be so, to them, tremendously
strong. Their empire encompassed only the galactic dome and a
little piece of two spiral arms and they're suddenly confronted
with a galaxywide empire. Not only that, this empire seems to be
only a few HUNDRED years old. I think Z knows more from instinct
than you or I could know from the facts presented so far, Maita.
There is definitely a certain area where something is being hidden.
]

*What do your
childish, primitive instincts tell you, Z?*

"That this race
is deeply ashamed of something. I really can't comprehend what it
is they're expecting. It's sort of a 'Do what you want to me. I
deserve it!' kind of thing."

*Martyrdom
complex? Hurt me for a cause?*

[ That wouldn't
fit with shame. I think maybe I know what Z's saying. ]

"Sort of
racially masochistic. They're hiding things about their society we
may be able to dig out in Library. Just maybe Glo's reactions about
Library weren't so much because we allowed others to use the place
as they saw fit, but that WE had complete access. Maybe there's far
too much about the Krofpth Empire there that's not so well
hidden!"

[ What could
the whole race have done that would produce such a reaction? We
haven't found a hint of any actual evil or even corruption in their
empire. Just societal decay. ]

*It's difficult
to say. We have many evidences of instances where what's terribly
shameful to one race is silly and doesn't make any sense to
another. Ask Tab! He's had experiences with those things more than
even we have. Look at the shame a Cheeth seems to bring on his race
if he steals anything. Even if it's something that was put there to
use by anyone they can feel it's theft if a Cheeth uses it. There
are numerous example of that sort of thing in a large number of
races.*

[ What do we
do, then? We have to discover what it is and be able to educate
this race that it isn't realistic to take on such guilt for
something that has no meaning. ]

"We can go to
Library where Maita, you and I can study the history of the Krofpth
and their empire without input from each other. Maybe we can
discover what's happening. It should give us three very different
perspectives, at worst. We can let Happ wander about at will and
we'll do the same. It'll keep him off balance to know we aren't
watching or steering him in any way. He can see that there are a
lot of people from a lot of places there and that they move about
as they please and that there are no overseers or police or
anything such. Maybe he can learn to trust us enough to tell us
what's going on."

*We'll be there
soon. Study the language and the customs and societal taboos from
the crystals. From what I see the subjects didn't know what it was
about. The mistake was taking the subjects from the other
continents. It's the ones at Focus who know what this is
about.*

"The elites or
those in the cities probably do. Happ would know, but we shouldn't
use the probe anymore unless we have to."

They rested,
ate a good meal and cleaned up before landing on Library. Happ was
excited, but didn't want to show it so Z and Thing acted as excited
by it themselves, saying the place was an exciting place and they
always enjoyed the visits. Happ loosened up a little more with
that. He seemed shocked that several other ships were there and
actually had free access to everything. There wasn't even an
officer to note who came and went. He didn't have to offer
identification of any kind and wasn't given a set of rules. He
seemed to have a very strong emotional response to the robot that
gave him the directory when it welcomed him and stated that the
place had been long awaiting the return of the Krofpth.

They agreed
each would go his own way and would meet back on Maita in twenty
hours where they would decide whether or not they wanted more time,
then separated.

Z went to the
Krofpth screen first in the "Hall of Worlds and Peoples," as they
had named it, while Thing went to the Krofpth Empire History Hall
and Happ went to the Technology Hall. They passed one another at
times and spoke briefly as they traveled from hall to hall. The
master robot who first greeted Maita and crew their first trip to
Library walked along with Happ for quite some time and seemed to be
answering any questions he might ask without pause.

They were all
back on Maita within an hour of the twenty, Z coming in last, more
than three quarters of an hour late. They rested, but didn't
discuss Library in any way. They decided to stay ten more hours, as
that seemed to be about what Happ wanted, then were again headed
outward.

*I found a
world that should be interesting. The people there built very
technologically advanced machines that may have survived. It's
called Momfur. Would you be interested?*

[ I vote yes.
]

"Yes," Z
said.

*Happ?*

"Me? What?"
Happ asked.

[ You're aboard
and what we do influences you so you have an equal vote here. Would
you be interested in seeing Momfur? ]

"Oh! Er, yes!
Certainly!" Happ said, looking puzzled.

"We vote on all
kinds of things," Z explained. "You'll get used to it."

"But your three
votes make my one pointless even if I were opposed," Happ
argued.

[ You would
then present your arguments for the negative vote. There are things
you could say that would override our votes. ]

"Then the votes
are not equal?" Happ asked. "Then the whole process is
pointless."

*Your argument
would have to be such that you could show you were placed in danger
or that we were to be overriding. As a member of this crew your
first responsibility is to the other members, then to
yourself.*

"Before this
trip I would have thought such a response to be specious," Happ
said. "I think now you mean that exactly as you have said it.

"I spoke with
the robots who run Library about you. They say you were
individually placed on the recorders and you are not prone to
falsity. They say each of you were on the recorder directly and
these things are personal and not racial traits. Even Maita has
input directly and openly.

"I do not
pretend to understand any of you, but I do like all of you. I
deeply respect you."

[ We don't
understand your racial prerogatives either, but we like you as
individuals. Are you aware that your society's hiding something?
Something very important? ]

"I don't think
so," Happ answered. "We have nothing to hide that I know of."

Z was thinking,
then asked, "Why do you pretend you've done away with a military?
You obviously haven't."

Happ looked
helpless, then said, "Only in theory. It hasn't been used in any
way since the dissolution of the empire."

*It's being
used as a threat. Against yourselves. I begin to see some things –
things that should have been resolved. You're truly a society in
stasis, but perhaps you can break from that mold now. You have much
to offer to us and we have much to offer you.*

[ The crime is
against yourselves. You're too fine a race to do this. The Maitan
Empire needs peoples like you. We seldom seek new races to bring
into the empire, preferring to allow them to petition us, but the
Krofpth have a great deal to offer to all others. It isn't right
for you to deny it. You have every right to your choice, but you
also have a responsibility to everyone else in the galaxy. That is
the simple truth of existence. ]

"You're wasting
your time arguing with Happ," Z stated. "He doesn't know the
truth.

"What is it
about Momfur that intrigues you, Maita?"

Maita and Thing
both knew Z had come to some important conclusions about the
Krofpth, but also knew he wanted to confirm his idea himself so
questioning would be pointless. The sudden difference in his
attitude and tone of voice showed them he could be comfortable with
what he thought.

They came in
above Momfur, which was an average M2 world. It was quite dry now,
but old lake and ocean beds left evidence of the fact the world was
once lush.

[ What
happened? The sun didn't expand did it? It doesn't show me the
characteristics that would be left. ]

*This world had
become quite dry when the Krofpth discovered it. It was already
very highly advanced, technologically. If you remember those worlds
where we opened the transmat stations so they could get minerals,
that was the situation here. They had no large amounts of
structural metals so were unable to move into space even with very
advanced sciences. Krofpth established some trade with metals in
exchange for the technology. This world's core has cooled enough
for enough of a depth that most of the water is now deep
underground. I believe it's possible there are cities very deep
below the outer crust.*

[ They would
have found metal supplies as they went more and more deeply into
the planet and could probably have planoformed this world to a
point where it would still be viable. They could have brought water
from the outer worlds. Why didn't they? It would seem logical.
]