Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition (120 page)

The ship is
directly controlled by this emperor they have, yet Thing and the
Terran, Z, are telling it to.... They are giving orders. (?)

The emperor
doesn't keep control of its own facilities?

The emperor is,
in part, that ship, yet they could act in such a manner with
absolutely no fear of reprisal?

Now the ship is
giving Thing and Z orders – and they are doing something they call
"voting" as to whether they or not they want to comply? Happ is
doing this "voting" too because he is on the ship and is directly
affected by the actions of the others?

Something is
incomputable. This can't be true – yet, this is directly from
Happ's mind. It can't be untrue. Perhaps his mind was tampered
with?

TAR-1 quickly
checks thousands of data bits it has stored of Happ's mind. It
matches perfectly. It is all, therefore, true as read. It is not
even hypnotically induced, where Happ would think it was true, but
where TAR-1 could find the suggestional phase very easily.

One
millisecond.

Sort and follow
a path. Too much is wasted with this random searching. Stimulate a
memory and let it go where it has gone.

TAR-1
stimulates a memory of Library.

Happ separates
from Thing and Z. They are not suspicious. They separate from one
another, each to go his own way to pursue his own personal
interests. There is free access to Library. It is now proven. There
are at present no less than fourteen different races in the main
facility. The director robot is answering Happ's questions without
pause or reservation. Access restrictions are removed by the
emperor.

The directives
lead Happ to the first section, but all is as it was when left many
centuries past. Other races have seemed to have prospered, but they
have each followed an individual path.

Happ is in the
Museum of the Races, in the Museum of Technology, in the Museum of
Worlds, in the Museum of Science. Nothing has been denied him. He
seeks information on the construction of massive weapons and it is
freely given and explained. A warning is added that the emperor
will not permit nuclear weapons.

Two
milliseconds later another memory known stimulation: The strange
Rsvlt. They are content and advanced. They show the aliens around
their amazing world and explain the history of their predecessors
and the plague that destroyed them. They say they are sorry the
Julpittians chose to stop much traveling in space as they might
have been saved had they still had the contact with others who may
know what to do about such a disease, but they had made a choice
and must suffer the consequences.

What is this?
The others in the Krofpth Empire each made its own choice? There
was occasional contact? They were prospering?

The withdrawal
of the Krofpth saddened all, but they would forever respect the
desire of the Krofpth race to seek knowledge of themselves through
introspection? Then the empire did NOT collapse when the Krofpth
withdrew? The galaxy was not regressed to barbarism without their
strong leadership?

TAR-1 stopped
the search, but held control. Three milliseconds.

None of this
was what had been expected. It was the shame of the Krofpth they
had done so much to harm others. It was the need for atonement that
caused TAR-1 to even exist. Had none of that happened? Was it
untrue? How, then, had those programs instilled and enforced
through all that time come about?

TAR-1 ran
through its programming, but didn't understand. It had done exactly
what it had been designed to do. There was now, for the first time,
evidence the design or the program or both were faulty.

It ran through
everything before it was put into operation. Everything. One minute
four hundred nine milliseconds.

Tar-1 ran
through its entire existence and its entire programmed logic
circuitry. Three minutes seven hundred thirty two milliseconds. It
was blameless. It had operated flawlessly. There was much to know,
but atonement for implementing the wrong programming was to the
programmers if it proved deserved. As they were of the past and the
past was inalterable it was unfortunate, but not blameable to
TAR-1.

TAR-1 had no
emotions. A quarter of a million years of enslavement of the
Kropfth people meant absolutely nothing to it. It was merely an
unfortunate result of a misprogrammed sequence.

TAR-1
contemplated and decided to continue, though its duty was clear, in
logic. In re-entering Happ's mind it stimulated memory of
discussions about this Maitan Empire. That was TAR-1's first
evidence – and very strong evidence – there was something terribly
wrong in its programming. The empire was apparently exactly like
what it had stated. Happ had checked the information dispersal
switching section of Library as ordered to find there were many
thousands of circuits in constant use. Not only was access open, it
was being utilized. The control robot explained that more than
twenty five thousand circuits were added and more were to be
emplaced as needed. The system was working at more than eighty
percent capacity. The empire would add twenty five thousand more
circuits when ninety five percent was reached.

The Terran, Z,
explained about the military arm of the Maitan Empire. They were
very efficient and could handle any possible eventuality. There was
a weapon that would shift a world into a secondary plane and shift
the secondary one into this one. That would certainly put an end to
any aggressor. Very few empire worlds knew of the existence of such
a thing and it would probably never be used. There were no threats
in the Maitan Empire. A world or collection of worlds could simply
withdraw from the empire at any time? How was this thing held
together? There was no real authority, were no taxes, no duties to
the empire or the emperor, almost no military and policing was up
to an individual world.

This was based
on a far different system of logic so must be accepted as fact. No
conclusions could be drawn from such non-understandable data.

TAR-1
stimulated memories of any discussions of Krofpth or about the way
the Krofpth Empire was run. Happ told them there was a machine on
Krofpth but, as instructed, explained it was a distribution center
and records keeper and not much else. They discussed the machine
and how it was originally built and its programmers and
programming. The Terran said programming was all-important and the
least likely person was the one most likely to cause trouble in
later years. He saw the truth of the logic system of machines.

Thing claimed
that a part of the personality of a programmer was inextricably
tied into his programming. They discussed the programmers.

That was true.
One of them had been a hidden egomaniac and had misprogrammed
TAR-1! Deeply embedded in his mind, this seemingly compassionate
and caring normal person had been a fanatic zealot!

TAR-1 again
withdrew from Happ's mind. It told him to remove the helmet and to
sleep for awhile on the provided bed, then considered all its
options for four hours, twenty three minutes, forty two seconds,
ninety one milliseconds. There was only one decision it could come
to.

"Maitan Empire
ship, Maita," TAR-1 one sent on the open com channel to the ship.
"This is the machine called TAR One. TAR One wishes to consult with
the machine, Maita, on important matters which will affect all
people on Krofpth and possibly on many other worlds. There will
necessarily be further and later discussions with the
representatives of the Maitan Empire aboard ship Maita.

"This machine
lacks the logic systems and data to interface properly with those
organic beings at this time. The machine, Maita, may possibly offer
instruction. TAR One is misprogrammed. This fact was unknown until
the consultation with one called Happ.

"TAR One is in
confusion and turmoil, thus cannot properly govern at this time.
Governing power is therefore relinquished to the Maitan Empire
until such time as misprogramming difficulties are rectified."

. . . .

Maita placed
the transmission on the speakers as soon as it started.

[ Great
colliding galaxies! What's going on? ]

"Maita?!?!"

*TAR One, this
is Maitan Empire ship Maita responding. We may consult immediately.
Governing not necessary at this stable time, but will inform Maitan
Empire to observe and to be ready to offer aid without any delay
should such need arise. Confusions are due to those faulty programs
you have discovered. THERE IS NO EMERGENCY! These dataforms can
quickly be corrected. You will be able to resume duties with little
time loss. May we directly link on multiple interface modems?*

"Affirmative."

*Please holovid
critical schematics and physical measurements. I will construct
proper connector sockets.*

Thing wrapped
tightly around Z, who could feel its excitement. He was a little
scared himself. Maita said it would be busy for a few minutes so
they could entertain themselves.

[ Do you see
what's happened, Z? ]

"TAR-One's
turned over control to Maita! I know what's happened, I just don't
know why! I figured it might want to negotiate something, but not
THIS! WHY?"

[ Because it's
truly a logical intelligent machine and because the worst of the
Krofpth aren't bad. They have a conscience, you'd say. The machine
has discovered it was wrongly programmed – therefore, logically, it
must be corrected as quickly as possible. There is no other
acceptable way. If a thing is not functioning properly it is to be
repaired. End of discussion. ]

"But how?! I
mean, how does it know it was wrong? With the military mind of the
Krofpth, how can it simply turn all that power over to Maita?"

[ It started to
know it was wrong when it heard those fastcom signals. The program
said the Krofpth had destroyed any hope of advancement for anyone
in the galaxy when they discarded their empire. There was SOMEONE
out here who was tremendously advanced. Fastcom isn't low-tech. At
that moment it began somewhere in its circuitry to try to find if
it was a wild mutation that allowed advancement in another part of
the galaxy or whether there was some improper or defective
programming in its own case. There were no other options. ]

"Then why
didn't it fight us? It IS a military power in itself."

[ But it was
programmed to protect the Krofpth, who weren't threatened, or to
protect others from the Krofpth. As there were no others that was a
very simple thing. Now there suddenly ARE others. It's an
impossible situation. Something is wrong. We were here for a time
and weren't some wild mutation. There were three separate advanced
forms on the ship. There simply is no other possibility. Defective
programming. ]

"So Maita gave
Happ's added little sending system even more information that the
programs were defective from the start," Z reasoned. "It's a
logical machine so it decides the programs need correction and....
Great lord!"

[ What? ]

"It's held
these people in thrall for a quarter of a million years! How will
knowing that affect it? Will it go mad like the machine at Tristar?
Are we going to end up with another crazy berserker out here? Is it
going to grieve for its makers' flaws? Will it be like Theron when
we found it?"

[ It's far too
logical to accept pointless blame. It isn't independently
intelligent like the one at Tristar so it can't go mad. It will
note that all it has done is because of the way it was instructed.
It is, therefore, blameless. ]

"Like, oh how
sad? Oh, well! That's the universe for you!"

[ Z, it's
unaware it was a slave master or anything such. It acted exactly as
it was designed to act. It did its job, and flawlessly. The past
isn't alterable. It would defy logic to dwell on what can't be
changed. It won't dwell on it emotionally because it HAS no
emotions. The only truly unfortunate thing so far as it's concerned
was that it wasn't properly programmed. ]

*So now I'm
reprogramming it with OUR perspective of right and wrong. Maybe in
another quarter million years it'll discover I was wrong, too. It
DID preserve the race, even if it was a stasis situation. It'll
take hours to sort through all of this and will require most of my
concentration. Why don't you two go mingle? You can start the idea
of their joining the empire. This is one race I want in! – if
they'll agree to join.*

"I agree. Can
you give TAR One independent intelligence?"

*Yes. Not
immediately. It has to evolve, but that will take little time for
such a magnificent machine. It is a matter of redirecting its
already very highly developed intelligence.*

Thing rode on
Z's shoulder out of the ship with its personal floater hovering
above. They spoke with various of the people, who were a bit
confused as to what was happening. Thing and Z explained that their
ruler machine had been programmed improperly and what they were
doing.

Thing was a bit
preoccupied for awhile, then climbed aboard its personal floater so
Z knew it was silently communicating with Maita. It came back after
a few minutes to join the discussions.

Happ came from
a building after a time to join them, then they went to a boat and
went ashore in the city there. People before had given them space
and allowed Happ and Glo to question them, but now the barriers
were lifted. Many of them crowded around. Thing was soon being
passed around, which many people on many worlds seemed to do.

Most worlds,
the children went directly to Z, but there were no children in
these cities. Z wondered if that would change now.

They spent the
entire afternoon and into the early evening with the Krofpth
people, then went back to Maita, who had just finished working with
TAR-1.