Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition (126 page)

"The sweetcake
comes from personal initiative and simple hard work. We can
guarantee that no one actually goes hungry and that no one lacks
medical attention and no one is cold and without cover. All these
things are provided on a minimal basis. It gets very boring to eat
only the absolute minimum of bland food when you can do some work
and have ample well-seasoned food. It makes you think when you can
get salve to heal a burn but, with a little physical labor, can
have the scars removed, too. There's a very big difference in
laying around doing nothing at a temperature where you won't quite
freeze or working a little and being in a more comfortable
temperature.

"The problem in
the old way was there was no incentive. Those who were being kept
by big government usually were taxed if they worked so were
actually much better off not working. Some bureaucrat would decide
who was deserving and who wasn't so it was very quickly spread
along political lines. Many got far too much and others literally
starved out in the cold with no medical or other help. Once a
person 'qualified' for government aid it was as much as impossible
for him to be taken off the aid. Some politicians then took the
funds set aside for those projects to aid the needy and designated
their use to the very wealthiest people on the planet. They
bankrupted all the special project funds.

"People here
can be pushed so far, but there is a figurative line that must not
be crossed. Those politicians finally crossed the line and paid
with their lives. Now anyone can receive minimum help. Minimum is
the operable word."

"What about the
handicapped?" Z asked. "What if they CAN'T work?"

"I can't
believe anyone who said what you said would look for excuses for
bureaucrats and handouts," Nol said. "There are a few people – only
very few – who are truly so disabled they can't do anything. They
are taken care of – but, just be honest with yourself. How many can
literally do nothing? Can't learn a subject and give advice? Can't
read a page to check for spelling errors?

"Only those
with no mind at all or who are totally paralyzed will qualify."

[ You still
have to be able to guarantee total employment. I see Z's point.
Believe me, we do not support bureaucracy in any way. We have yet
to find any that isn't corrupt. That isn't to say all bureaucrats
are dishonest. Feach is the galaxy's foremost and most respected
pharmacological world because a bureaucrat named Lund actually did
his job honestly and well. Unfortunately, he's the sole bureaucrat
in an empire of more than four thousand worlds whose name comes up
in a positive way over the past two hundred years. ]

"There're
always projects needing workers. Hundreds of them," Kaf replied.
"Without having millions of salaried bureaucrats there's plenty of
funding for those jobs. We find the average citizen is taxed about
eleven percent of income. It isn't a great hardship at that level
and we always have surplus funds. What is the effective tax rate in
your empire?"

*There are no
empire taxes. It varies from world to world, but most of them opt
to use the empire machines to run things. It's low. Perhaps lower
than five percent on individuals because of offworld trade
policies. Traders pay the taxes as a general rule and still lower
prices result from the tremendous diversity of products available.
Wealth isn't a very common aim anymore. THAT is one thing of which
the empire is very proud! We've outgrown that personal greed thing
to a large extent.*

"How can wealth
not be an incentive?" Nol asked.

"Maita means
excessive wealth isn't an aim except in some few individuals and in
very few races," Z explained. "There's only so much you can buy.
There are some terribly expensive things some will want, but wealth
solely for the sake of money is very rare. Most people use their
excess funds in travel. Even going to the vacation worlds,
ostensibly to gamble, is more to see and hear other art and to meet
strange and wonderful people and experience many different
customs.

"I have some
paintings by Zulian and Parf artists. They're as much as beyond
price – but they were given to me by the artists. I have jewels
that're a fortune in themselves. The foods we eat are beyond price,
but that's because we explored and saved foods from hundreds of
worlds. No one would have the funds to have even a regular meal we
enjoy because of what it would cost to import the foods from
several worlds. Travelers and traders can enjoy the foods they
collect for themselves. There's no practical way to ever know those
foods, otherwise. We've learned you can't eat the money. It tastes
like hell and there's far more satisfaction in collecting those
things oneself than in buying the stuff."

[ New cultures,
such as the Jornians, generally tend to want to accumulate funds
for a few years, but they soon outgrow that stage. We haven't
altogether done away with the desire for a better lifestyle or even
from blatant greed, but the greed is more and more rare. ]

*There are too
many examples in the empire to ignore. One very quickly sees the
dissatisfied races are those who haven't matured past certain
negative traits. Greed is definitely not a sign of maturity. There
are far too many things available from too many diverse sources for
that to be meaningful. There's a greed for personal power among a
few races still in a juvenile stage. It's also an exercise in
pointlessness that leads to just such a thing as the fall of the
Krofpth Empire. Those people are now re-emerging as natural
leaders, but they're mature enough to see they can lead without
holding power.*

"That's
something I can see," Kaf agreed. "With power comes responsibility.
No culture can long tolerate the irresponsible use of power."

"Personal power
in any culture is counterproductive to that society," Nol said. "It
becomes a difficult goal for those who don't have it and a
disappointment to those who gain it. We'll make our system work, I
think. I think we would fit well into your empire, wouldn't we? The
Chee-il people you spoke of could teach us something, I also think.
We could possibly teach them, too!"

[ I agree, but
I also suggest you will have to vote on which status you want with
the empire. That also is for you alone to decide. Our primary
purpose here isn't to get new members in the empire. We simply want
to meet more people and explore more worlds. It has become a simple
fact of our exploratory instincts that people who come into contact
with the empire will wish to become part of that cooperative
entity. Don't I sound wise? ]

"Wise? Hmm.
Well, how about pompous and egocentric?" Z answered innocently,
getting grins from their guests.

"We'll arrange
a way for you to talk with our people," Kaf agreed. "What will the
options be?"

*Tell us to go
away, join the empire, join as associates, don't join, but trade
with us. You can not join and not trade with us, but can have
contact or you can come up with your own choice. The one thing you
can't do is to go among the empire's worlds and deny their coming
here.*

"Could we let
them come here, but not go there?" Kaf asked, grinning.

[ Certainly.
That would be restricting yourselves, not others. I think perhaps
we can have fun discussions. You have a good sense of the
ridiculous and of fun. We like that in people. ]

"You mean we
can have a lot of debates knowing all along we'll join?" Nol
asked.

"Yeah," Z said.
"It's a good way for questions to be asked and answered and can be
fun. We all like silliness if it's fun and doesn't hurt
anyone."

*Why not set up something like you had at Kroon? You could
insult each other and ask embarrassing questions and even show
extreme ignorance. This time it would be mostly for fun and not
something on which the fate of a race of people and a world would
hinge.* Maita told them the story of Kroon and ran the debate with
translations into Draqian. (Book two,
Settling In
)

"I don't
understand the religious part," Kaf said. "I'd think religion would
be a very personal thing. It seems from that to be a form of
government there. A confused one! I don't think such a form of
government could hope for any form of stability. It would fall very
quickly."

[ Religion had taken over the government. It's changed now.
It was on its last gasp when we got there. Our aim was to give them
something else to build a new form of government on. They had a
plague (Book twenty one:
After the Old Gods
) that came at the very worst possible
time, but are a strong people and have done very well. ]

"I think that
would be fun," Nol agreed. "We could throw in questions about
personal habits and rules and use it to show the different views of
different people. Everybody likes a good show. Make it both
entertainment as well as educational."

*We're all in a
silly mood, but let's do it! We can have the broadcast from here or
from some other place you choose. We can be deliberately
insulting.*

"That Kroon
thing was from your cargo bay," Kaf suggested. "That looks
comfortable."

They agreed on
that for the next evening. It would even be advertised as
informational fun.

Thing and Z
were lounging back in the pilot's chair watching one such
advertisement an hour before they were to hold the debate.

"There is to be
a debate among some of our people and the aliens from the Maitan
Empire in one hour on this channel," the announcer said. "This
debate will be very serious in content and information, but is
expected to be light and even comical in method. Our
representatives, Nol Prat and Kaf Yallin, told this reporter these
people and even the intelligent machine they use for a spaceship
each have very interesting senses of humor and that they take few
things seriously. They are almost insulting to one another and to
others once those others understand the humor and won't take
offense. An example is the fact they are holding this debate so we
may choose to enter their empire or to refuse entry. Nol says our
choices, as will be made plain, range from welcoming the empire as
our absolute rulers to telling them, as he says the Terran, Z,
said, 'To get out and stay the hell out.'

"This person,
for one, will not miss one word of this strange encounter! Of the
nine choices Kaf has published, this reporter chooses to join the
empire as a full trading member, but to retain full rule of this
world for ourselves. The only empire law we would be forced in any
way to follow is, apparently, that we rid ourselves of nuclear
military devices. As we have none it isn't too great a sacrifice.
We can, as Maita, the intelligent machine, suggests, 'Learn to live
with it.'"

[ I agree. This
will be fun. Joining in that way is exactly what they'll elect to
do. ]

Maita set up a
semicircular table where Thing, Z and a servo floater to represent
Maita would sit on one side and Kaf, Nol and another would
represent Draq on the other end. A moderator would be in the center
of the half-circle facing them.

The cameras and
sound equipment were in place. There would be no interruptions of
the broadcast and no time limit. They would question in rotation.
Before the broadcast, Thing rode up to the cargo bay sitting on Z's
shoulder. There were Draqians all over the central floor, going in
and out of all the rooms except the alien atmosphere room. Nol, Kaf
and their other debater were in the O dome on the top of the ship.
The moderator, a tall woman called Fan Yarntry, was directing the
placement of cameras and props. Just before broadcast time, Nol and
Kaf introduced Gen Kroffit to the crew. They seated themselves
around and Z noticed Kaf was grinning a bit too much. He knew Thing
had consulted with her in private and was sure some kind of
trickery was planned. He knew Thing's sense of humor intimately so
would be prepared. Fan explained the rules, which would be that
they would each ask one question of the aliens, then the aliens
would each have the choice of asking a question of the Draqians.
Fan could ask a question at the end of each series.

Nol was first
and asked about the military of the Maitan Empire and Thing
explained there was little, if any. Kaf then asked why Maita was
called Maita. *Z gave me the name. It was the Maitans who
originally built me.*

Gen asked about
medical care. [ Most worlds handle the medical facilities
independently. The traders guild will soon establish stations on
the beacons left by the Krofpth Empire, which contain medical
facilities, and there is Hospital, a research world where beings
from anywhere are treated. There's a ship that travels anywhere in
case of plague or other extreme emergency. The planet, Feach, is
famous among the entire empire as easily the finest medical
researchers known. Anyone may call on the Maitan Empire for help in
medical emergencies. No one need have relations of any type
whatever with the empire. Such services are outside of empires and
politics. We are at this very moment emplacing Hospital personnel
on the stations established by the old Krofpth Empire, which will
greatly shorten response time anywhere in the galaxy. ]

The crew passed
on questions that round and Gen asked what taxes or other charges
supported Hospital and the ship. *There are no charges. The empire
owns the vacation worlds and a small percent of profits there go to
sustaining medical facilities everywhere.*

Nol asked about
the choices the Draqians had about joining. Maita took a few
minutes to cover the various possibilities. Z knew that whatever
was coming was coming now. Kaf could barely control herself and
Thing was watching Z a little too closely and overly casually.

"The Terran Z,"
she said. "Have you gotten any since you came here?"