Read Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition Online
Authors: CD Moulton
Tags: #adventure, #science fiction, #flight of the maita
[ Then they're
the seeds? ]
*Partly. There
are two types of 'male' trees. The 'female' produces and nurtures
the carriers, possibly for centuries. They then mate them with two
of the 'males' growing with their branches intertwined. That makes
for sixteen possible combinations. They apparently 'know' which
type of male the seeds will become or if it's 'female' so they
dispatch the type to fill the hole left when a tree dies. The one
that died there was a type of male that was shared by our tree and
the one the other carrier came from. You notice the carrier from
our tree went to the far end of the area and the one from the other
tree came closer to our tree. Diversity.*
[ How many
billions of years did it take for such a system to evolve, I
wonder!? What a magnificent thing! Maita, you simply must restrict
this world. You CANNOT allow anyone to come here and screw this up.
]
*I've placed
this world under restriction so only accredited researchers from
University may come here and have made some very stringent laws
regarding what they can or can't do. This is an intelligence we
haven't a hope of understanding, but we can learn from them. There
are more than a hundred chromosomes in those cells I took samples
of. I took samples of the surrounding trees, too. It's a
complicated system of genetics. I checked Z's plants, but they
don't have any structures of the same type. I've sent floaters out
to sample other types of trees and plants, too. There are
evolutionary stages that amaze me! I'll input it all into Library
and into University directly. We're on our way home! There's no
possible way a trip could end on a more wonderful note!*
[ Yes. Things
were shaky for awhile, but this discovery alone makes a thousand
trips worthwhile! ]
"I'll certainly
go along with that! Now, Maita! What else? You've been ready to go
home for a bit, but have been staying around to please me. What's
up?"
*Nothing,
really. Tab and TR and Kit and T Six are on EC and I want to see
how they've fared on their little expedition. They've had several
cases and I want to know how successful Kit's turned out to
be.*
[ You certainly
don't have an ego problem! What if he turned out to be a flop like
Z here? ]
*You can't
blame me for Z! He's an organic, just like you! It's not my fault
if you're both badly flawed!*
"Us? Flawed?
This we get from a machine that admits it can't hold a train of
thought?"
They would play
the game all the way to EC.
It was great
adventure, excitement and usually fun to go exploring.
But it was also
nice to go home again.
Good Things
Z came from the
long island to his patio on the large floater. He had been home for
more than thirty days and hadn't even gotten a noticeable start on
planting all the things he'd gathered – though those he planted on
the first day were rooting firmly and seemed to be doing well.
Thing was
sitting at a comp console on the patio cataloguing its undersea
gardens. Naurs, a Parf artist, was painting the scene from the
terrace. She was an artist of such quality the scene she painted
was more real-looking than the view itself. Klafe and Siera, two
visiting Krofpth, were strolling along the path from the beach
toward the domicile behind several of the Tendd and Joe's People
children who had been taking care of Z's plants here on his island.
They stepped into the transmat portal and were gone almost
simultaneously as Tab and Kit stepped out from it.
No one spoke,
just enjoying the magnificence of the setting of the green sun
behind the mountain peak behind them. The red one was rising
directly along the path to the sea. It was enough to bring tears to
the most insensitive person's eyes. It even deeply affected the
robots with its beauty.
Z stowed the
floater in the little side cave and went to stand between the two
robots until the light mixture began to lose its quality as the
green sun no longer struck there. Naurs folded her materials into
the case, smiled and nodded and presented the Krofpth with small
sketches of themselves – signed. They were priceless. Having seen
those sketches there would be no doubt of identification of even
very different races who would say all Krofpth looked alike. She
stepped into the transmat and was gone to Maita's guest "hotel" in
the caves.
The two
Vendans, direct descendants of Ape, stepped from the transmat
portal. The guests had now all arrived. This was a party to
introduce the Vendans to the Krofpth, who would take them to
Varnith to see the original world and meet those of the same race
separated two hundred sixty two thousand years ago. Maita would
supply food and drink for all of them. Tab and Kit would eat so
there would be no suspicion about them. Only Maita, Z and Thing
(And the Zulians, but that's another story) knew the two were
robots.
The event went
well, everyone had a good time and the Vendans and Krofpth got
along as the crew fully expected. A true mutual admiration society.
It was a strange chemistry, the Vendans being large hairy mammals
and the Krofpth much smaller reptiles. These things did happen,
though.
Finally
everyone was gone except for the crew. They sat around the terrace,
Tab and Kit were on the marble lip around the pool while Z sat in a
comfortable chair with Thing on his lap. The floater was patiently
hovering overhead.
"I wish the
Krofpth had been found years ago," Z said. "I like them."
"They seem like
a good people," Tab agreed. "I think TAR One will prove a very
positive leader out there. Sort of a second Maita."
*Better
designed and programmed for the job than I am. I think we did a lot
toward removing that phony sense of guilt from the Krofpth. The
best thing we did was to find Ape's ancestors.*
[ I think the
best thing we did was to find those trees on Verdure! That's got to
easily be the most fascinating thing we've ever found! ]
"I'll agree
with Thing there," Kit said. "I can't get enough of studying that
world. It's amazing."
"That whole
world is, well, next to finding the Zulians, probably the greatest
discovery we've ever made," Z said.
*The Zulians
don't figure in these discussions. Neither does Parf. It's on a par
with those two events, though. It's certainly among the top
five.*
TRD-60 and T6
were there through the floater with Maita. T6 interrupted the
discussion.
"Guys?" it
announced. "I'm getting the strangest report and request! Some
traders say that they've found something Maita should hear about,
but that we detectives maybe should check out first.
"This is
crazy!"
*So report
already!*
[ It said the
detectives should check it out first! Sheesh! You never listen!
]
"I'll go to T
Six," Kit suggested. "I can run out there. If it's anything, I'll
call whoever I need. I suppose it's one of those things I can
handle myself, though. They usually are and I'm getting better at
being a detective. I'm sure I'll be able to handle it by
myself!"
But he was
wrong.
Flight of the
Maita
Book 24
How
Odd!
© 1988 by C. D.
Moulton
The crew are
called to a world where there seems to be outside influence.
Critic
comment
Very nicely
done. I like the first part better than the second. My wife likes
the second more than the first.
KL Rtng:
***½
Contents
How Odd!
Outside Interference
"What's
happening with Kit, Maita?" Z, the Terran member of the crew of the
spaceship, Maita (Also an intelligent entity and, through a set of
circumstances beyond its own control, emperor of the Maitan Empire,
a galaxywide government more correctly called a galaxywide traders
guild).
Kit is a robot.
He was made in the form of the reptilian Kheth and is independently
intelligent, while also sharing intelligence with his own ship, T6.
As indicated by this, his ship is also an independently intelligent
entity.
The other such
combination, intelligent robot and intelligent ship, was Tab and
TRD-60. Tab was made in the form of a Swaz, an amphibian race from
a pleasant planet called Swaville (Not SWAY– vil. It’s pronounced
SWAH-vuh-luh). Both Tab and Kit can be radically changed in form by
their ships or by Maita. Z can also be changed to be
indistinguishable from many races with his same general form
(K-form) and size by Maita's medical boxes.
Thing,
"sitting" (As well as a small, squarish, rubbery being with eyes on
stalks and tentacles could "sit") on Z's lap, asked Maita if it had
any further reports from their intrepid detective.
Thing breathes
through a membrane and is an empath, so can't speak directly. Maita
uses the speakers itself and can translate Thing's speech for the
rest through those speakers. When they aren't in the ship, which
has speakers in every part, floaters with speakers carry their
words. On the other ships, the speech is carried through the
speakers, while their speech is delivered through speakers on Maita
or the other ship, or through those on the floaters.
See?
Maita and Thing
speak without paragraphing breaks from the time more than three
hundred years ago when the system was first initiated (by Z). That
isn't necessary anymore, but they're as lazy as most, so it
remains. The difference to the ear is that Maita uses a bell tone (
*–* ) before and after its speech and a lower sound than that of
Thing, whose speeches are preceded and ended by a middle "C" tuning
fork tone ( [ – ] ).
*I don't have
any reports, yet. Kit will have to see what's really happening out
there. I enjoyed the visit with the Krofpth. I think they'll be
almost inseparable from the Vard. Rather an odd combination. Your
orchids and bromeliads are doing well on Long Island, Z. They do
best at altitudes over four kilometers, but seem healthy enough
even at sea level – though there isn't much on Long Island that's
at sea level.*
[ He brought
enough of them! I think fifty years to get them all planted is too
conservative! Don't you have any indication of what they called Kit
about, Maita? We're all dying of curiosity! What could there be
that you should know about, but Tab or Kit should investigate
first? ]
Tab was sitting
on the marble fish pool lip on Z's terrace at his home on Empire
Center, while Z and Thing were in a chair. The party broke up two
hours earlier when Kit went to answer a call for the T-K Detective
Agency, which was Kit and Tab.
Maita built
both detectives and TRD-60, but T6 had developed intelligence on
its own through being repaired with not quite the right parts.
"The call
didn't give any real hint except to say it was something strange,"
Tab agreed. "He's barely had the time to get there, even in TTH
fourteen."
TTH14 was an
interdimensional mode plane that made it possible for the three
ships to cross the entire galaxy in only an hour. It was much
faster than the regular TTH4 mode that crossed a thousand plazsis,
or Maitan Galactic Standard Light Years, per reltime hour. The ship
must be independently intelligent to handle TTH14 mode due to the
extreme "drift" and other factors – such as the fact there was no
way to place any form of navigational beacons in that plane.
"He's arriving
right now," TR supplied. "He reports the world in question scans as
early industrial age, but there's also a very advanced energy
source. The world's called Savaraj. He says there's something wrong
there. He'll let us know as soon as he has anything."
They talked for
about two hours about many things before Maita interrupted: *Kit is
calling. He's going to be modified and is going to surreptitiously
go aground. He'll call us to tell us what's going on.*
[ What are the
people like, Maita? ]
"I'm getting
some conversion details from T Six," TR answered. "T Six broke the
rules enough to get the language. Maita does it all the time, so I
don't want any damned sermon! (There was a fast rule about not
using the probe, but it was the fastest way to get language. Maita
often broke the rule.)"
*Thing’s
already pointed out that the rule doesn't apply to machines. We're
machines. The question was about the people.*
"They're
mammals, standard K-form, a bit hairy, but not too much more than
Terrans," TR said. "They average about Z's size in most ways, the
females have four teats instead of two, the nose is flatter. Here's
a picture. I'll give Maita the transpositional details for the
records."
The hidden
holovid screen lit up to show a picture of a being.
Tab and TR were
in internal communication, and now Tab interrupted. "Kit reports
this is something really nasty. He doesn't know what it is, but I
suppose I'd better get out there. I'm coming in, TR. Let's head
out. We'll be in touch, Z, Thing."
[ Before you
leave, Tab. Is it Immins? Is there any chance they're on that
world? ]
"There's a
chance, but it's not at all likely," Tab replied. "If it were
Immins a lot of things would be different, like there would be a
female at the head of it and there.... I'd say there isn't any
Immin. We would know. That world's too close."