Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition (146 page)

He won enough
to make it likely he wouldn't leave the game and managed to keep
the two Jornians in the game by seeing they won just enough to
balance what they lost. Any time they looked as though they might
leave he ordered another drink and stick.

He got his
questions answered and, just before noon, left the planet Gorlag.
He arrived on Grlaq to find Tab's contact waiting as soon as T6
located TR on the field. T6 landed on a pad next to that occupied
by TR and made tightbeam contact. No one knew anyone. That was to
be the rule here. Tab was being called Ford and was at the
Wanderlust Bar where outlaw trader ships found their cargo
hands.

T6 contacted
Tab to tell him that Marq, as Kit was calling himself, had arrived.
Kit went to the place where he saw Tab in his Jornian guise
bantering and bragging with a Bentan and an Eacheron. He received
the name "Star Striker" and knew he wasn't to worry about that
ship. He was to find another likely vessel to investigate.

The information
both Kit and Tab had been able to get out of their respective
sources was that several Jornians had gone to Grlaq looking for
work and hadn't returned – sixteen years ago. Ilah was a typical
follower of the traders and was at an age that would have put her
in her prime then and the people in Kit's game were resident
gamblers. They had been there for more than twenty five years and
kept up with the gossip as part of the game. There were always
stories of shanghai operations out here, but there were few actual
cases so the facts were easy to extract from the fiction. The
fiction was vague second and third hand news while the facts were
known directly. The robots knew how to sift through rumor and
innuendo to find the small core of truth.

Kit's news was
about two Jornians while Tab's was about four Jornians so Tab was
the likely one. Now they must try to trace which ship the Jornians
at Savaraj had joined, then why they were on the world. It would be
nice to know why they refused rescue, too. That was the greatest
oddity about the situation. They could have been rescued within
hours at anytime. It would be nice to know how they managed to be
on Savaraj when there was no ship lost in that area at that time.
Various ships were lost close to that time in other areas, but
nothing within pod reach of Savaraj. THAT kind of information could
be checked and known with great accuracy.

Kit checked
with the bartender as to which ships were in and hiring. He was
told the "Star Striker" and the "Gnome" were the only two at the
moment, but there were others many times. Either ship would hire
Jornians.

He asked if
there were many Jornian-owned ships and was told they were rare and
recent. There hadn't been any a few years ago.

There was
nothing to lose so he said he had some friends who had come out
fifteen or twenty years ago and were never heard of again. He asked
if many ships had been lost back then along the regular routes.

"Don't know of
any," the bartender replied. "You don't take chances with your
ship. Had some ships then, and still do, where people went out who
didn't come back. It didn't happen to people who did their jobs and
didn't try any funny stuff. Had a couple of trader ships hijacked
about that time, but it stopped sudden like when a crew came in and
killed a few who were supposed to be behind it. Said some of them
tried to hijack a friend of theirs and they found out who was
behind it.

"We sort of
handle those, uh, LEGAL problems ourselves out here. That way they
don't STAY problems if you get the way the ions flow. People will
get away with exactly what other people let them get away with.
Establish right where the wall is, let everybody know whoever
climbs that wall will never live to tell about it and nobody climbs
the wall if you get the way the galaxy spins.

"Never did find
out which ship it was, but it ain't exactly smart to ask. You'll be
smart to listen a lot and talk a little and don't ask questions
about nothin'! You must be new around here, or you'd know
that."

"Thanks," Kit
replied. "I AM new out here (He could be sure any regular bartender
would know that!). I'll remember that."

He found a
Captain Laht from the "Gnome" and talked about a job but it was a
new ship with a new crew so he said he wouldn't be much good, as he
had to learn.

He had an idea.
Something that bartender said may be a key to the whole thing, but
how to find out? It was certainly a time when it wouldn't be smart
to ask questions!

*

Tab talked to
the captain, but turned down the job, explaining he was more
interested in being an equipment specialist than in being a
laborer. Labor, he could do at home. He had enough put by that he
would wait for something that would hold his interest.

Kit came in and
spent a bit of time with the bartender. They seemed chummy enough,
then he talked with the "Gnome" bunch, but that was a new ship so
didn't fit the pattern.

Nothing to do
but wait. He went back to TR. He would stay on the ship instead of
at the hotel. Most people who owned a ship would opt for that. Kit
must have found something, but they wouldn't be able to directly
communicate here much. They had no idea what kind of detectors
there were in the area – or who was using those devices. The
bugchasers wouldn't be effective because of so much interference
from the normal machines in use.

Kit was on T6
so he strolled over and called. Kit came out and they talked about
where each was from, then went inside T6 for a drink. When they
were inside it was safe to talk.

"I saw you
light up in the bar," Tab said. "What?"

"See what this
sounds like," Kit suggested. "There were a number of hijackings
around the time our crew disappeared. The Jornians had no ships out
here then but they do now. It would be pointless to look for a
Jornian ship so our Savaraj bunch were crew on another ship or
something on that order.

"A bunch came
in and said they'd caught the hijackers on some ship and knew who
was behind them. They killed a bunch of people and there haven't
been anymore hijackings. That's how they handle those things in
places like this. It's important to keep the empire out of it.

"There were no
ships lost at that time."

"Then maybe our
four Jornians were hijacking ships and were caught," T6 said. "That
would explain why they don't want to be found. There'll still be
people looking for them. Hijackers were probably involved in
killing some of the crews on ships they took over. It'll explain
the crooked nature of them, too. We'll have to find why they were
allowed to take an escape pod. These people would've killed them,
not exiled them. They sure as hell wouldn't let them take a pod in
the area of a restricted planet. That would be a sure way to get
the empire fleet coming down on the bunch of them like frflls on a
gzeebub!"

"Maybe they
made a deal," Tab suggested. "'Let us have a pod and go and we'll
tell you who's behind it.' They wouldn't dare to return then,
either. Their own people will be looking for them. The only thing
that doesn't fit anywhere is the area the pod was released."

"I think I know
a good way to find which ship it was – or one who knows all about
it," Kit said. "Tomorrow, we'll have to find out which ships NOT to
ask for a job. We'll need to know which ships won't hire a Jornian
under any circumstances. Anyone who had that kind of negative
experience with Jornians would never again trust one of them.
Period,"

"I see," Tab
agreed. "That would be the best way. You handle it from morning to
noon and I'll handle it in the afternoon."

They parted
company. In the morning Kit didn't discover much, as few came to
the bar. Tab decided it would be quicker and easier to talk to
other Jornians than to talk to all the captains so got into a
friendly card game with a Bentan and two Jornians. He played a few
hands and talked about looking for a job to ship out on. Something
that would use his talents as a navigator and planner and not so
much his abilities as a laborer. He needed to make some money, but
wasn't desperate.

"Any really
good ships to try for?" he asked. "I can stay around for awhile.
I'm not hurting yet."

The Bentan
mentioned four very good ships, but said the fact they were so good
was enough to guarantee they wouldn't have any openings. If they're
that good they have a permanent crew AND a waiting list of
available hands.

"I guess I'll
have to try them as they come in," he said. "Any to stay away
from?"

The Bentan
again answered with three very hard captains to work with. "...and
don't bother with the 'Asteroid A'," a Jornian said. "That rockslug
won't let a Jornian near his ship.

"It's not that
it would be any particular problem, you know, like maybe mismatched
atmosphere or gravity or light or something. He's just got a bad
attitude against us for some reason. In the twelve years I've been
around here I never found anyone so bigoted against Jornians. He
was always like that, I guess. Some people just are. Maybe some
Jornian got the best of him in a deal and he has a grudge for all
of us since. There are some very sharp shysters among the Jornians.
Truth is truth."

"Not some new
ship?" Tab asked innocently. "I hear new ones want all crewmembers
of their own race sometimes."

"Hah!" the
Bentan said. "Old Sarnof, he's the captain there, he's been around
thirty five – forty years! Had a run-in with some Jornians fifteen
– twenty years ago's what it was. Been a bastard to 'em ever since.
Don't have no idea what it's all about and don't much give a damn.
Everybody's got prejudices. Most won't admit it, but I ain't about
to trust one of them Freenz bugs. They might be fine people like
Maita says, but to me they're bugs and always will be. Acnians,
too.

"Sarnof's okay.
Tough and old-hand all the way, but he'll give you his last chit –
except Jornians."

"Sarnof?" Tab
asked. "Mome or Feach?"

"Naw. Ain't no
Feach out here," the Bentan replied. "Certainly no Momes. Not many
Kheth and no Swaz.

"Eacheron. He's
straight. Got a good run and don't play the game no more. Don't
need it. Got a lot of respect all around. Knows everthing and says
nothin' bout it. Smart. Better than the empire guild captains and
gets better profit.

"Now, Jankrin,
another Eacheron, is another story. Smile in your face and scam you
out of your last credit."

Tab played a
few hands longer, then went back to TR. Kit soon left the pads and
Tab left a few hours later. They met out of the system.

"T Six, Kit, we
have to get Maita to locate Captain Sarnof on the 'Asteroid A'
somehow. He's supposed to be dead straight," TR reported. "Tab's
calling now. There's a good chance our Jornians are from that ship.
I've already told Maita about the rest of it. We can figure it
except for the fact Sarnof would never let the Jornians take a pod
to a restricted planet."

*Sarnof is on
Krome. He has a fastcom code. Try to talk to him, but use the probe
if you must. He's a good man, I think.*

They headed for
Krome and found the ship at a warehouse. They decided to be honest
and say they were empire agents and they had to know. There was a
whole society in danger from them.

"Then they made
it to a world?" Sarnof asked.

"They're
ruining a world," Tab agreed. "We've killed one of them, but we
have to be awfully careful how we do things or they'll destroy that
culture."

"I'll tell you
all about it," Sarnof said, leaning back and taking a short nicstic
from a package to chew. "We were on the standard run when the five
of them tried to seize the ship. Klarg, my nav officer, got one of
them, but they'd dropped the ship off the route before we even
started fighting back, took us so much by surprise. We didn't know
where we were even close.

"When Klarg
dropped the one and got the helm the other four dodged into the
hold. I reset the moder to retrace and return us to Grlaq. We could
deliver the ones who were hijacking ships – or their bodies. Just
as we saw them lock themselves into the hold I hit the evacuation
switch to pump the air out...."

Explanations

"The Jornians
felt the air going and jumped into the emergency pod. They were
able to leave the ship seconds before it jumped," Tab reported.
"Sarnof didn't know where they were in the hold area. He didn't
know the pod was gone until he was back at the pad. We have a
pretty free hand here now, but we have to be very careful about
this culture."

"I can't help
but wonder if we'd be smarter to just get this done here as quickly
as we can, then head for that world, Grlaq," Z said. "If those
outlaw traders are going to dump this kind of problem on this kind
of world it's time they found a new kind of business."

[ Don't start
with that intentional misunderstanding crap, Z. Sarnof was
attempting to kill them and they escaped. There's no evidence it
happened anywhere else. There's certainly no evidence the traders,
outlaw ships or not, would condone interference in other cultures
in any form. We know damned well Sarnof wouldn't permit any such
thing. He didn't know where they were or that there could even be
any world the pod would reach. I think he'd take the chance of
reporting it to Empire Police if he thought there was a realistic
chance they made planetfall. It was one chance in millions and it
turned out wrong. We can't blame anyone – certainly not all the
outlaw traders! ]

*We need those
traders. There is and always will be an element that exists around
the fringes of the rules of a society. I know where they are and
what they're into for the most part. I know who they are, which is
vastly important at times. Break up what they have and they
disperse among the regular societies. Then we DO have trouble! All
Z is doing is trying to goad us into telling him what we plan. He
has a kind of basic idea, but can't stand the thought it's not
something he thought of first!*