Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition (169 page)

Thing wondered
if Maita had learned how to go to Hades from Burl's coordinate
system.

It was flying
very low and winding among the shrubbery, as was Ehrak. They wished
to avoid detection by either the Jornians or whoever was here with
them. The sensors Kurk and Z had reported in use could probably
detect the floaters if they were close and unshielded. While the
shields were in use the efficiency of the machines was lessened,
but they were designed well so the shields would stay up.

Thing also
wanted to spend more time on its main problem. Kurk was probably
right in that it didn't really matter one way or another if nothing
actually existed in reality, but no Mentan could ever resist such a
complex problem. It was fascinating to wonder if perhaps one was
truly nothing other than a figment of some nonexistent being's
imagination!

Of course, that
was the real crux of the matter. Thing was certain either it or
it's imaginative dreamer DID exist because, as badly as Z had put
it, there could be no dream without a dreamer. Not with math as it
was now understood. The simple fact the math was there was a solid
argument that something was amiss in this theorizing.

Still, it was
fascinating. Thing didn't care one whit if the theory was true or
false, if it actually existed or was part of a dream or any of the
rest of it. The more important thing was to KNOW! Nothing would
actually change, regardless of the facts of the matter. If there
was a dreamer then Thing wanted to find a way to thank it for
making life so exciting for Maita and the crew.

The ground was
steadily rising into rolling foothills. There was a meandering
narrow river ahead that would place the floater into clear view if
the path was being watched in any way.

So don't stay
on the path. Move along the scrub line where the path would stay in
view. There was a shallow cut in the hills north across the valley.
It could be reached by flying around the place for a few kilometers
to where there was an overhang. The exposure while crossing there
would be minimal.

The floater
adjusted to that route by Thing's empathic command, then Thing went
back to its musings; If Tlorg were to be brought into the Maitan
Empire – along with the Fromes, Targs and Plutons – it would make
for some new rules. Maita would definitely have to find a way to
restrict travel into those other planes – witness what was
happening on Tlorg right now! Other planes didn't need a bunch of
galactic intrigues.

Says who? You? Maybe they would enjoy such antics on other
planes. The Plutons, at least, seemed to have most of the things
wrong with their society the Terrans had plus a few more things
those people, the Cheeth, had when they were first discovered
(
Settling
In
).

Not true. The
Cheeth had pretty well solved their problems. Most of them.

Why think about
the Cheeth three hundred years later?

Because the
Tlorgians looked a lot like them, dumbhead!

[ Now I sound
like the golems! ]

Ah, there's the
overhang. Let the sensors check for scans. Doesn't seem to be
anything ... across! Done! The path is back that way about four
kilometers over that hill.

The floater
dutifully turned as instructed while Thing went back to its
thoughts.

DID the
transmats work through exchange of interstice points on the
interface? It didn't seem possible, but then neither had the TTH14
drive they used almost every time they went anywhere. The transmats
worked – and worked very well – though none of the crew could come
up with any explanation for them whatever.

Bear in mind that the race who built the original portals
were T-kinetics (
Tristar
) so they could use the interface the same way these
wizards did. They merely solved the problem of mechanizing the
process. That meant it was as possible to mechanize the process for
moving between Tlorg and Frome, Targ, Hades or others.

Possible and
likely were not synonyms.

It was too bad
the very limited psy powers of peoples like Z and the Mentans
wouldn't allow them to use the powers directly.

The reading of the sorcerer Tee (
Now You See It – Now You
Don't
) had
taught both of them as well as Tom a little of the magic. Thing
COULD teleport short distances, had in fact done so, but it was a
terribly dangerous thing to attempt as there was no control. One
could easily end up occupying the same space as some other object.
THAT was nuclear fusion! The builders of the transmats could
naturally teleport where they chose and with great accuracy as the
Tristar's existence proved.

Z could make
the little blue flame in his cupped hands by moving heat from the
surrounding air to a point. That was magic. Z could also make some
energy return along the path it was following if it was great
enough. That had ended the sorcerer, Tee. That was plasma physics
driven by ... something. Psy.

Thing had no doubt these wizards here could turn lesser or
greater amounts of energy easily. They could turn a laser back on
itself, even. Kene had done that. Wruk told Thing about it the time
Thing came to remove the rogue Immin ship (
Changes
). Kene had explained it was a matter of
making the energy follow the path of the "little energy lines" that
had carried it in the first place.

Okay. So that
would explain why lightning could be directed. Set up an ionized
path for it and it would follow that path. Wruk also told of the
exploits with the Count Gess where exactly that was done. Lightning
followed a path of ions formed from the charges in clouds finding a
ground, but a laser needs no such carrier.

Didn't Kurk say
Burl was working on plasma physics that the wizard called
"energized air" or something such? That would tend to indicate that
the turning was accomplished through an instantaneous and very
strong plasma flow – a flow induced by the wizard.

Could the
organic mind really control that unthinkable an amount of
energy?

The floater
came around a sharp bend in the path where it entered another
little valley. Thing jerked its tentacles in surprise.

[ Great
exploding galaxies! What is THAT!]

*

Ehrak wasn't
thinking such deep thoughts. He thought about the stories he would
have to tell his children about this amazing world! A unique place
where the demons of legend were real and visible, where one could
talk with them, play with them, laugh and joke with them! Tlorg was
everything Tom's memories suggested it would be and a great deal
more. Even Thing's crazy theory that none of it existed made no
difference. The expression of the Zeenans, "If I'm not real who the
hell is that in the mirror?" settled that one so far as he was
concerned.

Ehrak really
had a strong affection for the little Mentan already. It was of
amazing intellect, yet it would play the most inane jokes on Z and
Maita – and on Ehrak. Even on the demon – Pluton – Kurk. It enjoyed
life fully.

He liked Z,
too. Z enjoyed life and wouldn't allow anyone to play a lower joke
on him than he would play on them. Tom's memories seemed to hint
that Z once had a relationship with a Zeenan girl, but the Terran
had some problems coping with it because they were of different
races. It wasn't too clear, but Ehrak was sure Z had overcome any
such stupid taboos centuries past. Caring and affection, when they
were the true basis of the pleasure, were meant to be shared. Race
didn't enter into it.

Maita was
another one who Ehrak needed little time learning to like. It was a
machine, but it had life, too. It had all the better traits of
organics with a few of the ones that weren't so great. It was
capable of the same juvenile play Z and Thing shared and had a
sharp sense of humor. It was emperor of the Maitan Empire, which
even Ehrak hadn't known until he used the memory crystal.

He had known
Maita was the emperor, of course, and had known that Tom had been a
close friend. He knew that Maita was never seen by the peoples of
the empire, ostensibly because that allowed all to wonder if maybe
the emperor wasn't one of their own race. He never guessed Maita
was a machine. He would, as had Tom, never let that fact out.

It was strange
that the Zulians knew, but had never divulged the secret.

No. Not
strange. The Zulians were the warmest, finest, most respected race
in the universe. Everyone agreed on that. Ehrak had met Zulians,
who looked like very large white cylinders with stalked eyes and
four tentacles below the head and who moved, as Z described it,
"Like the inchworms on Earth!" He had met the strange Acnians with
their humanoid form (K-form) and compound insect-like eyes and
their T-hypnotic talent. He had met the Mord, who communicated with
colors and once one of the despicable Immins, who looked much like
the Terrans or even these Jornians.

Ehrak was glad
the Immin race was now extinct. That bunch of them discovered when
he was still a small child was the last of them.

He had met the
Iaft, Bentan, Eacheron, the terrible-looking Feach. Z often
described the Feach as "Looking like a ten foot Tyrannosaurus rex!"
That meant little to others, but they did look ferocious. Many
reptiles did, but the Feach were doctors and pharmacists for the
empire and were among the most compassionate peoples known.

The Kheth were
reptiles, too, but they looked almost like hairless Terrans. They
were fun people.

Maita and the
crew were the rulers of all of those peoples in a way, yet they
didn't even take themselves seriously. Maybe that was why he liked
them. It would be hard to take oneself too seriously and to enjoy
life at the same time. The floater came to an area of open loose
rock so Ehrak had to concentrate on staying out of observation – if
there were any observers. It took some little time to find a
covered route, then he again followed the path directly.

Z had made
several little hints to Maita that he would like to see Tlorg a
member of the empire. That might be great fun for everyone.
Other-planal demons running amok throughout the galaxy! Ehrak could
picture the Fromes flying around Zeena and grinned at the
thought.

Not fair. He
liked the demons. They were like big ugly birds, but were a lot of
fun and were deeply loyal to their friends. Kurk was terrifying,
but was basically a funloving man from an unhappy world. Linx, the
Targ, was also another person not too unlike the other peoples of
the empire. The big ugly Fromes had wonderful senses of humor and
were really very likeable. They sincerely wanted to help the people
of Tlorg.

Still, it would
be great fun to have these people among the peoples of the
empire!

What was that
up ahead? It looked like some kind of mine.

Ehrak
maneuvered the floater to where he could get a good look at the
series of caves dug into the side of a hard rocky cliff face. The
floater printed on the screen for him to get off, then it went to
little hidden spots to check the tailings left from the mines.
Maita was controlling the machine so would use the devices built in
to find exactly what was going on here.

What could the
Jornians be mining out here? Almost everything known was in great
supply and was free for the taking in the asteroids of a few
billion star systems. Only psiltripium was rare and there was none
of that almost neutron mass element in this system. Tlorg wasn't
the kind of planet where blood diamonds might be found.

He would know
when Maita did an analysis. The floater returned. He climbed back
aboard and set it to retrace the route used in coming here. He
would meet Thing at the junction. Maybe Thing found the same thing.
Mines. Put the information together and they would know what the
Jornians were after.

Ehrak relaxed
while the floater returned him toward the main path. He saw Thing
was there waiting for him and they headed back together to the
rendezvous point with Z.

*

Maita sent the
golems to meet with the waiting Fromes while it monitored Z, Thing,
Kurk and Ehrak. It also sent hundreds of spy floaters throughout
various parts of the planet to be sure these outlaws hadn't landed
another party elsewhere. It also managed to handle a few problems
that were a bit too much for its various servos on other empire
worlds through fastcom while it worked on the coordinates Z got
from Burl concerning Hades.

Thing could
handle the math and theories. It would derive hours of pleasure
working on the puzzle that now confronted its amazing intellect. Z
would handle the problem of the Jornians. His talent was to be able
to come up with the most outlandish and illogical of plans – that
would generally succeed for some unknown reason, not the least part
of which was the total confusion in the minds of his
adversaries.

Z wanted to
take Tlorg and the other planes into the empire. That was
clear.

Well, it would
be a good thing for everyone concerned in a lot of ways. It
wouldn't hurt the Tlorgians, who were Maita's first concern. They
were a strong race, would become a good one eventually, were
funloving (along with the normal cruelties and meannesses that were
a part of the stage of development in many mammal cultures) and
naturally intelligent. It wouldn't harm the Plutons. They had space
travel in their own plane. Maybe a bit early, but they were
interacting with the Tlorgians, Fromes and Targs right now. The
converses were true. The Fromes and the Targs were also interacting
with each other and with the Tlorgians and Plutons.

There was one
small part of that equation Z wasn't considering, though. A very
important part.