Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition (171 page)

"Hmm. I think
it may be our only hope," Z replied, then continued in Tlorgian.
"Kurk, I'm going to go back to Teeme to meet with a spaceship. A
mechanical being who's a close friend of mine.

"I think you'll
like TR!"

Crazy
Invasion

TRD-60 came in
under cover of darkness and over the mountain behind the castle
under which Maita was sitting. Being a much smaller ship TR could
land in the large courtyard. The near-direct contact would be
necessary. The imparting of this kind of data couldn't be handled
through the servo machines. The golems had taken all the Fromes
into Forthern, ostensibly to aid the court system there and to seek
evidence of intruding sorcerers between Forthern and Loosta, which
would keep all of them away for a few hours. TR would be gone
before dawn.

The clamshell
arrived soon after TR settled. Maita was still reporting all they
had learned so the group was included in the discussions.

*I’m thinking
what we have there is a very real invasion, but I have no idea
where the invasion is to take place. There's entirely too much we
don't know about this. It doesn't seem to be sane from one
perspective, but we may have a psychology we aren't familiar with
here.*

"Do you mean
the Jornians are planning to invade the world?" Kurk asked. "It
would seem far more reasonable to have directly attacked Loosta
from the first when there was no defense and no suspicion. Did
Boss's coming here throw their plans off course so much they would
wait?"

[ The Jornians
aren't the invaders. Not directly. Who or what is behind it is our
big mystery. ]

"Zaft let
something very important slip," Z explained. "I doubt she even
realized it at the time. She almost said something, caught herself,
and went on with something else.

"The socalled
'bird' that delivered the message to her that I was coming to
confront her wasn't a Frome. It wasn't something the Jornians might
use. The mine tailings were diggings for various ores that reminded
Maita and me immediately of the metals used in the opening of the
portals. Maybe's discovery was of a very large portal that's
apparently to be powered from the Jornian ship's power sources. It
would indicate the movement either of large machinery or massive
troop movements.

"There's an
entrance here from a plane we know nothing of. There's someone in
that Jornian ship from another plane. Our big question is whether
beings from that plane are bringing an army here or whether the
army's expected to go from here to there."

"So the plan is
for you to ground the energy sphere if they try to open a massive
portal, Z?" TR asked.

*Kurk, we call
Boss 'Z' here. It isn't his real name anymore than 'Boss' is.
You've probably guessed Maybe's not a real name, either. There's no
way to pronounce Maybe's real name with words. We call it 'Thing',
which is a nickname from Z's native language. TR, Kurk is, as
explained, from plane TTH nine, the Fromes are from TTH seven, the
Targs from TTH two. I recently learned the location of Kurk's plane
from the seer, Burl, here in Teeme. I sent floaters to examine the
odd portal placements Thing discovered. It would appear to be TTH
nineteen, which can only be entered from this plane in a nonmoving
mode, or through a portal in other words. Inertia can do strange
things in those highly complicated planes. TR, please transfer
knowledge of the grounding spell to Z and to Thing. Extrx and Kurk
can relax, enjoy a good meal and rest until we come up with our
plan of attack.*

Z, with Thing
riding his shoulder, entered TR. Kurk elected to stay in
conversation with Maita and TR while Ehrak went to his room on
Maita to record some of his adventures.

Kurk was
laughing in his terrifying way when Z and Thing returned. TR had
just used one of its sharper "misinterpretations" of one of Kurk's
statements to make a pointed joke. Maita, TR and Kurk had been
playing the game for awhile.

Thing and Z
went with Kurk into the dining hall for a delicious meal, then went
to individual rooms to shower (a thing Kurk was very familiar with,
but which was quite rare on Tlorg, though indoor plumbing was just
becoming popular).

Ehrak came into
the hall as they all returned later. TR was gone, having made a new
friend of Kurk. The group wanted to leave before dawn to be back on
the dark continent at sunrise there. The golems and the four Fromes
came back in before they left so there was a discussion of where
the Jornians became involved – and how. Nothing was solved about
that, but Z was thinking hard about it when they climbed into the
clamshell.

"Damn it,
Maita!" Z said after they were under way. "How DID those Jornians
meet whoever's here? How did they get here? Did they open a portal
on the other end and come through here?

"That doesn't
seem to make a lot of sense. The Jornians weren't here for them to
come to."

"Maybe a
sorcerer on Tlorg was experimenting and happened on the portal,"
Ehrak suggested. "The beings from that plane may have simply taken
advantage of an accident."

[ I think maybe
the math was worked out for the portal, but whoever opened it
couldn't know what they would find there. It would be very
complicated from what Maita has shown. I would like to meet whoever
worked that one out! I have trouble with discovering how the
Jornians were contacted. It seems too far less than likely they
happened to come here purely by chance. Odds beyond a certain point
are meaningless and that most certainly passes that point. ]

*What's most
unlikely is that anyone from that plane could even survive here for
any length of time. We have three too few dimensional stress
points, at least! Time, when figures on the zeta qat axis, would
seem to be a far different thing there than here. I'm speaking of
the duration factor.*

"Maita, how far
is this planet from a regular trade route?" Z asked.

*Nothing within
fifty plazsis.*

[ Explorations?
]

There was a
pause, then Maita said there may be something. It was checking. The
clamshell was traveling at more than mach four so they were soon
coming into their landing spot close to the seashore. Thing would
go with Z this trip to the Jornian ship while Kurk and Ehrak would
go to several spots the seeker floaters found where suspicious
events or energy readings were taking place. That one enormous
question was foremost in importance to this whole planet: Was the
invasion to be OF Tlorg or FROM Tlorg?

*

Kurk watched
the expert manner in which Extrx handled the floater. He received
instructions on the use of the one he was using and was quickly
becoming more adept, but the completely automatic way the
otherworlder (Otherplaner?) handled the machine was fascinating to
watch.

Extrx, or Ehrak
as Maita and TR had called him, was more reserved than the others,
but Kurk had the feeling this friend was certainly one he would
want to have at his backside in the case of difficulties.

Fromes, Targs,
Tlorgians, three different kinds of beings from another set of
worlds, a machine and the Jornians. Kurk was meeting a diverse
bunch of beings if nothing else. This empire with thousands of
different cultures would be a neverending source of wonder and
interest. Thing was certainly a being a biologist would be willing
to spend a lifetime studying and these people had spoken of other
much stranger beings.

Kurk liked all
of these various peoples, though he didn't trust the Jornians. He
was perfectly well aware they were less than truthful in their very
being on this world, but he would reserve judgement on them as a
race. Boss and Maybe both said they were diverse, that few of them
were untrustworthy as were these here.

What was Maita
really like? Kurk understood the reasons why none must meet the
emperor face-to-face, but the great intelligence and sense of humor
of the man (? Something else? Extrx had called Maita 'him' several
times, but Maybe said 'it' and Z hadn't made any references of that
type. Was Maita like Maybe?) shone through in a thousand little
ways. Maybe had explained that Maita was controlling the funny
golems through computers. The fun and intelligence of those devices
was legendary on Tlorg. That that humor and intelligence was
necessarily that of Maita was more than obvious.

All of the
group agreed Maybe was the most intelligent of them all, yet they
often made very hard statements to one another in their games. Even
the machine, TR, had to stay in top form to compete in those
games.

That, of
course, was why they did it. It kept the mind sharp and expectant.
Little was missed when others said things as a result. That was why
Boss had caught that little slip Zaft made while Kurk was playing
with the children. The use of one word, then the changing of the
sentence when analyzed resulted in the sure knowledge there was
someone else involved in this. It logically followed, but would
have been much too easy to miss altogether.

Kurk also felt
that Boss could, as could the rest of them, be totally merciless if
the occasion called for it. When he was relating what he said to
Zaft should any innocent people – meaning mostly the family at the
farm – be hurt his eyes and voice were as hard as corundum.

Fair enough.
There had to be rules to any game. Zaft and any who were listening
through the spy device in the farmhouse were told in no uncertain
terms that all innocent bystanders were to be protected. Period. No
excuses.

Extrx pointed
toward a path, then printed on the communicator that Kurk was to go
close to the place on the map showing on the holoscreen in flashing
green. There he was to release the small spy floaters, which would
automatically survey the suspicious area. They were fully
programmed for their job.

"Please stay
out of sight," came onto the screen. "Use your eyes. Note
everything that seems in any way to be artificial or out of place.
Use the videocams to record everything. We will meet here in one
hour. Be most careful."

Kurk gave the
"understood" sign, then headed up the path. It was less than a
kilometer to the spot so he lost little time releasing the six
small floaters hanging under the one he was riding. He scanned the
area while the little machines did their jobs, found one thing that
seemed odd, recorded it twice then when the floaters returned to
re-attach themselves to his floater went back to wait for
Extrx.

Kurk felt he
would always think of the fellow as Extrx, not Ehrak. It made no
difference. They worked well together. They had a deep honest
mutual respect.

*

Ehrak printed
out the instructions for Kurk, saw him give the "understood" sign,
then watched as the big demon moved quickly away along the path
indicated.

He couldn't
help but think of Kurk as a demon.

Well, that's
what he WAS on Tlorg!

Z was right.
Maybe bringing these people into the empire was a good idea. The
big and rather terrifying being would be a very good friend to have
around in case of trouble. He learned fast – note how well he
handled the floater – and had a great sense of humor. He had guts,
too! To join into the games Maita and the crew played even to the
point of matching wits with TR was a thing Ehrak only played around
on the fringes of. The group were merciless with one another. The
remarks and little tricks were best described as outrageous. Tom's
memories showed him a somewhat different approach to each other at
the time when they were first on Tlorg in that they used insult, as
they did now, but mostly with double meanings. The old sexual
undertones in the remarks to Z had changed as Z lost his
inhibitions. The game would surely constantly evolve or it would
become too predictable. If only Kurk's laugh weren't so startling
and even terrifying!

The obvious
affection among Z, Thing, Maita and even TR was a thing to be ...
almost envied. Ehrak felt some affection for Thing, but wasn't
familiar enough with Z yet. Tom's memories were of a strong
affection among all of them. Hopefully it would come.

Ehrak couldn't
begin to picture Kurk displaying affection, but the big demon
played with those children in a really affectionate way. He said he
liked children.

Face it!
Nothing could be as terrifying to a mammal as the Feach, yet they
were known to be one of the more affectionate races in the galaxy!
Another mammal could be as terrifying in aspect. Kurk certainly
was!

Here we are
facing an invasion from another plane by beings we can't even
conceive of and I sit here wondering about which race is more
affectionate! Ehrak thought. Wouldn't the group make a deal out of
THAT!

He concentrated
on the area ahead. He would soon be to the place he was to
investigate so he'd better be sharp. Just around there and lower,
so it would be in a valley of some sort.

It was a narrow
cleft. There was a house by a stream below, but not much else.
Smoke was coming from the chimney so someone was home. Ehrak sent a
small floater to investigate the house while he explored the ridge
he came over. When the floater returned he sent out several others
to look around for anything out of the ordinary, then returned to
find Kurk waiting after the devices were back. They headed back to
the starting point, relayed the video information they had gathered
to the waiting communications floater and headed for the second
pair of locations while the com floater reported everything to
Maita.

So far it
didn't look terribly promising, but that was to be expected. Every
world had thousands of little unexplained things happening all the
time. It was important they be checked here simply because no one
knew for sure what they were up against yet. Maita would add up all
their clues, discard the ninety five percent that had no connection
and they would then have a direction.