Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition (184 page)

"That's what
I'm afraid might happen so I have more questions about something,"
Z replied. "Does that thing have to come through TTH nine?"

*If there's a
point there ... yes. That's how it can come without being destroyed
by the energy flow. It comes in stages, I'd say. Thing?*

[ That was a
major puzzle. I didn't know how it shielded the heat. It doesn't
have to. TTH nineteen to ... TTH eleven. It stops to equalize in
eleven. Do you have the plane charted, Maita? What's there? ]

*Just amorphous
rock. Large planet. There isn't any life in that part of eleven.
The star's dead. It's not Tlorg, but an angular offshoot. That's
where the second black hole comes in.*

"The Targs are
from eleven," Ehrak argued.

*Yes. Here in
eleven, not there. A plazi here might be a different galaxy
there.*

[ So. Nineteen
to eleven to nine to here. No serious energy problems. It all
figures. ]

"What can we do
in nine?" Z asked. "Would we be likely to cause serious damage if
we did something there?"

*Probably. We
can't manipulate energy fields for any permanent time there. It's
all in relative motion.*

"Eleven's
already a dead world so I guess all we could do there is to put up
a manned outpost – which might not work," Z replied slowly. "Any
suggestions?"

"If it's
already a dead world we don't have to worry about people or
populations," Kurk said. "I admit I don't know that much about
interplanal physics but, well, does that putting the ship inside of
a point thing work there, too?"

[ It should.
With a different.... It could still be swung through eleven. ]

"Then it seems
simple to me," Kurk replied. "If the world's already dead why not
shoot a point at it? I'd say the Prlnth would really get a surprise
if they showed up on the surface of a black hole!"

There was
complete silence for a minute, then Z let out a barking laugh and
turned to hug the big demon.

"Maita! Is
there anything in that area that would be damaged by a small black
hole?" he asked.

*It's a part of
a dying galaxy. There's nothing within a billion plazsis. It will
work! It will only form a pure neutron mass, but that will do it,
I'd say.*

"What if the
Prlnth decide to come in friendship? Just to make contact?" Z asked
innocently, looking concerned.

"Don't start
that!" Ehrak exclaimed.

[ Z! ]

*Oh, groan!
Knock it the hell off!*

"No way! They
already forfeited any rights of consideration in that area," Kurk
snapped. "WE didn't come to hijack THEIR ship or to make hostages
of THEIR people or to so de-energize THEIR planet it would kill
them off! There's such a thing as going too far with this
silliness!"

Z broke out
laughing. "If you could see your own faces! Do you really think I
could be serious?

"Let's get this
thing done! I have a proposal that has to wait until we finish this
job to be made."

[ I vote for
and, in answer to the question, yes! YOU could be serious about
something like that! We have experience! ]

Thing sprang to
wrap around Z's head and face. Z spluttered and mumbled, then Thing
sat on his shoulder to pound his head with a tentacle. Z grabbed
for it, but it sprang back to Kurk's shoulder.

[ Help! I'm
being attacked! ]

*Somebody help
Z attack Thing. On this one we don't need a vote.*

"Vote?" Kurk
asked.

"Welcome aboard
the Maita as a full crew member!" Z cried. "I assume you wouldn't
insult us by refusing?"

Kurk felt weak
in the knees. He couldn't say anything. It had happened!

[ For your
information, as a full member of this crew you are entitled to know
a secret or two – such as the fact that Maita is the ship. That's a
secret only we who travel with it know. And Joe's People. And the
Tendd. And the Parf. – And, of course, the Zulians. Say, Maita?
That's one hell of a poorly kept secret! ]

*You're the one
with the blabbermouth!*

They were all
feeling good. They played for awhile then got into character to go
into Teeme to meet with the people. They would have to get
everything in order. They would leave soon – but they were going to
have a bit of a vacation first – AFTER they took care of a little
detail in TTH11!

Cross Your Fingers

It was
something that would probably work, it was something that harmed no
one in the plane involved, it solved the problem in a way that
wasn't too likely to involve the innocent to any extent. Maita felt
the first and second points were by far the most important ones. It
was vaguely possible that someone in ... not really. The portal had
to be opened from the "low" end, or from N plane. Nrkll must have
some way to open the portal from the TTH19 plane, though. That was
something Maita was steering around. It was sure that closing the
path in TTH11 would solve the problem so there was no reason to
complicate it – still, there was a nagging doubt. Something also
wasn't right about it.

[ So, Maita.
Give. When you get this quiet you're worried about something and
you're trying to keep it from us. ]

So much for the
plan. *Okay. You did the math. There ain't no way Nrkll opened that
portal from TTH nineteen. It ain't gonna just open again when the
Prlnth want to come back. They ain't about to have any....*

[ I get the
point! There's some device here to keep it open or that will
re-open it at a given time. I'm not sure it'll make any real
difference if there's a neutron mass between here and there. ]

"I can see a
problem," Ehrak said. "If a portal's opened from here that's
directly onto a neutron star it could start absorbing this planet,
pulling it into another plane and end up causing the same thing
we're trying to avoid."

[ It's at an
sharply oblique angle, dimensionally speaking. It would possibly
draw through some atmosphere and the portal devices, then would
stop. The problem .... It would barely possibly disrupt TTH nine.
Oh. That's not a serious problem. I see. ]

"Well, it would
seem to me the basic problem is that there's someone on this end
involved so there's someone here who might find another way to open
another portal with someone else on Prlnth," Kurk said.

"Or there's a
small leader portal, a microscopic one, that some wizard might
accidentally expand while innocently working on something else," Z
added.

*It wouldn't be
microscopic, but it's there. Either that or someone who could open
another. This could start again. Someone thinks there's personal
power out there that's far beyond their wildest dreams.*

"That's right!"
Ehrak exclaimed. "Nrkll was convinced we all had insatiable
personal greed as a basic motive of all our actions!"

[ We'll still
solve the problem for a long time if we close TTH eleven, then we
can work on this end. Maybe whoever's on this end will try to go to
TTH eleven to find another one on that end to broker some power
through and will end up smeared over the surface of a neutron mass.
]

"Why not go to
eleven, make the black hole and let some of us investigate this
part of it?" Kurk suggested. "It doesn't seem important to me that
we wait to do the entire thing at once. If we close the portal for
all practical reasons we have a long time to do the rest."

*Leaving you to
handle this end while we're gone? You've figured it out, have
you?*

"Haven't we
all?" Kurk asked. "Isn't it about as obvious as things can be?"

[ The obvious
in these situations is usually nowhere near the truth. Believe me,
we know. We can't act until we know. This is experience speaking.
]

"So that'll be
easy enough to find out," Kurk argued. "Give me a floater. You go
to handle the black hole and I'll investigate this end and we can
do whatever we decide when you return. I can take Fale with
me."

*I see! Take a
Targ, too!*

"I take it the
rest of us are out of this?" Ehrak said.

*The rest of us
are going to make a black hole! It'll be the first time in history
– of this galaxy, at least – that an artificial means was used to
do that even if it IS in another plane!*

"I'll stay here
with Kurk," Z decided. "You can handle that without me."

Maita and Thing
began to object, but Kurk said that would be fine with him. No one
could read his expression, but Thing studied him a moment, then
agreed.

*

Maita, Thing
and Ehrak left as soon as it was dark enough that no one would be
likely to see the large ship rise into the atmosphere. Fale, Kurk
and Z took the clamshell earlier for Loosta where they would try to
talk Linx into going with them. Thing hung onto Ehrak's shoulder as
they went into the pilot's dome.

There was an
extra angle or two in TTH11, but it wasn't the kind of thing that
would do any psychological or other damage to anyone from the N
plane. Energy exchange was a different matter, but not critical.
Thing wasn't at all sure it had been a good idea to leave Kurk and
Z together for this. Kurk could – and would – handle what must be
done while Z would raise all kinds of silly objections. It was good
the Frome and a Targ, probably Linx, would be going. There was an
excellent chance the otherplaners could see or otherwise sense
where the portal was being held open. That would lead directly to
the major culprit in this. It would also give Kurk a chance to
visit the children of the farmer, which was a promise the Pluton
meant to keep. Period.

The ship went
into the TTH drive, but Maita had to find the proper area of the
plane. They first stopped on Frome where Maita was already known.
They couldn't see or hear at all well and would soon become
physically exhausted as the dimensional angularity in the atoms
there would fail to transfer what they needed in the way they would
need it. Maita made the pilot's dome into a stasis chamber much
like the one Nrkll had used on the Jornian ship.

Soon they were
again underway, but Thing and Ehrak weren't really aware of the
passage of time. The coordinates of the dead target world, a large
part of the galaxy away, were found, then checked by dropping back
into N space there, then returning to the eleventh plane. Maita
produced a moder module of the type needed, but dropped back into N
space before using it.

*We have a
problem.*

"What kind of
problem?" Ekrak asked.

[ If this thing
is used as planned it could end up in the middle of a black hole.
Maita's wondering what will happen if the thing dephases before
it's destroyed. ]

"I see. That
would cause the same thing?" Ehrak asked. "End of the
omniverse?"

*No, but it
could destroy the world here and in other planes much as the nova
machines did.*

[ Do you have
any psiltripium aboard? ]

*The focus is
psiltripium. I see what you suggest. I'll make the feedback diode
and the stabilizer control out of psiltripium.*

"I know
psiltripium is awfully heavy," Ehrak said. "Is that what makes it
important?"

[ Vital.
Psiltripium is the only neutron-heavy particular mass that remains
atomically reactive. It's a malleable metal so it can be used. This
will give us perhaps a full second more before the likelihood of
dephasing. By then it wouldn't much matter. The black hole would
absorb the results. ]

"That fast?!"
Ehrak cried.

*The collapse
of matter into a null zi-structure mode is instantaneous. Structure
is shifted into null space then into compacted mass. Once the
stabilized core forms the dephase in that area can't overcome the
core of gravitic force.*

[ In other
words it will collapse before it can dephase. The means isn't
important.]

They spent the
extra time for Maita to build the moder, attach a power supply and
encase it in a sphere to act as a carrier. They dropped into TTH11
again, made one quick dry run, then decided there was no time like
the present. Maita set the moder on course, turned it on and waited
while the timers acted. Thing and Ehrak spent the moment from the
release until the conclusion of the experiment in real time. It
wasn't long enough to do any lasting harm. They watched the big
magnified screen, not knowing what to expect. It was disappointing
in one way and exciting in another.

"That was IT?!"
Ehrak asked.

*It appears
so.*

[ I'm as
underwhelmed as I ever.... ]

Suddenly the
planet, which had merely shown a flash of light at the time the
reaction took place, simply wasn't there anymore.

*WHOA! That's
better! The mass is still all there, but the volume is only about
eight meters in diameter!*

"But ... what
happened?" Ehrak asked.

[ I would
deduce that the core of the planet collapsed instantly, but the
field of the moder wasn't large enough to encompass the entire
volume of the planet. It was suddenly hollow, but the gravity was
still there so it finally collapsed inward. Imploded. We were
successful. I'm greatly tired, Maita. ]

*We're on our
way home, or to Tlorg, anyway.*

They were soon
waiting in orbit for darkness to come so they could land
unobserved.

*

Kurk found Linx
soon after they landed the clamshell floater in Loosta. Fale and Z
were already aboard, but he wanted one of each kind of being for
the search they would have to make. Linx agreed to come along to
aid them in any way he could.

The group then
called on King Dihn, told him most of what had happened already
from a point of view that left it seeming to be magic. The
scientific parts were excluded completely.

They had
decided to land on the dark continent after sunset. Kurk believed
the Targ and Frome – and he – could probably detect the portal more
easily then, but none of them thought it was going to be easy. They
scanned the entire area from the floater for the entire night, but
could find nothing.