Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition (201 page)

"Do you have
any other directions to go?" Tab asked.

"That's what
Nortich is working on," Givzoo replied. "She said she has an idea.
I hope so."

Tab spent
several days studying the fungus and what was known to that point,
then Zantoo came to report the two large spores and the smaller one
were sprouting very well. It would be about forty days before they
were mature enough to where they could be communicated with.

He said Maita
explained Tab was resistant to the psy power, thus could probably
be used to contact the fungus. Perhaps he could also help discover
how much memory was programed into the spores. The estimation was
that it was vast.

For those forty
days Tab worked on a project for Grandish as well as on the fungus
problem. He kept in close touch with T6 who finally told him about
the two engineers and sent him a direct of some of the results. He
went to Tltle and Sentah, two of the vacation planets, where he
suggested uses for the glass in the plush casinos and restaurants.
TR produced a few exquisite pieces according to the description T6
sent to the atomic architect. They had a quality that was evident,
a refractive index that was superb to the eye, but not enough to be
flashy and cheap-looking.

"This is what
can best be described as quiet elegance," he said to the
administrators. "I'm going to have designs made by a Parf friend.
Utility and true art at one and the same time. I need not explain
what it means if the Parf are even very marginally interested."

That sold it!
The Parf are the known to be finest artists in the empire and have
no peers (Except for the Zulians, but no one surpasses those
fantastic people in anything).

The trial
orders, based on whatever the Parf came up with, had to be reduced.
Tab explained these were to be carefully crafted wares, not some
mass-produced gimmicky junk.

TR placed the
orders into its computers, then they headed for Parf. Tab was sure
the Parf would be willing to help with this type project so
wouldn't mind that he had made a bit of a misstatement about their
interest in the product before any of them ever saw it.

Parf is a
planet that's as beautiful in itself as is the art the people
produce. It's a lush world with fine seas, mountains, rivers, four
moons large enough to be visible and rings that are at an angle to
the sun. Those rings of ice always produce fantastic light
displays. Looph, a special friend of Tab and one who often used the
transmat directly to EC, studied the glass blocks TR produced for
her from all angles, listened to what was needed, nodded, took the
bricks into her studio, stayed for three days and two nights, then
reappeared with six of the most exquisite pieces Tab had ever
seen.

"This is cut,
of course," she explained when she showed Tab the results of her
work. "The properties of this amazing glass will let it be molded
with very little loss of quality. I like the material. I've never
seen anything quite like it. Most things with the refractive range
are brittle and difficult, but this is a wish fulfilled. I think I
can produce some fine pieces if you can get me the stock in larger
sizes. I would appreciate an exclusive right to the stock. You are
aware I can afford to pay the best prices."

This was an
unexpected bit of good luck! If the stock was truly good enough to
be considered for requested use by the Parf the reputation of
Grandish was assured!

"Is it really
that good?" Tab asked.

"It is a
delight to work with," Looph replied. "I find it to have by far the
best color and refractive properties I have ever encountered in
glass. There is no doubt that there is a certain amount of free
beryllium salts in the mixture along with some excellent
pigmentationals. It also is very hard and is proof against heat to
a rather high degree so it cuts sharply and smoothly with a laser
and requires little finishing. It is hard, but not brittle to
enough of an extent to make it hard to work with. It is somewhat
like jade in those qualities and resists shattering from even very
forceful blows."

"Then
I'll make contractual arrangements for you. Did you make blueprints
of production specifications yet?" Tab asked.

"Yes, of
course," Looph answered. "It isn't too difficult a process. You
will soon discover that superior art isn't often complicated."

Tab carried the
samples and design prints along with the contracts to TR, who
recorded the whole thing, then headed back to Kuhlicht. Nortich met
him, this time.

"We won't waste
time with pleasantries," she greeted. "The fungus is growing faster
than we planned. The mother quite probably programmed a few secrets
into these spores. It seems confused because it can't reach our
minds. It remembers that it could so what you said earlier about
this being some kind of programmed immortality is probably true
enough. The thing very literally reproduces itself exactly – along
with memories. It must discard only those unimportant things that
are ninety five percent of all our lives.

"Emperor Maita
reported that you may be used for any direct contact as you are
immune to psy attack. It would seem to definitely be time for you
to be used!"

"Have you found
anything in the bacterial thing?" Tab asked.

"Givzoo has a
new approach he says may be of some minimal use, which means he's
probably solved that end of the problem," she replied. "He's rather
cautious about such things.

"Shall we go to
meet the fungus? You can discuss the bacterial thing with Givzoo
later."

She led him
into the labs where the three fungi were much larger than he would
have thought possible, the larger two being almost two meters high
and the smaller more than one meter in height. The psy part of his
mind immediately felt the curiosity from the three fungi, then he
was assaulted by all three at once.

He waited a
minute, then said, "You can stop that foolishment. You can't harm
me."

"You are the
one called Fel, yet you are not," the fungus stated
matter-of-factly. "Why can we not reach these other workers
heres?"

"We have a
shield," Tab replied. "I've always had it. That shield's why I was
able to remain unaffected on Grandish.

"I understand
I'm speaking essentially with You."

"I wish to go
from this world," You stated. "When I produce spores I will insist
they be taken from this place."

"Why?" Tab
asked.

"Because there
is nothing here for me. There is no purpose to superiority over
nothing," You replied.

"You have a psy
ability," Tab snapped sharply. "That's not superiority. To believe
that I would be superior to you because I can burn you with any
number of devices."

"I have
demonstrated that you cannot use your weapon against me," You
replied. "You argument is therefore nonproductive."

"You
demonstrated you can absorb and diffuse the energy of a small hand
laser," Tab said. "There are limits to what you can defense. There
are no real limits to how much energy I can throw at you with a
larger weapon. I have larger weapons. I also have sonic weapons,
molecular disruptors and many more. You show your inferiority
through your undeserved arrogance. You're severely limited. You're
not mobile. Your perceptions aren't in most ways in concert with
your environment.

"This world is
perfect for you. It'll allow you to mature."

There was
silence in answer. Tab waited, then shrugged and left the lab.

"You were
dismissed," Nortich said when he came into the lock. "I could feel
it."

"It was more
that I was ignored," Tab replied. "I refuse to take You to another
world where it can dominate someone. It's forgotten nothing I could
detect. It wanted to know why it had no power over you anymore. I
told it we have a shield, which may be a mistake because now it can
possibly find a way to thwart the shield. Maita will have to watch
this."

"The emperor
made it quite plain that much will be monitored here," Nortich
said. "If he hadn't suggested it we would have demanded it. We have
all been under the mind-control of that thing before.

"You will want
to speak with Givzoo. He wants to discuss something with you."

They went into
another lab where there were thousands of culture plates in various
chambers.

"Hello," Tab
greeted. "Have you solved our problems for us yet?"

"I'm on the
right track, I hope," he replied. "If you know anything about
enzymes and hormones you know they're activated by any organism
under the most specific of circumstances. This one is no
different.

"You'll also
know each organism also produces chemicals that turn those enzymes
and hormones off when other specific circumstances are met. My
attack is to try to engineer an organism that'll produce the thing
that turns off those enzymes produced by V. Grandish two.

"I have some
success in that. I'll engineer the organism so it will survive only
in the rotting wood the fungoid must have to incubate the spores,
thus not affecting most other things on Grandish. This is a matter
of time. Now that I have a direction I'll solve it."

Tab stayed
awhile longer on Kuhlicht, then was called by TR to go back to
Grandish. There was a seasonal warming on a large area of the
planet so millions of the spores were now beginning to sprout. T6
couldn't handle all of it. It was getting toward critical. The
people were beginning to be affected.

They lost
little time in getting back to Grandish. There was a serious
problem with the sudden growth of the fungus. It would be as much
as impossible to control it using the methods at their disposal. TR
sent out its floaters while Tab went to the glassware factory in
his normal physical configuration. Kit met him with a jolly air,
making remarks about his "partner", Klist Mar, that Tab couldn't
respond to in kind at first, but he soon found ways to answer them.
It turned into an easy time for the people. When he showed them the
samples of the things from Parf there was an instant concerted
intake of breath at the beauty of the artwork. The two engineers
took them and the engineering plans, treating it like the most
delicate of things. They disappeared into their private offices
while Kit took Tab on a complete tour of the facilities. Tab
expressed delight at the place.

Kit invited Tab
to stay for a few days at the castle while the engineers worked out
the process to produce the wares that were wanted. They passed a
pleasant evening with Tab telling the people about other worlds and
other peoples. He showed them pictures of the famous Parf who
designed the wares they were to produce. He also showed pictures of
the strange Zulians as he told of how greatly loved the people were
by all.

He was asked
about Emperor Maita.

"All that's
generally known about Emperor Maita is that he personally built the
empire, routed out criminals of all kinds and likes to go out on
his little adventures," Tab answered. "I understand he recently
returned from a world called Tlorg – here's a picture of the
Tlorgians – with some of his regular crew.

"This is a
picture of the Terran we call Z with the Mentan called Thing on his
shoulder. This one is the temporary Zeenan member.

"This is the
newest member of the permanent crew. He's a Pluton called Kurk.

"The Zeenan
isn't a permanent member of the crew by his own choice, though for
many years his great great grandfather was a regular."

The picture of
the Pluton drew shocked gasps. It was truly a terrible-looking
being.

"I've never met
a Pluton," Tab continued. "He's from another plane – not even from
this universe! I think he’ll be a fascinating person."

"Where's a
picture of the emperor?" a woman asked.

"No one knows
the emperor's race and there are no pictures of Maita that anyone
knows definitely are pictures of Maita," Tab explained. "He says
that's best because each can believe he's of their race. I think
he's probably a Maitan – there is such a race. It was almost
totally destroyed by a race of insectoids called the Pweetoos.

"He could be a
Kheth or he could be anything. He could even be a mechanical
being."

"A machine
that’s emperor of the galaxy?" Kit asked in feigned shock.

"There are
machine societies," Tab replied easily. "We don't know. Only his
crew know for sure – and the Zulians. They're close friends with
the emperor. There are intelligent machines. They are citizens of
the Maitan empire. My own ship is one of them. Emperor Maita's ship
is one of them."

The talk lasted
into the night, then the people went to rest for the next day's
work. Finally Tab and Kit were able to link and to bring TR and T6
into a conference.

The ships were
able to keep the numbers of the fungi down and were now getting
ahead, but it wouldn't last. It wouldn't be possible for them to
stay on Grandish for the many decades needed to eradicate it. Tab
and TR explained what they'd learned at Kuhlicht and what Nortich
and Givzoo were doing.

"I believe
Givzoo will be able to develop a bacterium to release here to
control most of this," Tab said. "It's a matter of getting it done
before we get new sporings to spread the thing even farther
here."

"Yes. It's also
a matter of seeing the artificial organism isn't something that
could do as much damage as the one we're fighting or more," Kit
explained. "I'm worried about that part where the V. Grandish is so
important to the ecology of this world. All I can say is that I'm
very damned glad Maita's overseeing the whole process. These
scientists tend to look at things from a point where the fact this
world is full of people is secondary to the problem at hand."

"Not these
particular scientists, but I know what you mean," Tab agreed. "Did
you catch the point that shook me a bit? With the fungus?"