Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition (204 page)

"The thing was
large and was ready to spore when Mar and Fel came along, but they
went along Flint Creek to the lake looking in swamps and branches.
They wasted days there doing almost nothing! Lope and his children
went up the creek when the thing was small, but stopped far short
of where the plant was growing – and they did NOT go again!

"Why? You're as
curious a people as are we Swaz, this amazing phenomenon was going
on all the time, yet no one bothered to find out what it was?

"You made
excuses about not having time, which you certainly couldn't really
believe. The thing was directing your thoughts. If Mar and Fel
hadn't come there looking for the place to start a business you
would've never known about it. It would make you forget everything
about it in moments.

"Our
investigators have found there were four people who were held
captive by the thing for those four years. They were made into
slaves to feed it and to do as it demanded. Our operatives have
freed them now.

"That one plant
has spored. We estimate there are more than three billion spores
that have been released on Grandish now. We desperately need the
help of the Grandish people. You're far too potentially great a
race to permit some plant to enslave and destroy you. I am
empowered by the Emperor Maita to seek your help in this. It's a
danger we don't know for certain we can triumph over with all of
our science. I'm now contacting people over the entire planet to
ask for your aid.

"We have
biologists working toward some kind of agent with which to fight
this thing, but it will take time. If the things grow and produce
more spores they can overpower us through the sheer force of
numbers. While the plants are small they have little strength. You
will feel the repulsion which you've thought to be a powerful smell
when you approach any of them. It's a natural defense mechanism of
the fungoid. It has no control of it.

"What I ask is
that you cover every bit of area between Koosd and the river, the
ocean and the foothills on a regular basis. It will be a truly
difficult thing to do because you must approach within about ten
meters of the plants to trigger the response.

“
Do NOT
attempt to locate the things or to destroy them yourselves. They
can act in concert with one another. If there are many in an area
they can stop your heart or much worse. Just make notes as to where
you feel the repulsion. I will send a floater to Veen's and to the
glass plant as well as to the riverport once every twenty five
days. I can then take the maps you make and send machines such as
this floater, which can't be affected by the psy power, to destroy
them.

"The Maitan
Empire requests your help in this."

"By the gods,
you can depend on Mar and me!" Kit cried. "We can stroll around the
peninsula and to the south every twenty five days! We'll make your
maps!"

The others
agreed to cover the area near the town and to contact all the
farmers. Each farmer would see to it his own property was covered
each period and that anything out of the ordinary would be
reported. Veen and Barst would keep the maps for the floaters to
pick up.

"I got some
land to the east by the hills," Jon said. "Would it be a good idea
to cut out any dead wood and burn it? Sort of cut off the meals the
thing needs to grow on?"

"We'uns kin get
all ther farmers ter do that stuff – partic'lar those what raise
grazers," Anj threw in. "We'uns what raises beans 'n sich kin use
ther extry cleared spots fer ther veggies. Keep ther firewood
kivvered up 'n dry 'n it'll not grow no fungus, neither. Ther
kid'll walk ther place fer us reg'lar like. T'ain't no extry work.
Git ther kids off'n our heads fer ther while. Give 'em somat ter
do!"

"Er, Tab," Veen
said. "This is our problem, not yours. We've got to lick it
ourselves."

"It's much too
big," TR replied. "It may be too big for the empire, even. Another
thing is that it may have come here from somewhere else so it's the
empire's problem, too. There seems to be some evidence the thing
started on a planet called Tesfort. It may have migrated here on a
ship, though very few ships ever stop there.

"You see, the
thing on Tesfort grows on trees and doesn't have anything to make
slaves of. It's found a way to take over the fungus here. It will
learn to go to other worlds – that's our greatest fear – so we've
restricted Tesfort totally. Only biological teams who're working on
this kind of thing will ever be allowed to go there again. If this
isn't the only place it's spread to we're already in unbelievable
trouble! We have to work together!"

"Then work
together we will!" Barst cried. "It can't be said and it never will
be that Grandish didn't do its part! Maybe that thing didn't start
here, but it'll damned well END here!"

The others in
the room nodded solemnly. They talked awhile, then went out to
recruit farmers in the surrounding area. Tab and Kit headed back to
the glass plant.

Temporary Controls

Tab and Kit
kept a close watch on the teams who were making the maps of where
the fungus was located. Two farmers had come to the plant with the
maps because it was closer than Koosd – and because they wanted to
look around the place that was such a point of pride for the whole
planet. The first 240 who came were presented a souvenir in the
form of a small pitcher designed by Looph for that purpose. Each
was a different color, had small details that made it unique and
was signed. All who came after that received cast copies of the
originals. Those pitchers would become heirlooms that would remain
in a family for centuries. The fact each was a priceless signed
work of art by a galaxywide famous artist was secondary to the fact
that each was beautiful and was a lasting symbol of Grandish's
abilities.

Maita spent
time studying individual Grandish in various parts of the world
through floaters sent out by TR and T6 to inform the people and to
get the maps. The emperor was now in full agreement with its two
robots about the people.

After only
eight days a pattern became evident where the maps were concerned.
There were a few spots where there were no reports, but where there
should have been.

"Because the
damned things are a lot stronger there," TR ventured. "They got
early starts from the first small sporing and are stopping reports.
I say we send floaters there with psy detectors such as we put in
these two boobs' heads, find the things and burn them! In fact,
I've already started modifying a couple of my floaters."

They all
agreed. T6 would modify three floaters for those areas while TR
would do the same.

"Why not put
the detectors on all the floaters?" Kit asked.

"Because,
Fungusbrain, the floaters will have to wait around for something
else to trigger the psy reaction. They aren't able to do it
themselves!" TR replied.

"Hey!" Tab shot
back. "You don't call Kit names! You're MY ship! You call ME names!
T Six calls Kit names. You got that you defective reject from a
computer dump?"

"Yup! Got it!"
TR responded. "Kit's a nice guy. YOU'RE the fungusbrain! If I'm a
defective REJECT, does that mean.... Hold it! Incoming from Maita!
– You two get back here as fast as you can! There's big trouble on
Kuhlicht! T Six, take these damned floaters! The damned fungus has
taken over on Kuhlicht!"

"I'm
receiving," T6 replied. "Control taken. Now! I have a floater at
the plant demanding to see Fel and Mar immediately or sooner so we
can work up an excuse by the time they get back – and they can get
back fast!"

The two robots
moved quickly toward the plant where the attention horn began
ringing two short blasts and two long, the signal that Fel and Mar
were needed in a dire emergency. When they were in sight of the
place they slowed to a more normal running speed for a Grandish. A
floater soared out to meet them. Djin and one of the engineers were
running close behind so a screen popped up on the floater with the
image of Tab on it.

"Friends, I am
sorry to have to come to you like this," the floater announced in
Tab's voice. "There is a large conveyance vehicle on its way there
to bring you to my ship if you will be so kind as to come."

Djin and the
engineer came panting up to join them. The floater went on,
"Emperor Maita has personally requested that you accompany me to
the world Kuhlicht where our biological team has been working.
There has been some kind of take-over by the fungus it seems and
you two and myself are the only others who have had any close
encounters with the thing – except for Lope and his son, but we
can't ask them to come offworld.

"Will you aid
us in this? We don't even know what we're up against. I must warn
you this is a mortal danger. To all of us."

"Of course
we'll come!" Tab replied. "Will we need to bring anything?"

"No. Everything
we might need is here – except we have no vague idea what that may
be," TR answered. "The conveyance floater's almost there. Simply
stand on it near the center and don't fear the speed. There's a
shield around the passengers, though you won't see it. You will be
in A Port in less than ten minutes."

"Whoa!" Kit
exploded. "But ... A Port is more than two hundred fifty
kilometers!"

"Two hundred
sixty four and a half exactly," TR replied. "This floater will
remain at the glass plant until our return. I'll have a colleague
come here to take the information and maps so be sure people know
they're to continue that. We've already found more than seventy of
the fungoids from the people’s maps."

The large
floater came close and Kit and Tab climbed nervously aboard, though
they were clearly intending to be brave about this new technology.
It shot away and was out of sight of the plant almost
immediately.

"The thing
really has taken over?" Tab asked.

"Maita had
little spy devices all around there," TR replied. "Givzoo, then
Nortich began acting ever so slightly out of character so they came
to the shielded sec building to find out what was happening. There
are small pieces missing from them. Nothing critical yet, but it's
got to be the telekinesis bit. Zantoo is unconscious on the lab
floor as are the four students. Volich is out of the labs and we
have floaters looking for her. She hasn't made the last two regular
reports."

"What can we
do?" Kit asked. "If it's using TK we're in as much danger as the
organics!"

"We're to go
into high orbit over Kuhlicht," TR replied. "We'll make plans as we
go. Maita can't come now, but there'll be two Fleet destroyers
waiting for us. If we can't do anything else we'll have to
sterilize the whole planet."

"No!" Kit
exclaimed. "Not with those people still there! The fungus can't get
offworld in any case!"

"I can see the
basic problem," Tab said. "It could make the servos here do what it
wanted so it could fly a ship – a ship full of spores."

"Maita's more
afraid it will simply TK the spores to other worlds," TR replied.
"A spore is a very small thing."

"Would it have
that much power?" Kit asked.

"Not yet, but
it's learning damned fast," TR answered. "Considering the mass of a
spore it wouldn't take much power to send one to any number of
worlds."

They arrived at
the port, flew directly into the cargo hold on TR and were leaving
atmosphere as the doors closed. TR kept them open long enough to
completely evacuate the ship, then did a microwave wash before
closing them securely.

"TR, put one of
those psy detector units on a small spy floater along with one of
the devices you put in our brains," Tab suggested. "You'll have to
figure how to translate and transmit both ways."

"Sheeesh!" TR
exploded. "How in hell am I supposed to do that?"

"I do it," Tab
said quietly. "You know every circuit in me. If you have to make a
duplicate, so be it. Leave out independent intelligence. Whatever
machine we send in there may be destroyed in seconds."

"What are you
planning?" Kit asked.

"For the moment
I want to talk to that thing. This way it can't attack me," Tab
replied. "TR, put a small disruptor and a small molecular phase
shifter on the floater. It already knows how to defense a small
cutting laser so that won't be needed. Put a projectile device on
it, too. One like Thing has on its floater. Explosive powder.

"You know its
exact location in the lab so be ready with the big guns to destroy
that part of the buildings if we have to. Maybe microwaves to cook
the thing. I'll want to be able to examine the body if it comes to
that. We can't leave it to chance it may have found a way to move
itself out of there."

"Maita's turned
over all the spy channels to me," TR replied. "Here's a picture of
the fungus."

The main screen
lit up to show a fungus much like the one that had spored on
Grandish.

"Uh-oh!" Kit
said. "It's spored!"

"No, it's found
a way to fool the spy," Tab replied. "It wants us to think it's
spored so we'll leave it alone."

"How do you fig
... AH!" TR exclaimed.

"Yes," Tab said
dryly. "There should be two big ones and one smaller one, not one
big one. It also took the one on Grandish four years to get that
size, not less than one. We can't believe the spy cameras. We're
blind except for the little floater you're going to send in there,
TR."

"It'll be
ready," TR replied. "It'll be complicated and easy to screw up, you
know."

"It'll have to
do," Tab agreed as they all "felt" the change back into N space
from the planal drive. "There's Fleet. I'll contact them now with
instructions to focus something horrible on that lab building, then
to wait."