Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition (209 page)

Everyone made a
speech and the legend of Klist Mar, hero of Grandish and of the
Maitan Empire, friend to all living beings everywhere, grew. The
simplest thing Tab had done as Klist Mar was given great
significance. Veen, Lope, Barst, Djin, Peld – all who had known him
were sought out for their stories. The people of Grandish aren't
liars, but in Misd there were many who were sure they had known
Mar. Their memories built it to the point that all who believed
they must have seen him on the streets or in a restaurant were sure
they had felt greatness in the very sight of him even years ago
when he was a child.

Such is the way
of the universe. Such was the aim of the story of Mar's heroic
death. Even Maita gave a speech through TR's speakers.

*I am not the
maudlin type. I simply wish to take a short moment to state the
truth of my great respect for the Grandish. Klist Mar was a focus
for the best qualities of your race. You have every right to pride,
not only for Klist Mar, but even much more for yourselves. I
welcome Grandish to the family of the Maitan Empire. Klist Mar and
Grandish have earned a permanent place in the history of the
galaxy. Peace be with you always. I have no personal doubt you will
each and every one live up to the high standards set for you by
Klist Mar.*

Maita doesn't
like to make speeches. That was a long one, for it.

Tab and Kit
worked steadily with the Grandish, Tab advising them about dealing
with the traders guild and Kit pushing for strong worldwide laws to
control quality. "We established a precedent with these
glasswares," he explained. "We didn't have to go to the empire, the
traders contacted us. It's true that Tabori, with Mar's help, got
the traders interested, but we must never forget for one moment the
thing that made Tab go out of his specialty to get us the markets
was the quality of our samples.

"I can say
honestly the quality of those first samples, those pieces that got
the contracts for us, was the WORST that will ever pass out of our
gates! We have the chance here to become as famous as the Zeenans
for our products!

"Don't forget
another thing: We heard of the Zeenans very soon when the empire
contacted us. Everyone, everywhere, knows who the Zeenans are and
everyone respects them. We can be as well-known and as respected or
we can become another little world among the thousands in the
empire. To guarantee our good reputation we must be absolutely
certain no product ever leaves the surface of this world that isn't
as nearly perfect as the Grandish can make it – and we've proven we
can come closer to perfect than anyone else! We can become known
and respected on another level, too. For the reason Emperor Maita
personally spoke with us. For the reasons the Feach are so well
known and respected.

"Because we
unselfishly will come to the aid of anyone for no other reason than
that they are in need of aid!

"From all I've
heard we will never approach the respect and love the Zulians
command. No one ever will. We CAN be second to them! Klist Mar has
shown the entire galaxy that we ARE a great race. We MUST NOT lose
that!"

Tab laughed
about the statements and insisted that what was said was all very
true, but he didn't think the Grandish had any problem with it.
They had better sense than to screw up now. The excellent sense
shown by Jarj Fel in noting no one would ever approach the love and
respect given to the Zulians showed the race was level and
reasonable in their thinking.

TR and T6
monitored the treated continent minutely, finding the bioform was
doing the job better than they'd hoped. There was no evidence any
fungoids had grown since the third day after the seeding, though
the floaters located some that grew before the seeding and
destroyed them. They knew the growing plants wouldn't be
affected.

When the next
communication came in from Kuhlitch Tab was suddenly highly
suspicious and immediately felt there was something wrong. He knew
it was projected to be a minimum of sixty days before there were
enough spores to treat Grandish, but after just twenty seven they
called to say there were plenty of the spores ready – and there
were enough for Tesfort as well. No one had ever suggested that
they treat Tesfort. The fungoid was in the galls there and was no
danger.

"This sounds
worse than bad!" TR warned when Tab assured Givzoo he would get
there right away for the spores. "I hope the spores themselves
can't use the gestalt ability!"

"Call Kit," Tab
suggested. "We're going to have to find out what's happening out
there and that means going to Kuhlicht. It also means we can't let
the fungoid know that we're even slightly suspicious. I think
Givzoo and Nortich are under the control of some form of the plant
and this is trickery. Givzoo wanted to be absolutely certain I
understood that. That's why he said he had enough for Tesfort.

"When Kit comes
aboard we'll go. We're going to be given spores of the fungoid.
They'll look the same as the bioform."

They waited
until Kit came back aboard, then left for Kuhlicht.

"We have to do
something to ensure Givzoo and Nortich are safe," Kit cautioned.
"Once that thing feels reasonably safe it'll kill them to see that
no more of the bioform are produced.

"How do you
think it managed this?"

"Probably
worked through Zantoo," TR replied. "It produced a clone of itself,
I'd say, and programmed it with everything, then set us up for the
rest of it. It knew the bioform could defeat it so it had to do
something to survive. I didn't ever really accept it would do some
of the things it did before."

"Then we have
to find it," Tab declared. "Could it use Zantoo's mind to see what
kind of logic we would use in looking for it?"

"It'll be close
and will use misdirection," TR answered. "We'll find it. Kit will
stay aboard and will stay out of sight. The psy part of your mind
will stay open enough that it'll think it has you. I'll have to be
extremely careful about using the servos and communications forms.
Be sure you don't give out any vital information about me. I'll
even go so far as to erase certain information about me from your
memory. It can be replaced when this is over.

"You too,
Kit."

"Yo!" Kit
agreed. "The last thing we need is some trickery that would give
that thing a ship!"

They came in on
a normal procedure, sitting on the pad next to the still disabled
supply ship Givzoo had originally brought in. Nortich came out to
greet them with a strange look in her eyes and too much talk.

Givzoo was in
the lab with two crates of spores. He looked lost in the eyes, but
was being very careful of what he said.

"This crate
will handle Grandish," he explained. "This one will take care of
Tesfort. I think we should probably go ahead and take care of
Tesfort now instead of waiting."

"Do you think
we should treat all the worlds where ships may have gone from
Grandish since that damned thing first grew there?" Tab asked
innocently, but he saw the hope in Givzoo's eyes. "I know that
there are several hundred worlds involved, but the new bioform
won't hurt anything else will it?"

"We'd have to
gather the spores for you," Givzoo replied. "If you'll deliver
these safely Nortich and I can work on the next batch. I would
think the more worlds we treat, the better."

Tab looked at
the maps of the research areas, then asked how the test plots were
doing. "I think I'll look them over while I'm here," he said. "That
shouldn't take very much time. This was the area where we first
found the plots Zantoo had set up, isn't it?"

"Yes!" Nortich
said quickly. "There and over here (Pointing to a hillside), but
maybe it would be best if you waited until your next trip to get
the next batch of bioform spores. Time is very important. We want
these growing before any of the others can start to grow."

So. The thing
thought it could do something if it was given a foothold
(Roothold?) before the bioform started to spread. The thing that
was controlling Givzoo and Nortich was in that hill. They
understood the reference to other worlds that had been in contact
with Grandish. It would buy them time because the fungoid wanted to
be spread as far as possible. It wouldn't realize they knew no
ships left Grandish other than TR and T6 since the thing first
spored in any way that could have reached ships in A Port.

"I understand
perfectly!" Tab said. "I'll be back in three days. Is that too
soon?"

"It should do,"
Nortich said. "Uh, if we aren't here at the lab, uh, we'll pack the
spores and have them ready for you to take, uhmmm!"

She was trying
hard to not say that. She was being totally controlled. Pack the
spores for his next trip then get rid of Givzoo and Nortich!

"Oh, no!" Tab
said, laughing. "There's NO way I'm going to fool with anything as
important as these bioform spores unless you're both right here to
guarantee I'm not making a mistake! NO WAY! PERIOD! If you're not
both here I won't take ANY spores! I'll wait for you to come
back."

"Then we'll
definitely be sure to be right here to give them to you," Givzoo
promised, relief in his voice. "If that's the only way we can get
these bioforms spread, that's what we'll have to do. I'm sure we
can make time in our researches for that."

"If there is no
other way there is no other way," Nortich agreed, relief in her
voice and eyes, too.

Tab took the
two small cases to TR after saying he would be sure to be back in
three days. Four at most. Givzoo and Nortich stayed in the
labs.

"I'm staying
here," Tab said quickly as he came into TR. "Get these spores out
of here. Destroy them. I'm sure they're fungoid. The big one is in
that hill to the east. Get into low orbit where I can call you.
Plug in for a quick report."

He quickly
plugged into the console, gave a complete pulsed readout, then
slipped quickly out and under the ramp. He went out of sight of any
sensors to Givzoo's ship and inside as TR lifted from the pad.

* *

Kit placed a
few spores on the differentiation analyzer plate so TR could do a
comparative study. He, like Tab and TR, had no doubt whatever these
were going to be fungoid spores. They were.

"Hmm. Plenty of
RNA chains to have the partial programmings," TR decided. "I'd say
the gestalt lock among five or six of them would make a working
copy of mama. If we spread these things over Tesfort and Grandish
there would be hundreds of copies of the original in a few
days."

"TR, this means
Zantoo's clone or whatever was made a longer time ago than we
thought," Kit mused. "That means because we have all these spores
that mama, as you call it, is dead. You see what that means?"

"As we're
linked I see exactly what you're thinking," TR replied. "These
spores don't have the psy talent. Period. I've made a very
sensitive pickup for it and it simply isn't there. You see what
THAT means?"

"As we're
linked I see exactly what you're thinking," Kit shot back with a
grin (Both mental and physical). "I wonder how many of those clones
there are down there for Tab to stumble into. I suppose it would be
out of the question for us to contact him?"

"It is," TR
replied. "But I have some VERY powerful floaters low and waiting.
If there's any call whatever there's going to be the damndest
firestorm down there you ever imagined! I AIN'T about to take any
chances. Not where Tab is concerned! He can stand six or seven
hundred degrees Maitan without damage – hell, without any
discomfort – while that fungus can't stand one hundred!"

"But Givzoo and
Nortich can't stand a hundred, either," Kit pointed out.

"Number one,
they aren't close to where Tab is," TR replied. "Number two, I can
direct the heat so they won't necessarily even know what's
happening and, number three, they can look out for themselves. I'm
getting a little tired of those two ... oh, great exploding
galaxies!"

"Oh for pity's
sake!" Kit said as the thought came to both of them through the
link at the same time so close that neither could be sure which
thought of it first.

"Volich! Where
the HELL is Volich?"

There was a
mental silence for a moment, then Kit ordered, "TR, get a floater
down there with Volich's psy antidote. I'll go in on a personal
floater to pick them up. Maybe you can blind the sensors somehow.
Do you think Volich is at that hill?"

"Probably," TR
answered. "Volich must have found the clones, which precipitated
the actions. I was wondering why the thing suddenly started all of
that when it could have more easily waited for the regular timing
to spread the spores and we wouldn't have been any the wiser.

"Put yourself
in the mode Tab uses to outthink the fungoid. Volich stumbled onto
those hidden clones. Their secret is out.... Take it from
there."

"Uh, so, by its
logic ... what?" Kit answered. "I see! There are so many of us and
it still thinks we're basically alike in our genetic coding so more
will soon find it! Something must be done before that happens, so
it...."

"... has one or
two of the older clones to immediately begin programmed spore
growth," TR continued. "Get those spores out and on Grandish! This
world isn't safe because...."

"The bioform is
already released here," Kit said slowly. "It will continue to
spread through its natural progression and may not be defeatable.
This world is useless. In time no fungoid will be able to survive
on Kuhlicht. That means Givzoo and Nortich were able to hide the
fact the bioform was already on Grandish!"

"No," TR
replied. "They can't hide that much from this one. It's learned.
They were able to convince it the spores would be confined to the
one little continent where it was seeded. They had to do something
to let us know this was a setup so Givzoo seized on the idea of
spreading the spores on a second world – Tesfort. Then Tab saw a
way to keep Givzoo and Nortich alive – let the thing think it was
about to be spread on hundreds of worlds! It wouldn't miss that
opportunity!