Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition (28 page)

Z was a bit
cynical from the very first, saying these things would always end
up crooked by the very nature of the idea: Get rich quick.
Something for nothing. Those kinds of people invited criminal
activity.

Z liked to
gamble on some things for the excitement, but never for very much.
He liked to win, but wasn't obsessed or compulsive about it. He
learned over the years that chance was designed to be against the
player in any of the games, but also admitted the odds were posted
in all games and everyone knew full well what could and probably
would happen. The fact that Maita or TR or, now, T6 would make him
perfectly good chits for as many billion credits as asked for – and
he had no real use for any of them – made Z even more cynical.
Still, he liked one or two of the games. Good old-fashioned craps,
almost identical to that game on Earth, and betting on various
athletic exhibitions. He also enjoyed playing a game much like
poker and one not unlike roulette. It was fun to win, even if the
money meant nothing, though he had to admit some of the fun was
gone when it wasn't the last twenty credits he had he was
betting.

Thing didn't
particularly enjoy the games, as it had unlimited abilities to
calculate, so almost always won on certain games. It preferred
games like Stars and Comets where it must determine a strategy and
figure as many as a hundred moves ahead, along with variations. Its
abilities made it win even over machines such as Maita most of the
time. Z could sometimes win by making odd moves totally lacking in
logic, thus rendering Thing's strategy useless.

Maita would let
Thing and Z go aground in T6, where they would be expected to work
out their own methods. Maita would enter into the investigations
and such when and if asked. Z would be the one who could relate to
this sort of situation. Thing could and would be invaluable as a
calculating tool, and could add much to their act. Maita would stay
out of sight. There was no way to disguise a platinum-plated ship
sixty meters across.

T6 was unknown,
but would merely deliver Thing and Z while staying in contact with
Maita. When the time was right it would join Maita in space, where
they could begin a complicated process of installing the many
things T6 would need as a member of the permanent crew.

This was to be
great therapy for T6, as it would learn quickly how truly needed it
really was. That it was a welcome addition to the crew was obvious
and real.

Thing and Z
came aboard T6 and headed toward grounding. They would take pad
nineteen and would use the planet's transportation system while on
the vacation world. They decided to pose as a wealthy vacationer
and its exotic pet. The Mentans were as much as unknown anymore,
though it was possible the fact Thing was in on the establishment
of these worlds would be known to the natives – and there were
statues of it in the casinos.

In that case, Z
could grin and shrug. There was no law against a Mentan being in on
the games. It was a part of the facts of business the casinos would
lose from time to time – and the two planned to win. Very big. The
fastest way to get attention in these places was to win.

They would
appear and the empire machines would give them a credit limit of
more than a billion credits, which would make Z – or With, as he
was to be called – one of the wealthiest people in the empire. He
would then win large sums. That would definitely attract the
attention of local criminal elements. They would then await
developments.

They would have
to sort through the many schemes people would come to them with to
find the real leaders they would be looking for. The "get rich on
some nutzo scheme" types were common around the casino worlds.

Z took the
cards T6 gave him with the description of one Tar With Fethrz, a
name Z chose. He seemed to have some joke about the name, but Thing
and Maita were used to his little jokes.

Tab used the
names Nogud Thugg and Major Fatt Butt in two of his disguises, but
didn't know why Z got such a kick out of it. Z also used names,
such as Cash R. Chekk, as a businessman on one world, and Dirr Tee
Sleezbahg on another. As he was disguised as an Immin at the time
(the one time. He objected strongly to being identified in any way
whatever with Immins) he explained that one to Thing, who found it
fitting.

Thing printed
out an IDcard that listed it as Tec, a Mentan. There would be no
attempt at subterfuge, so no one could later cry about it. If they
found some crooks who wanted to play mental games, it was their own
fault if they didn't know about Mentans. If they chose not to
advertise and educate the public, that was one of life's nasty
breaks.

Thing would be
great at playing Z's favorite, poker, because it could tell who had
what kind of hand by the empathic talent. It could figure the
strategies behind the higher stakes games better than any person or
machine in the galaxy, so far as was known, but only a few knew
that, either.

They registered
into the Hot Number Hotel and Casino at Port City, taking the best
suite available – which was the best in the place. Very few could
afford it. Z bought half a million credits in chits to carry around
and was issued an unlimited disbursement card. That would very soon
reach the ears of the crooks!

Thing had its
personal floater to ride and to use for communication. They decided
that, as there were holo pictures and a statue of Thing in the
lobby, it wouldn't serve any purpose to pretend to be a pet. As one
Mentan looked virtually identical to any other (Except to another
Mentan or being with extended vision), the pictures wouldn't
actually identify Thing. It also freed Thing to get into some
games, itself, with the right people. It took a half million
credits and was issued the unlimited dispersal card.

They had very
little to work with. They read the total known about the crime
syndicate, which was mostly that there definitely was such a thing
operating in the area, but no one knew any of the bigshots.

They found a
number of lesser members of the group, but had no idea of who was
really behind it. People who got too close had a habit of
disappearing or of having accidents. The top people were in a
position to protect themselves fairly well, but you can't protect
yourself against investigators working directly for the emperor –
especially if you have no idea they're investigators.

The probes
couldn't be used on the criminals caught. None of their crimes (For
which they had been charged) were capital. They could refuse unless
or until they were convicted of a capital crime.

They knew one
member of the VWPA, a sort of undercover cop, said this hotel was
definitely one of those where a lot of the events occurred. The
Vacation Worlds Police Agency couldn't make any progress beyond the
most peripheral people. These types knew a lot about protecting
their own rear ends. Z knew the reason for that in all the old
movies was generally because there were cops on the take. He didn't
really think that was the case here, but there had to be some
officials somewhere who were in on it. It was his idea one of the
commissioners of police, or several of them, as there were six on
each planet, could simply misdirect the investigations. No
possibility was too vague in these cases because, while the people
themselves weren't dishonest, there are some very strange things
among various societies that can be used in blackmail. Tab had
found some of those things in his cases. It would mean studying the
backgrounds of the commissioners very carefully – not as to things
they had done, but as to the kinds of things that could be used
against them in their own societies.

Thing called up
all the information the machines on Sentah had on the
commissioners. It would be much easier at this point to eliminate
whoever they could and to lower the number they would have to
concentrate on.

[ I have two
Bentans. They have done very well on this world as well as on the
other vacation worlds and aren't subject to blackmail in large
things. They have a new racial pride since they have done so well
on these worlds, but were recently enough pirates and other types
like that. They could look sheepish if you caught them at some
illegal act. Very unlikely they'd put anyone on the commission who
might embarrass them, and anyone who was subject to anything would
refuse the job. They are much more concerned with racial
perceptions by others than they are about personal things. We have
Farr Hoep, female, and Kri Pelg, male. ]

"I doubt a
Bentan would be in on it. Not really their style. They'd like
power, not things. This is, apparently, only to get money. Nobody's
made any power plays."

[ There's one
Larsip. Morf. Male. They can be blackmailed for being caught in
theft, but this would only add to the shame and make it worse. A
Larsip would just commit suicide. That would end it. ]

"I agree. It's
not the Larsip. We've cut our suspects to half the number we
started with, and have only been here two hours!"

[ If you ignore
the eighty million others on this world who might be involved. Next
is a Swaz. Clarr Fat Niht. I've never heard of a Swaz being
involved in crime except a small personal violence here and there.
He could be a hit man, but that's about it. I'll contact TR and ask
if it knows of anything that would make a Swaz subject to blackmail
– just to be mean! ]

"I can hear Tab
scream if we even consider a Swaz. I'll have to tell him there are
three major serious suspects, and one is a Swaz. I can suggest he
seems the logical choice. He'll scream bloody murder!"

[ Tab's a
robot. Get serious. ]

"Tab's also as
protective as hell about the Swaz. This'll be fun!"

[ Humff! Next
is a Ternz. Sex unknown. Sard Duc Flesch. Very unlikely, but they
are subject to blackmail, as we learned from Tab's Feach thing.
]

"That's one.
Sard Flesch."

[ Now you
really get to have some fun. The next is also a sex unknown. It's a
Singee named Glorp Pludd. ]

Z couldn't help
it. He broke out laughing. The Singee looked like huge frogs and
had names like that. It reminded Z of the sounds made when a frog
jumped into a pond.

"Hee! Well, I'd
say no Singee ... hunh, hunh ... is a crook of any type. Period." Z
giggled. "I can't help it! I know they're very intelligent and very
good people, buh, buh, heeeee!"

[ You're purely
disgusting! At least you've learned to control yourself when we're
around them. We are left with the very strong possibility that if
there IS someone crooked on the commission, it's Sard Flesch. That
also tells us it isn't too bad yet because, once a certain point is
reached, a Ternz would report it and take the knocks. They will go
so far and not one centimeter further. ]

"Well, we can
put a floater tail on Sard Flesch, but there's no one on the
commission who's involved. Not on this one. If there's a problem
like that it's with the VWPA, itself. Not the cops working on the
thing, but their superiors. We'll have to see who the bureaucrats
are. These worlds are sinking back into a bureaucratic mess again.
It always seems to happen. Maita gives them the machines, but they
keep finding ways to get around it."

"Maita agrees
it'll have to crack down," T6 agreed over the floater. "If this
thing can be shown to be a result of crooked bureaucrats and you
can expose all about it, the people will see to it the machines run
it all again. They know they have a good thing here and they know
how easy it would be to lose it from such silliness. Nothing will
destroy business faster than a bad reputation.

"Tab reports it
has found a Tlessarian military brain on some place called Killit.
It has a lot of plutonium aboard and is in a population center, so
don't be surprised if Maita and I have to leave without notice.

"Maita says you
know the risks with those brain things. It's inputting your several
experiences with them now. It would appear they tend more toward
cleverness than any actual great intelligence, but the insane
feature to the programing adds cunning, which adds to the danger in
dealing with them."

[ Yo! Those
brains are more important than this. They could destroy a whole
section of space. ]

"We'll handle
it here if you go," Z promised. "Just let us know and keep us
informed. TR and Tab know just how dangerous those things can be.
TR was almost destroyed by one."

"I see that,"
T6 replied. "The damned things are really something with
misdirection, aren't they? They also seem to have rather a penchant
for setting traps and for a lot of distractive techniques that can
be reversed against them."

They talked a
bit about Tab's situation, then went to the game room nearest the
restaurant. Z noted that T6 tended to talk a lot like a college
professor, and Thing said it would take a little more time for it
to learn their less-structured methods. They would play the games a
bit, then get a good meal, then go to some of the other casinos to
become better known. The very best restaurants here couldn't begin
to supply the foods the crew were used to, as Maita could produce
anything from any world on its atomic architect. Most of their
meals featured things from a variety of planets that would be so
expensive to obtain in a restaurant, even on these worlds, it was
unthinkable.

Maita could
prepare foods without the various poisons in them that were natural
from world to world, so here they would have to choose from menus
designed for the individual physiology. They wouldn't have any such
menu for Thing. Z could imagine how nervous that would make them,
but the floater could test the foods to find what Thing could
eat.

Z could eat
anything the Maitans or the Kheth ate and most of what the Feach
and Swaz could eat. Thing could eat much of the things Z could.
There were exceptions to any rule.