Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition (30 page)

In the morning
they acted like tourists again for awhile. Z noted they were being
followed, then Thing kept one eye focused on the follower.
Literally. Its eyes worked independently. They made some friends
among the Bentans, Feach, and Acnians on Sentah, then went to an
island where only the very wealthiest people lived. They made
friends with a Vendan couple there and, as it was getting late,
took a room in a very exclusive hotel. There was no casino-type
gambling on the island. They spent the evening with the Vendan
couple, then went to their rooms early.

They got a call
inviting them to a friendly game at a private home. It was to be a
low-stakes game played only for fun.

[ Why did you
accept that, Z? The thing we want is not small stakes. ]

"They want to
see how we play or they're simply some friendly people. If they
play honestly, we play honestly. If not, we sucker them."

[ What do you
mean? Use my talents to beat them? ]

"No. We lose.
Big. Even for a small stakes game."

[ I think I
see. We will then automatically be invited into the big game. They
will decide they can get the money that way. We can make certain
they lose more than they can afford. ]

"You got it,
pal! We clean them out! They'll then try to either make a deal or
kill us."

They waited for
the car to take them to a large private estate where they spent a
rather pleasant evening for a few hours. The game was honest, and
no one won very much. Z was puzzled as to why they were invited,
but decided to just wait. There had to be something behind it. They
weren't known here on the island, and the Vendan friends didn't
gamble except on sports exhibitions. They weren't invited for no
reason to the home of strangers.

When they were
back in their hotel rooms and the floater had determined there were
no devices, Z asked Thing if it had picked up anything.

[ The Kordth,
Marmum, watched very carefully how you played. He seemed uncertain
at first, but became very smug toward the end. It was clear to the
empathic talent he's dishonest. He was lying about many of the
things he spoke of during and after the game and definitely had
ulterior motives all along. I won't even pretend that I understand.
Why didn't he attempt to actually test your abilities at the game?
]

"Ah! He was
only seeing if we could play the game and how honest we were. I
played a few of those hands stupidly. That was deliberate. I played
like one who's a fairly good player, but who thinks he's very good.
He feels smug because I'm the type who's easy to cheat.

"I think we'll
get another invitation. It'll be the big one!"

[ Why here? Why
not back at the Hot Spot? ]

"That's why we
were being followed. If we were being watched by the police for any
reason they never would've contacted us. No one else came here
after us, so we aren't being watched by the police, nor are we
working with them. Either thing could put them into a rough spot.
Now they think they can get their million and a half back and can
also get more. Maybe we'll be able to get them into the position we
want them in. We have to find some way to communicate during a
game."

[ I can use the
floater to pulse your recorder. Do you feel that? It's the thing we
implanted during the Shirom Rhotep thing. You said then I'd find
ways to use it. ]

There was a
slight tingling inside of Z's chest for a split second.

"That's
right! It's the thing you used on the Dojek thing (Book
eighteen:
Anomaly
). I said
at the time you'd find ways to shock me with it for the rest of my
life!"

They worked out
a system of pulses to tell which player was doing what. It was a
little complicated, but not really much. Z wouldn't forget.

Just before
they checked out of the hotel in the morning they received a call
from Marmum. "We're having a little private game at my home this
evening. I felt you may like to join us, as the group we played
with last evening won't be able to attend. We could use two or
three more players."

Z hummed and
hawed, then said he really appreciated the offer, but small stakes
games like that were nothing more than social meetings. He felt he
could find things more to his liking at Port City.

"Oh! This group
plays for unlimited stakes!" Marmum replied, laughing. "This is a
game, not merely a social gathering. Some of these players are very
serious about gambling. I wouldn't try to fool you. They're good –
even professionals. I saw how you played last evening and feel that
you wouldn't be out of your element in a serious game. You know
your way around the game table!"

Z projected an
image of almost drooling. He (too) quickly accepted the invitation,
but said he would want his Mentan friend to come along, but the
Mentan didn't care much for poker.

"My good
friend, Cloffit, enjoys board games. She is very good at several,"
Marmum said. "Does your friend enjoy them?"

"Tec is
considered a genius at board games. You were honest enough to tell
me there will be professionals in the card game, so I'll tell you
Tec can beat machines in Stars and Comets. It has never been beaten
by any person on Gromidge or Krnsthsh! It's the local champion
there. I have to say there are some good players out there!"

"Well!" Marmum
cried. "Cloffit fancies herself better than any of the casino
machines. They should have an interesting game."

They talked for
a moment more while Z gave them the impression he was very good at
poker "back home," and that this was his first time to play the
"big games" of the vacation planets.

Thing seemed
puzzled again. [ What was that all about? Gromidge is an
agricultural world, and Krnsthsh hardly has any population. No one
there would know much about gambling or games! Surely they will see
that no one from there would know much about ... ah-ha!]

"That should
make you an easy mark. I'm just a hick in the big city. I'll be
easy to fleece!"

[ I don't know
what the hell you're talking about, but that's nothing new! Let's
go to the ocean. I want to see what's going on underneath. ]

Z could tell
when Thing was getting exasperated. It started using contractions,
something it seldom did in normal conversation because Maita was
almost always translating. Now that the floater was handling the
speech directly it could change the program that much.

They spent the
remainder of the day with Thing staying about a kilometer deep in
the ocean and Z exploring some of the natural forests. They went
back to the hotel, checked out the communication systems,
programmed the machines in the hotel to show that Tec and Tar With
Fethrz had unlimited funds on deposit in the Bank of Sentah. Z
decided to add information suggesting the funds were from owning a
large spice farming business on Krnsthsh. Spices are among the most
expensive items in interstellar trade. No one would know much about
that out-of-the-way planet. They didn't get people from those
planets on the vacation worlds – or not the casino parts,
anyhow.

Thing accessed
all they had from the floater's information. They spent a few days
on the planet once a few years back, so could speak with some real
knowledge if they had to.

They had a good
meal in the hotel restaurant, though Z was in the mood for a
typical meal they enjoyed on Maita or at home.

"I would like
amaranth bread with Klernsch butter, lightly toasted. Gorneth
greens, tomatoes, sherpith slices, and Arvth cheese dressing with
Koonig blue wine for an aperitif. The main course would be oormf
root lightly fried in Klernsch butter and soya sauce, with smooth
Darkin cheese bits. Maybe baby peas and button mushrooms in a mild
cheddar sauce and Sarnnee steak medium rare, with shallots, chives,
kippit, foesch, and kleemers. Brandy and tartberry shortcake for
dessert."

[ You are
spoiled purely rotten! That meal here would cost at least a million
credits! It does sound tremendously good, though. I'm as spoiled as
you when it comes to eating well. ]

They spent the
time between ordering the meal and receiving it trying to find what
would be the most expensive possible meal imaginable on Sentah. Z's
original choice was almost as much as they could find, so they
decided they would have that as soon as they were back aboard
Maita.

They then took
the car that was sent for them – or Z did. He said Tec would ride
the floater and would be there before the car. The driver was
amazed when they drove into the estate to find Thing waiting. He
told the others there about the floater.

[ What possible
difference does my transportation make? I must have the floater
near me to translate my speech. I could hardly participate in the
games without being able to communicate. ]

"It's just so
unexpected," Marmum said. "We thought it would be something, uh,
convenient ... for you in the casinos."

"Oh, it's only
a gravitic floater," Z dismissed. "It can fly at really wild speeds
so long as it's in a gravity field. It has the translator for Tec,
too. Tec can't move around too well on smooth floors and such. It
uses the floater all the time. It's Zeenan, so it won't ever
fail."

Marmum
inspected the floater a bit, but couldn't see anything except a
transportation device and translator, but he didn't know what he
was looking at. There was actually a lot of stuff on that floater
that would scare that bunch half to death if they knew about
it.

"Uh, I don't
think Cloffit will want to play if you use the calculators on this
thing," Marmum protested.

[ I will play
Stars and Comets from the standard seat and the floater will stay
up in the corner or something. It only means we can't talk while we
play. I never sit on the floater at home when I play. That will be
alright. ]

Thing would
have the little caller for the floater hanging off of its
eyestalks. Only Z and it would know that the tiny box gave Thing
full communications with the floater's computers and many
communications devices – and with the very sophisticated weapons
also contained on it. That communication was through the empathic
talent. It was entirely silent.

"Shall we go
inside to the game?" Marmum asked.

Games People Play

The Cordth race
are mammals, are about two meters in height, look not unlike a
cross between a Terran and a Bentan, like to wear their hair quite
long, are rather more blunt-featured than Terrans, but less than
Bentans, and tend to carry a layer of fat like the Bentans. They
have teeth more like the Terrans and eyes like the Bentans. Their
fingers are somewhat short and blunt, like the Bentans, but their
ears are more like the Terrans. To Z, they looked like fat seedy
hippies from Earth in the period starting a few years before he was
abducted.

Thing, of
course, saw very little difference in Bentans and Cordth and
Terrans, though it could spot the major racial traits quickly
enough.

Marmum
introduced Cloffit and Keal, two Cordth females, and Tenn, a Cordth
male, Gor Wahth Be, a Bentan male, and Narmel, a Jornian male
Marmum said was from Tltle. This was the first time Z or Thing had
ever met a Jornian, and both were somewhat curious. He showed
primarily mammalian racial traits, was K-form and not too different
from Terrans, was just a slight bit taller than the rest of the
group, was rather thin and hairless except on the top of the head.
That looked shaven around the sides to Z. He had long thin fingers
and toes and wore only a sort of loose cover cloth which, more than
anything else, set him apart from most people Z had seen on Sentah.
People here seemed to dress extravagantly. Tltle was the vacation
world where little or no clothing was worn by most.

"Narmel resides
on Tltle at the moment," Marmum said, noticing the attention the
Jornian was getting from Z. "He comes here and goes to Bypass and
Netdel quite often. He owns certain interests in some casinos on
each world. He is major owner of the Hot Spot where you stay at
Port City."

[ How strange
you would know where we are staying on Sentah. I was under the
impression the casinos were owned by the empire on all of the
vacation worlds. It is a bit unexpected you know of our
arrangements there. ]

Thing decided
to bring some of this out in the open from the first. It would save
a lot of later sparring and small lies and subterfuges.

"Uh!" Marmum
exploded. "You see, uh...."

"The empire
owns the land and buildings, but various private individuals own a
few of the businesses, themselves," Narmel interjected in a silky
sibilant voice. "The empire has much too much to do to have to
worry about the small details of such things. Governments aren't
efficient in business, as a general rule, and Maita knows that
better than us normal citizens."

[ Tell that to
Hospital, Library, and University. Cloffit, I understand you are
quite good at Stars and Comets. Do you play Intrigue or straight
board? ]

"I play
Intrigue or Strategy," she replied. "I would rather play Strategy,
because it takes several hours and you can play for very large
sums. I
do
think it is
so much more fun if there is a lot of money on the game, don't
you?"

[ I play for
the mental exercise. I have funds enough that gambling holds little
excitement. I never gamble. ]

"Oh, no?"
Narmel asked even more silkily. "I heard you won considerably at
several places in Port City. More than a million credits from my
own establishment."

[ The wheel
isn't gambling. There is a very simple system of calculations to
ensure that one wins. With enjoys gambling, meaning I often must
earn enough to indulge his passion for the cards. One night alone
at a private little party at Castle Drove he lost two and a half
million, so you can see how ONE of us must have skill at something.
]