Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition (39 page)

"John Q. Doe is
an excellent bartender and mixologist, mixes well, especially with
female customers, is likeable and pleasant in demeanor. He handles
cash carefully and is a steady worker behind the counter when he is
there."

In other words,
he's a good bartender, but spends his time trying to impress the
broads. He steals you blind, but you can't catch him. He's a good
worker when he bothers to show up at all. If you hire this turkey,
hire someone to watch him!

Someone felt
there was a lot more than met the eye with good old Clarbon
Ventures, but couldn't prove it.

"Clarbon
Ventures is a diversified holding/services company with offices
here and on other of the vacation worlds in the form of subsidiary
ventures. There are few negative comments about this company on
record ... etc."

Not
that it is a
superb company. It has only a few negative comments against it –
and Z had the feeling the "on record" part was in bold italics with
a triple line around it and an arrow from the margin. The idea was
mainly from the contrast to Claralite Industries, which came before
and had a glowing recommendation and the fact there had never been
a complaint against it and the one following it, Clarity View
Products Co., which was described as an old company with impeccable
credentials and a large loyal longterm clientele.

He returned to
T6 to find the floater was able to access the records at the
spaceport just as Maita instructed and was also able to tap into
the lines from the offices to the Investor's Bank of Netdel, whose
board of directors seemed coincidently to be the same six Jornians
on Sentah who owned Clarbon! Surprise, surprise!

"Well, I
suppose we might as well head for Sentah," T6 suggested. "From
everything we've learned so far, the problem's there."

Z laughed and
pointed out, "Only if you ignore the simple fact the highest figure
on our figurative totem pole is coming HERE!"

T6 paused, then
said, "I had to check English for the term 'totem pole,' so I know
what you mean.

"Narmel's in
this system as of a few minutes ago and is now awaiting landing
instructions. He'll be here in five minutes or so. I've got the
floater reading the guild ... port manager.... Yes! Pad eighteen A,
so you'll have to get over there to the shuttle entrance if you
want to intercept him."

"He'll probably
head for T & M from there," Z replied. "I might happen to be
looking the place over. I can make it before he does if I
hurry."

He went quickly
to the shuttlebus and programmed for T & M Control offices. The
little bullet craft whisked him silently through the tunnel and out
to a few meters from their front door, where he strolled in and
along a hallway down the center of the building. There were offices
to one side in the front and closed doors to the other. He strolled
through swinging doors past the offices and was in a large
open-span warehouse with battery doors along the pad side. They
were all closed, but there were small standard doors to the side of
each one.

No one paid him
any attention except to possibly wonder what he was as he strode
purposefully through. He'd learned long ago that people tended not
to question anyone who looked like they knew where they were going
and why.

There was glass
in a panel in the center of each of the small doors through which
he could see Narmel's ship settling on the pad a hundred meters
outside and to the north end. He went to the closest door and
stepped out through it as Narmel came trotting toward it.

"Excuse me," Z
hailed him. "I just walked through that entire building and never
came to the reception desk! Could you tell me who I see about
buying some timers?

"Maybe
you'd better tell me
how
I
see
anybody
, first!
This is my first time on this kind of place. I'm afraid I'm a bit
lost."

Narmel looked
at him like he was crazy.

"They don't
sell timers!" he said, incredulously. "They sell robotic supplies
and computer systems."

"Oh, no!" Z
cried, slapping his forehead and looking embarrassed. "I must have
misunderstand the Maitan or something. I thought the name said they
sell time controls and such."

"It's a lousy
name for this kind of company," Narmel replied. "It probably
started in business selling timers or something, but it diversified
years ago. The name is meaningless now. That's pretty much standard
for the area.

"I really must
hurry. I don't wish to appear rude, but I have an appointment and
mustn't be late."

"Certainly!" Z
said brightly. "Thank you, and may you meet the fortune you
deserve!"

Narmel went
into the door and hurried along the floor to the swinging doors and
into the hall. Z wasn't far behind, but didn't see which door he
entered. He figured T6 would certainly have a floater watching the
port side, so strolled out front to wait out of sight. About an
hour later, Narmel and a Bentan came out the door to get into a
private car parked there. He waited until they were near the center
shuttle before heading there himself in a public bullet.

The bullet was
underground, so was much faster than a surface private car. The car
was for privacy, not speed. Z arrived a few minutes after Narmel
and the Bentan. The Bentan went to a desk, picked up a pass card.
He took it to Narmel, who stayed in the car. Narmel took the card
and drove off down the exit lane while the Bentan went to the
bullet cars to return to the warehouse.

Z hadn't been
able to see where the card was for, but that meant nothing, in any
case. Once outside the gates he could go where he pleased. The true
destination was almost certainly not the one registered. These
people didn't work like that, They would put a false destination on
the records on general principles.

Z wasn't sure
what to do next. Tab was the detective. He would know how to follow
him, but he had no idea at all, so he headed back to T6.

"It's a good
thing TR sent me a program!" T6 accused. "You're one hell of a
lousy detective! It's one thing for someone to give you the slip
when you follow them, but to simply turn around and come home
because he took off in a car is ridiculous!"

"I know full
well you have a floater following that car. As soon as you tell me
where he goes I can start checking again. If you haven't thought of
it, you might put a direct tag on the car as soon as he stops
somewhere."

"Hah!" T6 shot
back. "I put a tag on the car while you and the Bentan were inside.
You didn't think about my floaters at all 'til I said
something."

They started
insulting each other for the first time, then. T6 reminded Z of the
way Tranz had played the game many years ago. They became fast
friends through the exchange. T6 was going to fit very well into
the crew.

Finally, T6
reported the car and Narmel had gone to a large estate outside of
the town. The buildings were well protected, but it could possibly
get a floater inside. The estate was at a somewhat higher altitude.
The Jornians didn't care for this cool a temperature. The floater
could get in through the furnace. Heat didn't bother it.

"I see. I'd
think there would be ventilators to every room," Z agreed. "Could
you get several passive recorders inside there? We can recall and
read them after anything happens, always assuming something
happens.

"I think maybe
something'll happen very soon, personally."

"You got it!"
T6 answered. "I think maybe there'll be a hasty important meeting
in that house. Maybe you can get into town and go to the Hillside
House Restaurant. It's the closest place to the estate. They
specialize in what you call poker, so you can enjoy hanging around.
Maybe you'll hear something. My records of the place show it's
unlikely the syndicate owns it, but they may need a respectable
spot nearby."

Z nodded and
grabbed the pouch, which T6 added a few thousand credits to. Lion
was to appear to be well off, but not wealthy, at the moment. The
whole point was that he wanted to GET wealthy and had invested the
wealth he'd inherited in the business.

The place
really was very nice. It had a diversified menu that served foods
that were very tasty and well prepared. It was quite expensive,
but, unlike some, worth it.

Z found an open
game and asked to sit in. The Kheth and the Eacheron immediately
made him welcome, while the Mome and the Gorovian were a bit
suspicious. Z asked why he felt the negative response. They said,
quite honestly, they were regulars here and didn't know anything
about him.

"I've met the
Vendans," the Kheth said. "You're very much like them, but I think
you aren't Vendan?

"This is Kann,
a Gorovian male. This is Memah-Te, a male Mome, and Silith, an
Eacheron female. I am Serz, a Kheth male."

"I'm Lion, a
Kappin male," Z replied. "I guess you knew I was male. It's obvious
among most mammals. I'm from the planet, Slentayll. We have two
mostly-reptilian native races as well as the mammalian Kappins. I
understand we're unique in that we have three distinct evolutions
on one world, but there are strong natural barriers which have only
recently been conquered on Slentayll."

"I haf heard of
your vorld," the Gorovian said in its heavy guttural accent. "I am
a scientist. It is truly a vonderful vorld, I tink! I vould luff to
visit. Zere iss zo much to learn. Tree distinct evolutionz! I tink
it vould be fascinating!"

"You would be
most welcome," Z invited. "You somewhat resemble the Feach, who my
people know. They have our greatest respect. We know the Kheth on
Slentayll, too. They're almost exactly like the Klifts. We're just
beginning to go to other worlds, so we have a lot to learn,
ourselves."

They spent the
game chatting about worlds and peoples. Nothing was said about the
casinos or the Jornians. The estate was never mentioned. The
closest thing to any clue at all was when Z said he wanted to open
a tourist agency on Slentayll and to see about import and export
possibilities.

"Take care who
you deal with on some of the vacation worlds," Silith warned. "I am
sad to say that not everyone is honest here. It is much worse on
places such as Sentah. Be careful of who you deal with. I have
heard stories!" She would say nothing more. She just warned she had
heard things weren't always what they seemed, but wouldn't make any
charges against anyone. It was mostly only tales and a feeling
sometimes that things weren't right.

Z felt this
would be the wrong time to press. He changed the subject.

They had a
pleasant evening. Z lost, but not heavily. These people played for
the love of the game.

When he felt
the tingle from his recorder he made his exit, saying he hoped to
play with such good company again, but he must return to the port.
He had some very early business meetings. His his lifemate would be
waiting. He then had to explain that his lifemate wasn't with him
here because she wanted to shop. He didn't care for that. Silith
laughed and said she liked an honest man. Most men would make
excuses that had nothing to do with the truth when it came to
normal differences between male and female psychology.

He wasn't so
casual once he was outside, but hurriedly hailed a rental carrier
and got back to the port as fast as he could.

"They're having
their meeting right now!" T6 greeted as he came aboard. "I managed
to get a broadcasting floater in there. They have no protection
against it now, but I suppose they will soon. We'll hope they tell
us something before that happens. The meeting started a few minutes
after the call. I called when the gathering came together.

"Not too much
has happened yet. They're each trying to fix the blame on someone
not there. Dir is really getting cut to small bloody pieces! It
seems he's being personally blamed for as much as bankrupting three
of their best establishments through sheer stupidity.

"Settle back
and enjoy!"

Business Meeting

"...do you
think is going on?" a voice said as Z sat at the pilot's console on
T6 on pad eleven C, Spaceport, Netdel, to listen to the spy sensors
very recently secreted in the heating ducts in the estate house
where the crime syndicate manager, the Jornian, Narmel, had earlier
arrived only a few hours later than Z and T6, after Narmel left
Tltle in an extreme hurry, when his partner, Dir, also a Jornian,
and other members of that criminal syndicate, including the Zurn
people, Kloot and Harp (though Harp had been allowed to temporarily
escape for the express purpose of causing Narmel's flight to avoid
prosecution, but was now back in custody) had been arrested and
were being held on a charge of conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy
to commit murder at the time when Z and Thing were within seconds
of being lasered by the Zurn representatives of the crime syndicate
operating on the vacation worlds in their hotel room with the
protective floater locked outside – which was why Z and Thing had
come here in the first place aboard Maita with T6 tagging along
after Tab and TR had been assigned to the problem of the brains
from Tlesson that were threatening a sphere of more than three
hundred plazsis' diameter with their overly paranoid military
programming, while Thing was assigned to stay on Tltle in company
with a VWPA officer, Neels, who they knew was part of the crime
syndicate or was working with that organization in its attempts to
gain control of the legal casinos established on those worlds long
ago by Maita and its crew after the world had been wrested from the
pirates. (There! I've always wanted to explain one of my stories to
this point in one such sentence! – Z Zutec.)