Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition (44 page)

"The warrant is
only for Eed, though, so I guess that's not what's behind it."

"There isn't
any plague," Dorn repeated. "Can you find out what – I mean, who –
was put on the probe and why?"

Z stared aghast
and in shock at him. "My word! No one can find out what the judge
knows! What kind of a question is that?!"

"I thought
someone who was found guilty by the probe could be named and
charges stated," Dorn snapped. "I didn't ask for a read of the
whole damned thing! You certainly are easy to get excited! You
haven't understood one word we've said yet!"

"There's no
reason to get belligerent!" Z sniffed haughtily. "I'm only doing my
job! That job does NOT include the passing on of privileged
information to a suspect in a criminal action!"

"What in hell
are you talking about?!" Dorn shouted. "The warrant is for Eed! Not
me! What damned criminal action?"

"Obstructing us
in curing this virulent plague here!" Z said triumphantly.

"There ... isn’t ... any ... damned ... plague you
rockbrained idiot
!” Dorn
screamed.

"You don't have
to get abusive," Z said, sniffing. "I have my job to do. I don't
see why you insist on obstructing me. I warned you there are
consequences if you don't cooperate!"

Dorn started to
sit on a bench, then stood and stalked out. They could hear the
fleet cruiser landing in the courtyard. The two ships there took up
over half the space available. Six Acnian troopers came down the
ramp into the hall as the Feach "doctors" came back in. Dorn and
Klewt came in from the door that Dorn left through.

"Uh, Nurk,"
Krone said. "There is no one in this place except for eight Zurn
citizens. We told them to go to the courtyard. I don't know if
there is anyone outside of the gates."

"Which one of
you is Eed of Jorn?" an Acnian demanded.

"He's, let's
see...?" Z answered. "Why, he's not here! He was right here a
minute ago!

"While you're
here, though, take these two into custody for obstructing a
Hospital mission."

"Damn it!" Dorn
shouted. "There are no plague victims here! Your own doctors have
proven it! There was no mission to obstruct if there is no
plague!"

Z looked
deflated. "Oh, my! You're right, aren't you? All of this was for
nothing? I'm needed so much elsewhere and you waste my valuable
time by propounding a false report of a virulent plague that is
supposed to be decimating the vacation worlds and Jorn to boot?
There have to be thousands of charges in that! Pretending to be
crazy?

"I know! It was
some kind of trick! Your friend Eed! He wants to plead insanity
against the warrant! That's IT! Arrest them all! They tried to use
Hospital to vacate a criminal warrant!"

"Look,
officer," Klewt said to the Acnian. "I think you can see very well
who's crazy here. We told him from the first there was no plague.
He keeps going off on tangents all the time! He needs rest! The
man's sick!"

"See?" Z
squealed. "There! See? They're all abusive! They're using this
Hospital mission for their own ends! They're all out to get me!
They've been plotting against me all along!"

"If you will
please come with me?" the Acnian said. Klewt shrugged. Z could hear
the Acnian as they got out of sight saying to just come to the ship
and identify themselves for the record and they could go. Nurk was
known to be a total nutzo by all of them, but they were required to
come when he called.

"Why don't you
tell his superiors and get him taken off the job?" Dorn asked.
"He's a menace to the empire the way he acts!"

"Ha!" the
Acnian responded. "Have you ever tried to get some incompetent
bureaucrat fired? He's worked himself up to a job he can't handle.
All we can do is wait until he retires. There's no way to get rid
of that type in those government jobs. If I thought I could get
away with it, sometimes I'd like to accidently slip and fall – and
have this laser go off! I'd like to get that rockhead right in the
gut!"

They all
laughed at that. Z went into the garage. There was a groundcar
missing from when he was there earlier.

"T Six, who
took the car?" he asked the light beam unit.

"I didn't have
any visual in there, but it was a Jornian," T6 answered. "Milo, the
Acnian who picked up your two friends, will file ID on both of
them, then let them go. When Eed implicates them we can grab 'em
and put 'em on the probe. I think we're getting close to the top
here. Finally.

"I take it
Eed's the one in the car. He's taken a side road about nine point
three kilometers toward Northport from there. The floater's waiting
outside. You can bet he's armed, so be careful."

"Tell Milo and
Krone I've gone after him," Z requested, and went to the waiting
floater.

The
Net Closes In

Z rode the
floater out along the road. As soon as he passed the outer limit of
the valley, he stripped off the isolation suit with its silvered
mirror. He must plan as he goes. It may not be so important to get
Eed on the probe, but again, it may be. There may be no legal
reason to put Dorn or Klewt on the probe, but he was sure Maita
would again, as in so many instances in the past, allow it to be
used here.

Maybe T6 could
take them to Maita itself for the probe, as that would ensure ...
no. Maita controlled all of those kinds of machines, meaning it was
really the same thing. It was likely Maita monitored all of the
probes, just as it answered all the calls to the fleet. Maita never
failed to surprise him with its endless duties and abilities.

What would the
empire be without those myriad fastcom links?

Ridiculous.
There would be no empire. Maita built and held it together all by
itself.

T6 had a map of
the route Eed had taken in a glowing line on the floater's holovid
screen with a flashing dot at his position at the moment. He was
following a long winding valley toward the peninsula. There were
large estates out there, if he remembered Bypass. It would be
logical for plans to have been made from the first for escape in
all situations.

"It would seem
that Eed has a friend out there, T Six," he said. "Check for
private ships. I don't want to have to chase him all over the
galaxy."

"Gotcha," T6
answered. "I'll send scan floaters to check the entire area for
powerpack or fastcom signs. Unless he changes directions, I'd say
he's headed here or here."

Two orange dots
began flashing on the screen.

"Your floater
can go over this area (White scribbled line) and you can be waiting
for him. He didn't see Liahr, couldn't see more than a shadow
through the I-suit, didn't ever see you as Lion, so you can be
somebody else who happens to be on the road there."

"I can be
Liahr. His scootskimmer is much faster than a hovercar, so there
won't be any way he would believe I could have been left at the
castle and still get out here before he did. I have to keep in mind
I wasn't supposed to have seen him at the castle, either. It will
get dark soon. I can be heading back for Northport – late, as
usual."

"Be careful if
you face him. He isn't going to be in any mood to get along with
Liahr. You're the one who caused all the trouble at the castle, you
know."

"I can handle
that. Nurk was such an ass it can all be put right on his head.
He's the type who's always looking for something that will get his
name noticed so he'll get a big promotion out of it."

The floater
left the road and set a shield around them, then went across the
mountains at more than sound speed. It came down on the road again,
dropped the shield, and folded the antenna, moved close to the road
where it used a slight replusor field to "blow" light dust and
debris from under it. It began moving at a moderate pace.

"Eed is about
half a kilometer behind you and you're approaching the gate into
the first of the estates," T6 reported. "I have it timed so he'll
pass you about a hundred meters before the gate at the pace he's
traveling. You can see where he goes or you can travel along with
him if he passes that one. It's customary for people to move along
together here and talk for a distance. I don't think he'll want to
draw any attention to himself. He'll follow convention. Maybe you
can make him nervous."

Z saw Eed
approaching from behind and got a scope of his face in close-up on
the screen from the floater's telescopic. He was caught in a
grimace of exasperation, but as he drew even he was all
pleasantness.

Z hailed him.
"Excuse me, but where am I? I was coming along the road I thought
led to Northport, but I've been traveling for hours. I would think
I'd have arrived long before this!"

"Isn't your
automap working?"

"No, I guess
not. I got into some rough scrub while I was looking for caves and
lost my radio, then my map kept shifting – only I didn't know that
until a while ago – I tell you! This has been some day for me!
Everything I do is wrong!

"I called in to
Northport earlier this afternoon from a peak a kilometer or so
before the road curved to the right with the non-directional. It's
a good thing I told them I was going to stay near the road, but I
was going to explore on the way. They'd have a search party looking
for me.

"My name is
Liahr. I get lost all the time on any world I go to, but I can
always seem to eventually find my way somewhere. I think Loula, my
mate, has grown to expect it!"

"Liahr?!" Eed
exclaimed. "Surely you're not the one who caused all the panic at
Rock House?"

"Panic? Rock
House? Is that the big castle?"

"Yes," Eed
replied, barely controlling his temper. "Hospital and Fleet are
both there! They're threatening to quarantine the whole planet if
not the whole sector! They're totally crazy!"

"Great Jerm!
Why?!"

"It seems you
called Hospital and said there was a virulent plague that was
decimating the galaxy or something! What could you have been
thinking? There isn't any plague there! There were a few
businessmen having a meeting!"

"But ... but
... I didn't! I only told Loula that a fellow there said there was
a plague and I thought they probably didn't want company. I told
her to call Hospital and to say there was a rumor of plague and
maybe they should send an investigator, just to be safe. If the
people there needed help they could send it. If not, nothing was
lost. All they had to do was to call the castle and ask!"

Eed groaned.
"Who did she talk to? At Hospital?"

"I don't know.
I haven't had any contact since I called at the pass."

"Well, you
should have taken the left bend at the pass to go to Northport. You
are on Long Toe Peninsula – three hundred kilometers from Northport
by the road.

"If you wish to
call in, you may use my com. Perhaps your mate will have heard
about Castle House and can tell you what happened there. I was
passing on the road when the Fleet ship landed and a trooper told
me about it."

Sure! Z mused.
He told you my name, the planet was going to be quarantined and
what I was supposed to have reported to Hospital while you were
passing on a road that ended at the castle! Aloud, he said, "I
would like to call so she won't worry. It's most kind of you to
offer. Maybe she'll have some news."

T6 was, of
course, listening to all this chatter through the floater's system.
It would give the right answers. Z punched the code and the sexy
female voice answered.

"Dearest?" Z
said.

"Liahr,
are you lost
again
?" she
asked in reply, sounding exasperated.

"You know me so
well! I miss you. You don't know how much at this moment.

"Listen, love.
I'm on some place called Long Toe Peninsula. I took a wrong turn
about the time I was talking to you before. I may have to find a
place out here to spend the night. I'll get the radio fixed and
call you in the morning. I promise to come straight in. No more
exploring!"

The voice
laughed. "You'll explore, dear! You'll never change!

"Listen.
Remember you told me to call the med center to report a rumor of
sickness?

"Well, I was
transferred to Hospital, where I talked to the strangest
person!"

"Strange? How
was he strange?"

"Well, dearest.
His name was Turk or Murk or something. I said there was a rumor
there were some people at that Rocky place who were sick and the
doctors weren't sure what it was. That Jurk character started
yelling about deadly intergalactic plagues and quarantining L
sector! I tried to tell him it was only a rumor that a couple of
people were sick with something a local medical doctor couldn't
find a cause for, but he ranted and raved and actually cut me off!
I couldn't believe anybody working at Empire Center could be so
rude!

"I mean, I was
insulted and called back, but by the time I was transferred again
another man said that Kurk was gone. He said something awfully
strange, too."

"What was that
Loverlips?"

"Well,
Sweetness," she answered in an even more sexy voice. "He called
Wurk 'El Rockbrain'! Isn't that strange?

"Listen,
Hotsums, there was an enormous Fleet ship that landed and two
little ships have left it and have come back and now there are six
or seven little ships out looking for something. Do you think it's
because of Gurk?"

"Well, Shining
Queen of my Life. I guess so. I hear there's some excitement out
there at Rocky Castle. I'll call again in the morning, my Perfect
Delight. I can't tie up this man's com forever!

"Love and
kisses, Light of the Galaxy!"

"I'll be
waiting impatiently for your return – in a nice warm bed –
Sweetbuns!"