Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition (5 page)

"There are, so
far as we know, several Jornians, a Bentan or two, and possibly
some Lars, but we have no idea who the head of the plan is – yet.
Until we do and have him or them in custody, I'm to be a tourist
waiting on some stuff to take home."

I nodded. There
were those few who would organize a criminal activity around any
worlds where casinos and gambling were legal, so I didn't doubt it.
I agreed to go to Sentah personally to try to find the leaders when
I had the time, then went back to TR.

TR checked with
Maita, who checked with the VWPA, who quickly confirmed it. Maita
would send Z and Thing there immediately when their present project
was finished.

I suggested a
few avenues of investigation.

TR took me to
another spaceport, where we landed close to our second ship. I
placed the Searian language and strolled over to announce myself. I
reviewed the facts as I went.

GGF772-PY:
Entric, Hol Nar Tei, rich playboy. Here on a little vacation and
wanted privacy to relax.

He would be
hiding out, too. There was nothing for an Entricee playboy on
Flimt. He was probably the only one of that reptilian race in the
system right now. The world wasn't particularly well suited to his
race, being a bit wet and a bit cool.

He was almost
broke and was hiding from creditors. He had no idea of how to earn
any credits to pay off the debts, though he wanted to do so and go
home. He was basically honest, but was spoiled by the way he was
raised – and knew it.

"I admit to
being a worthless drain on the galaxy, but I don't mean anyone any
harm," he said. "I just can't seem to live within my means!"

There was a
magnificent painting above us on the salon wall. I knew from a
glance that it had to be either Zulian or Parf.

I asked about
it.

"Oh, it's
rather good, isn't it?" he said. "It came with the ship. I bought
it in an estate sale years ago.

"It doesn't go
too well with the decor in here, but I think it's much too good to
store somewhere in a vault. That kind of art should be seen and
enjoyed.

"I wish I had a
real appreciation for art, but you don't have to be an expert to
know that is GOOD!"

"Is it
Zulian?"

"Oh, I think
it's from some other place. It's signed up in the right corner and
dated. I can't read the writing. Those things are always in some
script I can't read, it seems."

I checked the
fine writing. It said: Youf/ Parf/ Mt. Jarl at Sunset/ 142-712.

"How much do
you owe, altogether?" I asked.

"Much more than
I can hope to raise. I can't sell the ship because it's still under
mortgage. I keep that up if nothing else. I love this ship."

"How much?"

"About one and
three quarter million credits."

"I'll give you
two million for that painting. And I'll tell you straight out it's
worth more. It's a Parf painting by a famous painter – the son of
Tous, who was a friend of the emperor.

"I'd like to
give Emperor Maita the painting as a gift. Art of this quality is
one of the few things he can appreciate and enjoy without a lot of
people criticizing him. It's his one vice. It's the one thing he
collects for himself alone, though he'll exhibit it at the gallery
on EC. He strongly believes these things should be seen and
experienced by everyone."

He was staring
wide-eyed in disbelief at me with the mouthful of sharp teeth
hanging open. "It's ... I mean ... I could...?"

"I'm serious.
You'd have a quarter of a million credits to build on. That's
probably not a hell of a lot to you, but it will get you out of
debt."

"I could pay
off the ship, too! I would have sixty thousand credits left over.
With my regular income and no other payments I could do all
right!

"I'll
sell!"

I used the com
to tell TR to send a floater with the chits to pick up the
painting. Tei helped to load it and asked if I would look at
another fine painting in the bedroom. It was another Parf painting
by some artist I had TR check on. It was, as all Parf paintings
are, magnificent. It was a scene from the shore of Z's island on
EC, with the red sun and the green both influencing the light.

As we had all
the paintings we could ever want of EC, I wasn't interested in
buying it. "Freew didn't paint many, but she was considered one of
the best at catching the light so well on EC. There's one she
painted for him almost identical to that in Z's bedroom. That one
was painted almost a hundred years ago. It should be worth more
than two million credits. Tell him to take it to one of the better
dealers on Bypass for the best price," TR reported. "If he wants to
spend the time and trouble he can enter it in the yearly auction at
Castle Drove in Octeen. That's seven tenthyears from now, but he
could get three point five million easily there."

I told Tei, but
he said he loved that painting and didn't want to part with it, but
it was good to know he had some assets.

I took my leave
and went back to TR.

"Well, we now
know pretty much where the brain is," TR announced. "Gorg reported
they found two robots here and Hedda says they found three in
various other places. The one on the satellite was easy, as there
are only two hundred people there. There aren't many people on any
of the stations, so they should identify all of them within a
couple more hours.

"I think
probably we should move against PPF oh forty five and the robots at
the same time."

"I want to find
all the robots we can and move against them at once. I want to make
that brain leave populated areas if we can.

"Your trace
will follow it anywhere?"

"It doesn't
know anything about fastcom. If it messes with the set aboard the
ship it'll screw it up. It can't find the trace. It doesn't have
the technology."

I called Hedda
and Gorg and arranged to meet with them.

I had seen a
Flimt around a bit and saw him again as I left TR. He was obviously
watching us, so I made it a point to go directly toward him from
the ship. He had to act casual and I used my new sensor as I passed
within a meter of him. He didn't smell anything like a Flimt. He
smelled of ozone and plastic.

I moved around
the port building for a couple of minutes until I spotted a girl
helping a blind woman to a seat. I went to them and said there was
something fishy about the guy over behind the potted plant. He was
following me and he gave me the creeps for some reason. I said I
only stopped to talk to them so maybe he'd go away, because I
couldn't think of any reason anyone would want to follow me.

I then walked
toward the snack bar so he'd have to pass within a few feet of them
to follow me.

I sat around
the counter a ways and saw the woman nod as he passed and the girl
stifle a yawn and manage to point to his back. I didn't see the
follower, but didn't doubt this one had a tight tail. TR also had a
minifloater there very quickly.

I went on to
meet with Gorg and Hedda. I explained we thought we knew where the
leader of the robots was, but wanted to find all of the robots
possible, then to make the leader run so the people of Flimt would
be in no danger.

"We have to be
realistic," I cautioned. "If the leader sits right here on Flimt we
have a problem. I don't believe there are any really big weapons,
but a small one can do horrible damage. I've got to get that ship
to run!"

They had no
suggestions, but said they knew there was danger from the first.
The people of Flimt would cooperate in any way they could. If
possible they would have a very slow evacuation of the immediate
area. Most people left the spaceports in the small hours of the
morning and they could arrange for more than usual to leave. We
could strike at such an hour, leaving the machine with few
hostages. It might well decide to run.

We then
concentrated on the robots. It took two more days, but we knew we
couldn't find all of them on Flimt. We knew where the others were
on all the bases and stations. TR made a suggestion and we decided
to try it.

We attacked the
robots with much better weapons than generally carried and had
little trouble defeating them quickly. We could use mirror shields
against the laser beam weapons they carried.

We took all the
"carcases" to the prearranged point, where I took a few apart while
I waited for the next step, which I hoped would happen soon. There
had been bursts of radio communications from the robots when they
were attacked, then silence.

"They're going
to the brain's ship, not there," TR reported over the floater (For
Gorg and Hedda's benefit).

"Keep them from
getting aboard," I ordered. "Is there anyone around the
terminal?"

"Nope. Cleared
out for quite a distance. I'll shield in case that thing decides to
attack me. It knows damned well I'm the empire ship and that we've
done this, so it might try to stop me before I start to follow
it."

There was the
communications shut-off the shield caused. I'd be on my own for
awhile.

We removed the
power packs from all the robots in case they were playing dead on
us and I disconnected some other parts from the radio receivers. If
there were any secondary backups they wouldn't do any good. There
were self-destruct charges in them, but few had the chance to use
them. I didn't want those to be set off, either.

I didn't know
whether to head for the port or to stay clear, so I went part way
in case we had to leave in a hurry. It was about half an hour later
before TR communicated again. "I've set a broadcast antenna outside
with a servo," it reported. "All the robots must be here now.
They're lounging around in the terminal. I doubt they realize only
robots are in there, but they'll know soon. There are eleven of
them.

"I don't know
what that thing's planning, but this waiting is nerve-racking, even
if I don't have any nerves (Hedda grinned at that) to wrack.

"I wish it
would do something!"

I kept working
on the robot carcasses, trying to find a way to trace the settings
on their radio transceivers, but the emergency frequency was sealed
in such a way I couldn't find anything. TR would have to trace it
with a wide scan.

About fifteen
minutes later TR called again.

"The robots are
beginning to head for the pads. They're still acting casual, but
the whole bunch started at once, so it doesn't work too great,
seeing as they're all that's here!"

A few minutes
later. "This doesn't make any sense!"

Then, "Tab! Get
here! Fast!"

I ran for all I
was worth (Several billion credits at the last overhaul) for TR. I
jumped aboard and we took off immediately.

"The ship's
still there!" I cried.

"It apparently
transferred to another ship. The robots milled around a bit, then
suddenly ran aboard the Ternz ship there and it took off. The brain
must have gotten suspicious and changed ships while we were at
Second Port or something. It outsmarted us!"

"Can you
follow?"

"Sure. Fastcom
code pulse. It's heading for Elit, I think."

"It would have
to go to where it was a programmed for, wouldn't it? Could that
thing even reprogram coordinates? I couldn't read the robots
directly. I need to manufacture an interface, so it can't read the
ship and reprogram.

"That's a
break!"

"Maybe," TR
warned. "Elit has a lot of people."

"Then we'll
have to get that ship as soon as it comes into N space and before
it approaches Elit. You were watching all the ships. Was there
anyone aboard except the robots?"

"Not that I
saw. Two people left yesterday. No one else came aboard."

"When you're
positive of the destination, get there first."

"Yo!" TR said,
then we waited. Suddenly there was the lurch of going into TTH14
and immediately the lurch of coming back out.

"It'll be here
in about ten minutes," TR said. "I'm surprised I could make that
short a jump in plane fourteen. I'll have to tell Maita about that
one. Pretty good, if I do say so myself!"

We waited until
we saw the ship enter N space about a thousand kilometers away. TR
didn't waste time it might use to shield and blasted it to vapor
with a beam.

"It didn't
survive that blast!" TR said smugly (How does a machine do that?).
"This time that damned brain really is dead! It couldn't have left
that ship in TTH planes, and this is the first time it came out....
It was 'way too easy, Boss! I'm REALLY scared now!"

"It's a pretty
tricky machine, but.... Tr! Where is that PPF oh forty five?"

There was a
pause.

"I'll be
damned!" TR snarled (Snarled? On internals?). "It suckered us and
we fell right into the trap! It's a good thing it doesn't know
about the tracer. It merely sent the robots into an unoccupied ship
and had them engage the flight program, knowing we'd be stupid
enough to follow it while the real brain made a clean getaway.

"Well, there
are some traps that work both ways!"

Following
Your
Shadow

PPF045 was
heading inward on a flat trajectory toward galactic center. It had
TTH4, while TR had TTH14, so we'd be able to be waiting anywhere –
if we could figure where it was going. It didn't seem to have a
destination we could calculate. The moder wouldn't move the ship
without instructions of some sort and the sequencer wouldn't
respond to a purely random input. There had to be a three number
mode-set reference.

"I think its
interface plot isn't all that great, Boss. It can program in
whatever it wants, but it can't read what's there in the maps and
coordinate settings because ... of something."

"I'd say the
fact it has destinations and coordinates only in set mode and what
those destinations are – beyond a designation of name – is another
of its problem. It knows where it's going but doesn't know what
would be there. It has to discover how to access the descriptives
and determine what all the little symbols mean. It started the ship
before it decoded the moder and sequencer, so it set what it
analyses the destination to be, thus it had to override ... this
doesn't make sense to me, either, so don't say it!"