Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition (58 page)

How do these
crazy things ever get started? What's the mechanism? I'm a
professor and historical researcher, not a politician! Why have all
these people descended on me in this insane manner? What am I
supposed to do? Tell my classes in ancient history at the
university? Try to get other universities to tell their
students?

Television is
faster and will reach far more people!

I was to learn
rather quickly the mannerisms being displayed were signs of nervous
tension in these people that were unrealized by them. They all
three had very quick minds and were capable of deep and careful
thought. They were the tops in their fields – but what was I doing
here?

* *

Mi Yinn rushed
around the room gathering her notes and reviewing them. She
absolutely MUST make the proper impression with this or much would
be lost. Much time would be lost and that was easily the most
important of all the things working against her. It was working
against the whole race!

Hal Korr said
he was dining with Enn Far and she could join them. That was a
break!

She hadn't
slept in three days and looked it. She would clean up, take a
stimulant (Gods but she hated those damned things!), splash on some
makeup and wear something simple.

What was the
rush? She had four hours!

"This is much
too important to do the wrong thing," she mumbled. "I simply HAVE
to get across to them how serious it is! They'll think I'm an
alarmist – a hysterical female. They must know how serious this is!
If I fail it could mean disaster that ... it could mean extinction
of the Kroon race and more!

"There's that
septicemia plague that made periodic attacks on the race throughout
history. Maybe this Hal Korr character will have some insight into
what was and can be done in critical situations. People survived
that, but there's no way anyone will survive THIS thing! There is
no immunity! We don't even have any way to know exactly how
widespread this thing may already be!

"I can't use
technical terms. They won't understand and will pat me on the hand
and say 'I'll put someone on it tomorrow.'

"I'll scream in
their faces! I know I will! I simply HAVE to get a historical
perspective. I hope these people are even half as intelligent as
they seem to be. Gods! What if all they are is media hype?

"Grumm! Am I
falling into the publicity and hype trap? Why in the world should I
choose Hal Korr to confide this crisis to? Because he IS in the
media? There are historians right across campus! Wouldn't one of
them do as well?

"No! Enn Far is
meeting with him tonight for some solid reason so I can be sure
he's the best. Enn Far has a whole government to run in an
impossible time in a more impossible situation and doesn't go to
dinner only for social reasons anymore. His time is not his own. I
feel sorry for him! This on top of all the rest! Just what he needs
– a few more crises!

"Now I'm
talking to myself.

"I'm mostly
blues and reds so this silver blue sheath with a black sash and the
green brooch to hold a white scarf. Just enough clash in the brooch
to detract from my look of fatigue.

"Great! The
whole race is about to die and I worry about what to wear!

"Am I a
hysterical woman? Am I an alarmist? What does the well-dressed
airheaded fool wear to her own extinction?

"Gods! I need
that stimulant!

"Where are
those contagion reports? Where are the spread maps? What the hell
am I doing here? Why don't I shut up? I am SO damned TIRED!

"Oh! Where are
the mathematical projection charts?"

She suddenly
dropped into a chair where she began an almost hysterical sobbing.
She had to fight for control. When the spell finally passed she got
up to go to the shower. She got partially dressed, set the
alarmbuzz to allow her half an hour leeway to arrive at the
restaurant, rechecked the alarmbuzz, put two strong stimulant tabs
on the table and grabbed a nap. She awoke ten minutes before the
alarm would have sounded and sat up, downed the two stim tablets,
stood, dressed, fixed her makeup and was out. She would be a few
minutes early so maybe she could go through her notes one more
time. She must impress them that she was serious and was not
reacting hysterically to insufficient information from dubious
sources. It was all too real.

Was it? Was
there any possibility she actually was overreacting?

No! No! No! The
facts were plain and undeniable. It was right there for even the
dullest and slowest to see. The charts were undeniable.

The car
delivered her to the restaurant. She went in to ask where the Hal
Korr party was to be seated, was taken to the table where Korr was
already having a cocktail. She wouldn't have time to go over the
data.

She was
surprised in a way. Historians were generally fat, sedentary and
over-studious older males with terrible complexions and watery
eyes. The Kroon had very wildly patterned skins of many colors. The
sunlight brightened the colors and strengthened the contrasts.
Historians and mathematicians were generally among those who didn't
get much sunlight so were generally faded to pastels. This one
seemed in excellent shape for one his age!

Oh, that's
right. He returned from a dig only a couple of days ago, but his
complexion indicates that he's the outdoors type. He has an
athlete's body. How strange.

She stood back
tapping her tooth with an index fingernail.

Stop that! It's
a habit that isn't attractive! He, surprisingly, is. Very! No
wonder that the news media seized on him, though the pictures don't
begin to do him justice. He's one of those who don't photograph
well. Non-photogenic, they call it. He has charisma, that’s more
than certain!

"I AM an air
head! What IS the matter with me? Now I'm talking to myself again
in a public restaurant!" she mumbled.

She took
another deep breath, then went to the table, introduced herself,
then went right into her spiel. This was probably all wrong and
he'd think she was a fanatic idiot! He probably didn't have any
idea what she was babbling about!

But it was
important!

Soon Enn Far
and a lawyer came and to her great surprise and greater relief
didn't question the importance of her information for a single
second. That was mostly due to the fact she had caught Hal Korr's
attention, she decided, but maybe something could be done now.
Maybe the thing could be controlled somehow. It was the end of
everything if they couldn't do anything! It was more than obvious
Far and the lawyer, Sop, were there for government business, but
they could see the importance of her findings so were spending the
time discussing them.

The lawyer was
the same one who was drawing up a constitution for Far. He said
something about quarantine.

NO! That must
never happen! Quarantine is against everything I believe in! – Be
reasonable! This thing could destroy the Kroon race! It's TIME for
extreme methods!

For the first
time she suddenly realized this wasn't a drill. It wasn't just
another hypothetical lesson and her research wasn't something to do
with someone or something else. This was real! This was right here.
This was right now!

She shook with
a sudden chill as it hit her how close they were to destruction of
their very way of life. It could all go.

Perhaps – just
perhaps, they could find some solution. The fate of every one of
the two point eight five billion people on this planet rode on the
decisions of the four people sitting at this table – a preacher, a
lawyer, a historian and a health researcher. The people must be
told in such a way they wouldn't panic. A panic could be as bad or
worse a disaster than any of the rest if it got out of hand.

On the other
hand they MUST get the point across with force. It wasn't fair! It
was too fine a line!

But then, who
ever said life is fair? Isn't that asking a bit much?

She shivered
again and wondered if she was getting something. Damn! That would
be all she needed! Some debilitating virus or worse at this point
was unthinkable!

Was any of this
mess even possible? Could the people be reached and convinced while
not being panicked?

She drew a deep
breath. "I think we must use a modified form of quarantine
immediately," she agreed. "The ones we must quarantine are those
researchers who may be able to find a cure for this thing, not the
ones who have it – although it will almost surely come to that. Our
personal freedom means nothing now. We must think of our race, not
ourselves, or all is lost – and I do mean all!"

"But to work
with the virus means your taking it into quarantine with you," Enn
Far protested. "A quarantine would serve little purpose."

"The virus can
be isolated and is no threat to anyone with training in those
things," Hal said. "There are several large islands off the coast
from Klevr about a hundred kilometers. They're well isolated and
are large enough for perhaps twenty thousand people.

"Is there a
test to determine who is fully free of the virus?"

Mi nodded and
said, "We could possibly place our people in isolation for sixty
days somewhere here before the test to be absolutely sure they
haven't contracted the virus, then send them to the islands.
Facilities will have to be built.

"You realize,
I'm sure, there will be many riots and the necessity of strongly
arming the islands. If this thing gets much out of hand people will
try to get to the islands to save themselves and will definitely
bring the virus with them. That's one huge danger of public panic.
There are literally hundreds more."

"Then the
people must not know anything about it," Sop said. "I think that is
plain enough."

"You're crazy!"
Korr shouted. "They'll be dying! They'll know! I mean to see we
have as widespread and strong an education program as we possibly
can."

Sop was shaking
his head. "No! People will certainly know about the disease – it is
the ISLAND they must not know about. Let us not sit around arguing
stupid inconsequentialities and misunderstanding one another."

"If we post the
Mekos Islands as forbidden they'll know something's going on
there," Korr warned. "We can't sit around assuming that everyone's
stupid!"

"We'll tell
them that research on the virus is going on there and other
places," Mi said triumphantly. "They'll be lied to only in that the
rumor will be spread there's an even deadlier more horrible strain
of the disease there and we must see it doesn't get to the mainland
for any reason. Leak information after we've gotten our people
there that there was a terrible accident – that the islands are
contaminated for the next fifty years minimum. Phony photographs of
some truly terrifying and sickening results of the accident will
make them avoid the place like ... like the plague."

"That would
make the place safe for a little while, at least," Far agreed. "I
guess we'd best handle this virus problem immediately and the
constitution later. The chronology of these things is definitely
out of our hands as of now. There won't be any great need of a
constitution if we're thrown back to barbarism by this thing!"

They all agreed
on that point.

"I am going to
work on the constitutional thing and release reports on progress at
intervals," Sop said. "If we suddenly stop now we will not fool
anyone for one short minute. It will give us very obvious reasons
to meet regularly, too.

"People, I wish
I had stayed home and told you to shove your constitution where the
air is bad. I never bargained to get into something like this!"

"You are NOT,
most assuredly, the only one!" Korr said, sadly.

* * *

"Meet Enn Far
at Kehol's Restaurant at 18:30," Sop said into the recorder, then
punched back to the study.

"I must be
certain I leave nothing out of this document that should be in it
and put nothing in that should be excluded. This has to be basic
and this has to be complete at the same time.

"Let me see.
There shall be three parts to the governing body. The legislative,
the judiciary and the executive."

He paused and
thought of what the alien had told him.

Damn! Let the
alien tell them everything they should do? That is not reasonable!
The Terran merely suggested guidelines and tried to cover things
that would be important. It is still our decision, but that doesn't
lessen the pressure!

"The
legislative branch shall have two branches itself, the commons and
the elite. The elite shall be a fixed number and shall have control
of the budget formation while the commons shall be chosen on the
basis of area population and shall control programs. The elite
shall be chosen for a period of six years with an election each
three years for half of that house. The commons will serve
three-year terms.

"Straighten out
the way this is presented and the wording. The elite can control
the programs by refusing funding for those programs they feel are
not proper while the commons can override the elite by a
three-quarter's majority.

"Put something
in about a ... yes! The executive may suggest programs and will
have the power to take those programs directly to the public, who
may then demand consideration. The executive may veto any programs
or funding, but can be overridden by two thirds vote.

"The judiciary
shall make all laws conform to the things set forth in this
document. It shall have no right – no right NOR authority – to
interpret this document under any circumstances. Only the
combination of both houses with a referendum by the public may
change one single word of this document.

"Z made that a
very strong point. Make the thing extremely difficult to change in
any way. That's another reason it must be clear from the first in
its wording. Make it easier to change the laws themselves than to
change the document.