Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition (59 page)

"Maybe I should
put something in about letting the public have a chance to change
it before it is adopted – no! They can do that the way it is
now.

"I had best get
ready to meet with Far."

He put the
recorder away and prepared himself for the dinner appointment, then
went to the restaurant.

Far was just
coming in. They went to the table together to find some woman there
with Korr. Nobody said anything about dates! This was supposed to
be a work session! What were all those papers and charts? What the
hell was he here for? He thought this was to be a discussion of the
constitution!

Oh great gods!
Not a reporter! I cannot take that! There is a time for everything
and this is not the right one for much of anything! Just nod and
walk out as soon as the questions start.

She didn't look
like any reporter he had seen before and he had seen most of them.
She did seem familiar.

They sat and
were introduced around. She was a research scientist who had
discovered some disease or other.

What is this? A
rampant plague? In this day and age? Ridiculous! These
academicians! Letting someone waste my time with such foolishness
when the whole damned world is falling apart!

Kill off the
entire race? Who is this silly broad?

Sop picked up a
chart and read something about the incubation and spread times.
Carriers?

My gods! If
there is a real basis for this thing it is already spreading
exponentially! For the first time she had all their attention. It
wouldn't hurt to listen if only to show her how she was being
hysterical and wasting their time.

Soon they were
all convinced. Mi Yinn was a fully qualified scientist. This was
deadly serious. The entire race could be wiped from existence.

Sop mentioned
the constitution when they said something about quarantine, but
began to think. The alien, Z, said nothing about anything like
this. Better see that someone can be in charge of health matters in
any dire emergency such as this and hope it is never needed.

He took out his
portable recorder and quietly dictated, "There shall be a national
health officer chosen by the executive branch and approved by the
legislature in joint session whereby, should a health situation
arise that truly and undeniably threatens the security or existence
of the nation the health officer shall have the power to suspend
... name the clauses and rights."

He put the
recorder away and rejoined the discussion, soon agreeing to find a
way to get as many as twenty thousand health professionals to the
Mekos Islands.

*

"I have to pull
this off," Enn Far said to himself as he hung up after the
invitation to the popular historian. "I have to get out from under
this mess. I'm not equipped to handle this much pressure. My
decisions can affect the entire world. If Korr can be manipulated
into a position where he's elected chairman of the council in a
halfyear I can have an hour or two to myself now and then. I guess
there's no actual hope I won't be elected to the council, but not
as chairman. Please!"

Sop will be the
best man on the entire planet to come up with a constitution. It's
a sign of the sharpness of my mind I thought of him before the
aliens left and arranged for him to spend the time learning from
them. If that sharpness would just have stayed!

It's the
pressure, the tension. Some people are not fit for rule and this is
certainly a case of that!

Far spent the
afternoon preparing to question Korr along with Sop to get his
input now and have some of his words a part of the constitution.
That would assure his election as first council chairman. He was a
good speaker and had a good presence. Korr was also quite handsome
in person so he would get some of the vote, sad as it was, for that
reason alone. He was easily the most knowledgeable person around,
too. He may specialize in ancient history, but there simply wasn't
a subject he had NO knowledge whatever about. He was the best man
for the job. He had the intelligence and the basic knowledge as
well as the more necessary communication skills to save this
nation. He could pull the people out of this chaos if anyone could.
That constitution was probably the most important single facet of
this whole thing. It mustn't only say how the nation was to be
structured and governed it must say it well and greatly. It must
inspire by the poetry of the expression. The simplest things must
be said in a way that would lend them importance.

Sop Lett could
do that. He could rise above himself as he had before. He seemed
the worst kind of pedant when you were talking to him sometimes,
but he was really quite brilliant. If there's something to be
written no one could do better than Sop Lett!

It was time to
get ready. Tongue on tooth for luck!

He arrived to
meet Sop as he was entering so they went in together to find that
famous health researcher there. She had charts and notes all over
the place.

Damn! Get rid
of her, but do it diplomatically.

They were
introduced and sat to be appraised of the fact there was a plague
rampant that could well decimate Kroon's entire population! Enn
didn't for one second doubt the reality of all this. Mi Yinn was
too careful about what she said and did and certainly was the most
brilliant scientist in the health field. There were none better.
Enn forgot about the council and the constitution. His duty and his
job now was to resolve this thing. Education was the key, but
research must be abandoned in all other areas where the scientist
could be vaguely useful on this thing.

Aliens, where
are you when we need you? They said they have a ship that does
nothing but travel the area of their empire aiding any peoples
anywhere who need the great medical expertise they carry. If anyone
in the empire – or as they were, out of it – needed help in a
medical emergency it was Kroon and they needed that help NOW!

It wouldn't
come. They had no way to contact the empire.

"We'll do these
things exactly as proposed," Enn instructed. "Research will be both
intense and unidirectional. The Mekos Islands will be prepared at
once – all of them. I also propose we send the long short long long
short short signals into space, both through radio and wide
spectrum light transmissions. We can hope the empire will intercept
the call for help, but it would be foolish to count on it. I know
the aliens who were here would help without pause or question, but
it's highly unlikely we'll be able to contact them.

"As acting
council chairman I hereby appoint Mi Yinn national health officer
and Hal Korr public contact officer for her and Sop Lett as
coordinator of health effort. I admit I had a very different idea
when I called Sop and Hal together here, but my schemes would be
pointless if this problem isn't solved. We could all be dead and
our race extinct before it bore much fruit.

"Hal, you can
help with the historical things in the constitution to whatever
extent won't interfere with the health matters.

"Sop, you
adjust your schedule to aid Mi as much as possible, but please
continue with the constitution, also.

"Mi, move the
sun and stars if you must, but get this plague under control.

"Perhaps it's
most important first to buy some time. Do whatever you must. Your
funds aren't limited. My time is yours. I'll leave instructions
that anytime any of you three wish to contact me it takes
precedence over anything else. Even ... anything. You three have
unlimited access to me or to anything this government can supply to
you.

"Mi, you're
going to learn what it means to hold power. From this moment
forward until there is resolution of this you're in full charge of
this nation. Your power there isn't limited.

"I know a
little something about these viruses. I studied biology and have
finished two years premedical university study. I also know I'm not
reacting too strongly to this threat. I pray to whatever gods may
exist we're being fools and that there IS no problem.

"That prayer is
already answered. That answer's a flat 'No!' I've never known such
a feeling of impending doom. It's a dark terror that can but
increase as the danger of this sinks in. Believe me there's no
exaggeration here. The fate of this world and all its people hangs
by the web of an eightlegs webber. I desperately hope we can spin
enough of an auxiliary web to keep it from breaking. Understand,
these figures are only about the cases of this disease that are
known. I have the sick feeling we know of only a small percentage
of them. We have to choose, NOW, a direction and we have to move.
There's no compass. We cannot pause to seek clues, but must move
RIGHT AT THIS MOMENT! Our only choice is to move in as many
directions at once as we possibly can."

They looked at
him in shock except for Mi. She knew his words were spontaneous and
real and that he wasn't attempting to sound statesmanlike. He WAS a
statesman!

They'd better
understand how real this thing is!

Starting the
Plan

* *

Mi Yinn
rechecked the list of things that would be needed on the island if
the labs were to be of even minimal use. It would be thirty six
days before the first of the buildings were ready for occupancy,
but her list of scientists grew daily. She perfected the antibody
isolation technique so could determine with great accuracy which of
the many people who volunteered to come had been exposed to this
horror. The antibodies seemed to appear within ten to twelve days
of exposure so it wasn't so long a bad time as she feared at first
for the isolation term. The necessary separation from family and
friends was only one of the major hardships these dedicated people
would be asked to endure. That they weren't deterred by it showed
that SOME of the race were well worth saving!

As far as she
could tell the antibodies could be identified in a maximum of
twenty two days after exposure so the primary quarantine was
already in effect for those people she'd selected thus far. They
would be placed into positions where there would be no direct
contact with anyone for the necessary period. These were
professional people who made no objections whatever to what they
understood as absolute necessity. Contamination of the people
working on the cure would serve all badly. There were those times
when one must take unpleasant duties and this was such a time.

Mi was amazed
at how readily they agreed to this, but it was a thing wherein
professionals could see the degree of devastation hanging over the
Kroon race. Dedicated people were prepared for sacrifice of
personal comforts. Mi couldn't fault any of them for their actions.
She was proud to be a member of such a group.

Enn had told
her they were broadcasting the "help desperately needed" signals in
both radio and light beams in hopes an empire trader might see
them. That would solve everything, but she had no illusions. As
willing as the aliens would be to offer aid Kroon wasn't going to
get their attention through such means as they had at their
disposal. That was an exercise in futility, but NOTHING could be
overlooked. No chance was too small to take in this situation. One
chance in a billion was still one chance in a billion.

There was also
one other thing: No one on the Mekos Islands would be exposed to
the virus so the disease could be kept out. There would be enough
so the race would survive even if nothing could be found to stop
infection of the rest of the population. There would surely be
other pockets of survivors. The problem would be to ensure a viable
minimum number which would have to include the most diverse genetic
backgrounds possible on those islands. It may be the only
diversified gene pool left when the plague was over.

People would be
needed to grow food and to handle such things as general
maintenance, transportation, utilities.... Discuss this with Enn
and Hal. The scientists would understand that any of the people
surviving on those islands with inheritable illnesses mustn't be
allowed to breed. Few scientist who are aware of such would in any
case – so choose other than the scientific members with the very
greatest of care. If there's no problem brought to the islands
there won't be any problem there. That's simple logic.

So now I get to
play god. We get rid of Soolinn and the Cult of Pineestees and I
take their place. I hate this! This shouldn't be a thing placed on
the head of any single person, but all a group would do is argue
endlessly. There would be no hope under such a system that anything
could be accomplished in time. Half the things I'm forced to do
here, I hate. More than half!

The list must
be divided, but we can use the base computers to determine how many
for each job. It's lucky the Mekos Islands are of volcanic origin
and the soil is capable of producing all the foodstuffs we'll ever
need there. That plus the tremendous richness and variety of foods
from the surrounding oceans should guarantee they would be
reasonably independent.

Make a list of
the most efficient food crops.

Another damned
list! All I do is make lists while each new one suggests yet
another. Our greatest need will be bringing paper to make these
interminable lists if this continues!

We're going to
need power, but we're fortunate the islands are almost tropical in
climate so much heating of the facilities and buildings won't be a
great problem. The islands we'll use will have altitudes of up to
two thousand meters with plenty of water, food production land, the
ocean. There should be method and means enough.

Power from
light? We could put solar cells on the mountaintops. The computers
and equipment draw very little power. We'll cook with the more
efficient microwaves. Put the lab and dwellings close to the
mountain so heating or even cooling won't be needed.