Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition (70 page)

"Not at this
time," Enn answered. "Perhaps the good doctor will come to feel
death would be a blessing. See the data is collected as completely
as possible and tell the subjects they'll receive followup doses if
it proves effective – and it seems it will be at this point. It'll
stop the virus if it won't cure it."

He hung up
after another minute, put his face in his hands and sat motionless
for a minute or two.

The longer you
live the more you learn. Every time you think you've found the
lowest form of life in the universe someone like Ponn comes along
to show you how naive you really are, but why did they always have
to appear to be the very best?

"I hope Hal
really lays it on thick," he mumbled to himself. "I want our Dr.
Ponn to squirm and twist – then I'll personally squash him like the
bug he is!"

He again called
Hal with the new information.

* * * *

Hal hung up the
set and grinned at Mi. She grinned in return and asked what was so
funny. He explained what he planned to do when Ponn called. He said
he was to personally receive the call and she could listen, but was
to say nothing.

They went to
the lab where they began calling up the data the computers were
sorting for them. It would be a long process as individual reports
were coming in from station one as they came in from the government
agents there.

Hal went to the
scope screen later to study the new slides for new data when the
call from Ponn came. He answered.

"I wish to
speak with Dr. Yinn, please," Ponn said.

"She can't
leave her researches now. Perhaps I can be of help? I'm working
with her on the new serum if that's your area of inquiry."

"Well, I'm very
interested in anything new. Have you found anything?"

"We've got the
thing beat!" Hal said brightly. "At least it looks that way. It's a
combination thing with serum 'A' so we have to study the toxicity.
We're just now getting the data. I had to call Enn Far himself to
get him to make them report. Their reticence has cost us three
days, but we're finally getting some of the data. Maybe a day or
two, then we can begin preparing this for testing. You'd think
doctors would have better sense. That data is crucial. The whole
damned race could die and they'd try to hoard the data that could
save us! It doesn't make any sense!

"I know Mi told
me she's going to personally see to each and every dose of the new
stuff. She's really hot at somebody. She says there's one person
who's going to have to beg her for the serum, but she's going to
laugh in his face and watch him die. She says he thinks the old
serum will keep him alive, but doesn't know that it deteriorates
and activates residual intracellular viral nodes when the P T R
twenty two F catalyst breaks down.

"That's a
short-time thing – I guess you got the follow-up sheets on that
facet when your data exchange came in. Don't use the old serum 'A'
after twelve days. It can be more deadly than the virus alone after
seventeen days. It has to be pretty fresh, you know. These hormones
can be touchy."

"I don't know
what you're talking about!" Ponn cried. "Do you have a serum or
don't you?"

"I'm saying
that the 'A' serum has a short shelf life. We're working around the
clock here and I'm not in the mood to listen to you people in your
plush offices yelling at me. The new serum works in all the tests
and may work on Kroons. It may not. We must have data. That data is
three days late now. I will inform Dr. Yinn that you called, Dr.
Ponn."

He hung up to
see Mi grinning at him.

"You ARE a good
liar!" she said gaily. "What the hell was that weird catalyst that
deteriorates?"

Hal laughed.
"What about the part where you're going to laugh in his face as he
dies?"

She giggled and
went back to her work while Hal went back to his screen. They went
to their noonmeal and back again to their projects after a very
short rest. In midafternoon Enn Far called to tell them what had
been learned about Ponn. They suddenly became serious and Mi said
she damned well WOULD laugh in his stupid face as he died. It was
depressing to think anyone could be so cruelly selfish and even
moreso that they were taken in by any such person. It seems the
Kroon race could always find a new low to sink to.

Hal found
another combination of hormones that would do what the three they
already had would do. "This is wasting time now," he said as they
went to their room. "We can't go any further on this angle, but I
think the idea has proved worthwhile. I need another idea, Woman!
You're my inspiration! What's hiding in that pretty head?"

"There's
nothing in there! I swear it! I can even prove it. I let YOU take
advantage of me!"

They teased and
played awhile, but soon were asleep. In the morning Mi finished her
computer data and they walked around the mesa top again slowly,
trying to find another angle from which to approach this research.
A Dr. Hagg had found that certain heavy metals would kill off the
virus in the cells, but it also killed the cells.

"If it attacks
only the cells already infected we should be able to stop the virus
with serum 'A' and give the metal in safe dosages to people without
concentrated infections," Mi suggested. "If it kills nerve cells
that aren't infected it means nothing. Maybe that angle of approach
will bear some kind of fruit, even a very bitter one."

They returned
to the research labs to find Jak Tall checking over the laser
cannon in the maintenance shed.

"Expecting
trouble?" Hal asked.

"We got a call
from Chairman Enn Far that a helicopter was stolen. The one who
took it is infected. He'll try to come here for some reason. We're
to shoot the copter down before it gets anywhere near the island.
There'll be no legal aircraft in this area."

"I take it you
have experience in shooting aircraft?"

"Can't say I
do. Seems a simple enough thing. I've got the tracker on automatic
focus. Anything comes within twelve kilometers, it bleeps, I push
this switch. Zap! Boom! Then I put the cannon away until we need it
again."

"I can tell you
the person on that copter is the one who held up the data."

"And he also
charged the people to give them the serum we sent," Mi added.

"Chairman Far
said as much," Jak said matter-of-factly. "I'll shoot the bastard
down. You get to your work. This part is no concern of yours so
don't try to make it your headache."

Hal took Mi's
arm and led her inside. A few minutes later they heard the clap of
superheated air from the cannon's firing.

* * *

What was
that?!

Sop looked out
the window to see Jak Tall looking to sea with binoculars, leaning
against the laser cannon!

So it has come
to that. We are shooting down the poor infected people who in their
panic try to reach the only place on Kroon where there may be help.
Gods help us! What must we become?

"Don't be an
ass!" Sop mumbled to himself. "We have sent what serum we have to
the mainland. They would be better off there. All they could do
here is prevent further research."

He stood and
went out to ask Jak what was happening.

"A criminal
stole a copter and tried to get here to get his hands on the serum.
Sold what we sent before. Had the virus. Far said shoot him down. I
shot him down," Jak answered.

"Who was it?"
Sop asked.

"Some doctor.
Chairman Far was pretty upset. Said he thought the bird was the
first one he could trust."

"Doctor Nil
Ponn?!"

"Didn't say.
Help me push this thing into the shed. It's heavy. I'll have to do
something to make it easier to use."

They pushed the
heavy cannon inside where Jak quickly cleaned the generator and
refueled it, though it had used little in one shot. He covered it
and they went out. Jak locked the shed, then they walked together
to Sop's rooms for a cool bev. Sop took the com to call Enn Far to
report and to ask what was going on.

"Enn?" he
asked. "Was that Ponn that Jak just shot down? Dr. Nil Ponn?"

"Did he get the
lousy stinking bastard? I really would have liked to strangle him
with my bare hands!" Far told Sop about the whole problem with
Ponn, then they discussed the constitution. Far signed the
"original" and sent the bound copies to all sectors where the
people would have the right to vote on it in thirty days.

"Thirty days?"
Sop asked. "You're kidding!"

"Sop, this is
perfect! The people need some form of distraction from a plague
against which they're powerless. They're debating and arguing –
everyone wants something to get mad about – and saying you went too
far and that you didn't go far enough. It's exactly the vital
stimulant we need right now. The preamble is a stroke of genius!
It's poetic and powerful and noble. Nobody argues about that! They
do argue about every single word and phrase of the rest of it.

"Tell Jak his
signature is causing comment. Already there's an expression about
'feeling Jak Tall' about something. It's a synonym for proud! His
name on the cover of the copies has put him squarely in the center
of all the history books. From what I hear of him he'll royally
hate that!"

"He is right
here." Sop handed Jak the comset. Jak talked a moment, laughed,
then handed it back. Sop talked a bit more, then hung up.

"Well, Jak," he
announced. "It would appear the people like our constitution!"

* * * * *

Jak Tall left
Sop Lett's room in a thoughtful mood.

Funny, the
whole world was still very much at risk, but people had decided to
let the scientist handle it. Blind faith – of course, the people
didn't know about Ponn.

Just about as
funny, he had faith in them too, and he DID know about Nil
Ponn.

Tu Hupp came to
tell him the kitchen disposal unit was making strange noises. He
collected his tools and went to the kitchen to find someone had
lost a ring, it hit the blades of the disposal – noise and a little
damage to the blades, but simple to fix. He replaced the blades and
hung the ring on the notice board, packed his tools, then took out
the wave detector to check the ovens for leakage. It was all right
this time. The seals were holding and there was no frequency
wander. Four hours of work time left and Mi and Hal would probably
be there in the labs for three or four more. Everyone would.

Jak strolled to
the chasm to carefully check the submerged generators, then went
across the swaying cable bridge they had put onto Tekif to work
with the farmers on the irrigation system, then went to the top of
the nearest hill. Bot Gil, the head of the farm group, came to
stand beside him. They talked often about generalities.

"What d'ya
think?" Bot asked.

They were
looking down on a long narrow wooden pier anchored on wooden poles
directly onto the reef. The glassine was easy enough to drill with
a laser. Posts were put directly into the holes. There were posts
only about two thirds of the way out across the reef.

"The whole
outer part can be pulled back if it's needed," Bot said. "The
explosives're useless on that lava. It absorbs the force somehow're
other. We can't blast a channel through so we made a pier. Same
thing. Gets us acrost the reef."

"I think we cut
out make a shallow channel with the big laser cannon," Jak
suggested. "Maybe two meters deep by two wide. The small boats can
go in and out, but the larger ones can't. Heavy stuff can use the
pier. Bad spot here, though. Make it farther around. Not so
far."

"Bad 'un?
Why?"

"Current'll
follow it."

"Damn! You'd
think we'd of thought of that! We're sea people!"

"We'll have to
sneak the cannon out. I don't think the others would want us to use
it or to move it. It can be damned hard to move so I'll fix
something. I don't think it would be worthwhile if they find the
cure so maybe it's best we wait awhile before doing anything."

"Some've us
ain't goin' back. We like it here. It's already home."

Jak nodded.
They went back to the farm and found the water level just right,
then Jak headed back to Long Island and the labs. He checked the
labs where there were no emergencies, went to the shed to put some
new equipment together, then sat chewing the glamp twig and
thinking. That nagging was back.

The electric
welder smelled strongly of ozone, but that was natural. Oxygen
would ionize in the air from the arc.

His
subconscious suddenly broke through. He knew what it had been
trying to tell him all this time. It all came together as he had
known it must. That was the way his subconscious mind worked.

He chewed the
twig and let his thoughts follow their own paths for a few minutes.
He let his hands and body clean up the area and stow the welder. He
took a few minutes to make a plan for wheels on the laser cannon,
he checked the board and went to the isolation lab where he rewired
one circuit for higher current and put the line through the
breakers.

Jak Tall was
methodical and was, for the first time in a long while, in a hurry,
but no one would have known that to watch him.

He got a call
on his pager and went to the culture section where he had to
replace a burned-out element on the retention burners.

He went back to
check the board, which had nothing on it now.

Then he did
what was causing all the hurry – the thing his subconscious had
instructed him to do: He headed for the library.

Other
Avenues

* * * *

"Mi?" Hal
suddenly asked, pulling himself from his thoughts.

"Yes?"

"This thing
attacks only nerve cells. It lives in the blood and reproduces
there. It's in lots of the body's organs. That means that there's
something in those cells it must have to survive. It therefore
feeds on something found only there in those cells. Have you
considered there must be – HAS to be – something that occurs only
in nerve cells and in no others that attracts the infection? Can we
hope to isolate whatever it is?