Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition (78 page)

"We are asking
only what we must. I repeat, your lives are at stake. It is a small
price. After the twenty days we will repeat the tests and will
treat any who have shown virus chains since the first treatment.
This will take much longer as the antibodies are a permanent thing
with or without the virus being present. It is necessary.

"Perhaps we
will have a better test procedure soon. There is a promising system
being worked out to vidri-culture the virus directly which will
determine in less than an hour if a person has become reinfected.
After that there will be a requirement that every person be tested
once a year at their own convenience until we have gone through a
period of two years with no cases on the entire planet.

"I am aware
there are those who will wish to refuse testing and treatment. That
is your right, but do not forget the rest of the race has rights,
too. All who are not tested and who refuse testing will be
quarantined to an area which we will set aside. You may die in
horrible pain if you so choose, but we are not going to be soft on
your lack of consideration for others.

"If you refuse
medical attention you are most likely members of the old Court of
Dole sect. Before citing religious freedom bear in mind that CD is
based on the Vision of Soolinn, which has been shown to be false.
Completely.

"If we act
together we can beat this thing. If we get into a lot of silly
petty arguments with a small number of irrational people we will
endanger everyone on this planet.

"I repeat! I am
declaring a national emergency! Work with me, everyone, and we will
defeat the greatest danger the Kroon have ever known – in only
twenty days!

"Thank you ...
what?

"I have just
been informed that Klarstenland National Medical Supplies has sent
a request to know the size and number of syringes needed. They will
use their techniques and equipment to produce the injections in a
prepackaged form around the clock until there are enough to serve
the entire world at no cost if we will supply the serum.

"The syringes
are to be two ccs and we will get you the serum as quickly as it
can be flown to you ... Jeneye ... about an hour and a half. We can
produce the serum with the process on hand.

"Your nation
and world will never forget your selfless aid in this emergency,
KNMS. Citizens might well remember this when they purchase medical
supplies in the future.

"There are more
calls coming in. We will publish all who aid us in this. Thank
you.

"Hal?"

Hal Korr stood
and said that any doctor who had not received the M14 serum or the
method for formulating it was asked to contact the island
immediately. He explained to the people that the microwave machine
destroyed the virus except for that in the blood and the M14
destroyed all in the blood, then he called Jak Tall who explained
how he wanted all persons who knew how to design or repair standard
home microwave equipment to immediately begin converting any spare
microwave generators they could get their hands on. The preprepared
television explanation and workshop would air three times the
following day at 8:00, 14:00, and 20:00 on government channel B and
the educational channel.

"The more units
we have in operation the faster this goes," he finished.

Sop came on
then to explain the constitution was designed with this particular
type medical emergency in mind. He knew because he had written the
constitution. Mi was being much less strict than he would have
advised, but she was Health Officer and knew more about this than
he did.

Enn Far came on
to declare the government was in the hands of Health Officer Dr. Mi
Yinn until further notice and he would exactly, as was his
constitutional duty, do as she instructed.

She said to
take into consideration that the constitution was suspended by her
order and, until she dropped the suspension, the hundred days was
not in force. She suggested he spend those few days to explain the
voting procedures to all before the process began. An extended
question-and-answer portion came up then. Most of the questions
were asked by doctors and utility repairmen. Much to the surprise
of the majority on the island there wasn't going to be much
resistance to Mi's orders. Sop never doubted that compliance would
be complete. "The people are dying! They will do whatever they must
to save themselves if not for more altruistic motives!" He quite
honestly couldn't see that people were seldom this rational about
such things.

Jak Tall
grinned and said the hard part was to proceed in a steady wave
across the land and not to miss anyone.

"We'll have a
case now and then for a few years and probably an outbreak now and
again where Mi'll have to call a regional suspension of the
constitution. THAT'S when you'll find out how irrational they can
be!"

Hal grinned.
"When I'M chairman I won't put up with this crap for one
picosecond!"

"Then you'll
have riots violent enough to make what some of those other
countries've had seem like a Firstday's Eve dance!" Jak replied,
still with the grin.

Solutions

* * * * *

"...to the Klee
Corporation unit by adding a five hundred ohm variable pot-style
resistor here," Jak Tall said to the camera as he pointed to the
spot on the large schematic diagram. "This is not high draw, but
use a strong enough pot to hold up.

"The Gann unit
is more complicated so you'll have to insert a dual-input variable
monopolar directional tunnel diode AND the capacitor, which means
putting a fifty thousand ohm resistor on the secondary peg to the
second input mode on the diode. It's tricky and the thing will
wander no matter what you do, but remember the Gann machine was
designed to cook food, which it does very well.

"The non-brand
name units are mass-produced so you can just put variable
capacitors on the drive circuits. We recommend you do not use the
Gann machine nor the mass-produced units unless others are not
available.

"Thank you. The
next show is in six hours." He sighed deeply and went to sit at the
desk for the calls. There were fewer this show and would be still
fewer the last, but there would always be questions. They must be
answered.

The light on
the com lit and he said, "Yes?"

This was
carried at the end of the shows so all could hear the questions and
answers.

"Don't you
think a Jonn triple-prong tunnel compensator diode could be added
to the input sequence driver circuit on all models, making the rest
of this redundant?"

"Certainly!"
Jak shot back. He hated these whizbang kids. They were always
impractical and wasted too much time best used by the legitimate
questioners. "Do you have a supply of Jonn three's around your
shop?"

"Er, I don't
have a shop. I'm a theorist."

"Well,
theorist. How many Jonn three-prong's would you figure the average
M-W repairman would have laying around?"

"Well, probably
none. They could always order them."

"And how long
would delivery take – bearing in mind the Jonn company would
suddenly be flooded with millions of orders?"

"Well, I can
usually get my special orders in ten days."

"In case it
eluded your attention," Jak snarled, almost acidly, "the modified
units will be needed the day after tomorrow. Are you suggesting we
allow a few tens of thousands of people to die while we wait for
those units?

"As you just
said no one would have the Jonn three's around unless they're in
more high-income areas. The damned things may be the best money can
buy, but they cost two hundred stars while the stuff I'm talking
about costs a total of two or three stars and almost everyone has
it in cartons in their shops.

"A little
advice. Come down to Kroon before you move into the marketplace to
sell your abilities. While the theory behind the suggestion is
sound enough from a scientific standpoint, as a practical
consideration it could kill off the customers before it could be
implemented and would be prohibitively costly.

"I'm sure
you've impressed everyone with how your sharp little mind works,
but not the way you'd planned. Aren't you glad you didn't give your
name? The whole world would know who would waste our time with
impracticalities while his race dies!"

There was a
click as the caller hung up.

"I'm sorry,"
Jak said toward the camera. "I shouldn't lose my temper, but this
is neither the time nor the place for hotshots to try to impress
others with their expertise. This is a deadly serious matter. The
race is in fact dying at this very moment and we need as fast and
usable a method to combat that virus as we can possibly get. We
can't spend time on amusing theories."

The call light
came on again and he was asked about a specialty unit a distributor
called to say he would donate to any who could use them. Jak stood
and went to the board.

"Bil Mitt
Electro Distributors in Klarsted has two thousand Akee SpeedKing
units available to all qualified MW people if they will come to the
east warehouse to pick them up. I've asked the director to find the
schematic for ... ahh, here they are.

"I'm not
familiar with this particular model.... Oh yes. It uses the Punn
driver. It's a good unit. There's a circuit that attaches to the
wave modulator through a monopolar tunnel sequencer here," he
lectured, drawing furiously. "It will increase the load to the
output coils. Cut this line. That much output you don't need. If
the line isn't there there won't be an accident. Resequence the
frequency and add a, mmm, say seventy five thousand ohm pot here
and.... Wait! The unused coil will cause a residual eddy feedback
shunt across.... Say! This is great! It'll automatically moderate
crest-to-trough on the sine peak! It'll be a built-in safety
circuit if you take the cut wire to the third prong of the output
sequencer! It will become an automatic surge protector and will
stabilize the tendency of the focus capacitor to wander if there's
secondary feedback!

"Bil, your
nation should give you 'Hero of the Year' plaques!

"Cut this wire,
tack it off, put the pot here, a diode for a ground here, a twenty
thousand ohm resistor here and it will be the best unit going!
Safest one, anyhow! The sequencer is fully automatically
feedback-controlled so it'll moderate the peaks by itself. Even the
secondary drive control circuits have a safety protector built
in."

"Jak!" a voice
called from off screen. "KlarNat Package and Letter Delivery has
dispatched four trucks to the warehouse and will deliver the units
to qualified persons at no charge. We will direct so call here to
get them."

"You heard,"
Jak said. "Now, any units ... never mind."

He caught
himself before he went off on a tangent and sat at the desk to
answer calls again. An hour later he went back to his room, grabbed
a nap, then cleaned up and had a meal before the next show. Sop
reported they were taping the shows and would show them to who
requested. There would be plenty of available information in the
future. Most of the other countries had downloaded the original
broadcasts and would send him questions their own experts couldn't
answer.

Twenty two days
and counting.

* * *

Sop Lett went
through the lists again, nodded and turned the recorder/secretary
unit off. It was almost completed. He had produced a dictionary of
every word used in the constitution, a glossary of terms and
phrases and an explanation of each and every article in the
constitution, all done in exquisite detail. Nothing was omitted to
the point he knew he would be accused of unnecessary redundancy.
There was never going to be any question whatever of what any word,
phrase, sentence, paragraph, page or entire section of the
constitution meant. He had become engrossed in the difference a
word could have to two different people. He did much of it as he
was writing, dissecting each word individually and defining
precisely what he wrote, demanding a full contextual constance.
Those differences couldn't be brought up later by some clever
lawyer to make a mockery of the constitution.

He then had the
recorder run a copy on the printer, read every word again
discovering where the machine had used the wrong one matching
sounds to sometimes reverse the meaning of a phrase. That was
something one must take great care about with audial-driven
secretaries.

He found only a
few cases, then the document was edited and ready for mass
printing.

No time like
the present!

He checked the
ink gun, the reservoir and the paper, found them restocked (Thanks
to Jak Tall. Amazing how that man found time to do these things!)
and started the printing of a thousand copies. He then went over to
Tekif where he talked with his friends there about points of law as
the average citizen understood them. It was an education beyond
what he ever expected. No schooling could have given him even a
good percentage of what he learned from these people!

"Wahl, Sop,
thet sounds reel good uth all them fancy words, but ut don't mean
nothin'!" Setch Klin argued. "We-all done thot yer sed tha
constitution give us fair, but thet ain't fair'n yer knows ut! Ut's
ther same words what ther pols always done said. Sound good, but
ain't got no what you call content."

"What do you
mean, not fair?" Sop cried. "The law says you will pay the same
penalty for the same criminal act without regard to personal wealth
or your power in the community. The court must look on all persons
the same way. How can that be unfair?"

"Wahl, let's
say fer the nonce thet we'uns wud do tha same kinda crime – say go
onter thother's propity after thother says naught. Say ut's yer 'n
me.