Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition (83 page)

There was a lot
of under-the-table dealing, too. By both of them. They had to set
up a specific set of circumstances, then to act at the right time
and in the right way.

Neep Tide
"happened" to be at a meeting of worldwide investors at the same
time Frah Lore was there. They came face to face and began arguing
about cheap crooks who stole patents. It ended when bystanders
pulled them apart after they started brawling. As they were
forcibly separated Tide swore he wouldn't rest as long as Lore was
alive. Lore screamed back he felt the same and he was going to do
more than threaten.

That scared
those news reporters who had been instigating this trouble, but
they'd gone much too far and couldn't see any way to defuse the
situation now that it had come to direct violence.

Lore claimed an
attempt was made on his life and Tide was almost run down by one of
his own vehicles. Bystanders said the driver looked like Lore, but
Lore said there was no way he would get inside of one of those AGD
garbage death-traps.

Then shots were
fired publicly at each of them. Pencil lasers. Deadly little
things.

Meanwhile the
factories were working at their maximum and the stock market was
up. Almost everyone could afford the cars. Competition was keeping
the price down.

Then Tide
publicly challenged Lore to meet him in space to have it out once
and for all. The police rushed to Lore's private pad to prevent his
leaving, but were seconds too late. There was a spectacular battle
in orbit, from which nothing returned to Klohr. It filled the news
and everyone wondered what would happen to the companies now. Who
would take over?

Then the empire
judge declared them dead and made the wills public.

* * *

Tab leaned back
in the pilot's chair on TR as Kit leaned back in the one on T6.
They were back to their "normal" forms and the ships were linked.
They were orbiting Klohr listening to the reading of the will:

I, Neep Tide,
being in control of all mental facilities, do hereby decree this as
my last will and testament.

Upon the
declaration of my death all assets and properties of which I am
possessed will be accounted. There will at that time be an issuing
of stock in my company, Innovative Concepts.

These assets
will be divided so any one share will be of equal value to any
other share.

There will be
one share issued to each person employed by my company(s) at the
moment of my death.

As is known by
this time, I spent a great deal of time studying through Library. I
have found that most worlds in the Maitan Empire, as well as all
successful worlds of the past, have always made their ways to a
system where the people who worked in a place owned that place. It
is an incentive to succeed that one works for oneself, not for some
damned idiot like me sitting at a desk somewhere doing nothing or
for a lot of `stockholders' who contribute nothing but greed.

I, therefore,
decree that each employee have his one share, and that sufficient
extra shares be issued in the division to ensure the continued
solvency of the company, and to give each employee his own share
after constant employment by the company for two tenthyars.

As the company
progresses and increases its holdings, yearly shares shall be
presented to each person employed by the company. These shares are
to be in the form of percent of profit. The funds for those shares
are to be deposited into an account and are to be paid to the
employee for his certificates, plus interest, at his
retirement.

Should such
funds be needed for an emergency at any time, the employee may
withdraw them by turning in his certificates. In the event of the
death of a person employed by the company the certificates may be
cashed by his heirs.

There was a lot
more, but that was the drift. The object was to give the incentive
of working for oneself. One appreciated the profits of his own
company in addition to the basic salary. One didn't get anything
unless he was an employee of the company. It wasn't socialism nor
welfarism. A person could be retired by fellow employees if he
didn't produce. He could then turn in any certificates he had for
face value and that was that.

The final
clause was an explanation of the will: "I have seen some companies
in my lifetime that, upon the unexpected and/or unexplained death
of an owner were awarded to and individual or collection of
individuals or that were reverted to a board of directors or to
major stockholders. If such a situation exists at my death this
will means the one or one who brought about my demise will profit
nothing. That is my final revenge!

"This is a lot
easier than I thought it would be," Kit said. "We didn't have to
solve anything at all. Just form a plan and go in there and do
it."

"The first one
was supposed to be easy," TR replied. "You two have to get used to
working together."

"It was hardly
more than a drill," T6 agreed. "Keep in mind that you have a lot of
experience to draw on when it comes to a thing like this. It won't
always be that way."

"I have a
question," Kit said. "What was that about murders when we first
started?"

"There were
four people murdered by your big original investors to get control
of the things they had when you got there. In case you didn't know
they were ruined and are being exposed a little at the time now,"
TR answered. "The end of the wills made that part clear. No one was
going to murder you and end up with the company."

"It was an
unusual kind of thing," Kit agreed. "A little offbeat, as Z would
say. I guess we won't get too many like that."

"You should
have known Wahnee!" Tab said. "Now, SHE could come up with the
screwy cases!"

"Well, I think
this goody-goody job is done, and I think maybe it will give the
people a few ideas. It should last," TR said. "I'll be waiting for
you on Perfect Three, T Six!"

TR flashed, and
was gone.

"We'll see
who's waiting for who!" T6 replied as it flashed into TTH mode.

"Waiting for
WHOM," Kit corrected, stretching back in a very organic-looking
way.

Second Case

"Say, Tab," Kit
said. "I just thought of something. That Klohr thing had some
murders in it that we didn't solve!

"I mean, TR
explained it, but we didn't solve them."

"They were
incidental to what we wanted to do," Tab replied. "Their local cops
can solve those kinds of murders. They already know pretty much
where to look. They don't have to investigate much. Everyone knew
about it, really. The important thing was that we got the planet
headed along a path to help them fit into the empire better and to
end the silly personal gain thing. That is never productive in the
long term.

"The killers
don't have the protection they used to have since they're broke, so
they'll be caught now. They're typical greedy, self-serving
types."

"Uh-huh yeah,"
Kit replied. "Us machines never do anything for personal gain."

"Sure we do!"
Tab retorted. "But we don't do it at the expense of innocent
bystanders. Our greed is for other things."

"You both make
me sick!" TR snapped. "All this lovey-dovey goody-goody crap!
You're so pure I could puke! You do what you're designed to do and
they do what their evolution designed them to do.

"I liked Kit
better when he was an obnoxious inventor."

"Now, how would
a machine puke?" Tab asked. "Output static? Maybe that would clear
the brain circuits!"

Kit and Tab had
been baiting TR and T6 all along, of course. They didn't wonder
about their motives in the detective work or about why they were so
truly concerned that a bunch of organic beings not head down a path
of nonproductive infighting and jockeying for class position and
personal wealth.

"Why, TR!" Kit
exclaimed. "How cynical! How come a machine is cynical?"

"Try
realistic!" TR snapped. "Stop talking like Z. You don't make any
sense."

T6 stayed out
of it. It had figured what they were doing and why. Thing, the
Mentan empath, was going to stop in on its way back to EC with
Maita and they wanted to get TR in the mood to play the game. T6
figured that out immediately when it's sensors detected Thing's
floater coming over. The trouble with all the baiting and playing
was the fact Thing was generally so far ahead of all of them it
didn't matter. It would sit on its floater and project a haughty
air of superiority and condescension that was truly infuriating. It
could elevate their reactions with its empathic talents.

"Z always makes
sense to me," Kit said as Thing came into the pilot's dome aboard
TR where the two detectives were standing around. "He has a clever
use of phrase. A different view. It makes perfect sense if you take
it in context."

[ I think there
are some rather serious design flaws in you if Z makes sense! ]

As Thing is an
empath who can't produce sounds Maita built a translator into TR
and T6 and itself and into several of the tug floaters Thing uses
to move about on. It doesn't navigate very efficiently on smooth
surfaces with its tentacles.

Maita uses a
bell tone before and after what it says on the speakers (*) while
Thing uses the middle "C" tuning fork sound ([ – ]) before and
after its speech to keep them separate. Maita, thus Thing, also
used the floater's system to speak, though it could speak through
any of the systems on TR or T6 as easily.

*You're going
to be drawn into something dumb, Thing. I feel it.*

"Why, Maita!"
Tab chided. "How could you say such a thing? Besides, Z isn't here
to defend himself!"

*So I'll tell
him about it! His positions tend to usually be indefensible in any
case!*

[ I'M going to
be drawn into something? ME!? Hellloooo! ]

They were close
friends and used these little jabs and insults as a game. Thing had
an IQ too high for even the machines like Maita to define so
usually won though it was sometimes defeated through illogic. That
was where Z's lack of logic was most useful in their games.

Thing climbed
from the floater onto Tab's shoulder where it wrapped its tentacles
around his head.

[ Why don't you
make Tab furry, Maita? It would be so much more comfortable! ]

"His brain
circuits are already plenty furry," TR snapped back. "Or is that
just fuzzy?"

"Fastcom
message!" T6 suddenly interrupted. "I'll read it out as it comes.
It's from Fortney.

"'T-K Detective
Agency, Perfect Three, code TRD sixty.

"'Go to
Hospital. Emergency. See Feach called Marm reptilian anatomy
section. Protect her. There is something very sinister there. There
has already been a death I feel is murder. That is intolerable on
Hospital.'

"It's signed
Lorlee. I take it Maita knows who Lorlee is?"

*She's taking
over the embassy thing there on Fortney. Come back aboard, Thing.
We'll have to postpone the reunion for now. You can all come to EC
on Medate nine if possible. I'm having a get-together.*

TR and Tab
waited until Thing was off the ship riding on Kit's shoulder. Kit
put it on the floater, then went into T6. TR and T6 rose swiftly
out of the atmosphere and were on their way toward Hospital. They
would arrive in a short time in TTH14 so would use the lapse
between their speed and normal travel time to try to find what was
supposedly wrong there. If the emergency were dangerous and
immediate they would go aground immediately. They could always
claim they were somewhere close when they got the message.

TR and T6
stayed in close shared contact in orbit to try to contact Marm. It
was a very slow process. She didn't seem to want to talk with
anyone so TR contacted Fortney while T6 tried to get from her what
the problem was.

Suddenly T6
ordered, "Let's go in! Now! We should have been told not to try
anything other than direct contact. Calling her was a mistake. It
puts her in grave danger of being murdered herself. Lorlee forgot
to say that in her original message."

"Where is she?"
Tab asked.

"The college of
reptilian anatomy, building R nine, on the first floor if she's on
the fastcom," TR replied. "T Six, keep her at the comset and
talking until the guys are there. Switch to radio. They have a
transceiver there.

"Kit, Tab, get
on the floaters and be ready to go in fast. The flashing light on
the map in the holovid screen is where the room she's using for the
com is located in the building. There are two entrances – there and
there. Tab left, Kit right.

"Get in the
hold to be ready to move out before T Six and I land. Move!"

Tab ran to the
hold where he got aboard the floater waiting there and put up the
velocity protector shields. The port cycled opened after a moment
and he was out at tremendous speed. He saw Kit coming in as he
approached the building. Kit headed toward one entrance as Tab made
for the other. They jumped from the floaters as soon as they were
inside and moving slowly enough. As they raced toward the room
where Marm was using the fastcom unit the few people in the hall
stepped to the side, then turned to stare.

They entered
the com room. Tab stepped to one side and quickly closed the door.
From there, Tab covered the room while Kit went to the windows to
opaque them so nothing would be visible from outside. Marm watched
as the com told her the operatives were there so she could
cooperate with them. She shut the set off and looked at Tab, then
at Kit.

"Did you screw
this up all by yourselves or did Lorlee do it in her own inimitable
way?" she asked. "I hardly think your secret investigation will be
so secret after this!"

"We won't make
excuses," Tab apologized. "It's way too late for that! Tell us what
this fiasco is about."