Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition (85 page)

"We'll get any
that are still in the freezer and bring them back here to test for
the stuff," Kit suggested. "Tab can come after Marm and meet me in
whatever lab she likes."

There was a
pause, then T6 sent, "Lab three. It's not in use and is interior so
you can see she isn't disturbed."

Kit nodded and
they went out.

The murder
would have never been proved if the reason for Klen's death weren't
suspected. They found the hormone suppressor compound in all of the
ices in the freezer. Marm explained she liked ices before retiring,
too. They cooled her system and made her drowzy – a common effect
among reptilians.

Kit
asked if she ate any the night before and she said she hadn't, then
stared hard, putting her hand to her throat. Tab wouldn't have
believed that a "nine foot Tyrannosaurus rex," as Z described the
Feach, could look scared, but this one did.

Kit went back
to her rooms and brought back the ices from her freezer, but had
already told Tab through the link no one except Marm had used a key
to get into her room because she had never let the card out of the
pouch she wore around her neck, but there was a peg in Klen's
office to hang the carry pouch on when he was working in the
labs.

Tab grinned at
Kit as he took Marm out to return her to T6 and sent that he knew
at least one of the murderer's name. When Tab came back Kit met him
in Klen's office.

"Okay, I've
accessed the computer, then the lock reader," Kit said. "There has
to be an easier way to read those locks. I have to wait for it to
cross-reference everyone in this whole part of Hospital.

"It could've
been done anytime in the, say, three days before he actually ate
the ice so I see where it could've been any of six or seven of
them."

"No. Consider
that Klen faced them with his evidence yesterday and is dead
today," Tab pointed out. "He ate an ice every night and all of them
had the poison. Further, it was past midday when he told Marm he
was GOING to face them. Our killer had to go into the lab for the
key to the office, the office for the key to the apartment, to the
apartment to change the ices, then return to the office with the
key to the apartment, then return the office key to the lab. That
meant he took the office key with him so he could return the
apartment key. He then took the office key back to the lab but if
you check the timing Klen returned to the office about then,
meaning our murderer shoved the office key into a pocket or
something – no pocket. They don't wear clothing – and we'll find it
in or near the lab, I suppose. Either that or hidden somewhere in
between the office and our killer's rooms.

"Klen would
assume the key was going to be placed back in the lab on finding
our killer in the office. Klen was trusting and was probably told
the equipment would be returned and blah, blah, blah. Teachers are
always too trusting, which is fine with the students, but these
aren't students.

"What do you
think?"

"I think you've
stripped a gear or something," Kit said. "The key was generally
kept in the lab on a hook and it wasn't there. Marm looked for it.
The key to his apart ... great exploding galaxies! Klen met his
killer there in his own apartment!"

"You're both
goofy if you ask me," TR sent. "You're supposed to be detectives.
Find the keys."

"How do you
suggest we do that?" Kit asked.

"They're
electronic keys," T6 sent. "Do I have to give you a course in
locating things that sit around broadcasting their presence?

"What
difference do keys make? You still know it had to be Klarsed."

"I want her on
the probe," Tab explained. "I therefore have to be able to prove to
a judge it was murder of a capital type. To do that I have to show
it couldn't have been anyone else. I have to prove it was
premeditated and vicious and I have to leave no reasonable doubt
about the identity of the killer. I shouldn't have to tell you
that!"

"You're a
machine," T6 sent back. "You're an incorruptible witness. Lie."

"And face
Maita?" TR sent. "Surely you jest!

"You know the
locks’ patterns from entering the rooms so find the damned keys. If
they're in any of the places outside of the general path taken by
other than Morkeltics you'll have your proof, but you won't get
capital because there may be some doubt. Klarsed will claim fear.
It's all circumstantial."

"Will this fit
conspiracy?" Kit asked. "Z used that on Sentah. It would seem to
fit here. There are definitely a bunch of them in on something like
this."

"We'll have to
go to Morkeltic," Tab decided. "We may be able to work that angle,
but I doubt it. This is bigger than a bunch of gangsters. I'm not
sure exactly how big it is."

"Come on and
I'll take you to Morkeltic, Tab," TR sent. "Kit will take Marm to
Feach until this is over. You can probably show conspiracy if
there's some government complicity. I think there will be. I think
I've figured a lot of this already."

"Why not just
build specialized robots to mine the psiltripium?" Kit asked. "Why
go to this kind of trouble? They should realize Maita won't allow
this sort of thing."

"Cultural
differences," T6 replied. "It's the way they've always done things.
They use their own people. They're egg layers and don't have the
same kind of moral outlook as livebearers. Maita would never allow
them to do that sort of thing with intelligent peoples or even with
most lower animals. Only the insectoids could hope to get away with
it because that's their evolutionary background. They'll change
everything about the individual to fit them to a specific task, not
just a few muscles to make them into freaks."

Tab boarded TR
after they decided Kit would stay on Hospital to locate the keys.
If those keys were found hidden in an area frequented by the
Morkeltics and not the doctor or others with access they could move
against Klarsed. The fact she was the only one on the lock
identifier except for Klen on the afternoon when the poison was
placed meant nothing as someone else could have entered while the
door was opened without being registered. Only the one actually
using the key was registered and at that time everyone else was
accounted for, but it was still circumstantial.

Had the key
been returned to the peg in the lab it wouldn't have carried any
weight but if it were secreted within those described areas it was
very strong. The judge worked on logic and evidence along with all
reason for doubt going to the accused in consideration. Take away
one little point, the location of the evidence, and the doubt was
almost gone.

While Kit was
finding the keys together in a space behind a gincha dispenser in
the Morkeltic dorms and arresting Klarsed, Tab was searching for
the lab where the genetic engineering was taking place. He had to
locate where the ships unloaded the equipment, who had picked it up
and where they were supposed to be taking it. It didn't take too
long as they never expected to be caught. They never expected to
even be under suspicion. They were careful to not take much of the
stuff at any one time. It was basically their bad luck Marm took
her job so seriously and noted those missing items over a period of
time.

The labs were
being prepared, but hadn't started work and were simply ordered
shut down. It was a scheme by only a few crooked politicians who
wanted to get rich quick with the psiltripium, which couldn't be
mined by robots profitably. The mass of the people of Morkeltic
knew nothing about the scheme and would be allowed to handle legal
prosecutions of those responsible through their court system. The
empire wouldn't be brought into it and there would be no
unauthorized experiments.

The saving concept, as far as the Morkeltics were
concerned, was they honestly intended to colonize the heavy planet
the people were being designed to work on. If they could show Maita
it could be done without causing more pain and problems than was
planned, if they were truly going to produce a race who were fitted
for the world they were to inhabit, the empire might actually allow
it. If the people were designed specifically for that world it
wasn't too much different from Maita designing various of the
robots for a specific set of purposes. Tab had Vood to prove such a
thing could very well work and that a very useful people could
result – and a happy people. (
Male Progeny Six: Heku
and
Heku
)

Moral and
ethical questions weren't something he wanted to get involved in.
Let Z and Thing present the arguments. They were organics and could
understand the implications.

Tab returned to
Hospital to find that Kit had found the keys and arrested Klarsed.
The information hadn't been fastcommed at the time because Tab
didn't need the information to make his point.

Klarsed was
convicted of murder, but not capital murder so they were blocked
from using the probe on her. The evidence did, however, mean that
all the Morkeltics employed in that section of Hospital were sent
back to their home planet and that no more of that race would be
working at Hospital for quite some time.

Marm was safe
now so she took over the work of Klen while Tab and Kit took TR and
T6 back to Perfect 3.

Not all the
cases turn out the way you'd prefer. Klarsed was hardly more than
an easy scapegoat, though she had committed a murder. Everyone else
in the scheme escaped without any penalty except for three
politicians on Morkeltic.

"It doesn't
seem quite right," Kit said. "I'm not so sure I like the detective
business very much. I don't feel we actually accomplished anything.
Maita might even permit them to do precisely what they planned to
do in the first place!"

"And Klarsed
takes the fall for the murder she was one sixth of," Tab agreed.
"You'll get used to it. We know who all of them are and they'll be
watched."

"But I think
that's taking this probe law thing too far!" Kit replied. "We had
them! One probe and it would be proved!"

*And next time
it would be so much easier to demand use of the probe. If it was
again proved you were right, the next time would be easier yet and
soon no one would have any rights. It would be abused within a year
and would become a tyranny of the mind in two. These things follow
a set pattern.*

[ As you say,
we know who to watch. Z says it's better to let ten guilty go free
than to convict one innocent person. It would get to that point and
you know it. I tend to agree with him. ]

*Do you know
today's date?*

"Oh, yes! It's
Medate eight!" Tab answered. "We'll be there tomorrow!"

"If we don't
have another case," Kit said. "Next one, we'll tie down so even the
empire can't do this to us!"

"We started
very slowly," T6 said. "We learned how to work together. It may be
you'll get a lot of cases that seem to be inconsistent with reason,
but I suppose you can't win 'em all!"

"Oh, come on
now!" TR interjected. "You caught the murderer, you prevented at
least one more killing, you stopped a whole world from becoming
involved in a thing that would cause unimaginable damage to them in
time. So you weren't able to get each and every one who was
involved! These things DO balance, you know!"

[ Get Tab to
tell you about Vood, Kit. I will possibly agree if Maita wants to
oversee the genetic engineering of the race to go to that planet if
it will be done as carefully as Vood was. There are those
considerations. ]

*It will be
done scientifically or not at all. Tab will tell you those Voodian
people are truly happy. Evolution will very seldom match people so
perfectly to an environment. Tomorrow Z will be three hundred Earth
years old – give or take a couple. He's working on his orchids so
you can get there and through the transmat without him knowing
anything about it until he comes in from the mountain. I have that
Zeenan girl who stayed with him for a time and some others who have
worked with us from time to time. Also, there is Kwarn and....*

"For crying out
loud, Maita!" Kit cried. "I'm in a deep moral dilemma about what
we've done here and you're planning a birthday party?"

[ Maita, if
you've made another machine with all those same stupid morals you
have I'll find some way to short you out! ]

"Why Thing!"
Tab said, shocked. "You know very well we're all very moral! I
don't know how you can act like this concerning such a serious
question! Kit's right. Five of those Morkeltics got away with
murder and now Maita wants to let them go ahead and do what they
were planning all along! Worse! You agree!"

[ You're both
glitched! Me? Agree to an immoral experiment? You're burned out!
Totally and completely! ]

Kit sent over
the internal com that it was working. They'd really get the best of
Thing this time!

Oh? Really?

Third Case

"They were like
a bunch of little kids!" Kit said, speaking of Z's three hundredth
(More or less) birthday. "When Thing dropped out of that fern tree
onto Z's head I thought Z would have heart failure! Are they always
like that?"

"Sure," Tab
replied. "They had the whole island there where they could play
tricks on each other. You should see us when we're all on one ship!
It's pretty much the same. Didn't you enjoy it?"

"I've never had
so much fun in my whole life!" Kit replied. "Until this party I
wasn't really sure what the term 'fun' meant, but I know now! I
really got involved in thinking up childish tricks to pull."

"Your whole
life?" Tab said. "You aren't even a year old yet!"

"Yeah," Kit
shot back. "I hope I don't burn out too soon."

"You two clowns
can pull the plug on that," T6 said. "I took the liberty of
accepting a little job. More in the line of what Kit's looking for,
I think. It's on some weird planet that's used for meetings and
such and by people who like constant violent weather. Place called
Drove."