Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition (87 page)

"They
separated," Gore replied, gesturing with a palm up and looking
studiously serious. "We'll each select partners and no one goes
anywhere alone. That alone should make it safe enough. It's
probably a sick attempt at a joke anyhow – or a mood gimmick. Maybe
Mort thinks if we have a good scare we can project fear all the
better. The ass tends to depend on method acting to a truly
ridiculous degree."

"Well, we can try more or less what the empire detective
did," Tab suggested. "It probably would be a good idea if we all
stick together. If it's all been in this one group we don't need to
get anyone else involved. This might actually give me some ideas!
Maybe I'll write a script about it!
Beware!: The Legend of Castle
Drove!
It's
a natural!"

"What do we do
first?" Lae asked, cutting him off before he went off on some kind
of tangent.

"Uh, I guess
we'd better make a list of everyone and be sure we have assigned
partners. Cam and I aren't part of your group, but we'll be
together all the time anyhow," Tab suggested in a conspirational
tone. "Lae and Gore, Sam and Luh?"

"Tar, who are
you with? Make us a list, then I'll go through the notes I have
with me and we'll see what to do next. I know we're supposed to
find out everything anyone knows about the ones who're missing. If
there's a sinister connection between them we'll have a direction
to look. I'll record this exactly as it happens. We can have a
movie written specifically for all the people here. All-star cast!
It's a natural! It'll make a fortune and we can take the yearlies
in all categories for this kind of thing! It can't miss!

"Let's get
busy! Everyone can meet here in one hour. I'll do the detective
thing and Cam will be my assistant. All those detectives in the
books have assistants to do the actual work! I'll script it as it
happens and we can bill it as a documentary slash mystery! It can't
miss! This is the star on all of our charts! It's going to be THE
stage-grabber! One hour! Here! Everybody!"

Everyone
trotted out and Kit shook his head. "Is it a good idea to make some
kind of game out of it?" he asked. "Not that I have any better
ideas. At least it'll get their interest."

While they
waited for the meeting Tab and Kit went through all the rooms on
the main floor and those not occupied on the other two floors. They
used their special sonics and visual amplifiers, but couldn't find
any openings or hidden entrances. When they used their built-in
sonics they found there were spaces behind the walls in places, but
couldn't find any entrances.

"There's one
place we know will have an entrance if there are any," Tab said.
"Kly May's room. Two people disappeared there. If they'd come out
it would have to be in view of the entire public area down here."
He pointed to the door at the top of the second floor landing.

It was time to
meet the group so they postponed the search and went back to the
hall. They were introduced to all the group, then Tab called the
meeting to order.

"We want all
the information any of you may have about anyone who's disappeared
here," Tab began, striking a pose. "The smallest thing could have
the greatest importance. We'll try to add it up properly when we
have everything. I've made a careful study of the way these
detective things are handled and we'll follow the more popular
method where the investigator calls everyone aside and tries to
trip someone up. You've all been in those kind of mysteries so
there's no sense in playing like it's something else.

"So! Onward to
the denouement! Those closest to the, uh, assumed victims will
please report first. Anyone who wasn't personally acquainted with
any of them and who knows nothing about them can try to think of a
bit of gossip or shop rumor. If you can't think of anything, just
say so. This has to be authentic! We can't make the show if it gets
muddled with anyone trying to ad-lib a part for himself because
there won't be any show if we don't solve it and that could mean we
don't. Remember that! It MUST be exactly like it happened. The
little extra bits will have to come later so they don't detract
from the facts. Everyone can have a personal cameo! It can be
written for a specific personality – but, again – this part has to
be EXACTLY authentic!

"We have a list
and will call each of you for talks. If this is one of Mort's
clever ideas we'll be able to show him we aren't so gullible as he
may think. If it's not we sure as hell want to know that!

"If Tar Shat
will draw up a list of names of anyone who has information of any
kind we'll get this project started. Gore Ell can come first. We
know he knew them both."

They selected a
small room with comfortable furnishings just off the meeting hall
for the questionings. It was mostly only a game to the participants
at that time so most were eager to participate. It was a break from
the boredom of the place, too. Each person had chosen someone to
"buddy" with and most would stay in groups of more than two except
at night. Some would stay in large groups at night, too, but Tab
and Kit had no interest in such things.

Gore knew all
four of the missing people and told in endless fine detail all of
the little things he knew. He tended to be an acid gossip, but gave
no information that was more than background. He would stick
carefully to the facts and often stressed that this or that was
something he'd heard from someone else.

All of them
would. They could see that a major movie could come from this.

Lae came next.
She had known Kly and Kral well and Suh to some extent, but wasn't
much help. She tended to demean everyone but herself.

Next came Tar
Shat. He knew little detail about any of them except Kly, Suh and
Jorn had all been his clients so he really hoped it was some kind
of game or joke.

That gave Kit
an idea and he asked who was agent for Lae and Gore. It seemed they
were both clients of Sar Vell.

Kit asked for
Sar Vell next, but he'd gone to his rooms so they took Sam Ketch
and then Luh Stern. Both of them were clients of the agent,
director, producer and general do-it-all showman, Pli Knar, so Tab
decided they would talk to him next, but he was off somewhere –
went to his ship, Tar believed – and would be called as soon as he
came back.

"I doubt it
means too much," Tab said. "It was important mainly if only Tar's
clients ended up disappearing, anyhow. It seems we've got three
agents here and the talent is pretty well spread among them."

They talked to
Let Tou, a director, next. He knew a lot of gossip about everyone
and acted disgusted at the way they put on such airs when it was
well-known half of them were so far in debt they'd never get out
and they were so jealous of one another and this was probably a
stupid publicity stunt because Tar and Vell had the only really
big-paying clients among this group of losers and blah, blah, blah,
blatt. He did add that most of it was things he'd deduced or heard,
BUT the part about the bunch of them being desperate for a success
was damned real!

They were glad
to finally be rid of him.

Ahl Nhat, an
actor, argued he couldn't understand why anyone would do anything
to the actors when it was all the same to them. Everyone here would
get a major role so there wasn't really much jealousy or anything
like that – though he and Gore and Lae and Ahl and the Morn twins
would get the juicy big-money roles. There were plenty of lesser
role to go around that didn't pay so well, but would lead to bigger
things. If certain people would pay a bit more attention to their
jobs, such great talent as Sam and Luh could land the big paying
roles, too.

Kit asked if
that meant their agent wasn't doing his job.

"Let's just say
some people spread themselves a bit thin," Ahl replied. "I think a
producer and director should do whatever the hell producers are
supposed to do and direct and leave the agent business to agents!
Of course, he wouldn't be able to play fun house with so many of
the naive young ... TALent, if you get my drift. He's far more
interested in what happens in the bedroom than what happens in the
cutting room or studio!"

"Why do you
suppose Mort puts up with that?" Kit asked.

"Oh, didn't you
know?" Ahl retorted. "Pli owns a piece of the package of pictures
Mort wants to make. It came down to a matter of letting him direct
and giving him a piece of the project or paying him a ridiculous
price for his interests.

"No one could
understand Pli making such outrageous demands, but the ass's ego is
beyond being believable. If Mort hadn't come across with the deal
on extended royalties and director's pay we wouldn't be anywhere
near this place because the pictures wouldn't be in the works. When
Pli found out his lawyers made a deal where he wouldn't get an
advance that would be almost enough to put this project away in
itself he threw a tantrum that's still echoing around Khronk!

"I thought
you'd know all that scutter if you were around the sets much! Pli's
been trying to con all of us with big parts into dropping our
agents. He says he can get us much better money as director, but
won't do it for some other agent. He set this up here. He knew of
the place from an old story or script he read or something so he
felt this would be the place to soften us up and arranged for us to
all come here.

"I know I told
him ethics demanded I tell him to get the hell out of my face or
I'd be damned if I didn't knock him on his ass!

"How come you
don't know all this?"

"We were in Nortica for the past year on the
'
Legend of
the Snow Monster
' documentary," Kit answered, receiving the information
from T6. "Number two, this method also depends on us asking about a
lot of things we know the answer to. That's how the slip-ups work.
It can be VERY important to note what's NOT mentioned by certain
people, huh?"

He nodded,
raised an eyebrow, shook his head, grinned, looked thoughtful and
nodded again. Tab sent Kit a graphic picture of him with his head
in the shape of what Z called a ham with a sour expression on the
face and Kit hid a grin. Talk about a ham!

Ahl finally
left. Tab lounged back in his chair, raised an eyebrow and looked
thoughtful, then sent instructions to T6, who would enjoy doing
something more than sitting on a pad listening in on all of
this.

"It's all too
possible dear Mort wants to get rid of Knar," Tab sent to Kit (They
would hold these discussions silently to avoid being overheard). I
don't see how it would help with that. It's just possible Ahl's
here to stir up trouble. I want to see that contract and I want to
know about Mort's finances and about Tar's finances and about Sar
Vell's finances and about Pli's.

"Pli may have
made a deal that's a bit too much to swallow for Mort, Tar may be
trying to get into the game a little deeper than someone else feels
is prudent. There's a lot he should've told us about all this if
it's true. He'd have to know about the deals with Pli. See what he
gets if something happens to his clients, T Six. See what any of
them have in insurance policies or guarantees, beneficiaries,
performance clauses and the rest of it.

"Kit, I think
maybe we may be starting to get somewhere."

"Why would Mort
call us in if he's in it?" Kit asked.

"Two things:
because why would Mort etc and we're supposed to have gotten
Khronkhyte operatives, who would be awed by all these big stars,"
Tab said. "It would be a great cover. He would say HE'S the one who
called empire to get help!"

Tar came to the
door with Pli Knar, who was disheveled and had scraps of garbage on
his sleeves and on his shoes. They stopped at the door until Tab
nodded at them.

Tar brought Pli
Knar in and left. Kit and Tab asked Pli some questions about the
people who had disappeared, but refrained from asking him about the
things they really wanted to know until T6 could give them
information to base questions on. He was a very quiet type despite
what Ahl had suggested. He didn't volunteer anything and seemed to
take everything as some kind of joke. When they asked him all they
could in general and he was leaving he stopped at the door and
turned, brushing his sleeves with a rag.

"It's all some
ridiculous publicity stunt, you know," he said. "You two are far
too professional to be a scripter who asks all the wrong questions
about pictures and a set designer who is very obviously incompetent
in that job. I have to work out my own sets and ideas. That's what
I'm doing right now.

"Mort has hired
a couple of detectives so you can make some headline news with
famous stars disappearing. The funding for the rest of the work
will pour in, then our little strays will come trotting in with a
story that they were taking a private little trip – and didn't even
know there was a fuss!

"You should be
actors. Let me know if you want an agent. I'm good and you could
make a lot more PLAYing detectives than BEing them.

"I'll keep my
mouth shut about you. Hell, I stand to make a bank from this
project! I can use the publicity!"

He went on out
and Tab grinned and shook his head.

"I'd say he
ain't our clever culprit!" Kit said. "He doesn't pull his punches
at all, does he?"

"Either
that or he's as good an actor as he says we would be," Tab replied.
"Where the hell is Sar Vell? Surely they've found him by now. I....
Oh, crap!"

The two both
bolted out of the room and went along the hall to find Gore on the
second floor stairs, coming down.

"I was just
coming to tell you," he informed them. "It seems likely that Sar
Vell is our next disappearance! All of us have been looking for him
for over an hour. He's not in the castle and he's not in a ship.
He's disappeared!"