Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition Read online

  Searcher was built by the Maitans, who designed much of its circuitry much like Maita's. It was built to share.

  The brain of the Tlessarians was built as a war machine and was meant to be a slave-type servo. Its intelligence was purely accidental, as was T6's, but it wasn't designed to build and share. It was designed to destroy.

  All of this should be entered very carefully into Library. Thenceforth, all cultures with the ability to build mechanical intelligences should be required to study it carefully – except for the fact the emperor was a machine, of course. That would be left out.

  It's too bad that many cultures tend to find the way to make machines such as the brain and myself before they're part of the empire and can use Library. It's important developing cultures understand the possible ramifications of what kind of machines they built.

  I think they know the dangers, but perhaps choose to build the machines of war out of fear of their own natures.

  It's a problem I can't solve.

  Flight of the Maita

  Book 20

  Problem on Sentah

  © 1987 & 2012 by C. D. Moulton

  A crime syndicate is going to move into the vacation worlds? I really don’t think so! Kit is introduced.

  Critic comment

  Moulton has captured the contrast of ways different types of beings might act in a situation that is more moral than legal. The is some raucous humor, plus a more serious side, and a definite moral theme. I first believed the use of asterisks and brackets would detract from the work, but find I’m leaning toward very much appreciating the device. – KL Rate: ****

  Contents

  Moving On with T6

  Honesty is the Best Policy

  Place Your Bet, Take Your Chances

  Games People Play

  Deadly Adversary

  Concentrate on Jornians

  Captured!

  Lion

  Business Meeting

  Following the Trail

  Bad Scene!

  The Net Closes In

  Deeper and Deeper

  Dropping In

  A Few Answers

  The History of the Deal

  Moodad

  Problem On Sentah

  Moving On with T6

  It hadn't been a pleasant time.

  Tab and TR, the mechanical being built by Maita, (Emperor of the Maitan Galactic Empire And another machine, but only a few of us know that), was on some world called Flimt working on a special assignment to see about getting rid of some weird things happening there.

  Thing, my Mentan friend, a small roundish empath with four tentacles in lieu of arms and legs and eyes on stalks, along with myself, Z (Steve Zutec of Earth), had come on Maita to Inkta to be with Rimalt. He was dying and refused to take life extension, though he did take some treatments some years ago. He had done some very good work for the empire as well as for my home planet.

  I'm pretty sure Tab will write a book about his own experiences (Book nineteen: Machine Made) as soon as he's sure everything's handled and settled. He likes to write about his part in these little adventures the same as I do.

  If you've read any of his books you've probably noted he likes to write in first person. I generally write my stuff as though I'm an observer (third person), saying "Z said," or "He went into the next room," instead of "I said," etc. Tab says he takes a lot of his style from me, but he really takes it from the books I brought from Earth. He's read all those Nero Wolfe and CD Grimes things.

  Rimalt was a professor on University for some years (Which shows the man's actual brilliance. Barely one professor in ten thousand was even considered for a post at University) and had, quite by accident, become owner of record of an intelligent ship, T6 – or just Ship. The ship became sentient by accident when it was overhauled about sixty years past and, considering Rimalt was its closest friend and partner, it would experience a traumatic separation when Rimalt died. Maita wanted to be there as another machine who had gone through the same thing several times.

  T6 would probably now join our permanent crew.

  I took the extension treatments and will continue to do so, as will Thing. The machines are immortal, for all practical reasons, anyhow. We should remain together for a long time and will probably have a few experiences together on the order of those we've experienced with the several combinations of "The Emperor's Crew" in the past.

  Maita speaks to us through speakers in all parts of itself, as well as through a number of other devices. It was designed and built to be a spaceship, and is a damned good one. The emperor thing was more or less thrust on it (It was also designed to "run things" and to handle the bureaucratic garbage by the Maitans).

  We have a system for the differences in Maita's speech and Thing's, which uses the same speakers. Thing is an empath who has no ability to speak directly so Maita translates for it. It rides around on one of us or on a floater most of the time because its tentacles aren't designed for moving around in a smooth spaceship or other smooth surfaces.

  Maita uses a bell tone ( *–* ) before and after its speeches and a somewhat lower tonal range than Thing's. Thing has a middle C tuning fork sound ( [ – ] ) before and after its speech. Neither of them originally had any particular inflection. Everything they say is in one long paragraph. We're all used to it now. We listen to the words instead of the intonation, though they now use a lot of inflection.

  Maita started using a few contractions over the years because I use them, so Thing quite naturally – Maita IS translating its thoughts – uses the same ones.

  Thing was with me on T6 after the funeral, when Maita called to say Tab had come up with a case for us.

  Tab is designed to be a detective, but Thing and I do some of his work for him whenever he's too busy (I lie! We did it ONCE before!). Maita said this was a good case to take T6 on, because it would mostly be up to Thing and me, allowing them to spend the time working on programs and learning about each other.

  *It will work out well. We can decide what we want to do while you two solve this case for us.*

  [ What's the case about? ]

  *Organized crime syndicate, apparently. The VWPA caught the smaller members, who are all in jail. They haven't found the real leaders, though, and they are having one of their agents hide out on Flimt. That's how Tab found out about it. Tab left some hints about how to proceed.*

  "How's Tab doing?" I asked. "You seemed awfully nervous when he took off."

  *I am still nervous. I think TR is lying to me, but they say they are handling it.*

  [ Lying? TR? To you? I can't picture TR lying to you. ]

  *It makes me worry there may be Immins out there.*

  "No way! That's one thing I'm very sure of! There are no Immins out there. The Eacherons and those people wouldn't put up with their crap for one picosecond!"

  The Immins were a race we fought for three hundred plus years. They were finally quarantined on their home planet, Orta, where they quickly proceeded to annihilate themselves with nuclear wars.

  [ Has he called the Acnians? Rollo? ]

  "Is Rollo still alive?"

  *Rollo is quite old. His son is now head of the fleet. Tab hasn't called anyone. Why?*

  [ Because if there were Immins Tab would have called in the Acnians and we would know about it. TR's stubborn, but it's not stupid. ]

  "Maita likes playing mother hen. If Tab gets into trouble he'll yell for help. Like Thing says, they ain't stupid.

  "Where is this case?"

  *Somewhere you know very well. Sentah.*

  [ Do you want to stay here awhile, T Six? ]

  "No," T6 replied (through the same speakers. TR, Maita, Thing, and now T6, all used the same speakers. On the floaters or in the ships it would be the same. T6 would be identified by tone of carriage, though it would speak in the pattern of the Inktans, so would differentiate tones and thoughts. TR and Tab had the same way of speaking, and sounded like normal people). "It would be foolish to stay here. I'm ready
to go. You can ride in me or go to Maita. It will be a slow trip to what you're used to. I only have TTH four."

  *I'll install TTH fourteen while these two are screwing around on Sentah. We can get that done and I'll program how to use it into your computers. It all has to be pre-figured.There aren’t and never will be any beacons in fourteen.*

  [ We might as well get started. You can chat all you want in TTH four. ]

  "Only on fastcom. Let's go!"

  Honesty is the Best Policy

  Sentah was in the original "Pirate Worlds" group and was now a vacation planet, along with other pirate worlds such as Netdel, Tltle, Bypass, and Frim. It was beautifully landscaped. The buildings were so perfectly designed they looked almost as though they were natural features.

  There was never any question anywhere that these worlds were tremendously expensive. The casinos were very high-stakes and all was run to the rules of the empire. No one was allowed to gamble for higher stakes than he could afford. All was determined before the chits were approved. A limit was set when the person first came aground. They weren't permitted to extend what was set at that time.

  The peoples of the worlds were shown from the first that they must police the games very carefully. If they ever got a negative reputation, however slight, of unfair or illegal practices, they were through. Not only would the empire close them down, but their patrons would probably do it first.

  The empire and everything in it are run on the idea of honesty being the best policy. Considering the fact the empire is galaxy-wide and new worlds are constantly petitioning to join, I have to say it really IS!

  [ After all, why should anyone in their right mind try to steal from people who come for the express purpose of GIVING you more than you could possibly gain through theft? ] was a quote from Thing that was drummed into all employees of all casinos. That was done since the first day we started the idea of making those worlds – back when there was no Maitan Empire (Book three: Pirates). That was more than three hundred years ago.

  Thing would never understand why these things kept coming up. It had no doubt whatever that the perpetrators of these criminal activities would prove to be people who already had more than anyone could use in their lifetimes. They always seemed to be the most greedy people in every civilization that had such criminals. Many didn't.

  Z was a bit cynical from the very first, saying these things would always end up crooked by the very nature of the idea: Get rich quick. Something for nothing. Those kinds of people invited criminal activity.

  Z liked to gamble on some things for the excitement, but never for very much. He liked to win, but wasn't obsessed or compulsive about it. He learned over the years that chance was designed to be against the player in any of the games, but also admitted the odds were posted in all games and everyone knew full well what could and probably would happen. The fact that Maita or TR or, now, T6 would make him perfectly good chits for as many billion credits as asked for – and he had no real use for any of them – made Z even more cynical. Still, he liked one or two of the games. Good old-fashioned craps, almost identical to that game on Earth, and betting on various athletic exhibitions. He also enjoyed playing a game much like poker and one not unlike roulette. It was fun to win, even if the money meant nothing, though he had to admit some of the fun was gone when it wasn't the last twenty credits he had he was betting.

  Thing didn't particularly enjoy the games, as it had unlimited abilities to calculate, so almost always won on certain games. It preferred games like Stars and Comets where it must determine a strategy and figure as many as a hundred moves ahead, along with variations. Its abilities made it win even over machines such as Maita most of the time. Z could sometimes win by making odd moves totally lacking in logic, thus rendering Thing's strategy useless.

  Maita would let Thing and Z go aground in T6, where they would be expected to work out their own methods. Maita would enter into the investigations and such when and if asked. Z would be the one who could relate to this sort of situation. Thing could and would be invaluable as a calculating tool, and could add much to their act. Maita would stay out of sight. There was no way to disguise a platinum-plated ship sixty meters across.

  T6 was unknown, but would merely deliver Thing and Z while staying in contact with Maita. When the time was right it would join Maita in space, where they could begin a complicated process of installing the many things T6 would need as a member of the permanent crew.

  This was to be great therapy for T6, as it would learn quickly how truly needed it really was. That it was a welcome addition to the crew was obvious and real.

  Thing and Z came aboard T6 and headed toward grounding. They would take pad nineteen and would use the planet's transportation system while on the vacation world. They decided to pose as a wealthy vacationer and its exotic pet. The Mentans were as much as unknown anymore, though it was possible the fact Thing was in on the establishment of these worlds would be known to the natives – and there were statues of it in the casinos.

  In that case, Z could grin and shrug. There was no law against a Mentan being in on the games. It was a part of the facts of business the casinos would lose from time to time – and the two planned to win. Very big. The fastest way to get attention in these places was to win.

  They would appear and the empire machines would give them a credit limit of more than a billion credits, which would make Z – or With, as he was to be called – one of the wealthiest people in the empire. He would then win large sums. That would definitely attract the attention of local criminal elements. They would then await developments.

  They would have to sort through the many schemes people would come to them with to find the real leaders they would be looking for. The "get rich on some nutzo scheme" types were common around the casino worlds.

  Z took the cards T6 gave him with the description of one Tar With Fethrz, a name Z chose. He seemed to have some joke about the name, but Thing and Maita were used to his little jokes.

  Tab used the names Nogud Thugg and Major Fatt Butt in two of his disguises, but didn't know why Z got such a kick out of it. Z also used names, such as Cash R. Chekk, as a businessman on one world, and Dirr Tee Sleezbahg on another. As he was disguised as an Immin at the time (the one time. He objected strongly to being identified in any way whatever with Immins) he explained that one to Thing, who found it fitting.

  Thing printed out an IDcard that listed it as Tec, a Mentan. There would be no attempt at subterfuge, so no one could later cry about it. If they found some crooks who wanted to play mental games, it was their own fault if they didn't know about Mentans. If they chose not to advertise and educate the public, that was one of life's nasty breaks.

  Thing would be great at playing Z's favorite, poker, because it could tell who had what kind of hand by the empathic talent. It could figure the strategies behind the higher stakes games better than any person or machine in the galaxy, so far as was known, but only a few knew that, either.

  They registered into the Hot Number Hotel and Casino at Port City, taking the best suite available – which was the best in the place. Very few could afford it. Z bought half a million credits in chits to carry around and was issued an unlimited disbursement card. That would very soon reach the ears of the crooks!

  Thing had its personal floater to ride and to use for communication. They decided that, as there were holo pictures and a statue of Thing in the lobby, it wouldn't serve any purpose to pretend to be a pet. As one Mentan looked virtually identical to any other (Except to another Mentan or being with extended vision), the pictures wouldn't actually identify Thing. It also freed Thing to get into some games, itself, with the right people. It took a half million credits and was issued the unlimited dispersal card.

  They had very little to work with. They read the total known about the crime syndicate, which was mostly that there definitely was such a thing operating in the area, but no one knew any of the bigshots.

  They found a number of lesser
members of the group, but had no idea of who was really behind it. People who got too close had a habit of disappearing or of having accidents. The top people were in a position to protect themselves fairly well, but you can't protect yourself against investigators working directly for the emperor – especially if you have no idea they're investigators.

  The probes couldn't be used on the criminals caught. None of their crimes (For which they had been charged) were capital. They could refuse unless or until they were convicted of a capital crime.

  They knew one member of the VWPA, a sort of undercover cop, said this hotel was definitely one of those where a lot of the events occurred. The Vacation Worlds Police Agency couldn't make any progress beyond the most peripheral people. These types knew a lot about protecting their own rear ends. Z knew the reason for that in all the old movies was generally because there were cops on the take. He didn't really think that was the case here, but there had to be some officials somewhere who were in on it. It was his idea one of the commissioners of police, or several of them, as there were six on each planet, could simply misdirect the investigations. No possibility was too vague in these cases because, while the people themselves weren't dishonest, there are some very strange things among various societies that can be used in blackmail. Tab had found some of those things in his cases. It would mean studying the backgrounds of the commissioners very carefully – not as to things they had done, but as to the kinds of things that could be used against them in their own societies.

  Thing called up all the information the machines on Sentah had on the commissioners. It would be much easier at this point to eliminate whoever they could and to lower the number they would have to concentrate on.