Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition Page 43

  "The judiciary shall make all laws conform to the things set forth in this document. It shall have no right – no right NOR authority – to interpret this document under any circumstances. Only the combination of both houses with a referendum by the public may change one single word of this document.

  "Z made that a very strong point. Make the thing extremely difficult to change in any way. That's another reason it must be clear from the first in its wording. Make it easier to change the laws themselves than to change the document.

  "Maybe I should put something in about letting the public have a chance to change it before it is adopted – no! They can do that the way it is now.

  "I had best get ready to meet with Far."

  He put the recorder away and prepared himself for the dinner appointment, then went to the restaurant.

  Far was just coming in. They went to the table together to find some woman there with Korr. Nobody said anything about dates! This was supposed to be a work session! What were all those papers and charts? What the hell was he here for? He thought this was to be a discussion of the constitution!

  Oh great gods! Not a reporter! I cannot take that! There is a time for everything and this is not the right one for much of anything! Just nod and walk out as soon as the questions start.

  She didn't look like any reporter he had seen before and he had seen most of them. She did seem familiar.

  They sat and were introduced around. She was a research scientist who had discovered some disease or other.

  What is this? A rampant plague? In this day and age? Ridiculous! These academicians! Letting someone waste my time with such foolishness when the whole damned world is falling apart!

  Kill off the entire race? Who is this silly broad?

  Sop picked up a chart and read something about the incubation and spread times. Carriers?

  My gods! If there is a real basis for this thing it is already spreading exponentially! For the first time she had all their attention. It wouldn't hurt to listen if only to show her how she was being hysterical and wasting their time.

  Soon they were all convinced. Mi Yinn was a fully qualified scientist. This was deadly serious. The entire race could be wiped from existence.

  Sop mentioned the constitution when they said something about quarantine, but began to think. The alien, Z, said nothing about anything like this. Better see that someone can be in charge of health matters in any dire emergency such as this and hope it is never needed.

  He took out his portable recorder and quietly dictated, "There shall be a national health officer chosen by the executive branch and approved by the legislature in joint session whereby, should a health situation arise that truly and undeniably threatens the security or existence of the nation the health officer shall have the power to suspend ... name the clauses and rights."

  He put the recorder away and rejoined the discussion, soon agreeing to find a way to get as many as twenty thousand health professionals to the Mekos Islands.

  *

  "I have to pull this off," Enn Far said to himself as he hung up after the invitation to the popular historian. "I have to get out from under this mess. I'm not equipped to handle this much pressure. My decisions can affect the entire world. If Korr can be manipulated into a position where he's elected chairman of the council in a halfyear I can have an hour or two to myself now and then. I guess there's no actual hope I won't be elected to the council, but not as chairman. Please!"

  Sop will be the best man on the entire planet to come up with a constitution. It's a sign of the sharpness of my mind I thought of him before the aliens left and arranged for him to spend the time learning from them. If that sharpness would just have stayed!

  It's the pressure, the tension. Some people are not fit for rule and this is certainly a case of that!

  Far spent the afternoon preparing to question Korr along with Sop to get his input now and have some of his words a part of the constitution. That would assure his election as first council chairman. He was a good speaker and had a good presence. Korr was also quite handsome in person so he would get some of the vote, sad as it was, for that reason alone. He was easily the most knowledgeable person around, too. He may specialize in ancient history, but there simply wasn't a subject he had NO knowledge whatever about. He was the best man for the job. He had the intelligence and the basic knowledge as well as the more necessary communication skills to save this nation. He could pull the people out of this chaos if anyone could. That constitution was probably the most important single facet of this whole thing. It mustn't only say how the nation was to be structured and governed it must say it well and greatly. It must inspire by the poetry of the expression. The simplest things must be said in a way that would lend them importance.

  Sop Lett could do that. He could rise above himself as he had before. He seemed the worst kind of pedant when you were talking to him sometimes, but he was really quite brilliant. If there's something to be written no one could do better than Sop Lett!

  It was time to get ready. Tongue on tooth for luck!

  He arrived to meet Sop as he was entering so they went in together to find that famous health researcher there. She had charts and notes all over the place.

  Damn! Get rid of her, but do it diplomatically.

  They were introduced and sat to be appraised of the fact there was a plague rampant that could well decimate Kroon's entire population! Enn didn't for one second doubt the reality of all this. Mi Yinn was too careful about what she said and did and certainly was the most brilliant scientist in the health field. There were none better. Enn forgot about the council and the constitution. His duty and his job now was to resolve this thing. Education was the key, but research must be abandoned in all other areas where the scientist could be vaguely useful on this thing.

  Aliens, where are you when we need you? They said they have a ship that does nothing but travel the area of their empire aiding any peoples anywhere who need the great medical expertise they carry. If anyone in the empire – or as they were, out of it – needed help in a medical emergency it was Kroon and they needed that help NOW!

  It wouldn't come. They had no way to contact the empire.

  "We'll do these things exactly as proposed," Enn instructed. "Research will be both intense and unidirectional. The Mekos Islands will be prepared at once – all of them. I also propose we send the long short long long short short signals into space, both through radio and wide spectrum light transmissions. We can hope the empire will intercept the call for help, but it would be foolish to count on it. I know the aliens who were here would help without pause or question, but it's highly unlikely we'll be able to contact them.

  "As acting council chairman I hereby appoint Mi Yinn national health officer and Hal Korr public contact officer for her and Sop Lett as coordinator of health effort. I admit I had a very different idea when I called Sop and Hal together here, but my schemes would be pointless if this problem isn't solved. We could all be dead and our race extinct before it bore much fruit.

  "Hal, you can help with the historical things in the constitution to whatever extent won't interfere with the health matters.

  "Sop, you adjust your schedule to aid Mi as much as possible, but please continue with the constitution, also.

  "Mi, move the sun and stars if you must, but get this plague under control.

  "Perhaps it's most important first to buy some time. Do whatever you must. Your funds aren't limited. My time is yours. I'll leave instructions that anytime any of you three wish to contact me it takes precedence over anything else. Even ... anything. You three have unlimited access to me or to anything this government can supply to you.

  "Mi, you're going to learn what it means to hold power. From this moment forward until there is resolution of this you're in full charge of this nation. Your power there isn't limited.

  "I know a little something about these viruses. I studied biology and have finished two years premedical university study. I also kn
ow I'm not reacting too strongly to this threat. I pray to whatever gods may exist we're being fools and that there IS no problem.

  "That prayer is already answered. That answer's a flat 'No!' I've never known such a feeling of impending doom. It's a dark terror that can but increase as the danger of this sinks in. Believe me there's no exaggeration here. The fate of this world and all its people hangs by the web of an eightlegs webber. I desperately hope we can spin enough of an auxiliary web to keep it from breaking. Understand, these figures are only about the cases of this disease that are known. I have the sick feeling we know of only a small percentage of them. We have to choose, NOW, a direction and we have to move. There's no compass. We cannot pause to seek clues, but must move RIGHT AT THIS MOMENT! Our only choice is to move in as many directions at once as we possibly can."

  They looked at him in shock except for Mi. She knew his words were spontaneous and real and that he wasn't attempting to sound statesmanlike. He WAS a statesman!

  They'd better understand how real this thing is!

  Starting the Plan

  * *

  Mi Yinn rechecked the list of things that would be needed on the island if the labs were to be of even minimal use. It would be thirty six days before the first of the buildings were ready for occupancy, but her list of scientists grew daily. She perfected the antibody isolation technique so could determine with great accuracy which of the many people who volunteered to come had been exposed to this horror. The antibodies seemed to appear within ten to twelve days of exposure so it wasn't so long a bad time as she feared at first for the isolation term. The necessary separation from family and friends was only one of the major hardships these dedicated people would be asked to endure. That they weren't deterred by it showed that SOME of the race were well worth saving!

  As far as she could tell the antibodies could be identified in a maximum of twenty two days after exposure so the primary quarantine was already in effect for those people she'd selected thus far. They would be placed into positions where there would be no direct contact with anyone for the necessary period. These were professional people who made no objections whatever to what they understood as absolute necessity. Contamination of the people working on the cure would serve all badly. There were those times when one must take unpleasant duties and this was such a time.

  Mi was amazed at how readily they agreed to this, but it was a thing wherein professionals could see the degree of devastation hanging over the Kroon race. Dedicated people were prepared for sacrifice of personal comforts. Mi couldn't fault any of them for their actions. She was proud to be a member of such a group.

  Enn had told her they were broadcasting the "help desperately needed" signals in both radio and light beams in hopes an empire trader might see them. That would solve everything, but she had no illusions. As willing as the aliens would be to offer aid Kroon wasn't going to get their attention through such means as they had at their disposal. That was an exercise in futility, but NOTHING could be overlooked. No chance was too small to take in this situation. One chance in a billion was still one chance in a billion.

  There was also one other thing: No one on the Mekos Islands would be exposed to the virus so the disease could be kept out. There would be enough so the race would survive even if nothing could be found to stop infection of the rest of the population. There would surely be other pockets of survivors. The problem would be to ensure a viable minimum number which would have to include the most diverse genetic backgrounds possible on those islands. It may be the only diversified gene pool left when the plague was over.

  People would be needed to grow food and to handle such things as general maintenance, transportation, utilities.... Discuss this with Enn and Hal. The scientists would understand that any of the people surviving on those islands with inheritable illnesses mustn't be allowed to breed. Few scientist who are aware of such would in any case – so choose other than the scientific members with the very greatest of care. If there's no problem brought to the islands there won't be any problem there. That's simple logic.

  So now I get to play god. We get rid of Soolinn and the Cult of Pineestees and I take their place. I hate this! This shouldn't be a thing placed on the head of any single person, but all a group would do is argue endlessly. There would be no hope under such a system that anything could be accomplished in time. Half the things I'm forced to do here, I hate. More than half!

  The list must be divided, but we can use the base computers to determine how many for each job. It's lucky the Mekos Islands are of volcanic origin and the soil is capable of producing all the foodstuffs we'll ever need there. That plus the tremendous richness and variety of foods from the surrounding oceans should guarantee they would be reasonably independent.

  Make a list of the most efficient food crops.

  Another damned list! All I do is make lists while each new one suggests yet another. Our greatest need will be bringing paper to make these interminable lists if this continues!

  We're going to need power, but we're fortunate the islands are almost tropical in climate so much heating of the facilities and buildings won't be a great problem. The islands we'll use will have altitudes of up to two thousand meters with plenty of water, food production land, the ocean. There should be method and means enough.

  Power from light? We could put solar cells on the mountaintops. The computers and equipment draw very little power. We'll cook with the more efficient microwaves. Put the lab and dwellings close to the mountain so heating or even cooling won't be needed.

  Is that a stream from the old crater? Put a small turbo in it to charge the electrical vehicles for transportation. No fossil fuels. We'd run out and more would have to be shipped in. We must see that no one comes to the islands for any reason at all unless and until we beat this thing.

  Hal Korr came in, greeted Mi, then looked over her shoulder at the maps.

  "What're you doing?"

  "Right now? I'm trying to figure how we can produce power without fossil fuels."

  "Put a couple of wind turbines on the top of St. Makov Crater Mountain. I was on a dig there and was able to learn a few things about the place. The wind can be downright vicious on top of the highest peaks. There's an area in this cleft here where there are boiling springs. It's the only live vulcanism in the area. It could probably be used to drive small turbines. The problem as I see it is that St. Makov Island isn't good for anything else. It's all loose glass lava and is just a peak sticking out of the water. We would have to string a lot of line, but that won't be a major problem. Wire's the very least of our worries on this project.

  "About six or seven years ago we had an experimental generator dropped into the channel between Tekif and Long Island where the Tropic Current flows full against the islands. They sort of form a "V" with the channel at the point so the current is quite strong and is very steady there.

  "Long Island would be the perfect place to build the labs and the dwellings. There's a mesa plain about a kilometer wide and three long – over half of the island – at six hundred ten meters. There's a breeze that never dies east to west so the temperature isn't bad in relation to sea level. The silkfruits and yellowpeels already grow all along the shoreline and Tekif's covered with palmnuts and cakefruit trees. Melons of several types are wild there and the native – well, now they are – wallowbeasts could use thinning.

  "A hell of a lot of edibles both on Tekif and in the waters. Waterclaws, fish, slicershells, water crawlers – plant delicacies of all kinds and plentiful. We'll definitely eat much better than we ever did here! If the waters in close weren't so full of sharp impassible reefs those islands would already be solid with people and tourists. Land speculators would've found a way to cover the islands with cheap vacation houses.

  "We can use Tekif, Long Island and Sand Island. We can get from one to the other without too much trouble once we get onto one of them, but we simply can't expect to be able to move much from island to island otherwise. It requires
helicopters.

  "So tell me why you, a medical expert, have decided to handle all these things best left to experts in the various fields?"

  “You've been there? You know the islands?" Mi cried excitedly, ignoring the question. "That'll save me so much time, but are you sure we can't move around the islands more?"

  "The reason they're uninhabited is because they're virtually the most inaccessible place on the planet," Hal replied dryly. "It will ensure we're not disturbed, but we'll also be limited. No one can get in and we can't get out. Perhaps we can put some sort of colony on Driftwood Island. It's the largest and has the best soils, but there's one – and only one – way on or off and that’s Via helicopter. It's surrounded by hard lava glass that will cut through a steel hull in minutes. The lava blades are centimeters below the surface and protrude at points. They're deadly, to say the very least. We didn't attempt to land there. We flew low over it. It's lush, rich and isolated beyond belief."

  "How many can we provide food for?" Mi asked.

  "Using both Tekif and Driftwood?" he asked. "And the oceans, certainly. More than we could put on the islands. The waters will feed.... Uh-oh!"

  "We can't get into the waters?" Mi asked.

  "We'll simply have to find a place to make a small, shallow, defendable harbor from the island we choose to build the labs and dwellings," Hal suggested. "I imagine we could make several small harbors on several islands. The fewer the better. Each one will have to be defended if things get as bad as you predict. I think they will, in all probability. That's our history.

  "We won't be able to make a usable harbor at Driftwood. That would be too much to ask of mere mortals, even with all our machines."

  "We can start construction of the dwellings, labs and sheds immediately. Our first contingent of technicians can be in place in thirty days to begin setting up the facilities and getting the place ready for the initial research teams," Mi agreed. "We'll follow your suggestions since you've been there.