Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition Page 44

  "Long Island, here we come!"

  * * * *

  Hal Korr studied the text for awhile, then called Enn Far to explain what seemed to work in the past to discourage people from an area – rightly or wrongly. Enn said he would call Sop and Mi to call a meeting to discuss the matter. He would find a good communicator/speech writer, but the thrust of the project and overall direction would necessarily come from the four of them.

  Hal decided to finish his present research and go to the labs to try to encourage Mi. She was overworking much more than any of the rest of them. It was her nature to try to do far more than was her real responsibility. She had simply taken full personal charge of ALL arrangements to move this project FAST to the islands and was trying to advance her own research at the same time. She was living on stimulants, which is never good. If her health failed it could be the health of the entire Kroon race that would suffer for the neverending future. She must be forced to slow down somehow whether she liked the idea or not.

  On a trip six years earlier he'd spent almost twenty days on that little mass of lava trying to discover how old the islands were and whether or not they ever held a population of anything other than birds, reptiles, insects and wallowbeasts. He found his notes and photographs and studied them carefully for almost an hour, though he had perfect recall and could close his eyes to relive the time there. While he wasn't as careful as was Mi Yinn he was still a very exacting person. His memories could well serve to save a great deal of valuable time – and he feared time was the commodity in least supply.

  There were four larger islands, one an extinct volcanic cone rising above the waves and seven smaller ones. The largest one, called Long Island, was four kilometers long and a bit over one and a half wide. It was at an acute angle to the Tropic Current, which kept the temperature even year around on all the islands and had a long flat mesa at a good elevation. It was quite lush and was probably the best place to put the laboratories as the mesa was hard enough rock at a meter or so under the surface to offer very solid stability. There were steady east-to-west winds at about twelve kilometers per hour over the islands caused by the heat from the Tropic Current. There was no differentiation of seasons here to make any kind of difficulty. The range their equipment left there said the annual average day temperature varied less than ten degrees and night less than twelve. They were lucky in a number of ways that such a place existed. It could easily be much worse. An easier location for the scientists could mean a surge of sick and contagious people would descend on them seeking hope in a last desperate effort to maintain life. That would be the final disaster when the disease was spread among the workers. It was a hard thing to do, but this was a time for hard decisions.

  The Mekos Islands were a paradise except for the fact it was as close to impossible to get on or off of them as it was in any place on the world. They were surrounded by wide reefs of hard volcanic glass that were huge blades made up of smaller blades made up of ever smaller blades. They could pierce thick armor steel, given the wave action there. Approach by boat or surface skimmer was almost impossible. Even hovercraft couldn't cross above the blades because they extended far enough to puncture them. The only way in or out was helicopter.

  The next island was north of Long Island and was called Tekif Atol or, in loose translation, Yellowpeel Atol. It was lush and was about a kilometer long and the same wide at the base by perhaps four hundred meters wide at the narrow end – a mere sixty meters from Long Island. The side facing into the Tropic Current was straight, making the island roughly triangular and forming a "V" with Long Island. The chasm between the two was deep and the currents flowing between them were violent and constant. A slip there would mean sudden and horrible certain death by battering and drowning.

  Long Island was mostly a mesa while Tekif was a peak rising to more than three quarters of a kilometer straight from the sea on the flat side, but with terraces down the far side. Hal had thought it was artificial when he first saw it, but it turned out to be lava flows that had hardened in the various flat "benches". It was the oldest of the islands and had the richest soil. It was, therefore, the most lush. If enough of the native vegetation could be cleared it would truly be a food basket.

  East of these two islands was Sand Island, which was a shoal that had become established as the current flowing north and south of Long Island deposited its silt and sand in the swirl current leeward. Plants rooted in the sand and held the central part solidly in place, though the entire beaches were constantly shifting with the currents. The island rose in a flat sandbar to about three meters above the level of the sea. There were a few points where one could walk between Long Island and Sand Island at times of very low tides. It was always shallow between the two islands where the sandbar didn't directly connect them so maybe some kind of trail could be fashioned.

  Next was Driftwood Island, behind Tekif. It was approximately size of Tekif and much like it in other ways except that it also had a washup beach around it.

  Those four were the main islands of the group and shared a huge reef around them a meter under the sea surface at high tide and often protruding from it in sharp glassine blades of darkest ebony. The current carved its channels out under the reef in a series of caves, leaving the surface impassible. A harbor channel would have to be blasted out. Once inside the outer reef fringe boats could reach all four major islands. The problem would be in getting the boats inside the reef in the first place.

  Immediately north of Tekif was Makov then Crater Mountain Island, which was a steep volcanic cone rising above the waves. It was the newest of the islands and still had some little fumaroles and hot springs along one side and in the cone. The heat rising from the cone made the winds along the top of the crater constant and violent – therefore possibly useful for power generation. Of them all it was the least useful of the islands.

  There were seven smaller islands of less than half a square kilometer in area each. They were all lush and could be useful if it weren't for the fact they were sitting directly on the huge northern reef and it simply wasn't practical to try reaching any of them.

  Hal studied the flora and fauna of the islands a moment and the various things they found in the rich waters surrounding them. There was more food than could ever be used on the islands so no one would starve. They would, in fact, have the healthiest diet on the planet. Perhaps a narrow harbor being cut through that reef would enhance harvesting of some of those gourmet riches. Food was certainly no problem on the islands, which were in the tropical rain belt, interrupting moisture flow and causing their own light daily afternoon rains. That would ensure a steady and dependable water supply for all the people. Rain was not polluted there by industry or population concentrations nearby.

  So food and water were assured.

  The team he traveled with had carried a small submersible generator to drop into the narrow "V" channel between Long and Tekif Islands where the steady currents gave them all the power they could use. That could be important. The research would require fairly large amounts of energy despite the efficient things they were planning to use.

  Food, water and power were assured – perhaps.

  "If I can only contrive to save that poor woman a little work before she drops dead on us," he mumbled as he put the papers away and headed for the door. "She's going to work herself into collapse, then where would we be? She's taking far too much on herself. Martyrs we certainly don't need and would serve us ill under the best of conditions. I wonder if she's considered that there will have to be more than a few impractical scientists and researchers on the islands? We could end up with the finest brains on the planet there and would starve to death because no one would have sense enough to pick the food that's all over the place and they most certainly couldn't maintain anything other than personal specialized equipment. Laborers, farmers, maintenance workers, fishermen, transportation and a few communications people – we MUST have them all! Mi impressed me as being brilliant, but I wonder if s
he has common sense, too? That's the combination that's unusual. Beauty, brilliance and common sense, all in one. THAT would be rare!"

  He arrived to enter the labs where he found Mi Yinn pouring over charts and lists. He looked over her shoulder to see maps and charts of the islands so gave her the benefit of his small knowledge of them. It was most fortunate he had spent the time in the islands. That could result in a great savings of their most precious resource: time.

  She had lists of numbers of workers needed for each portion of the island's society. She had thought of the absolute necessity of including a lot of nonscientific workers. Even a therapeutic physical exercise instructor was on the lists. He felt warm for some strange reason and for the first time felt this had a very real chance of working – at least as a self-supporting colony.

  They would have good leadership, but why not get one single responsible person to handle all of these details?

  They made their plans and designed portable buildings that could be prefabricated and moved in by helicopter, then cemented down onto strong foundations. There could be a beginning colony in as little as thirty eight days from start right there on that mesa. Long Island was decided on and they moved from that point.

  Mi certainly was capable of making decisions! She had already decided that, seeing there was excellent basalt, she would have a burner moved in. They could produce their own cement, thus saving the need to move so much heavy material. The harbor would be blasted as soon as they could determine the shortest and safest route for it into a defendable spot. Mi hated the idea they may be forced to ever fire on anyone, but there was no way to avoid the possibility. She was also realistic.

  She already had a group of farmers, fishermen and general maintenance personnel in quarantine. The first groups were ready and anxious to go.

  "We'll need food and water before anyone else goes there," she explained. "Next group will be technicians and lab aides. They'll prepare the labs for the experiments the individual scientists are working on. The research mustn't pause for one moment – and it WILL not! Anyone will be able to step from their laboratory here in quarantine into the one on the island and continue as though nothing has happened. There must BE no breach of study! Even the one day spent in moving the people is one day more than we can afford."

  Hal looked at her and felt the warmth again. He was so proud of her!

  How silly!

  * * *

  Sop Lett leaned back again to consider. He had still to find any pressing reason to abandon the constitution, but it was equally – no. More – important he have some story ready as soon as that island idea was in use to ensure no one would ever attempt to go there. Some stories were starting that there was some disease that had major world health scientists "concerned" and that research was beginning on trying to contain and cure it.

  He picked up the handcom and punched the code for the local international news agency.

  "Dok Finn please? Sop Lett calling," he asked and was soon connected.

  "Listen, Dok," he demanded in as much of a conspirational tone as he could manage. "This cannot be connected with me in any way and I will deny I even know what you are talking about if it ever comes up, but I have it on VERY good authority from a very high official that this NSV thing that is beginning to make the news is much more serious than anyone knows. It could even become a plague and they do not know how to stop it. The top council members including Enn Far himself are almost in a panic. They have even taken extraordinary steps already."

  "Is Enn Far your source?" Dok asked.

  "No comment!" Sop replied quickly – too quickly. It would be almost certain in Dok's mind his source was council chairman Far. That was something to grab the attention of these news people and get cooperation from them early.

  "What extraordinary steps?" Dok asked.

  "Well, this is rumor, but I know of two people who have already been approached about it. You know that group of islands down south?"

  "Mekos or Lupis?"

  "The volcanic ones that no one can get to. I guess that would be Mekos. Mekos means firepot.

  "Listen, Dok. This thing, this NSV, is so virulent they are going to build some sort of facility out there where they can be certain no one will ever be able to get to it for the research facilities. They are going to then isolate the top scientists there. No one will be allowed in or out until they have found some way to fight the thing. It is a major plague, goddamn it! And it has already started! I cannot get any information about it. They all lock their jaws and throw me out of the labs and agencies!

  "Dok, this thing scares hell out of me! Find out what we are not being told!"

  "Two things, Sop," Dok said. "How in all the hells will they get anything onto those islands and what do you mean by NSV?"

  "NSV four is what they are calling the disease, the virus," Sop answered. Might as well give them shorthand for it. "It is for Nervous System Virus mutation four. It can be detected in the carriers by what they call N four A antibodies.

  "They will have to 'copter everything prefabbed onto a natural mesa or something such. The first thing will be a large laser cannon and operator. They are deadly serious that they will not allow anyone in or out, then the buildings and then the people. I am not sure whether or not they are going to have a bunch of infected people out there. It would be easy enough to isolate them on one of the islands. Nobody is going to move around much out there.

  "No one who goes after they carry in the lab supplies and the virus stock will leave again and anyone who attempts to reach the islands will be shot first, eliminating the questions later. This is big, Dok! Huge!

  "I do not personally care about the facility. I am damned glad they have the sense to put the thing way the hell out there and far away from the populace in case of accident. I have always said and continue to say that Far is one of the smartest men alive!

  "Dok, I want to know exactly what this damned plague is and how serious it could get. Far does not pull punches and he does not run around the pond. He hits hard and direct and he jumps right in. If he is hiding something from us I want to know what! If it is so serious that he would do this, I am, to express it bluntly, terrified! For all of us!"

  "You're definitely not alone," Dok said dryly. "You've scared ten millimeters from my growth already and I may be microscopic by the time this is over if Far feels it's that serious. I'll get on it yesterday!"

  They soon hung up and Sop leaned back. Now they can have an accident where the virus is released on the island as soon as they are all there, he thought. There is no doubt whatever that an "unimpeachable source" will have the story on all the news channels within the hour. It would be one of those "reliable sources" things at first, then would slowly grow as facts were leaked out by selected employees.

  "It's started. I hope we can stop it when the time comes!" he mumbled to himself.

  *

  Enn Far stared at the TV screen in shock and disbelief.

  "...the islands are totally inaccessible and are easily defended – though this reporter assures you she would have to be taken there at gunpoint, not kept away in that manner!

  "What we want to, nay MUST, know is exactly how serious is the threat from NSV four? Just how much at risk are each of us in the general public? How do we know who is a carrier? How is it spread? How fast?

  "We know it exists among the Passioneers, but what greater danger exists among those of us not a part of that nut cult? Is it already among the general public? Can things such as flies or gnats or other natural pests spread this plague?

  "We want answers! That's what we have a national health office for! We want to know the things they're paid to tell us! We want protection! We want it now!

  "Here we have the health researcher, Gad Nott, who has spent as long as anyone tracing this virus.

  "Gad, tell us what you know of this disease."

  A rather disreputable looking character was shown. He cleared his throat and seemed unable to decide which ca
mera to look to so his shot was finally taken from a distance as he spoke.

  "The Passioneers aren't really where the virus got started, but that'll be ignored by those with prejudices such as yourself," he replied, getting a hard glare from the newswoman. "It's a type of systemic virus that's carried by certain desert rodents. It has apparently mutated into some new and much more virulent form. It's been known for about ten years among the nomads. It was held in check by the fact those people don't much mix with any other people.

  "The Passioneers traded with the desert nomads in the war of the scrolls they had with the Cult of the Court of Dole. The only thing that's saved the members of The Court Cult from the same disease is the fact that it's forbidden among the cultists to touch one another.

  "So the plague started among the nomads in a mutation from NSV three among the rodents. The strange scientific fact about the virus is that NSV three can't survive in us and NSV four can't survive in the rodents. The mutation was on the PT carrier C six L nine chain P three...."

  "Yes, yes," the newswoman interrupted. "I'm sure that's very interesting, but we need to know about the danger to the general population from this thing, not what kind of cute notations you scientists use among yourselves."

  Gad Nott leaned back, interlaced his fingers over his ample stomach, then shook his head. "Oh, it's probably not too terribly serious," he dismissed, "It demands direct contact to transmit so all we have to do is not touch anyone who has it. You see, the virus is a weak one that can't survive exposure to light or air so it shouldn't be a problem stopping its spread with a little simple precaution."

  "I see," the newswoman said. "Tell me, how do we tell who has the virus? I've heard there are no symptoms for three years or more."

  "We can test for the antibodies," Gad answered.

  "But won't it be spread by carriers for as much as three or four years before they even suspect they have it? Isn't THAT the dangerous time?" she asked, leaning toward him.