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

  Gad looked shocked, then said excitedly, "Oh my! You're right! You're always in contact with all kinds of people yourself and I've had direct contact with you several times! Oh, dear!"

  The newswoman's eyes were wide. Her mouth hung open.

  "Oh, hell!" Enn snarled and shut the set off. "Who in all the HELLS let that out about the islands?"

  He called Hal Korr, who didn't answer, then Mi Yinn where Hal Korr answered.

  "What do you know about the leak of information about those islands?" Enn demanded.

  They had no idea what he was talking about so he told them to watch the set and called Sop.

  "Yes, I figured it was time to start rumors the islands were among the most dangerous places on this world to find oneself," Sop replied. "As soon as our people are there word of an accident will get out that will make the islands appear to be absolutely deadly for years to come. It is time we begin to alert the population, too. We must begin a system of rapid education so we can disseminate information as quickly as we know anything at all. If we can get them in a frame of mind to fight the disease perhaps we can avoid panic. If the mass of the people start running and moving they will spread the virus much more rapidly than if they stay put."

  Enn thought about it for a moment, then had to agree. "Why was the virus named NSV four? And Sop, please let me know about these decisions in the future. My heart can't stand many more shocks like that one! You almost panicked ME! I already KNEW about it! What do you have as to quarantining the scientists? Can we do it legally?"

  "No, but that is no problem for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that Mi Yinn is a true genius among geniuses. She already has her first crew on the program. They will be ready to move to the islands as soon as the facilities are completed. They are already working on their individual projects while in isolation. Mi also has the building and maintenance crew in isolation and has arranged for everything – more than I could have thought of from the perspective of someone not involved in such things.

  "Hal is working closely with her. He was on the islands a few years ago. That should save us quite a lot of time as we can have so much of it laid out in advance. We have the seed crops and other food plants will be ready for immediate planting there. The farmers are going with the maintenance crews, as are fishermen. Enough food will be taken in for farmers to have time to produce, though I understand there is a great variety of food already growing on the islands. We will live like gourmets there.

  "All of that is being taken care of. Mi is taking full charge of each small thing as it arises and is handling it. She is using the tactic of telling the people she wants on the island the entire truth, then they are going into immediate testing and isolation. She has found several already with the antibodies, you know – I named it Nervous System Virus number four, NSV four for short, to give it a label in the people's minds – Mi said it means the virus is much more ingrained than we had ever supposed to find so much in the kinds of people she chose for the island.

  "She tested me herself, and Hal. She and Hal are as much as in isolation now. I am going into isolation and I think you should, too."

  "That isn't vaguely possible. I must remain fully accessible to the people. That's a clear duty."

  "It is a clear death sentence!" Sop snapped. "We need you to hold this nation, even this world, together!"

  "I'll live for at least three years. That'll be enough. I've got to accept that I'm in no position to protect myself."

  Because that is the kind of man you are, Sop thought sadly.

  Intense Research

  The islands were ready and the first contingent of scientists had just landed. Mi Yinn had come to the island with the first group of builders to personally supervise the whole operation. She had already proved much more knowledgeable about every field than anyone at first expected, setting up the cement plant and firing it up by herself. She had the lime fired before the walls were delivered and found a gravel pit that would serve, if not as good as anything from the mainland at least quite well. There was sand she brought from the beaches and placed on fine screening to wash out the salt residue. She worked along with the builders and helped with the forming and everything else needed. She was as tireless and as exacting and careful with even these things as she was known to be with the research. Everything fit perfectly the first time. There was no reason to do any single thing she oversaw or worked on herself over or to modify it. If Mi Yinn put her stamp of approval on a thing that thing was as right as any Kroon was capable of doing!

  The labs were soon set up and she oversaw each part of the operation there, too. There were the same mistakes as with the foundations. None. It was right the first time. Despite all this she was able to get reasonable sleep for the first time in many days, thus barely avoiding total exhaustion.

  She went with her head maintenance man, one called Jak Tall, to work to place the submerged generator. It was a very large model and they lost it in the current. It was their first real setback.

  Rather than swear and cry she shrugged and had two smaller units sent in, which they placed successfully. They now had power and light.

  The farmers were placed on Tekif where they found even more food in more variety than they'd hoped. The fishermen took some small very light boats over the edges of the reef to find the best place to blast for a harbor. She spent what time she could with them and was what they referred to as a "mother eggbird" with her worry about the dangers of the reef. She said, correctly, that this project was too closely figured for anyone to take mortal risks.

  There were three hundred ten people on the islands including lab assistants before any of the scientists began arriving. Mi met the first of the main expedition helicopters where she found Hal and Sop along with the scientists. She had tested and quarantined them all and had tested Enn Far for the antibodies. She had, with the greatest relief, found him free of the virus. He insisted he would, because it was his duty, remain on the mainland despite their entreaties, but she made certain he would remain in a position where he wouldn't have direct contact with anyone. She wasn't certain that would be enough, but it was all she could make him promise for the time being. She didn't delude herself into believing he would actually isolate himself from the people for any length of time.

  She didn't understand her great relief when Hal stepped from the copter. She only knew a great weight was lifted as she knew he was undecided whether it was his duty to stay with Enn or to come to the island. She had talked long and hard to convince him he may have the most critical information none of them could know until it was needed. He would also be required to make the future reports to the media, which would best be done at the source of that information.

  Sop Lett planned right from the very first to come. He made no excuses for the selfishness nor about anything else. Honesty with himself and with others was a very strong trait in him. He would be very valuable – had already been most useful – in alerting people to their situation and thinking up the way that would guarantee the scientists very few if any of the infected people would try to breach the islands' defenses. Any disturbance in the islands' set routines by such events could spell ultimate disaster. He was a realist enough to know he would have to take the same quarters as all the others and would take a secondary role in all things here. The researchers were the important personnel. Period. Book closed!

  That was fine with him! He would certainly never argue that point! He would be no problem and Mi could respect him for being honest enough to say from the first that he was here to run from a plague even if he wasn't worthy of it. He would be as useful as possible in order to ensure he would be allowed to stay. He was working on something for Enn Far and the council so he would stay out of the way of the team. If they needed him for anything he was there and had no right nor desire to refuse. The work on the islands came first – period. For all of them.

  Mi was charged with settling in the scientists so the next three days were hectic, but s
omehow she lived through it. She was nearing exhaustion again as she was the type who must see to all things at all times personally. She delegated everything possible, then checked and rechecked to see that it was done right.

  The food preparation areas were a bit of a problem at first, but that, like other things, was soon taken care of by Jak Tall.

  It was one of the hardest things for her to accept that anyone could do anything without her close direct personal supervision, but the man was dependable beyond hope. If he was asked to do a thing he did it and did it well. Mi was becoming almost dependent on him, a new thing for her.

  Jak Tall was tall and thin with a determined manner that gave the appearance of deliberate slowness, but she soon learned he actually got things done more quickly than anyone else – and they were done RIGHT the first time. She soon began to understand his drawling, "If you don't slow down we'll never get this done," and "Your haste is costing us far too much time," and hundreds of other like expressions. He set a pace and worked at it steadily for long periods where she tended to rush into a job and become totally exhausted after a short period. She understood his admonitions, but she couldn't stop herself. He was constantly giving her a new one.

  "Run slow and steady in the long race. Fast starters finish last: Don't sprint in a ten-kilometer race: Start fast and end slow, start slow and end fast, pace yourself and you’ll win the race: Stop swimming three kilometers per hour against a five kilometer current. Try swimming WITH the current: Don't do the work with the tool, let the tool do it. You guide. Tools are to use, not to fight."

  At first she was ready to scream at him, but she soon found a lot of wisdom in the folk sayings and also found that at the end of the day's work she wasn't at all tired, yet they had accomplished much more than she would have thought possible. She could see his methods worked and that's what they needed more than anything else – things that WORKED! They became quite close and she asked his advice about many of the scientific things to be greatly surprised (In the beginning) that while he knew next to nothing about what was being done he could quickly and easily grasp what must be done – and could DO it. He was a natural fixer.

  Seventy one days after the start of the project the labs were fully occupied and the research was going full throttle – even if they weren't really accomplishing much. There were three hundred nonscientific people, fifty six more scientific people and four hundred five "halfways" to act as laboratory assistants. These were the brightest from the universities. They were all tested and quarantined. There was no vestige of the virus on the islands except in their isolation chambers. Everyone there was to be tested weekly for the duration to avoid accidents.

  If ever a crew brought together for a specific purpose had a chance of success this one did. It was planned and very well thought out, was working to a single-minded purpose and had the very best personnel imaginable. All they needed now was vast amounts of blind luck! No one kidded himself about that fact!

  The news from the rest of the world was beginning to escalate in the underlying fears of people who were faced with a deadly unknown. There was dark panic barely below the surface according to reports. It was a thing that could explode at any moment.

  It must not! That was disaster!

  Mi sent a message for Sop Lett to report to her lab/office for a consultation. She never stopped her researches for a moment, but relegated them to the hours when she wasn't needed elsewhere. Jak saved her more time than anyone could possibly calculate in that area. She could trust him with some of the things she could never trust anyone else with before. He was as meticulous in his own way as she was in hers. He was another who did things himself or couldn't fully trust the results.

  Things were getting rather tense with the awakening awareness of the world's people that they were in personal and very real peril. They would much too soon be trying to reach the island's research facilities. The most pressing terrors were naturally felt was by those already diagnosed with the virus. It was time to have their "accident." Only one third of the people planned for this project were on the islands, but to delay further could mean disaster. It was time to "make do" or lose the whole fight. It seemed disaster was lurking around every corner, a hard thing to accept no matter how accurate. The thing was spreading almost twice as fast as had first been projected. The projections stated as many as three million people would be diagnosed with the plague at this stage, but the growing information seemed to indicate there were more than five million infected persons. All nations were, for the first time in modern history, cooperating on this thing.

  Would it be enough? If she failed the entire Kroon race was doomed. There were simply not viable numbers of people on these islands!

  * * * * *

  Jak Tall chewed on the glamp twig slowly and looked down into the water for a long moment. He WASN'T doing nothing. The generator down there was working as planned, but he was sure it could be improved. It was far too close to the sheer rock. The friction and little swirls weren't moving in a single direction. He was afraid the machines would take a battering over time and would, therefore, fail. That couldn't be allowed to happen. Power failure at the wrong moment could cost time they simply didn't have.

  There! It swung over and back, proving the current there was swirling. This was solid granite here and a boom of stressed steel with a twenty centimeter I-beam support to move the thing only three short meters farther out would increase the lifespan of the generator while also increasing its overall efficiency. Its own weight would ensure its continuing to work and the vanes would keep it aimed into the current. It MUST NOT be allowed to slam into the rock.

  There were plenty of steel beams. He could weld the boom and anchor it with a snatch block and tackle on the end, then swing the device right out without any loss of use. There was braided stainless steel cable aplenty. He could triple pin the retainer and it was done – and safe.

  It was driven against the rocks by that swirl! This was a needed thing!

  He walked back up the path eyeing the cables on the way, took the torch, made the boom, collected a block and tackle, put it all on a cart, went to the generator, attached the holding cables and snatch block and swung the generator out to where he wanted it in the main current, then tied it firmly down and welded the swing arm in place with a plate that could be cut if needed to repair the generator. The pins were inserted and bolted in place and the snatch block dropped off the cable. He then took fifteen or twenty minutes to watch how it acted in its new position. The entire process took three hours. He turned to find Mi watching him.

  "You just found something wrong there – I don't know what – and took it on yourself to fix it," she declared. "I don't know when you started, but I do know it would've taken ten days and ten men had you made the standard report.

  "Thank you."

  Jak smiled at her and pulled the cart along, Mi walking by his side to the secure storage/toolshed building. He was a bit lanky so he automatically shortened his step to match hers.

  "If I felt we had those ten days and ten men to spare it would've been done that way," Jak replied. "We're short of time and short of hands. I did what needed doing. That's all. It's what I do and why I'm here."

  Mi smiled at him.

  * * *

  Sop Lett put the com unit back on its hook. Mi Yinn wanted him to come to the labs for a talk. It was time to fabricate a story about an accident. That was easy enough to see. The situation in the world was getting critical so people with the infection would be trying to get to the place where, in their delusions, something could be done to save them. This was exactly what he had foreseen so it would work out pretty well. It was a lot sooner than he thought it would be and there were still a great many necessary people who WEREN'T on the islands, but the news reports were very much where he thought he would have to do this. To stall now could be the most costly mistake he could make. It could be the difference between success and failure.

  Well, he had taken the time sinc
e coming here to work on the constitution. He was well along with that. He wasn't bothered by the routines here and made his own schedule for things. His time was his own. He also had the story ready. It was a good one and was worded about as it had to be. He could hope he hadn't missed anything.

  He picked up the com again and got Han Tukk, the "shoreside" operator, to call Dok Finn. When Finn was on the line Sop said, "Dok? Listen carefully! It's horrible! This is the worst thing that could have happened here! Here of all places on the world! People are going to die in truly terrible agony here. I imagine there won't be any survivors. This thing can't be controlled at all!

  "The labs have created NSV five, which was supposed to be the way to make rodents AND primates produce positive antibodies which could be purified into a serum to immunize people. It would have been the serum we need. It would have saved Kroon.

  "An electric cart backed into the glass wall of the isolation room and let the rodents infected with the virus escape onto the islands! They are all over the place! We can't hope to get them! They will spread it to any other rodents already here and to our people, too! This is horrible!

  "Dok, it's the virus that can infect BOTH! We are all doomed! There is no way to gather those rodents and they are probably already infecting all the islands. The waternesters swim to all of them. There is no way we can...." He broke off, scraped a nail over the fine screening of the mouthpiece and hung up. He called the operator and ordered her to shut down all sending from the islands. It was a matter of security.

  "Wait for orders from Mi Yinn herself before allowing ANY further communications with the mainland. Do not answer incoming calls except on the special secret line to Enn Far. None. Be very clear about that. This is critical."

  He strolled over to the labs where his first duty was to tell Mi what he had done and to suggest she tell the operator to stop transmissions for three days, then to allow another short message, then to open com again. They would have to explain to all here what they had done and why.