Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition Page 53

  "I don't have any vague idea what you're talking about. You can certainly have all the technicians and all the lab assistants you want and no questions asked. If whatever you want to do doesn't work you don't have to tell anyone."

  "I'll keep very careful notes, which you may have when I'm through – whether it works or not. I just have to start this my own way. I've studied it from every available angle and there's no reason it CAN'T work. The worst that'll happen is I'll have explored another thing no one needs to waste their time on in the future.

  "And thanks."

  "Do you want to start today?" Hal asked.

  "I was thinking I could begin with twenty culture plates. Active ones. Tonight I could get the first phase of the thing finished. I have an electron microscope set up and I have computer records, but I'd appreciate it if you'll show me how to tell which virus is dead and which is alive and even what the virus looks like."

  "I can do that in a few minutes," Hal agreed. "You built isolation so we can encase the virus cultures and can move them right in. You've already set it up to grow all you want in your own isolation room."

  "I may need a few more cultures, but I think the twenty will do it. Then the rodents. The very worst infected ones only. I'll tell you right now I may kill a lot of rodents!"

  "No problem! The way they breed you'd have to kill hundreds per day to make any difference," Mi dismissed. "We keep the sexes separated except when we need more. The breeding is very controlled by us. They don't control it themselves. That's something they must've learned from us!"

  They walked back to the labs where Hal helped the assistants pack the cultures, then showed Jak how to use the microscope and how to identify the more important things he would need to know. Jak went to the door of his personal project, stopped, took a very deep breath and went in. This was a lot of time and work and critical equipment. His subconscious was as much as jumping out of his skull for joy. It had been heard and understood.

  It was very different from the Jak Tall that others knew and admired so. Very different

  .

  * *

  Mi was confused. Jak Tall was a genius who would never do anything to in any small way jeopardize any of this critical work. That was as certain as anything she knew or could know, but why the secrecy? What was he doing? What had his genius discovered?

  He'd entered that shed last evening and stayed there for six hours, came out in a very exhilarated mood and went directly to bed after asking for the first rodents in the morning. That he had decided to work on the plague was plain enough, but what was he doing? It was driving her mad!

  He was a tinkerer. He had built something. Surely he didn't think a machine could cure the plague? Obviously, he did.

  He'd asked about radiation several times in several ways and she assured him that light, such as UV or infra-red, would kill the virus, but it wouldn't penetrate the Kroon body. Nuclear types of radiation were much more deadly than the virus if used in intensity enough to penetrate. He wasn't the type to ignore those things that were so well-known and that he had studied the research on for so long. Why all the questions about the nerves? He asked her for a book not found in the library about chain insertions onto the genetic matrix and surprised her with knowledge most graduates didn't possess.

  She'd say it again. Jak Tall was a top tier genius! Hal was a top tier genius, too. He could do anything he set his mind to do and had learned more than she thought a historian capable of learning about the virus. They were very different kinds of genius. Hal would discipline his mind to solve a thing.... That's it! Hal is a strict disciplined-mind genius while Jak is an undisciplined genius! They sensed each other's specialness and reacted with respect for one another as a direct result.

  Specialness? Is that a word? Who the hell cares?

  Enn Far was yet another form of genius. He was a plodder. He set his mind on a problem and excluded other things until he solved it. That was his difference. Jak and Hal could work on several things at one time, but Enn Far must not be distracted. He thought much as she did, but he had a certain reservoir she didn't possess. Many said she was a genius, but she was mostly lucky. She couldn't think of herself in those terms.

  And Sop Lett? Sop Lett was very clever. He had one quality that most clever people did not have, and that was intelligence. He was anything but a genius, but he could make one think he was the purest form of brilliant. He was up to something. Mi knew with certainty it was nothing she would feel was wrong or evil, like Ponn. Quite the opposite. She was sure it was something quite good. He didn't have the same value system as other people.

  He was up to something. She wondered what it could be. It had something to do with the new constitution. He had been ever so single-minded about that document. Did he want to be first chairman? She was damned if she didn't think he could make it – and she was sure he would be a good one. She wasn't sure he had the kind of psychology that would make him want the job. He wanted something less, but what?

  WHAT was he up to?

  Cling to Hope

  *

  Enn Far was worried.

  What else could he have done? Just sit back and hope the riots didn't start? That wasn't reasonable. They would have. The people were afraid and frustrated and the explosion point was imminent. Putting the constitution before them was his only choice. If it could buy a little time it would have that value.

  Time was fast running out and so were places to turn. This would be worse than ever if ... but it wouldn't matter. If the cure wasn't found none of it mattered.

  Ten more days to ratification. Ten days to more worry. Ten days until the last of the time they could hope to buy.

  Damn! We were safe to that point! Until that vote was taken and the constitution was declared in effect things wouldn't get out of hand. If the next step could be made to take even half as much attention they would have another short postponement of chaos – the last one. There wouldn't be more.

  That went over and over in Enn Far's mind until he thought he'd go mad!

  He picked up the recorder again.

  Population areas were already selected for the various voting precincts and the machinery was in place. The commons would be selected one to a precinct while the elite would be selected by certain combinations of precincts. In a nation like Klarstenland that was easy as the population wasn't concentrated in small areas like it was in Frite. Only Zeneye, the capital, had particularly large concentrations and it had been declared as non-voting. Those large populations were mostly transient. The few citizens who were permanent residents voted in a precinct nearby that had been designed to include them.

  A person must cast his vote in the precinct of his permanent residence. Computers had been set up to check the identity of the voter and another to record the votes on a simple list. One punched numbers into the machine according to a printed listing he was given, then punched the record button. The machine would take no more data until the precinct captain pushed the ready button at his desk, which faced the door to the booth.

  The vote was absolutely secret. When the polls closed the machines automatically sent their entire programs to the central master computer. The whole count was automatic and immediate. Enn liked that. He pressed the record button and said, "Citizens! We are as of this moment a constitutional government!

  “Pause and sign the poll sheets with a flourish for the cameras, wait for the cheering to die down again. Probably a few minutes, minimum. Look intently into the camera and hold a hand up for silence. Be dramatic at a dramatic moment.

  "Citizens, we are as of this moment required by the laws just signed and passed by you to place ourselves under the protection of this document – wave the original paper high with a tight fist. Express the resolution and awesome power of the constitution – and to accept our herein ascribed responsibilities under it!

  "Lay it reverently on the desk and look for a long moment at it. Don't ham it up. This is a meaningful moment to all of us.

&
nbsp; "We are required to select a government within one hundred days.

  "I wish for each and every one of you to think of the one person in your voting area who will most honestly represent you and I want you to go to your precinct and place that person's name on the list for commons.

  "I want you to consider carefully the wider area of the elite selection and I want you to place that person's name on the list for the elite. These are the people who will later govern you so take the greatest care in their selection. If you know of a deserving person who is more honest, caring, intelligent and possessing of sufficient qualities than anyone else you know of I want you to place that person's name on the list for chairman.

  "The general election will select the chairman with the second highest number of votes electing vice chairman.

  "Lean toward the cameras to invite closeness.

  "You have the responsibility for the fate of Klarstenland in your hands! Do not take any of this lightly! These decisions are for all time. The very first constitutional government must work or there will be no second! Consider your responsibilities!

  "Lean back, look around and stand proud. Turn toward the camera as almost for an afterthought. Pause slightly. Look as though I have studied long and hard and have at this moment made the decision.

  "I place into nomination the name of Hal Korr for chairman. I am aware he is on that island and he may not survive to be chairman for his whole term, but the same can be said for any of us.

  "I would nominate Sop Lett, but he has asked that I do not do so and I will respect that. The same is true of his close collaborator on the constitution, Jak Tall. I have been assured he would not wish to serve in that capacity.

  "To be truthful, Hal Korr would rather not serve, but he has many other qualifications that would make him, in my opinion, among the very best possible choices and he will respond to our wishes in this. The people of the Mekos Islands very certainly deserve every consideration a grateful nation can offer but, in the case of Hal Korr I cannot offer the right to remain outside when the nation so needs him.

  "Take a deep breath, smile and walk off the stage. Look as tired and harassed as I am!"

  He played it back and nodded. It would do.

  That was going to be a huge shock to most. The elections weren't even being thought of yet. Not seriously and not by the general public.

  He stopped to pick up the recorder.

  "Add that the nominations will close in fifteen days to allow for the people to get to know the candidates. The top three names in each of the precincts in nominations for each office will be voted on and the winners in the commons will prepare for their office. The elite and president will be elected from the three names in their categories receiving most primary votes nation-wide at the election on the ninety fifth day and all will take office on the hundredth day at dawn.

  "The commons will be selected ... work out a system where they can be elected for three or six years.... No. I'll have to get with Sop about how we work that one out. The first election will be a real mess, but we'll wade through. It'll take the people's minds off of the disaster that will come on the one hundred and first day when it is suddenly back to the fact the race is dying!"

  He again put the recorder down.

  I wonder what's happening on the islands, he thought. The last time I spoke with Mi and Hal they seemed terribly excited. Sop hinted that there was a possible major breakthrough if they could resolve something that was holding them back.

  What did he mean, a cure, but not the way to stop the virus? That didn't make any sense, but not much did these days – and what was this about Jak Tall? Tall was a general handyman, not a scientist! How could he come up with the definitive cure?

  Great gods of yore, if any of you exist, first a breakthrough by a historian and next by a handyman? What next? A fisherman?

  I wonder if science has any value at all?

  * * * * *

  Jak Tall looked again at the latest results and slammed his fist hard against the bench. This made no sense!

  Okay. He’d found the longest and the shortest microwaves killed the virus in the cultures. It killed them immediately, even in small doses. He had been fairly sure that would be so from the first moment. Microwaves penetrate and they affect different things at different intensities and wavelengths. Certain of them passed through a body without doing any obvious harm. Some would cook that body. Those waves could be expected to dissociate the virus chains.

  He experimented with the rodents and found, one, that there was a range of wavelengths that didn't harm the rodents. He fully expected that. That was known.

  Two, the rodents exposed to certain ranges for certain periods when tissue samples were taken showed that all the virus in the nerve cells were dissociated. Dead.

  Three, those cells were able to survive for as long as they tested in nutrient solutions and were even able to reattach the broken chains where the virus was killed.

  Four and impossible, the rodents not killed became reinfected within a few hours! Even when totally isolated the virus was again in the blood and in the nerve cells within hours.

  The slides before him were reinfected. There was no live virus on them only minutes ago – or what seemed like minutes. It made no damned sense!

  He again slammed the bench. Su Neaa, who was his assistant and the only one working with him, came over to him. She had a way of calming him – sometimes.

  "Su, where does the infection come from?" he asked. "We killed it! There's not a single damned strand of that virus alive in one single nerve cell! It's been three hours and you can see how much is in the blood! Where does it come from?"

  She looked into the screen.

  "Let's take a blood sample, irradiate the subject and immediately take another blood sample," Su suggested. "The ovens work by causing the water to produce heat inside the food. These wavelengths don't heat the water, but maybe the water protects the subject's infection in the blood."

  "But there's water in the nerve cells!"

  "We'll try it anyhow. There’s nothing to lose."

  That the virus was killed in the blood, but not in the hemoglobin cells was shown through the microscope immediately and definitely.

  "The iron in the hemoglobin – or something on that order – is either absorbing or blocking your microwaves," Su reasoned. "It's as simple as that."

  "And as complicated. The shorter waves heat the blood and the longer won't penetrate worth a damn!"

  Su grinned at him. "Back to the library?"

  He grinned back. "I really don't see the point. I've already memorized everything there is in there as well as everything in the research.... What about those heavy metal things that killed the virus in the blood?"

  "They also killed the Kroons after a short time. The backup research ended that one."

  There was a knock on the outer door and Su opened it to find Mi standing there. She asked the question with her eyes.

  "Come on in," Su said. "No progress."

  "You still don't know where the reinfection is coming from?" Mi asked.

  "We've learned that. There's a low range wave absorption pattern in the hemoglobin nodules themselves that will protect the virus inside the blood cells and they simply come out after the radiation stops."

  "We're back at a dead end with this crap," Jak complained. "Waves that'll penetrate the blood cells will also heat the blood beyond physical tolerance."

  Mi went to the microscope to study the slides that had been called up. The evidence was right there and wasn't refutable.

  "I can see it in the cells here. I take it this is the sample from after the irradiation because there's almost none in the blood fluid. Where are the before ... here it is. Mmmm I see."

  She picked up the com and asked for Hal. When he came online she told him to bring H1M14C03 and get his cute buns over to Jak's lab. They would need the stuff yesterday and she would need his buns later. She was ecstatic.

  "You've got an idea?
" Su asked.

  "Girl, I've got millions of ideas I haven't even thought of yet!" Mi replied gaily. She threw her arms around Jak and kissed him hard, laughed and danced back and forth around the room humming a popular dance tune.

  "Woman, you've lost your records!" Su cried. "Let us in on it! You don't have any right to try to put us in some headfiddler's care!"

  "Oh, it's a little thing. You've found the cure for N S V one through N S V four! You and Hal!

  "You two are a cute couple. You have the exact same silly expression on your faces standing there with your mouths hanging open!"

  Hal came in soon and looked quizzically and even nervously at the strange scene. He couldn't believe that Mi was actually dancing! She was the serious, proper type.

  "Here's the M fourteen," he mumbled.

  .

  * * * *

  Hal Korr picked up the com to have Mi ask him to bring M14, one of the hormone mixtures that was effective for making the virus quickly grow itself to death. He wouldn't question it, but that line of research had gone as far as it ever would.

  She sounded strange, like she had been either crying or laughing. He picked up the mixture and went to the isolated lab to find Mi dancing around and Su Neaa and Jak Tall staring at her with open mouths. They looked as though they thought she'd fallen off the bus!

  He handed the serum vials to Su and asked Jak if Mi had been distilling his glamp twigs for a cheap drunk.

  "Ha! That's the most expensive drunk I know of! You keep paying for three days!

  "Love of my life, if this works the way it simply has to our work is done here! We have an actual CURE!"

  She danced to the "isolation two" door and called for Su to help her. She was almost singing the words.

  "You two go away for the next three hours, then come back and we can finish this!" Mi called.

  Hal shook his head and Jak joined him. They wandered into the kitchen to have a bev. They both looked as concerned as they felt about Mi. The unspoken thought was that she had broken under the strain.

  "I got the original idea for this right here when that oven screwed up," Jak said, just to make conversation. "Seems like ten years ago. I didn't even realize I had an idea at the time. I didn't know I had found ... anything until Mi...."