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

by Moulton, CD

  "Oh, it can be improved on," Jak insisted. "The articles are mostly stated clearly already. I see no reason to try to be so poetic or theatrical with the constitution, though this preamble is important, I think. It spells out the exact purpose of the constitution."

  "I am sure it could be improved, but you have added spontaneity, which is always better than theatricality and, yes, the document is now complete. I am a lawyer so my trouble was in trying to say something plainly and with a flair while thinking in petit legalisms.

  "I consider the thing complete!

  "Now I guess I will go mad. There is nothing more for me to do here."

  "How are you at using tools? We always need help in maintenance. I never get one thing finished before there're two more calls waiting for my attention. I want to figure a better way to handle these drops from the helicopters. There's always some breakage of the more fragile equipment."

  "Great Gods! You aren't saying those vials of plague are being broken out there are you?!"

  Jak laughed and assured him, "No. Plague isn't brought. We grow our own. They bring flasks and test tubes, retorts – that sort of thing."

  The com buzzed and Sop answered. He talked for a few minutes with Enn Far, then passed the call to the labs for Mi Yinn.

  "Things are getting scary on the mainland," he said. "That was Far. He just got out of a service for a councilwoman who died of the plague. He is deeply concerned at the pervasive sense of hopelessness the people feel. He says Dr. Ponn told him some may be immune to the virus, but they would still be carriers. That is really very frightening because they would never show any symptoms, but could spread it to everybody else around them."

  Jak shook his head. "I hope the people come up with something here, and soon. I don't think I really want to be one of the thousand people on the planet who survives it if it comes to that."

  "Nobody wants life on those terms, I guess. When I came here it was to run from the plague and to ensure I would survive if the whole damned rest of the race died. I did not stop to think then, I simply ran.

  "Well, I've had plenty of time to consider since and I do not want to survive on those terms!"

  Jak grinned. "That sort of thing happens when you simply react to a thing without thinking. What you've done then is lay a large percentage of the survival of the entire Kroon race directly on your own spirit. You're now in a position – inescapable, if it comes to that – where you're responsible to and for the whole Kroon race itself. I knew that. I didn't want to come. Dr. Yinn laid it right on my spirit before this place was even begun. My responsibility started at that moment whatever comes of any of it while you can wait until it's resolved one way or another. I don't know whether I should feel honor or hatred."

  Sop was amazed yet again at the strength of character of their handyman. Something he may later have to face this man had been facing for more than a halfyear.

  Fate places strange trials on even the wary!

  * *

  Damn! Why were people so stupid? How could such an obvious thing be so completely overlooked?

  Mi didn't even need to call Sop on this one – though she really should have. He required a problem to solve, but something like this had to be handled immediately and he would tend to waste too much time on the legal aspects. He'd probably miss the obvious for precisely that reason.

  Enn Far had called to tell her the doctors and medical staffs refused to treat anyone who tested positive for the virus. He was afraid to make a ruling whereunder they must treat them, as that would make them withdraw from medicine altogether resulting in no one getting needed treatment.

  "I'd think that doctors, because of the people they've been in direct contact with already, would tend to have unusually high numbers already testing positive for the antibodies," she replied. "If they already have it they don't have to worry about getting it and they shouldn't be treating anyone who doesn't test positive, anyhow."

  That should be obvious enough. A doctor worth the title would not drop out of practicing medicine because he had a sickness himself. These individual doctors would also be ready with plenty of the people who had the disease if something needed testing – which was incentive for them to stay in the profession. They would be in on the cure first!

  If a cure was ever found, that is. The past three nights had given Mi a new outlook.

  One doesn't choose who one falls in love with. Not the person, the time, nor the place. It had come to her that she was in love in the kitchen smelling ozone. She looked to Hal to say he had better call maintenance and there it was. She was luckier than most in these types of situations. Hal loved her too – oh, he didn't know it and he would be so noble about it, but she knew. If only they could find a cure or at least an immunization technique for this plague! Being mother to the new and better race was a fantasy and she wasn't at all sure six hundred people was a big enough gene pool at their present stage of evolution to give the necessary diversity to the race. It was good she had been so selective of the people, but even so she had been planning on a minimum of three thousand then. It was out of her hands now. It could be enough.

  Hal came back into the lab and she could see his excitement. He was carrying a data disk, which he took directly to the mainframe information console to insert into the drive. It was his own idea he had been playing with on an unused secondary circuit while he was using the electron microscope. He remembered reading about plant growth hormones and how they caused plants to grow much too fast to complete the cellular structure so they died. He kept data records on the plague organism that was stimulated to grow itself to death.

  "This is plot M dash four sixty one as I found it in my first study," he explained. "Notice that it's four or five times more numerous than average.

  "These are the original pictures. This one is N dash seventeen slash PB oh nine. It's about the same. Original picture.

  "Now this is a culture I used both substances on. The first picture as I prepared the culture, the second two hours later, the third, forth, fifth – all tested at two hour intervals.

  "The stuff is dead in the fifths. It grew itself to death! It didn't deplete the culture! The stuff caused it to grow without whatever it is it needs! That's why it died!

  "Mi, maybe we can't ever use these particular chemicals, but we damned well should be able to find some we CAN use!"

  She really was thrilled. This was what she wanted a historian for from the first – to know of some simple little thing that had been done years or even centuries ago in some totally unexpected context that could be connected.

  The first connection was weed killer! Here was finally a direction to take. One thing they didn't have before that could lead to a major break-through and a perfectly legitimate little glimmer of hope to give to all those people out there. They now had this one little possibility they could use to hold this civilization together for a few more days.

  She checked, then rechecked, ran a computer analysis, rechecked, made culture plates and control cultures, checked and rechecked. She called Enn Far and had Dok Finn called from the capitol and put on the line.

  "I wish to VERY CAUTIOUSLY say that our historian, Hal Korr, has given us a lead that gives some direction to our researches," she reported. "Hal has discovered that an old principle used in, of all things, weed killers, has some application against the virus. The substances used in the test are not usable in Kroons, but we now have a definite direction for a part of our research that may well bear fruit.

  "Enn, tell your doctors, those who are working directly with afflicted people, that we may send them something to test at any moment!"

  This was a little strong, but it would certainly give Enn a breather – and it was true. They might actually be able to send something reasonably soon. Maybe very soon!

  * * * * * *

  Jak Tall removed the unit from the oven and ran through the entire device. This time a sequencer was out of phase and the waves were penetrating the seals. Luckily they weren
't of a type to harm anyone, but they didn't cook very well, either. All they did was to break down the structure of the seals and leak all over the place. The seals were long chain polyisomers and tended to fall apart in short time on this unit.

  He reset the device and put it back into the oven, then put the tools back into the box and started out, but turned to sit on a table to chew the ever-present glamp twig and think about microwaves. There was a glimmer of an idea there. Something he had heard when they were setting up the place about how dangerous they could be. They broke down long chain proteins at certain frequencies.

  They could sterilize a person and that person wouldn't even know it! These people here might be the only ones left on this planet. What would happen to the Kroon race if people here were sterilized?

  He took the meters around and checked each unit again. There was no other leakage. Luckily this unit hadn't been used very often.

  This was one thing he would have to keep very close watch on. A problem like this was the last thing anyone needed.

  Jak again put his tools away and went to his rooms where he got the use manuals out for the ovens. He read them all, then went to the library to check through all the information he could locate on radiations, microwaves to long waves. If there was one thing Jak Tall was known for it was knowing all there was to know about any subject that fell under the wide heading of maintenance – including possible side effects. It was bad enough he was saddled with the feelings of responsibility Mi Yinn put on him. He didn't need to sterilize the last of the race on top of it!

  Constitutional Protections

  There shall be established, in addition, an office to be called Guardian General of the Public Health.

  The Guardian General shall be chosen by the National Director from a list supplied by the Elite House Health and Welfare Commission Office, investigated and approved by the Commons House, and who will act under the Judiciary.

  The Guardian General of the Public Health shall have absolute authority in cases of threat to the health of the people of Kroon from any agent of poison, radiation or biological agent that can be shown to be present and immediate to an area or to the entire nation or to the world of Kroon.

  The Guardian General of the Public Health must, therefore, be chosen from among those shown to have exceptional knowledge of matters medical.

  The Guardian General of the Public Health shall have powers to suspend the constitutional guarantees of free movement and/or assembly in any area (vivinity), or in the nation should events so demand. Any included suspension must be declared through the Office of the Director and must be approved by the Supreme Court on the third day. If the suspensions extend past six days the members of both houses must approve and must revote further extension every ten days thereafter until the emergency is past.

  The Guardian General of the Public Health may suspend rights of privacy, limited to the necessity of the emergency.

  The Guardian General of Public Health may suspend rights against arrest and confinement, limited to the necessity of the emergency.

  The Guardian General may suspend rights of free movement, limited to the necessity of the emergency.

  The Guardian General of the Public Health shall be tried under the charge of Treason Against the Nation for any abuse of office, such trial to be conducted by the Supreme Court.

  As Acts Of Treason, as stated in Article 4.06, require seating of a knowledgeable jury, ten members of the medical profession, none of whom may have former personal or professional acquaintance of a personal nature with the defendant(s), shall be selected by random computer selection and shall be transported and housed at state expense for the duration of such trials.

  Article 4.01 – Constitution

  * * *

  That was as well as he would ever be able to state it. It had limitations built in that could not be counteracted.

  Sop Lett sat back to again reread the article for the tenth time. It was plain enough. Who and how to select him or her, from what areas of knowledge and education the selection must come, duties and restrictions, how emergencies are handled – and, very importantly, the penalty for abuse of the office. That was very important. It must be included in all articles.

  Should he state what would constitute abuses in the article? The power to suspend the constitution was awesome. There must be no way whatever that it could be twisted or abused. There would be those aplenty who would try. History showed that any loopholes would be found and would be utilized to the detriment of the document and to the people.

  No. Not needed. The power was limited to assembly, movement, arrest and/or detention – and privacy. The addendum to be included would spell out exactly when and how these were to be handled and could also specifically spell out what would constitute abuses. That was the whole of the purpose of the addendum.

  Jak Tall would have to read it. He was a truly amazing man who would ask pointed questions. He saw right through to the core of these things and would not withhold comment or question. He said the fact there WAS a question meant that revision was needed – and he was right. His questions had necessitated no less than six revisions of this one article to this point!

  Sop grinned to himself. One thing was certain. Jak Tall's help had shown him how imprecise the language was. A word that held a rigid meaning in law did NOT have the same meaning to the general public and Jak had shown him how the language evolved to a point that could change the words radically. It is necessary the public understand the document precisely. A way was worked out to stop lawyers from using it to their own purposes with Jak's help. Being one himself, Sop knew well what a typical lawyer would try to do. It wasn't a very ethical reaction and it did not bode well for Kroon or for this constitution.

  A whole volume would have to be written as addendum explaining exactly what the words meant for all time. It would be presented with the document, hopefully making practical arguments about those terms nonexistent in the future.

  If you believe that I have this little island north of here that would make a perfect vacation retreat that I'll sell cheap! Sop thought, grimacing at the picture of the typical lawyer's reaction to any document.

  Jak Tall's name is going to be on this document. Prominently. Sop knew perfectly well he was much too self-centered to allow sharing of top honors, but Jak Tall would be listed as prime consultant and collaborator. If you won't wave your own banner, who will?

  He was honest enough to admit his flaws. That was a virtue few could claim.

  Of course he didn't do anything about them other than admit to them, which was a flaw in itself.

  Sop Lett had never heard of a perfect man. He certainly had no least claims in that area. He was merely another person with a flair for expression and would make the best of what little talent he had. If the race survived this plague the constitution was ready. He would have the processor/publisher set it up properly and make copies. Bind it in royal blue with gold script with the Seal of the Nation top center and his and Jak Tall's names in small script on the lower right corner.

  Sop set the machines up and started them. He edited everything very carefully before placing the disks. The machines would automatically edit as they proceeded, calling him for any errors or misspellings.

  As he sat back Jak Tall came in. He asked what was happening and Sop showed him the whole thing. He read the new article and agreed it was excellent as it stood.

  "Surely you don't plan to present the thing all printed and bound like that?" Jak asked.

  "What!? Of course I do! What are you talking about?"

  "Well, you say 'this document' fifty times in the thing. There, if you consider it, ain't no such thing! There's a slick magazine."

  "What are you saying?" Sop asked, confused.

  "I'm saying you have maybe the neatest most readable penmanship I ever saw and that one can't enshrine what is nothing more than another computer copy in a place for public display. That's a stupid idea anyhow. People need a thing to point to
with pride – and a shiny blue and gold magazine like fifty million other shiny blue and gold magazines ain't it! You've got plenty of time now. Very carefully hand-write the document and have some people hand-sign it for approval, then send it to Enn Far, who will place his own signature in the exact center of the signature area at a public ceremony. It can then be voted on by the people according to its own provisions and the fancy copies can be sent to every town where each article will be presented and explained to everyone via the media before the ratification vote. The original signed document can be displayed in the capital in a place of honor in the capitol building."

  The man was truly amazing! He was ALWAYS right! The people would demand, and should have, such a document – something tangible to enshrine and to honor. Jak had put his attention right on a very serious oversight. A slick printed blue and gold magazine was hardly worth the notice. There were millions of them already. Some of them looked very good on the cover, but were pure trash inside.

  Slick had been the perfect choice of word! If there was one thing this DOCUMENT must not be it was slick – and it certainly WAS something to do! While all the work to the point of creating the finished constitution was worthwhile the work of creating the document itself would be much more so. It would also be more fulfilling.

  * * * *

  Hal Korr peered into the viewscope carefully, then had the computers video-record what was happening.

  Quite a lot was happening now. It was working! Right before his eyes the virus was multiplying at many times the normal rate! He could watch the stuff grow across the culture! These chemicals could be used on the Kroon. He was sure of it. It was proven not to be a deadly toxin already. There WOULD be side effects – unpleasant ones – but not fatal and not lasting. They were much preferable to anything one could expect from the plague! A little pain and discomfort now to save you from dying later? No one would fault that – not anyone with any sense, anyhow. Who would be so stupid as to cry about six or eight days of a little discomfort in exchange for life?