by Moulton, CD
TR or Maita could modify Tab to resemble other races. Now the same would be true of Kit. Maita could modify Z a good bit in the medical machine, but Thing couldn't be modified to any extent whatever.
Kit and Tab were indistinguishable from the beings they were designed to mimic. They could eat, drink and carry out all the normal functions of those beings. The food and drink was dropped directly onto mini-elementizer grids that broke anything down to its constituent elements, which could be stored, vented off in the cases of gases or excreted when such processes were necessary.
Tab had even taken lovers at various times and had functioned exceptionally in those areas, though he couldn't father a child. The pleasure response Maita programmed had been modified several times, as he was a machine and was capable of wearing almost any normal being to exhaustion. Z often made jokes about a horny machine, but they made what seemed to be merciless jokes about one another on any subject. It was really a display of affection, though often observers thought they would come to blows. They all had a strong sense of fun.
T6 coupled electronic communications to TR and they exchanged vast quantities of possibly needed information for a few milliseconds. That information was available to their counterparts instantly on demand. Each linked to his ship through a form of radio TR and T6 had worked out. It was unlikely anyone in the galaxy could now intercept or even detect the communications. Tab and Kit could link through it as well as to either or both ships.
"I wonder when we'll have our first case?" Kit asked. He was anxious to get started.
"In about two minutes, maybe," TR replied. "I'm always getting requests, most of which I hand to some other agency. I instructed this one to call back with certain information. It's coming in fastcom right now. We can soon open the files on our new agency. I've taken the liberty of naming it the T-K Detective Agency. I’d say Case one in the T– K Casebook is about to commence!"
(Author's note: the asterisk *–* has been used before and after Maita's speeches in all of Z's and my writings and the brackets [ – ] have been used before and after Thing's words. I will continue that. I will indicate separate action by myself with a single asterisk * in center page and by Kit with a double asterisk * * – T. DeSixtee)
First Case
"Here it comes now!" TRD-60 announced to its two passengers, Tab (Tabori R. DeSixtee) and Kit, two robot detectives for the Maitan Empire. The two were together aboard TR at that moment though they were in constant communication through the special internal circuitry with each other and with their ships, TR and T6. It was a complicated arrangement the ships had worked out together (The ships were also independently intelligent) making the group for all practical purposes one being at the same time they were four separate personalities.
The internal system was a mixture of gravitics and radio they were sure couldn't be detected – yet. If anyone ever discovered they were using it they would soon have eavesdroppers. The trouble with technology was that as fast as a thing was invented its neutralizing principle was also invented so the detective business wasn't much easier in this tremendously advanced empire. It was about the same as before space flight was even developed.
What TR was referring to was the expected fastcom call with a client for the T-K Detective Agency. The Emperor Maita, itself a machine intelligence (We won't go into that now except to say the Maitan Empire was galaxy-wide and few knew the emperor was a machine), had built TR and Tab as detectives more than a century past. T6 had developed intelligence because some "government" maintenance people had used a number of shortcuts and improper parts in its upkeep and repair. Kit was later built by Maita to serve the same functions with T6 that Tab did with TR.
Kit was designed to look, feel and smell (VERY important!) like a Kheth while Tab was ditto as a Swaz, though Maita, T6 or TR could modify them greatly as needed when they were to pass for other races.
"What sort of thing is it?" Tab asked aloud. They had agreed to speak aloud whenever they were together or when there was no reason not to so they would be "in character" as a habit. That would prevent deadly slips later. TR could pass fastcom directly to them on internals. They all enjoyed playing odd word games and one-upmanship games, which required vocalizations because it was often a matter of inflection or using a particular word NOT in translation. The digital sign for a word like "no" was the same for almost all negatives so a play between "not" and "knot" wouldn't work in silent communication.
They carried storage for any known language, the customs of the speaker of that dialect and much other racial information. They could be programmed thoroughly for a language in less than one second or could "unload" or erase that language as quickly. TR and T6 had all known languages ready at no notice.
While they could be linked together in any combination to share their mental capacities each had a secret part of its mind it did NOT share. That was important, even to machines, and would have made the original experiment useless had it not been included. The real reasons the experiment hadn't worked had to do with other things entirely.
"It's some kind of big business deal gone sour on Klohr," TR replied. "It wouldn't be brought to our attention except there've been a couple of murders. Someone's playing dirty. Tab really likes murders, as you'll learn soon enough, Kit."
"Information," Tab said.
"The Klohrians are mammals on the order of the Cheeth. They have a common type economic system that's competitive/capital structured. They're fairly new in the empire, of course. These things don't happen in the more evolved societies.
"The problem, as it seems to me, is almost twelve percent of the population of the planet are employed by the two companies so this could quickly deteriorate into a worldwide economic depression. Needless to state it's the working people who suffer at those times and they tend to revolt. Revolution breeds repression, breeds violence, breeds further repression, breeds the failure of the system. The particular system there has run its course and should fail, but not in such a manner. It probably won't be too easy a job, but maybe you can defuse this bomb."
"What kinds of things are supplied by these two companies and does merger mean monopoly?" Kit asked.
"Transportation facilities and, yes, a virtual monopoly," TR replied.
"Stock and bond market?" Tab asked.
"General type. A few people control the wealth of the world," TR replied.
"Could we cause a recession and devaluation of both companies' stock?" T6 asked. "That could stop them short of the revolution-repression cycle, force the merger and leave us with time to make longterm adjustments."
"We could try what you and Z did on Klemmr," Kit suggested. "Invent things that will drain off interest in the companies and weaken them both and maybe start a process directly on the stock market that will make such things impossible in the future. Bring in strong market laws."
"We'll do a little of both," Tab agreed. "We have to design something that'll make permanent changes in the way things are done there. Maita doesn't want to have to intercede in this sort of thing because once it gets started it's so damned hard to stop. It would soon have to spend all its time screwing around with these local problems.
"Let's get modified and go to Klohr. We can assess it better there."
They agreed to that and each went to the shop on his ship. The next thing Tab or Kit knew they were in orbit above the planet.
"I have an idea," Kit said over the com system. "We can be competitors! I can move into the market in Southport and you can move in at the same time in Majority City. TR and T Six can use our abilities to input a held company for each of us that has been registered for some time. What we'll need is some reason to suddenly both need to get capital from the market – and in the transportation area. It'll divert the market and, if it's good enough, should maybe make the other two companies move to get together to get rid of us."
"It could work," Tab agreed. "They've got linkage to Library, but don't use it much. I'll show research linkage for the past
two years – my company will have been registered then. TR says it can input whatever we want into the computer records here easily enough. The way their comps work we can have been in the records for decades without anyone noticing.
"You should register a bit earlier and should have linkage records to Library. Something's beginning to take shape!
"TR's done it. I'm Frah Lore, owner and sole stockholder in Bright Future Success, Inc., a diversified exploratory company. I've accessed the ancient world of Kleefan Dis through Library and discovered the Nrxrmf Beamed Power Principle which will be very cheap to produce, will be available right away and will make what they already have here obsolete. My use patent for Klohr is in the files as of today."
"I'm Neep Tide – that's a joke from Z – who is sole owner etc. of Innovative Concepts, the same sort of company," Kit said. "I'm an ass to get along with, but I've searched through Library and have found ... what?"
"The Armantane Gravitic Drive," T6 suggested. "The AGD is everything the NBPP is, is a bit more expensive to produce, but cheaper to use. The two should balance so far as the market is concerned. You registered your use patent just yesterday."
"You're both planning to arrive in Record City tomorrow and are prebooked at the Royal Palace Hotel there," TR continued. "You share the third floor, but at opposite ends of the building. You must go there if you wish to open a stock option. Perhaps you'll meet at the registrar's office for a moment. You'll read in the listings the following day about each other's companies – and that you've both registered major stock openings in transportation. You both have to raise money to go into production so will become immediate competitors.
"I'm afraid you'll have to take it from that point yourselves. T Six and I can't do it all!"
"Damn!" Kit replied. "You mean I can't stay here and let you handle all of it through the computers?"
"Stick it!" T6 shot back. "We are now given permission to land on our separate pads. You two'll have a whole afternoon to set up your companies that've been there for a year or more! Enjoy! Enjoy!
*
Tab landed on the assigned pad, went to his hotel, then out to find something in the local records he could use as a business location. He would necessarily have to find some place that was unoccupied for the past year, at least. He plugged into the hotel's computer system through the phone connection and came up with a better idea.
He went to the local postal building, accessed the records, located a box number that hadn't been used in several years and registered it in his name. He had the small fee such boxes cost placed into the PO account, informed TR as he did it so it would be placed in the records of the Future Success business.
As the company had never been active no one would know it was done until they had reason to check. They would, hopefully, have reason to check very soon.
He knew TR was making the working model of the NBPP-1, as he would call it, to show to potential investors. Notes and diagrams that would appear to go back for almost a year were also being made, including a fastcom readout of the entire text the "idea" came from. As nothing in Library required a patent except in the section that dealt with active patents anyone who had the credits it cost to have such things fastcommed could do the same thing.
The patent Tab, or rather, Frah Lore, held was a use patent that would guarantee no one else on Klohr could make or sell the thing nor would it allow identical units to be brought to Klohr from offworld for sale for a period of ten MGS years.
He then spent the evening making friends.
In the morning he went to Records City and to the Royal Palace Hotel, room 302.
* *
Kit went through much the same process and even came to the same conclusion for the address of Innovative Concepts. The difference being he spent the evening being obnoxious to people.
His room in the Royal Palace Hotel was 321.
At the assigned time, Kit went to the records officer at the government complex to open a stock venture. T6 gave him official papers these bureaucrats would always require along with a lot of useless ones. Kit was to be abrasive so would have learned a long time ago to cover any possible requirement no matter how silly or unreasonable. In short, he pretty much knew how to deal with bureaucrats. He was a total ass to the woman at the desk, but he somehow intimidated her, hinting he had friends in high places and any trouble from her and she'd be reassigned to the Icedesert Station offices.
He wanted her to remember him if the time came when he would need her – and she most definitely would! He would be remembered as the first-prize obnoxious ass of the year!
As Neep Tide was leaving the office Frah Lore was coming in. Tide made a remark about rude people who barged blindly through a door without regard for the safety of others and banged on out.
Z grinned at the desk clerk and shrugged. She rolled her eyes upward and had him sit. He went through the process in no time.
Kit went directly to the offices of the stock exchange to register to sell one hundred fifty thousand shares of common stock at ten credits a share. The brokers were trying to get it through to him that he wasn't going to be able to sell any stock without some kind of proof he could produce what he claimed and at the cost he claimed – and besides, he didn't tell them what he was going to produce yet!
"Transportation, damn it!" he snapped. "I got the patent and everything. No way am I gonna stick MY neck out for the sword. I know what I got. Got all the figures and projections and all that damned crap. Worth billions! All I need is the opening capital. Had it and I'd do the whole damned bit myself. Don't need anymore damned aggravation! Worth billions! Everybody the hell on Klohr will want them! Ain't all that expensive, neither. Big BIG profit margin. There ain't any competition on the whole damned world – and I got the patents that say there ain't GONNA be any for ten years!
"Get off your fat asses and turn over some money! That's what the hell you're paid to do, ain't it? Do I have to even do your jobs, too? Move!"
"Can we see a model? Some blueprints? Some proof it will work? Anything?" the agent asked. "Has it been tried? Can you show us something other than a lot of claims?"
"Tried?" Kit snapped in disbelief. "TRIED? Damn it, this is from the Library records! It was TRIED for centuries! It WORKED the hell for centuries! OF COURSE I have a model! I'm not stupid, damn it!"
"I see," the broker said. "Can I see the use patent? Is it complete and for how long?"
"Here! I already SAID it was for ten years, minimum! Are you deaf or just stupid? Damn!" Kit spat and threw the patent and the descriptive fastcom readout onto the desk. The patent was complete and was renewable every ten years for ten renewals.
"Here's the cost of production, the cost of use and the cost to the consumer," Kit snarled. "I ain't damned stupid! It's all done, damn it! Just get off your fat ass and SELL the damned stuff so I can get started!"
"My word!" the broker cried, reading through the reports and computations. "This IS worth billions! Can you really produce them for that figure? That's all it costs to keep them running? They don't use any fuel except the storage cells? Why hasn't this been done before?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" Kit said. "It HAS been done before! How the HELL do you think I GOT the stuff? DAMN! Don't anybody here have any damned SENSE? Are you all deaf? You didn't hear me say it was from Library? How the hell do you think it got there if it hadn't been used? Cripes!"
"I meant why hasn't anyone ever found this in Library before now?" he replied. "This kind of thing is public property anywhere in the empire."
Kit took on a hard look and tone of someone lecturing a small and slightly retarded child: "I rather would think it's been done a thousand times before in the empire," he said. "I also rather think I'M the first one here to have the common sense to LOOK for it from HERE! It took me almost a year of looking through all the stuff in Library to find this. That cost me a lot of credits. The bills from EFC are right there. That's why I'm out of money. That's why I must sell stock.
&nbs
p; "Will you get off you FAT ASSES and do something?"
The broker jumped up and went to confer with his supervisor, who called the head office, who said the stock would be placed on sale, but it wouldn't be pushed hard until a place was found for production and a working model was shown that could be placed on display for potential investors.
"Well, I can have a place ready and the model at, say, midday on the day following tomorrow? It will be at home. Southport. I'll meet your committee at the port and take them right to the prospective plant."
It was arranged.
Neep Tide marched back to the hotel where he grunted at Frah Lore, who was in the elevator with him and the other passengers. Lore tried to start a conversation about seeing him leaving the records offices, but he grunted and pushed out of the elevator on 3. Lore got off on the same floor.
*
A similar day was passed by Tab except that he was pleasant and people were pleasant to him. He set up his agreement for production and headed back to Majority City. Both Kit and Tab had the same idea about the meeting with the broker and representatives. That wasn't so surprising, as both had the same previous experiences programmed in or lived through. The communications system made it even easier to do things that would keep them at about dead even in the competition. To work, the schemes must be timed to suddenly conflict with one another soon after the big companies tried to buy in.
Tab met a company broker representative, a sales representative with recording equipment, video and audio crap and two "major potential investors" from major automobile companies who "happened" to come along for a relaxing time away from their offices.
