by Moulton, CD
They knew this was programmed reaction and they were tuned for response, but it was great fun and was more than pleasant. Maita had been forced to give them normal responses to such situations to maintain their cover at those times.
Perhaps it had overdone it, but ... what the hell!
Eleventh Case
Islipona was great fun for them and Kit was really getting into the sexuality thing when there was a call to TR that, as the famous detectives were in the area, perhaps they could handle a little problem that had come up among the Frolt colony on a nearby island. They came to the ships to leave the planet and TR adjusted their libidos back to normal levels, then told them about the case.
"It seems there are a few things that are just a little off-center out there," TR said. "From what I was told there are too many accidents among the Frolts. That wouldn't concern the Isliponan government in itself, as the colony is self-regulating, but the accidents are happening at certain government facilities. The Isliponans think there has to be some form of contrivance to the incidents because the Frolts aren't accident prone. They can't find any reason for it, but the Frolt people seem to be getting more and more nervous. No one would speak about it. That's suspicious.
"The Frolts are reptilian people much like the Klifts so you can be changed to that guise if it'll help. That's about what I know. I thought we'd handle it so long as we're here anyhow so that's what I told Glarch.
"Glarch is the Isliponan who contacted me about it. Works for the government as a sort of overseer at the factory there on the island."
"You mean we're to walk in there with no more information than that and solve this thing?" Kit asked.
"Why the nine hells not?" TR snapped. "You ARE supposed to be detectives!"
They went to the shop hold to be changed into Frolts, though T6 wasn't so sure it would be necessary until they knew more about what was happening.
"We have to get these two oversexed damned machines back into a normal rut again!" TR complained. "That means finding something to do in the detective bit. The Frolts are NOT sexually active except for the spring and early summer seasons so this will cool them off. It's late fall here."
Tab and Kit took a tour boat out to the island, called Flipscooter Cay, to arrive as tourists. They had short-term work permits and had jobs already arranged at the main trouble center, the protein processing plant. Tab would be Hrst, an inspector of finished foodstuffs, while Kit would be Vrndt, a processing machine designer and mechanic. They would be expected to suggest new and better ways to handle the protein – which they might be able to actually do. They had access to all the processes known as well as those in the Library archives.
The two checked into the Workers' Inn late in the afternoon and mingled with the patrons for the evening. The people were friendly and outgoing, but there was a reticence behind the way they were acting that didn't seem normal. The two discussed it through the internals while they were feigning sleep, but hadn't figured anything by the time they went down to the plant in the morning. They checked in with the shift manager, received their assignments and went through the plant. The operation was, as most things on Islipona, easy, clean and well-run. The Frolts took various fishes from the seas that the Isliponans had no particular use for, processed the protein, added natural flavorings grown on the island and shipped it to Froltzar, which was short on foodstuffs due to having polluted their own seas to the point they wouldn't produce nearly enough food to feed the population. Parts of the food chain were forever lost so it wouldn't come back for centuries at best.
Two days later they still hadn't found anything except a very efficient processing plant. They were at the docks discussing the possibility there had just been a run of bad luck at the place when another "accident" happened at the plant. They were able to get there before more than a very few minutes had passed.
"Uh-oh!" Kit sent through the internals. "Note the mood. It's pure fear!"
Tab nodded and raced to the figure laying partly beneath some crates of heavy machinery that had "fallen" on the victim when "something" ran into the far side of the stack while the victim was standing in that particular spot. The plant security officer came strolling out of his office, looked the situation over and began writing on a pad.
"Get those crates moved and get him over to the medfac," the security officer ordered. "Who was driving the lift?"
"Uh-uh!" Kit said. "This doesn't make sense!"
"Gotcha!" Tab answered. "We've got several things not right here."
"Best keep yer mouth shut if'n yer knows whats on ther page!" a Frolt standing near them said. "Yer new here. Yer best keep yer mouths shut!"
TR sent that they were to announce they were empire agents before anyone moved anything so Tab said, "Don't move anything! Don't touch anything! I'm an agent of the empire and so is Vrndt. We're here to investigate what's going on here with all these phony accidents. This wasn't any accident. The security officer will go with Vrndt to the office while I'll see what there is to see out here. I'll join you in a few minutes."
"Hah! There ain't no Frolt empire agents!" the security man cried.
"That's because we're Klifts," Kit countered. "We're from Slentayll. We happen to be very close to the Frolts in evolution and physical characteristics.
"Come on. You can tell me how you knew a lift did this when you can't see a damned thing on the other side from over here."
Kit led the protesting security officer away and Tab turned to the Frolts standing around. "Is anyone going to tell me what this is all about or am I going to have to find it for myself?" he asked.
The Frolts exchanged looks and started drifting off. Tab saw one person who got far too many of those looks, catalogued the fact and went to inspect the body. He then went all over the area, checked the boxes and the stacking, the forklift that ran into the stack, the relationship between all the facilities and equipment and the accident scene, recorded everything on the internals, then headed to the security shed.
"This guy isn't saying anything," Kit greeted.
"The probe will get it for us," Tab replied.
"Hey! What?! What probe? I ain't goin' on no probe!" the security man cried.
"His name's Jztrt," Kit said. "You got it solved? He did it?"
"Yeah," Tab answered. "The boxes had been stacked deliberately top-heavy along that stretch and the lift hit the top with the forks in the only place where that section would be knocked off. Funny thing how those crates fell in such a way that anybody'd have to go through the plant to get around to the scene or they'd have to come out through this section by this shed.
"Tell me, Jztrt. Why did it take you so much time to get from this shed to the scene that Vrndt and I could come from out there on the docks?"
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Jztrt protested. "I was in the plant!"
"You'd have to use the side door I mentioned when I said the walks were blocked," Tab said conversationally. "Tell me. Why is that door closed and locked from inside? I think you can see we've got you. We were on the docks and heard the stuff fall. We ran right over. No one went out through the one place they could have – the dock walk. There isn't any way the driver of that lift could be anywhere except right here in this shed. There isn't anyone else here and no one's come from this area at all – except you. You didn't get the two hundred meters from this shed to the scene until AFTER Vrndt and I came all the way from the docks. Any judge machine has to reach the conclusion we have. You – and only you – were – or could have been – driving that lift. The stacking was against all rules. There was only one small spot where this could have happened and you drove directly to that spot.
"You can either tell it to us or you can wait until the probe extracts it. You're through!"
"I ain't sayin' nothin'!" Jztrt said. "There ain't no way no judge machine can put me on no probe! It were a accident!"
"And it was an accident you hit the crates right there? With the forks halfway up? With the crates
stacked in that particular way?" Kit asked. "It seems to me you'd WANT the probe to clear you!"
Jztrt stared at the floor.
"Take him to Glarch and to Islipona PD," TR ordered on the internals. "They'll handle the trial. It won't be fast enough for you to find that one everybody was looking at for answers out there, but he's likely to be the one we want. This one doesn't have the intelligence to think up this stuff. Either of you got any idea what this is all about?"
"It's probably some kind of thievery," Kit said. "Anyone who finds out anything ... no. Everyone knows exactly what's going on. They're scared. It's thievery, I'd say. Anybody who talks too much has an accident."
"I think it's something else," Tab said. "We'll see. Here's the one I want to find."
He sent the recorded visual from when he asked anyone to tell him what was happening earlier. TR would send a floater to find that individual.
"We're turning you and all the evidence over to the Islipona Police Department," Kit said aloud. "Hrst can use the com there to alert the local office of internal affairs or whatever."
"The one you want is called Frfth and is some kind of union officer or something," T6 sent on the internals.
"Union?" Tab asked aloud, then turned to Jztrt to cover the slip. "Do the workers have any sort of union here?"
Jztrt looked more nervous than ever as he mumbled there were no unions on worlds with empire protection – as they should know if they were empire agents.
Tab knew there was no official union because the traders guild would ensure workers of proper, safe, fairly paid workplaces through economic persuasion. Unions were perfectly legal, but no one saw any purpose in them anymore. When the police arrived and led Jztrt away after taking sworn affidavits from Tab and Kit under empire seal the two went into conference. TR and T6 were using small spy floaters to discover everything they could about the place and were also keeping close watch on Frfth.
"Okay," Tab said. "It's a kickback scheme or something. Maybe blackmail in addition. Frfth won't be top man in this scheme because the leader is always away in some safe spot. I wish Z wasn't halfway across the galaxy. He knows about this stuff from Terra. It was the normal way they did things at one time if you can believe the books I've read."
"What did the heroes in the books do?" Kit asked.
"Too late," Tab replied. "We can't infiltrate now because I announced out there we're empire agents. It wouldn't do any good to try to go out and come back in other disguises because they'll be suspicious of newcomers. There's reasonable doubt enough to let Jztrt get away with less than capital murder if he's got any sense at all so he won't go on the probe and Frfth isn't going to talk to us. I'm lost!"
"Great detective you turned out to be!" TR snapped. "Why not start acting like detectives? Why not go out there and dig out some clues or whatever the nine hells you're SUPPOSED to be doing?"
Tab grinned at Kit, stretched and stood. He looked thoughtful for a moment, then headed toward the plant. He went directly to the main offices and into the bookkeeping section. He'd already established himself as an empire agent so only had to show the credentials to have free use of the computers. He accessed the payroll while Kit went to the local banking establishments to read their records. TR used a floater to access the automatic inventory machines at the factory. T6 handled the off-world financial transactions by individuals as well as by the company.
Everyone was back aboard T6, who was linked to TR on the next pad, in three hours.
"What've we got?" Kit asked.
"We'll each do a listing of everything, then we'll compare," TR said. "Input everything into the channel I've set up where it'll automatically correlate and crossreference the whole mess."
Kit and Tab plugged into the computers, then they waited while the millions of items were processed. It took more than another hour, then TR said, "This still doesn't make much sense."
"No kickbacks in the pay?" Kit asked.
"There are kickbacks, but not that much," T6 answered. "Everybody pays about three percent into a fund that's nothing more than a bank account for Frfth. It adds up to a lot simply because there are seven hundred of them, but no one would kill all those people over that."
"There isn't any drain offworld," Tab said. "We don't have any way to find who the big boss is – or even if there is one."
"No thefts of product or anything else," T6 said. "No extra monies coming IN, either.
"I refuse to believe a run of bad luck! That was no accident we investigated a few hours ago!"
"I'm checking shipments of products," TR said. "It has to be some kind of.... Damn it! Everything is right as it should be!"
"Maybe not," Tab said. "I may have a little idea of my own! I'm going to snoop around a little, then we're going to have to go to Froltzar. The bunch of you can check on products, particularly products that're illegal from Froltzar."
He walked out before anyone could say anything more, spent an hour at the plant, then went to the docks for the shipping areas onworld, got a large floater and went out across the island. He was gone for more than two hours when Kit finally asked TR what Tab was doing.
"Being cute!" TR said shortly. "He's figured this thing out and is doing this to get me pissed!"
"Weird expression for a spaceship!" Kit replied with a grin. "Let's see what he's doing and figure it out ourselves. Where is he?"
"He's looking over the stuff they grow here for flavoring...! Oh, hell! How damned obvious!" TR answered.
"Is it a drug?" T6 asked.
"Either that or a spice that's not supposed to grow anywhere but on ... Khamzar! Next planet out from Froltzar in their system has some crap. It's sort of a mild stimulant to reptiles and has a very distinct flavor. It's called Khloovsht. Worth about two thousand credits a hundred-kiloweight raw. Market is a thousand times what they can produce," TR replied. "Let's have some fun with Tab when he gets back!"
"Right!" Kit agreed. "He always hates it when Thing is so far ahead of him. He's coming back now according to the floater trace so you two can follow my lead!"
They waited until Tab came into the pilot's dome on T6 where Kit was laying back in the pilot's chair.
"Let's head for Froltzar and finish this thing up," Tab said. "I'd like to get back to EC."
"Uh, maybe it would be better if we go directly to Khamzar," Kit suggested.
"Khamzar?" Tab asked.
"Well, the Khloovsht is grown there so I imagine it'll be shipped through that port to avoid drawing attention," T6 said. "I just wonder if the quality of the stuff here is as good as the quality on Khamzar."
"Wait a damned minute here!" Tab demanded. "What is that stuff? The Khloovsht?"
"The spice they're growing here that's supposed to grow only on Khamzar," Kit answered. "We wondered what you were doing so TR called Maita. Thing told us it was obvious the deal was in psiltripium, blood diamonds or a spice. There are no blood diamonds or psiltripium here so it's a spice. Kloovsht is the only spice produced by Froltzar that's produced nowhere else in the galaxy that we know of. They're growing it here and shipping it out with the protein spices. They should be able to produce a couple of metric tons per halfyear that they could carry out without noticeable bulk on the regular runs. A metric ton, wholesale, raw, would bring about a million credits. Two million credits a year is enough to explain the accidents. The kind of people who would do that sort of thing explains why the people are so scared. Right?"
"It might be a secondary part of it," Tab agreed, thinking. "Maybe it's even a major part of it, but I don't think it ... I think you'd better call Maita, TR."
"Uh, Maita? What for?" TR asked.
"Remember the time Thing and Z absorbed thallium and it interfered with their ability to think?" Tab asked. "Have Maita test Thing for something like that. If it missed the obvious that bad I'm worried. I love that little lump of Silly Putty!"
"Missed what obvious...?" Kit asked.
"That there's nothing illegal about growing the spice he
re," Tab said. "They wouldn't have to smuggle it out. They could put it in boxes with big green letters and take it. Islipona wouldn't charge them any more than they do for protein, which is actually negligible on something like that. They certainly wouldn't kill anyone about something like that!"
"Damn!" Kit exploded. "I thought we had it figured out! It sounded so logical! We didn't call Thing. We sorta figured what it must be and made up the story."
"I'm relieved!" Tab said. "You may be partially right. Maybe you have half of it and I have half of it. It's possible they're growing and shipping the spice to finance the other part. They wouldn't want anyone to know about it if they're doing that. We'll have to go to Froltzar to see."
"We're en route," T6 said. "What did you find and how and why?"
"I could see the reason people were being killed had nothing to do with the plant or this area." Tab reported. "The scam or protection racket or whatever Frfth is working is too petty for any connection with whatever is behind the killings so I checked the whole thing. Frfth will be taken into custody and charged with several petty crimes. Jztrt can be put on the probe under the conspiracy laws. He didn't have any connection with Frfth. The people at the plant were sort of hoping he would be exposed because of that episode is why they all looked at him.
"The Frolt are in a stage of development much like Earth when it first went into space and the people have psychological traits much like the Terrans. They have big-time gangsters and military leaders who are nothing but crooks of the worst type. They have politicians who will work with those kinds to exploit anything or anyone they can for personal gain. Greed.
"Those things are illegal so more and more they are being caught, tried and incarcerated for the rest of their lives and disgraced for all time. They have a place to run to now. They each have large private estates on a paradise planet. They are the 'foremen' at the spice plantations. People like Jztrt are their 'enforcers' who get rid of anyone who could expose what's going on back at Froltzar. It's as simple as that. Frfth was using the deaths to scare people into giving him money.
