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

by Moulton, CD

  *The worlds will tend to be much older out there. They'll have condensed and cooled a good many years before those farther in, though we were just at Library, which is proof enough there's been plenty of time for the civilizations to rise to a fantastic point, then to decay into oblivion and obscurity. I was planning to start at the exact polar point and work inward in a spiral if that's all right?*

  [ Yes. ]

  "Fine with me. Maybe spiral away and slightly more inward than the natural curve of the dome. That would meet Thing's criterium at the same time."

  They ate, cleaned up and rested. Maita was traveling in TTH14 only until they were into the galactic central sphere about two thirds of the way, then in TTH4 so they wouldn't be caught in IDmode drift and flung out from the galaxy. Z was in the pilot's chair with Thing rolled into a ball on his lap. They were sound asleep when Maita reached the polar point. Maita would've let them sleep except for the fact there was some kind of artifact there.

  There shouldn't be an artifact at the exact polar point! That was taking statistics too far!

  "What in the Sam Hell is it? A neutron mass?" Z asked. "It's certainly shiny and smooth enough to be!"

  *I don't detect nearly that much mass. It's hollow. It's not broadcasting on any waves I can find and doesn't respond to light of any wavelength. It may be dead except for some stored power. The power isn't in use at the moment. It seems unlikely it's belligerent in any fashion, but I've sent a floater to see what happens. I'll visual it from up close.*

  [ What size is it? How far are we standing off? I know you don't detect weapons or we'd be shielded. This is fascinating! It seems every time we come away from the old sections we find all kinds of odd new things! That’s definitely a manufactured body, Maita. It seems to be maintained, and very well. ]

  *We're a hundred kilometers. It's six hundred nineteen meters in diameter. No weapons-type sensory input. I'll project what the floater finds on the main screen.*

  The holovid screen lit to show a bright smooth sphere against the backdrop of black space. The nearest thing they could see beyond it was Andromeda.

  The floater slowly moved closer, then began to circle, showing nothing but smooth metal.

  "Could it be some sort of force field instead of metal?"

  *Mostly chrome-vanadium-steel with a small touch of psiltripium.*

  [ Psiltripium? Then whoever built it is very highly advanced scientifically! Tremendously if they could alloy psiltripium! ]

  "Look!"

  A bright blue light flashed on the sphere as the floater passed and a large portal irised open. A platform extended from the opening.

  "Whoa! Why couldn't we see that door before it opened?"

  [ Psiltripium. It's so reflective you can't see seams. Maita? Do you think that's why they used it? It doesn't have structural value that I know about with that alloy. The technology behind that thing is also beyond us, I think. Be careful, but I don't think it's dangerous. I don't get anything on the empathy. There is no hostility or suspicion whatever. ]

  *It's so highly reflective I imagine it's used mainly for its insulation properties. It would keep a temperature level very steady with little energy expenditure. Psiltripium will insulate in both directions from most wavelengths so it's very good. As Thing says, fascinating!*

  The floater sat on the platform, the platform retracted, the door irised shut, the screen went black.

  "What happened?"

  [ Maita didn't consider one of the fine points about psiltripium. It reflects radio waves, too! It's a VERY good insulant! ]

  The screen lit up again.

  *But it augments gravitics. We can use them here. The thing will act as a natural amplifier.*

  The floater was in a large chamber that could hangar a small spaceship. There was light, the monitors detected the temperature to be about sixty absolute. There was a whisper that Maita worked on for more than an hour, then a flat mechanical voice appeared, along with a display on the screen.

  Digital one ~ digital zero 0. ~ / ~0 / ~~ / ~00 / ~0~ / ~~0 / ~~~.

  Acknowledge. Yes ~ / No 0.

  Maita sent ~ We have a basis to establish language. It will be a purely computer language, though. I may be able to refine it.~

  They waited again, then the voice said, "This unit understands and will adjust temperature as directed as per directions from servo floater.

  "Oxygen, nitrogen, neon, carbon dioxide, hydrogen hydroxide vapor atmosphere being provided as per directions from floater. Light range as per directions from floater. Organics may come aboard four time units.

  "Welcome to Beacon Point Two."

  "I assume Beacon Point One is the north polar beacon?"

  Maita asked the computer, who replied that such was indeed the case.

  "There are navigational beacons emplaced at eight points. The ninth point, which is galactic center, contains a gravitic force bubble so it was impractical to place a beacon there. As triangulation may be determined at any point within the galactic mass it is redundant to place one there. Your organics may now come aboard. Beacon Point Two welcomes visitors. This station would prefer to offer your organics sustenance, but it has been many thousands of gorbeks since any was here. The last several visitors took such supplies as were available and left nothing in their place."

  *We have ample food and will replenish your storage if you wish.*

  "It would suit the programming of this unit to have supplies in cases of emergency," the voice answered.

  [ You broadcast navigational beacons? Do you have many other purposes? You have ample food and supplies to what purpose? ]

  "At one time we served many functions. They were turned off by Sarvengct, very sadly. This unit was placed on standby. Sarvengct said the empire was dead, but another may evolve to take its place. There is a place prepared that holds records of all of the empire's mistakes if a new force has the intelligence to find it."

  "That would be Library," Z agreed. "We found it and think we have several differences in our empire that will keep us viable. Maybe you can give Maita the coordinates for that planet and we can decode where everything is, Two – May I call you Two? It's simpler than the whole thing.

  "What kind of signal did you broadcast?"

  "Yes. Any symbolism that indicates solely this unit is acceptable," Two replied. "The computer, Maita, will translate it into this unit's designation for reference. This unit broadcasts gravitic pulses on a tight flat band. This unit will denote the proper bands to your computer, Maita, if such information would prove useful."

  The machine sounded almost desperately hopeful to Z.

  [ I don't think we.... ]

  "That would be great! We can even establish an emergency station on you for when our empire begins trade out here! Maybe this would also be a good guild headquarters out-station. All your eight beacons could be traders guild stations and your beacons could augment our own as well as be homing beacons for the traders ... er, you can be equipped to handle various kinds of races, I take it?"

  "Take it? What? Where?" Two asked.

  *That is an idiom of Z's race. It means 'as I understand the facts to be.' Z uses various idioms. We have become familiar with most of them. Please ask at any time you fail to understand those expressions.*

  "This unit understands," Two answered. "This unit has specific facilities for six widely disparate races at any one time. This unit would be able to be placed again in service immediately!"

  Z knew the machine wasn't intelligent, but he could almost hear joy in the words. Thing and Maita understood the motivation and would go along with Z in this. Besides which, it was true a placement of such stations all along the galactic rim would prove very useful to the traders guild. Maita could equip them all with plenty of food and supplies, which they would then have the responsibility to keep on hand in the future, replacing anything they used through the guild's services.

  They toured the entire satellite and found it comfortable and clean. The beacon was turned on
and all its systems checked out. Maita worked out the coordinate system of the old empire by its reference to Library and they knew where to find the rest of the beacons. Two believed they might possibly detect its broadcasts and automatically come back on-line, but couldn't be certain. It would be a matter of waiting for a return signal. Intelligent or not, the computer seemed – to Z at least – ecstatic at having someone to serve again. Z was happy the use of the station would be real and not just some make-work project. The more he thought about it, the more sure he was this would be a real boon to the traders guild and the stations would be put to very good use. Small cargoes could even be transhipped through them. Medteams could be placed on them, cutting their response times by huge factors in cases of dire emergencies.

  Then they returned to Maita to sit in the pilot's chair to listen to the history of that ancient empire from Two.

  . . . .

  The Krofpth Empire was more than four thousand grbeks (About one point one six MGS years, as Maita figured it) in age and had taken in most of the area of the galaxy when the beacon stations were built and placed. It was a bustling, busy, rapidly expanding collection of worlds at that time. It had expanded from a single world near the base of the "T" arm of the galaxy. The peoples could work together well in all ways.

  The Krofpth were a reptilian people who were evolved from a warlike and aggressive race. They knew their nature and, though the empire was held through the strength of a large military it was run in a very benevolent fashion. People were happy, taxes were not high, there was constant progress in medicine and the sciences and all forms of art flourished.

  As such things seem inevitably to go, a bit of a class system managed to assert itself eventually, but it was a small elite who treated others well and with respect. The system was based on material possessions so anyone had a chance to ascend into the elite class through hard work.

  There was limitation to distance within the galaxy basically because the Kropfth Empire was expanding slowly and to a pattern, though the stations could be established and stocked with special ships crewed by robots and a few people who knew they wouldn’t live long enough to return to their home planets. Few would go, but there were always those with adventurous spirit who would accept the challenge. TTH4 could cross the galaxy in only thirty eight years, but the stations took thirty years to construct, meaning a minimum of one hundred six years from the start of the trip. The result was very little expansion past the area of the seat of the empire.

  There came a time when it seemed everything to be discovered had been discovered. The TTH drive seemed to be at its maximum capacity and clear communications were as much as instantaneous anywhere in the galaxy. There was peace and plenty. The fact that the drive couldn't take the citizens of the empire outside of this galaxy became an obsession. Huge colony ships were built to set out to go outward from the galaxy, though computer tests showed interdimensional drift factors would leave those ships without sufficient energy to cross the space.

  They went anyhow. They could make it across the "null-E" band at STL. Inertia would carry them across and they would be able to resume the journey on the other side of the band. It was said that STL crossing of the band would take as much as ten thousand gorbeks. They didn't care.

  One hundred forty six of those ships left the galaxy. None had been heard from since.

  A feeling of unrest began growing. Trade routes had long been established among certain worlds and a social inertia began to exert itself. No one could understand how or why the decay set in, but little wars began here and there. The empire sent their military arm to stop the wars, but that generally led to violent revolutions on the worlds who had been waging the wars.

  The macroxenopsychologists agreed it was probably a limitation built into the very genetics of life. Without frontiers the race withered and died. The vital social dynamic was lost.

  The empire worked frantically to avert the catastrophe, but to no avail. It also withered and died.

  There was one Krofpth citizen, Sarvengct, who called himself the machines' friend. He claimed the death of the empire and the decadence of its individual members was due to the very way the empire was administered and that none of it was necessary. His own ancestors had established the world the Maitan Empire now called Library and his servo machines kept everything there in perfect condition. All beings could go there to seek answers to their problems, including the Krofpth Empire, but the leaders had become so decadent they wouldn't hear what they didn't want to hear. They invited their own extinction.

  Sarvengct came in stasis to close down his beloved machines in person. He talked long with each of them and told them to be patient as only a machine can and someday someone would come. Someone from a new and dynamic race and a new and dynamic political unit and again the beloved machines would find use. They were charged with trying to steer this brave new race away from the errors made by the Krofpth.

  . . . .

  That was a very shortened version of the story, but Z, knowing it was his own imagination, could feel the deep longing and grief in the machine when it spoke of Sarvengct. Now the machine would find that use and would feel needed, as Sarvengct had promised.

  Maita soon moved away from Two with the promise to return as soon as it activated the other beacons and contacted the traders guild to explain the new uses of the stations. When they were in space they discussed the old empire.

  [ It was a typical military dictatorship with an elite class. It was destined to fail, no matter how benevolent. That's something Two can't accept, Maita. We'll have to do quite a bit of basic reprogramming. ]

  *Yes. Z, you are much like Sarvengct. You allow your active imagination to give machines feelings and some other qualities they don't have, though this should work out quite well. It will establish emergency stations that will serve the guild nicely and should open trade much more widely to the worlds we find here and on the edges. We'll go to Beacon One next, then to Three and Four and so forth. Do you realize that Four is near Plamaita?*

  "Yes. What about those hundred ships that went extragalactic, Maita? About now they're probably about halfway across the 'null-E' band."

  [ There isn't any such band, Z. It's simply a midpoint and can be crossed in STL in about six or eight years. The problem is they didn't have TTH fourteen and TTH four is relatively slow so they.... Oh! Maita! ]

  "Yeah. Their own mass could have thrown them into fourteen. Maybe one out of the bunch handled it in time and has actually made it. What I wonder about is those Maitan colony ships that went extragalactic. Maybe one of them made it to Andromeda by now?"

  *It's possible. All they had was TTH one and we've proved one will work well in intergalactic space. They had the math to know they would have to spend the three point seven years in STL inertial at midpoint. Maybe some ship from that old empire and some Maitan ship are both in the nearest galaxy now. I wonder, will the Maitan desire for peace and sharing or the militaristic system of the Krofpth will prevail?*

  [ Shall we go see? We can use TTH fourteen and head out away from Andromeda, then cut back from the other side and won't even have to bother about the STL zone. ]

  *We can?!*

  [ Sure! There's no point of drift factor from out there so we can go around the crossover band. I've figured it out pretty well now and I think we can.... ]

  "Hey! We agreed a long time ago we wouldn't go to another galaxy until we took care of everything in this one!"

  *We COULDN'T go anywhere else, then!*

  [ Things are very different with this new theory. If it works anything like it should we could be to Andromeda and back in less than three years. ]

  "IF it works?"

  *Well, we don't know everything. Just close to it!*

  Z caught on, then. Thing was just putting him on and Maita was going along with it. "Oh, okay," Z replied offhandedly. "If it won't take but three or four years we can go for it. We've spent a lot longer than that on some of our other little adventures
. I think you should call Tab and Kit, though. We did promise Tab he could go if we ever tried it. Fair's fair."

  [ Arrrrrgghh! ] Thing jumped to wrap its tentacles around Z's head, covering his eyes, nose and mouth.

  "Dgu liddle muhgrukrrr!"

  *He catches on to us too quick anymore, Thing. We'll have to find something new.*

  Thing slid to Z's shoulder and bent its eyes to peer into Z's.

  [ He gives himself away too quickly, too! Let's jump out and around in TTH fourteen to see if it will really work. Fifty-fifty chance? ]

  *We could do that without Tab along I guess. It's not like we would actually be going anywhere, it's only seeing if we can.*

  "Okay."

  They decided to try it later – after they finished with the beacons. Now Z had Maita and Thing fooled because they didn't know for sure if he was serious. Maita would never back down and neither would Thing. If Z decided to call their bluff in truth they were going to have to try it.

  Z knew that Thing wouldn't have said it was possible if it hadn't worked out the math so this was an adventure he was going to enjoy. He wasn't bluffing.

  They didn't have any trouble with the beacons, turning each on and reprogramming a few minor processes a bit. One was the master unit so they found the way to reach its programs and to alter a small minimum without it "knowing" about it.

  The next step was to contact the traders guild, which Maita did by contacting Hospital, giving them the beacon frequencies and suggesting general medical supplies to cover the major types of outbreaks that may occur anywhere be kept in the large stasis pods on the stations. It could save critical hours should it be needed far outward. In some cases it could save as much as thirty days, which could be time enough to save millions of beings from certain plagues.

  Next they called University with the information and set up funding for permanent research stations to be added to the beacon stations. The beings manning the stations could call the beacon facilities home while they were out there. Then they called the traders guild and said they could man the stations and suggested a number of the uses they could put the beacons to. The empire projects would utilize one fourth of the space of each station. The guild would administer the rest. The traders guild would immediately send crews to each of the stations and Maita would place relays for the fastcom in sixteen spots to open the communications grid for all time.