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

by Moulton, CD

  *Just a theory as to how the Jornians got here and why they chose to stay. If I'm wrong we'll know fairly soon. Make some excuse for them to get in their boat and go. In the morning. A floater shows one of the Jornians waiting at your rooms so maybe you can make a deal to deliver rhodium gold or something. There should be any number of ways to explain you two leaving for a few days. Think of something.*

  They discussed various things. Z and Thing would have to find a safe way to close out the Savaraj end of it themselves if they could. Maita was sure they could contain the problem to Royal City. The problem was going to be in working out a method of reversing damage the Jornians had caused to this point.

  When they arrived back at the rooming house Root was waiting in the common room. His presence had run all the other customers away and the proprietor was wringing his hands.

  Root went to their rooms after them, asking that they hear him out. Z shrugged and said he had five minutes and that was all. They wouldn't make anymore time for greedy idiots and they were NOT interested in hearing about anymore impossible schemes.

  "I hope you don't hold Chart's inordinately stupid remarks about transmutation against us," Root began. "He was becoming highly frustrated because you fail to understand what we are trying to do. We really DO have an important quest here."

  "So he insults our intelligence?" Kit asked. "That's his method of explaining your position so we'll accept and understand it? To tell you the truth, it was almost what we expected from you."

  "All right," Root said. "I asked for that.

  "We must have the rhodium, a metal that turns gold pink, that comes from the pink gold. It's being used to make various things that will give Royal City the power – I should say energy – to solve our other problems. Chart didn't think you would understand the process so said the first thing that came to mind. Even he admits it was an extremely stupid thing to do. You had already greatly angered him with your lack of understanding."

  "So? I can weigh the pink gold and measure its volume. That's an easy thing," Tab answered back. "I do that with many things to determine those things' value. I can weigh the purest gold and measure its volume, also. The difference shows this impurity would be only in the very least quantities.

  "I know, also from experience, no two metals weigh the same thing in the same volume so there's not much of this impurity at all. No one has ever found what it is or has been able to remove it that I know of. How can such small amounts of impurities produce energy?

  "You can surely understand why we'll think this is but another foolish piece of trickery."

  "Zonn will tell you it's no lie, won't it?" Root asked. "I'm trying to explain what we're doing.

  "We want to produce large amounts of energy. The rhodium will do this for us. We KNOW of a process to use rhodium to produce certain forms of energy."

  "Why?" Z asked. "Why do you want to produce all this energy?"

  "To improve the quality of life," Root replied. "If you have energy, you can have many other things that make life very much pleasanter and easier. Surely you can see advantages to having a large source of energy available to be used in many hundreds of different ways! Surely you can see how such vast supplies of energy could benefit everyone!"

  "For whom?" Tab asked. "For our people or only for yourselves and the elite you brought into existence? You seem to be very careful in what you do NOT say for Zonn to examine for truth. We all know the greatest lie is in telling only a part of truth."

  "It'll help everyone in the city to have unlimited energy!" Root insisted. "There are many things the energy can bring. It'll help with food and housing and all the things we're as yet remiss to produce. The energy will enable us to use all the resources found around this city.

  "You see, I admit we haven't always had our priorities as you would like them to be, but one must crawl before he walks. There are many things in life one must have before he can have other things."

  It was obvious enough to Z how carefully Root was choosing his words so as not to show Thing he was lying. The lies were in the omissions to the greatest extent. Tab had pointed out to all of them what Root was doing. Still, this may be the best way to get Tab and Kit away, so....

  "Zonn indicates you are telling the truth, but not all of it," Z said. "That is an improvement and you must plan to improve things for the entire city, though it's still my deep belief that you will improve things for yourselves far more than for the people. That is more than they have now so it would possibly suffice for a time. ONE MUST CRAWL BEFORE HE WALKS, as you have so aptly stated.

  "Kemat sold most of his wares. I'll suggest to him that he makes a deal with you. One that will keep some control out of your hands. We will be very careful about that, make no mistake!

  "Kemat will go to get the pink gold, which you will buy at the regular price from him. Lape and I will stay here to keep an eye on you and what you're doing – the first part of which will be that you will use your science to produce medicine for the scabby rots. It's spreading in the city. You will produce that medicine before we will do one single small thing to aid you in any way! Make no mistake about that, either!

  "You will also agree to bring good water into the city as the first project as soon as you have this energy you speak of. That also will be begun before anything is delivered into your hands, though we know such a large project can't be completed in a short time. Take that deal or get out!"

  "I'll make one change," Tab said quickly. "Lape will come with me after the pink gold because I'll need his strong back along. Zonn will stay with you here. If these scientists are lying it'll tell you. You can send the boy to deliver the word to us about it and there'll be no gold from us – or from anyone else. Not now and not EVER! Make no mistake about that, either."

  Root would agree to that deal quickly enough because an escape pod had the facilities aboard to make simple antibiotics to stop the bacterial infection and because the rest of it was a promise for later. He could start to survey the path to deliver water without actually doing anything. He could do as he pleased once he had the rhodium.

  He agreed to the deal, saying very little about the water, but promising to immediately find a cure for the scabby rots.

  Tab and Kit said they would leave first thing in the morning for the mines. Root said he would pay the same for the whitish powdery deposits that built around certain rocks close to the gold and which was thrown out with tailings from a gold mine. That was rhodium complex oxides and silicates, a much higher concentration of the metal.

  Root left with a feeling he had accomplished much more than he had hoped. He had planned to merely open the gold purchases again, but now had a large quantity coming in, instead. Maybe even high quality rhodium ores!

  Root also made sly inquiries as to whether Larj saw or heard anything strange on the return from his last trip to the boat.

  In the morning Tab and Kit left, Z and Thing going a distance out of the city with them. Maita had nothing more to tell them so the friends parted.

  Z went back into the city where he told his stories in the square and passed much of his time flirting with the women. Mujat became a closer friend, as did Seemum. Z began using a bit of psychology when so many people came to hear him. Larj the Traveler had truly been a master storyteller and his talents were useful, dead or not!

  "I remember the time, it was down among the southern islands," he said as Thing moved about among the crowd, who were more and more intrigued by the strange little animal who could warn them if anyone was lying. It was constantly gathering more information and sending it to Maita through the floater in the cart than Z suspected.

  "I came upon the most amazing bright castle on a rocky island. I was with the lovely ... a certain ladyfriend who is most beautiful and charming. She came with me to sail the fair azure seas and to enjoy the warm breezes.

  "We expected no such fancy place and couldn't believe the materials used in its building could be found anywhere in the island group. The
fine golden sun sparkled off of the gleaming tile roof while the tropic shadows made fantasy spirits dance on the smooth pink walls. The gardens displayed a wild riot of shades and hues tropical flowers so often exhibit when the most nearly perfect conditions for their growth are supplied. Trees and vines hung heavy with the fruits and berries to make the farm stores here explode with their plenteous offerings of delights to the taste. There were many birds of exquisite colors and with voices to make the spirit rejoice. There were sparkling ponds with bright fishes and snails and unequaled water lilies.

  "Being the curious person I am I suggested we call to see who had built such a fine castle in such a place. Surely the taste and culture of such a person would be a benefit to all to know.

  "There were actually large slabs of the gemstone we call topaz inlaid into black marble floors! The purest gold was utilized to border each of those priceless floor stones! Tapestries of the most exquisite taste, paintings and statuary of the greatest cultural refinement were everywhere displayed in very quiet if excessive luxury.

  "We were served the most delicious foods by a woman who we could never clearly get a close look at. She wore loose clothes and veils, but she was a perfect charming hostess. She exhibited sophistication and a most gracious manner.

  "It was a strange time. Everything was perfect on the surface, but underneath one could feel that something was not quite right. There was an odd feeling that one was seeing much that was, in a manner of speaking, of no content. Things that were not quite there in the cold facts of reality. Hollow shells or paintings made with inferior oils that would fade soon, leaving a grey, stained canvas.

  "Here was this magnificent structure, but there seemed to be no way to keep it clean! The water was held rainwater, but seemed to have some foul growth that couldn't quite be removed. What seemed to be the finest cloth tapestries from a short distance were, upon close examination, found to have little flaws.

  "Still, it was a pleasant place in many ways so we overlooked the little wrong things. We felt the balance was to the good. Nowhere in life does one find true perfection so one tends to look for the good and to ignore the tiny flaws.

  "We went back to our vessel, thence onward to our destination, refreshed and delighted with only a slight nagging discontent we did not understand and soon learned to displace from attention. "We spoke of the place again, but never returned. There was that about the place that made it far less attractive a place once one was no longer there – like a spell that has enthralled and bound the spirit, but which had no influence at a distance. In addition, the pleasant company I was enjoying made it less than attractive to leave the place I was staying even for short trips.

  "There are those delights one find in the person of a lovely, intelligent and, er....

  "There was a storm. It was not very violent, but it was not a small thing, either. It came late on the day before I sailed away from that delightful place, leaving the air clean, but the sea filled with the detritus of such squalls so familiar to sailors. The storm was gone and all was right. The world was again a beautiful and interesting place. The air was clean and the sun washed and brightened a world renewed by the violence and majesty of nature. These ocean storms are cleansing things.

  "We sailed close by an island which seemed at once familiar, but which was also not like any place I had ever seen before. It was much like the feeling one has when something is brought to the attention and the feeling of 'I have been here before' is strong, yet you know at the same time you have, in fact, never been in that place.

  "The top of the little island was covered by large sandstone boulders in a muddled pile. They were of a dark rotted stone that somehow were greatly misplaced in that clean new sea.

  "Then it dawned on me! This was the island of the beautiful castle!

  "I noted our captain and crew were staring at the island in awe so asked what was happening to cause such a reaction. The captain explained there had been a castle on that island but two days past when he sailed in! It had seemed a truly magnificent structure and the entire crew, being new to that particular route, had remarked on the fineness of the construction and the rarity of the materials used.

  "We stopped at the next inhabited island, a small place with few people. Fishermen. Honest, hardworking people. People who live near the sea and harvest the bounty tendered to those who respect nature and the ways of it. The captain asked about the fine castle and the people made a religious sign and spat in the direction of the place, saying it was a witch castle on a witch island and that it wasn't real – any of it.

  "I thought of the things I had examined on the place and of the flaws and inconsistencies as the wise man of the village told the captain the sea storm was caused by a sorcerer who hated the witch. She had become weakened over the years and was not longer able to withstand the demons in the storm. She had greatly raised the ire of the elementals when she misused those things they offered. One must always give to receive freely and the witch gave nothing and took much.

  "It is said in those places that, though it be quite true the elementals are exiled by the arts of the great magician of old, Felchthen, they can be called forth by great evil. While I do not believe in elementals, yet there was the evidence before me. If the castle was gone the witch was dead. A boat would be sent to investigate and a large celebration would be held to thank the gods of the sea for finally cleansing the little island of such great evil if, indeed, the castle was gone and the island was again restored to its natural place in the greater scheme of things. The elemental would be appeased and would return to its place in the stone.

  "We sailed on to Larport Station, but I have never been able to decide what really happened there. It did and does remain a fantastic enigma. Was there a witch and a sorcerer? Was it merely an illusion? Do such things still exist in this age or was there a castle there with a charming hostess who was washed away when the center of a small but powerful sea storm hit the island? Was she but a slightly eccentric and wealthy woman who was misunderstood by the local ignorant people who cling to the old ways? Is that kind of thing really in our dark past or does it continue into what we call the light of our new day? Are we free of old ideas or will we always have them hovering in the fringes of our beliefs and fears?

  "Perhaps the elementals, witches and sorcerers do exist and perhaps they do not. All I can determine for certain is that the QUESTION still exists!"

  He told several stories, thrown in seemingly at random. He timed them so the maximum number of people heard at least one of the tales.

  Thing suggested he start these ideas so he was sure he knew what it planned at the end of this. In all cases there must be the defeat of the evil one and the exposing of all the wonderful things people thought they saw as trickery.

  He was able to get a distance away from the city on occasion with Thing and the pullcart for discussions. He also sometimes went to the palace where he told stories to Hisla and Narum. They became friends of sorts, though they were a little suspicious of this Larj who seemed to be much too idealistic and too knowledgeable about far too many things.

  He did make some suggestions as to how to help the people of the city, though. He had visited many places and had seen many problems solved in many ways. He offered a strange sort of hope things could be made better.

  The Jornians were making good on the problem of the scabby rots – having no recourse. They even used a device to make a hole in the rocks to let a small clean stream come very close to the city's walls, giving the people good water if nothing else. Z suggested to Narum that a ditch in the center of the streets that was deeper at the end outside of the city would take much of the filth away. Planks could be laid across the ditch for people to cross and a lock could be placed in the little stream. The water could be diverted at night to wash the ditches clean. It would cause a buildup of trash and filth on the lower end of the field, but it was at least then out of the city.

  It was a total of twelve days later when Kemat and
Lape came back into town pulling a cartload of pink gold. They came first to Larj to see why the streets were being dug up and to see if the scientists were keeping their word. Little Zonn climbed all over them, then they went on to the palace with the ore. They were met there by the scientists and by Narum and Hisla, who were looking more hopeful now.

  The robots knew everything about what had happened while they were gone, of course. Maita had filled them in when they returned.

  They left the ore at the palace and said they had another full load on the boat. Tab said they would go that afternoon to load it and would return on the morrow with it. Larj and Zonn would go with them so they could be told of all the things that happened while they were gone and could give reports as to whether the scientists were keeping their promises.

  They unloaded the large cart and headed out of town. Thing was acting smug so Z knew whatever it had decided with Maita was the cause of this had pretty well been proven. It was fairly obvious that a plan had been reached and agreed upon.

  Larj picked up his own little cart and they set out a bit past midday along the road to Dockside Station, Zonn riding Kemat's shoulder. When they were a short distance from town Z said he felt another of the devices of the scientist was close so they searched the carts within sight of the city to find the little transmitter the robot's sensors had located immediately. Z took a pole that was there for the bean farmers' use and hung the little radio on it, then they went on. Z couldn't wait until they were out of sight of the city to hear what the robots found on their little excursion. He was anxious to know what this was really about!

  The Mission of Kit and Tab

  Tab and Kit went to their individual ships and soon were above atmosphere. The instructions from Maita told them to head for two widely separated worlds – worlds that weren't on regular shipping schedules among the traders. That was the point.