by Moulton, CD
"I don't think it's Immins," TR said. "There simply aren't any. They're extinct. None have been seen anywhere in the galaxy for more than sixty years. If an Immin had come here among the Eacherons there would be one very loud and long emergency message to Maita and Fleet. Their experiences with Immins would make that definite.
"No. It's something else. There's something we're overlooking here."
"That's something we do more than our share of! Overlook the more obvious things!" Tab exclaimed. "Could it be someone doing some other field of research who stumbled onto this? Someone who isn't quite balanced?
"T Six is right about one thing. Robots are no way to gain control of anything when anyone can have them. It's altogether possible this is a machine-produced psy. Maybe they're trying to find a genetic basis for resistance to it."
"We're going into this mess sensor-blind," TR agreed. "We have to find out what's going on before we can plan anything. These suppositions are simply a waste of time. Let's get on with it.
"T Six and Kit will do their part. Tab and I will do ours. If you meet in A Port you'll be strangers. Remember that!"
"We won't be likely to forget," Kit replied. "No other form of communications?"
"Right," Tab replied. "We don't know who they are so we don't what they can or can't detect. Everything will be handled on board TR or T Six and they can work out something to let us know what we have to know about what the other one's doing."
They decided to try the scheme until they could learn what was happening on Grandish or until they could come up with something better. Tab would ride a floater down to outside of A Port while T6 would modify Kit to be a Bentan trader.
* *
T Six modified Kit in the medbox making empire idents while he was in the machine. There would be records entered into the entire network of the empire by directed order. Either Kit or Tab (Or the ships) could enter what they chose into the records. Maita set that up from the first with Tab and TR, then expanded it when T Six was entered into the group and again when it made Kit. It was an important part of many of their jobs. There would be nothing serious, but there would be enough to give credence to the idea Kit operated on the outer fringes of the law at times. He would be one of those lucky type who skirted very close to the edge, but never had been caught at it.
When he came from the medbox Kit took the waiting papers and computer ID, placed them into the pouch at his belt, then directed T6 to take him aground following procedures. They were assigned pad 132 on the open access area.
Kit was Clohk Nate. Bentan citizen, born on Sentah, raised on Tltle with work records from all the vacation worlds and with records of having won seven million credits at the games. The ship was shown as a Zeenan P class ship he bought used for five million of those credits. There were a few gaps in his records where there wasn't any way to tell where he'd been or what he was doing. He seemed to periodically drop from sight, then to suddenly reappear elsewhere after a few tenthyears.
He went directly to the records office where he checked to see if there were any job openings – unlikely on a restricted planet – then checked into a cheap hotel. He went to a spacer bar where he ordered the popular drink of the area, counted his credit chits carefully and nursed the drink as he talked about hoping to contract some small run to make to get back into the "round of things" since his recent "losses" on the market, a popular way for these people to say they were conned themselves. He was eventually approached by a "runner" who could give him a short contract to carry an order to a nearby world. It was small, but he could get two thousand credits for it if he was interested. That one was legitimate. It was the going rate, but to turn it down would bring suspicion so he grabbed at the deal. It would take one planet day, which shouldn't be a significant time loss. It would establish him, too.
He took the load of pharmaceutical supplies to Morft where he was able to pick up a little job on the return trip. It was only three hundred credits to deliver office supplies to two transhippers on Grandish, but would pay for the fueling for the entire run. He could then be "spacer rich" with the two thousand credits he collected, gambling them away or buying something stupid – or investing it in some scheme.
He was approached after buying a round of drinks for the bar on his return about a game of Stars and Comets. He acted like he was a bit dazed by his great luck, the limits were taken off the game in his honor and he was soon seated at the console across from a Klaft woman.
She offhandedly said, "Centime per point?" and he agreed, then looked a bit puzzled after she punched the stake into the machine.
"Er, didn't you mean centime per thousand points?" he asked.
"Why, no!" she said with a lift of an eyecrest. "Would you prefer pauper's stakes?"
That would, of course, embarrass him terribly so he shrugged and said to begin.
The game was a difficult one, but it could be fixed if a really skillful operator was at the control board. Kit saw immediately how she did it so he would wait to see her ploy, then would win the last game. What he didn't know about computers was zero.
She let him win the first game for six thousand credits. He asked for another game, but she said he was too good for her. She gave him the chits and moved off.
Kit was about to get up from the board when the Klaft male who was waiting on the sidelines slipped into the seat opposite.
"Looking for some action?" he asked.
"Well, I only played one game," Kit replied with a smirk. "I win one silly little pot and no one wants to play against me anymore."
"Well, I'll play," the Klaft said. "I'm not very good at the game yet, but it's only money and I can afford it. My luck's bound to change sooner or later and I'll make it all up. I always do. My bad luck streaks generally don't last too long."
Kit won nine thousand eight hundred credits on the first game. The Klaft, Givzoo, played without rationality or plan. The next game he played a bit better, but the stakes were higher and Kit won more than sixty thousand credits. He seemed to be literally licking his lips as Givzoo said only one more game before he had to go. He put the entire sixty thousand on the console in cash instead of chits.
"Shall we make it a credit a point?" he asked. "It will be so much more of a challenge if there's enough to give me some excitement."
"I could never afford it if I lost!" Kit exclaimed.
"Oh, you have that ship," Givzoo suggested. "Besides, the way I'm playing tonight you'll probably win."
This was it! They wanted the ship so they'd con him to get it. He acted a little indecisive so Givzoo slid his chair back and stood.
"Okay! Done!" Kit fairly shouted. "Game's on! One credit per point! Put it into the machine!"
Givzoo manipulated his console until he was more than three million points ahead. He was grinning when Kit took his final turn. He'd placed a secondary overrid on the circuits so Kit couldn't make more than half a million back. It would look like bad luck – but Kit had tapped the machine with a small lead earlier. He changed the order as it was punched in to read that he was to receive the double on the second and fifth sets and the triple on the final. He won four million credits on the game. Givzoo looked very nervous and very sick, but Kit laughed, said it really WAS more fun to play for those kinds of stakes, but he was sure Givzoo wouldn’t have demanded collection if he had won so he would settle for what he already had. Givzoo laughed sickly and said he never intended to try to collect any big win, but the large sums made the game SO much more interesting. Kit grinned and took his seventy thousand credits in cash to T6.
*
Tab came into the "out" part of A Port where locals could sometimes meet spacers or could pick up jobs for the companies. He checked into an expensive hotel, took samples of his wares in a case TR prepared and began calling on hotels and restaurants with his "proven ovenproof" glass. He sold some of it, let it be known he would be in town for ten days or more so anyone looking for top quality wares should contact him at the Royal Crest Hotel, room
201.
Nothing much happened for the next four days except TR made the glassware to fill his orders, he received a few more orders and TR reported it had caused the little quake so maybe some glassware would be needed soon. Very special order glassware.
On the fifth day a Klaft citizen came to his room to ask about laboratory equipment. He agreed he could supply certain types of glassware made to order, but why would an offworlder want Grandish glassware?
Tab studied the being. It was about the size and shape (K-form) Kit normally was as a Kheth. Maybe a bit thicker in the middle, though not so thick as the Bentans. It had crests over the eyes, which were dual-lidded much as he was as a Swaz. He had no hair, being a reptile.
"I wish to begin a project here on Grandish so I will wish to use all Grandish things in its production," he explained. "My name is Givzoo. I am known among the spacers and among some of the people here on Sendedt. I've built a laboratory to study the project. There was a minor quake. It broke much of the equipment. I must replace it quickly so here is what I'll need."
He produced some simple standard laboratory glassware, gave instructions to make all of it from the heat proof glass, gave Tab a thousand dorbeks deposit and left. Tab promised him the wares would be ready in six days.
TR reported that Givzoo met with Kit where he lost a great deal of cash money in empire script. Givzoo was using a small private skippercraft to travel between the laboratory and A Port. There was no tracer beacon on it. Surprise!
"I'm running traces on this Givzoo character," TR reported. "It seems he has a ship, a Ternz surveyor type six, sitting on reserved section pad eighteen. It's been offplanet six times in the past five and a third years so that was probably where the rare hormones and reagents came from. Givzoo is an agricultural microbiologist working on pest control with various crops. That's all I know so far about him.
"T Six is going through all those files. Some of them are from other worlds. It's tedious reading. There were as many as sixteen technicians staying in those quarters at one time, but now there're only two plus Givzoo and a Klaft female called Nortich. She was probably Kit's first game partner. That's what I know so far."
"I think I'm getting an idea," Tab replied. "Let me think it over. This may be a case where an experiment.... We'll see. I'll deliver the glassware to Givzoo a couple of days late, as would be normal here. Stay in touch!"
Place Your Bets
Kit decided to stay aboard T6 for awhile to force Givzoo to come to him. If the ship was so important to them they would certainly come up with another scheme – and soon.
One thing could be done while he waited. He could access the port's computers. Maita could get all that information easily and immediately, but Maita was otherwise occupied at the moment. There certainly was no question it would be unwise to distract it when the omniverse itself was in danger.
The following day the chance came when the shift changed at the port information office. Kit made it a point to be using one of the computer stations, tapped into the system and recorded what was there. T6 and TR could sort it out later. If there was anything of importance to be learned from those records the ships would find it.
Much to Kit's surprise it wasn't Givzoo who contacted him late in the afternoon, it was the Klaft woman, Nortich. She came to congratulate him on his win over her friend and to apologize for what could have happened had Kit not won the game.
"I tell you, quite honestly, I would've demanded the payment from him," she said. "It was his idea to play for such stakes. He shouldn't have done that if he wasn't prepared to pay. From what I know of him he would've demanded payment from you had HE won! I can't help but feel that, as he's from my world and is in fact a colleague in our scientific research facility we owe you something for your great generosity in refusing to accept the money. Givzoo has the money, but it would cramp our research terribly if he paid it.
"It's a mixed blessing to be working with and for him. He spends most of his own funds on the project, but he's often arrogant and difficult.
"May I be so bold as to invite you to a gourmet meal this evening at the best restaurant on this world? I would feel much better about your generosity to Givzoo if you would do me the honor of accepting the invitation. It would also be an opportunity for us to discuss a possible business relationship – that is, of course, if your race discusses business at mealtimes. My notes on the Bentan race are unclear on the point. We researchers don't often conduct business in that sense anytime."
Kit laughed and told her that although some Bentans would prefer not to discuss business at meals he wasn't so inhibited. "A good many are like me," he explained. "We take opportunity where we find it. I know myself well enough to be able to say the credits I won last evening will soon be gone. I once went through seven million credits in four days. All I have to show for it is this ship, which was certainly the best thing I ever bought! I can't believe I was so caught up in that stupid game last evening I used it as security. I've arranged that the ship can't be used in that way again – ever. I did that this morning so if I ever say the ship's part of a deal you'd better check records!
"Shall I meet you somewhere at a certain time? I'll accept your offer of a good meal. The ship serves fine foods, but I'm always interested in a new taste."
"Excellent! The Emperor's Table Restaurant, nineteen hundred thirty?" she replied. "It's by the main acceptance building entrance next door to your hotel."
"I'll be there," Kit replied, then Nortich went back to her little electric cart to go to the administration building where she checked his records (T6 had a minifloater following her to report on where she went). She found from the modified records he had, indeed, once won the seven million credits, as he said. There was also a recorded legal writ of "specific non-use" registered on the title of the ship entered that very morning. That would mean the ship couldn't change hands or be used as security for any loan of any kind. What would she try to do now?
"You can find out what they're SUPPOSED to be doing here," T6 suggested. "Maybe we can work backward from it to find out what they actually ARE doing here. We've found that Givzoo IS a top microbiologist, you know. We'd figured that already. I'm checking on Nortich right now."
"Maybe you have the records in those files about her," Kit suggested. "I'm checking that first. I'm also ... mmmm. She's a fully qualified agricultural chemist. More degrees than you'd care to hear about. Three full years at University. Squeaked through, but less than five percent of applicants can do even that. They were on Tesfort after working on Harrii. The two of them singlehandedly saved the entire mohk grain industry there. Harrii, that is. No records of what they did on Tesfort."
"What were the lines of their research?" Kit asked.
"Sonic and other specific repulsion methods as well as genetically modified predators. The grain crop was saved by using a modified fungus to attack the insects that had become resistant to most insecticides. The only ones that would work anymore would also kill all the pollinators. It looked hopeless until the fungus was developed. It was so well-designed it would attack ONLY the three types of insects devastating the crops," T6 reported. "They're good! They are more than good!"
"Then what are they doing on this restricted world doing illegal research?" Kit asked. "There's still something here we haven't brought out in any way."
"Yo! It would seem most likely that whatever it is started on Tesfort," T6 replied.
"Then we'll have our little dinner, see what they have in mind and head for Tesfort," Kit said.
When Kit met Nortich at the restaurant she had two other Klaft with her, a female named Volich and a male called Zantoo. She said they were technicians at the research facility. There had been a bit of an accident there that brought a temporary pause to their work.
"We're working in a rather isolated part of the world here," Nortich explained. "There was a bit of a quake. We use a tremendous amount of glassware in the project, a good bit of which was broken. The replacement glass
won't be ready for several days."
"I would think you could get any kind of glassware you might need within hours," Kit said. "I could run to Eachera or Zeezia and be back with supplies for you in far less than a day!"
"We wish to use locally produced equipment whenever possible," Zantoo protested. "We are on these peoples' world. It is only fair they share in all parts of the project."
"Yes. The research will definitely be to their advantage," Volich continued smoothly – much too smoothly. This was rehearsed. "We are interested, of course, in a purely scientific way. We are learning from these projects – learning things of benefit to thousands of worlds and billions of people. We don't wish to overly rush any of it so it is only a slight inconvenience that we have to live at the pace the native population sets for us. It would be different if there were a critical problem here, but this is only research. We can use the time to bring our records up to date. We tend to get a bit too lax about that, though everything is on the day schedules. It has to be put in the comp is all."
Nortich was watching him closely to see how he was taking all this so he decided to show himself to be not so naive as all this.
"This is a culture-restricted world," he replied dryly, "so there's no legal research in any isolated area. You're not even permitted to BE in any isolated areas. I don't care what you're doing or why, but let's not play games with one another, okay? You're using locally produced equipment simply to avoid any questions from the traders guild, then from the empire.
"I can get the stuff to you here without any danger of your being found out. It's one of the things I do. That's why my ship is the best investment I ever made. It's also why I can't report being taken for what cash I had in another place. I learned from that mess so it won't happen again."
