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

by Moulton, CD

  There was that little extra stress on certain words that told Kit what the real message was.

  As they approached closer to the thing it could understand more and more of what all of them were thinking – even himself. The thing wasn't mature yet, but when it was it would be able to control everyone and everything on this planet. It wanted what amounted to a military victory over the world.

  "Do you think the technology you're developing here on Grandish can be exported to aid OTHER WORLDS?" Kit asked.

  "Yes. That is most definitely the plan," Givzoo answered seriously. "There seems to be so much INSANITY in the galaxy. What's happening here could end that INSANITY for the entire empire. Maybe even more.

  "I understand the emperor is doing research on a way to go to other galaxies. Perhaps we can offer SANITY of this kind to the entire universe.

  "There it is! We'll be there in one minute."

  So the thing was insane and wanted to control the entire universe. It sounded like someone had come up with the spirit of the entire extinct Immin race!

  Kit let his reactions to the force on one level influence his actions to a great extent. Givzoo was watching him closely as he allowed himself to be led, seemingly in a hypnotic trance, toward the office area and behind it to the comfortable quarters there. There was an air of hopelessness about Givzoo and Nortich as they led him to a cot. He laid down as instructed and winked at Givzoo, who almost let out a whoop.

  Nortich exclaimed there was someone else in the next bunk. Kit slowly turned his head to see Tab laying there staring glassily at the ceiling.

  Course of Action

  Tab decided on a course of action, made a report to the floater and headed back into the lake in Lope's skiff. He now knew how to handle the psy influence and how to use his mind to protect himself against the power at the same time on their separate circuits. He knew how to "sit back" to view what was happening on the new circuits so could permit his body to seemingly be controlled by that section of his mind until or unless some danger became apparent, when he would take complete control of himself again.

  The influence was the same as before so far as the slight feelings of repulsion and lack of concentration were concerned, but he paddled the boat closer and closer to the stream. He was aware when he attracted the attention of whatever it was because of a feeling of suddenly being closely observed. The repulsion stopped as he approached the mouth of the creek to be replaced with a strong sense of curiosity about that particular place. He rowed on into the creek and to the branch up which the lab was located where his psy sensitive circuits saw all kinds of the most fascinating things – that were actually very ordinary. It led him straight to the path he and Kit had discovered earlier.

  He beached the skiff carelessly then proceeded along the little lane to the office entrance. There was an extreme feeling of amazement at the least small thing he noticed along with a steadily increasing excitement. His psy sensitive circuits were overwhelmed by blinding curiosity as to what may be behind that fantastically exciting door. There was the lock on the door, but it fell open as he approached.

  Uh-oh! That meant at least a small telekinesis, which meant a tremendous danger! If a few of his own circuits were to open like that lock he would be effectively dead.

  He went inside, closing the door behind himself and hearing the lock snap to outside.

  Maybe whatever it was must have intimate knowledge to use the telekinetic power on an object. He hoped so. He was in the monster's own lair now. If whatever it was knew the place intimately, but didn't know anything except his mental reactions to its orders he could possibly accomplish something. If it knew how he was acting beyond the control he was in trouble.

  He suddenly felt a great need for rest. There were those unbelievably comfortable bunks right there so he laid on one of them, staring at the ceiling. He shut off all control from the psy circuits so he could observe what was happening without being influenced directly by it.

  Nothing happened except the psy part was put to sleep. Tab waited for more than three hours to see if some other form of attack would begin – maybe a mental conditioning or brainwashing or something on that order – but nothing occurred. He was about to abandon waiting to move around the place to see if whatever was here was somehow watching him when there were sounds from outside. He remained motionless, staring at the ceiling.

  The Klaft came in leading Kit. They put him on the next bunk, showing great concern. They had a depressed air of absolute hopelessness about them, but Givzoo suddenly made an explosive little bark, said everything here was perfect, really perfect, then hurriedly led the others out. When Tab heard the lock snap on the outer door he carefully and very slowly extended a direct comlead to Kit, plugged in and discovered what his friend was doing. They traded all the information they had, then waited to see if there would be some kind of combined influence directed at them, but it didn't come so after almost another hour Tab stood slowly to wander into the front office. He couldn't detect sensors anywhere inside of the place so went back to signal for Kit to join him. There were sound receivers in each room, but the robots could move in complete silence. They wouldn't be heard.

  Behind the bunk rooms they found several storage areas, but there was very little in them. There were power generators with completely automatic boards, furniture storage areas, huge rows of files and some other office equipment and supplies. One room across the "hall" from the bunk room had a large press and several copying machines along with reams of paper in pads, continuous printout forms, rolls and reams. The two spent a great deal of their time studying the files, particularly those about the time on Tesfort though, after a certain point there WERE no more files about that world, which was the most telling thing about the files.

  Tab attached the com lead to Kit. "That seems to settle it," he said. "Whatever this thing is it was found on Tesfort. The experimentation there mostly had to do with low frequency vibratory repulsion techniques on Givzoo's and Volich's part and a fungal agent on Nortich's and Zantoo's. They were splicing genes from the larob bush and the fogleaf tree.

  "That seems straightforward enough."

  "I'm studying the fogleaf tree," Kit said. "It grows along streams, has a widespread branch system, has large flat leaves that are almost transparent. When viewed from a distance they seem to be branches surrounded with a ball of pale greenish fog, thus the name.

  "Let's see. Trivitus gallus parvifolia variety 'Tremblens' Tesfortii is their.... The leaves move in any breeze in a short fluttery wave, thus tremblens.

  "Gallus? Oh, yes. There's what appears to be a parasite or possibly a symbiote that takes the form of a large gall on the base of the branches. The galls produce a repulsive odor which repels most pests, though the team were unable to detect the particular chemical causing the odor. It seems to also produce another odor to attract the tree's pollinators. Zantoo was trying to trace the genes that caused the galls or the agent that seeded them. He wanted to splice special odor-causing genes into a fungus to develop a natural insect repellant. It would be self-actuating and could be genetically programmed to allow pollination. It was a very promising new branch of science. This is all brilliant work. It's on a par with the things they got commendations and grants for."

  "Does it explain anything about a signaling system?" Tab asked. "What I mean is some kind of evolved recognition signal from the pollinators to the galls to allow them to differentiate between friends and enemies."

  There were a few minutes of silence as Kit read through the materials.

  "Strange," he reported. "Some of the pollinators were also pests to the trees. Nortich writes, 'It seems apparent at this juncture that the galls are able to produce some substance, possibly an odor, which causes these worst of pests to come to the fogleaf tree only when the blooms are open and ready for pollination, to pollinate those blooms – apparently without any reward of any kind – and to stay away from those trees at all other times. 'I can find no mechanism for this. T
hese predators will attack the trees to the point of destroying them if the galls are removed, a very difficult process indeed as the odor is not tolerable by any of us and doesn't seem to be stopped or even lessened by normal protective devices. We are forced to assume (Which we do NOT do in science: Note) that the molecule is exceedingly small, thus very able to penetrate. It does seem to be smelled, thus to be absorbed, through the skin.'

  "Later she writes, 'There is a relatively large amount of very complex longchain RNA produced throughout the galls. I was able to study it only with the greatest of difficulty as the odor, even through the best protectives, was disgusting to the extent of being overpowering. We must find what that odor is. The automatic machines cannot detect it at all.'

  "Zantoo's last entry: I am going to implant the entire TG genetic structure into the nucleus of the spore of Nard's mold, Filamentosa glauca exotica Tesfortii, to see if any properties will transmit in that manner. I have now eliminated everything of the structure we have shown NOT to carry what we seek. It isn't likely this will succeed, but partials simply are rejected by our injection carriers. Time will tell.

  "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

  "If you're thinking there was never any odor, that the gall produced psy abilities with those insects, yes," Tab replied. "RNA? The damned thing had enough intelligence to be able to pick and choose which bugs it wanted to do what and to direct them to do it. It was trapped in that gall formation on that species of tree on Tesfort for all time, but our scientists gave it a means to escape. Many fungi species are able to reproduce and grow exponentially. If there's a connecting filament of some sort with some of the RNA in it, if that RNA can.... Great amounts. It can grow its brain to any size it wishes. It can control the content of RNA."

  "I think we'd better get the hell out of here," Kit warned. "We have to find how it's planning to handle the ... whatever it's planning. We have a lot to go on now."

  "If we escape your friends will be in for it," Tab replied. "We have to find some way to protect them. We're going to need their help. I'm sure of it."

  "The psy power's still supposed to be keeping us asleep here," Kit said. "I think we can do something. It IS intelligent enough to make plans so it can figure things to have happened in certain logical ways. It knows about fire, I'm sure. Every world with CHON life has fires because every world with CHON life has lightning. Through logic it knows of fire and lightning. It would know on an inhabited world that fire has many causes, some of them as violent as lightning. It'll believe we were destroyed if this particular bunker has a serious fire.

  "It can't detect the fire unless.... Maybe we can both send a strong pulse of pain through the psy circuits, then nothing. Death should show nothing as a readout."

  "True. Let's make an explosion from things we find in here. We can avoid detection I'm sure," Tab agreed.

  "Let's close the doors into here. I'd hate to see all these records destroyed. There's some really valuable research here."

  "There isn't much to cause a normal fire in here," Kit pointed out. "I don't think that will matter. Our fungus has no sensors to tell it what's inside of the place."

  "No! There's both ether and alcohol in the printing machines," Tab noted. "We'll leave something to tell your friends this is a setup so they can report what we want reported."

  They withdrew the contact, closed the door to the file room, took a good bit of the alcohol and ether from the printing press into the office and made a sign the Klaft couldn't miss when they came in through that office.

  It said: Friends. This is a setup so I can escape. I was able to awaken the native on the next bunk, and will take him with me. Report to the fungus you have found our bodies and we are dead. It doesn't seem to know what's happening inside of this facility. The explosion we'll cause was from a reaction of the chemicals in the press and the copy machines, which could happen naturally if a spark were to find fumes, particularly of the ether. We will find a way – Clohk Nate

  Tab mixed the chemicals, set a timer made from an office clock and went to stand by the outside doorway. He held up a hand, dropping it as the mixture exploded, sent a searing "sensation" of pain through the psy circuits at the same moment Kit did, stopped any transmission from those circuits, kicked the door outward as though it was blown away by the force of the blast and ducked out into the night with Kit close behind. They avoided all sensors as they headed into the forest, trotted at a steady pace until they were out of range of the fungus or its machines and called TR for the floater in the swamp. Less than an hour later they were aboard TR. They made their reports en route to the floater so TR could input it while they made some kind of plan.

  "What seems to me to stick out most here is the thing has no experience to draw on," TR said. "That would mean it's acting more from instinct than from anything else. It didn't kill the pests of the fogleaf tree, it merely made them stay away until or unless it needed them. It seems to be doing much the same thing here on Grandish. It was making people stay away. Now it needs people so it's gathering some. I don't see the danger of anything much else actually happening. I don't think it CAN do much."

  "Then maybe you'd better review the report," Tab replied. "It opened that lock and it closed it. If you don't see the danger in that check with Thing or Z or Maita!"

  "But I can destroy it and that facility in ten seconds," TR said. "All you have to do is get the people out. That will be that."

  Kit looked thoughtful, then answered, "I think maybe you're underestimating it. From talking with Givzoo and Nortich I'm sure they've tried any number of things to get rid of the thing and have failed. They can think independently and can trick the thing with a fair amount of ease. It can direct what they say to some extent, even from a great distance, but they can find ways around that – or Givzoo can. He isn't one who would miss trying to do something when the time wasn't so advanced as now. When it wasn't so strong. He made it clear the thing isn't mature, but that its strength is steadily growing. I think he's tried everything he could think of including fire, explosion or what have you. He would sacrifice himself to get rid of that thing in a second so we know a suicide mission would fail. We knew that from the very first because of the psy thing.

  "There's some reason Givzoo's in an increasing panic as this thing becomes mature. I don't think that.... OH! Great exploding galaxies! Mature! Do you see what that means?!"

  "Well, it'll definitely get a lot stronger," Tab answered. "It'll be able to grow a bigger brain area and can.... WHOA!"

  "That's right!" TR cried. "This thing began as one single modified SPORE! It'll spore as soon as it matures! There will be thousands – millions of the things! I have to study everything about that mold ... what was it? Oh, yes. Filamentosa glauca exotica Tesfortii. Give me a few seconds. You recorded the whole record for us."

  They waited while TR compiled the data they had.

  "It's not enough," TR complained, finally. "T Six, keep yourself informed here while we go to Tesfort. We have to know about that fungus and about that fogleaf tree.

  "Maita, I really hate to bother you again, but I need suggestions. Now."

  The fastcom dinged, then, *TR, modify your atomic architect like this (Buzzzzz), then the elementizer like this (Buzzzzz). Put a small piece of the fungus on each and a piece of the gall on each. I'll dispatch an advanced research team from University to Tesfort immediately. I will help with the analysis, but we can work on the likelihood the thing has a cumulative memory system so it'll smarten up fast. Remember that group killed a few of the galls to see the results on the trees, which was to be eaten by the insects. They took some RNA and some genetic material from a removed gall. That's programmed into this thing so it won't look kindly on any of what it will tend to lump into the group it'll consider to be animal pests. I must go now. I'm jumping into another plane so will be out of touch for a few hours.*

  Maita was then simply gone, but both TR and T6 would have the method of modifying the elementizers and atomic a
rchitects. This would help them to understand the fungus to a degree. They would also have to do some concentrated study of the organisms.

  It didn't take long to reach Tesfort in TTH14. It was an empire protectorate world so they went in on individual floaters while TR sent its own floaters to the libraries and research facilities on the planet to scour their data for all references to either the galls, the fogleaf trees or the fungus.

  Tab came back with a large gall, then Kit came back with some of the laboratory fungus from the same mass Nortich and Zantoo had used. They put the samples onto the elementizer grids and into the atomic architect machines. TR finished its own private gathering of information, then they headed back to Grandish. Both Tab and Kit plugged into the console for direct use of their computing capacities. When they were again in orbit TR contacted T6, but not much had happened. There wasn't much to see in A Port and floaters secreted near the labs couldn't tell what was happening inside. There had been some immediate activity when the explosion went off, but everyone was soon inside so not much was known.

  "Before you go aground to finish this let me give a report to you, T Six and Maita – who is now back in N space – about the fungus as it probably is now," TR said. "Filamentosa glauca exotica Tesfortii is a small fungus, but not microscopic. It can feed on either organic decay or in some cases mineral-rich silica soils. It has a short season, is a multidirectional or sympodial grower, shuns strong direct sunlight, produces approximately three hundred thousand spores per head with many thousands of heads produced at once. It has a four to nine day life cycle and dies once it spores. Our samples will be maintained growing for future experimentation with RNA insertions.