Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition (119 page)

The next group
was the mixed-features one. They weren't so extreme in their
negativity, but it was still there. Strongly.

The same was
true of the last group. Every one of these people were dangerous.
It was genetic. It was NOT alterable.

They then left
the world and put a warning beacon up telling others to stay away.
It was a restricted world.

*We learned
several important things here. One is that Happ's ancestors were
exactly right in that the people brought here were inherent
criminals. Another guilt complex bites the comet's tail! Perhaps
there was a better way to handle it, but there's definite
irrefutable proof down there that their reasoning wasn't faulty to
a great extent in that project. Removing those people from their
individual society was definitely a move to protect that
society.*

[ There's a
chance that eliminating those types from a society may have aided
them along in an evolutionary sense. It would most certainly make
their history less bloody. ]

"Yes," Happ
said. "I appreciate what you are trying to do, but I am aware that
removal of this type of aggressive behavior might also have led to
their decline. No one ever conquered the type."

"We have no
evidence their races were ever conquered after you left the
empire," Z said. "You're conditioned to accept blame for things on
the least evidence while we're conditioned to reject it without
undeniable proof. Right's probably somewhere between. It usually
is."

[ Try a term
like reasonable. That should be halfway between least and
undeniable. We are what we are. Shall we go to Krofpth to visit our
despotic machine? It's about time to face it. ]

"We still have
to make some plan to keep the people safe," Z warned. "We’ll have
to know something of the programming of that thing.

"Maita, act as
the emperor. Get in touch with TR and find how Tab's inputs work
and install whatever we'll need on as small a floater as you can.
It'll be up to Thing and me to get it plugged in somewhere. If it's
going to attack immediately under certain conditions we have to
know what those particular conditions are.

"Happ, you're
going to be debriefed when you return. Does that thing have a
probe? Will it 'read' you directly?"

"Yes!" Happ
cried. "You see how I must not be allowed to have this done or all
is lost! It would perhaps be for the best if I were left somewhere
to ensure safety of my people."

[ I think not!
I'll want a little information, then I'll want Maita to do a few
things. We have a probe, but only Maita will ever read it and you
can be guaranteed no one else will ever have any access to the
information. I think we can defeat this machine by its very
programming. We know a clever little trick or two ourselves when it
comes to misprogrammed machines! ]

*Agreed! The
fact is we've already confused it. Maybe we can extend that
confusion to cause a feedback effect. The machine will shut itself
down if certain conflicts of an immediate type show
themselves.*

"C'mon, Happ,"
Z said. "Let's go get a meal and rest. These two clowns will plot
and plan for awhile. They usually come up with something workable
after I fix the flaws for them."

[ Happ, I have
one thing to say. This can be done only with your cooperation. I
know you still have very strong doubts about Maita, but I'll ask
one thing. If Maita were using a ruse to take control of your race
would you be any worse off under another machine? Would you prefer
to stay as you are? I swear to you we aren't like that, but it's a
decision you have’ll to make solely for yourself. ]

"I've made it,"
Happ replied. "I am very afraid. I am almost terrified I am making
the wrong decision, but I also like all of you and I don't think,
deep inside, that Maita would do anything to harm us, but I also
know our own machine wouldn't, either. That's my great dilemma.

"Believe me, I
don't fear our machine in the ways you may think. I have that to
concern me in my thoughts."

"I think your
machine would wipe you out," Z said. "Hating to have to do it, but
it would do it."

"But I have no
way of knowing if Maita would do the same," Happ replied. "I have
made my decision. If Maita is unlike my conceptions I think the
Krofpth will at least have a challenge. There will be hope. We know
we can't fight TAR One, but we could fight an outside enemy."

[ You call the
machine TAR One? ]

"Yes," Happ
said. "The letters mean something, but I forget what. Some kind of
administrative robot."

Happ and Z went
up to room two to talk while Thing and Maita used fastcom with TR
for the technology and instructions. Maita gave both TR and T6 the
new/old method for sending sounds and pictures so they were able to
receive clear schematics for all parts very quickly. Thing then
went to the cargo bay where it worked with two servos to build the
device. It would have to be controlled from fairly close to Maita
so TAR-1 wouldn't be able to intercept the flow.

The methods
were directly input from TR, who made very complex studies through
Tab and was adept at getting anything it wanted from any machine of
any type. The secret was to absorb all the information by
stimulating a path and reading it passively. Any more direct
reading would result in the machine "knowing" it was being read.
When the device was completed Thing went to the pilot's dome and
curled up in Z's lap to sleep. When they awoke Maita gave them some
food and asked Happ to get into a medical box. It made a second
device and needed to calibrate it carefully.

Happ would have
a very special shield made into his skull with a special antennae
system above it laying under the skin. There were no less than nine
very carefully set crystals, each in its own hidden socket, feeding
to those antennae.

They were then
ready to head for Krofpth.

*This is as
complicated as anything we ever did and will have to be done with
more care than anything we've yet done. I'm going to be ready with
everything I've got to protect the people there. The confrontation
will have to be timed exactly or all could be lost. Happ, I want
you to understand there's every chance that some, even many, will
lose their lives before this thing is completed. I can only promise
to do everything I can think of to prevent violent actions against
the population or any section of the population. There is a
risk.*

"I am willing
to die to free us," Happ replied. "I think most feel the same. If
some of us survive to carry on it is worth it. The hold the machine
has is that it can completely erase the Krofpth race."

[ There will be
more survivors than deaths in the worst case scenario. If this is
done right it won't come to that, but the machine is unstable. What
we're going to do is make it even more unstable, and that IS
dangerous! We don't know the complete programming of the machine.
Its directives could be something we haven't ever considered, but I
honestly think, considering my sociomath formulations, that the
danger is possibly very little. I don't believe the original
designers of the machine would allow the race to be greatly damaged
by something they built. ]

"I know," Happ
said. "Z explained what you are doing. Let's get started! I don't
want time to be able to lose my resolve."

They came in to
Wanderlust Island itself. The probe on Happ showed that he was to
actually suggest under certain conditions they land on the island
near the museum so it would seem all right to TAR-1. Everything
must appear normal and controlled.

[ It's such a
pity that machine wasn't made intelligent! A quarter of a million
years is far longer than most races survive after they reach space
travel – or it was until our empire came along. That time is lost,
but you are a very strong race. We all know what to do. Happ is
supposed to get away from us as quickly as he can so TAR One can
use its own probe, but we're going to delay as long as we logically
can. The reader floaters will be in position and I'm sure the
diversion of what TAR One learns will cover it. Our difficulty
begins when that's done and not before. We're all to be actors now
so let's be damned sure none of us misses a cue or forgets a line!
]

They went
aground and out the ramp. Z took a deep breath and smiled at the
four Krofpth waiting there.

Break a leg!
It's show time!

Intelligence

They stayed
close to Happ for awhile. Maita held the floaters with the special
equipment back until it estimated the initial close scrutiny of the
ship would be relaxed a bit, then sent them out carefully shielded
in null fields. There was a chance the machine under the museum had
no detectors for that one.

Happ explained
about Library when forced to by the few people around, then about
the other stops – except for the discussions with the Rsvlt. He
described the people and told the Krofpth they weren't the original
race, but were an engineered race who took their place when they
were wiped out by a plague.

When Thing got
the signal through its empathic sense from Maita it was on Happ's
shoulder as planned and gave the signal, a quick triple squeeze
around the neck that wouldn't be seen or noticed by bystanders. It
soon transferred to Z, who was talking with a group to one side and
Happ disappeared. Z and Thing stayed with the people for more than
an hour more, then acted surprised that Happ wasn't still there.
They soon went back to Maita and to room two.

*There's not
sufficient information available. These people's technology is far
ahead of anything Tab knew about, but I did get some. We were
basically correct about the machine being confused about us. Once
Happ made the primary connection its confusion became overwhelming.
All we can do is follow our plan. I've deployed protective floaters
to the areas that seem to have the armaments. It's going to be a
touchy situation unless.... We'll have to wait.*

[ I wish we had
some way to be in contact with Happ to know if it's working as we
planned or whether it's merely confused as to our motives. We don't
know nearly enough about it or about how it may negatively react in
a nonprogrammed circumstance. We're taking either a tremendous risk
or no risk at all. ]

"What does that
mean?"

[ Maita said
repeatedly the technology here is greatly advanced. That machine
could possibly discover the shields and antennae in Happ's head and
get right past them. That's why I was so adamant about not giving
Happ certain vital information – particularly about how we might
defense an attack on ourselves or on these people by that machine.
TAR One is using the logic system of the Krofpth coupled with that
of the machine. It's not a good match as you can deduce from the
way this race is frozen in time since two and a half hundred
thousand years ago. It's confusion began when it heard the first
fastcom signals and it must certainly have some doubts, if I may
use the term, about its programming. It can have no doubt something
is wrong. We can hope it is as intelligent as I deduce it is. ]

*All we can do
for the next couple of hours is wait here. Our actions will be
reactions from this point. Get something to eat so you'll be ready
if we have to start doing anything. If anyone comes to ask anything
we have a basic idea of how we should answer. We must do nothing to
induce any crisis whatever. We have to be, as Z often says, so
normal you could puke!*

"That sounds
like a winner to me! Just let us know anything you learn,
Maita!"

. . . .

Happ went into
the cellar-like room, sat in the soft cushioned chair and placed
the large helmet on his head. (While it was true the technology of
the Krofpth was far ahead of the Maitan Empire in many ways, this
sort of thing wasn't. It was about at the level the Pweetoo Empire
had when Z was abducted. It was the combination of knowledge from
the Pweetoos and from the Kheth Federation that caused the enormous
leap in technology Maita now had at its disposal. Things were added
constantly to those devices Maita and the robots used, results of
their own researches and of ideas gleaned from things they found
among various people. This machine would have not considered
improving the technology it used. In short, TAR-1 would be able to
readout or input-in whatever Happ's mind would tolerate, but Happ
would be left with about a three-day horrible hangover from the
experience, at best.)

As soon as he
felt the tingle that meant the wave connector search was beginning
he pushed hard with his tongue against the second from the rear
tooth, upper right. It worked. That was the critical time.

He managed to
turn the shields and grids on before he lost any control of his
body. He felt the machine seeking around the grids and finding the
information in the chips.

He must not
move and must allow time for the process to be completed. He would
feel TAR-1's withdrawal when it completed its search, then must
feign the headaches, dizziness, and great confusion he should then
experience if TAR-1 had actually been inside his mind.

. . . .

TAR-1 found the
set paths and followed them into each little byway. Here, Happ was
a small child playing with others. Here, he wasn't yet out of the
egg, but could feel slight vibrations. Here, he was seeing the
intruders for the first time. Here, he was in early school on the
agricultural continent. Here, he was at school here on the island.
Here, he was in the spaceship. That one. Here Happ is having
explained to him by the Mentan, Thing, that the com beacons are
being utilized by the traders guild and by Hospital World. It is
now connected directly through special fastcom linkages to the
information/ museum world they call Library. It seems everyone is
benefitting from that world. There is no restriction on access.
?....?