Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition (109 page)

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.

They went back
to Two, explained what they had done (at Z's insistence. He
wouldn't let go of the idea there was a hidden intelligence in the
beacons) and changed its programming a bit. Even Thing said it felt
excitement in the machine when it was told it would have a
permanent crew in about sixty hours. There would be Feach medical
technicians, Ternz electronic experts and as many as twenty more
races at one time aboard. They were first bringing the raw
materials for food and atmosphere or whatever and it would be to
the individual station to compartmentalize things for the various
beings as well as to find something that would be optimal for many
to socialize at one time in the same place. It was designed for
that.

When the
medical ship arrived and docked and the trader ship was three hours
out and the University ship five hours out Maita, Z and Thing said
their good fortunes and left.

Two knew it
mustn't ever let it be known Maita was the ship and not an
individual organic being, but Two was also a machine and could be
depended on.

What Maita and
Thing failed to recognize was that, as T6 was accidentally
intelligent so was Station Two, though to a much more primitive
degree. It was designed to be a beacon station and couldn't be
content unless it was operating as such. It would now be as close
to happy as it could be. Maita would enhance its intelligence in
the future, bringing it into the select group of citizens of the
Maitan Empire as an independent being.

*Well? Shall we
begin our spiral search?*

[ Yes. We can
search like we did hundreds of years ago. Show the possibilities on
the holovid and we'll select one, look it over and move on. ]

"I thought we
were going to see if we could pass the null-E band."

*You're on! Do
we agree we go out and around to prove we can, then return? No
farther until Tab is with us?*

[ Are you
really going to do it, Maita? ]

*I've been
studying your math. It intrigues me.*

The trip
outward and back was completely dull to Z. He simply lazed around
the ship with nothing to do until Maita called him and Thing to the
pilot's dome.

*We can do it.
It's a matter of a reversal in the drift factor there on a direct
ratio to the gravitic mass of the galaxy. Now that I know we can do
it and it's not even difficult I don't really care if we ever do –
except to see if a different galaxy operates under different
physical laws. We don't have to go through that crap about null-E
space. We learned that. Two days or less at midpoint.*

[ Ten minutes.
Do it in TTH one. That's done so we can get back to our little
exploration. ]