Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition (139 page)

Z wondered if
they really thought anyone couldn't see through something so
obvious. Here was a beautiful woman throwing herself at an old man
who had nothing except a rare talent for telling a bawdy story
while Kit and Tab, both now very handsome by Saj standards as well
as being her age were chillingly rejected when they made their
moves toward her. If anything should be obvious at anytime to
anyone this was! Z lost his inhibitions about such things more than
a century ago. He would enjoy the night and would learn quite a lot
from her at the same time.

She would learn
exactly the things he wanted her to learn. It would give him an
opportunity to see if part of what he suspected about the palace
was true.

She invited him
to stay at her apartments that night, suggesting the boarding house
over the inn wasn't the most comfortable place in the world. He
pulled his cart into the house and checked inside to find quite a
stash of coins and even some paper money.

"I've never
seen a talebearer make so much in one day!" she said. "But then,
I've never heard such a fine teller, either! You are a true master
and that wins the attention of people of taste and culture.

"Let me fix you
some dinner. Have some of this wine while I order us some food. I
think you'll find it as good as any you've tasted in your
travels!

"Do you like
broasted waterfowl and watergrass seed in a sweet and sour
sauce?"

"Very much!" he
replied as she stepped into a hallway, calling for a servant. He
dropped a few drops of the wine onto the floater's analysis plate
and watched as the words formed on it. He knew Maita was
controlling the floater at all times.

"Contains
strong aphrodisiac. No damage to your system, but retain control!
Enjoy! You have the night and the palace whore to entertain you.
Perhaps you'll even learn something!"

He grinned to
himself. Why not? He didn't have to drink it like ... wine!

He sipped the
drink as he stacked the coins in little piles, counted them and
wrote the results on a sheet of paper, which he put into the cart.
He had straw baskets for each denomination of coin, which he also
placed into the cart. He turned to see Canj watching.

"I don't know
what to do with the paper stuff," he complained. "They tell me it's
the same as money here, but I won't stay here. It's of little use
to me.

"I know! I will
buy some of the pink gold from Kemat for you! You said you like
gold!"

"You have pink
gold?!" she asked. "The king wants.... I mean, I can imagine how
beautiful that must be! I don't think you'll have enough paper
money to buy much of it, though."

"This was my
first day," he replied. "Tomorrow the audience will discover that
larger sums of money make me remember more ... interesting
tales.

"My dear,
there’s something about you standing there that makes me feel a
great warmth! You're a very desirable woman, you know.

"You won't
break my heart will you? I'm a deeply sensitive person. I'm easily
hurt. Please don't hurt me!"

He had
approached her and was stroking her shoulder, then more intimately.
The aphrodisiac was really working more than any he had ever known,
but he hadn't taken much of it so was skirting the edge of losing
control.

It was a very
pleasant if exhausting night. Canj was a practiced and skillful
questioner and he was able to give her the information he wanted
her to have. He was able to get two answers he needed, too. Twice
as he drifted into sleep he saw her quickly leave the room and
three times when she awakened him she asked new questions. He
considered following her to see who she met to exchange information
with or how it was done if she didn't directly meet them.

That could
wait. He was sure he knew how this was managed.

In the morning
Canj was surprised that he was as energetic as he was when he got
out of the bed. She didn't know he was faking a good bit of that.
He really was exhausted, but things could proceed nicely now. He
wasn't quite so afraid about the fate of the people and the
city.

He had
experience with this. The real thing, too. Not just a sideshow for
the benefit of the rubes.

He hoped he
could still remember how to do some things and wondered if his
changed ideas would prevent them from working. One problem about
his next act was that it took some energy and he was tired so he
waited until he could be certain he wasn't observed, then cupped
his hands and stared at a spot above his cupped palms. A small,
steady blue flame appeared.

He grinned and
let it go out, then took his cart and headed to the inn.

Canj said she
was tired if he wasn't and would stay in for part of the day if not
all of it. She didn't invite him back, but he could see she was
considering it. The next one wouldn't be under orders!

Kit was in the
square with Thing. They waited until Tab came half an hour later
before going to a restaurant for dawnmeal. Z found he was more
tired than he thought so said he'd sneak off somewhere for two or
three more hours to sleep. Thing went to the cart, then peeked over
the top at him. He knew it had "read" the floater and would rag him
about his night. Kit and Tab both grinned so he knew it had
communicated with them through the empathic talent.

"You knew it
contained a strong aphrodisiac and you drank it anyway?" Kit asked.
"They pulled that trick on us, but we aren't affected by such
things. No wonder you're tired! You have no shame!"

"I learned a
couple of important things, too," Z replied. "Be ready to be
approached about getting rhodium gold. You can throw in chrome
quartz on your own. I know how they worked this, but not who or
why.

"I'm going to
try a thing or two. Thing was on Tlorg so ... can you two input
that experience? Tab already has, but Kit and T Six haven't, have
they?"

"They're
using...?" Tab started, but the waitress came then. Z nodded
slightly.

Tab and Kit
went to the square while Thing went with Z to find a secluded spot
to rest. Z was followed, but he knew how to get rid of a tail and
did. He found a wall in a park with some thick shrubbery and a nice
bed of moss and leaves. Thing climbed around in the shrubbery to
keep watch, then went exploring on its own while Z slept. The park
was next to the palace so it was fairly easy to explore around the
walls. Thing found breaker beam alarms and other items that were
most interesting – and that shouldn't be there. It let Z sleep four
hours, then wakened him.

"I feel really
great, little guy," Z greeted. "Did you learn anything?" Thing was
sitting on his shoulder with a tentacle around his head. He heard
the word "yes" very faintly in his mind. Sometimes he could get a
vague reading of the empathy.

Tomorrow would
be soon enough. He needed more information now, then he needed to
be able to talk with Thing. The rest of today must be normal
talebearer time. He would have to stay in character more now than
before if what he was beginning to plan was to work. He couldn't
take the chance of any slip-ups. He could screw this up too easily
and it was no joke that this entire culture could come to disaster
if this wasn't stopped, and soon.

Mujat was
waiting to go to the noonmeal with them and chatted constantly. He
asked Z, in so many words, why he’d disappeared that morning.

"I saw you go
to the house of the woman, Canj, last evening," he said. "I was
surprised when you arrived this morning in the square and was more
surprised that you left again and didn't go to her place. I know
it's none of my business, and I apologize, but all of us have tried
to even get her to say hello – without result. She spends her time
only with the important and wealthy at court."

"She is a
charming woman," Z said lightly. "She has, in fact, more than ample
charms, if you understand me. I find such women sometimes think so
highly of themselves it isn't necessary for others to think well of
them, don't you? It would appear that beautiful women who have a
practiced air of sexuality about themselves tend to forget that men
aren't all looking for the same thing. I find that women such as my
light little dalliance of the evening past make it very easy to
make a man of sophistication turn to the mere use of them, as they
would plan to use that poor innocent for their own purposes.

"Ahh! Not a
woman who can bruise a tender ego such as mine, try though she
might – still, a night I won't soon forget! I must say she is well
PRACTICED in her ART!"

"Oh, whoah!"
Mujat said. "I could tell by the way she was looking at you she was
yours for the raising of one eyebrow! Your stories mesmerize! They
hear your words and are your slaves! To have such a talent is
beyond ... beyond my most fantastic dreams!"

"Ah, but there
are so many other things in a life," Z scolded. "Important things.
Things with meaning. A night such as last night is pleasant, true,
but it has no real meaning. Canj is a very shallow woman. There is
no depth to her soul. She lives in a purely physical world – a
world of sweat and sounds and motion. It is a moment that doesn't
linger. It is done and over with and does not intrude into the
thoughts of her user again until she presents herself for further
use. It is a world that demands much and gives only a short moment
that is no more than release. It has no meaning. It is there for
the taking. It is fleeting and forgotten as quickly as it
happens.

"I do take, but
find no reason for pride in that. The wallowbeast and the serpent
will find more meaning in the act than I do with such an empty
woman.

"This morning,
though, when finally I left those shallows and found myself
drowning in the depths of real.... I talk too much! There are
stories not meant to be related. To speak of those things cheapens
them."

"This morning?
Another this morning? How?" Mujat cried. "Whoh! You...! After a
woman like...? Oh, whoh!"

Z laughed and
said, "Mujat, my dear friend, you should be with Canj! You are a
pair, I think!"

"I admit it!"
Mujat cried. "I'm as shallow as the worst of them! If that makes me
worthy of one such as Canj I welcome the word. If you would be so
kind as to inform her I'm a perfect pair to her I'll be your friend
for life!"

Kit and Tab
laughed and changed the subject. Z knew Mujat probably had orders
to find out where he went after he lost the tail and this would
suffice to explain it to whoever wanted to know. Now he must get
away with Thing to make some plans – but how?

Thing was aware
of that fact so possibly could help there. It could discuss it with
the robots through the silent communication system. It was sitting
in the pull cart at the moment so was in contact with Maita and
therefore with Tab and Kit.

"Well, friend
Larj!" Tab suddenly announced. "Perhaps if your libido is satisfied
for a few hours you can do a small favor for me! I spent a pleasant
night myself, though a few kleperts had to change hands and I find
I'm not satisfied.

"I'll pay you
well if you will go to the boat this day and return on the morrow
with those items of pink gold from their secret place and perhaps
also a sample of the green quartz?

"I have done
well with my wares and can pay you better than the telling of
stories ever could. You should welcome the rest you will get this
night. I agree with our friend, Mujat! Surely after a strenuous
night AND a morning that.... Zonn will keep you company on the
trip. I fear we didn't bring its special foods, an oversight it
won't let us forget. It cares more for the quality and variety of
its meals than do we common types."

"Yes," Z
replied. "I will take in payment the ear ornaments of pink gold –
the little round ones. I have made a promise that I would give some
of the pink gold to Canj – so you see, Mujat, she is not unlike the
whores with whom my friends spent their evening last. It is as
cheap a thing, or worse. The women who honestly tell a price are
perhaps of better character than is the one who demands expensive
trinkets."

"If gold'll buy
her, then gold I'll get!" Mujat said. "I don't know how, but I'll
get some!"

"Gold only
rents a woman, it doesn't buy, my friend," Kit said wisely. "I'll
show you a thing or two about women this evening! Kemat may have
exchanged coinage for favors, but I didn't!"

Good! That
would keep Mujat off the trail and Z did like the policeman. He
would prefer that Mujat not be around when and if anything
dangerous happened. This little side trip would have the added
feature of possibly leading the enemy to try something. The trip
could be very interesting. It was a good thing the floater and
Thing would be along because these things could become very nasty
very quickly.

Thing and Z
left later in the afternoon along the Dockside Station road. They
took their time until they were far from Royal City, then Thing
could use the floater to speak again.

[ What have you
found that makes you think you can counter them, Z? ]

"I asked Canj
if the king had a personal magician who gave him the new things in
Royal City, as was the gossip," Z replied. "She hedged, then
admitted she thought the one who called himself a scientist was no
more than a magician.

"There are four
scientists and they wear full robes at all times. The stink of
their alchemy, as she calls it, is on their robes all the time.

"I got her to
answer two important questions because she's a court whore and is
always in the palace. It was obvious she was sent to find who and
what we are. I let her know just what we want them to think.

"Everyone stays
away from the scientists. She says she knows they're evil. She can
feel their evil as soon as they walk into a room. She doesn't have
the higher sight, but a woman named Donj had to leave because she
had the talent and would run screaming from a room if one of them
came in."