Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition (165 page)

"Beelzebub?"
Kurk asked. "That means 'I'll squash your slimy ass' in our
language. I imagine someone was kidnapped and tore the entire town
up yelling that so people who survived thought it was his name. Of
such stuff are legends made."

[ There's a
great deal more to this one, but now isn't the time and here isn't
the place to discuss it. We understand that you're in an era of
spaceflight and nuclear power on your home plane? ]

"Yes. You too?"
Kurk asked.

[ Actually,
we're in a period of interstellar flight and planal science. We've
established a galactic civilization in our plane. ]

"Good! Then
it's possible!" Kurk replied. "I suppose if you can do it where you
came from we can do it where I come from and these people can do it
here."

"There seems to
be some new theory that would make it rather meaningless," Ehrak
said. "I mean, if you're all figments of my imagination anyhow
what...?"

"That's old
philosophy," Kurk dismissed. "At least, back on Hades it is. It's
only a twisting of logic and is completely subjective."

"Unfortunately
it's not," Z said, conquering his fear for the moment. "It was
merely a philosophy called solipsism on my home world, but
something's come up recently. Something that's really scary while
it's also silly."

[ Are you to
the point where you realize there are all these planes we call
universes, that all of them taken together must add to zero? ]

"It's been
postulated, but nothing's been proven yet," Kurk answered.

"We thought it
was as much as proven, but now we appear to have come face to face
with the fact that one tiny little provision of the thing may be
stated wrong," Ehrak said.

"What's that?"
Kurk asked.

[ It doesn't
add up to zero. It IS zero. Can you see what that would mean? ]

"That we don't
actually exist?" Kurk replied. "That WOULD be a joke!"

"Yeah! And what
happens when whichever one of us is dreaming all this wakes up?" Z
asked. "What happens if the one dreaming this stops believing any
of it?"

"I don't see it
as important," Kurk answered.

"You don't care
if your own existence means absolutely nothing?" Ehrak asked,
incredulous.

"It doesn't
anyhow," Kurk said. "How can you get so involved with something as
meaningless as this question?"

[ Meaningless?
]

"Hah! He's
right!" Z cried. "We're back to the Ithians!"

[ Boss, only
you and I know what that reference is about. Nobody here has the
least idea what an Ithian is.]

"The Ithians
were a sect who believed that whether or not there was a god was
irrelevant," Z explained.

[ These people
have no gods. Do the Plutons? ]

"We did have,
but no more," Kurk said. "We decided they were irrelevant a long
time ago. It gets tiresome to have forty different cults or creeds
or whatever that say the same thing – and that's to kill off anyone
not a member of the particular cult. If any one of them were right
the others wouldn't exist because a god wouldn't have to resort to
such primitive, savage, juvenile methods."

Burl came in to
join them at that moment. Kurk had taken a vacant seat one removed
from Z, but moved next to him when Burl sat. Z felt his heart in
his throat and was having difficulty breathing for a few moments.
He felt as if the smell of sulfur was choking him to death. He'd
had fears and prejudices before and he had conquered them. He
determined he would conquer this one, too. He leaned forward, his
shoulder coming into contact with Kurk's. "Burl, you said earlier
you'd found some easier and simpler points for the planal
interfaces.Would you mind diagraming the simpler form so I could
check them to see how they might differ from my own?

"Maybe the one
for Hades, as Kurk is here. I'm sure he will be interested in the
nexus points for Hades."

"Certainly!"
Burl replied, taking a drawing charcoal from a pocket of his robe.
As he drew on the tablecloth he explained, "We used to place the
bronze and silver piece here, then go at thirty six degrees to the
copper and gold pyramid piece, two and a third meters, then to the
zinc and copper ball at forty nine degrees and one meter, then back
to the bronze and silver, then two and a sixth meters to the pure
silver square, through the zinc and copper ball at about this angle
and back to the pyramid, then to the energy jar, back through the
pyramid at an upward angle, back through the bronze and silver
here, then to an iron bar here at one and a fifth meter, then back
to the energy jar.

"Now, I use the
copper and zinc here, eliminate these two passes and combine them
through an iron ball here. You can see it takes a bit less control.
It also gives less resistance because the energy flows in only two
directions through two points where the old way used three."

"It is
different!" Z cried. "This first one is Martin's. I use it, but
this IS safer and easier!"

The floaters
recorded the whole thing and Maita could work out the points from
that information.

"I'm afraid
I've messed up Uncle's tablecloth!" Burl apologized.

[ No problem!
North Saskatchewan Mercantile Association! ] As Thing spoke the
English words it had the ultrasonic on its floater shake the carbon
free of the tablecloth and the static point projector induce a
charge into the particles at the same time the same charge was
induced into the cloth. The writing simply turned fuzzy, then
disappeared.

–
How
cute! Rubberpuss induces a static charge and makes weird noises.
Very quaint!–

+Now, No! You
WILL refuse to learn!+

[ At least I
CAN bring a static charge where I want it – like this! ]

Thing pointed a
tentacle at No, who screeched as a bright spark jumped to the end
of its nose.

"You two stop
it!" Z demanded sharply.

[ What's wrong
with a little theatricality now and then? It makes it fun! ]

Kurk laughed,
causing Z and Ehrak to jump. Burl's eyes flew wide open.

"This is some
display!" Ehrak said. "People will think we're nothing but a gang
of fancy cheap tricksters!"

"We are," Z
replied. "I'm getting used to you, Kurk. I like your sense of
humor."

"I like all of
your senses of humor," Kurk said. "How does that clamshell thing
work? Jets?"

[ No. It's a
kind of spell that induces a negative gravitic force. We do use a
lot of magic in what we do. Boss really can do a lot of things.
Extrx and I depend on him and on science, mostly. I can do the
teleportation, but it's far too dangerous to use. Extrx can use the
spell Martin used to stop the sun, but not on such a scale. ]

Ehrak searched
Tom's memory, found the light bending spell and suddenly
disappeared.

"Did he
teleport out of here!?" Kurk asked, awed.

"No, I'm still
here," Ehrak answered and was suddenly back in the chair. "I simply
put up a tensor field around myself. It caused the light to bend
around me so you saw what was behind me instead of me."

"That's the
displacement spell?" Burl asked. "You do it very well. Kene was
good at that one."

Z thought, then
quoted from the sorcerer Tee's memory, which he had programmed into
him long ago: "Use the meditation spell to cause the air near you
to move in a circle, then the holding spell to stop it from moving.
You must quickly release the air and take the light, thus the light
will move along the place where the air is just beginning again to
move. The light will cause the air to move in one direction. You
then move the air close to your body, returning it to the point
directly behind. Once the flow is established the light will cause
the air to become shiny. The light will move along the outside of
the shining air.

"Be cautioned!
You cannot see out of this spell!

"Go ahead and
try it. It becomes easier very quickly. Even Kurk can do that one
with a little practice. He basically has to learn the meditation
spell."

"It's magic,
then?" Kurk asked.

[ Partly. It's
also partly science. The magic is a minimal psy talent that almost
anyone can develop. ]

Burl became a
bit fuzzy, then was back. He thought a moment, then tried the spell
again. He disappeared for a few seconds. "I can see how it's done.
I'll practice. It might be a good thing to know sometime."

They talked
about a few other things for another hour, then there was a stir
outside. Fale and another Frome ran into the inn and to the
table.

"Friend Boss!"
Fale gasped. "Zhere iss a mezzage from King Dihn! Zhere iss zum
gread bad drouble on zhe dark condinend! King Dihn wishez zhat zhu
come do Loosda! Iss dizasder!"

"Trouble? What
kind of trouble?" Z asked, standing. "What do you mean,
disaster?"

"Zome zorzerer
zhere! Maybe zame when Kene iss in Soudboind!" Fale cried. "Maybe
iss odderworlderz!"

"Come on,
gang!" Z cried. "Th ... Maybe! Call down the clamshell! Extrx!
Golems! Let's move it! Now!"

"May I come
with you?" Kurk asked.

[ Certainly! We
may need your help, but please forgive us if we speak in our native
languages. We think better and faster that way. ]

It switched to
Maitan.

[ Z, Ehrak – it
can't be Immins! There are no more Immins! What is all this? Maita!
Get floaters over there! Fast! ]

*They're
halfway there. You'll go directly to Loosta in the clamshell
floater. Maybe you can let Kurk in on part of the secret on the
way. Z! I'll send personal floaters to meet you in the pass when
you leave Loosta. The golems are to come directly back here. Tell
the people something. Tell the Fromes the golems will give them any
messages directly from you. They can come to town if necessary. The
Fromes can stay at the castle if they like.*

Kurk was
staring at Thing, hearing the very different voice coming from
it.

[ Radio. I'll
explain later who that was and what may be happening. ]

"Fromes!" Z
called. "Fale, you and your friends can go to the castle whenever
you want. I'll leave these golems there to relay messages. I can
far-speak through them from anywhere on Tlorg. The castle will take
care of your needs. Stay in touch. We may need your help. We may
need the Targs, too. We'll let you know."

Ehrak grabbed
the cushions from the clamshell and threw most of them out to make
room for Kurk. The group quickly climbed aboard, the lid slammed
shut and the floater headed at speed for Loosta.

"This is faster
than a jet and there isn't any G-pressure," Kurk said. "If this is
magic it's a hell of a lot better than science!"

[ Gravity
shields gravity. We use gravitics to make us part of the structure
of the floater so inertia is relegated to the surface parts, which
are designed for it. As I'm sure you know by now we aren't from
another plane. We're from another world. Several worlds. We
represent the Maitan Empire, which is the one that came when Kene's
Pluton friend, Wruk, called us to remove the Immin ship. No one is
legally to contact this planet until they develop spaceflight on
their own. The Immins were galactic criminals. They no longer exist
so we have no idea who else is here. There's a restrictor satellite
that's supposed to detect anyone coming in. It was probably some
kind of detector that was placed by whoever's here that brought
them out. ]

*I surmise
we're not seen as representatives of the empire, but are believed
to be other poachers or whatever. They want us off and out of here
fearing we could bring the empire into it. They'll probably see it
as necessary to kill us off to protect themselves.*

"But who are
they, Maita?" Z asked.

*I wish I knew!
I know of no one who would come to Tlorg, of all places, because
the story of this place is so well known!*

“
Excuse
me," Kurk said. "You've mentioned the Maitan Empire several times
and you call the person on the radio Maita. That's one powerful
implication!"

[ Kurk, Emperor
Maita. Maita, Kurk. ]

"We're almost
at Loosta," Z announced. "Kurk, it's important that no one knows
about this. We came here once before when the magician Martin made
Tlorg seem to disappear. We're known for the things we tried to do
here. Maita and the rest of us are good friends and Maita IS the
emperor of the galactic empire, but machines run most of that. We
came here to see how our influences were working out.

"I think this
is one culture that would benefit from being taken right into the
empire. I know the empire would benefit because we'd also have all
of you peoples from other planes. It would be a very exciting
exchange. Anything that adds diverse peoples to the empire always
proves positive. Otherplaners would certainly be a new
diversity!

"We knew
nothing of any others here. This is as much news to us as it is to
you. We have very strict laws about anyone who would interfere with
an evolving culture."

*Give us a
chance to work this out, please, Kurk.*

"You're at the
castle?" Kurk asked.

[ Maita's ship
is beneath the castle, which is mostly spun fiberglass with a gold
coating. We meant to stay here for only several days, make new
friends and learn what's happening on Tlorg. We were also keeping
the promise to return here. We made that promise the first time we
came and I made it again when I came to aid Kene since then. ]

"It's just too
bad the magic isn't real," Kurk said. "You can't have
everything!"

"Some of the
magic is very real," Z corrected. "We can't explain much of it even
taking into consideration the psy powers of a few of these
people."

[ We've
arrived. We must stay in character, Kurk. That's vitally important.
]

"I understand,"
Kurk replied. "I'm just a curious demon along for a ride and to aid
a wizard and his other demons. I've seen the good you've done here.
Have no fear I'll let anything slip."