Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition (208 page)

"The person
called Klist Mar went into that place to rescue two of those three
scientists. He went in there alone where the scientists were under
the mental control of that ... THING ... although they shot at him
under the control of the fungoid. He got them out of there and away
from danger. He later was able to aid us in finding something that
could well be the thing that will save Grandish from devastation by
the fungoid.

"He did not
have to do anything more, but he put thoughts of self or personal
danger aside and volunteered to aid the empire in this, as did my
good friend, Jarj Fel, here. He always conducted himself in a way
that spurred both myself and those scientists to the effort that
will result in our triumph over this thing!

"The fight is
not yet over. We believe we have found a way and that victory is
now assured, but sad experience tells us that rash assumptions are
dangerous things.

"Without the
aid of Klist Mar and Jarj Fel there would be no hope of victory at
this point.

"In the name of
Emperor Maita, protector of the Maitan Empire, I present to Jarj
Fel and the people of Grandish this hopelessly inadequate plaque
and assurances that Klist Mar's name and the good name of the
Grandish race are forever inscribed in honor in the history of the
Maitan Empire!"

Kit took the
plaque. "I'll tell you how Mar met his end," he announced quietly.
"We were working in a laboratory where the fungoid was growing. No
one to the point where it took over the planet was aware the thing
had anything like that much power. Mar brought the scientists to
the ship there, known as TR, so it could heal their bodies and
minds from the ravages of the fungoid.

"TR had a great
deal to do with the success of the mission, as did Tabori. His
modesty won't hide the fact he also placed his own life between
that fungoid and the people of Grandish. We're in real danger on
this world from that thing, but Tabori can leave and can find total
safety.

"He isn't the
kind to run from danger. I have found that Tabori is famous
throughout the empire. He's a friend and co-worker of Emperor
Maita. TRD Sixty, the ship, is intelligent and is a friend and
partner to Tabori, not merely some trader ship to be commanded.

"TR had a very
large part in this. I consider TR to be my true friend as I feel
Tabori and Looph are my friends.

"I digress. I
don't like to speak of Mar's death.

"We were
working in that laboratory when a sterilizing light beam, tampered
with by the fungoid, began to kill everything in there. Mar shoved
Tabori out of the nearby door to safety. There were just him,
Nortich – one of the scientists – and myself left in the room. He
could have gotten out then, but he ran back in to push Nortich down
behind a cabinet, then to push her out of the door. I was tied to
some equipment I was working on. I couldn't get out of it without
help so gave myself up for dead right then.

"Mar didn't
then go out of that door to safety, either. He came back in to save
me. He had to shove Tabori back out and to bar the door to ensure
he didn't come back in senseless sacrifice. He got me out of that
harness, we were able to dodge the beam and to get out. We were all
safe.

"But he went
back into that room!

"There was a
small bottle of the one thing we found that might defeat the
fungoid. That vial was irreplaceable. If that bottle were to be hit
by the beam there might not be time to redevelop the bioform before
Grandish was lost. It was developed by the dead scientist and we
didn't have his notes. The fungoid had destroyed them. The only way
to know what that cure was sat in a little bottle on a bench in
that room!

"Klist Mar,
knowing he couldn't possibly survive going to where that bottle was
sitting nonetheless WENT to that bottle and tossed it to Nortich at
the door. One second later and the beam would have destroyed that
bottle. As it was it destroyed Klist Mar, my dearest friend and
partner."

Kit stopped,
fighting hard to control his voice, then continued.

"Klist Mar
sacrificed himself so the Grandish – you and me – could have hope
of safety!" he finished proudly.

"The memory of
Hero Klist Mar represents remembrance of all that is good in the
Grandish race," Looph said. "I will see that his tribute clearly
shows that. He sacrificed himself for Grandish, it is true. From
what Maita said to me the fungoid would eventually have been able
to spread to thousands of worlds. If it ever gets off of Grandish,
Tesfort and Kuhlicht we are lost.

"Klist Mar
sacrificed himself for all worlds, all peoples everywhere. That is
something that will never be forgotten in the Maitan Empire.

"I see much in
the Grandish that will not be forgotten. You will be as honored and
respected as the Zeenans and Feach and the Mord. It is something of
which each Grandish may justly be proud. It is a heritage, a rare
one.

"I KNOW! I am a
PARF! WE know the pride of respect of the Maitan Empire. Because of
a few of our people, the fact we are Parf is enough for others, but
there is also a responsibility that comes along with it. If a Parf
disgraces himself all Parf suffer. That will be true of the
Grandish. I doubt not that you will rise to the reputation and even
soar above!

"Even Tabori
does not know this, though TR does – since I spoke directly with
Maita through its facilities.

"Grandish,
because of the heroic actions of Klist Mar and Jarj Fel, something
that has almost never happened to any race in the history of the
Maitan Empire is to happen to you! Many many worlds have petitioned
the emperor to be allowed to join the Maitan Empire. In only two
former cases has the emperor petitioned a world to join. Those two
worlds are Feach and, of course, New Zule.

"TR?"

The speakers on
TR came on. *People of Grandish, this is Emperor Maita speaking. I
am asking that Grandish do me the great honor of becoming a partner
in the Maitan Empire. It is a thing your ruling council is being
apprised of at this very moment. I will anxiously await your reply.
The memory of your citizen, Klist Mar, holds a high place in the
thoughts, respect and emotions of the peoples of the Maitan Empire.
Thank you for your kind attention.*

Kit was
feigning awestruck shocked astonishment at the announcement. There
was a silence for a moment, then a quiet acceptance by the people.
They could all feel the pride.

"Well, my
friends, we have a statue to be cast!" Kit announced.

They went to
the castle where Looph and Tab were assigned rooms, then went to
the plant where Looph spent hours checking over samples of glass.
She finally chose the glass that was used as a light carrier in an
opalescent pinkish-tan off-white. There was to be a single piece
cast to a certain size. It would be a large block that would have
to be cooled very slowly to maintain the qualities desired. It was
an odd shape and only Looph knew how the cuts were to be made. She
had decided to carve the entire statue by hand rather than to cast
it from a mold. That was the best way to get the angles right.

Kit and Tab
could do little but wait for word from Givzoo. T6 reported it was
holding its own against the fungus growths on Grandish.

The first words
weren't encouraging. The bioformed fungi didn't harm the already
sprouted fungoids. The bioforms didn't seem to have any other
drawbacks so far as they could find to this point. They grew only
where the fungoid might grow, didn't harm any other important types
of plants and didn't produce any pollutants. They actually caused
the more rapid deterioration of the rotting stumps and logs, they
would grow in acid or alkaline conditions. They would grow in a lot
of dampness such as the swamps or in far less damp conditions –
even drier than those in which the fungoids would sprout. They also
had a somewhat longer spore life than the fungoid.

Now all they
had to do was to add something that would get the already growing
ones and they had it beat.

Research and Discovery

Veen, who was
at the plant to show it to some people who had come from Klormedt,
invited Tab, Fel and Looph to come for a stay at the inn. Tab and
Kit accepted, but Looph said she must stay at the glass plant to
watch the casting of the block.

TR could now
openly communicate with T6 as there was no longer so much danger
from the radio/holovid transmissions. The light beams or microwaves
would be more likely to be intercepted than standard old-fashioned
radio because the fungus was quite sensitive to either. It wasn't
likely the fungoid could "read" their pulse digitals in any case –
if there were any fungoids of a size to have developed
receptivity.

TR took control
of some of the floaters again to split territories. The Grandish
were still sending information which had increased in volume for
awhile but had tapered off lately.

Tab and Kit
went to Koosd where many people came to express their sorrow that
Klist Mar was dead, but also to express their pride that he had
conducted himself so very well in the eyes of the empire. Kaer Peld
spent some time talking about how warm and caring he had been, yet
how quietly strong and brave.

The two spent
the first day and night at Koosd, then went to Lope's farm to take
the skiff up Flint Creek to seek any new fungoids that may have
started to grow, but the adolescents, including Lope's own, were
keeping rotting wood at a minimum. None were found.

They then spent
another day in Koosd before returning to the plant where Looph said
the block was cooling perfectly. She would use a small cutting
laser to carve the image, then would polish it by hand. Djin and
the engineers designed a pedestal for the statue with various
colored lights beneath. The statue would be in the center of a
fountain in the entrance to the plant. The fountains would be
spectacular in themselves, but wouldn't detract from the feature
work in any way – not that a thing built by a Parf COULD be
distracted from!

The last
reports from Givzoo were encouraging. The control bioform, while it
didn't kill the growing fungoids, didn't harm the ecology in any
way they could discern. Tab studied the data that was posted, then
made a suggestion himself about the experiments.

"I have an idea
we may be seeking too much too soon," he sent to Kuhlicht. "If we
can simply stop the spores from coming up and if this works as I
hope it'll do the job very well. The evidence you sent suggests the
bioform actually feeds on the spores from the fungoid. It's not
merely a retardant. Can you explain why?"

"Because it
produces an enzyme not unlike papain which breaks down protein in
the spores," Givzoo answered. "The fungoid must have those chains
to incite the growth cycle. The memory encoding takes up most of
the room in the spore so the critical energy to induce the embryo's
expansion simply isn't there without the proteins.

"I think you're
right. We'll study those things that are already growing and the
reaction of the bioform when introduced directly into that patch.
We've sent a machine out there to burn off all but ten of them.
They have a synergic sort of gestalt if there are enough of them.
We certainly aren't about to allow these to attain any size.
Another twelve days and we'll grow another crop. We'll burn those
out."

"Don't take any
chances whatever," TR agreed. "If you screw up make it because you
got rid of the things too soon, not too late!"

Then there was
nothing to do but wait and to help TR and T6 control the growth of
new fungoids there on Grandish. They had some early seasonal rains
on Harmedt that caused a rapid growth there, but T6 was carefully
monitoring that area so was able to stay ahead of serious problems.
It was six days later that Tab received the news about his
suggestion to Givzoo. He was called to come to TR to receive a
communication which surprised him as TR could have sent it
directly.

"We're going to
Kuhlicht," TR said. "You'd have to be here anyway. Here's Nortich
on fastcom."

"Tab?" Nortich
greeted. "We now have enough bioform spores to give us a good
start. We're culturing it as fast as we can so it will be only
sixty or seventy days until we have enough to treat all of
Grandish. We'll want mappings and regular reports here. Is there a
place where you can make a special test? A place where there's some
extraordinary growth?

"It would be
rather unwise to use this test in your present location solely
because it's closest."

"There were
some early rainfalls on Harmedt," Tab answered. "We have a
tremendous growth there. It's directly in the jet stream from
here."

"Harmedt's a
small continent that's partly sandy desert," TR said. "There are
only about eighty thousand square kilometers on the continent –
more a large island than a continent – and not more than a fourth
of that will support the fungoid under the best of
circumstances."

"We should have
enough spores to treat that entire area, then," Nortich replied.
"It would be an excellent test. If we can rid that continent of the
fungoid without disrupting the ecology we have won this fight!"

Tab went to
report to Looph and the Grandish he was going to Kuhlicht and would
return with a test control. If it worked as predicted the empire
and Grandish would be safe from the fungoid.

He then went to
receive the spores. TR was instructed in the best methods of
spreading the bioform. They took the time to modify two special
floaters for the project before returning to Grandish. The bioform
was spread so there was nothing to do but wait again.

Looph finished
the statue. It was placed late at night and hidden beneath a cloth,
then was dedicated and shown to an awed silence. The lights were
transmitted through the material of the piece which was so lifelike
one would expect it to begin the speech of pride and victory at any
second. The plaque was set beneath the statue in its special
lighted area. The inscribed artwork would make even that flat piece
of metal priceless. A glance was enough to show both pieces were
the work of a Parf.