Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition (62 page)

Because that is
the kind of man you are, Sop thought sadly.

Intense Research

The islands
were ready and the first contingent of scientists had just landed.
Mi Yinn had come to the island with the first group of builders to
personally supervise the whole operation. She had already proved
much more knowledgeable about every field than anyone at first
expected, setting up the cement plant and firing it up by herself.
She had the lime fired before the walls were delivered and found a
gravel pit that would serve, if not as good as anything from the
mainland at least quite well. There was sand she brought from the
beaches and placed on fine screening to wash out the salt residue.
She worked along with the builders and helped with the forming and
everything else needed. She was as tireless and as exacting and
careful with even these things as she was known to be with the
research. Everything fit perfectly the first time. There was no
reason to do any single thing she oversaw or worked on herself over
or to modify it. If Mi Yinn put her stamp of approval on a thing
that thing was as right as any Kroon was capable of doing!

The labs were
soon set up and she oversaw each part of the operation there, too.
There were the same mistakes as with the foundations. None. It was
right the first time. Despite all this she was able to get
reasonable sleep for the first time in many days, thus barely
avoiding total exhaustion.

She went with
her head maintenance man, one called Jak Tall, to work to place the
submerged generator. It was a very large model and they lost it in
the current. It was their first real setback.

Rather than
swear and cry she shrugged and had two smaller units sent in, which
they placed successfully. They now had power and light.

The farmers
were placed on Tekif where they found even more food in more
variety than they'd hoped. The fishermen took some small very light
boats over the edges of the reef to find the best place to blast
for a harbor. She spent what time she could with them and was what
they referred to as a "mother eggbird" with her worry about the
dangers of the reef. She said, correctly, that this project was too
closely figured for anyone to take mortal risks.

There were
three hundred ten people on the islands including lab assistants
before any of the scientists began arriving. Mi met the first of
the main expedition helicopters where she found Hal and Sop along
with the scientists. She had tested and quarantined them all and
had tested Enn Far for the antibodies. She had, with the greatest
relief, found him free of the virus. He insisted he would, because
it was his duty, remain on the mainland despite their entreaties,
but she made certain he would remain in a position where he
wouldn't have direct contact with anyone. She wasn't certain that
would be enough, but it was all she could make him promise for the
time being. She didn't delude herself into believing he would
actually isolate himself from the people for any length of
time.

She didn't
understand her great relief when Hal stepped from the copter. She
only knew a great weight was lifted as she knew he was undecided
whether it was his duty to stay with Enn or to come to the island.
She had talked long and hard to convince him he may have the most
critical information none of them could know until it was needed.
He would also be required to make the future reports to the media,
which would best be done at the source of that information.

Sop Lett
planned right from the very first to come. He made no excuses for
the selfishness nor about anything else. Honesty with himself and
with others was a very strong trait in him. He would be very
valuable – had already been most useful – in alerting people to
their situation and thinking up the way that would guarantee the
scientists very few if any of the infected people would try to
breach the islands' defenses. Any disturbance in the islands' set
routines by such events could spell ultimate disaster. He was a
realist enough to know he would have to take the same quarters as
all the others and would take a secondary role in all things here.
The researchers were the important personnel. Period. Book
closed!

That was fine
with him! He would certainly never argue that point! He would be no
problem and Mi could respect him for being honest enough to say
from the first that he was here to run from a plague even if he
wasn't worthy of it. He would be as useful as possible in order to
ensure he would be allowed to stay. He was working on something for
Enn Far and the council so he would stay out of the way of the
team. If they needed him for anything he was there and had no right
nor desire to refuse. The work on the islands came first – period.
For all of them.

Mi was charged
with settling in the scientists so the next three days were hectic,
but somehow she lived through it. She was nearing exhaustion again
as she was the type who must see to all things at all times
personally. She delegated everything possible, then checked and
rechecked to see that it was done right.

The food
preparation areas were a bit of a problem at first, but that, like
other things, was soon taken care of by Jak Tall.

It was one of
the hardest things for her to accept that anyone could do anything
without her close direct personal supervision, but the man was
dependable beyond hope. If he was asked to do a thing he did it and
did it well. Mi was becoming almost dependent on him, a new thing
for her.

Jak Tall was
tall and thin with a determined manner that gave the appearance of
deliberate slowness, but she soon learned he actually got things
done more quickly than anyone else – and they were done RIGHT the
first time. She soon began to understand his drawling, "If you
don't slow down we'll never get this done," and "Your haste is
costing us far too much time," and hundreds of other like
expressions. He set a pace and worked at it steadily for long
periods where she tended to rush into a job and become totally
exhausted after a short period. She understood his admonitions, but
she couldn't stop herself. He was constantly giving her a new
one.

"Run slow and
steady in the long race. Fast starters finish last: Don't sprint in
a ten-kilometer race: Start fast and end slow, start slow and end
fast, pace yourself and you’ll win the race: Stop swimming three
kilometers per hour against a five kilometer current. Try swimming
WITH the current: Don't do the work with the tool, let the tool do
it. You guide. Tools are to use, not to fight."

At first she
was ready to scream at him, but she soon found a lot of wisdom in
the folk sayings and also found that at the end of the day's work
she wasn't at all tired, yet they had accomplished much more than
she would have thought possible. She could see his methods worked
and that's what they needed more than anything else – things that
WORKED! They became quite close and she asked his advice about many
of the scientific things to be greatly surprised (In the beginning)
that while he knew next to nothing about what was being done he
could quickly and easily grasp what must be done – and could DO it.
He was a natural fixer.

Seventy one
days after the start of the project the labs were fully occupied
and the research was going full throttle – even if they weren't
really accomplishing much. There were three hundred nonscientific
people, fifty six more scientific people and four hundred five
"halfways" to act as laboratory assistants. These were the
brightest from the universities. They were all tested and
quarantined. There was no vestige of the virus on the islands
except in their isolation chambers. Everyone there was to be tested
weekly for the duration to avoid accidents.

If ever a crew
brought together for a specific purpose had a chance of success
this one did. It was planned and very well thought out, was working
to a single-minded purpose and had the very best personnel
imaginable. All they needed now was vast amounts of blind luck! No
one kidded himself about that fact!

The news from
the rest of the world was beginning to escalate in the underlying
fears of people who were faced with a deadly unknown. There was
dark panic barely below the surface according to reports. It was a
thing that could explode at any moment.

It must
not! That was disaster!

Mi sent a
message for Sop Lett to report to her lab/office for a
consultation. She never stopped her researches for a moment, but
relegated them to the hours when she wasn't needed elsewhere. Jak
saved her more time than anyone could possibly calculate in that
area. She could trust him with some of the things she could never
trust anyone else with before. He was as meticulous in his own way
as she was in hers. He was another who did things himself or
couldn't fully trust the results.

Things were
getting rather tense with the awakening awareness of the world's
people that they were in personal and very real peril. They would
much too soon be trying to reach the island's research facilities.
The most pressing terrors were naturally felt was by those already
diagnosed with the virus. It was time to have their "accident."
Only one third of the people planned for this project were on the
islands, but to delay further could mean disaster. It was time to
"make do" or lose the whole fight. It seemed disaster was lurking
around every corner, a hard thing to accept no matter how accurate.
The thing was spreading almost twice as fast as had first been
projected. The projections stated as many as three million people
would be diagnosed with the plague at this stage, but the growing
information seemed to indicate there were more than five million
infected persons. All nations were, for the first time in modern
history, cooperating on this thing.

Would it be
enough? If she failed the entire Kroon race was doomed. There were
simply not viable numbers of people on these islands!

* * * * *

Jak Tall chewed
on the glamp twig slowly and looked down into the water for a long
moment. He WASN'T doing nothing. The generator down there was
working as planned, but he was sure it could be improved. It was
far too close to the sheer rock. The friction and little swirls
weren't moving in a single direction. He was afraid the machines
would take a battering over time and would, therefore, fail. That
couldn't be allowed to happen. Power failure at the wrong moment
could cost time they simply didn't have.

There! It swung
over and back, proving the current there was swirling. This was
solid granite here and a boom of stressed steel with a twenty
centimeter I-beam support to move the thing only three short meters
farther out would increase the lifespan of the generator while also
increasing its overall efficiency. Its own weight would ensure its
continuing to work and the vanes would keep it aimed into the
current. It MUST NOT be allowed to slam into the rock.

There were
plenty of steel beams. He could weld the boom and anchor it with a
snatch block and tackle on the end, then swing the device right out
without any loss of use. There was braided stainless steel cable
aplenty. He could triple pin the retainer and it was done – and
safe.

It was driven
against the rocks by that swirl! This was a needed thing!

He walked back
up the path eyeing the cables on the way, took the torch, made the
boom, collected a block and tackle, put it all on a cart, went to
the generator, attached the holding cables and snatch block and
swung the generator out to where he wanted it in the main current,
then tied it firmly down and welded the swing arm in place with a
plate that could be cut if needed to repair the generator. The pins
were inserted and bolted in place and the snatch block dropped off
the cable. He then took fifteen or twenty minutes to watch how it
acted in its new position. The entire process took three hours. He
turned to find Mi watching him.

"You just found
something wrong there – I don't know what – and took it on yourself
to fix it," she declared. "I don't know when you started, but I do
know it would've taken ten days and ten men had you made the
standard report.

"Thank
you."

Jak smiled at
her and pulled the cart along, Mi walking by his side to the secure
storage/toolshed building. He was a bit lanky so he automatically
shortened his step to match hers.

"If I felt we
had those ten days and ten men to spare it would've been done that
way," Jak replied. "We're short of time and short of hands. I did
what needed doing. That's all. It's what I do and why I'm
here."

Mi smiled at
him.

* * *

Sop Lett put
the com unit back on its hook. Mi Yinn wanted him to come to the
labs for a talk. It was time to fabricate a story about an
accident. That was easy enough to see. The situation in the world
was getting critical so people with the infection would be trying
to get to the place where, in their delusions, something could be
done to save them. This was exactly what he had foreseen so it
would work out pretty well. It was a lot sooner than he thought it
would be and there were still a great many necessary people who
WEREN'T on the islands, but the news reports were very much where
he thought he would have to do this. To stall now could be the most
costly mistake he could make. It could be the difference between
success and failure.

Well, he had
taken the time since coming here to work on the constitution. He
was well along with that. He wasn't bothered by the routines here
and made his own schedule for things. His time was his own. He also
had the story ready. It was a good one and was worded about as it
had to be. He could hope he hadn't missed anything.

He picked up
the com again and got Han Tukk, the "shoreside" operator, to call
Dok Finn. When Finn was on the line Sop said, "Dok? Listen
carefully! It's horrible! This is the worst thing that could have
happened here! Here of all places on the world! People are going to
die in truly terrible agony here. I imagine there won't be any
survivors. This thing can't be controlled at all!