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    Flight of the Maita Book 26: Just Normal Business
    Flight of the Maita Book 26: Just Normal Business
    Flight of the Maita Book 26: Just Normal Business
    Ebook231 pages3 hours

    Flight of the Maita Book 26: Just Normal Business

    By CD Moulton

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    About this ebook

    Tab and Kit go to a planet where there is some kind of strange interference. They find there is a fungus that has developed a psy ability. It threatens that planet. If it can get spores off of that world, it could threaten the empire.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCD Moulton
    Release dateDec 11, 2014
    ISBN9781311158864
    Flight of the Maita Book 26: Just Normal Business
    Author

    CD Moulton

    Born in Florida, travelled the world as a rock guitarist with some big names in the late sixties, early seventies. Been everything from a high steel worker to longshoreman, from musician to bar owner, and much more. Educated in botany and genetics. Now living in paradise (Panamá!)

    Read more from Cd Moulton

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      Book preview

      Flight of the Maita Book 26 - CD Moulton

      Flight of the Maita

      Book 26

      Just Normal Business

      © 1988, 2012 & 2016 by C. D. Moulton

      all rights reserved: no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, either electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any other information retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright holder/publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

      Tab and Kit go to Grandish to investigate possible cultural interference. They discover an intelligent fungoid with psy powers that could do enormous damage to the empire.

      Critic comment

      Rather a strange tale. It has elements I generally don’t care for, such as psy powers. I do like the exploration of how a plant might think and the secondary story is fair if a bit too goody-goody. Despite its faults it is a good book.

      – IA Rtng: ***½

      Contents

      Prologue

      Chapter one

      Chapter two

      Chapter three

      Chapter four

      Chapter five

      Chapter six

      Chapter seven

      Chapter eight

      Chapter nine

      Chapter ten

      Chapter eleven

      Chapter twelve

      Epilogue

      About the author

      CD was born in Lakeland, Florida, in 1938. He is educated in genetics and botany. He has traveled over much of the world, particularly when he was in music as a rock rhythm guitarist with some well-known bands in the late sixties and early seventies. He has worked as a high steel worker and as a longshoreman, clerk, orchidist, bar owner, salvage yard manager and landscaper – among other things.

      CD began writing fiction in 1984 and has more than 300 books published as of 3/15/16 in SciFi, murder, orchid culture and various other fields.

      He now resides in Puerto Armuelles David and Gualaca, Chiriqui, Panamá, where he continues research into epiphytic plants and plays music with friends. He loves the culture of the indigenous people and counts a majority of his closer friends among that group. Several have adopted him as their father. He funds those he can afford through the universities where they have all excelled. The Indios are very intelligent people, they are simply too poor (in material things and money. Culturally, they are very wealthy) to pursue higher education.

      CD loves Panamá and the people, despite horrendous experiences (Free e-book; Fading Paradise). He plans to spend the rest of his life in the paradise that is Panamá

      - Estrelita Suarez V. de Jaramillo – 3/15/2016

      CD is involved in research of natural cancer cure at this time. It has proven effective in all cases, so far. It is based on a plant that has been in use for thousands of years, is safe, available, and cheap. He has studied botany, and was cured of a serious lymphoma with use of the plant, Artemisia annua.

      Information about this cure is free on the FaceBook group, Artemisia Cancer Cure plus. CD asks only that all who try it please report on its effectiveness on that group.

      Just Normal Business

      Prologue

      Tab (Tabori R. DeSixtee), robot detective extraordinaire for the Emperor Maita of the Maitan Empire, a galaxy wide conglomeration of free traders (Maita is also a machine, but no one knows that, except for its crew, the Zulians, Tab, TRD-60, Kit and T6. And a few here and there) entered his ship, TRD-60 (Better known simply as TR) to find Kit, also a robot detective for Maita, waiting there for him.

      TR is a part of Tab as T6 is a part of Kit. They share the same brain when they so desire, are always in close communication through special radio/gravitic circuitry, but each also has its own distinct personality. The two detectives and their ships are independently intelligent, having been made.... But that's another story.

      Tab is formed like a Swaz, in the basic shape (K-form) of the Kheth (Which is Kit's shape), the Tlorgians (Where Maita was at the moment) or the Terrans. The difference was that, as the Swaz are amphibians, he had a few odd fins, gills and lacked hair.

      Kit is indistinguishable from a Kheth, who are a reptilian people, though much in the form of others named. The robots are made to be able to mimic all functions of the organics they so closely resemble. Very few ever guess they are machines.

      TR and T6 have machinery on board that can change the robots to resemble many other types of lifeforms when necessary along with an ability to disguise themselves in some ways.

      While the two detectives and their ships can and do communicate silently through the built-ins they prefer to remain in the habit of using vocalizations most of the time. That's primarily so they won't forget at the wrong time and give their true natures away.

      They each have their own sense of humor, too. Maita has a very good sense of humor and strongly believes in the value of such traits when dealing with organics.

      Hey, Boss! TR greeted as Tab came into the pilot's dome. "Maita called. I'm going to be needed for a few hours on Tlorg so you two can stay on T Six 'til I'm back.

      "Maita also says the entire omniverse is in jeopardy because of those magicians on Tlorg (Vacations Don't Always Work Out) or something such. I thought it was a joke, but Thing says it's all too real. (Thing is a Mentan, a small being with tentacles, is a member of the regular crew" aboard Maita and is one of the most intelligent beings known.) (Well, the Mentans.)

      We can handle this here, Tab replied. "Kit and I'll be on Grandish disguised as natives. T Six can stay under the ocean on call. You can return to orbit until we find out what's going on there. This planet seems to be the focus for some kind of deal. We have to find out what it is.

      That'll take awhile I suppose so we'll play it as we find it.

      Let's make some kind of plan, Kit suggested. T Six, run down what we have to know.

      T6 can use the speakers on TR as TR can use those on T6. There are also speakers on various floaters carried by Maita and the other ships any of them can use.

      It answered, "Grandish is at a nexus for trade in this area. There isn't much known about most of the world as more than half of it's agricultural and doesn't concern itself with space travel and empire. The world is restricted by their own insistence. It was brought into the empire with a hegemonous group of worlds the Eacherons contacted before coming into the Maitan Empire Traders Guild. That's the only reason such a basically primitive world is even on a trade run. The people are mostly mammalian, look much like Bentans but with more color and are fairly docile most of the time, though they can act quite violently if provoked.

      "There's some kind of interference with their culture. We see the results, but not the cause. We have to find the cause and motivations behind it. My suggestion is to, as you noted, disguise yourselves as natives. The society's mostly in an early industrial age on all except the one continent where the spacers come. The transhippers there are based on a large peninsula to the south and east so few of the people are influenced by them.

      "There's not too much travel yet so we can set you up as businessmen in any number of areas. There's good communication on any given continent, but not so fast or good between them.

      "There are six main land masses with a lot of islands in various areas. More than two thirds of the planet is water – halogen salt water – while the two large continents we're most concerned with are those on the equatorial belt.

      "The present money's based on empire standard switched from the money of the old hegemony of worlds that was here before Maita contacted the Eacherons. I can supply all the papers, script or whatever you may need.

      Ain't I getting good at this detective crud?

      You have the language – make it idiomatic in the vein of Klormedt, TR said. "You can be from a town called Misd. T Six can give you the intimate details about the place. It read a native from there (The ships had floaters with helmets to record the language, customs and any other things the user of the headgear knew. The stored information could then be programmed into Tab, Kit or anyone else in Maita’s crew. It was immediately thereafter usable by the recipient), so you can appear knowledgeable.

      Common names for these people are, for Tab, Klist Mar and for Kit, Jarj Fel. You'll appear on the continent called Sendedt at the port town of Koosd. There's a trench forty kilometers offshore where T Six can wait. It's over two kilometers deep there so this should be a safe way for T Six to be close if needed.

      Got it all figured out, have you? Tab asked.

      "Somebody has to think of these things!" TR shot back.

      Stick it in your moder! Tab snapped.

      Okay! While you're aboard! TR replied.

      I thought you were supposed to be heading out to save the universe? Kit said.

      "The omniverse! Sheesh! You clowns never listen!" TR snapped sarcastically.

      Eh? What? Kit shot back.

      Will you mechanical morons stuff it with the cutesies for a minute? T6 inserted. "If you save the omniverse we'll save these people. All this childish sniping won't solve anyone's problems!

      Now, do you want to snipe at one another or do something worthwhile?

      I vote to snipe! TR said quickly.

      Me, too! Kit put in.

      Vote to snipe! Carried! Tab added.

      Seeing as you're all aboard TR anyhow, why not experiment with landing in a black hole? T6 asked. I can handle this bit here by myself.

      Hmmm. That sounds like an interesting sort of experiment, Tab replied. Maybe we could come in at a sharp angle to reduce the bump at contact?

      They kept the chatter up while they shifted to T6 for the trip to Grandish. TR soon left for Tlorg.

      Well, it looks like this could be an interesting one, Kit said. What do you see as a persona for each of us?

      "Z (The Terran member of Maita's crew and a close friend of the robots) and I handled a thing once where I was an obnoxious inventor and he was an arrogant sort of businessman – well, not arrogant with the workers, but definitely with the bosses. I swore a lot. T Six has the records of that.

      We can be that type of team. It'll get us into the major parts of the business community here and will give us an inside shot at meeting the kinds of people we'll have to meet – and should lead us to the ones causing the trouble. We can see what the deal is, then work our way in. We can modify the personalities if we think something else might work better.

      There was a short pause while T6 programmed the experiences of Z and Tab into Kit, then Kit nodded and said, Might as well get started. Let's go!

      Chapter one

      The floaters carried the two robots from the sea into the forest just to the north of the little town called Koosd. They were programmed with the language and customs of the people and were modified to where there was virtually no way anyone could detect they weren't born and raised right there on the world of Grandish. They were carrying papers that would show them to be from the nearest continent, Klormedt. Even the town Misd had been imprinted in detail on their memories including names and descriptions – perfect photographs, in fact – of everyone the three people the probe had used from that town had known.

      It was less than two hours until dawn, which had been shown by long experience to be the best time to arrive in any new place. They would wait until the early light to enter the town with stories of their travels.

      The floaters were emptied of money, luggage and other possibly necessary impedimenta, then returned to T6, who was forty four kilometers offshore in more than two kilometers of water where it rested comfortably on the bottom. No one on this world could find it there even if they had any small inkling of its existence.

      Tab sat on a log to wait while Kit explored among the closer trees. When the sun was rising enough for it to be logical they had been walking along the road for a few kilometers they moved out toward the town. They passed neat farms as they neared the town, which also seemed to be exceptionally clean. There were people working near the farmhouses who would wave a greeting as they passed.

      The first place they located upon entering the town, also something learned through experience, was the local inn for a dawnmeal. Small towns on most worlds always had such a place where the local gossip would bring them up to date on what was important to the natives. Uncommon occurrences would also be the subject under discussion. The simple fact that strangers might bring excess comment would tell them much about the place and the people's temperament. Being robots they could eavesdrop on conversations that were being held at quite a distance.

      The inn in Koosd is near the center of the town where there is a square park area with small businesses around the fringe. That's also common form on many worlds. There's a tavern of sorts to one side, but it wouldn't open until after the noonmeal. There's a general hardware, clothing and smithy store on the other side and a food store to the left. The schoolhouse is across on a little side street from the food store and there is – unusual for such small towns on most worlds at this stage of development – a library next to the schoolhouse. There's a large meeting hall on the remaining side of the little park. Streets lead out in the four directions.

      There are mountains about fifteen kilometers away to the East, the ocean and docks are to the west and forests are to the north. The Wu river empties into the sea at a little port town called Blesd, twenty three kilometers north. To the south are inlets and bays filled with those rampant mangrove-like plants that seem to cover such tropical areas on many planets with large concentrations of halogen salts in their major seas.

      The farms raise grains and/or grazing animals for the most part, but there are always fresh fruits and vegetables in great variety in the food market.

      The two robots entered the cozy inn, called simply Veen's Place, and sat at a counter to order gaf, a beverage high in a caffeine-like substance. The beverage would be in taste somewhat like coffee with a taste like chocolate with a touch of mint and would be a mild stimulant.

      There were fruit-filled sweetcakes, eggs cooked in a variety of ways, fruit juices, fruit pies and various types of melon on the menu. The eggs were served with various breads or fried ko roots, which were much like potatoes or oormf root.

      Four eggs – scrambled, klie toast – light. Gaf with soft cream, ko and a big slice of yellow-green melon, Tab ordered. "It's a beautiful day for traveling!

      "I'm called Mar, Klist Mar, late of Misd, in the nation of Klormedt. This is Fel, Jarj Fel, of the same place.

      This is as nice a town as we've found! It's about perfect!

      Veen, Aars Veen, the proprietor introduced himself. "My serving girl is Barst. Du Barst.

      I was once on Klormedt when I was but a lad. I was even in Misd. It was a nice enough place as I remember, but was having something of a problem with the thorny-suckers. There was a place by the docks, Kope's or something such, that served the best waterclaw salad and strikershell chowder I ever tasted!

      You mean Kolep's? Kit asked. "Brown roof tiles with white window boards and that fishnet hanging all over the verandah?

      They're famous all over Klormedt. It's nice to know they're appreciated even so far as this! I'll tell Nince about it next time I'm there!

      Kolep Nince! That's it! Veen cried. Fifty dorbeks for her recipe for the chowder! A hundred!

      She wouldn't sell for a hundred thousand, Tab said. The thorny-suckers are an annual problem. You must have been there in Fourmonth or Fivemonth. Hot that time of year.

      Yes, it was that, but it's as hot here in Four and Fivemonth, Veen agreed. Have you traveled far?

      If Fel will give his order I'll have it prepared while you talk of travels, Barst said. When someone comes in who's been in any of the many places Veen has he can talk for days!

      I'll have the same except sigdbread toast – medium, Kit replied. Maybe redmellon if it's not too sweet yet.

      Barst nodded, wrote the order down and went into the back room. The two robots talked about several towns along the coast and about the lushness of the forest along the Blesd-Koosd road. That lushness was noted even from low orbit, which was why TR suggested this place in particular. It may have no connection, but they had to start somewhere and this was the only obviously different place.

      Yes. Something in Flint Creek seems to be fertilizing the forest along there, Veen agreed. If we could find what it is we could probably raise a lot more crops out near the Mountainfeet Hills. The soil's barely marginal there.

      Oh? Kit asked. Do you mean the forest there wasn't always so lush?

      Well, it's always been thick and fast, Veen said. "It's only the past three years it's gotten like it is now. All of a sudden there seems to be double or better growth in there.

      Sedge Lope – that farm by the creek about four kilometers out – was going to use the creek for irrigation, but somebody told him it maybe wasn't a good idea until we found out what was doing it. Some fertilizers can go into the plants and make you right sick. I remember when that copper stuff they used to get rid of puffy rot got on the redfruit how it made a lot of us get the sticker sores. Like to have never got shed of them, then some physician from Glarsted did a study and we found it was that all along.

      Has anybody gone up the creek to see if maybe something it's running through is doing it? Tab asked. Maybe somebody's mining gold or something and dumping the tailings in the creek. I heard once a whole river was poisoned in Hasbd – that's an area of Klormedt – when they were mining lead or zinc ore or something. Killed some children or something. Big stink.

      Lope and his kid went up about twenty five kilometers to Milk Lake, but they said the lake was the same so whatever it is could be coming from any number of streams up there or even from the lake itself, Veen replied. That's the trouble with farming. The people don't have the time to spend looking for such. It's a matter of saying you can spend four days on a thing and that's the limit. Got to not spend more or you could lose your whole crop.

      Well, we've got time! Kit exclaimed. "Mar! Let's borrow

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