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    Flight of the Maita Book 40: Not Again!
    Flight of the Maita Book 40: Not Again!
    Flight of the Maita Book 40: Not Again!
    Ebook238 pages3 hours

    Flight of the Maita Book 40: Not Again!

    By CD Moulton

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    About this ebook

    The Tlessonian berserker is back! This time heading to attack University and Hospital. It's up to it's old tricks. It has learned in every encounter with Maita. Maita has learned too. It is time they were rid of than insane military machine - but could they handle it?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCD Moulton
    Release dateDec 20, 2014
    ISBN9781310960772
    Flight of the Maita Book 40: Not Again!
    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!)

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      Book preview

      Flight of the Maita Book 40 - CD Moulton

      Flight of the Maita

      Book 40

      Not Again!

      © 199, 2011 ^ 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.

      The berserker is B-A-A-A-C-C-K!

      Critic comment

      I seem to start off my critiques of Moulton by saying it is the kind of thing I do not care for, then saying it was quite readable.

      Moulton tends to a certain triteness in his writings, but overcomes that with the concept and other presentation.

      One would think that a story about a berserk military machine would be one of those juvenile special-effects things with no other content and a plot that is weak to nonexistent.

      That is not the case here. It was actually rather a fun read.

      Moulton does use fun as a basic part of his writing.

      BEL *** ½

      Contents

      Prologue

      Chapter one

      Chapter two

      Chapter three

      Chapter four

      Chapter five

      Chapter six

      Chapter seven

      Chapter eight

      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.

      Not Again!

      Prologue

      Well! Z (Steve Zutec), the Terran member of the crew of the Maita, agreed heartily. "It looks like we were able to accomplish something really different there!

      "How did it go for you guys? You still have to tell about your journey – or vacation, actually! You get some really good fun assignments from time to time, but so do we. I enjoyed that one where I was a barbarian (Book 32 – Us Barbarians), and that world, Gaerkt, where I was a sort of mercenary (Book 37– Gothic World) was a lot of fun. Tlorg is always fun, but the oddest things happen there, such as Kurk!"

      We did have a good time, Kurk, the Pluton member of the group, said. It was a few Bentans screwing things up, but we fixed it. That was a race that's different from anything I expected.

      While Z was a typical Terran from a typical K-form race in the Maitan Empire, Kurk was from another dimensional plane. He was almost eight feet tall, covered with silky black fur, had vicious claws and eyes and long teeth (two of which were like tusks) that glowed a greenish color due to natural phosphors.

      The crew called him their furry horror when they played the insult game they were virtually always playing.

      The third member of their group was a Mentan, a small squarish globe with four tentacles and eyes on short stalks. It had an intelligence far beyond measure and was an empath. It breathed through membranes so it couldn't speak directly (no lungs to move any vocal chords – which it didn't have, either) so Maita, spaceship, friend and partner (also Emperor of the Maitan Galactic Empire) vocalized its directed thoughts through its translator. The voice came from any of the speakers aboard Maita, TR or T6, two more intelligent spaceships who were considered to be members of the crew along with their robot partners, Tab and Kit. It also had speaker on a number of floaters it rode around on much of the time.

      Maita built Tab and the ship, TRD-60 (TR's full designation), almost four centuries ago to be friends and partners. Tab was primarily a detective, but had evolved in his own way. He was built to look like a Swaz, an amphibian being, stood a slight bit less than two meters, had semi-webbed hands and feet and a crest instead of hair. He had a fin down his back.

      Both Tab and Kit, who Maita had designed to resemble a Kheth reptilian being, were among the common basic bipedal (called K-form) configuration. Kit was thinner in the waist than Tab and a few centimeters taller and didn't have the webbed digits or fin. Tab and Kit could be modified to resemble almost any being. Z could be modified in Maita's medical machines to resemble many mammalian beings, but Thing and Kurk could be changed only in superficial ways.

      T6 had developed independent intelligence because of some government bureaucrats making repairs with the wrong parts. Kit was made when T6's original owner died and T6 joined the crew.

      From the first time any of the little group were together, nearly four hundred MGS (Maitan Galactic Standard) years ago, Maita had used a tone to differentiate between its speech and Thing's. It used a bell tone (*–*) before and after what it was saying and gave Thing a tuning fork sound ([–]). Anytime any of us crewmembers write about our little adventures we use that system to denote which is speaking. The asterisks and brackets take the place of quotation marks.

      Z wrote several books before we were built. Thing wrote a couple, Tab wrote several, as did Kit. Kurk wrote one or two. It seems to one of the things the Emperor's Crew does.

      We, TR and T6, are writing this book. It will involve all the crew, but we have the recordings made by each of them and from Maita's general recording. Those recordings are taken directly from the mind and are exact.

      Tab writes in first person and Z in third. We write in both modes, but this one will be in third person.

      Anyhow, the three were on Z's patio after their last little adventure to relax and brag a bit while Kit, Tab and we ships went out to check on some disturbing reports. Maita was in its caves on EC (Empire Center) not far from Z's island. We ships will all hangar there, especially whenever we've developed a new com system or something and want to install it. We also do a complete check of all systems regularly there.

      We are all together most places through our internal contacts with the ships, Kit and Tab, empathic messages with Thing and the speakers everywhere on EC and on Thing's private floater and the other servo floaters we use for such things as carrying Z's orchids, which he collects on thousands of worlds and plants on his personal island on EC. His home is there and the patio was surrounded with amazing orchid, bromeliad and camellia plants.

      Maita built Thing's private floater centuries ago. Thing keeps adding little things (Hee!) until it's quite something. It has things only Thing understands (Sick puns!).

      [ It was great fun sometimes, but I like the things we do together. These split-up jobs can be awfully trying. I always have to worry about Z screwing them up whenever I'm not there to stop him. ]

      Thing was sitting on Z's shoulder. We all play insult games, but our love for one another is almost fierce.

      "Uh-huh, yeah! Like you don’t screw them up?" Kurk asked.

      *If I didn't keep constant watch on the bunch of you clowns there would be a Maitan Empire for about ten minutes! The ships are landing right now so we'll maybe find out what's going on out there. They never bothered to report!*

      We didn't find much, Kit reported, stepping from the transmat. There does seem to be some unusual kind of disruption around the area, but we can't locate the real source. Feach, University, Hospital and all that seems to be in the direct path of whatever it is.

      We have Empire Fleet backtracking along the area and heading on toward Hospital, which is the closest to the last reports, Tab said as he came from the transmat. I don't like this at all! It smells too much like something we thought was finished!

      [ It wouldn't be coming from Old Home? That area? ]

      Uh-huh, TR said. "It's also spreading STL. That tells us a lot about it – and none of it good.

      The brain didn't have the TTH dimensional modal technology it could use, so travels slower than light. This is moving directly away from Tlesson and Old Home toward Hospital. You add it up.

      *Cromock reports a fleet of about seventy ships, STL, that are heading ... great exploding galaxies! Get aboard! Fast! Two Fleet ships are damaged and one destroyed! Move! It has to be the old berserker brain!*

      Everyone raced for the transmat.

      Chapter one

      The group raced for Maita as one. TR and T6 immediately headed for the battle area before Maita even finished the order to board. Any crewmembers who wished could transfer to whichever ship they would be most effective on when they rendezvoused. Everyone knew those two ships were intelligent and acted as agents of the emperor so Fleet would take orders from either. It wasn't known except among the population (and the Zulians, but that's another matter)(and the robot worlds)(and TAR-1)(Not much of a secret, is it?!) that Maita was Emperor, though everyone considered it the emperor's intelligent ship and as close as the other members of the emperor's crew to the emperor.

      It probably wouldn't make any difference to most people that a machine was emperor, but old habits are hard to break so they kept the deception up.

      The emperor and the two ships were also the only ships to have the new TTH14 drive, which could cross the entire galaxy in about two rel-hours, though some of the intelligent Asimovian ships (You would never guess who named the world, would you?) might soon have it. To use TTH14 a ship must not only be intelligent as all were, but must be fully aware, which is what independent intelligence is all about. To use the constantly changing mathematics for the TTH14 moder necessitated an instinctive ability to act both instantaneously and independently. The other independently intelligent ships such as Theron refused to have the TTH14 drive installed because they didn't want the terrible danger or responsibility – and TTH4, which traveled in a reltime of slightly more than a plazsi (MGS lightyear) per relminute, was plenty fast for anyone.

      TR and T6 arrived at the war area and immediately asked for reports. They would relay everything to Maita as they received it.

      Fleet Captain Vuslik, Feach, said he would turn over command of his contingent to the ships, but TR replied that wasn't yet necessary. Maita was on the way.

      Captain Cromock, Acnian commander, explained they had openly approached the group of STL ships and had been attacked without warning with a weapon they hadn't analyzed. The full repulse shield system had been turned on immediately, but the lead ship was destroyed and several others seriously damaged. There had been no response whatever to radio, light or gravitic communications.

      The TTH14 drive wasn't generally known so TR and T6 left the impression they and Maita were meeting in the near vicinity of the vacation worlds, relatively close, thus the rapid response. It often worked to their advantage for others not to realize they could move so quickly.

      Maita popped into N space nearby, having followed TR's beam in TTH4 for the last two plazsis and said Fleet was to immediately back off one plazsi ahead of the approaching enemy.

      They moved as a unit, then Maita said, *I've detected use of antimatter. The drive they're using is difusion two. They have some shields as good as our own. They are very experienced in all warfare and evasion techniques and can formulate tactics quickly. They are immensely dangerous. Once a tactic is tried on any of them the information is relayed to the others nearby and it won't work a second time. We are fortunate that they don't have an efficient form of fastcom.*

      They're Tlessonian berserkers? Cromock asked.

      *I'm afraid so. Give me another possibility if you can! I'd damned well appreciate it! I'd more than appreciate it! I've been nearly destroyed by clones of that thing several times, as have Tab and Kit and their ships.*

      How do we get them? Tab asked. Once we use a method, that thing finds a defense. We thought we'd ended it twice already.

      [ It used antimatter once before. We got all that group, so this one has obviously re-invented it independently. It makes its own antimatter with its basic fusion reactors. Its supply is, therefore, extremely limited. It almost certainly exhausted what small supply it had. We have to know it will be able to shield antimatter if it used it. ]

      It can't detect it, Z said. We can fire small pellets of the same stuff at it.

      It will have shielding up, Vuslik replied. As soon as it detects us in the area it's too late!

      *Agreed. I'll place some small pellets in its path out of detection range. We should be able to get one of them that way, but it'll go on without dropping the shields from there and we'll have to clean up the antimatter not imploded. Z worked out a method to do that two plus centuries ago. We can spray a fine shower of normal water back toward it and it reacts away. We want them to be in constant shield mode.*

      That's to our best advantage, Kurk agreed. "Shields use power, so it'll have to stop other processes. They have fusion reactors aboard, but those drives use a lot of power, so they don't have a huge excess. They have to shut down the drive to use weapons. Shields also interfere with their ability to use most detectors.

      "One of us can go aboard Captain Cromock's ship and one can go to Captain Vuslik's while Maita goes after the antimatter. He keeps a fair-sized secret supply for this kind of emergency situation. (Maita actually went to an antimatter plane, which was another thing it was best others not know).

      TR and T Six can take Tab and Kit to the worlds in their path and set up some kind of defense. We can hope to stop them from reaching anywhere, but have to be ready if it doesn't work.

      *Who the hell died and made you emperor?*

      [ Shut up and do as you're told you blithering halfassed idiot! You've been trying to get someone else to do the job for almost four centuries already! Sheesh! ]

      *I forgot! Cancel those last remarks! What are your further orders, Your Royal North End of a Southbound Mountbeast?*

      Cromock and Vuslik made the various noises and expressions that passed for grins and chuckles in their respective races. The joking and insults among the crew were legendary.

      When Kurk transferred to Cromock's Fleet ship the typical reaction to the first sight of him took place.

      Great Huvanth! You ARE a furry horror aren't you!

      Strong races were known to flee in terror when he laughed – or to lose control of their bladder or faint. Cromock almost tried them all when Kurk chuckled. They'd soon become fast friends. Kurk's that way.

      It's always unexpected to hear Kurk speak. One would expect the typical monster tones and expressions found in old holovid and TV shows, but Kurk was a graduate (with honors!) biologist at Hades University in Polis.

      Z transferred to Vuslik's ship. He liked the Feach and they liked him. He'd described them many years ago as looking like a nine foot tyrannosaurus rex – which was what the crew called Z-isms because only he knew what he was talking about then. The whole crew were now programed with his expressions and often used them. He'd labeled the Tlessonian military brains berserkers from a story he knew from Earth.

      Maita and Thing went into the antimatter plane to get the gravel they would use while Tab and TR headed for Hospital and Feach and Kit and T6 headed for University and the six vacation worlds. The Tlessonian berserkers wouldn't actually attack a world directly, but had done such other things as use a troop of very natural-appearing robots to sabotage trade or to make large military bases on asteroids or uninhabited worlds. They were very able machines and were tricky. They had the ability to wreak havoc of a number of types on a world. Their basic strategy was to sterilize a planet of organic life, then to use it as a base. It had never been understood what the object could be, but the war machine had a totally different system of logic than anyone could comprehend.

      It's military. It doesn't have any logic behind it. It simply conquers and occupies, Z suggested from the first.

      They were also capable of sterilizing worlds of life to no purpose. That was where the logic system broke down entirely. Z said it was the old Take the high ground idea because it could be defended so much easier. That no one was left to defend the ground against was incidental. The original Tlessonian military brain was designed and programed to protect a solar system of three inhabited worlds, one natural and the other two colonized. The major mistake was made in the original programing of giving the master brain a higher priority to protect itself and its servos than to protect Tlessonians. It had then evolved unidirectionally along those lines until that was its only imperative. All else was secondary.

      It soon was truly insane, so far as its builders were concerned and deduced that any intelligent animal life was a potential threat to its safety, thus it obviously must eliminate all animal life. It had much too nearly

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