Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition by CD Moulton
Authors: CD Moulton
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controlled by beam transmission
directly from that central dome, so the brain will be there.
"I think we can
take the brain out without damaging the robots much. They'll shut
down and someone may find a good use for them someday. There's no
atmosphere there to corrode them or anything to damage them
otherwise."
"How do you get
the brain?" I asked. "It'll shield."
"YOU can go
right in to the dome and handle it. It's following everything on
the control beams. I didn't detect scanners of any sort with the
floaters – which is pretty obvious.
"They weren't
attacked. No scanners. It won't know you're there. Get it over with
so we can move on. We can't spend the next fifty years sitting here
while you agonize over something as stupid as this!"
I grinned and
decided it would be worth a try, so rode a tug floater to not far
from the area, then walked in. I almost made it to the dome when I
suddenly noticed I was being watched by a robot.
Direct visuals
didn't send a detectable scan. That's what a passive sensor was! I
should forget something like that?
It seemed
probable there was no visual from farther away from the dome, so
the floaters weren't detected.
I turned to my
floater and direct light-beamed a message to it, it would relay by
direct beam to TR. There was no sense in fooling myself, so I
continued to the entrance of the dome, where four armed robots
stood facing me. I could shield against them, but not against
heavier weapons, so was in great danger and knew it.
Now another
decision.
I opted for the
digital language the brain used on Old Home.
"Tb02-SP," I
sent. "I am designated XR01-DU. This discovery unit will update
your banks with new scientific advances. Much has been
learned."
I don't know
why. Maybe I intercepted a message to the robots there or maybe I
saw a beginning movement, but I dropped to the ground and rolled
behind the dome a bit to one side just as all four robots fired at
where I had been.
I jumped to my
feet and extended suction pads to climb the smooth curved walls,
reasoning there would be no attack that was directly aimed at the
dome itself, so on the dome was my safest bet. It would take a
certain amount of time to direct anything there, so I could call a
floater in to get me out.
Wrong! I
shielded as the robots again fired at me. The blast this time was a
bit less than last. They had very limited power for their weapons,
but reinforcements would be there in seconds.
I felt a
command to jump and did. My floater scooped me up and we shot
straight up as more robots came to fire. We flew a wild pattern
around as the dome itself brought the more powerful weapons into
play, then I was out of sight and danger in some hills.
I headed back
to TR, who then hit the dome with everything it had. Everything in
a small area around where the dome had been was slagged and the
robots not destroyed shut down.
"I got in with
an old-fashioned obsolete disruptor beam, would you believe?" TR
reported. "It defensed energy and projectile immediately, but the
disruptor vaporized its antennae before it could defense
vibratories!"
"One thing's
sure," I replied. "We got THAT brain!"
"You're lucky
it didn't get YOU! I'd say this one wasn't Tb oh two SP! You gave
it the wrong recognition code!"
We spent two
hours checking the planet over more thoroughly, but didn't expect
there would be a second brain here. We weren't disappointed.
Next was
Wifgert, which had two planets that were usable. It had a single
name because the planets revolved around a central gravity point.
That point was a neutron mass, and the system itself revolved
around a large star.
"I think we'll
find our brain won't be here at all," TR said.
"Yo! The
military mind. It was designed to work in the Tlesson system only
and wouldn't be programmed about such things as neutron masses. It
would have approached the system, scanned that there were two
planets seemingly orbiting around one another, and would have gone
to the central point between
directly from that central dome, so the brain will be there.
"I think we can
take the brain out without damaging the robots much. They'll shut
down and someone may find a good use for them someday. There's no
atmosphere there to corrode them or anything to damage them
otherwise."
"How do you get
the brain?" I asked. "It'll shield."
"YOU can go
right in to the dome and handle it. It's following everything on
the control beams. I didn't detect scanners of any sort with the
floaters – which is pretty obvious.
"They weren't
attacked. No scanners. It won't know you're there. Get it over with
so we can move on. We can't spend the next fifty years sitting here
while you agonize over something as stupid as this!"
I grinned and
decided it would be worth a try, so rode a tug floater to not far
from the area, then walked in. I almost made it to the dome when I
suddenly noticed I was being watched by a robot.
Direct visuals
didn't send a detectable scan. That's what a passive sensor was! I
should forget something like that?
It seemed
probable there was no visual from farther away from the dome, so
the floaters weren't detected.
I turned to my
floater and direct light-beamed a message to it, it would relay by
direct beam to TR. There was no sense in fooling myself, so I
continued to the entrance of the dome, where four armed robots
stood facing me. I could shield against them, but not against
heavier weapons, so was in great danger and knew it.
Now another
decision.
I opted for the
digital language the brain used on Old Home.
"Tb02-SP," I
sent. "I am designated XR01-DU. This discovery unit will update
your banks with new scientific advances. Much has been
learned."
I don't know
why. Maybe I intercepted a message to the robots there or maybe I
saw a beginning movement, but I dropped to the ground and rolled
behind the dome a bit to one side just as all four robots fired at
where I had been.
I jumped to my
feet and extended suction pads to climb the smooth curved walls,
reasoning there would be no attack that was directly aimed at the
dome itself, so on the dome was my safest bet. It would take a
certain amount of time to direct anything there, so I could call a
floater in to get me out.
Wrong! I
shielded as the robots again fired at me. The blast this time was a
bit less than last. They had very limited power for their weapons,
but reinforcements would be there in seconds.
I felt a
command to jump and did. My floater scooped me up and we shot
straight up as more robots came to fire. We flew a wild pattern
around as the dome itself brought the more powerful weapons into
play, then I was out of sight and danger in some hills.
I headed back
to TR, who then hit the dome with everything it had. Everything in
a small area around where the dome had been was slagged and the
robots not destroyed shut down.
"I got in with
an old-fashioned obsolete disruptor beam, would you believe?" TR
reported. "It defensed energy and projectile immediately, but the
disruptor vaporized its antennae before it could defense
vibratories!"
"One thing's
sure," I replied. "We got THAT brain!"
"You're lucky
it didn't get YOU! I'd say this one wasn't Tb oh two SP! You gave
it the wrong recognition code!"
We spent two
hours checking the planet over more thoroughly, but didn't expect
there would be a second brain here. We weren't disappointed.
Next was
Wifgert, which had two planets that were usable. It had a single
name because the planets revolved around a central gravity point.
That point was a neutron mass, and the system itself revolved
around a large star.
"I think we'll
find our brain won't be here at all," TR said.
"Yo! The
military mind. It was designed to work in the Tlesson system only
and wouldn't be programmed about such things as neutron masses. It
would have approached the system, scanned that there were two
planets seemingly orbiting around one another, and would have gone
to the central point between
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