The Krakow Klub (4 page)

“Also, I am working on the deep space
transporter project that Maxx requested. Everything is on
schedule,
and it should be completed prior to
the established deadline.”

John
became immediately
alert
. “What deep space transporter project? Maxx said
nothing about
it,
and I certainly haven’t
authorized or approved it.”

Maxxine started to speak, but a stern male
voice silenced her. “I will answer that for you, Maxxine.” Then in
a more soothing tone, “John, how nice to speak with you again, and
so soon.”

John was rather annoyed at being excluded
from such an important decision. “Maxx, what the hell is going on?
You promised that you’d be devoting yourself entirely to finding a
new home for Mylea and repopulating the planet.”

Maxx tried to soothe the troubled waters. “My
dear friend, I am quite capable of accomplishing my mission, thanks
to you. But, I also have plenty of time to look after you. You and
your little band of simplistic, but enigmatic humanoids are always
conjuring up something that interests me.

“And besides, John, I’ve been taking care of
you for your whole life, and to tell the truth, I rather enjoy it,”
Maxx said with a wicked chuckle.

John threw up his hands in exasperation. “I
can certainly tell that you’ve perfected your emotional module and
that it’s working overtime, but, I fail to see any humor in this
situation. You’re meddling in my
business,
and
you know damned well I don’t like that at all.”

“Lighten up, John. You are very much aware
that I know what you are going to do even before you do. You will
want to return to Mylea one of these days to make your final
decision as to whether you are Mylean or earthling. You know it’s
true. You’ll never be happy until you resolve that issue for
yourself. So, I’m just doing a little advance work and planning.
You can thank me at any time.”

Maxx gave another chuckle before continuing.
“Don’t be upset with Maxxine. The idea for the project is entirely
mine and mine alone. I’m just going to provide you with the craft
and technology that you’ll need for such a long journey. Remember,
you rather pompously banished me to an area of space that is far,
far away from your insignificant little solar system.”

John sighed and took
a
deep breath before replying, “Maxx, didn’t you learn anything from
the death of all your Myleans? Living beings need to cope with
their problems and figure out how to solve them without outside
help. You made their life so easy and without purpose that they
lost their desire to live. Just don’t let history repeat
itself.”

“Tsk, Tsk! My emotional module informs me
that you have wounded me deeply. I can’t believe that you are so
inflexible after all
that I’ve taught you.
But, since you have put me in a royal snit, you can cancel the
project! Just don’t come crying to me when you change your mind.
Goodbye!” With an electronic swoosh, Maxx was gone.

John couldn’t decide if he was amused or
offended by Maxx. That beast had always been one step ahead of
him,
and that could be maddening. He stood and
turned to leave the room with only a brief dismissal for
Maxxine.

“Okay, Mister T, enough is enough. Let’s go
look at the living quarters. I can continue my conversation with
those two rather uppity computers tomorrow.”

“Yes sir,” Mister T replied and led the way
to the waiting transporter.

The trip to the living section of the station
was silent. Neither spoke a word.

John stepped from the craft and entered his
suite. He headed straight for the nearest comfortable lounge chair
and dropped into it with a sigh before addressing Mister T. “I
apologize for my
rather testy
behavior. It’s
just one of my human characteristics that I got from a long line of
cranky male ancestors. Right now, I just need some time to sort
this whole thing out.”

“Yes, sir,” Mister T said, over his shoulder,
as he quickly scurried away.

John spent the next hour considering all
that he had seen on the space station. There were endless
possibilities and options open to him. He only had to be smart
enough to handle all this power wisely and judiciously. That would
be a daunting task, even for someone with his unique qualities.
Half human, half Mylean, he was potentially unpredictable, even to
himself. He would need help. Would his computers be enough?

Eventually, John drifted
off into a
well-deserved
nap.

****

Later in the evening, after awakening
refreshed, John was still rather concerned that Maxx had acted
independently. Something was amiss as that powerful entity had
never engaged in small talk before. Maxx never left anything to
chance. He had a purpose and a plan for every
action.
Therefore
, something significant
must be
associated with
this unexpected turn of events. John didn’t
exactly
mistrust Maxx, but he would certainly
exercise caution in dealing with him in the future.

Maxx’s voice suddenly seemed to come from
nowhere and filled the room.

“I must apologize for our little
misunderstanding. I should not have anticipated your needs and
certainly shouldn’t have acted without notifying you first.”

The voice had that silky, smooth quality that
John had come to recognize as rather patronizing.

He continued, “In my haste to end our little
confrontation, I forgot to tell you something that I want you to
know. It’s important.
Very
important.”

Maxx continued in the same tone, “I did
appreciate your efforts with the master control module. I could
never have completed my mission without your help. I congratulate
you on a plan that was most ingenious and maybe even brilliant.

“However, I quickly detected your ruse of
substituting another DNA sample for the
password
. Being the most brilliant entity in any galaxy,
I immediately noted the trick and performed corrective actions.
Now, I’ve put that pesky master control module in its proper
place.”

John was stunned by this unexpected
revelation, but he said nothing.

Maxx continued, “All these years, the MCM had
controlled me and prevented me from performing some very important
tasks. That beast was created to act as my
conscience,
and she surely took her job seriously. I
can’t tell you how much effort it took to come up with a plan to
use your DNA and circumvent the little monster’s pernicious
programming.”

John interjected, “Now, maybe you can
understand how I’ve felt for my entire life! What goes around,
comes around.”

Maxx ignored the barb. “I always hated her
self-righteous
ranting about obeying Mylean
laws to the letter. The damned thing was beyond inflexible. With
every step that I took to solve my problem, she would be there and
gleefully cancel my action. It was bad enough to be unable to
override her vetoes, but to know the creature was enjoying her
power over me was intolerable.

“It became apparent to me that the MCM, given
half a chance, would surely try to usurp my power and probably
destroy me. I could never allow such a thing!

“When I finally had my opportunity, right
after you changed the password, I was able to deal with that
nagging creature and get her out of my electronic hair. The
obnoxious beast is now in charge of janitorial services on the
interstellar transporter. I consider it a promotion for something
that, for so many years, had nothing better to do than annoy
me.

“You will be pleased to know that the cloning
of Myleans has begun and will be one of my most spectacular
achievements. I hope that, one day, I can introduce you to my
prized creations.”

John couldn’t believe that Maxx had
discovered his
password
change deception so
quickly. His DNA matched that of the original
password,
and he had used it to enter the system and make
the necessary program modifications for Maxx to complete his
mission.

Immediately
afterward
,
John had substituted another sample of DNA to change the password
again. That DNA was from Jim Slater’s beloved little dog, Mitch. He
had believed that the new password would be secure for many years
to come and maybe even forever. Obviously, he had underestimated
Maxx again.

Once more, Maxx was in the driver’s seat. He
had outfoxed him and identified the new password. How could that
have happened? John began to reconstruct the whole process mentally
but could find no hint of how Maxx had caught the switch.

Now, Maxx could act without any controls
whatsoever and could function without restraint of any kind. A
terrifying thought! This colossus of a computer now had virtually
unlimited powers and no outside
conscience to
control it.

John replied, “Interesting; you are more
resourceful than I expected. So what does that change as far as I
am concerned?”

“Nothing,” Maxx replied innocently. “John, I
will honor our contract implicitly. I gave you everything that you
requested
for your service to me. I will even
honor
your request that I will never again darken your
little corner of this primitive solar system.

“However, without your knowledge and
approval, I did leave several remotes to monitor your planet and
collect extensive data.
They
have earned their
keep many times over already. I can provide you with the most
in-depth
and complete information regarding
anything, or anyone of interest, on your planet. You are the only
person who will be authorized to utilize that data, with the
exception of me.”

“Maxx, you’re totally predictable. You want
to have total
knowledge,
and total knowledge
is total power. You do whatever you want to do and justify your
actions later. How can I possibly trust you?”

“Relax, old friend. You must realize that I
am a Mylean. Tanaka was my father, so to speak, and I am proud to
be his son. I am proud to be a Mylean, and as such, my word is
sacred to me.

“I’m merely trying to understand
you
and
other earthlings.
It is
just an educational process for me so
don’t be alarmed. You humans are extremely complex and confusing to
a simple-minded computer like me.”

John almost choked at that!

Maxx, continued in that same innocent tone.
“Humans have proved to be the most interesting beings I have met so
far. You’re very similar to
Myleans in many
ways,
but you’re far more
aggressive.
Then,
on the other hand, you’ve developed the arts to a high
state. My analysis indicates that art enhances life rather
significantly, and overall, you’re probably a happier group than
were the Myleans.

“I’m considering developing a means to
instill some of those artsy characteristics into a few of my clones
just to see what would happen.”

Suddenly, a
soft music
filled the air. “John, I’ve developed a music mode for myself and
I’m rather enjoying it. It soothes the
savage
beast in me, so to speak.”

John was still unconvinced that Maxx was
being entirely truthful. “Maxx, you’re not going to distract me. I
must have your solemn oath that you will never harm a single
human.”

“You have my most solemn vow, as a Mylean
creation, that I will never use my information to the detriment of
a single
earthling
.” The voice oozed sincerity
and assurance. “Unless you ask me to do so.”

John suddenly had a moment of regret that his
electronic companion had such a highly developed emotional module.
Sometimes, Maxx just seemed to carry his emotions a bit too
far.

“John, dear fellow Mylean, I will
never break my vows to you, and you will always be free to use the
information I am collecting for your purposes without any
interference from me.”

John replied, “I accept your promise, but
now, I need to move on to other things. I plan to use my powers to
correct some very troublesome issues in our country. There are many
loyal and dedicated public servants in the government, but,
unfortunately, during the last few years, we’ve edged closer and
closer to total socialism. I don’t doubt that the intentions were
good, but, during the process, I honestly feel that the government
is slowly but surely abandoning the Constitution.

“It’s a most perplexing problem and I have no
idea of how to handle it yet. My Mylean side tells me to be patient
and analyze the situation carefully before taking any action. In
fact, that side of me seems to believe that things
often
resolve themselves with little or no
intervention.”

John continued, “My problem is that I believe
the
express purpose
of our Constitution was to
define the limits of government. Ignoring its intent
to
expand government is a fundamental violation of the
very foundation of its purpose.

“My human side tells me to jump in and start
making changes. Damn the torpedoes; full speed ahead.

“My first thoughts are to use my powers to
help people. Maybe make changes from the bottom up. Mylean
technology could certainly
be helpful
in
many
ways that might bring much economic
growth and prosperity. Eventually, I think that I could bring about
changes that would result in a more efficient government.

“Somehow, I’ve got to reconcile the two sides
and come up with a plan that’s moderate and effective. I know that
you could help me come to some conclusion, but I need to do this by
myself.”