Parker Interstellar Travels 4: The Trilisk Hunt Read online

  That other creature must be key, Siobhan thought as she worked on another wall. It’s here for the danger element. Wait, but this isn’t a designed exercise. Telisa said this was real. So it is just here, but not for any reason that has to make sense as a training exercise. And PIT has all that alien technology… so they killed it, or made friends with it.

  Siobhan stopped working on the wall.

  “Bathroom over here,” she called, walking down the corridor.

  Imanol looked then nodded. His face held some concern, but he could hardly argue with the utility of the appearance of a convenient bathroom. Siobhan walked down the corridor and kept going. Her mapper kept track of her route, though she knew it would probably be near useless if she wanted to find her way back. Everything out of sight would have changed by then.

  Her walk revealed more of the same scenery they had been faced with since arrival: endless hallways, offices, supply rooms, and even some hotel-like sleeping quarters.

  Siobhan did not stop. And she was not looking for a bathroom. After ten minutes of walking, Siobhan came to a gap in the world.

  A large cave beckoned ahead. The corridor emptied into it as if the cave had been created by acid eating right into the building. Clean, fine sand covered the floor of the cave. The walls were irregular but smooth and glistening.

  What do I do? Just announce myself?

  Siobhan considered her stunner. To an alien, it might be seen as lethal. She dropped it in the sand. She pulled her knife and dropped it too. Her thoughts of approaching the alien that had obliterated Caden made her pulse pick up. She felt the thrill of fear and smiled.

  I’m still alive.

  Siobhan continued through the weird caves. She entered a second one, and a third room. Then she caught a glimpse of gold. Something complicated and very alien.

  “Whoa,” she whispered. At first she had the idea of some golden Asian statue, like an image of a thousand-armed deity she had seen in vids. Then it moved, spinning around to face her. But it had no face, at least not like anything she could recognize. It had dozens of gold legs, like some kind of giant insect.

  This is what killed Caden.

  Her heart slammed in her ribcage. She took in a deep breath. Now this was a real rush. Like the catapult stunt on Speronautic’s new planet.

  Still alive. I’m still alive.

  Siobhan took a hesitant step forward and then decided to wait. The golden creature stopped, too. Siobhan realized there were metallic orbs flying around it. They looked like Terran grenades in flight.

  A real alien. Telisa said this really happened!

  “Hello? You don’t understand me, do you?”

  There was no answer. But the creature stomped its feet like an impatient bull ready to charge. Siobhan stared at it in awe. A real alien. The spheres orbiting it and some obviously artificial silver rods along its body showed it was tool using. Advanced tool using.

  Do something.

  Siobhan stomped her right foot in the sand, mimicking its movements. “Do you know how to get out of here?” she asked.

  ***

  When Siobhan exited the simulation, she smiled wide. The others were there—Imanol, Maxsym, and a very glum-looking Caden. He had just watched the rest of his team walk out of the Trilisk environment alive. Imanol and Maxsym’s giant room, together with Shiny’s devices and Siobhan’s help, had managed to overload the generator so they could escape.

  “Caden. What happened with the golden creature? Did it attack you?” Siobhan asked.

  “I saw a big cave. Very out of place. There was a golden creature there, very weird looking. When I acquired it on my rifle, it started to move very fast. I saw something flying through the air at me. I thought it was a grenade, actually. At that point, I had already acquired, and I gave the fire command to my weapon.”

  Caden did not sound apologetic.

  Well, he did have to make a split-second decision.

  “He was ready to pull the trigger from the instant he arrived,” Maxsym said.

  “If we’re not ready to defend ourselves, we’ll die out there,” Caden said.

  Magnus appeared, walking toward them. Siobhan waited to see what his feedback was on the shooting.

  Will Magnus praise him or cuss him out? And Arakaki?

  “Okay, you all know more or less how you did,” Magnus said. “I’m going to discuss your performance with my peers before giving my opinions. In the meantime, you can chat with a friend of mine.”

  A golden creature entered the far side of the room on cue.

  “Frackedpackets!” yelped Siobhan involuntarily as she recoiled in her chair.

  Caden leaped to his feet. Imanol and Maxsym just stared and looked very worried.

  Magnus smiled. “Recruits, meet Shiny.”

  Chapter 10

  Telisa watched the simulation as a passive, invisible observer with Magnus as their recruits signed into the test. The initial progress of the team went well. Telisa could tell Imanol and Siobhan were being very cautious. Maxsym remained his usual self: withdrawn. When he did speak, he showed signs of genius.

  There’s more to Maxsym that meets the eye.

  She spotted trouble with Caden early. The simulation champion treated it just like a combat game. This would be useful at times, but he was too trigger happy at other times.

  Although given the stuff we’ve been through, maybe trigger happy is right as often as wrong, she thought.

  Eventually the inevitable contact with Shiny came. Caden’s aggressive lock-on and battle readiness alarmed Shiny. Caden actually shot first.

  In reaction to the spheres? Or in reaction to seeing an alien?

  Telisa frowned. “Ouch.” Caden’s death kicked him out of the simulation.

  That wasn’t really his fault. But it happened just like before, she thought.

  “Boom,” Magnus said.

  Caden shifted, then stood. He walked over to Telisa and Magnus where they sat, monitoring the team’s progress in the simulation.

  “What, I died?” Caden asked.

  “Yes. Watch the others now,” Magnus said.

  Caden clenched his jaw and took a link feed of the simulation as an observer.

  “What the hell was that thing?” Caden asked. Only Telisa and Magnus could hear him now.

  “An alien creature,” Magnus said.

  “There’s no way they’ll survive it. I barely even got a couple shots off.”

  “We’ll see,” Telisa said.

  “Cilreth is watching too?” Caden asked.

  “Yes, but she didn’t feel like coming down incarnate,” Telisa said.

  Caden watched the rest silently, obviously uncomfortable to be the only one out of the simulation. As Shiny worked with Siobhan to escape, aided unknowingly by Maxsym and Imanol, Telisa saw the conclusion coming and sent Caden back to the others.

  “Take a break. We’ll discuss the results and speak with you later,” Telisa said. Caden walked back to the adjacent testing room and joined the others as they emerged from the simulation.

  Magnus and Cilreth signed out of the simulation. Telisa shrugged. They joined a channel to talk things over. Arakaki was on the channel, too.

  “Could have been worse,” she said.

  “Yes. It was interesting to watch,” Cilreth said.

  “Did Caden act correctly?” asked Magnus.

  “What’s correct?” Telisa said. “I wonder, did he fire in reaction to the spheres? Or just because he saw an alien?”

  “The attendants stayed in orbit around Shiny. They didn’t come toward him,” Magnus said.

  “The failure is just what he needs,” Arakaki said. “He has to be learning. He never could have become the Blood Glades champion if he didn’t adapt his play—or in this case, his actions—to adjust when he fails. Believe me, he’ll come back stronger than ever.”

  “Shiny, what did you think of Caden’s performance?” Magnus asked. Telisa sat up. She had forgotten Shiny was a real participant. Or at leas
t he had put in a bit of work in simulating himself for the program.

  “Potential is high. Reflexes, intelligence, motivation excellent. Suggest limiting, controlling, minimizing Caden decision-making power at this time.”

  Telisa smiled. “Shiny says he’s green.”

  “Well, he is, in an odd sort of way. A simulation champion, but green at this,” Magnus said.

  “Siobhan?” asked Cilreth.

  “Yes, her results were good, but she cheated,” Magnus said.

  “What?” Telisa asked.

  “She went in there because she knew it was a test. She suspected we work with an alien, and she decided it might be part of the test. She did it almost for fun, knowing she wasn’t really risking her life.”

  “She doesn’t have the balls to do that in real life,” Arakaki said.

  “Exactly,” Magnus said.

  “Well, you’re both wrong,” Cilreth said.

  “Why?” asked Arakaki.

  “Siobhan’s a daredevil. An adrenaline junkie. She does that kind of shit all the time just for fun.”

  “She hasn’t shown herself to be that much of a daredevil in training,” Arakaki said.

  “She knows she’s being watched, judged, measured. And she’s had enough of the negative feedback from the authorities to know we could disapprove. So she’s holding back.”

  “Then she’s more the calculating type, not showing us her real nature,” Telisa said.

  “It just means she really wants to work with us. She doesn’t want to screw it up,” Cilreth said. “But trust me, when she gets comfortable, she’ll do crazy things. Her record is full of stuff like that.”

  “Are you in favor of her or against her?” Magnus asked.

  “In favor,” Cilreth said. “She’s well suited to dangerous life. A lot more so than I am. She’s what you need, not a coward like me. She’s one for the front line.”

  Telisa smiled at that. Not a coward. Just smart and cautious.

  “Maxsym did really well to figure out the part about how the place worked, based on the critter,” Telisa said. “His mind caught it so quickly.”

  Magnus nodded.

  “He’s smart, but no commando,” Arakaki said. Her tone showed it was criticism in her view.

  “We don’t all need to be combatants,” Cilreth pointed out.

  “True for you, Cilreth, backing us up from the ship. But he’s hitting the dirt with us, isn’t he?” Arakaki said.

  “We’ll see,” said Magnus.

  “Imanol, then?” Telisa said.

  “He took a different approach with the changing complex,” Magnus said. “And it happened to work in his favor. By creating that large room, they helped Shiny even though they weren’t aware of it. I think that was just luck, though. He struck me as competent but not brilliant.”

  “I’d rather have Imanol in charge of an expedition than Caden,” Cilreth said.

  “I’d rather have Magnus on top,” Arakaki said.

  Telisa scowled at the innuendo, though Arakaki probably could not see her. Now she’s screwing with me.

  “Imanol is good, and he’ll get better,” Magnus said, covering any awkward silence before it could squat long.

  “So we tell Caden what?” Telisa asked.

  “Tell him he screwed up by dying. That’s it,” Magnus said.

  “You know, I feel bad about that. There are aliens we’ve met, and probably new ones we’re going to meet, that you would want to lock your rifle on and shoot first, ask questions later,” Cilreth said.

  She must be recalling that creature that attacked her.

  “You’re right. But this test isn’t one hundred percent fair. Neither is the universe,” Magnus said. “I don’t intend to criticize him on the specific act. In this time, this place… that got you killed. Somewhere else, who knows? Before Shiny allied with us, he had, shall we say, an aggressive defense.”

  “Yes,” Telisa said. “Locking your weapon on him was enough to elicit a lethal response. He says he didn’t have enough guardian spheres working by that point to ensure his safety from Terran projectile weapons. He had been hunted there by robot enemies and was barely able to survive. Then that space force guy attacked him. It was all just unfortunate.”

  “I thought we were making excuses for Caden, not Shiny,” Arakaki said.

  “I say they’re all through,” Cilreth said.

  “Yeah,” Telisa and Cilreth agreed. Arakaki was silent.

  “Then we need to see what they want to do about the Trilisk copies.”

  “Let’s go ask them.”

  Telisa and Magnus walked out to see the recruits face to face. Cilreth showed up from elsewhere on their heels. It looked as if Shiny had already left. Telisa looked at their faces. They all looked more eager than ever before.

  They’ve seen a live alien. And that excites them all.

  “You’re all in, if you still want to be,” Telisa said. Siobhan pumped a fist. The others smiled.

  “I wanted to ask you your decision about the superior copies. Let’s just go through one at a time. Tell us what you’ve decided and why.”

  Telisa pointed at Caden. He spoke reluctantly.

  “I don’t like the idea of going into stasis while another me runs around. But I thought about what will happen. Suppose a new me goes on the expedition, learns and sees some cool stuff, then comes back and merges with me. I’ll have the memories of it all. I’ll feel like it did happen to me. I won’t even know the difference. With those memories inside, I’ll feel like it was me out there. And I don’t risk death. So I vote yes. At least this first time out.”

  “Siobhan? What have you decided?”

  “Yes.”

  “Reasoning?”

  “Because I can,” Siobhan said. “And the world needs more of me.”

  “Imanol?”

  “Yes. I don’t want to slow the others down. And it seems prudent.”

  “Maxsym?”

  “Yes.”

  “Any thoughts?”

  “The universe can use another copy of my genes,” he said. Despite the similarity to Siobhan’s playful statement, coming from Maxsym it sounded very different, more serious.

  Telisa nodded. “Fair enough.”

  Magnus cut in.

  “How about you, Telisa?”

  “Well, I thought about it long enough to be scared of the consequences. And I came to the initial conclusion that this requires more thought. However, we’re headed out after a very dangerous creature. Some of us could very well die, maybe all of us. And having a backup is just too good an option to pass up. So I vote yes.”

  “And I vote yes as well,” Magnus said. “Because this is so dangerous, and my new self is supposed to be better.”

  “Okay. Shiny’s going to begin the procedure,” Telisa said. “Promise yourself now: if we find a way to upgrade your old self, we’ll take it. If we can engineer immortality into our originals, we will. Until then, we merge periodically. Or we can ping-pong between versions. What we learn about the process might affect our decisions.”

  Everyone nodded.

  They all agree. But I think they all feel the same uneasiness I do inside.

  Telisa took a deep breath and shook it off.

  It’s just something new to us. We’ll all be used to it in a few weeks.

  ***

  Kirizzo entered the supersedure chamber on the secret base late at night by his allies’ clocks. A quick ping verified all their positions and states. He would not be interrupted. He placed a box of equipment beside him on the sand in the large, well-lit chamber. Around him were hundreds of the tiny computation blocks his kind used to create machines. The room hummed with power.

  Kirizzo interfaced with the Trilisk AI. He pictured in great detail exactly the steps required. He was taking great risks; the prayer had to be as specific as possible, even though there were many things he did not understand about the supersedure devices. He had deceived his Terran allies to some degree: it was true
he did not know how to tinker with the supersedure devices. But using the Trilisk AI, he hoped to be able to make special use of their powers.

  For a normal supersedure, a body was copied. Then the mental state of the source mind was uploaded, translated, and placed into a new host. The original was kept in some kind of stasis, ready to receive the result when the switch was reversed. Kirizzo envisioned all these as separate steps, even though he did not actually know if the device had been engineered to do things in this order, or as separate steps at all.

  He prayed for a supersedure into an artificial Gorgalan body that would last one hundredth of a second.

  He felt only the slightest blip of consciousness. Nothing seemed to have changed.

  Kirizzo used the AI again. This time, he pictured his body copy. He wanted to see it, to examine it.

  One of the columns dropped and displayed his copy. He looked at the golden creature wrapped around itself in the column containment field. Though his consciousness had been copied back into his original body, with virtually no changes, he felt that the body before him must have very similar state: its microarchitecture was almost identical to his own.

  Kirizzo withdrew a sophisticated weapon from the box next to him. He raised the weapon. He prayed to the AI: bring the copy forth. Out of the stasis field.

  Kirizzo2 emerged from the column. He staggered, then stood. His mind, once freed of the stasis field, must be resuming function from its last state. Kirizzo1 activated his weapon. Kirizzo2 instantly stiffened, paralyzed.

  Kirizzo1 reached into the box again and withdrew a small black sphere and a long, thin spike of metal. He rolled the small black sphere into the implantation spike.

  Many such devices had existed on his home world. In a society where temporary cooperation was difficult to obtain, and permanent cooperation impossible to find without extensive enforcement, the technology was common. In order to ensure continued cooperation, an instant and fatal disincentive had to be applied to another Gorgalan. This would guarantee that switching from cooperative mode could never be optimal for the implanted individual. The tiny explosive device was placed into the body, turning the target into a permanent ally. Terrans might well call the implant a slave sphere.