Parker Interstellar Travels 4: The Trilisk Hunt (3 page)

Chapter
4

“Maxsym Kirolenko?”

Maxsym felt his pulse rate
increase. He closed his blue eyes. Short blond hair became ruffled by large,
tan hands.

“Yes.”

“I’m Jason Yang—”

“Yes, I was told to expect your
call.”

“Oh. Is this a good time?”

A good time? Is this a good
time to build a false case to crucify you for criticizing the government of the
core worlds?

“Let’s get it over with.”

There was a fat pause. Then the
man kept talking.

“I’m sorry you feel that way.
Let me convince you otherwise. You have a strong record in your field, sir. By
all accounts an eminent xenobiologist. And at the age of twenty-two, all the
more amazing.”

“Thank you…”

Here comes the “but”…

“Have you ever thought about
the hindrances to your career posed by increasing government intervention? From
what I understand, you stand opposed to current political policies allowing the
destruction of alien ecosystems to pave the way for new colonies.”

“I have expressed my… viewpoint,
yes. But I have fulfilled all my contracts and conducted my research
professionally, and successfully, despite these different points of view.”

“You also blamed the core world
government for the disaster at Calnine,” the man said.

Maxsym breathed in. Calm down.

“I provided… constructive
criticism,” Maxsym said. “Look, I’m not a dissenter.”

“‘UN buffoons who have the
blood of those colonists on their hands’?” quoted the man.

“I don’t care!” Maxsym barked.
“You know what? I’m not taking it back. They were irresponsible! You want to
kill the xenobarrier research, you go right ahead. I’ll work with someone who
doesn’t have a problem with my politics.”

“Ah, yes, the xenobarrier
project. I wanted to ask some questions about that. But first, I’d like to
explain why I think a man like you is a great fit for Parker Interstellar
Travels. Out here on the frontier, you’ll find yourself with more freedom to—”

“What? What is this?”

“A job interview. Didn’t you—”

“Oh. I’m sorry, things have
been hectic here since… when I spoke out about Calnine, I whipped up something
of a storm. I’m sorry, I seem to be confused. Overwhelmed. I thought you were… someone
else. How very embarrassing.”

“Sir?”

“I’m sorry. Case of mistaken
identity. If I had paid more attention… please accept my apologies. What need
has a travel agency of a man like me?”

“I’m glad you asked that,”
Jason said.

***

Maxsym stepped onto another
dingy transport. It seemed that the farther toward the frontier he had gone,
each transport had been worse than the last.

I wonder if I’ve made a mistake
going out here
, he thought.
I don’t know that much about
this company, and there are occasional stories about people disappearing out
here.

Before Maxsym left the
spaceport link coverage, he sent a message back to his home datastore with his
location and intentions. Just in case he never came back. On the old transport,
he clanked along a metal corridor and came to a passenger chamber atop the
cargo space. Three other men and a woman sat along two long benches facing each
other. He stopped and checked the flight time: scheduled for two hours. It said
the destination was a space rendezvous, not another spaceport.

End of the line. I guess this
crappy seat will do for just a couple hours.

Maxsym looked over his fellow
passengers. He stared for two long seconds on his approach, planning to look
away soon so as to avoid any negative reactions. He thought one of the men
might be very young, maybe not twenty, and the others he gauged between twenty
and thirty. The woman was young and attractive. She looked confident. The last
thing Maxsym gleaned before sitting down was a range of clothing in the others.
The young man was dressed in lighter colorweave garments like Maxsym. He could
be a fellow core worlder, but the others wore more durable clothing.

They must be from the frontier,
or somewhere in between.

“Are you here for PIT, too?”
asked the younger man. His shirt shifted subtly from dark green to something
more aqua in a wavering pattern like plant fronds. Maxsym thought the youth was
probably handsome, which made him wonder if he was the boyfriend of the woman,
or perhaps her brother.

“Yes,” Maxsym said. “All of
you?”

“Yep,” the shorter man said.
“I’m Imanol. You look like you’ve come a ways. You’re not in Kansai anymore,
Blondie.”

“Kansas. Dorothy.”

“What?”

“Nothing. I’m Maxsym. From New
New York,” he said.

“I’m Caden, from Earth,” said
the young man.

“Caden, Imanol,” Maxsym
repeated. He looked toward the other two. “May I ask your names?”

“Siobhan,” said the woman. She
smiled. Maxsym noticed her limbs were folded uncomfortably. She would be very
tall when she stood up.

“Krellis,” said the last man.
He did not smile.

“So, if you’re like us, you
don’t know very much about this job,” Caden said. “No one even knows how many
openings are available.”

Maxsym nodded. “I’m largely in
the dark as well, but I got the feeling that I wasn’t competing for a position,
but being offered one if they could persuade me.”

Caden accepted that opinion
without comment.

“That’s the way it was with me,
too,” Siobhan said. “They were selling themselves hard. Sounded like they
wanted me to join them pretty bad. I’ll be a little pissed if it turns out
we’re all competing for the same position. But at least they paid for the
trip.”

Maxsym nodded again. “I guess
we’ll know soon.”

Maxsym settled in for the
takeoff. The old transport left the frontier port and headed into space.

The young man, Caden, seemed
unwilling to pass the time in silence.

“I’m a new graduate. I was
headed for New Annapolis, but I’m considering this job instead. What skillset
do you have? It might tell us a lot to share what we do. All the same sort of
stuff?”

“I am a xenobiologist,” Maxsym
said.

“Wow. Okay, that’s radically
different than anything I can do,” Caden said.

“I’m an industrial automation
specialist,” Siobhan said. “So it’s looking better for all of us getting a job
all the time.”

“I’m a security specialist,”
Imanol offered.

Everyone looked to Krellis.

“Ex military,” Krellis said.

Ah. Krellis does sound like a
last name.

There was another pause. Once
again, Caden started talking.

“So what can you tell me about
life on the frontier? Is it as dangerous as it seems to us core worlders?”

Imanol and Siobhan traded
looks. Imanol said, “Just be courteous until you learn your way around. ‘An
armed society is a polite society’, you know?”

“Sounds familiar,” Caden said.

“I’d tell you to stick with
your friends, but looks like you have none here,” Siobhan said.

Krellis surprised Maxsym by
speaking up.

“Get yourself a weapon. Keep it
strapped here to your chest, where they can see it but can’t steal it. Then pay
attention to people around you. If you’re pissing them off, notice that fact
and back off,” Krellis said.

Maxsym wondered for a moment if
Krellis was saying that Caden was pissing him off, but Krellis did not seem
angry, just gruff.

“Okay, thanks,” Caden said.

“Your colorweave will crap out
in a few days, and replacing it out here is expensive. Get something that lasts
longer,” Siobhan said. “Plus that way, you won’t stick out so much.”

“The government isn’t here to
tell you to strap yourself in,” Imanol added. “So you have to be observant and
cautious, all on your own. For instance, on this old dump, if you mistook the
airlock for the head, there’s a nonzero chance it would actually let you step
right out of the damn ship without so much as a link warning.”

Krellis and Siobhan laughed. After
that, the conversation died down again, and for once Caden did not revive it.
So they rode the rest of the way occupied by their links. As they approached
their rendezvous, Maxsym was not able to learn as much about the ship they were
meeting as he expected to. All he got a hold of was an exterior visual feed,
which showed a strange, almost spherical ship headed toward them. As it
approached, it continued to grow until Maxsym became almost alarmed.

“That’s a big mother,” Imanol
said, showing he was doing the same as Maxsym. “I hope it’s not a Space Force
base ship!” His voice expressed bitterness.

“What?” asked Maxsym.

“I don’t like it any more than
you do,” said Imanol.

No one else commented on it.
Their transport flew into the huge vessel and came to rest.

When Maxsym stepped out of the
dingy transport, he felt another shock. They were in a hangar large enough to
be in a spaceport.

“I thought we were meeting a
ship,” Siobhan whispered.

“We did. This is a ship,”
Imanol said. “And as you can see, it’s gigantor.”

The hangar floor was vast and
flawless. It looked new. Or advanced enough to be kept like new. Something else
felt wrong about the place. Maxsym couldn’t put his finger on it. The angles of
the construction were odd.

Probably built by a company I’ve
never heard of out on the frontier.

Maxsym spotted two people
coming out to speak with them on the wide-open floor. One was a man—muscular,
wearing military garb with a rifle on his back.

And a knife big enough to be a
sword at his hip
, Maxsym noted.
Is this the norm for the
frontier?
He looked over at Krellis but saw only a sidearm. Siobhan and
Imanol appeared unarmed.

The other was a woman. She
looked young, attractive yet professional. Maxsym could not help but rank her
against Siobhan in looks. He decided the new one was even more interesting.
Besides, she was closer to Maxsym’s height than Siobhan. She also wore a very
durable-looking skinsuit, probably military grade. He saw a pistol and a large
knife at her hip.

What have I gotten myself into?
Am I about to be forced into service?

“I’m Sheridan, and this is
Calder,” she said. “Welcome to our ship. We’re glad you came to speak with us
about Parker Interstellar Travels.”

Well, she doesn’t sound
threatening.

The woman seemed to notice
everyone including Maxsym staring at the huge hangar.

“Our ship is quite impressive.
Yet another reason you should consider joining us.”

“Is this some kind of
paramilitary group?” asked Caden. His gaze had moved quickly from the hangar
around them to the weapons worn by the pair who had greeted them.

“That’s a good question. One
that deserves an answer. But first, I have to ask all of you to go through a
quick screening procedure. I realize that it’s very much on us to convince you
to join us. And I intend to do that, which will include giving out a lot of
information. This screening has to come first. It’ll be very quick, and I can
promise we’ll make it worth your while whether you join us or not. You turn us
down, I’ll send you home on us and toss in 1000 ESC for your time.”

“What kind of a screening?”
Siobhan asked. She sounded skeptical.

“I’ll go with each of you into
that room for five minutes. I’ll ask you some questions. Very basic stuff,
nothing about your personal lives, just career-type questions. It will be one
at a time, and the rest of you can speak with the first person when they come
out if you have reservations. I realize this could feel a bit creepy. It will
all be clear shortly.”

She pointed at Maxsym. “What do
you say?”

What the hell is going on here?
At this point, if they’re some kind of crazy kidnappers, I’m pretty much at
their mercy.

“Very well,” Maxsym said
guardedly.

Chapter
5

“I don’t know what you’re
talking about,” asserted the young man. His last name was Krellis. He sat in a
simple metal chair. He wore a skinsuit that exposed only his hands and his
close-shaven head.

“I’m talking about the fact you
never left the space force,” Telisa said. “You still work for them.”

The man leaned forward and
feigned anger. Telisa could see his perfect white teeth as he spoke. His eyes
held determination. For all the good it would do him.

“I passed your truth check.
What’s your issue? You know I had a falling-out with the force.”

Feigned, pretended, imitation
of anger,
Shiny’s voice told her through her link.
Subject
employed by Earth government. Telisa related to mission. Magnus, too, also, as
well.

“I don’t like spies.”

“You some kind of buckle bulb?
Get your head examined.”

“It’s you who’s having his head
examined. Right now. By an alien. And he says you’re a liar,” Telisa said.

“You’re insane! Someone help!”
He stood up. “I want to leave. There’s nothing you could say that would make me
want to work here with you.”

“You won’t be leaving anytime
soon,” Telisa said. She asked Shiny to isolate his link. She could tell it
worked by watching the man’s face. Suddenly he vaulted over the table to
attack.

Telisa reacted by instinct. She
sidestepped the assault, rabbit punching him as he passed. Her blow did not
seem particularly effective.

He’s stronger than I am. I should
be careful.

He turned toward her. Telisa
took the initiative, grabbing his head in her hands. She pulled down hard and
sent a knee toward his face. He blocked the blow with an arm, unable to stop it
but muting it enough to prevent damage. Then he grabbed her leg and sent her
hopping back. In another moment, she would be dumped on the ground and he would
be above her.

Ah, screw it.

His hands were on her leg, so
she boxed his ears, then stabbed a finger into an eye. He let go of her leg,
staggered. Telisa activated her stealth sphere just as he covered. The man
blinked for a second, nursing his eye, then looked toward his blind side. Then
he spun into a corner, trying to find her. Telisa took her time, aimed
carefully, and launched a combination: jab, jab, hook. He had no chance to
block her invisible attack. She caught him on the left side of his chin and
dropped him with the hook.

Telisa left the cell. Her link
locked the door behind her. She took a deep breath. Her Veer suit dumped the
excess heat of the impromptu workout. Magnus and Jamie Arakaki were in the
observation room. The ex-UED soldier had become good friends with Magnus, and
everyone called her by her last name, military-style.

“You were watching the fight?”
she asked.

“We were betting on it. No
offense, I had to bet against you, but Magnus gave me good odds,” Arakaki said.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me.” She turned to leave.

She knows we have to discuss
what to do about the spy. And she knows she hasn’t been around long enough for
her opinion to count. Though she probably already gave it to Magnus.

“No, please stay,” Telisa said.
“You bet I would lose?”

Arakaki shook her head. “No. I
bet it would take you longer than a minute to win.”

“Well, it was the hardest job
interview I’ve ever given,” Telisa said. Thinking about the spy again, she felt
cold anger.

They actually sent someone to
get into our organization. Our tiny, little, insignificant space travel,
adventure, and exploration agency. Which happens to work with a live alien.

“This means they don’t want to
bring us in straight up. They want to get in here and see what we know, what we
have. Infiltrate us before they move. Probably to make a plan to get a hold of
Shiny. Five Entities!”

“It means we can’t go back,”
Magnus said.

“For how long?” Telisa asked
the question even though she knew the answer.

“We can never go back unless
we’re going back on our terms to take them down. But you seem to be unable to
face that task,” he said.

“Well, I made some progress.
Actually, Cilreth and I have been working on something together,” Telisa said.

“Really? You recruited her to
your cause, hrm?” asked Arakaki.

Telisa sent them a link to her
copy of
The Orwell Papers
.

“Isn’t that just a sort of nut-job
manifesto?” Magnus asked.

“Yes, but a well researched,
thorough nut-job manifesto.”

The name was taken from a long-gone
author, George Orwell, who wrote about oppressive government. The author of
The
Orwell Papers
was unknown, or at least unknown by most.

“That thing is useless,” Magnus
said. “The UNSF knows all about it. Believe me, they’ve analyzed that and
blocked it carefully. The plot it describes could never succeed now that it’s
been leaked.”

“True. But here’s the key:
whether they know about it or not, the critical part is, the paper correctly
identifies the individuals who really control the core world governments. There
are actually fewer than one hundred individuals who pull all the strings back
on Earth! It’s a brilliant power analysis, actually—maybe the work of an AI.
Those people may guard against the plan outlined in
The Orwell Papers
,
but they won’t give up their power because they’ve been outed. They remain the
key leaders. Given enough power—”

“Like say a fleet of Vovokan
starships, a host of alien weapons, and a crack unit of operatives?” Magnus interjected.

“Yes. Given enough power to let
us break the expected rules of the engagement, we can take
The Orwell Papers
and turn them into something useful. Even if the space force thinks they’ve
taken precautions against the rebellion outlined by the author.”

“This was created by the UED,”
Arakaki said.

“Five Entities!” Telisa said.

Magnus was surprised, too. “And
it’s real?” he asked.

“As far as I know, the analysis
is accurate,” Arakaki said. “The UED released it hoping for some help from
within the core worlds.”

“Good. We can use the
leadership analysis, even if the rest of it is no longer usable,” Telisa said.

“And what if these individuals
are actually immortal Trilisks in the bodies of Terrans?” asked Arakaki.

“Then it’s even more important
to take them down.”

“And it will also be almost
impossible to do so,” Magnus said. “I agree with where you’re headed. And I
applaud it. Someone has to do something. I’m just saying, we need to know if
they are Trilisks first, in my opinion.”

“I said we’re working on it.
Add your time to the effort.”

“Okay. That’s something. But we
have a shorter-term decision to make now, and it’s exactly the kind of hard
decisions that have to be made if we want to tackle the world government. What
are we going to do with this guy? He’s just a foot soldier in the grand scheme.
An expendable spy sent here to gather information.”

“Brainstorm choices first, then
choose,” Telisa said.

“We can space him. Literally.
If we go after the UNSF, then people will die. We can let him go. We can incarcerate
him. I don’t see much else.”

“Drop him at that dive where
the UED survivors went?” asked Telisa.

“No way,” Arakaki said. “They
might talk. We’d be putting them in danger as well as ourselves.”

“We could suspend him in a
Trilisk column. Just as my body was,” Telisa said.

“A sidestep,” Arakaki said.

“Yes. I admit it. I’m not ready
to start killing left and right. But I’m coming to see that I have to be
willing to make life-and-death decisions like this if I’m going to effect the
change I used to daydream about. And now I’m starting to daydream about just
giving it up and living my own life. I don’t know if I have it in me. Yet I
think about the total cost of the oppression as it goes on year after year. Is
it worth killing to end that?” Telisa threw up her hands. “Only the Five
Entities know.”

“Arakaki thinks it’s worth it.
Even after serving on the losing end of the war.”

“Yes,” Arakaki said. “You guys
weren’t kidding when you said they wanted you. How did I just skip from one UED
camp to the next?”

“We’re not so much the U for
united as the ED for Earth Defiance,” Telisa said. She traded looks with
Magnus. “Not yet.”

Arakaki raised an eyebrow. “You
could make a go of it. My old unit was washed up. But this outfit has tech.
Lots of it. Power. You could do it.”

Telisa looked at Arakaki. “You
lost friends… more?”

Arakaki nodded. “But they were
in the cause. They were willing to lose their lives for it.”

“Innocents would die, too.”

“Maybe. The UNSF has trampled a
lot of innocents themselves, no doubt about it. You just never get to hear
about them.”

“Okay. I’m going to put this
guy into stasis for now,” Telisa said. “I should hear Cilreth’s opinion, too.”

“What about the other
recruits?”

“That’s the last one. The
others are all clean. Lonrack, McCollum, Cutter, Kirolenko.”

“Okay then, let’s get to work,”
Arakaki said. “Are we gonna split up the new meat or do we get to share?”

Telisa winced. “Both. We’ll
each have all of them for an hour or two each day, but they each get a personal
mentor for anything that falls through the cracks.”

“Magnus takes the girl,”
Arakaki said. “I hate girls. Present company excepted.”

Telisa shrugged. “Duly noted,”
she said. “Okay, Magnus takes Cutter. Pick one.”

“Caden Lonrack,” Arakaki said
quickly.

Of course. The handsome young
leader of the pack. Blood Glades champion and all-around wholesome Terran boy.

Telisa did a quick mental
calculation. McCollum was abrasive while thoroughly competent. Kirolenko
was sharp, but on the lazy side.

Which one do I want?

“I’d like McCollum,” Magnus
said. “I’ll give you Cutter, unless you don’t want her.”

Telisa took the out. “Yes, give
me Cutter then.”

“Cilreth gets Kirolenko. I’ll
let her know.”

“There’s a slight issue with
Lonrack,” Magnus said. “He idolizes the space force. He checked out with Shiny,
and he’s okay with working for us in a gray area of the law, but if we end up
more directly at odds with the UNSF, it could become a problem.”

“Thanks for letting me know,”
Arakaki said. “I’ll keep that in mind and see if I can bring him around.”

“I think half the reason he
said yes is because we’re all packing weapons,” Telisa added.

“Nothing wrong with that,”
Arakaki said. “We need a few fighters, if what I’ve heard about your other
missions is true.”

“Let’s apologize and give them
our real names. We’ll explain why we did that and hope they think this stuff is
as cool as we do.”

“Oh, they will,” Magnus said.