Parker Interstellar Travels 4: The Trilisk Hunt (9 page)

“Or maybe it’s huge,” Siobhan
said.

“Yes. We try one more time. See
what the limit is. If we hit a cave, we retreat.”

They resumed their clearing
work. She thought about what might happen if they all closed their eyes and
moved around. Would a wall shift while they touched it? She also thought about
the thing that had killed Caden.

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 least 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.

The implantation spike
penetrated the integument of Kirizzo2. The slave sphere rolled into place along
the spine. Once in place, the sphere integrated with the nanomachines there,
becoming a part of the Gorgalan’s internal network. Policing it.

Kirizzo1 ran a test diagnostic.
The sphere reported full function. It provided Kirizzo1 with the generated
codes necessary to use it. Kirizzo1 wiped out his old authorizations on the
base, the
Clacker
, and the
Thumper,
resetting them with generated
keys only Kirizzo1 knew. Finally his attention switched back to the Trilisk AI.
He set up the prayer screen to lock Kirizzo2 out. Kirizzo2 had to be prevented
from using anything Kirizzo1 did not grant him.