The Trilisk AI (20 page)

“Of
course. We do have a growing problem, though. Scout needs power. If only—”

“I
know, I know, if only you could have incorporated the Vovokan walker’s power
source, it would have plenty of power left.”

Magnus
smiled. “I have harped on that a bit, haven’t I?”

“I
know most things seem dead around here, but maybe there are some storage cells
that we could tap for power. Do you have what you need to charge Scout from
various other voltages?”

 “No.
However, Scout, being designed to wander about on alien planets, has a wide
range of acceptable inputs for charging.”

“Aha.”

“Yes.”

“Well,
what about that artifact Scout is looking at now?”

Magnus
paused.

“Not
sure,” he said. Magnus saw Scout had found some piece of equipment that stood
out. It was roughly square, taller than Scout but perhaps no taller than
Magnus. It emitted greenish light from a panel on the front. Thick ropes or
wires hung from both of its flat sides.

“He’s
this way,” Magnus said, checking his rifle and heading out. They walked through
the sandy tunnel where they’d taken a nap. It was a cul-de-sac, the result of a
cave-in. Telisa grabbed her pack and followed.

They
found Scout two caverns over, waiting near the device. Magnus looked over the
machine in person. It looked new. Everything else had been covered in sand.

He
took out a heat charger he’d brought for Scout. He’d hoped they might be able
to find a source of heat that could be used to provide energy. It had a
multimeter on its side which he used to check the leads.

Magnus
hesitated.
How convenient.

“Do
you find it a bit odd that we’ve come this far so quickly?” he asked.

“No.
I don’t follow you.”

“Well,
we were led here by these mysterious colorful objects that float around. After
we fought our way through the coliseum, we made it to the door which looked
sealed, but it just opened for us, even though two others right next to it were
melted shut. Now we’re here, deeper in the house than we have any right to be,
and we find this new piece of equipment and it just happens to be great for
charging Scout.”

“Coincidence?
Or the reason the spheres led us this way is they knew ahead of time this door
still worked. The charger, I don’t know,” Telisa said. “You did just make a big
deal about how flexible Scout is.”

“This
source is almost optimal. It looks like it’s been cleaned up and prepared for
us. What are we missing?”

“Maybe
Shiny is helping us remotely.”

“Maybe.
But he said he couldn’t risk attracting any attention,” Magnus pointed out.

“With
a Vovokan ship, I bet he couldn’t. Maybe he’s figured out how to influence
things down here using only the
Iridar.
”

“That
I could believe. But how did he keep that door from being melted by the
destroyers, however long ago that was? Or how could he have known it still
worked?”

“Some
sensors may still work. Minor stuff that doesn’t attract the destroyers. You
have a better theory, I can tell,” she said.

“Maybe
some of the Vovokans are still alive, and they need our help.”

“They’re
leading us to them with these floating decorations. Devices so small and
harmless, the destroyers don’t or can’t track them.”

“That
seems like a very real possibility,” Magnus said. “What are we going to do if
we find them? And what if Shiny thinks of them as more ‘competition’?”

“We’ll
cooperate with them and encourage Shiny to cooperate. Explain that competition
isn’t a valid option now that his race has been culled down so severely. They
need to work together just to survive. I think if we find survivors, though,
they will work together, because this is his house.”

“His
house may have suffered a mutiny in the face of the destroyer attack,” Magnus
said. “But you’re right; no need to invent more problems until we know they’re
real.”

“I’ll
say.”

Magnus
set up Scout to charge from the odd power station. It didn’t take long to draw
the power it needed, so they had a light snack from their supplies and kept
close. When Scout was ready to go, they sent it ahead to check out the next few
rooms. Magnus watched the feed carefully. He didn’t see any new threats.

“Where
to, navigator?” he asked.

“We’ll
head over to where Scout is now, then it’s farther down.”

Magnus
shook his head. “Always down. This place is crazy.” He hefted his pack and
adjusted the light mounted on his rifle. He checked the spare flashlights at
his belt.

“We’re
lucky to be comfortable here at all,” Telisa said. “The air isn’t bad. And the
passageways are a bit low, but more or less our size. Imagine if the Vovokans
had been worm-things that crawled through thin tubes the width of our heads.
How hard would it be then?”

Magnus
laughed. “Okay, I’m not complaining any more.”

Telisa
shot him a smile. “Good. Let’s go.”

They
walked down a tunnel toward Scout’s position. They came upon a dead sphere
lying on the sand. It had been one of their colorful guides.

“Another
dead one. I hope they can make it.”

The
tunnel ended in a long room filled with debris. There were colored wrappers,
shattered pieces of equipment, and Vovokan bodies. Telisa drew her knife and
her stunner.

She’s
terrified of the bodies. I guess I can’t blame her, and I’d rather she have her
weapons ready than otherwise.

“Anything
here for us to kill?” Magnus said.

“I
know you’re just trying to encourage that change of attitude you mentioned,”
Telisa said. “But yeah, if anything threatens us, I’m ready.”

“All
these bodies. If this is Shiny’s house, what are they all doing here?”

“I
don’t know. We don’t have knowledge of his race’s living arrangements.”

“Were
these Vovokans related to him? Were they employees? Slaves?” Magnus asked.

“He
said those others were fake. Or something similar. But I can’t tell. These sure
look just like him, only injured or dead.”

The
colorful spheres moved over to a rough hole in the floor. Telisa cautiously
approached it and glanced down with her light.

“We
have to go through that?”

“You’re
the navigator. Our little guides seem to think it’s the way to go,” Magnus
said. He heard a crackling noise and spun around. His eyes caught
movement—something small.

“What
is it?” Telisa demanded.

“Small
critter,” Magnus said. “Probably attracted by all the bodies, or maybe some of
this was their food, too.”

Telisa
knelt by the hole and picked something up.

“I
think this is one of those little guardian spheres that Shiny uses.”

“Makes
sense. I wonder if he needs more.”

“I’m
going to pocket a few of them, of course,” Telisa said. She sifted through some
of the wrappers and garbage on the floor. She picked up a few more items.

Magnus
sent Scout down the partially blocked shaft. As usual, the floating spheres
stayed with the Terrans. Magnus resisted the urge to bat one aside with the end
of his rifle. He released a smart rope and told it to prepare for the descent.
It snaked down the shaft after Scout.

When
Telisa was satisfied, she anchored her own rope and they headed down. Magnus
watched Scout’s feed. They were headed into a twisting, partially collapsed
well that went down a long way. The route was cluttered by fallen beams,
boulders, and sand. There were bodies and debris of Vovokan make as well,
though Magnus didn’t see anything salvageable.

Magnus
descended about two meters ahead of Telisa. They flicked their lights in all
directions, watching the debris and bodies.

“There’s
a critter on my rope!” Telisa called aloud.

Magnus
looked over. Telisa had trained her flashlight on something. He swung himself
slightly to the side to get a clear view. A long, many-legged creature
scampered down toward her. It was red and gold. The golden parts of its
integument sparkled in her light.

“Don’t
shoot the rope,” he said. “We don’t have many extras.”

“I
only have a stunner,” she said.

“I
don’t know, you might damage its controllers with that,” he thought aloud. “I
see it. It’s small. Stay calm and use your knife.”

Telisa
drew her knife and waited bravely. Magnus looked around to see if he could get
over to help her. A ledge covered with debris was nearby, but he couldn’t tell
if it would hold. Whatever supported the ledge wasn’t visible beneath the piles
of rock, sand, and fragments of a wall or machine. He ordered his rope to retract
a bit, and started himself swinging so he could join her.

The
creature descended within range of Telisa’s knife. It was considerably longer
than her twenty-five-centimeter blade. She allowed it to scamper halfway onto
the blade then flicked it away forcibly. The creature went flying away into the
darkness.

“Shit!”
she said.

“That
was good,” he said.

“Damn,
I swear that thing scares me as much as anything else down here. It’s small, I
know, just damn creepy.”

“It
was like a tiny Shiny. Hopefully not actually a young Vovokan,” he said.

“I
don’t think it was. Who knows, though?”

They
resumed their descent. They wove back and forth around obstructions in the
shaft. The debris also made it difficult to see very far. Magnus thoroughly
scanned each short descent with his lights. Telisa didn’t complain at the lack
of progress. He thought she was probably still worried about the ‘zombie’
Vovokans.

They
descended on smart ropes to another level and paused in a small cavern
adjoining the shaft. A pile of dead bodies partially covered in sand lay in a
corner where an exit had collapsed.

“Magnus!”
Telisa sent the urgent call silently over her link.

“What’s
going on?” Magnus transmitted.

“Big
gold centipede-things scurrying around here. No idea how many. They scare the
shit out of me.”

“Stay
calm.”

Magnus
saw three long, golden shapes scampering out of the bodies. Then another. They
had red bands like Telisa’s previous visitor.

“Okay,
but one of them is coming—
it’s biting me
!” Telisa cried out.

Magnus
leaped over. He was ready with his flashlight, but Telisa already had hers on
her lower leg.

“Thank
Momma Veer,” she said. “It couldn’t get through.”

Magnus
assumed it had tried to bite her on the leg. He concentrated on finding the
critters in the dark space while mentally configuring his rifle. Telisa raised
her hand to fire her stunner as Magnus turned to scan for more enemies.

“The
stunner’s no use. I only have a knife,” she said.

Magnus
concentrated on the creatures he could spot. His slugthrower thundered in the
closed environment. Once his weapon had collected enough data to form a target
signature, he started firing with less accurate aim. The weapon and his smart
rounds took care of the rest.

He
was just about to turn around and check how Telisa fared when the sounds of another
weapon boomed out. Telisa had a compact assault weapon in her hands. The muzzle
flashed as she shot again and again.

Wow,
I didn’t know she had that!
Magnus looked away to take more shots. His light scanned left, then right,
looking for targets. He could still hear things scampering in the sand, so he
turned his light downwards. He felt something land on his back.

Dammit,
should have looked up.
He rammed his frame against the irregular cavern wall, hard. He tucked his chin
forward to his chest. The Veer skinsuit distributed the impact evenly across
his back, even though the wall wasn’t smooth. He felt a wet pop where something
died against his back. He stomped his feet, trying to smash anything that might
be readying to scamper up his legs.

Telisa
squealed. Magnus was next to her in an instant, searching. One of the creatures
dangled from her wrist. Telisa shook her hand violently but it remained affixed
to her. Magnus sliced it off with his dagger, leaving only about an inch of the
thing on her. He sheathed the blade, dripping with alien gore. He grabbed her
wrist to remove the rest of it. “Let me see.”

“It
fell off. It fell off after you cut it,” she said. Her eyes were wide. She
breathed in long gasps.

“Keep
shooting!” he urged. His own rifle sounded twice more as his light swept over
the golden creatures. There were more of them now. He could hear them crawling
in the shaft all around. He told Scout, now fifty meters below them, to climb
back up to their position.

His
light swept the floor of the ledge before him. He kicked savagely at two of the
things, sending them flopping away down the shaft. His light revealed more
crawling across a garbage-encrusted beam toward the ledge. He shot three of
them off the beam. Telisa kept shooting as well.