The Trilisk AI (26 page)

Telisa
was breathing heavily. “I’m just pissed,” she said, ignoring her adrenal
tremors. “Damn! How could that catch me by surprise? We should have had all our
weapons out and ready.”

“Yes.
It was sloppy. I was only thinking of the destroyers. We should gather our
stuff.”

“I
don’t know why my knife isn’t back where it should be. Damn those creepy
things!”

They
unloaded Scout and organized the equipment. They each had a big meal; in all
the excitement they’d neglected the food. Telisa opened the carrier and loaded
all the artifacts back on the shelves before allowing the device to repack
them. Now she felt relatively light: no new artifacts and less food and water
to carry. She found her knife and slipped it back into its sheath.
Yet I
can’t outrun the destroyers.

Telisa
took out the rifle she had found and checked its load. “Meer. That would be
funny if it weren’t so creepy. And if we hadn’t seen those crappy copies of
stuff before.”

Still,
the weapon made her feel better, especially after the close call. She leveled
the rifle and walked down the ramp out of the vault. The floating case followed
in her wake. “We could just leave the seed here and go back without it,” Telisa
said.

“I
think that would be dangerous. I think that would give Shiny an excuse to
decide we weren’t useful anymore,” Magnus said.

“So
what? You think he’s just going to kill us just like that? Out of the blue and
with no warning?”

“I
think that’s how his race operates...operated.”

“They
would have destroyed each other long ago. The whole race would have become
extinct.”

“Well
they are now, right?”

Telisa
made a frustrated noise. “Okay, it’s time to think things through again,” she
said.

“Okay.
We killed a few, but they can still see the seed. And it’s hard to hide,”
Magnus said.

“We’ve
been doing it backwards. It’s hard to hide stuff, as you say. The machines are
focused on finding any survivors. They’ve been in that mode a long time.”

“You
say backwards—so instead of hiding stuff, we’re going to find it?”

“Find
it for them,” she said. “Shiny has shown us how. We can fake the signatures.”

“Yes,
but they just come in and blow stuff up.”

“Then
we fake the other destroyer machines as being Vovokan. They’ll shoot at each
other.”

“Sounds
too easy,” he said.

“These
are only battle machines. They were designed for one swift, crushing campaign
against this planet. They aren’t actually very smart. Probably on purpose. Who
wants a huge army of machines that can think really well on their own?”

“It’s
worth a try.”

Magnus
sat on the ramp to concentrate. Telisa looked around at the recent battle
damage. As far as she could tell, all the defenses had been crushed. The
outside of the vault was scorched in several places.

I’m
lucky the destroyer machines didn’t kill me after that weapon destroyed the
small ones. I think they didn’t have a clear view of what hit them. They might
learn next time; then I’d be stuck in here forever.

Telisa
pocketed another of the tiny spheres that had led them down to the vault.
Too bad you guys died off, we’re getting quite an entourage going here.

She
thought about going to look for more stuff but decided it wouldn’t be wise to
leave Magnus far behind.

“Okay.
This is what I’ve set up,” Magnus said. “I’m going to add a bunch of fake
signatures near where we activated a lot of the machines last time with the
broadcast power. But this time, once they’ve engaged I’m going to add
signatures to a third of the destroyer machines themselves. Let’s see if we can
start a party.”

Telisa
took a last scan around the chamber, then sat next to Magnus. Scout moved
around the vault in lazy circles. She accessed the probe network data in her
PV.

She
watched Magnus activate several robots in the house. Predictably, the red dots
of the destroyers came from above to hunt the Vovokan targets down. Magnus
waited for the right moment. He allowed one Vovokan machine to be killed. But
then when two destroyers came at another machine from two directions, he put
down fake Vovokan signatures on both machines. The destroyers both altered
course immediately, spiraling closer in the tight corridors, hunting each
other.

“Look
at that! They’re going for it!”

Telisa
watched as two destroyer heavies closed on each other. A bright exchange of
energies played across the spy network.

“I
think two of those larger machines just destroyed each other! This is great!”

More
machines were scrambled from the capital ship above the surface. The number of
destroyers in the house doubled. Magnus activated another set of signatures
over a couple of them, causing their fellow machines to turn and attack.

“Hurry.
Make more, before they figure it out,” Telisa said.

Magnus
put false signatures on half the destroyers. More combat broke out in several
sections of the house. Telisa watched several of the destroyers die in friendly
fire.

“This
is going to be easy. I never thought it would work so well!”

“They’re
catching on now, actually,” he noted. “They’re firing more slowly. And getting
closer before shooting.”

“That’s
good for us. Some of them are dead and the others are less effective.”

“Yeah,
yeah, it is a step in the right direction.” Magnus’s voice wasn’t overly
cheerful.

“See
what else you can do,” Telisa said. She stood up. The artifacts were all packed
away, so she decided to check on the seed. Telisa walked over and examined it
again.

The
blue sphere part was made quite differently than the rest of it. The components
of the square that embraced it were obviously Vovokan. They looked just like
the silver rods and bulbs on Shiny’s personal gear. Telisa took out a passive
scanner and gave the seed a run-over as she had with many of the artifacts on
the shelves.

“Wait
a minute,” Telisa said aloud.

She
took out a field mapper and pointed the sensor at the device. She saw the
mapper interface open in her PV. The electromagnetic fields around the device
were immensely complex. Impossibly so. The EM fields pulsing in thin air before
her looked like the inside of a computation block.

She
fumbled through her pack for her spectrometer. She took a reading from the
surface of the sphere. Her tool showed her the exterior had a known absorption
signature: a Trilisk compound no civilian human knew how to replicate.

Her
excitement rose to the point where she couldn’t contain herself. “Five Holy
Entities!” she sent over her link. “Magnus. This center part isn’t Vovokan.
It’s Trilisk.”

He
walked into the vault to join her. “How? You sure?”

“Sure.
It has a known absorption pattern. Trilisk only. The fields are amazing!”
Telisa was still watching through her mapper. She moved her hand close to the
seed. Her hand created a safe zone wherever she moved it.

“Magnus,
these fields surrounding it are as complex as the inside of a processor. But
when I move my hand here, they all dynamically clear for me. Wherever I move
it—just like that.”

“What’s
inside? A power source? All its computational power is in the fields?”

“I
can’t scan into it. There are no controls. This outer part is nothing but a
glorified holder. Actually, maybe it interfaces with it somehow. Could Vovokans
actually know how to interface with Trilisk technology?”

“Once
again our companion proves to be less than forthcoming. To the edge of
betrayal, really.”

“Shiny?
Yes. He has to know what this really is.”

“He
has to know all about the Trilisks. He has this artifact in his house, and it’s
important enough to come back for. Or to send
us
back for. And don’t
forget where we first found him—trapped in a Trilisk ruin.”

Telisa
shook her head. “Damn him. All I asked for was a bunch of ruin locations. But
he knows a lot more than that.”

“Why
did Shiny send us down to his house to get a Trilisk artifact?”

“It
must be valuable. It must be the most valuable thing on the planet!”

“Maybe.
Maybe it’s just the most valuable thing left after the destruction,” Magnus
said.

“I
do wonder about what you said.”

“What?”

“The
Vovokans. Their planet has been destroyed. Maybe they deserved it. Maybe the
destroyers are the good guys. Shiny’s people might have switched into
competitive mode. Maybe they even attacked the destroyers first.”

“It
wouldn’t surprise me,” Magnus said. “Let’s just make sure we don’t piss off
either of them at us. Because no matter what, humanity can’t fight either one
of these races.”

“Did
we kill enough destroyers to give us a chance at making it out?”

“I
don’t think so. Not yet. They’re becoming less responsive as this goes on.”

“Then
our basic situation hasn’t changed much. We’re still stuck down here with the
seed hidden in the vault.”

“We
could try and rip it apart. We could take back the Trilisk part, if the
destroyer machines aren’t scanning for Trilisk stuff. I wonder if Shiny would
consider that good enough or if he needs all of it. What else?” asked Magnus.

“Back
to the drawing board. Figure something out.”

Chapter 20

The
Vandivier
shot through interstellar space. The crew waited inside the
tiny shell as it traveled farther and farther from home. For the thousandth
time, Relachik’s patience was tested.

“Is
there some chance this is a deception?” he asked Cilreth.

“Yes,”
Cilreth said. “Do you want to turn back?”

Relachik
almost screamed at her.
No, I don’t want to turn back!

“I
think we have them,” Arlin transmitted from his quarters.

Relachik
checked the ship’s sensors yet again. There was something at the edge of their
range. He closed his eyes and initiated several actions. The ship slowed
relative to the target. A probe launched and began to move between the
Vandivier
and the contact. It began to screen out all traces of the approach of their
ship.

“I
doubt they saw us, unless they’ve significantly upgraded their ship since the
war,” Arlin said.

“They
may easily have done so, given their mission and also their success at
Thespera,” Relachik said. But he believed Arlin was probably right.
We can
do this. Finally.

The
Vandivier
began its stealth approach. Relachik handled everything
smoothly due to all his practice. He wasn’t nervous; he’d always been rock
solid under pressure. If anything, his focus improved when it really counted.
He felt the approach of the
Vandivier
was a good one.

Relachik
took a moment during the process and called up his document. He’d been working
on it steadily. He looked at the last entry.

If you can forgive me, I think we could work together. I’ve
figured out our goals are no longer at odds. You want to learn about the
aliens. Especially the Trilisks. It’s no longer my duty to uphold the law, but
I’m still a human and I have a duty to help protect humans. The
Seeker
was destroyed by aliens. We
have to give the Space Force all the help we can to help protect humanity. But
that doesn’t stand in the way of what you want. You can learn about the aliens.
I can pass along what we learn to the Space Force anonymously. Cilreth says
it’s possible.

Relachik
set his link to transmit it directly to Telisa if she ever came into range.
Just in case. He hadn’t dared send it to her earlier using the key, for fear of
interception by the government, the F-clave, or her fellow smugglers. He still
wondered if Telisa was free to do what she wanted, or if she’d fallen in with a
crowd that had trapped her. It was also possible her captors had brainwashed
her into joining them.

“Shouldn’t
we attempt communication?” Cilreth asked.

“Yes,
if we want them to fire on us, or ambush us once we board. Don’t worry, once
we’re on the ship, I intend to announce us and our intentions. Until then,
we’re not going to give them any chance to slip away. We’ll use the grenades,
just as we practiced.”

“Very
well. And what of the pirate’s option?”

“Unlikely,”
Relachik said.

“What’s
that?” Cilreth asked.

Arlin
and Relachik gave her a look, then Relachik said, “I’ll explain it to her. You
get ready.”

Arlin
nodded and left them.

Relachik
took a deep breath. “When two powered-up gravity spinners near each other, they
have to cancel each other out more the closer they get to each other,” he said.