The Trilisk AI (31 page)

Something
more is bothering her. Just wait. She’ll mention it.

“How
many people have you killed?” she blurted out.

Wow.
Didn’t see that one coming.

“Three.”

“In
the war? Were they UED?” she asked.

“Two
of them were. Saboteurs, sent in by the UED to destroy critical installations.”

Oh,
I see. Her father must have told her about my incident.

“And
the other?”

Magnus
hesitated. He gathered his thoughts.

“I
told you a bit about the fear. In the war,” he said. “The other one I killed
was a soldier in my unit. He got messed up on drugs to escape the pressure.
During an attack by UED cruisers, we were in a bunker. He was high, totally out
of it. He said he wanted to call home and get them to come pick us up. It was a
radio silence situation, so the UED couldn’t pinpoint us. They didn’t know if
we were there, in what bunkers; they wouldn’t know where to strike unless he
made that call. I stopped him. I should have done it some other way, but there
wasn’t time. He almost gave us away. The Space Force acknowledged my actions as
those of a hero, rather than a murderer, because they judged I had saved more
lives than I took. I was backed up by the officer there.”

Telisa
relaxed a bit in his arms.

I
think she believes me.

“I
should have told you,” he offered.

“No,
I understand. It’s all right. I love you.”

Magnus
started to reply but his link gave him an alert. The
Iridar
had gone
into an intercept trajectory with a large object. As Magnus investigated, he
saw that the other ship, the
Vandivier
, as well as Shiny’s starship,
were all closing on the same target.

“Where
are we going?” Telisa asked.

“A
large asteroid,” Magnus said. “Though there are hints of some kind of
installation there. I assume it’s Vovokan.”

Suddenly
Magnus felt dead tired. He’d only slept in short bits under the Vovokan
surface.

“Maybe
catch a bit of sleep before the rendezvous...” he murmured, already drifting
away.

“Yes.
Yes, sleep,” Telisa said.

Chapter 25

Telisa
woke up alone. Her link told her the time. She’d overslept by hours.

“Wow.
I need to go see what’s up,” she mumbled. Telisa felt her way around the
quarters to the shower tube and revived herself.

As
she returned to alertness, she opened a channel to Magnus. “Magnus? What’s up?”

“We’re
at the asteroid. I’ve only seen the main entrance and I’m already impressed.
Can you come out?”

“Yes.
What’s out there?”

“You
have to see it. I guess it’s the result of Shiny’s prayers.”

“Wow.
Okay, I’m out there in two minutes.”

Telisa
finished up her shower, straightened up and donned her Veer suit.

I’ve
turned into the female version of Magnus
, she thought, feeling how at home she was in the military
skinsuit.

Telisa
went to the cargo bay and walked down the ramp. Her eyes had to adjust to
bright white light.

A
huge atrium spread before her. Its walls were irregular, like a giant cavern,
though white support struts ran along the perimeter. The
Iridar
was
parked inside like a car on a street. Telisa couldn’t see how the ship got into
the space. Fine white sand covered the floor.

“A
large asteroid huh? Very large, I’d say.”

“Many
kilometers long anyway,” Cilreth said. “It’s beautiful. Sandy, though,” she
grimaced.

Telisa
laughed. “That’s Vovokan for you. The sand is like their carpet, and their
toilet, apparently. Or at least their wastebasket.”

“Oh.
That explains why my footprints sift away within a minute.”

“How’s
my father doing?”

“Well,”
Magnus said. “But not well enough to come look. His body took a lot of damage,
and we have only basic medical support. He should stay put for a week or maybe
more.”

They
walked toward a set of tunnels leading out of the atrium. A bank of windows
looked out into space.

“I
assume the gravity is artificial, or else there’s a singularity involved.”

Telisa
found link services and looked the maps over. She got a rough idea of a huge
factory in space very quickly. It was an advanced base.
I wonder how much
was already here, and how much Shiny got from the AI?

“Couldn’t
rule out the possibility of a singularity in a place this advanced,” Magnus
said. “I just assumed it was a gravity spinner. It’s amazing.”

“More
than amazing. It’s ours now. Our sanctuary,” Telisa said.

Magnus
blinked. “You mean we should live here?”

“Why
not? From what I can see of the overall design, it’s camouflaged, provides
plenty of power, and even has defenses. It’s a perfect base of operations.
Shiny can make ships that are way more advanced than the
Iridar
. With
them, we could go where we want, when we want. No need to fear getting caught
by the UNSF.”

“Yes.
I see what you mean. I wish it weren’t a bunch of caves, but I could get used
to it. I don’t think we should stay, though. We have so many artifacts, and
this time they aren’t just knick-knacks. We could own our own planetoid on the
frontier.”

Telisa
kept poring over the map. “It interfaces with my link, you know. And there’s a
map service, and it shows human rooms!”

“Yes.
This way. Let’s check them out.”

They
walked down a straight but rough-surfaced cave tunnel toward the human section
of the base. They came to a square corridor and stepped up a few inches onto a
pristine white tile floor.

“If
the walls shift around I’m going to scream and run,” Telisa said.

Magnus
laughed and Cilreth shot her a curious look.

“Inside
joke,” Magnus said.

“I
wouldn’t be surprised if the walls did shift according to your prayers,”
Cilreth said. “I’m kind of opposed to praying on principle, but if I really get
what I want then I imagine I’ll get over the discomfort pretty damn fast.”

They
came to a wide circular platform, overlooking a series of spacious white rooms
with glass ceilings.

“A
kitchen, dining room, VR training room, and... a dance hall,” Telisa summarized
at a glance.

“I
see a workshop,” Magnus said. “And I see Scout parts in it! This is too crazy!”

“Are
they the parts from the
Iridar
, or new ones?”

“I
don’t know. It probably doesn’t matter.”

“It’s
wonderful. White and clean. Not a grain of sand, hah,” Cilreth said.

“Yes.
Beats sleeping in sandy tunnels. This is stylish. A five star resort.”

They
walked down into the series of rooms and wondered at the luxury of it all. Each
of them found a spacious bedroom filled with soft furniture. Telisa came into a
room and one wall became a hologram of an alien forest filled with grazing
alien creatures.

At
some point, Telisa noticed Magnus was no longer in their party. She called for
him.

“Hi.
Stay there, I’m coming to you.”

Something
in his voice caught her attention.

“What’s
up? And where’s my father’s room?”

“Stay
there. I’m coming right to you.”

Magnus
returned. “Sit down,” he said.

“What
happened?” she said, sitting on a huge white chair. She became alarmed as she
saw the look on his face. He dropped to his knees beside her.

“Telisa,
your father died a few minutes ago.”

“No!
He was fine! I just—”

A
part of Telisa flashed in anger at Magnus.
What a sick joke—

Just
as quickly she knew it was true. Tears flooded her eyes. The way Magnus looked
at her, she could see he knew what he was talking about.

“He
was fine,” she repeated.

“His
injuries were bad. The kit had to keep him from bleeding out any further. It
may have caused a clot, or he may have just taken too much damage. It was some
kind of brain trauma. He didn’t make it. I’m very sorry.”

She
cried on Magnus’s shoulder for several minutes. She hadn’t cried so much in a
decade.

“There
is something else you have to know,” Magnus said over his link. “Your father
and I were prepared to betray Shiny. I told your father what we know about his
race. Your father wanted to kill him, to protect you. I knew that wouldn’t fly
with you, so I just pressed for running away.”

“It
makes no difference now,” Telisa replied. “He’s dead. How can it hurt so much?
I just met him again. I lived without him for years.”

Magnus
took a deep breath. “What I’m trying to say is, it may not be a coincidence he
died after threatening Shiny. The
Iridar
has been dismantled. Just like
that. I think Shiny did it with the seed. We can’t leave, either. It’s as if
Shiny overheard our conversation and made both actions impossible.”

“You
think Shiny did it.”

“I
don’t know. I know he dismantled the
Iridar
. He said the seed needed raw
materials. He said we would be able to use Vovokan ships soon enough, and
they’d be much better.”

“But
he should have asked us. By Terran rules, anyway.”

“Obviously.
But it’s done. The ship is gone. The
Vandivier
is gone too. He says our
personal effects are in the grand atrium.”

I
should be so happy right now. I was just a few minutes ago.
Telisa felt fate had arranged to negate
her victory as if overeager to enforce karmic justice. “We don’t know anything.
My father is dead and we don’t know if Shiny did it. I don’t know what to
believe. I’m just confused.”

“You
know, he would have died if he’d been there on the
Seeker
. This way, you
two got to square things between you.”

Telisa
knew Magnus was just trying to help but his observation failed to console her.
She told herself her father had already been out of her life, as if he were
already dead, but no matter how she considered it, she felt only loss.

He
held her on the soft white furniture while she cried. Telisa just let herself
cry it out.

After
a while, Magnus stood. “I’m sorry to leave now, but I have to check on things.
I’ll be back very soon.”

Telisa
just nodded and let him leave. She moved over to the white bed. Her thoughts
ran over the memories she had of her father. She tried to convince herself her
emotions were overblown. It had counted for more than she realized, knowing he
was alive out there somewhere, even though they never spoke.

As
she lay in the fairytale bed, something else started to bother her.
Magnus
thinks Shiny did it. I don’t think so.

She
lay there, looking at the ceiling, but the odd feeling stuck with her.
Why
didn’t Magnus stay here with me? What’s he going to do? He knows my father
wanted to kill Shiny. Do I have to worry about that?

As
soon as she had the thought, it hooked in her mind and wouldn’t let go.
What
if I wake up and Shiny or Magnus is dead? I already lost my father.

She
used her link to find Magnus. The services of the asteroid functioned and gave
her his location.
Not bad. I wonder if Shiny made that work, because I don’t
know enough about link services to pray them into existence, I bet.

Telisa
followed service directions to get back to the atrium. She caught sight of
Magnus, Cilreth, and Shiny out on the sand. She walked toward them. They hadn’t
spotted her yet, or at least Magnus and Cilreth had not. She noticed Magnus
trade looks with Cilreth.

Something
passed between them. Magnus held out his hand.

Cilreth
detached something from her belt and gave it to him. A long tube.

A
sword tube!

“Magnus,
what are you—”

Magnus
stepped forward. Telisa stepped in front of him.

“No.
Stop it, whatever you’re doing, stop it,” Telisa said over her link.

“He
will betray us,” Magnus replied over a private channel. “It’s only a matter of
time. He doesn’t care about the death of his own race. Those bodies down there?
They must have been his slaves. Running his house for him. The destroyers? Is
it so hard to imagine what happened? Shiny’s race must have betrayed them, too.
Now he’s destroyed the
Iridar,
the
Vandivier
, and for all we
know, killed your father.”

“I
don’t think he did it. You have no proof.”

“Your
father was strongly advocating Shiny’s...removal by force.”

“We
don’t know any of this. Besides, you can’t murder a sentient being. He’s done
nothing but help us. He hasn’t betrayed us.”