The Trilisk AI (32 page)

“He
will
,” Magnus transmitted. “He may already have.”

“We’ll
make sure it’s not to his advantage to betray us. We’ll get leverage and make
sure he knows about it. He didn’t kill my father. My father wasn’t a threat to
him anymore. He only shot them when they forced their way onto
Iridar
.”

“A
ship which no longer exists. Once he re-establishes himself here, he’ll be so
powerful he won’t care about anything we could threaten him with. He might kill
us.”

“We
can’t expect to get along smoothly with aliens, but if we can learn to be
tolerant of each other, there’s huge benefit in it. Shiny will see that. You
will see that.”

Shiny
moved back a bit and stared at them.

“He
knows something’s wrong.”

“He
probably thinks you and I have ended our alliance with each other,” Magnus
said.

“If
you kill him in cold blood, then we have. I’ll leave you.”

“Your
father—”

“Don’t
mention my father. I’m not letting you kill Shiny. Or get killed trying.”

Cilreth
watched the stare-down without moving. Telisa saw her breathing had sped up,
though, obviously in fear of imminent violence.

“What
do you think?” Magnus asked Cilreth.

“I
think he was just defending himself when he killed Arlin. As for his future
plans, I can’t say. But I know he’s damn dangerous. I’m not so sure you should
try. See if he gives you a ship, like he says. Why would he have put our
personal effects in the atrium if he was just going to flush us?”

Magnus
handed the sword case back to Cilreth. She visibly relaxed. Magnus walked away,
back toward the human quarters the seed had created.

“My
timing is lousy, but I’d like to stay here with you, if you’d have me,” Cilreth
said.

“You’re
a prisoner here like us, so it doesn’t matter,” Telisa said.

“I
meant, I’d like to join your team. Willingly.”

“My
father said you’re the one who found us,” Telisa said.

“Ah,
yes, that’s true. I hope there are no hard feelings. It was just a job.”

“No
hard feelings,” Telisa said. “If you found us, then you have skills we could
use. We have a lot of work to do, without government oversight. And it’s
dangerous.”

“I’m
not exactly a hardened criminal.”

“Neither
are we, unless you ask the Earth government. Nevertheless, I intend to carry
out my father’s plan to help the Space Force. It is what he would want, but
it’s also my duty to my race.”

Telisa
sharply felt his loss again. Once again she berated herself.
You hardly knew
the man. He was your father, but you hardly knew him.

“What
would you have me do?”

“Figure
out how we can interface with Shiny’s ship. It’s ten times better than the
Iridar
and he’s going to make us more.”

“Let
me at it.”

“My
first order of business is clear,” Telisa said. “It turns out that we have a
resident Trilisk expert. Or at least someone who knows more than I do.”

Telisa
widened the channel to include the alien. She set her lips in determination.

“Shiny,
tell me everything you know about the Trilisks.”