The Trilisk Supersedure (26 page)

The
intervening Terrans had all expired. Kirizzo’s countermeasures had been more
effective than he had expected. He decided to soften the blow to his allies
upon reporting the result.

“The
Terrans ahead have scattered,” he said. “Some casualties among them. Target now
within confines of UED encampment.”

“Do
they have any defenses?” Magnus asked. Kirizzo prepared an analysis to reply,
but Arakaki responded.

“Mostly
the Guardians were the defense. I understand many of them have been destroyed?”

“Affirmative,
correct, verified.”

“They
may have some grenades set. I could probably make it in myself, and they wouldn’t
target me.”

“What
would you do by yourself?”

“Kill
the damn thing, of course,” Arakaki said. “Your alien friend isn’t hesitating
to kill any of them. Let me in there and take a crack at it. Maybe I can save
the rest. If you all go in, then there will be more deaths.”

“No
personnel left in camp,” Kirizzo told them. “Survivors gathering at grounded
assault ship.”

“Then
we all go in,” Magnus said. “Arakaki’s on point. She’ll let us know if any
friendly grenades are armed within range.”

“Unless
Holtzclaw—the Trilisk, that is—reset some grenades and locked me out. I
encountered him, or it, whatever, just after he shot one of our own. He knows I’m
alive.”

“Did he
have time?” asked Telisa.

“Who
knows what that thing is capable of,” Cilreth said.

“Sending
more drones,” Kirizzo said. He routed more nearby machines toward the Terrans. “Within
their capability to intercept Terran grenades. Two per host provides over 80 percent
success rate outside the blast radius. Sending one ahead to seek active
grenades.”

“Handy,”
Arakaki said. Her voice feigned a trivial assessment belied by her
physiological readings. The Terran Arakaki was, in fact, in a high state of
stress. He intensified his study. Could this Terran have been altered by the
Trilisk? He found no evidence to support the idea. A simpler explanation was
simply that her life was under threat. Though as a trained soldier, she should
be calm. He compared her readings to those of Magnus. They were comparable, so
he dropped the line of investigation.

The
anomalous readings changed subtly. They were centered on a Terran starship set
slightly into a hillside.

“Target
most likely entered vessel on far side of encampment.”

The
ship’s power systems spiked. The primitive Terran gravity spinner was being
powered up. Meanwhile, his allies had reached the edge of the obfuscation
device that covered the UED encampment.

“Forget
it. Get back!” Arakaki transmitted. “He’s starting up the engines.”

Kirizzo
considered the countermeasures at his disposal. Though the walker commanded
sufficient firepower to bring down the Terran assault ship with precise
strikes, destroying the Terran vessel seemed inadvisable. He could well kill
the Terran body Holtzclaw inside, even though it enjoyed superhuman status.

Instead,
Kirizzo contacted his starship in orbit and instructed it to prepare to
intercept the Terran assault ship.

His own
Terran allies ran to safety. There was a brief discussion about taking shelter
in the cavern entrances just inside the camp, but the threat of traps instead
sent the Terrans moving alongside the perimeter and toward a large fissure.
Should he inform the Terrans that the more massive Chigran Callnir Four
predators preferred to lair in the largest fissures? No. The group was well
armed and could likely survive any such encounter.

The
Terran ship lifted from the surface. It did not attempt to use its ground
attack munitions or its propellant drive to attack as his allies feared.
Instead it proceeded optimally toward orbit.

“Shifting
attention away from the surface. Obtain items of interest.”

“Will
do, Shiny, good luck,” Telisa responded.

The
anomalous readings continued, centered on the Terran ship. Either the Trilisk
truly was aboard or it had sophisticated means of tricking Kirizzo. The
Gorgalan wondered if the Trilisk was aware a non-Terran hunted it. Perhaps it
thought it only needed to escape any Terran forces in orbit.

The
Thumper
released independent probes and weapons to form a screen that would follow
and intercept the fleeing ship. But the Terran vessel was slow and clumsy. It
was easily intercepted by the
Thumper
itself, despite the huge mass
difference.

Something
changed. The odd readings Kirizzo used to track the alien disappeared. He switched
away from its Terran body signature. Nothing. He switched back to the original
parameters he had used to scan the planet. Still nothing. More scans on the
surface at the lift off site did not reveal the Trilisk, either.

The
Thumper
moved in and hacked the Terran vessel’s control systems to shut down its
gravity spinner. The ship was in his grasp. Several of his remote probes and
pieces of ordnance attached themselves to its surface.

“I have
captured the UED vessel,” he reported to the Terrans. “However, no Trilisk
signature detected aboard vessel. Anomalies have disappeared, ceased, vanished.”

“What?
He’s still down here somewhere?”

“Unknown,
uncertain, unascertained.”

The
first possibility was that the retreat to the Terran vessel had been a ruse.
The second possibility was that the Trilisk was still in the ship but could not
be detected. A third possibility was that the Trilisk had rendezvoused with an
undetectable ship, boarded it, and left.

Kirizzo
tried to think of other explanations. After a moment, another theory surfaced:
Trilisks might be so advanced, they might not need starships to travel between
the stars. But if so, why the ruse? Perhaps the method required distance from
the planet to achieve. There was no way of knowing. Better to concentrate on
conventional explanations first? But the target was thought to be a Trilisk.
Conventional could hardly describe Trilisks.

“Advise
continue search on surface and in orbit,” he transmitted to the Terrans. “However,
chances of recovering target rapidly diminishing.”

The
Terrans commandeered two remaining sensor modules from the UED force and
started searching for the Trilisk in the body of Holtzclaw. Their search
signature lacked sophistication; however, if the Trilisk was still in Holtzclaw,
they might succeed.

Kirizzo
thought about the sequence of events. Had the moment of transition to the
Terran vessel been a ruse? Perhaps it had entered a Trilisk tunnel beneath at
that time. But the nearest tunnel went under the west side of the UED camp,
where they had been digging for Trilisk technology. He spotted a likely error:
the assumption that the Trilisk had none of its own devices to use. Its
industrial seed may have been exhausted, broken, or even destroyed in an enemy
attack (the methane breathers?), but that did not mean the Trilisk did not have
any of its other tools left to use. Perhaps it had been rationing what it had
left for dire circumstances.

Kirizzo
conducted a search of his own vessel. What if the Trilisk had gotten on board?
Kirizzo realized the creature would be very dangerous if it still had
functioning devices to use. The Trilisks had been capable of almost anything.
How could Kirizzo hope to capture it unless it was deprived of its own
technology?

“Trilisk
no longer detectable,” Kirizzo admitted. “Further analysis required to
determine its location.”

He did
not say he doubted he would ever be able to find it.

“Then
what are we going to do?” asked Telisa.

“Recommend
return to base for study of Trilisk materials,” Kirizzo said. “Many large artifacts
available to examine.”

“Yes,
let’s head back. And pray us up some scout replacements,” Magnus said.

“And an
army of combat robots this time,” Cilreth interjected. “And a bunch of high-tech
traps.”

The new
Terran looked perplexed. “What about the hunt?”

“If
Shiny doesn’t know where it is, then we don’t either,” Telisa said. “But we can
keep looking, and the next best thing is to figure out its toys.”

“What
kind of a base is this?” Arakaki asked.

Magnus
smiled and told her, “You’re going to love it.”

But the
Terran called Telisa did not look at all happy about it.

Chapter 27

“I’m
going to check out the
Clacker
’s new course, see what I can learn from
the ship,” Cilreth said happily. The Terran part of the team had returned to
Clacker
while Shiny ascended to orbit to reunite with his ship Telisa had named
Thumper
.

“Aren’t
you annoyed that the Trilisk got away?” Telisa asked. She felt a bit more
comfortable since Arakaki had retired to a lavish room they gave her half an
hour ago. She trusted Magnus’s assessment, but it would take time for her to
build up her own trust of a stranger.

“Nothing
wrong with me my new superhuman body isn’t going to fix right up!” Cilreth said
brightly.

“Are we
really going to do that? I mean…”

“Why
not? We live on the frontier; there’s no enforcement of any kind out here. And
even by UNSF rules, we have the right to alter our own physiology. Look, a
couple more decades and you’re going to be singing my song, lady,” Cilreth said
with a bit of an edge.

“Something
tells me if the UNSF knew that right was about to include immortal superhuman
bodies, they would restrict it,” Telisa said. Even as she said it, she felt the
old anger again: how dare they dictate to everyone how to live. She had just
convinced herself wrong with her own argument.

“All
the more reason to resist them, to fight their rules,” Cilreth said.

I guess
I agree; it’s my choice. But the question is, what if everyone got that choice?
What would the repercussions be?

“I say
go for it,” Magnus chimed in. “You’ll have forever to think over the ethical
consequences of your act.” He smiled.

“Guys,
we have a major problem! Shiny’s ship just blew up!” Cilreth reported.

“What!?”
Telisa sent back.

“His
ship exploded.”

The
Trilisk must have done something.

She
traded astonished looks with Magnus. Before they could think through how bad
the news was, Cilreth delivered an update.

“Shiny’s
not dead! He’s coming to the
Clacker
on a small ship. I have no idea
what’s up. I’m sending you a pointer to the bay he’s headed for. Maybe go meet
him in person?”

“Okay,”
Telisa said. “We’ll meet him and hope he’s not a Trilisk.”

“Weapons!”
Magnus snapped. Telisa checked hers. His rifle was out.

Telisa
and Magnus ran through the Terranized sections of the
Clacker
. The ship
was so large it still had areas for Vovokans, with natural-looking interiors
and a sandy floor.

They
arrived at a massive airlock with a large circular iris door. The arriving ship
wasn’t mated with the
Clacker
yet, but Telisa saw she could connect to
Shiny.

“What’s
going on, Shiny?” Telisa transmitted.

“Joining
Clacker
,” the buzzing voice replied. “Bringing UED personnel. Did not
apprise them of nature of vessel or host.”

“What
happened to the
Thumper
, I mean?”

“Destroyed
ship to increase chances Trilisk neutralized.”

Arakaki
walked up behind Telisa and Magnus. When she saw their weapons, she drew her
laser.

“What
are you doing here?” Magnus said out loud.

“Cilreth
told me the other UED survivors from the ship may have blown up.”

“They
should be here in a few minutes,” Magnus said. “As far as I know they’re all
coming. Maybe you can help get them settled in. I don’t think they’ve met
Shiny, but I get the feeling you are about to.”

Arakaki
nodded.

“Shiny
says he destroyed his ship hoping to destroy the Trilisk!” Telisa said. “I don’t
believe it. Does that make sense to you?”

“Not
really,” Magnus said.

“That’s
a pretty extreme step,” Arakaki said. “It may have worked, though. Suppose the
Trilisk has the equivalent of a stealth suit. It may have been anywhere. And it’s
sharp. Advanced. It could accomplish anything given time.”

“So he
pulls a fast escape and blows his own ship up to kill it. All on a hunch?”
Telisa said.

“To
Shiny, that ship is expendable,” Magnus thought out loud. “I guess I could see
him sacrificing it if he thought there was a 10 percent chance he’d catch the
Trilisk by surprise.”

“I
thought we were going to capture it,” Arakaki said. “Not that I’m complaining.
I hope the damn thing blew up.”