Parker Interstellar Travels 4: The Trilisk Hunt

by Michael McCloskey

  The bright sky around them started to rumble with the sounds of war. Telisa saw a few pockets of black smoke erupt where some machine or other met its end.

  “We’re vulnerable out here. Into this building,” Magnus said. “Toward the side facing the target building,” Magnus said. “Stay alert. These adjacent buildings may have been trapped. They could even be loaded with explosives.”

  “Wonderful,” Telisa muttered. She had been thinking of the Trilisk as the only wild card. But even with Shiny’s forces around them, they could still be blown up.

  The team moved through the building toward the side that faced their targets. Here and there, a soldier or a scout machine crawled among the array of junk, searching for enemies. No one spotted any Blackvines. She was getting good at flicking through the visual feeds of team members and attendants as she moved. It was automatic now. She missed a lot, but by continuously cycling through the feeds, she could keep track of the big picture.

  Telisa checked the tactical again. Their machines had started to land on the target building. Once the machines touched down, they ripped their way into doors and windows. The assault was fully under way.

  Booom. Booom.

  In a few minutes, we’ll know what the Trilisk has planned, if anything.

  She felt nervous. Would the PIT team turn on one another again, even though they weren’t supersedure copies?

  Should we have split up even more?

  Telisa watched the count of machines lost in the other building rise dramatically. Ten, twenty, fifty, just in a few seconds.

  “They’re killing the machines. So many, so fast,” Magnus said.

  “How?”

  “I don’t know. I think maybe… the Trilisk has gotten more of its fabled powers back? They have some of the Blackvine machines, but it seems worse this time. The assault is not going to work. Though we seem to be winning outside that building. The Vovokan machines are more than a match for the turtles we saw.”

  “Ideas?”

  “I’ll flush him out. Siobhan, get the special weapon ready,” Magnus said.

  “Okay. Where at?”

  Magnus indicated where he wanted it on their shared tactical. Then he moved toward a trapdoor that opened out toward the target building. The structure ahead started to resemble an architect’s version of Swiss cheese as more and more weapons penetrated it.

  “Where are you going?” demanded Telisa. “Over there? Take a look at it.”

  Magnus held up his hand. “I know what I’m doing. Trust me,” he said, then he sprang into the air. A couple of his attendants accelerated him toward the house they believed still sheltered Magnus2 and the Trilisk.

  ***

  Magnus landed on the far side amid a rain of fire. He trusted most of their own machines not to shoot him, though in all this confusion, anything could happen. He hopped into one of the gaping holes in the side of the building, but no artificial gravity took hold. He had an attendant give him a slight boost until he oriented himself inside.

  “Good,” said Magnus2. “Now lose your attendant spheres.”

  “No. Come and get them. I have six. I may be slower, but they’ll tank enough damage to let me kill you.”

  Magnus2 had been speaking with Magnus since they approached the target building. The rest of the PIT team was unaware of the conversation. He had been threatening to kill Telisa and leave Magnus alive. Magnus knew it was just a tactic to mess with his mind, since Magnus2 knew his feelings for her.

  But Magnus had surprised Magnus2 by listening. He proposed the two versions of himself meet for a one-on-one. After some hesitation, Magnus2 had accepted.

  After all, killing me by myself is easier than coming out there and facing all those weapons. But he suspects I have an ace up my sleeve. Which will make it easier to drive him out.

  Magnus found a spot that held him to a flat surface. He flipped so that it functioned as a floor, then quickly squatted and swung around his pack. He opened it. Six grenades rolled out onto the surface and awaited a target signature.

  Magnus looked down at them.

  Arakaki tried this with the grenade around her neck. After she lost someone, she felt she had nothing left to live for. For me, this is unthinkable… because I have Telisa.

  “I have some special grenades here. If I die, they launch with my target signature,” Magnus said, starting to lope forward. “So go ahead and shoot me at any time. They have special Vovokan warheads. You would be impressed. You will be when they go off.”

  That last part was a lie. Only one of the grenades had a powerful Vovokan warhead. But Magnus had lost track of which one. But the warhead was probably not enough to kill Magnus2 unless it got pretty close. If it had been that strong, he would have just sent the grenade in alone.

  “Then why are you here?” Magnus2 answered. “If this entire place is about to blow up, you wouldn’t be here.”

  “You threatened to shoot Telisa if I didn’t come.”

  “You know I’ll shoot her anyway.”

  Make him feel trapped.

  “Only if you survive our confrontation. Take a look around. Shiny’s machines are everywhere.”

  Magnus2 sighed. “Screw this chat. It feels like self-analysis.”

  Which means, time to die.

  Magnus scanned the cratered corridor. His weapon was ready to fire.

  “Where’s your new master?” Magnus asked.

  His only answer was a blur of movement dead ahead.

  ***

  Kabooom!

  Half of the building blossomed into flame from the inside. Siobhan fired the chain lightning gun hidden in her soldier robot at the same time.

  Foooom.

  Telisa caught sight of a human figure flying out of the house just ahead of the burst from the alien weapon. Then more white-hot explosions ripped the air all around the building.

  Boom, boom, brrrroom.

  It was too much damage. The entire building drifted apart in pieces. Black smoke billowed out, flowing in odd patterns around the fragments that still had artificial gravity and flying outward in areas that did not.

  “It may try to run now,” Siobhan said. She launched herself to one side. The soldier containing the special weapon jumped after her, no doubt still in her control.

  “Magnus!” Telisa said over her link. There was no answer.

  “Magnus!”

  She checked for Magnus’s link, but there was nothing.

  He might have turned it off. It’s just a ruse. But why didn’t he tell me?

  “Cilreth. Can anything out there see Magnus?”

  “One or two?”

  “Cilreth, is Magnus out there?” Telisa urged.

  Cilreth heard the anguish in her voice. There was a long pause. “Telisa, I’ll tell you the instant we pick up his signature.”

  Telisa went for the door. Imanol intercepted her.

  “Not you, too! Stay in here until Shiny cleans up.”

  “Siobhan just jumped out!” Telisa said.

  “Siobhan is a loon,” Imanol said. “And she has the special soldier. Magnus said to trust him. We can’t find him out in all that.”

  “We have a hit. A scout is bringing him in,” Cilreth said. “Brace yourselves. He’s not responding.”

  Telisa jumped for the doorway. She looked up into the smoke-filled sky. Several machines were flying around, but she did not see a machine coming with Magnus. Then she saw a scout had landed nearby, but it did not have Magnus with it. The machine walked over to meet her and dropped its payload at her feet.

  The machine had the remains of his Veer suit. It had been sundered in several places. It was covered in burned blood.

  Telisa fell to her knees and released a cry of anguish.

  “It has to belong to Magnus2,” she said.

  “I’m sorry, Telisa,” Cilreth said. “That belongs to our Magnus.”

  Telisa covered her face with her hands and collapsed forward onto the suit. A part of her mind registered the sound
s of combat, Imanol and Maxsym’s voices behind her, and Cilreth’s voice over the link, but Telisa did not care about any of it.

  Magnus is gone. And he’s never coming back.

  She felt nothing but pain, and she wanted to die.

  Chapter 27

  Caden hunkered in a nook of the building’s irregular exterior. The niche adjoined two surfaces, one of which faced the target building only half a kilometer away. He brought up his rifle and scanned, looking for Caden2.

  The bastard has my tricked-out sniper rifle too, he thought. It can spot potential targets faster than this weapon.

  The weapon scanned for twenty seconds without spotting Caden2 before one of his attendants exploded before him. He felt pieces of it hit his Veer suit on the shoulder and arm. He heard a sound that made him believe another fragment may have ricocheted off the wall nearby. He sheltered and scanned for damage. Nothing penetrated the rugged material of the military-grade suit, but it meant his enemy had acquired him. He took a deep breath and waited for his heart to slow back down.

  “Have you spotted him?” Arakaki transmitted from the other side of the building.

  “No, but he knows where I am,” Caden reported glumly. “Lost an attendant.”

  After a few moments, Arakaki transmitted again. “I got a shot at him. He’s moved,” she said.

  “Probably just waiting for us to jump.”

  Caden put his rifle out again and tried to sweep the target building. As he scanned, Arakaki sent out a message to the team.

  “This is Arakaki. Caden2 moved into the building. Without attendants, he just can’t sit there and let us take shots at him.”

  I hope that’s right.

  “I have an attendant over there,” Arakaki told Caden. “It helped me to acquire him.”

  I should have thought of that. But it means Arakaki has one less attendant to protect herself.

  Caden heard and felt the rumble of an explosion. The PIT machines started to attack the building. Caden let his rifle scan the building, but he still did not pick up Caden2 or Magnus2.

  “Enemies from above. The polar axis,” Cilreth said.

  “How can we get across?” Caden asked Arakaki. “The attack is about to start! And more enemies coming in.” Caden saw a Vovokan walker fly by with its legs tucked behind it. Missiles launched from its flanks toward the attacking Blackvine machines.

  “What better time to go? There’re a lot of targets in the air,” she said.

  That depends on whether we win or lose the battle.

  “He’s waiting for us to jump. I know it,” Caden said.

  “All right, I have an idea,” Arakaki said. “I’m going to attach my two grenades here to two attendants. We’ll send those out after him, and both of us jump when the robots land at the building.”

  “And what if the grenades are still around when I arrive at the other side? They’ll target me.”

  “I’m coming too. I’ll deactivate them.”

  And if you don’t make it… He debated trying to talk her out of the jump. She would not listen, he decided. Here comes our attack.

  “Okay,” he said.

  The robotic army sailed toward the target building. Caden saw Arakaki’s grenades show up on his tactical though things were too busy for him to spot them visually from his position. A rain of ill-targeted projectiles came down around him. He kept as low as he could. His attendants only had a small area to defend.

  Smack.

  One of them knocked something away.

  “Jump now,” Arakaki said. Caden obeyed without thinking it through. He crouched against one wall facing in roughly the right direction and heaved off. He would have to rely upon his attendants to get him across alive.

  As he sailed out, the first thing he felt was fear. There were so many robots in the sky. But he saw on the tactical that they were almost all friendly ones. They seemed to have a strong numerical advantage this time.

  We must have broken their back in that last fight.

  He spotted Arakaki flying the same way by referencing the tactical. She had her arms back like a delta plane, with her legs straight back together, her toes pointed back. She looked like one of the dozens of space force advertisements he’d seen, a fit woman of action, an icon of the force, the pride of Earth. Arakaki was that ideal personified.

  I like her.

  The thought came to Caden in a sudden, irrational burst. He only let himself think on it for another half second and then returned his attention to where he flew. An attendant nudged his shoulder while another pressed on a foot. Caden and Arakaki flew forward toward the same spot on the building ahead, near a door.

  Clack. Zing!

  One of Caden’s attendants intercepted another projectile beside him. Then a couple of them gave him some braking as he neared the destination. He landed first, with a practiced ballet of realignment followed by a hefty collision with the surface. The air expelled from his lungs with a grunt.

  Ouch. Got moving pretty fast for that one.

  Arakaki landed just as hard nearby. Caden counted her attendants.

  Only two left.

  Arakaki retrieved two grenades from the ground as they rolled up to her.

  “No luck with these.”

  He stepped forward to the door. She did not say anything, probably because she could see he still had four attendants. He pressed the trap door open with a foot to let an attendant inside. The feed from the spy showed him only empty rooms beyond.

  “Going in,” Caden told her over his link.

  Arakaki sent a nonverbal acknowledgement. Caden went through headfirst. Once mostly through, he simply fell gently back and let a local gravity field take hold in a backward somersault. The other side of the door was now at his feet. With his new orientation, he assessed the danger.

  “Two doors, three windows,” he said. Arakaki came through. He sent the attendant through one of the doors. He wanted to send a grenade on patrol through the other way, but what target signature could he use? He couldn’t lock himself out of the potential target list without making the grenade harmless to Caden2. He took the weapon out anyway and sent it out. Even if it would not blow Caden2 up, at least it could scout.

  “There are a couple of friendlies in the area,” Arakaki mentioned.

  Caden saw them on the tactical, a couple of soldier machines. “He had to go through this way, then?” Caden said, sending the attendant through a twisted path that avoided the machines.

  “Who knows?” Arakaki sent back.

  Caden followed the path of the attendant. They stayed alert even though it seemed impossible to avoid detection anywhere nearby.

  “He might loop around and come in the door behind us,” Caden thought on the channel.

  “He’s wearing us down. He’ll always stay ahead and take the shots back at us until we don’t have any attendants left,” she said.

  They came to a long corridor through their end of the building. At various spots one or two of its walls were missing to open off into rooms in all four directions.

  “This is a good place for an ambush,” Caden noted, moving very quietly.

  Krumpf!

  Suddenly the world bucked around Caden. He flew into a side bank filled with Blackvine junk. A bunch of thin, hollow tubes made of something like balsa wood shattered as he flew through them.

  “What the hell?” Caden yelled.

  “Some kind of explosion.” Arakaki spoke the obvious. Caden checked the tactical. The building they were in had split almost in two, and it was on fire.

  He regained his balance. There was still a loud rumbling from somewhere outside. Green liquid dripped out of the shattered ends of the tubes.

  “He’s left the house!” Arakaki snapped.

  Caden did not know what feed Arakaki had used to spot Caden2, but simply asked, “Which way?”

  “Follow me.”

  “You only have two—”

  “Yes. Fine. You jump after him first. Don’t ask if we’re jump
ing after him or not because this damn place is coming apart around us.”

  Caden wobbled after Arakaki as she ran out of the room. He slowly regained his footing over the next few seconds.

  He may have jumped because another explosion may be rigged to blow up this section any second now.

  Arakaki reached a door and pointed at it. Caden saw a marker for Caden2 up on the tactical. Caden leaped into the door and forced it open in one motion. Then he braced his feet on the frame and launched off into the air.

  Caden2 had almost arrived at the next house. But there was a window of opportunity.

  I’ve never shot in the air before. Here goes nothing.

  Caden pointed his weapon and acquired Caden2. Then he let the rifle fire.

  Booom!

  The kickback had little effect on his own speed, though an attendant had to correct a slight spin.

  Caden2 changed course in midair. Caden could not tell how he had done it without attendants.

  “Did you hit him?” Arakaki asked.

  “I doubt it. I think he has some device to alter his course. Maybe a Blackvine gadget.”

  Caden2 landed on the building and sought cover, so Caden fired off two more rounds.

  Booom. Booom.

  Then return fire started to come in.

  Zing. Smack!

  One attendant deflected a projectile, then another took a hit and whizzed off in a spiral, fatally damaged.

  He’s better than me. Got that shot off, and I’d be dead except I have the attendants and he doesn’t.

  Smack.

  “Dammit!” Arakaki said behind him.

  “You hit?”

  “Lost another attendant,” she said.

  “That building is small. He’ll move on through,” Caden said. “We can fly around.”

  “Okay.”

  Their attendants veered them around the building ahead. Caden fired two more rounds at it without acquiring a target. Arakaki fired into a couple windows with her laser. The house started to smoke.

  We’re shooting up the habitat. These Blackvines will hate us—if they don’t already.

  Caden suddenly wondered if they had killed any of the creatures. He felt regret, but it did not stop him from holding his rifle ready.