The Trilisk Supersedure (Parker Interstellar Travels #3)

by Michael McCloskey

  Holtzclaw arrived at the surveillance tent, a long, low tent set to a green that matched the clumps of plant material above. He scratched fiercely at the growing skin on his shoulder, then ducked into the tent. Captain Caicedo sat inside among a large collection of stripped drones. The machines had been cannibalized for parts.

  “Anything?”

  “I don’t think there’s many of them, sir,” Caicedo said, focusing his attention on some virtual display. Caicedo was a calm, strong officer. His expansive forehead displayed bulging arteries, even though his skin was dark. “But the ship is huge. There are robots crawling around that quarter of the city. Looks like about a dozen small scout robots. I’m thinking they’re looking for something—same as us.”

  That idea bolstered Holtzclaw’s resolve. If someone else was willing to expend a huge amount of resources to come here, then maybe, just maybe, there was something worth finding. Alien artifacts had turned the tide of the war once—against the UED—and finding more artifacts might turn the tide again. Or so the ragged band of soldiers hoped. But they had lost so many, and their ships were dwindling. It was a hope that diminished every day.

  Holtzclaw waited for more officers. Major Kowalewski, Major Silvarre, Captain Arakaki, and First Lieutenant Racca walked in within two minutes. Holtzclaw took a peek outside.

  “Where’s Schimke?” he asked.

  “I think he’s too far into the tunnels,” Racca offered. Holtzclaw shrugged and decided to start.

  “We don’t see that many of our guests. We can take that fat ship for ourselves,” Holtzclaw declared.

  “What if there’s a lot more of them inside?”

  “If it had been a drop ship filled with a battalion of space force marines or frontal assault robotics, we’d already be dying,” Major Kowalewski said. “You can rule that one out.”

  “So if it’s not a military ship, it has to be either a big settlement going down or a scientific expedition,” said Racca. “The fact they landed here at the edge of the Konuan city indicates the latter.”

  “Not necessarily. Settlers might make use of the shelter in the Konuan buildings or tunnels,” Silvarre said.

  Holtzclaw dismissed the idea. He shook his head. “If they came prepared, they have their own more advanced shelters in mind. It would only be a bunch of refugees, a group that was out on their luck, that would think like that.”

  This could be the best thing that could have happened to us, Holtzclaw thought. If they’re scientists in a ship that big, they have all the equipment we need to get the Trilisk machines and get out. One step closer to being able to fight the UNSF on even terms again.

  “No matter who they are, they have things we can use. And this planet is just hospitable enough they’ll be able to survive even if we take some of the best for ourselves. We won’t be sentencing them to death.”

  “Except by the monster,” Arakaki said.

  She’s the only one who would say that, Holtzclaw thought, but he wasn’t angry.

  “They have to deal with the monster one way or another, now that they’re here, same as we have. Unless you can kill it before we take off. In fact, they may have something we can use to finish it off.”

  Arakaki nodded. Holtzclaw wanted to try and use the Hellrakers on the thing, but given they could barely detect it, he didn’t know if it would work, and he couldn’t afford to use the supplies or the wear and tear on their smart artillery machines. Besides, most of the time if it appeared on their scans, it was because it was right on top of their camp.

  Still…with a Hellraker it only takes one good shot. And we’re about to that level of desperation.

  “We should use the whole unit, show them how outnumbered they are in a fast strike, and force a quick surrender. No need to let this get bloody,” Silvarre suggested.

  “I agree, but I think the Hellraker is all the leverage we need,” Holtzclaw said. “However, time is important here. We’ll jam their communications and make our move. Take their equipment and use it to find what we want, then get out of here before any other ship could show up.”

  “Should we approach by ground or by air?”

  “Ground, in case they have assets in orbit we don’t know about,” Racca said.

  No one dissented. Holtzclaw agreed.

  “T minus eighteen hours. Once we’re set up to cover that entire side of the city, activate the jamming systems. I want them cut off from any other people they have in the system. Then we’ll move in and seize their supplies.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Chapter 7

  A nearby scout alerted Cilreth of the approach of her teammates. She stood amidst the chaos of a nascent camp. She had selected a reasonably flat, clear area nestled against an old Konuan building. The foam floor she had sprayed down was almost dry. With the help of her scout robots she had moved the containers from their sleeping spot to the new camp. Most of the equipment was better left in the containers until needed, but every container could be quickly accessed and wasn’t part of the support for the tent. She addressed them through her link as Telisa and Magnus cleared the last stand of native plants.

  “That was fast. I’ve got hours left to go,” Cilreth said, though in truth the camp was perfectly workable already, though it had no well or solar array deployed.

  I just enjoy setting stuff up in a new place.

  Cargo containers had started to form a shelter around the perimeter, and she’d put up an all-weather fabric cover to the area. A scout robot showed up, carrying one of the last containers on its back. It looked like an ant carrying a squarish boulder.

  “We don’t know what killed the scout, but Shiny found people, Terrans I mean, on the other side of this old city.”

  “I can’t reach Shiny,” Cilreth said. “I was meaning to ask you about it.”

  Telisa was silent for a moment. “I don’t know, but it can’t be a good sign,” she said.

  “What?” Magnus said, lagging in the conversation. “Oh. I can’t reach him either. Something is jamming us.”

  “Something…” Cilreth started.

  “It must be the other humans,” Telisa said. “They’d be the only ones who would know how to do that without examining our links.”

  “It is probably the Terrans, but of course, any advanced race could have detected the signals and decided to disrupt them,” Magnus said. “Shiny could.”

  “You’re still thinking he’s against us?” Cilreth said.

  Magnus shrugged. “That’s not exactly what I meant, but still, it’s possible he’s doing it.”

  It’s dangerous enough going to the frontier. We need to trust everyone on the team. Of course, I guess I quickly trusted Arlin and Leonard. Easier to trust my own race, I guess, justified or not.

  “We can get along without him for now. The jamming could mean an imminent attack, though, down here or up there in orbit,” Telisa said.

  “It’s worse than just losing touch with Shiny. I can only reach five scouts now,” Magnus said.

  “What will the others do?”

  “They’ll try and complete whatever mission each is on, then return to Clacker.”

  “Maybe we should return to the Clacker, too,” Cilreth suggested.

  “We need more information. I bet Shiny will figure out how to get back in touch with us. It’s true he’s not down here by our side, but he’s a valuable asset up there.”

  “I’m going to go take a look at our Terran friends,” Magnus said. “We can’t make good decisions in the dark like this.”

  “Be careful,” Telisa said.

  Magnus looked thoughtful. “I know you’ve earned the stealth suit, but in this case it might be of more use to me. Just temporarily, of course,” he said to Cilreth.

  “I’d love to share,” Cilreth said sweetly. “But no way is it going to fit your frame.”

  Magnus frowned. Telisa smiled.

  “Don’t be sad. I’m glad you’re a large specimen, dear,” she said playfully. “I have the stealt
hing sphere we picked up on Vovok, if you’d like to borrow it. And I do mean borrow! I can’t go giving away all my superpowers.”

  Cilreth felt a bit of jealousy. On a frontier expedition with your lover. Nice on the surface of it. Unless things go horribly wrong.

  Telisa tossed Magnus the tiny sphere from her pack. Somehow the Vovokan attendant spheres knew it was a peaceful transfer, so they didn’t move to intercept.

  Those things are amazing, Cilreth thought. I need to figure out more about how they tick. Sigh. Later.

  “Thanks,” Magnus said, slipping the sphere away in his pack. He headed off toward the center of the city. Telisa looked after him.

  She’s dependent on him. But I should cut her some slack; she just lost her father. Who else does she have? I think that was it.

  Telisa hadn’t mentioned a mother or other family, nor had Leonard.

  “Well, at least it will go faster setting up the camp with two of us,” Cilreth said. Telisa returned her attention to the campsite.

  “The camp looks sleepable,” Telisa said. “Let’s go take a peek in those big buildings over there before nightfall. I promise I’ll help with the camp more later.”

  “Without Magnus?”

  “We’re both armed,” Telisa said. “And we have the scouts, at least the ones close by that can still hear us.”

  “When he gets back, if he finds us missing…”

  “I’ll leave a message here with the cargo containers. They can transfer it to his link when he gets within range. Besides, I bet Shiny’s all over this jamming problem.”

  “He’s certainly very capable. I’m still wrapping my head around having a giant centipede monster on my team.”

  “He’s not a monster. Remember that,” Telisa said.

  Oops. Did I say that out loud? Cilreth frowned. The comment would have slid by with Magnus, but Telisa was avidly behind Shiny and trusted him completely.

  Cilreth checked the scouts. “Magnus took one scout with him. Let’s leave one to watch the camp and take three with us?”

  “Sounds great,” Telisa said. “I’ll tell them not to wander far off. No use in losing more. We might gain one or two as we move.”

  They both drew their stunners as they moved out. Telisa caught sight of Cilreth’s stunner and stopped.

  “Hrm. Where are the weapons cases?” Telisa asked herself aloud.

  Funny how people can be perfectly comfortable in a link conversation; then they speak to themselves out loud. Cilreth did the same thing sometimes. She thought maybe the habit formed when people were alone. They wanted to hear a voice, so they chatted to themselves aloud. So now she sometimes talked to herself inside her head, sometimes through her link, and sometimes out loud.

  Telisa turned back. Cilreth didn’t answer the question because she knew Telisa could use her link to ask the cases for anything she wanted.

  Or has the jamming gotten worse?

  As a test, Cilreth queried the inventory service of a nearby case. It sent queries out to the other cases and found the weapons containers for her. Telisa was already opening one of them. Cilreth scanned the nearby stalks for any signs of danger.

  Telisa came back with a smart pistol in her hand. Cilreth had familiarized herself with the projectile weapons, though she preferred the stunner as a safer alternative. The weapon had a few smart rounds in it, capable of locking onto any target the user specified. The smart rounds could turn away or self-destruct in flight if they neared something that didn’t fit the target profile. However, on an alien planet, one would likely forego any target profiles since it was impossible to tell exactly what kind of dangerous animal you might come across.

  Cilreth’s link told her Telisa had put negative signatures into the weapon for the three Terrans, so it would be difficult (though not impossible) to accidentally shoot a friend.

  “Better if we have radically different weapons by default,” Telisa said. “In case something we find is immune to either one.”

  Cilreth nodded. She figured as much. Between the two of them and the scouts, they had a variety of weapons. She noticed the pistol had a new accessory attached to its underside.

  “What’s the new device?”

  Telisa’s eyebrows rose in a question; then she deduced what Cilreth was asking about.

  “Oh. Under the barrel? It’s a one-shot glue grenade.”

  “Nice. I’m not quite used to all the weapons yet. From private investigator to planetary explorer, you know.”

  “Isn’t it wonderful?” Telisa asked enthusiastically.

  Cilreth chuckled. So young and full of energy. “Which way are we going?”

  Telisa was silent for a moment; then a scout robot headed out. “Follow him,” she said.

  They followed the robot out of the clearing. As they came to the first tight group of alien plants, Cilreth automatically reached for her machete.

  “Shall I cut a swath through? Or do we want a low-profile trail behind us?”

  “If there were no people, I’d say go ahead and cut. Predators will be equipped to find us anyway. But with people we don’t know in the ruins, let’s leave it.”

  Cilreth nodded. She agreed with the thinking. If she left a trail, it would make it easier for Magnus to follow if he needed to find them but also easier for strangers to find them.

  “We have a box of breadcrumb devices we could use,” Cilreth pointed out.

  “Oh yeah. I never quite saw the usefulness of the devices before.”

  “They are usually just for marking a complex path for others to follow later after you’re gone. Some places screw with a link’s ability to accurately map them, and sometimes there isn’t a way to send your map to the next person to come along.”

  “And we can configure them to be silent when strangers come by,” Telisa noted. She was probably reading up on them in her link to remind herself of their capabilities.

  “But in this case, I’m wondering if we can form a bridge with them. If they can each reach twenty five meters or so, then we could daisy chain our communications back here.”

  “Daisy chain?” There was a delay. Then Telisa nodded. “Okay. But I hope we stop coming up with new plans every five minutes, or we’ll never get anything done!”

  Young people. Every time I use an archaic term they have to look it up. “Ha.” Cilreth ran back and retrieved a pack of fifty breadcrumbs. Each device was a small black cylinder, the size of five or six tiny coins stacked together. She configured them as a relay chain and told them to only offer services to the three Terrans or Shiny. Then she jogged back to Telisa and dropped the first one at the entrance of the plant cluster.

  “There we go,” Cilreth said.

  Telisa pushed aside the green masses of moss-like leaves and stepped through. Her spheres slipped through after her, dodging around swaying green mops and thick stalks. Cilreth followed.

  They had walked about a hundred meters from camp when the scout stopped. Cilreth immediately stopped with it, staring ahead. She had just dropped a third breadcrumb device behind her. She accessed the scout’s view. Its Vovokan mass detectors had sensed movement ahead, over and above the normal flutter of the green plant bulbs in a light breeze. She checked the mass map. The movement was fifteen meters ahead, and slightly underground.

  A trap? Thank Cthulhu for those scout machines.

  “There,” Telisa said through her link, sending Cilreth a visual indicator. Telisa pointed out a hole in the ground under a batch of stalks. One of the natural plant pot wells. Cilreth was able to confirm the movement came from inside the well.

  Cilreth stayed put and watched. Nothing much seemed to be happening on the surface. She watched until she thought maybe Telisa would just keep going. Then she spotted something moving. This time she was ready to interpret what she saw: another translucent creature.

  It was small. Then she saw another. More tiny clear creatures climbed out from the plant well. They scampered over the spiky red rock.

  “Critters. Ju
st some clear critters, like ghost shrimp,” Cilreth transmitted. For some reason they reminded her of ghost shrimp in size and movement, though she could not tell if they had legs or not.

  “The last small critters I found tried to eat me alive,” Telisa said. She had her pistol pointed in their direction. Cilreth knew the grenade launcher was probably being armed to the signature of those clear creatures.

  “You’re not going to shoot first, are you?” she asked a bit nervously.

  “No way,” Telisa said. “I’m not looking for trouble. Let’s just skirt around.” But she did not move.

  “Watch the plants for the red snake things, too,” Cilreth said. “Where there’s prey…”

  “Good point,” Telisa agreed. She lowered her pistol.

  Cilreth spotted one of the creatures pulling a piece of plant along the rock. Then it fell back into the black hole of the well carrying the debris.

  “They’re carrying stuff that fell into the plant well,” Cilreth pointed out. “That’s why there’s no detritus lying around. They carry it in there, and it must be for food.”

  “Or to grow food with,” Telisa added.

  “You don’t think…they couldn’t be intelligent, could they?”

  “I doubt it,” Telisa said slowly.

  “It’s just that they could fit through the grilles.”

  Telisa stopped. She had to be thinking about it. “Yeah, but why are they living in a hole in the ground when they could live in the buildings?”

  “Hrm. Yeah. I’m sure they’re not smart. Just trying not to make any assumptions.”

  They sped up as the clear colony of harvesters was left in the rear. Cilreth kept placing the trail-marking devices as they went. Within another ten minutes, their scout leader arrived at a cluster of Konuan buildings.

  Cilreth pinged their camp through the chain of breadcrumb devices. Everything appeared to be working. She took stock of the structures. They looked similar to what they’d already seen, only taller and denser.

  Cilreth checked her link for Shiny and Magnus. She still couldn’t get any response, even through the chain back to camp.