The Celaran Probe (Parker Interstellar Travels Book 7)

by Michael McCloskey

  Imanol slowed its passage through the door so he could follow. Once through, the door closed and he retrieved the attendant.

  So much for being completely undetectable.

  The room beyond held only a bank of Vovokan machinery. It was a collection of tubes and glowing parts, like a kid’s project blox creation, that came as high as his hip. Imanol did not touch or investigate; instead, he walked through another circular opening.

  The connecting room was even bigger and brighter, with white walls.

  There in the center of the room, Imanol saw a Trilisk. He froze for a moment before he realized it was not free to move. The creature was placed onto a column or saddle that fit its odd shape perfectly. The three legs dangled around the perimeter. With a shudder, he remembered the three-tusked maw on its underside, hidden by the column. One of its grotesque eyes faced him, so large it made Imanol think again of the creature as a giant face with legs and arms.

  Blood and souls...

  Wires and tubes clustered around the column and entered the Trilisk from all angles. Several went into the slit underneath the eye that faced him. Imanol realized he had his projectile pistol out and aimed at the thing. He lowered his weapon and walked very slowly along the outside wall, giving the Trilisk a wide berth. His perspective shifted until he could see two of its three ‘faces’ in equal proportions. He shuddered again. That made it look more like a giant face, not less, because now he could see two eyes.

  Get a hold of yourself, man. What is it about this damn Trilisk that scares me so much? Ugly is one thing, but it makes me shake.

  Imanol looked down to double check he was still invisible. The creature did not react to his presence. It simply stared off into space as if experiencing a VR. It occurred to him that he could not trust his instincts when it came to such a creature. For all he knew, this is exactly how it behaved just before attacking.

  He steeled himself and stepped closer. He could see tiny ridges on its dark rubbery surface. He remembered the awful strength of the Trilisk he had encountered. He wondered if this was the same one.

  Blood and souls, should I hate it or feel sorry for it?

  Imanol realized the answer was the same either way: kill it. But he had not accomplished his main goal of finding the AI. Surely if he assassinated this Trilisk, the Vovokan security would be alerted. Then he might not be able to escape.

  It could make a useful distraction.

  Imanol checked to make sure he had not missed any doors behind him. He wanted to choose a spot that might not be observed. He set one of this grenades for detonation in three hours and let it roll quietly over to the base of the pillar. He squatted to check its position. From down low, it looked painfully obvious, but the equipment protruded above it, making it unlikely to spot from above.

  Imanol finally felt a sense of achievement. At least now, maybe his visit would prove productive. He turned back and left the room the way he had come. His attendant made the door open once more so he could exit.

  Within the adjacent chamber, Imanol stopped to think.

  Go back now? I haven’t found it. I need to check the rest of the complex.

  Imanol let the attendant move through the rest of the strange white building while he watched its feed. He did not see anything as interesting as the Trilisk in the rest of the rooms, so he told the attendant to emerge from the building so he could follow it out.

  Imanol eyed the tunnel he had arrived from, but he forced himself to walk around the special enclosure and choose another tunnel. He headed into the tunnel, moving quickly; he was on the clock now. Normally he might have been able to send a grenade a detonation command, but he figured the Trilisk tunnels might well block such signals.

  The new tunnel soon opened into a black hexagonal room. Tunnels exited from three of the six sides. Like the tunnels, light enabled him to see everything even though he could not spot lone sources of illumination.

  A spinning sphere floated in the center of the room. Small rods protruded radially all over its surface, lit by green lasers from several points nearby. The floor below it looked like black glass with a million tiny dimples melted into it. A flat path ran a circle around the center, providing access to the other exits without having to cross the center.

  Telisa had once described the Trilisk device to him as a sphere with eerie floating rods revolving around and merging into it. When he asked for specifics, she just said “you’ll know it when you see it.”

  As Imanol watched, some of the rods slid across its surface. Others slipped into the sphere and disappeared.

  Okay, that’s it. It’s here. It looks... healthy. Shiny probably fixed it with the other AI, or gave it the power it needed, or whatever. We know where it is, and how to get it if we wanted to make a grab for it.

  The thought of taking it right now crossed his mind. He quashed it. The PIT team was not ready to exploit such a bold opportunity right now. Maybe if they came up with a coordinated plan.

  When we do, I might have to come back. Sigh. Or could I give the layout to someone else and let them do it? Problem for another time.

  Imanol turned away from the Trilisk artifact and backtracked. He went out the tunnel he had arrived through. He now saw the end of this ordeal. He had found out that Shiny did have the AI, it had been kept here, and Imanol got the added bonus of killing off the Trilisk.

  Mission accomplished.

  Imanol kept walking. As his doubts grew, his pace increased.

  What will Shiny do when it dies? Would he know who did it? With the PIT team back in-system, he’ll suspect Telisa.

  He considered pulling the grenade on his way back out. Before he could decide, he saw an anomaly ahead. It was another spherical machine, headed down the tunnel toward him.

  Imanol went prone again. He took a deep breath and held it. The same eerie feeling haunted him as he watched the sphere draw ever closer.

  Just ride it out...

  The sphere stopped above him.

  Blood and souls.

  The stealth sphere sent Imanol’s link a simple failure message: “Stealth mode failure due to lack of power.” That did not sound right to Imanol. The alien stealth device had not been perfectly interfaced with Terran link protocols, though. The actual problem might be something different, but at this point it did not matter: Imanol had been detected.

  Maybe the AI saw me and disabled it? Or maybe the sphere expends a lot more power to hide in a place like this?

  Imanol rolled away. The sphere did not move. He pushed himself back onto his feet and ran back the way he had come. He had his link mark the path he had taken to arrive just to be sure.

  What’s it doing?

  One glance back told him the sphere had started to move after him.

  It can move faster than that. Why so slow? Oh. Because I’m going the way it wants me to.

  He continued. He had no choice. The tunnel did not branch for another hundred meters. He looked back again and saw the sphere had closed the distance.

  Is this it?

  The huge sphere sent a bolt of energy into Imanol. His body convulsed and collapsed onto the black Trilisk floor.

  Imanol’s limbs twitched. He struggled to move without success. He faded in and out of consciousness.

  Something picked him up from the floor.

  Later, he was vaguely aware of the sphere nearby.

  His confusion slowly cleared. Had he been moving? He stared at the perfect section of the tunnel above and could not tell. Then, a change in the geometry above showed him they were moving. The ceiling above became a flat black surface instead of the curved top of a cylindrical tunnel.

  He floated back down to the floor. Imanol was able to roll over. His limbs started to respond to his commands at last. A clacking sound grew in his ears. He immediately classified it: the sound of many Vovokan feet hitting a ceramic floor. Shiny was coming.

  Imanol caught sight of mottled gold. His vision cleared a bit, resolving until he saw a small forest of go
lden trunks with sharp ends. His limbs flinched, then he found he could control his body again.

  “Well, if it isn’t the Shining One,” Imanol grumbled, cautiously tilting his head to look at Shiny. The alien shocked him again with its complex appearance. He saw dozens of golden legs and a long, almost serpentine body. One end of the alien hovered a meter from his head. It was the smooth, featureless end with the tiny clusters of light sensors hanging beneath that looked like golden enoki with tiny little crab eyes. Imanol decided Shiny’s golden coloration really saved his appearance for Terrans. If the alien had been mottled gray or green, he would be a real terror.

  “You are Imanol.” The answer came to Imanol’s link.

  “How did you see me? I thought the sphere was advanced enough to fool the mass sensors.”

  “This area high security. Shiny finds, notices, detects trace molecules from passage, footsteps, path of Imanol. Then attendant, servant, sight spheres appear from cloaked regions, zones, areas.”

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Shiny away, absent, distant. Imanol speaks with projected, transmitted, illusory Shiny only.”

  Can it be true? I heard his feet hitting the floor. Good illusion, I guess.

  “Oh. Got it. So you’ve harnessed Earth’s Trilisk machine.”

  “Correct, affirmative, verified.”

  “That’s how you control the Terrans, isn’t it? You have them under mind control of some kind,” said Imanol.

  “Incorrect, negative, false. Shiny pleases Terran citizens.”

  Imanol did not believe the alien.

  “When I was down here before, I saw a Trilisk. Is it the same one down this corridor?”

  Imanol found himself hoping Shiny would reply in the negative. He wanted that thing to be a Trilisk pet, something evolved on the same planet as the Trilisks that shared the trinary structure of the ancient race, anything he could dismiss and laugh off as a good scare.

  “Correct, affirmative, verified.”

  “What are you doing to it?” he asked.

  Could that thing have taken over Shiny?

  “Trilisk is trapped, incarcerated, imprisoned. Shiny studies alien.”

  Blood and souls, surely he’s gone too far?

  “Aren’t you worried about it taking over your AIs? Isn’t it dangerous?”

  “Trilisk is compromised, reduced, damaged. It is insane, unstable, broken. Trilisk left to guard outpost, complex, headquarters very long ago. Trilisk enemies attacked, causing extensive damage, destruction, impairment. This one survived. Events, time, circumstances destroyed Trilisk reason, mind, consciousness.”

  “And the Trilisk AI? It let this happen?”

  “Outpost damaged, dysfunctional, broken. Shiny uses other AI to repair, restore, refurbish.”

  What else should I ask? Telisa should know all this.

  “But you didn’t tell the AI to restore the Trilisk.”

  “Shiny deems mentioned course of action reckless, unwise, inadvisable.”

  “I agree. Have you spoken with Telisa? Did you reach a new agreement?”

  “Negotiations continue.”

  That news was better than Imanol had expected. He decided to stop probing and start begging.

  “I apologize for the intrusion. I was just curious. Can I leave? Telisa wants me to head back soon.”

  “Soon, quickly, imminently,” Shiny responded. “First, Imanol subject to modification, alteration, enhancement.”

  Blood and souls.

  “Uhm. Modification?”

  “Shiny requires new function, usage, utility from Imanol. Done, complete, finished.”

  “I didn’t feel anything—”

  Imanol blinked. He found himself back at the tunnel entrance, facing the dock. The stealth sphere told him he was once again invisible.

  What was I just thinking about? I have a bad feeling about this.

  Chapter 16

  Cilreth walked into a specialized software demo shop in Brazil. She supposed the business going on there was a cover, though it probably generated revenue. People walked back and forth inside a three story set of office suites with a wide open atrium at the center that cut up through all three floors. Cilreth quickly summed up the activity as pairings between representatives and customers; the incarnate offices probably helped to encourage illicit, and therefore very profitable, transactions.

  Of the people working at Código Vermelho, Cilreth had found nine employees that could be Marcant or a close partner.

  Cilreth caught the eye of a young woman with black hair in a checkered red outfit. Her hair was longer in front than the back, so it sheltered her eyes. The pattern on her clothes changed every few seconds. Cilreth smiled. No doubt it changed according to some obscure algorithm the girl appreciated.

  “What’s your emergency?” the girl asked in English. She did not smile, but she at least feigned interest effectively.

  “I’m here for Marcant. And don’t bother to tell me I’m in the wrong place. I’m well beyond that.”

  “An old lady like you thinks she can find Marcant? That’s funny,” said a male voice.

  Cilreth turned and saw the source: an adolescent boy with bright blond hair. He leaned his skinny body against a nearby counter and stared at Cilreth. She noticed his eyes follow her form down her torso.

  “I got this far, didn’t I?” Cilreth challenged. “I don’t really need your purple paste.”

  “What’s your nick?”

  “1154688075.”

  “Wow, a real grabber,” the blond kid said sarcastically. But the girl with short hair and a pale face did not smile.

  “That wasn’t you,” the girl challenged back, head held level so that her bangs still hid her eyes.

  “Still is me,” Cilreth said. Some ire bled into her voice.

  What do these idiots have to do with Marcant?

  “Why do you want to talk to Marcant?” asked the girl.

  The blond kid looked at the girl in irritation, but he did not interrupt.

  “I have a job offer.”

  The kid scoffed. Cilreth took a deep breath and tried again.

  “Tell him or her or it I have a legit job offer. A chance to work on real Vovokan hardware.”

  “Vovokan?” the kid asked. “You work for Shiny? Shiny wants to hire Marcant?”

  The girl flashed a look of anger at the kid.

  “Shut your mouth,” the girl told him. She finally pushed her hair off her face. Green glowing eyes took their first direct look at Cilreth. Then she pointed across the store. “Go,” she told the kid. The boy left.

  “Come over here,” the girl said. Cilreth followed her to the nearest wall, made of a transparent material. They passed through a clear door and into a partial VR booth of about 100 cubic meters. A headset sat on the floor. Cilreth realized it had been a long time since she had used anything like it. Telisa swore by them, since pseudo VR exercised the body. Cilreth just took toning pills and stayed lazy.

  The girl turned to Cilreth and continued talking.

  “You do work for Shiny,” she said.

  “I’m not his biggest fan right now,” Cilreth said. “But yes, Shiny is our direct source of Vovokan hardware and I know how to use Vovokan systems. I can spill it all to Marcant, if he comes to work with the PIT team.”

  It felt strange for Cilreth to talk about PIT with a stranger. It still had not sunk in that the team had become famous because of their connection to Shiny.

  “I’ve never seen a more obvious trap in all my life. Which is strange, because Shiny’s smart. Very smart.”

  “I expected some amount of suspicion. Look, the PIT team comes in contact with alien stuff, not just Vovokan. Can you think of anyone more qualified than Marcant to look into it? If Marcant really exists.”

  “Why did you come here looking for him?”

  “Research,” Cilreth said.

  “There’s nothing publicly available that links Marcant to this place, or to me.”

 
“I didn’t say I was researching public information,” Cilreth said.

  “Shiny’s never sent goons here before,” she said.

  “You guys can’t break Shiny. His whole raced lived to screw each other over. His security is beyond ours.”

  “So?”

  “So he doesn’t need to send goons. He knows even Marcant isn’t a threat.”

  “You have a bounty on your head,” she said.

  What? Marcant put a bounty on me for looking for him?

  The girl stared over her shoulder. Cilreth stepped forward and to one side, not wanting to take her eyes off the girl. She dared a look.

  Two men in rugged clothing were making their way through the establishment toward them.

  “You must have stolen a lot of drugs from those nice people,” the girl said, taking a step away from Cilreth.

  Cilreth had no idea what she was talking about. She released three attendant spheres from her waist pack and pulled her combo laser/stunner pistol off her hip. One attendant told her the wall behind her was not very substantial. She could see the support beams ran up from floor to ceiling only on the corners of the VR cubicle.

  The girl stared in alarm at the spheres. Cilreth ignored her.

  Cilreth sent an attendant through the wall. No one was on the other side.

  “I’ll be back,” Cilreth said, then she rammed through the wall. Its substance cracked under her impact and fell away in hand-sized chunks.

  The attendant she had left behind told her one of the men had run into the booth. Cilreth turned and faced the hole. Her heart slammed in her chest, but she knew she had to bloody a nose to slow down her pursuers.

  She stepped aside to avoid being spotted, then aimed her pistol back at the hole. She selected the stun functionality. The weapon told her it would have to log her shots to function in the lounge.

  Cthulhu’s balls, we didn’t hack this weapon yet. Out on the frontier we get lazy about these things.

  A tall, dark skinned man thrust through the opening, weapon in hand. Cilreth had only an instant to size him up: the man looked determined and aggressive.