The Celaran Probe (Parker Interstellar Travels Book 7)

by Michael McCloskey

  “So we go back up,” Telisa said. “If it’s not on the map used by the entrance guards, it must be interesting.”

  “They probably have an alternate escape route as you mentioned.”

  “Send some of the attendants in. If they can find shuttles, the attendants could disable them somehow.”

  “Well, we have the ones watching outside,” Cilreth said.

  “Yes, but this is getting a little personal,” Telisa said, feeling her wound. “Let’s get this guy’s attention and move on.”

  Cilreth raised an eyebrow but she nodded.

  “Lead the way.”

  “We’ll go up there,” Telisa said, pointing.

  “Should I fire up a smart rope?”

  Telisa leaped. Cilreth watched in awe as her friend soared upwards as if catapulted by an explosion. Telisa caught the railing of the next floor. She performed an overpowered chin-up, sending herself flying gracefully over the railing bar and landing squarely on her feet over the barrier.

  Telisa paused there, looking for enemies. The balcony held comfortable perches that were each half chair, half sleeping web. Two exits led out to what she guessed were labs or meeting areas. She flipped through the various video feeds of the attendants flitting about and listened with her superhuman hearing.

  “You make it?” Cilreth asked. Telisa sent down the smart rope in answer. It took a minute for Cilreth to take the smart rope up and join her. When she arrived, they looked upwards again. From the first balcony, the curve of the balcony above denied Telisa another direct jump. She would have to travel outwards, upwards, then back inwards in mid air to grab the next balcony rail.

  “I don’t think even Trilisk Special Forces can do this one,” Cilreth said.

  “Smart rope,” Telisa said airily. She took the one Cilreth had ascended on and let it encircle an attendant. The attendant carried the end up to the next balcony, where the rope knotted itself onto a railing. The attendant flew on, looking for danger.

  They moved up to the next balcony and assessed their position in the complex.

  “I think Marcant is around here,” Cilreth said out loud. “We’re pretty deep into this place.”

  “You take the left side, I’ll take the right.”

  “This is an awful lot of trouble for an interview,” Cilreth said. Telisa grinned.

  “We might have to glue him down just to get a conversation. Not a great first impression.”

  “I know what he wants. He’ll accept the offer,” Cilreth said. “Forget the left and right. An attendant has spotted a door near here that’s heavily secured.”

  They walked ahead twenty meters to the metal door Cilreth had pointed out. It was a sliding metal door placed firmly in a thick frame of heavy ceramic armor.

  “Too obvious? Is it a trap?” Telisa asked. She walked up to the door. Her sharp eyesight spotted tiny sensor buds on the wall around the door.

  “I doubt it. I’m hacking our way in,” Cilreth said.

  Telisa did not dare touch the door. “We could circumvent it. I might be able to cut through the wall with my rifle, or my bare hands,” Telisa said.

  Cilreth had not yet answered when they received a link message.

  “Please stop. The humiliation is quite agonizing,” someone said. Her link connection identified the speaker as Marcant.

  Telisa could not tell if the request was genuine or facetious.

  “Okay. Let us in. We’re only here to talk,” Cilreth said.

  The door slid open.

  “You take it from here,” Telisa said. “I’ll make sure you have plenty of time with our elusive candidate.”

  Cilreth nodded. “Be careful.”

  “Always.”

  Chapter 21

  Marcant watched video feeds off-retina in his room. He saw a strikingly beautiful woman step out of a shuttle and walk across a landing pad. It was not an entertainment VR, though the woman could have starred in one. It was a feed of what had been happening right outside his doors.

  A laser mount tried to track her. She moved across the room faster than the emitter could follow and knocked out three men. As the emitter retargeted her, she leaped up and struck it. The video feed shook so hard that Marcant wondered if the emitter had been knocked out of alignment. Apparently the laser survived the attack, but the woman slid under the armored desk before it could hit her. Then the feed abruptly ceased.

  Marcant skipped ahead to another video clip. He spotted her again, moving as a blur. He slowed the feed to watch her. The woman defeated two grenades in a half second, intercepting them and batting them away before the glue could flower over her.

  What is she?

  “Yes, what?” Adair asked. The AI was privy to his most private thoughts, integrated into his mind through his link. “And how can we stop her?”

  “The other machines might stop her,” Achaius said. Marcant had never heard such strong doubt in the voice of his aggressive AI companion.

  “I believe that’s an android copy of Telisa Relachik,” said Adair. “That would explain—”

  “All evidence indicates she is alive at a cellular level,” Achaius interjected.

  “It also shows she’s not a mere Terran,” Adair said.

  “She’s something made by technology superior to ours,” Marcant said. “Something made by Ambassador Shiny. Whether she’s still that woman Telisa Relachik, who knows?”

  Marcant watched a feed of the woman skating through the zero-friction area and taking out his robots like she was playing a game of ice hockey against children.

  She will make it here. Whatever she wants, she’ll probably get.

  He skipped to the next sighting. The two women were talking. Marcant listened in.

  “This is an awful lot of trouble for an interview,” the one called Cilreth said. Her companion smiled. Marcant found himself staring at Telisa again.

  “We might have to glue him down just to get a conversation. Not a great first impression,” she said.

  “I know what he wants. He’ll accept the offer,” Cilreth said.

  “They’re crazy,” Marcant breathed. “They just force their way in here casually. They’re not the least bit fazed by our defenses.”

  “They don’t want to hurt you,” Achaius said. “It really is just an interview?”

  “They might know we’re watching,” Adair said. “The conversation could have been for our benefit.”

  “Why? They can get in here and get me despite all precautions. And Shiny hasn’t even lifted a... leg,” Marcant said.

  “They want your cooperation,” Adair said. “Deception can be used instead of force. They might know you’ll perform better that way.”

  “Shiny doesn’t need me,” Marcant said. “I can’t even touch him. Why would they risk their lives to come here and talk to me?”

  “Are their lives really at risk? We use mostly nonlethal measures here,” Achaius said.

  “Mostly. Besides, how do they know that?”

  “I don’t know, but they’re playing along. They could have left a trail of death to our door,” Adair said. “None of our personnel have died.”

  “We have to assume they’ll make it up here and through the armored doors,” Marcant said. “At least that one, the one we think is Telisa. I should prepare myself.”

  “We can set some nasty traps in here,” Adair said. “Just give me the word. What do you want to do?”

  “I’ll cooperate.”

  Chapter 22

  Cilreth slipped into the room and told the door to lock behind her. She scanned the ceiling for lasers or other defenses. It looked safe, though she could not verify much in the poor light. She saw a bed hiding in a corner to her right, and what looked like the doorway to a closet. She guessed the door to her left might connect to a bathroom because she caught a hint of tile on the floor at the edge.

  She had taken full control of the main door; she considered continuing to attack systems farther into the room and decided against it.
Marcant, or someone representing him, had surrendered.

  Across the room, partially hidden in shadow, she saw someone sitting still in a chair. The chair was positioned at the center of a mat about four meters on a side. It was a pseudo VR area. The walls were plain as seen through Cilreth’s link. She assumed they displayed virtual decoration or data known only to the inhabitant.

  Well, these guys are security happy, but they’re not killers. As long as they don’t think I’m here to kill them...

  She let her stealth suit deactivate. Nothing happened, so she took a few steps toward the person. She became paranoid as she crossed the room. She halted, checked the closet opening and the bathroom. She did not see anyone preparing for ambush. Even thoughts of a trap door in the floor came to mind.

  What if that’s not a person? Or not a live person. Like one of those VRs where the hero discovers a person in a seat facing away from them, and they’re dead.

  She took two more steps forward as her eyes adjusted. She saw a slender man with white skin and black hair sitting in the control seat. The chair looked highly customized, probably suited to long stints in virtual reality. His eyes were closed and he did not move. His clothes were predictably black, matching the color of his high tech seat.

  Not dead... just off-retina.

  “Mr. Marcant?” she asked.

  The man came back to life. Though he was so pale, he still looked half dead. His ragged hair formed dreadlocks that ended in unimplanted links. It was not currently a popular style, meaning it might be a statement of independence or rebellion. Exactly what it might mean eluded Cilreth, though being older, she was used to many such things going over her head.

  “Correct. I am Voss Marcant,” he said dramatically. “I’m glad it’s you and not Telisa.”

  “Why?”

  “You’re the tracker. I wondered if she, then, would be the assassin.”

  “Assassination is not our intention. Are you really Marcant, or are you the guinea pig Marcant left here to see what’s up?” Cilreth said. “Voss. Is that really his first name? He’s a Terran male?”

  He nodded. “I understand you expect further deception. That’s reasonable. Nevertheless, I am Marcant.” His eyes narrowed.

  I just went up a notch in his book. Or down a notch.

  “Well let me get right to it, then. I work for Shiny. Albeit, against my will, half of the time. He has a team of explorers we call PIT. PIT team, the ‘t’ does not stand for team.”

  Cilreth mentally rolled her eyes at herself. Everyone on Earth now knew what PIT was.

  “Anyway, I’m on the PIT team and I’m getting too old for this purple conductive paste, or whatever you guys are calling it these days. So there’s a spot on the team opening up.”

  “You want to hire me?”

  “Yes. I’m an expert in Vovokan cybernetics and I can offer that knowledge, as well as the chance to work on a ton of advanced alien hardware and software. In the course of our travels, we investigate many interesting places for Shiny. So there are other alien technologies to find and study. We need help understanding those technologies, typically computer technologies, robots, starship controllers, that sort of thing.”

  “Intriguing,” Marcant said neutrally.

  Cilreth looked at his pale skin and glowing blue eyes.

  “What are you supposed to be, a vampire? Is that why you’re drinking blood?”

  Marcant looked at the maroon drink resting in the arm of his seat, almost sorrowful. He answered slowly.

  “I’m pale simply because I don’t get any light. I drink this beverage because I need—prefer—to replenish blood glucose levels regularly.”

  Cilreth noticed Marcant looked very slender. She wondered if he had a digestive problem.

  “Do you want to apply for the position?”

  “Hrm, let’s say yes.”

  I don’t think he’s serious yet. He will be serious, when he decides I am.

  “Do you suffer from limitations that preclude physical activities like, running, jumping, ducking?”

  Marcant raised an eyebrow.

  “I can do those things. Though not as well as your companion. She seems to run, jump, and duck better than any Terran. Yet she doesn’t seem to be a robot. I saw her bleed for a moment.”

  Ah. So he just wants to learn more.

  “She’s Trilisk Special Forces. And my boss. That part about Trilisk Special Forces is a joke. Kind of. She lives in an artificial host body, created by Trilisk technology. They wanted to know what it was like to live in other bodies... as long as they remained superior.”

  “Oh.” Marcant lifted an eyebrow again. “Perhaps I could ask questions more directly? Why me?”

  “I’m surprised you ask.”

  “Why are you surprised? It seems a logical question to me,” Marcant said.

  “I anticipated a narcissist who would just expect everyone to want them. I chose you because of your attempt to crack Shiny’s defenses. What was it, the Thumper?”

  “I’m not familiar with that facility. Or is that an AI?”

  “It’s Shiny’s flagship.”

  Marcant blinked.

  His mind is racing now.

  “Look. I said I worked for Shiny, I didn’t say I love the golden bastard. And we’re offering more than you’ll ever find out about Vovokan computers on your own. I chose you because you tried to crack him. You have intelligence and balls. That’s a damn good start on being a PIT member right there.”

  Cilreth got an alert from her link. She was being hacked right now! She checked the services around her: at first, it seemed like a normal dwelling. The many devices all around her offered their services: the table in the far left corner, a cooler by the wall, the waste baskets, and the room thermostat.

  Cilreth sent out some counter probes. She found that many of the responses were not standard.

  “You’re running your own room,” Cilreth said. What she meant was that he had altered the software of everything there. And some of it was trying to hack her link.

  “Doesn’t every self-respecting hacker?” Marcant replied.

  “Stop hacking me,” Cilreth said calmly.

  The attack stopped. “You know, it’s illegal to alter your link so that it doesn’t obey the standard interface protocol,” he said. “I would have succeeded, otherwise.”

  “Was illegal,” Cilreth said. “The old world government is defunct. Besides, I doubt you followed those rules even when they were in charge.”

  Marcant smiled. He threw his hands apart casually. “You caught me,” he said.

  “You have more questions?” Cilreth asked.

  “Yes. Can I bring my girls?”

  Cilreth judged his question as disingenuous. She guessed he was just playing around, trying to feel his way through the encounter, or trying to divert her attention...

  “If by girls you mean your Skelly scampers, no. We’re explorers. We can’t take a harem with us.” Cilreth answered his question as if it were a serious one.

  Marcant shrugged. “No job is perfect.”

  “I heard you don’t mix with your scampers, anyway. I assume you find your jollies virtually. As you say, like every self-respecting hacker.”

  Marcant nodded. “What alien technologies have you been able to learn about?”

  “Vovokan, obviously. To a lesser degree, an advanced race called Celarans. Also a group we call Blackvines. I have samples from machines we called the Destroyers, yeah, great name, I know. They trashed Shiny’s homeworld.” She paused. “Some Trilisk stuff.”

  “Trilisk? I doubt it.”

  Cilreth shrugged. “I haven’t programmed anything Trilisk,” she admitted. “I think those things are beyond my ability to understand.” She had carefully said “my ability”, knowing Marcant might rise to the challenge.

  He did not ask any other questions, so Cilreth continued.

  “Do you oppose Shiny’s takeover?” she asked. “You have no chance of stopping him. Even if you’re as
smart as everyone believes you to be.”

  “My intelligence is augmented by technology to a greater degree than most others.”

  “In what ways?”

  Please don’t say a Trilisk AI.

  “There are so many answers. I’m genetically enhanced in ways that are illegal. Were illegal, anyway. Ironically, it was the old government that created me to serve them. They considered themselves above their own laws, of course. So you see I do not oppose Shiny’s takeover. I welcome it. For me, it means freedom.”

  Cthulhu consume us. What if he’s a Trilisk? And Telisa’s right here. He’s toying with us.

  “Genetically enhanced? For high intelligence, I suppose. There’s a trade off?” She glanced at his drink again. As she asked, Cilreth had her attendants check Marcant for signs of Trilisk presence. He checked clean, so she relaxed.

  Marcant touched the edge of his drink cup.

  “I need a lot of glucose and a lot of oxygen. What did you do just now?”

  “I checked to see if you’re a Trilisk. But you’re not, and I’m damn happy about it.”

  Marcant looked impressed.

  “Okay so give me another answer,” Cilreth prompted.

  “I work with machines to enhance my intelligence, of course. We almost all have our links. That’s the first step. I’m tightly integrated with more than a link. I also... work with AIs.”

  “I heard a rumor. You have some AIs?”

  “I don’t ‘have’ AIs. I’m friends with a few.”

  “That doesn’t make you smarter.”

  “It does!” Marcant said emphatically. “I work very synergistically with a couple of them. We become smarter when working together.”

  Everyone becomes smarter when working on a team. Well, if it’s the right team. But I think maybe he means something even more tightly integrated.

  Cilreth found Voss Marcant very compelling. She was beginning to see why he had such a following.

  “I heard the word symbiote before, when I was investigating you.”