The Celaran Probe (Parker Interstellar Travels Book 7)

by Michael McCloskey

  “Is this what Earth comes to? Just a bunch of people wired into VR their whole lives?” Imanol asked.

  “Maybe that’s what becomes of Earth, but it doesn’t have to be what becomes of humanity,” Caden said. “We can recruit the ones who crave real adventure and take them to the frontier. Or we can just recruit from the frontier. Let Earth do what it wants.”

  “They may be doing what they want now, but if they don’t resist Shiny...”

  “Then what? Shiny already has complete control,” Telisa said. “Whatever nefarious plan he has, there’s no reason to wait on it. He would have revealed it by now. Turns out, a benevolent dictator can be a good thing.”

  “What about the Space Force?” Imanol asked. “They don’t spend every waking hour in VR.”

  “The Space Force people have kept the illusion of control over their affairs and they have more ships and machines than ever before,” Caden said. “They’re happy for other reasons. At least they’re ready to help us with the Celarans.”

  “Go gather your things. We’ll move to the new ship as soon as it shows up, which could be anytime now. Our new team member will meet us there.”

  “Who is it?” asked Caden.

  “Just meet him and ask,” Telisa dodged.

  Imanol and Cilreth left so quickly she almost wondered if they were hooking up for a moment, until she dismissed the idea, knowing Cilreth’s preferences. Jason left more slowly. Telisa was surprised and impressed with his report.

  If he’s onto something real, he uncovered more than anyone else. Although Cilreth and Imanol sure had a lot more on their plate than the others.

  Caden and Siobhan had not moved from their spot leaning against a food machine. Telisa listened to them with her sharpened hearing as she walked away.

  “What do you think about a new team member?” Caden asked.

  “I’ll be slow to trust them, whoever it is,” Siobhan said.

  “Can we trust anyone from Earth?”

  “You mean the mind control theory?”

  “Do you ever wonder about it?” Caden asked.

  “What? You mean, if it is mind control and...”

  “And it worked on us, too.”

  “All the time,” Siobhan said.

  ***

  “I didn’t ask you what you found out,” Telisa said to Cilreth. They were in Cilreth’s quarters. Telisa could barely fit in because Cilreth had a large, comfortable chair centrally located for her off-retina work. Cilreth worked to dismantle the assembly as they talked.

  “I was distracted. But everyone seemed happy. Even me.”

  “We could never imagine what life would be like with something like the Trilisk AI around. The Trilisks really were ridiculously farther along than we are. It’s scary to think anything could topple them.”

  “Methane-breathers. That’s all we really know, right?”

  Telisa shrugged. “Nothing, for sure.”

  “So Marcant accepted?” Cilreth asked. Telisa decided the question was simply an information prompt, since Telisa had already announced he would join the team.

  “Yes, he’s on the team. I’ve arranged for him to meet us on the new ship. Are you coming on the next expedition?”

  “Yes. One more,” Cilreth said. “Safe duty on the ship again, I hope. Though Marcant isn’t exactly a land warrior himself.”

  “He goes by Marcant, not Voss?”

  “He’s known among his followers as Marcant. That’s what he prefers.”

  “So I assume from his reputation, he’ll be up to speed quickly?”

  Cilreth took a moment to respond.

  “Here’s what you need to keep in mind about Marcant. He’s not one person, he’s three. He works closely with two AIs. Which means of the three, the one you see is the dumbest. If those three work with us, they’ll be invaluable.”

  “But if they decide to cross purposes with us, then it’ll be like Shiny all over again,” Telisa said.

  “I think he’s worth the risk. He’s a Terran. I hope we can earn loyalty or at least understand each other better.”

  “Probably.”

  “Another plus, he said he hacked Shiny out of curiosity, but I think he wanted to work against Shiny. He’s just afraid to admit it to us. Which is only smart.”

  Telisa nodded.

  “Good. Get yourself moved over with the others,” Telisa told her. “Shiny has summoned me to give his answer to my proposal.”

  Cilreth hugged Telisa. “No matter what, don’t give up.”

  “I won’t.”

  Chapter 24

  The new ship had two mess halls, and each one was the size of the Vovokan scout vessel they had used on the last mission. Jason explored the ship with Siobhan and Caden. They left the galley and headed down a wide corridor. It looked just like the hallway on a Terran passenger ship, right down to the maroon carpet and elegant glow rods.

  “Did you think about staying on Earth, Jason?” Siobhan asked.

  “For a little while. But being on this team is like being a VR star, except for real.”

  “I choose the real thing, too, even though it will end me sooner or later,” Caden said. He stopped to check out a bathroom on the corridor they walked down.

  “Oh the luxury,” he said. “No sand in my toilet! I think I’m gonna cry!””

  “I bet when you flush it still goes into a sand cleaner,” Siobhan said. “The inside looks Terran but it’s all Vovokan under the covers.”

  “Shhh, don’t ruin it for me,” Caden replied.

  “It’s nice here, but remember the Clacker when we could pray up anything?” Siobhan said.

  Caden rolled his eyes. “Forever spoiled!”

  Jason did not smile, though he was as happy as anyone else with Shiny’s latest gift. Supposedly it had been created just for the PIT team. Cilreth had said it was designed from the ground up for Terrans, but it used Vovokan technology, making it better than any Terran ship yet built.

  “Why is doing something for real more satisfying?” Jason asked.

  “It’s harder. More dangerous. And the girls love daredevils,” Caden said, looking at Siobhan. She did not fall for his bait.

  “I think it’s because it’s fleeting. What you’ve achieved, you can lose,” she said. “You can’t just save the state of the world and keep it that way forever. And you can’t go back and undo your mistakes.”

  They entered a large bay. The walls extended outwards from the silvery metal floor in a bulging convex shape. Jason’s first thought was that their old ship could fit into the wide open space.

  “Frackjammers!” Siobhan said.

  Jason followed Siobhan’s gaze. There in the side of the bay, he saw them: four Vovokan battle spheres. They sat quiescent, nestled in a row against the wall.

  “Spawn of—” he started.

  “We’ve been escalated,” Caden said sullenly.

  “What’s wrong?” a new voice said.

  Jason turned. A strange man stood a few meters away. Jason found his right hand on his stunner. He was the most reserved of his group. Caden and Siobhan already brandished drawn weapons.

  The man stood very still. Jason found him extremely slender and pale. He wore black clothing as if trying to contrast his pallor. Jason found the stranger’s long face neither handsome nor ugly.

  “Hi, I’m Jason,” he said.

  The pale man dipped his head a bit. “Marcant.”

  Jason forgot all about his weapon. “The Marcant? Wow, great to meet you!”

  Marcant’s mouth turned up just a bit on one end. He nodded. “The same. You made a splash at Stark’s.”

  “Who is he?” Siobhan asked.

  “He’s a famous... freedom worker. And our new team member, no doubt,” Jason said.

  “Freedom worker?” asked Siobhan.

  “Of the cagey software insinuation kind,” Caden said. “Though a lot of people doubt your existence.”

  “You saw me at Stark’s?” Jason blurted.

 
; “I must admit I wasn’t watching at the time,” Marcant said. “But the moment has been celebrated by many once they learned you were somehow associated with PIT. I thought perhaps you were simply a front man for the business, but I see from your Veer suit here you’re a real team member.”

  “We’ll get you in one yourself in no time,” Caden said. “We can use a wizard like you on the team. We get more than our fair share of cryptic alien stuff to figure out.”

  “I’m certain you will,” Marcant said neutrally. Jason could not tell if he spoke of the Veer armor, the alien tech, or both.

  Caden and Siobhan lowered their weapons, though they did not put them away. Jason smiled, trying to show Marcant at least one friendly face. Being the newest member of the team, he remembered the challenge of fitting in.

  “You’re unhappy about those devices over there? What are they, nuclear weapons?” Marcant asked.

  Jason glanced back at the spheres. “Vovokan battle spheres. War machines,” he said.

  “They’re not yours?”

  “Oh, they’re ours alright,” Caden said. “Our watchdogs.”

  “They’re kind of to keep us in line, or at least we assume that,” Jason said.

  Marcant frowned. “I have authority to order them,” he said. “Dare I?

  Jason checked with his own link. The machines offered him link services. “I guess we do.”

  One of the spheres lifted a meter off the ground. Another one rolled forward like a giant bowling ball as they tested out their control.

  “Well, that’s nice, but we know who really controls them when it counts,” Siobhan said.

  “I’ll see what I can do about that,” Marcant said. His voice spoke of rising to a challenge.

  Could Marcant really do that? Could he really hack Shiny’s battle spheres? Jason wondered.

  “I wish you luck,” Jason said.

  Marcant raised a gray sphere in one hand. “I have a sphere, too,” he said.

  Siobhan had her laser pistol trained on Marcant in a split second.

  “Hold! I was told to return this,” Marcant said quickly. It was the first break of his unnatural calm that Jason had noticed.

  “That’s Telisa’s cloaking sphere. What’re you doing with it?” asked Caden.

  “Shiny told me to give it to Telisa.”

  “You spoke with him?” asked Jason.

  “What was he doing with it?” Siobhan asked at the same time.

  Marcant decided to answer both questions at once. “He did not say how he came to have it during our brief audience.”

  “Has he done something to her? If that bug thinks we’re going to work for him without Telisa, he’s got another thing coming,” Caden said.

  Marcant raised an eyebrow. “Telisa is on her way, at least according to a shuttle passenger list,” he said.

  The others paused as they tried to verify that off-retina. Jason himself finally found it.

  “You’re on the ball. That’s good, we can use someone like you,” Jason said. “I take it you’re going to work with Cilreth.”

  “I’m supposed to work with you all. A full-fledged member of PIT, I’m told.”

  “Is this Shiny’s doing?” Siobhan asked. She looked at Marcant. Jason detected a hint of malice.

  “You don’t trust me. I get it. Maybe when Telisa arrives, she can verify what is and isn’t Shiny’s doing.”

  “What did Shiny say to you?” Jason asked.

  “He said that I wanted to learn about alien technology, and that I would get what I wanted.”

  “A lot of that going around lately,” Siobhan said. Marcant gave her a puzzled look.

  “We believe the Trilisk AIs are making things happen that satiate the populace,” Jason explained.

  “Trilisk AIs? Plural?” Marcant looked fascinated.

  Suddenly Jason realized that Telisa did not necessarily want to share that information with the newest member of the team. His glance to Caden and Siobhan verified it: they stared back at him rather coldly.

  “Telisa can catch you up on that,” Caden said. His tone indicated he wanted that conversational thread to hold there.

  “Your secrets are limitless. You said this sphere is a cloaking device?”

  “Yes. Alien.”

  “Which race of aliens?”

  “I don’t know,” Jason said. He looked at Caden.

  “Telisa found it in Shiny’s vault on Vovok. I don’t know what race created it either,” Caden said. He seemed to be returning to his good mood.

  “This ship gets my seal of approval,” Caden continued. “What should we call this thing?”

  “Newer Iridar,” Siobhan immediately suggested.

  “We can only take that purple paste so far,” Jason said. “Might as well just go for Iridar III.”

  “Iridar,” said Telisa’s voice. She walked in from a door ten meters from the group. “Whatever ship we’re using, it’s just Iridar.”

  Something was off. Telisa looked wrong. Jason figured it out quickly.

  She’s smiling!

  “Something good?” Siobhan said, clearly just as intrigued as Jason.

  “Someone has something for me?” Telisa asked, walking up to Marcant.

  Marcant held the small metal ball up in his hand. Telisa accepted it. “I got my stealth sphere back.”

  Jason nodded. Something was still off. Telisa still grinned like an idiot.

  Oh no. Did Shiny get to her too?

  “Oh yeah. And we got him,” she said, pointing a thumb over her shoulder. Her smile grew even wider. Jason saw Magnus step out of a doorway behind her.

  “I’m back,” Magnus said.

  Chapter 25

  Telisa met Marcant in the main room of his personal quarters on the Iridar. Marcant had been led to understand these new spaces were larger than what the team had taken out on their last mission. It was an order of magnitude smaller than Marcant’s own sanctuary, but he had expected that. Adair had summed it up: the quarters were adequate.

  He sat on one of the five black lounges that furnished the room along a long, curved wall. A narrow walkway behind the lounges allowed Marcant to pace back and forth which served him well. He liked to pace. Marcant had littered the flat anchor points here and there with his usual off-retina public feeds from Earth. He preferred to keep his more private research in the viewpanes of his internal PV. He allowed Telisa to see the public feeds as well, so the room would not seem dark and cold.

  When Telisa walked in, Marcant went on-retina and faced her.

  “I’m pleased to see you on board,” Telisa said. “Are you finding these accommodations cramped?”

  “About what I expected,” he said. “I’m pleased to find that it’s Vovokan, however. Cilreth has started my studies in that direction.”

  “Good. Just don’t take over the ship and crash it.”

  Marcant smiled, though Telisa said it as if it was not a joke.

  “I promise to be careful.”

  “And your AI friends? Are you in contact with them? Will they by chance be going?” she said.

  “Yes,” he said. He reached into his black suit and pulled out the two AI cores. “Adair and Achaius.”

  Telisa looked at them with interest. “They don’t want bodies of their own?” Telisa asked.

  No doubt Cilreth filled her in regarding my eccentricities.

  “I hear we have some robots on board,” Marcant said.

  “Yes...” Telisa said. She made the obvious assumption. “They can each use one of those, if they wish. I’m not sure Shiny—”

  “I’ll tell them to avoid the Vovokan battle spheres,” Marcant offered. “Besides, even though there is an interface to command them, it’s not quite at the low level that an AI would want to control everything.”

  “Yes, I assume the battle spheres had minds of their own. I don’t know how smart they are, though.”

  “I’m glad to meet with you incarnate. I was hoping to ask you some questions too,” Marcant s
aid.

  “Sure. What would you like to talk about?” Telisa asked as she slipped down onto one of the lounges. Marcant was struck again by her charisma, but Adair snapped him back to focus.

  “Ask her about what she is,” Achaius said to Marcant privately. “We can learn more details than what Cilreth told us.”

  “Yes, play ignorant,” Adair agreed. “Let’s hear it from her.”

  “Your team is very talented,” Marcant said to Telisa. “Cilreth handles herself well, and from what I understand, combat isn’t at all her strong point. You on the other hand... how did you do all those things, when you visited the sanctuary?”

  “‘Visited’. Hah,” Adair mumbled to Marcant. “So diplomatic of you.” Marcant ignored it.

  “Alien technology,” Telisa said. “I’m enhanced. Shiny has arranged for me to operate in an artificial body.”

  “So you’re Vovokan tech?”

  Telisa’s mouth twitched. “Trilisk, actually.”

  Marcant sat up even further. “How is that possible?”

  “Shiny has come across some real gems in his pursuit of Trilisk artifacts. And we found more pursuing some remnants of their race here and there.”

  “Such as Trilisk AIs?”

  Telisa hesitated a second.

  “Oops! Delicate subject,” Adair announced in Marcant’s head.

  “Now we’ll see how much she trusts us,” Achaius added.

  “Yes, he has one or two,” Telisa finally said. “They’re extremely powerful artifacts, capable of feats which seem magical to primitive races like us Terrans.”

  “Se he... keeps those under wraps?”

  “Very much so. I’m sorry. I would love to spend my life studying one,” Telisa said.

  Marcant decided to move on.

  “Who else has an advanced body like you? Magnus? Caden?”

  “It’s only me. Shiny’s way of cementing my leadership, playing on Terran instincts to follow the strongest, I think.”

  “Well then he should have made you a foot taller and given you bulging muscles. The appearance of strength might play into instincts just as well, if not more than, your actual strength.”