The Celaran Refuge (Parker Interstellar Travels Book 8)

by Michael McCloskey

  “That sounds much better,” Lee said. “We can keep our current design. It does many things for us.”

  Lee’s voice sounded like an enthusiastic teenager.

  “Like how many things?” Siobhan asked.

  “It’s hard to categorize. Hundreds of things.”

  “We could make the missiles as resistant to the Destroyer’s beams as possible,” Caden added.

  Siobhan felt a little disappointed. They already had a million designs for missiles. There would be no brand-new flying machine.

  My desire to be creative doesn’t outweigh their need to survive, she reminded herself.

  “Now that you’ve settled on a strategy for the machines, can we ask you if more Celarans would like to learn how to use weapons?” asked Caden. “We could make a weapon baton, or you could train to be robot handlers.”

  “We would die!” Lee squealed. “The machines are too fast, too powerful. Only other machines could beat them.”

  “Well, mostly I agree. But the Destroyers don’t have intelligence at our level. Probably because that might make them dangerous to the creators. So if your machines are controlled by Celarans, you might be able to adopt flexible tactics that could leave the Destroyers at a disadvantage. That’s what our ‘friend’ Shiny did.”

  “First we should ask how smart your robots are,” Siobhan said, looking at Caden. “Do you use AIs?”

  “We usually don’t make machines that smart,” Lee said. “But other Celarans did. We don’t know where they are anymore. Our machines are only intelligent enough to recognize the environment and the objects they need to manipulate, and complete their tasks. Anything unknown is handled like a foreign body that should be studied, then ejected from our domain. The information is sent to us. The machines aren’t curious like we are.”

  “Then if you’d be willing to create bunkers beneath your colony, you could shelter there and remain close enough to get commands to the disk machines through Destroyer interference,” Caden said.

  “The Celarans have no equipment for digging bunkers,” Siobhan said. “And we don’t know how much time we have.”

  “Counter proposal?” Caden asked.

  “A distributed control system already exists,” Lee said. Siobhan and Caden turned surprised faces toward Lee. “In our primitive state, we used to transmit vibrations along the vines. It was like a collaborative form of distributed music. So when we started to genetically manipulate the vines, it felt natural to turn them into an advanced communication system.”

  “So you can flee into the forest and still control the robots?” Siobhan asked.

  “I hope so! The Destroyers don’t recognize us when we fly among the other gliders of the forest.”

  “The Destroyers have already shown a reluctance to destroy these planets,” Caden said. “I think the creators of these machines like the same kinds of planets that we do—temperate zone, water-bearing planets of about this size.”

  “Well, the Destroyers may not kill all the Celarans who flee into the forest,” Siobhan said, “But in the long run that leaves them helpless. If the ones who control the Destroyers come, they’d discover the Celarans out there and modify the Destroyers to go finish the job.”

  “Then we must win,” Caden said firmly. “An overall strategy is emerging. Magnus and Marcant have made some progress: Our lighter weapons and robots can handle the drones. They have plans for newer, deadlier mines to kill the tanks, and we’ll use our new Celaran disk flyers to kill the colossals. The Vovokan battle spheres are our reserve.”

  “Caden, can you coordinate with Magnus and Marcant and see if we can select a missile design that we think can make it from a launch point under the vine canopy into the colossals? Something to take the place of the disk kamikazes.”

  “Yes? Sure.”

  The question was implied. What are you going to do?

  “We haven’t integrated the vine network with our own links and the Vovokan attendants. I want to look into that and coordinate feeding them designs to be built. Then there are the logistics of getting them to Magnus...”

  “Okay, sounds like a lot of work. I’m also getting together a group of Celarans for VR trials like we did with Lee. We’ll make them into combat robot handlers yet.”

  “See if you can turn it into a game. They like to play a lot,” Siobhan sent Caden privately.

  “Yes, I get the feeling their machines have been providing for them a long time. I think they’re not used to having to do anything but play all day long,” he confided.

  “Not that different than Core Worlders, really,” Siobhan said.

  “Core Worlders like to play? Can we meet them?” asked Lee.

  Frackedpackets.

  “You can hear us on this channel?” asked Caden on the private connection.

  “Yes!” Lee said cheerfully. “Isn’t that what the channels are for?”

  Siobhan smiled. “Maybe we should send a heads up to Telisa about the... communications glitch,” she said.

  Caden nodded.

  Chapter 13

  Telisa walked with Siobhan and Cilreth outside the perimeter of the Celaran industrial compound. No Celarans could be seen, though a few of their disk robots flew about. The jungle was quiet, but Telisa remained alert. Her attendants spread out to help keep her and her friends safe.

  Of the three Celaran sites the PIT team had discovered on Idrick Piper, they had decided to defend only the industrial site. Most of the Celarans lived in the small town and would flee into the jungle if an attack came. The tower site with the packaged food was for supplying new starships; the Celarans had already resupplied their ships with its contents and set it to collecting more. Therefore the industrial site was the least expendable.

  It had been a busy week since their arrival here. A second perimeter of force towers had been erected by Celaran robots. Magnus and Agrawal had placed a hundred smart mines between the two fence lines. Since no one knew which direction a land attack might come from, they held another hundred of the new weapons in reserve. The self-directed mines sat on the edge of the hardtop likes rows of silver bugs ready to respond to an attack by interposing themselves between the attackers and the base. Though slow, the mines could walk or roll themselves to a target zone and dig into the jungle soil.

  “None of our men are here,” Cilreth pointed out.

  “Just the girls today, I guess,” Siobhan said.

  “Good. We seldom get to talk,” Telisa said. She led the way across two support spikes atop a vine as thick as her torso. Picking the way through the vine jungle had become second nature to her.

  “Well now that it’s just us, I have a dumb question,” Cilreth said. She wobbled a bit on the vine, reminding Telisa that Cilreth had spent the least amount of time out here. In fact, Cilreth had probably spent four times the hours climbing virtual vines than real ones.

  “Shoot,” Telisa said.

  “How come you and Magnus never get in fights?”

  The question caught Telisa totally by surprise.

  “Well, I... uhm...”

  Siobhan and Cilreth laughed.

  “What?!”

  “You don’t lose your tongue often,” Siobhan teased.

  “Magnus and I see things the same way, most of the time,” Telisa said, exploring the question. “But you know what? I just realized, he doesn’t have an ego to get in the way. He lets me call the shots, doesn’t he?”

  Telisa remembered a time when Magnus had guided her. He had been her mentor. But since Shiny had put Telisa in charge, Magnus deferred to her judgement.

  Is that because of his time in the Space Force? Rank means something to him.

  Telisa frowned. She had not thought of their relationship that way.

  “A few arguments are healthy for the relationship,” Siobhan said.

  “Well, I never see you and Caden arguing,” Telisa said.

  “They’re too busy pawing each other,” Cilreth interjected.

  Siobhan ignored t
he side comment. “We do fight! But it’s always about minor dumb stuff, never about the important things. Never about the mission.”

  The mission. Caden and Siobhan are fanatic PIT members.

  “I want to talk about the big picture,” said Telisa.

  “I don’t even know what that means anymore,” Siobhan said.

  “Exactly,” Telisa said. “How did we become soldiers? We’re supposed to be explorers—looters at worst.” She paused to look for clues of their destination. Seeing none, she gave up and checked her link map instead. She adjusted her mental course a few degrees to the left.

  “We’ll get back to it. Not our fault the Destroyers are out there,” Cilreth said.

  “I hope we do get back to it soon,” Telisa said. “What else is blocking us from resuming the real mission?”

  “What about Imanol’s death?” Siobhan asked.

  Yet another thing I’m not supposed to be doing out here. Judging people’s character, deciding their fates.

  “I believe in my bones it was an accident. And that’ll have to do,” Telisa said. Cilreth seemed to accept the answer. Telisa felt relief.

  I care a lot about her opinion.

  “The Destroyers and Shiny are in our way. But at least you got Magnus back. We might be able to ignore Shiny. Earth doesn’t want saving,” Cilreth said.

  Telisa saw the destination ahead. She doubted the others noticed it, as it was mostly hidden by masses of the huge vine leaves. She found a thick vine leading downward and led the party into a cleared area. As they passed one last wall of vegetation, the others took notice.

  “What’s this?” asked Siobhan, clearly excited. She jumped down from the vine and loped toward the opening. Several Celaran machines worked in the clearing, grinding away at vine roots with long arms that ended in spiked rollers. Two others each carried away a support spike that had been uprooted. Telisa saw that one-third of the spike’s length had been hidden below ground. The spike continued to widen along the same curve once under the ground, making the buried base by far the thickest part.

  Cilreth remained calm. “We’re setting up another building here?” she guessed.

  “Yes. The Celarans are making more factories. This one will be ours,” Telisa said, watching Siobhan.

  “Ours! That’s great! We have a lot of things to make,” Siobhan said. “The capacity of a Celaran factory this large will dwarf what we can make on the Iridar!”

  The Celarans had been diverting resources from their towers and starships to build the mines that defended the industrial yard. Siobhan had set up the Iridar to build the missiles for the Celaran disk robots, but the Vovokan ship’s fabrication facilities were meant for making spare parts and fashioning a few unique items for missions. It had never been designed as a real factory ship.

  Telisa sent Siobhan a pointer to the plans.

  “Here’s what they’re putting up. Of course, once the machines finish and they hand it over, you’ll be in charge here. You can make any modifications you like. Unfortunately, we still need to focus on weapons and defense systems for now...”

  Siobhan set off on a run of the perimeter. She bounced energetically and talked to herself. Telisa felt like a mother handing out presents on Awakening Day.

  Telisa smiled at Cilreth, then her link received an early warning message: attack incoming.

  “Defensive positions, opposite side cover!” Telisa barked.

  The three Terrans sprinted for the jungle bordering the new work zone. Telisa felt proud at the speed of their reaction. The pride evaporated as she realized she had only her smart pistol and tanto knife with her. The breaker claw was still with the Celarans.

  I need to ask Lee for my breaker claw back. I hope she was able to duplicate it, or at least scan enough that they don’t need to hold it any longer while they work on making more.

  Telisa took stock of their other weaponry as the group formed up around an intact support spike. Siobhan had a laser pistol, two grenades, and her ever-present stun baton. Cilreth had only a pistol. Telisa’s attendants returned to orbit around her, ready to deflect attacks.

  “We don’t have much here, but together, we can kill off some of the drones,” Telisa told them. “We’ll have to rely on the boys and their new toys this time.”

  “Get me to the Iridar and I’ll show you some toys,” Cilreth said.

  Telisa considered the idea. The Iridar would pack a punch. On the other hand, did they dare risk their only ship out here on an alien world beyond the frontier?

  Yes. We dare.

  “Good idea. We’ll kill some drones on the way to our real firepower.”

  ***

  Caden received the attack warning through his link while he worked off-retina to prepare more drills for the Celarans who had offered to be robot handlers. His pulse accelerated.

  Here we are again. Will it be as bad as last time?

  He looked at the tactical to learn about the source and size of the attack. A group of Destroyers had been spotted coming from the direction of the ocean. Thus far, the Celarans had not detected any additional threat from enemy ships in the system.

  This attack comes from the ocean, not a huge space fleet. It can’t be as bad.

  He only half-believed his internal assurances. At least Caden knew how to handle adrenaline and nerves. For a moment he wondered who was the best at it: Siobhan enjoyed the thrill of danger, Magnus seemed immune to it, and Telisa... she was so fast now that no one could even keep track of her long enough to figure out if she got nervous. For some reason he thought of Arakaki. She had been a soldier with nothing more to lose, absolutely fearless.

  Caden created a new channel and connected to his Celaran recruits.

  “This is it,” he sent out. “Once you’re into the forest, connect through with me and we’ll launch our attack.”

  “So strange!” Lee replied. “Predators attack... we run.”

  “Then think of your machines as the predators,” Caden said reasonably. “Today you can experience a different view on life through them.”

  Lee did not answer, so Caden imagined that the request was a difficult one. The lack of response did at least make Caden believe they would try their best. The machines could operate autonomously if it became necessary.

  Caden’s designated fallback spot was a clearing out in the vine jungle where the Iridar had landed. The ship remained a rendezvous point for the team outside the industrial complex. Caden sprinted out to the edge of the jungle from the compound, then he turned and readied his rifle.

  I’ll kill some drones from here as they cross the hardtop, then retreat back to the rendezvous point to handle a Celaran disk machine from there.

  The idea was not perfect. When Caden checked his tactical, he saw that his position might not provide many opportunities. From the reports, it looked like the Destroyers would be coming from the other side of the complex. His range of fire did not overlap with very many predicted attack paths.

  No. Dumb idea. If we wait until they’re this far, then we’ll take more damage. My force may as well intercept them earlier.

  Caden decided he was close enough to the Iridar already. He hooked into a Celaran disk from his current position. His PV pane from the disk was silent. He only had a video feed from the machine since Celarans had a very limited sense of hearing, though they could detect very slight vibrations through the vines when hanging from a branch.

  “Here we go,” he announced on the handler’s channel. The channel showed 33 Celaran handlers connected already, of which 23 were currently active with at least one drone under their control.

  They can’t all be that far out in the jungle already... but I guess they can control a disk and fly to safety at the same time.

  “Let’s time the first attack to coincide with when the tanks engage the force towers. If some of their firepower is hitting the towers, there will be less for us.”

  It was only a theory. The Destroyer machines seemed to produce enough energy to
simultaneously engage multiple targets. After all, even the Vovokan battle spheres had not been able to overwhelm their defenses for minutes. Still, if any resource bottleneck existed, whether it be energy, emitters, or just targeting attention, Caden felt their best chance would be by combining as much of the Celarans’ force together as possible.

  He had a route calculated and added to the tactical. Caden’s disk moved through the vines at the right speed to arrive for the attack timing he had described. The other handlers had done the same. He let the machine navigate its own way around the numerous obstacles. Its onboard computer was faster than a Terran’s brain, so it could more reliably find its way through the clutter. He watched the disk machines collecting at a rendezvous point outside the tower lines to the south. He checked the status of the evacuation. Most of the Celarans were already free of the industrial complex and the hidden settlement.

  “We have sightings here,” Caden said, referencing a line of enemy tanks that paralleled the edge of the outer Celaran tower line. “Let’s hit them one at a time from the south flank and continue north until they’re all dead.”

  The formation of flyers came up over the canopy. His disk flyer accelerated with the others in the squadron.

  Booooooom! Broooooom!

  Booms echoed through the jungle as they group broke the sound barrier, still accelerating. Destroyer energy weapons lanced out, picking off a few. Caden’s machine survived.

  The formation’s incredible speed brought them within range, five kilometers out.

  “Fire!” Caden said.

  Fooosh.

  His machine loosed two of its four missiles at the targeted Destroyer, then told the flyer to arc away and decelerate. Five seconds later, it had bled its speed and dropped below the canopy. It all felt distant to Caden, who knew what it was like to fly through the jungle in person: the rush of acceleration and wind whipping through his hair.

  No. This is real. Lives are on the line!