“The payload bearing rocks have almost reached the bottom,” Magnus reported. Telisa shot another look at Siobhan.
An anomaly came up on Caden’s search screen. It was a roughly rectangular construct, maybe even cubical, though it was sunk into the mud and hard to be sure. Definitely alien, presumably Quarus. He compared it to the known signature of the unusual Destroyer command ship.
It came up a probable match, over 90% certainty. Caden’s heart accelerated.
There! We found it!
“I have a target!” Caden said, highlighting it on the tactical. “It’s the control ship, or a copy of it.”
“Good work,” Telisa said. “That factory is the objective,” she told Siobhan.
“It might not be real,” Magnus warned. “They could have physical or electromagnetic decoys down there.”
“In the absence of anything else, it’s our target,” Telisa said. “Keep looking,” she ordered Caden.
“The spinners are closing,” Siobhan said. “Should we have the disks escort them in?”
“No,” Telisa said. “They can’t move as fast anyway. Keep the squadron searching for other targets.”
“Roger that,” Caden said. His squadron had all known friendly signatures, Terran and Celaran, in their data repositories. He told his handlers to keep up the search and to prevent any friendly fire. He imagined the Celarans would need no such encouragement: they were half afraid to hurt their enemies, much less their friends.
Caden used his skills to divide his attention between watching the surface feed and monitoring his disk robots. It was like absorbing attendants’ video feeds in combat while still processing one’s own vision. Of course, he had a lot of programs to help bring interesting feeds to his attention. Meanwhile, the surface remained calm.
One of the other disk machines found something. The feed showed a five-faced tower rising from an underwater rock formation. It was clearly artificial.
“Another target. It’s something different. No idea what,” Caden said. When it came up on their tactical he marked it as an enemy factory.
“Send torpedoes that way,” Telisa said.
There were only ten of his squadron’s torpedoes left alive. Caden complied.
“There’s almost nothing left,” he warned. He caught sight of movement in one of his video feeds. It was a view of the surface.
The ocean began to boil in the center of the target zone. Several more video feeds quickly zeroed in on the area of disturbance. The tactical showed it was the point directly above a tight group of gravitational disturbances—the gravity spinners.
“The spinners are bringing something to the surface!” Siobhan said. The tactical showed a huge interlocking web of friendly ships waiting nearby, ready to take a shot at the enemy ship if necessary.
“I’m picking up a massive disturbance,” Marcant reported. “Something new.”
Missiles broke the surface of the water in a hundred places at exactly the same moment.
Terran and Celaran ships engaged the new targets. Many of the robotic ships that had not submerged were quickly hit and destroyed despite the heavy defensive fire.
“We can afford to lose those robot ships,” Telisa reminded everyone. “It’s a desperation move. Their flagship is coming to the surface and they can’t stop it.”
The Terran battleships made quick work of the remaining missiles as they had before. Plumes of water continued to rise into the sky around the spot. A long tail of rain formed downwind of the area.
“Whatever you have, it’s real,” Sager said on the channel. “Our EW teams are sure of it.”
A single plume exactly above the target grew to dominate the skyline in the video feeds. Caden held his breath.
At any moment I’ll see it... will Telisa tell them to fire now? We can’t trust that it will stay visible for any length of time.
“We’ve received a transmission from the target,” Lee said. A translation followed in a neutral voice: “The vines die in endless darkness as we agree to your terms. We accept your truce and return home.”
Caden noted the Celaran preamble. The translation must not have gone through Marcant’s software. He assumed that Lee or her peers had boiled one of the long Quarus message blocks down to a short summary.
Magnus stared at Telisa. His face was tight, angry.
He doesn’t trust them either.
“They’re just saying that to survive,” Caden said to Siobhan privately. Magnus must have been speaking privately to Telisa, perhaps saying the exact same thing. Telisa shook her head. But what was she saying ‘no’ to?
The plume of water became a spiral spout, then dispersed. Long sheets of water lifted from the sea, revolved, and flew off in the gravitic eddies of the spinners. Slowly, an alien structure emerged as the water that concealed it flew away in a white maelstrom.
That’s it! We did it! Caden thought.
“The vines die in endless darkness as we agree to your terms. We accept your truce and return home,” Lee repeated.
“The target is producing a tachyonic stream,” a Space Force officer reported. “It will be low enough energy for transmission in a few seconds.”
What? They can detect that without a TRB? It must be secret Space Force tech!
Telisa visibly tensed. Now the decision had to be quick.
The stormy water changed configuration suddenly.
“One of the spinners has been destroyed!” Siobhan reported.
The structure shifted. One end descended slightly, threatening to slide back into the water.
Now. Kill it! Caden thought. He said nothing.
“All ships. Light ’em up!” Telisa ordered.
For a half second, nothing happened as weapons control officers throughout the UNSF task force looked up the meaning of her archaic words in the ships’ vast network caches. Then they started to fire.
The feed radically changed as filters kicked in to screen the view. Caden saw from attached readings that the alien ship had gone up in a flash of white-hot plasma. How many joules had that target absorbed? Superheated water rose into the sky in a mushroom cloud.
Caden had no doubt that the PIT team had just orchestrated the destruction of implacable enemies of Terra and Celara. He knew he would not lose any sleep over Telisa’s decision.
Chapter 23
Magnus waited with Siobhan, Caden, Marcant, and Lee for an incarnate PIT meeting within a meeting hall inside the Midway. They had all just arrived on the Terran battleship. Telisa walked in last as she liked to do. Everyone turned to look at her from their places. Lee had been aloft, but when she saw Telisa, she grasped a flexible hang line someone had set up.
She looks better, Magnus decided. Telisa looked relaxed but businesslike.
“Congratulations on your victory,” Telisa said. Many smiles came her way. “I’m happy to see the Celaran colony safe from Destroyers. In no small part that is the result of our teamwork.”
After the destruction of the Quarus seed ship, the Destroyer resistance had dropped markedly. Achaius thought it was because the doomed ship had sent out a cease fire before its destruction. Some of the Destroyers fought on. Magnus supposed their surrender order had been partially jammed by the Space Force, or perhaps the ceasefire theory was just wrong. In any case, the Space Force and the Celarans had managed to locate and destroy the remaining Quarus structures under the ocean. Nothing remained of the unique ship, though more disabled Destroyer machines had been collected for study.
Telisa paused and walked closer to the nearest table where the Terrans sat. Magnus knew what she was thinking. The group looked small. The PIT team had only five members left alive.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about those we lost, as I know you have. I want to get out of the business of war. We’re supposed to be explorers. The work will always be dangerous, but... we don’t belong on the front lines.”
Magnus saw how tightly Siobhan gripped Caden’s hand. She understood that feeling. Being a devoted
couple in a dangerous job...
“We’re here on the Midway for a week,” Telisa said, changing tack. “It’s not a permanent assignment. Just something temporary. Think of it as a chance for some rest in relative safety.”
“Kinda sad that being in orbit with a battle fleet above a planet at war is a safety retreat for us,” Siobhan said.
Telisa nodded. “Yes. But given the size of this fleet, and the presence of the growing Celaran fleet, we’ll all be at a low stress level.”
“So we can mix with the crew?” Marcant said. Magnus pondered Marcant’s tone for any clues as to exactly what mix meant.
“Yes, you should. It’s been a long time since we’ve been around ‘normal’ people. There is one thing though. Admiral Sager asked me to ask all of you to be... tight lipped when it comes to our past travels and encounters. He did not say why, but he promised to fill me in when I get there. I’ll pass the information along to you as soon as I can.”
“They already know who we are, right?” Caden asked.
“Yes, I’m pretty sure the crew of the Midway knows who we are. The Admiral gave no details. So, just deflect questions until I can get to the bottom of this. Try not to deny anyone flat out. Just be as vague as you can. I know it’s weird. I’ll update you on that soon.”
“Will do,” Siobhan said.
“After that?” asked Caden.
“I don’t know what we’ll do next. I want to hear from Sager before I propose anything to you. Of course, if you like, you can leave the team. There will be a chance to change your... career before we head back out.”
No one asked anything else, so Telisa said, “See you all soon.”
Marcant got up and walked out a large side door, then Caden followed him. Lee took flight and left from a different door. Siobhan dallied with Telisa, so Magnus walked out of the door Marcant had used. He found himself in a wide hallway on the Midway. A sense of deja vu clutched his gut. The ship was so large it reminded him of the inside of Grenadin Spaceport. Magnus traded looks with the Space Force people walking nearby. They were curious, but quickly looked away. He half expected Cracker to come up to him at any moment. That had been a lifetime ago, when Telisa was still a stranger to him.
He saw Marcant a few meters away, so he walked up to the pale man. Marcant had some Celaran tech with him, two forearm-length tubes with hexagonal ports on one end.
“What are you up to?” Magnus asked politely. He looked over the Celaran devices in Marcant’s hands, but could not tell what they might be.
“Well, I’ve been invited to host a simulationist party on Celaran hardware,” Marcant said.
“Simulationist party?” asked Magnus.
Marcant frowned. “Have you two really been gone for that long?”
Magnus shrugged. It probably just was not his scene. Telisa and Siobhan left the meeting room and joined them.
“So what happens at a simulationist party?” asked Magnus.
“He’ll create a VR world and put the participants into it, missing some or all of their memories,” Siobhan said from nearby. “Most likely, they won’t be aware that they’re in a simulation.”
That would require hacking their links.
“The participants won’t be angry?” asked Magnus.
“Oh, they know what’s going on and agree to it,” Siobhan said. “I meant they won’t know once it starts. Usually fake memories are provided for short term scenarios. The ‘winner’ will be determined by rules set at the start of the party, but the participants usually don’t know anything about the existence of any rules unless they imagine it from scratch.”
Telisa nodded. “I’ve heard of this. They’re actually creating a simulation and living it, believing it’s real, indirectly proving that our current lives might be the same kind of thing.”
“But we started at birth,” Magnus said.
“Well we think we did. It could be implanted. But, even so, starting at birth would be the most extreme form of this, to be played by immortal beings,” Siobhan said.
“The record is 107 days,” Marcant said.
“What record?” asked Telisa.
“The longest a simulationist has spent in a VR reality without knowing about it,” Marcant said. “They have their memories blocked and replaced, then go in to live another life. We keep pushing the boundaries farther out, proving this can be done. Showing that it’s not only possible, but likely we’re doing the same thing right now one level of ‘reality’ lower.”
“Are you going?” Magnus asked Siobhan.
“Of course!” Siobhan said. “You’re not?”
“I’ll pass this time some other way,” Telisa said. Magnus shook his head.
“Okay, well, see yah. I’m going to go find Caden.”
“Bye,” Magnus said. He turned to Telisa.
“So, you’re not going to the simulationist party. What plans then?” Magnus asked.
“Let’s stay in,” she said.
“I was hoping you’d say that!” Magnus said.
“Ah, but we have dinner with the Admiral soon,” Telisa said. “We’ll have to be quick.”
“Dinner?”
“Well, it’s technically just me, but will you please come along?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. I got us put into the same quarters,” Telisa said. “See you there soon?”
“I can walk with you.”
“Really? You don’t want to pick up a few fans?”
Magnus smiled. He looked over to admire her beautiful face, but it was not there. A booted heel flew by where her head had been. Magnus whirled back.
The attacker looked male; he wore a Veer suit. The suit looked different; Magnus assumed that Veer had come out with a few new models recently. Magnus did not recognize the man’s face.
“What—” Telisa started, then moved aside to avoid a fist aimed at her chin.
Magnus saw the attacker was not armed, so he knew Telisa could handle him. The man did not register as military to Magnus’s link. He concerned himself with looking for other threats; he saw none.
Why is some civilian attacking her?
Telisa moved behind her assailant in less than a second. The man tracked her well, mule-kicking in her direction. Telisa deflected the kick with her shin, hard-blocked the backfist that followed it up, then reversed her block into a grab of the arm. Her leg swept the opponent’s legs out from underneath him. She rode him to the floor hard, adding enough momentum to make the man grunt with the impact despite the protective Veer suit.
Telisa wrapped the man’s left arm around his own throat and chin and held it there with the heel of her hand firmly planted on his elbow. The man struggled to move, but could not. Her knee sat atop his other arm as she straddled his torso. The man shifted his weight to throw her, but she was faster. She simply adjusted herself so that he had no leverage. He tried again, but still did not gain a centimeter.
He tapped out in the manner of those training in martial arts. Telisa let go of his arm so he could speak aloud, but she remained perched above him.
“Well done,” he said, smiling. “You’re every bit as amazing as they say you are.”
“You attacked me as a test?” Telisa snarled. “You’re lucky I didn’t rip you limb from limb!”
“It was worth it. Besides, I knew you wouldn’t kill me without discovering my motivation. You would want to know who I was working for, who sent me, or what my beef was.”
Telisa sighed and rose. The man sheepishly regained his own feet.
“I’m sorry. I learned so much more about you with a surprise attack!”
“Look,” Telisa started. “If I’m always being careful because I think every threat might be a test, then I might start letting off just a bit, then when I get in real trouble maybe I’ll hold back. You don’t want to get me killed, do you?”
“No. Of course not,” the man said. He looked sincerely apologetic now. “I’ll make sure and say that what I did was wrong... when I tell everyo
ne how unbelievably skilled you are.”
Telisa kept talking to him. Magnus kept his mouth tight-lipped and said nothing. He felt angry, but it was Telisa’s place to handle an attack on her own person however she wished. A security robot floated over and joined the conversation. Magnus stepped a bit farther back, trying to stay out of the scene.
A young female lieutenant seemed to muster her courage and walked over to Magnus and saluted. Magnus returned the salute, not really taking it seriously.
“Should that man be detained?” she asked.
“I don’t think so, not unless he attacks someone else.”
“Need help finding your way around?” she said. Hope lived in that voice. Then she turned red, probably knowing full well that Magnus could simply query a directory service to find anything he needed.
“I don’t think I’ll get lost,” Magnus said neutrally.
“Haha,” she muttered, losing steam. “If you can find your way around alien worlds, I guess the Midway isn’t very daunting.”
“Right,” Magnus said. “Who are you?”
Her eyes widened. “Lieutenant Brannigan, sir!” Her spine snapped even straighter.
“Thanks for the welcome, Lieutenant. How do you feel about coming out to help the Celarans?”
“My honor, sir!” Brannigan said.
“At ease. Have you seen one yet?” Magnus asked, suspecting he knew the answer. He tilted his head slightly, directing her gaze.
“Video feeds only,” she said happily. Some of the fear left her expression, then her eyes widened even more. Lee flitted above several flabbergasted Space Force watchers-on just down the concourse. Magnus smiled. He had been aware of Lee’s approach through his PV; even in this friendly environment it was second nature for Magnus to watch the team.
“Amazing!” she breathed.
Magnus took a peek back toward Telisa. She had shed her faux attacker, and now she was a few steps farther down the hallway, apparently engaged in a similar conversation with three officers.
“You know Telisa as well, I presume,” Magnus said.
The Celaran Refuge (Parker Interstellar Travels Book 8) Page 21