The Trilisk AI (Parker Interstellar Travels #2)

by Michael McCloskey

  This was his reward.

  Relachik started walking again. Now his muscles were cold. He headed back to his cheap hotel to take a shower and think over what he would do with the rest of his life. He stayed in the shower a long time, meditating on his life under a thin stream of hot water, though in this remote locale it had cost him almost a standard credit to use so much water.

  I have enough.

  Fortunately, a Spartan life in the service had left him with a considerable amount of savings built up. That money could keep him comfortable for a long time.

  Or, he could double down on finding his daughter.

  Relachik didn’t need to think on it. He opened a new metapane in his mind’s eye and started to peruse the net for private military firms.

  ***

  Relachik walked into the moldy office building. The place was deserted. The water containment had started to fail just a bit, enough to make the place one giant green stain. The only way to recover a building after this happened on Malgur-Thame was to re-establish the water barriers, block out all the visible light, then UV gun the place for days. The wall struts, at least, were inherently water impermeable, but every inch of textile in the place teemed with microorganisms.

  He had an FTF with another potential hire, a man called Arlin Donovan. Of course the man offered virtual business consultations, but for what Relachik wanted...better to keep it offline. Relachik found the man in a single-room office. A real wood desk and a couple of chairs dominated the middle of the space. A dusty, old filing cabinet took up space in the corner, probably empty.

  Or filled with weapons, maybe, Relachik thought.

  Arlin stood tall. He had light brown hair and blue eyes. His nose looked smashed by a few too many solid jabs from a cage fighter. The man was in shape. Relachik’s first impression of Arlin was positive. This was exactly what a mercenary should look like: strong, fit, determined, and a bit roughed up around the edges.

  It reinforced what he’d already found on the net. Arlin had a solid military background and it all checked out.

  “I’m Relachik. You look the part,” Relachik verbalized his thoughts.

  “Arlin Donovan. You look like a soldier yourself,” Arlin observed.

  “Navy man, actually,” Relachik said. “But you knew that already.”

  Arlin nodded.

  “Then you know I can afford the contract. We’re going to find my daughter. She’s...fallen in with the wrong crowd.”

  Arlin nodded again.

  “I know you aren’t broke, and I know you’re not a screwup. Which puts you two points ahead of my last employer. So I’m glad to work with you. Just one concern,” he said. “With due respect to the man footing the bill: Your daughter’s of age. She’s old enough to choose her own course. Are you asking me to take her back against her will? That could impact the bottom line.”

  “We should agree on a contingency for that. If she’s being abused, or if she’s been brainwashed, I can imagine scenarios where I’m going to take her back against her will.”

  Relachik had told Cilreth that he had no intention of taking Telisa back if she didn’t want to go. But he had since had time to reflect on the possibility that Telisa might have been coerced with violence, drugs, or more sophisticated behavior modification. In those cases, he had decided, he would extract her from that environment and rehabilitate her before letting her decide what to do with her life.

  “I tell you, though,” Relachik continued, “What I’m mostly worried about is the other smugglers. If they’re bad news, it may get ugly.”

  Arlin nodded. “Okay, I’ll touch up our agreement to include that possibility.”

  “Your info packet said you could cover the transportation angle,” Relachik said.

  “I have an arrangement for transport. I can get us wherever we need to go, on the frontier or beyond.”

  “Is there another man involved? I mean, will we have a pilot tagging along?”

  “No. The ship’s reasonably modern. I can handle her. As long as we don’t run into those aliens that deep-sixed the Seeker.”

  Relachik nodded.

  “Do you feel lucky or unlucky you missed it?”

  “Unlucky,” Relachik answered immediately. He understands me well to ask such a question, he thought.

  “But since I’m still around, I’m going to try and clean up this mess with my daughter,” he continued.

  “And if your daughter logs me?”

  Relachik understood Arlin meant: What if Telisa logged him as the target of her weapon and prepared to open fire? Arlin could hardly be expected to hold back and allow himself to die.

  “This isn’t a suicide mission. I know I can’t pay you enough to lay down your life. But I hope you focus on the extra 5000 ESC you get if we come back home with her still breathing.”

  “Then we understand each other,” Arlin said. “I’ll be ready to go tomorrow.”

  ***

  Relachik sat in his small room on his last night on Malgur-Thame. The woman before him look fit enough, though he suspected it was from the pills as much as the dancing she did for her VR packages. She wore a sleek black dress that caught the eye. Her narrow face was clear and beautiful.

  “You’re about to get your money’s worth. No doubt about that,” she said, walking to the end of the small room and twirling around. “No more virtual encounters. This time, in the flesh!”

  In contrast to her sensual overture, Relachik was all business.

  “About that. You’re making some assumptions, and I didn’t bother to alter them. Sorry about that. I know you’re famous. And I’m sure you get your share of people who come to Malgur-Thame to enjoy the presence of the Emerald in person rather than from your VRs. But I’m here about something else,” he said.

  Emerald’s face changed quickly.

  She’s probably thinking she’s made a mistake, that I’m some kind of psycho. Hurry before she sends for help.

  “I just need you to talk to somebody for me,” Relachik said. “The fee stays the same.” He spread his hands as he spoke, universal body language for ‘I mean you no harm.’

  She wasn’t fearful. She walked over to him.

  “Okay. I can’t say I’m not disappointed. You’re attractive. I have a soft spot for Space Force guys, I guess. Why don’t you just talk to this person yourself?”

  “I might be flagged for surveillance. I’m not a criminal. I’m just not Space Force anymore. I just need to make sure a friend of mine in the force is on board for a plan, and exchange a few secrets for further communication.”

  “Your link will still show up in the conversation if you join in,” she said. “You have to know.”

  “Well, you see, I have a way around that. As I said, I used to be in the force. I have a few tricks.”

  “I see. I agree, but I have conditions.”

  “I already paid well,” Relachik said warily.

  “Have you ever used one of my VR modules?”

  “Can’t say that I have. But I’ve heard they’re great. My friend is a fan of yours. I’m pretty sure he’ll take your call.”

  “If you had, you’d know one of the reasons I’m so good is that I enjoy it. I take pride in my art, so I want a chance to win you over. I’ll help you, then we conclude the deal just as I’d assumed.”

  “What?” Relachik shot out forcefully. That was a bit sharp, he told himself. He softened his voice. “I mean, why would you want that?”

  “I like you. And I know what you’re missing. You don’t. Trust me, you won’t regret it. And you’ll tell your buddies all about it.”

  Relachik stared for a moment. He allowed himself to look at her again in a new light. She was attractive, exotic and, apparently, ambitious.

  “Okay, fine. Deal.”

  “Of course we have a deal. Okay, so how do I contact him?”

  “Nothing special. Just give me permission to link into a conversation. My software will take care of the rest.”

  �
�I have a lot of friends—”

  “I know. If I hack your link, you have people who will hunt me down and do terrible things to me.”

  “Right.”

  “Okay, just contact Nick Vrolyk. Here’s his ID. Mention you know he’s a fan, but don’t mention me except as a friend in common. Then sit tight, give us five minutes or so to talk. Then we’re done.”

  “Then we start phase two, you mean,” she said smiling.

  “Right.”

  “Oh. Is it that you want him to listen in on us? That’s no problem.”

  “No, it’s just as I said. By the Five, don’t let him listen in, please!”

  She laughed.

  Emerald tried to establish communication. Her initial message would be accepted or blocked by Vrolyk. A net authority would vouch for the authenticity of the caller, but there was always a chance Nick would laugh, disconnect, and put it down as a hack from a friend.

  “Nothing yet,” she said. “He may be asleep.”

  Relachik nodded. Then Nick answered the query. Relachik tunneled himself through without letting his link ID appear on the channel.

  “Sorry, Nick, it’s me, Captain—Leonard—Relachik. Emerald is really here, though.”

  “You bastard. Called me to show off did you? That’s great, though. I thought you’d be crushed but I see you’ve adapted quickly.”

  “I need a contact in the force. Under the table. Can I count on you?”

  There was a moment’s hesitation.

  “You know you can,” the answer came.

  Relachik sent an information module he had prepared which would allow them to communicate indirectly. It contained several seemingly random message drop points and shared secrets. They would use any four of five seemingly unrelated sources of data to combine and use for exchanging messages.

  “I don’t need anything now. Just setting up,” he said.

  “I hope it won’t be often. I’m a busy guy and I don’t need to take more risks. We have to fight the goddamn aliens now, you know. Looks like my days may be numbered.”

  “Then this risk just got a lot smaller,” Relachik said, but at the same time he felt guilty asking his friend to cooperate, especially now that the aliens were on the scene.

  Nick laughed. “True enough. Watch yourself, then, Captain.”

  “You too. Thanks.”

  Relachik closed his tunnel and ran his finger across his throat to tell Emerald to stop the conversation.

  “Thanks for being a fan, Nick,” she said, then closed the channel. “Good. I’m glad it worked out. And now...” Emerald ran her hands over her dress.

  Maybe this won’t be so bad after all, Relachik thought.

  Chapter 3

  Telisa looked at the three remaining artifacts from the Thespera expedition. The failure there still grated on her. She had managed to survive the harrowing experience and escape with what she thought was a collection of Trilisk artifacts. As it turned out, none of the artifacts provided the clues she sought.

  Telisa had pored over each one and done a lot of research. She’d identified two as items from known, but extinct civilizations. A Talosian water distiller and a Capacite’s charge core. The distiller was suspected to be a minor pleasure rather than a critical survival device: a Talosian might have enjoyed a vial of water the way a Terran might enjoy a cigar. The charge core had probably come right out of an alien’s body. It was believed to be a cybernetic enhancement to Capacites’ ability to store electrical energy after which the long-gone race had been named.

  In the end she was convinced nothing from the collection was of direct Trilisk origin. Telisa had a few theories. She guessed the items belonged to creatures who had inhabited the Trilisk facility at other times. Whether as prisoners, zoo exhibits, or guests, she didn’t know. Even if the items had been created in the complex itself as part of an environment, then carried out by someone or something, it meant beings from several different races had been there at one time or another.

  I should have known immediately they weren’t Trilisk. Simple examination shows they probably aren’t really Trilisk. But I was shaken up, and I just took it for granted that anything at the site would be Trilisk.

  Even the mind-recording egg, which apparently held a Trilisk memory, had most likely been created by some other race. Telisa thought of it as a recording of Trilisk events by an alien friend (or an ambassador, as she liked to imagine) onto some other type of storage technology.

  At least the finds generated a lot of money for Telisa and Magnus to live on while they avoided the UNSF and planned their next move.

  Magnus had taken to studying alien gadgets as well. He had concentrated his effort on the alien walking machine Shiny had let them take from the space station. He’d been pulling his hair out over it for some time.

  Telisa walked through the Iridar to the cargo bay where Magnus liked to work. The bay was a mess. Racks of parts and tools stood as tall as Telisa.

  “I hope you’re ready to train,” Telisa called out.

  “Well, I guess I should,” Magnus’s voice replied. It didn’t sound enthusiastic.

  “You never pay attention to me anymore, darling,” Telisa said in a singsong joke.

  “Ha! You’re going to like this though,” Magnus said. Telisa walked over to the robot standing in the center of the bay. It was a spider-legged machine the size of a German Shepherd.

  “Nice! It’s great to have a robot to use. Think of all the things he can do for us.”

  “It’s not ready yet. But I think it could scout for us,” Magnus said. “It can back us up, too. It has a stunner and a grenade launcher.”

  “Whoa. Really? This thing’s not coming back to Earth, that’s for sure. I see some Shinarian walker parts in here.”

  “Shinarian? Ha. Yes, we’d get in quite a bit of trouble with this. But no reason to ever bring it back, if we ever do go back to Earth.”

  “How depressing.”

  “Well, we made our choices,” Magnus said.

  “Have you learned how the walker worked?”

  “No. Not really.”

  “Too bad it didn’t come with a manual.”

  “It probably did. For all the good it would do me, if I could even ask the walker for it.”

  Something asked Telisa’s link for a connection. Her locator told her it was the gutted remains of the Shinarian walker. She shrugged and accepted it.

  “I didn’t know you had any interface with the walker working at all,” she said.

  “I don’t,” Magnus said.

  “Greetings, hello, howdy,” a buzzing voice announced. It was Shiny’s voice.

  “What the...!”

  Telisa shot a look at Magnus at the same instant he looked suddenly at her. The look on his face was enough to know he was on the channel.

  “Is this some kind of recording?” Telisa asked.

  “Apologies, regret. How to initiate negotiations?” It was still Shiny’s voice.

  “Where are you? How did you...? Interesting that you can fool our links.”

  “Orbiting, rotating, circling above.”

  “I’m surprised to hear from you,” Telisa responded mentally. She traded looks with Magnus, then opened a private connection to him.

  Should I be worried it’s a trick?

  Would anyone else know exactly how he sounded? But we may as well see what he wants, Magnus responded to her privately.

  She nodded. Telisa remembered she had asked Shiny to imitate his original buzzy voice, generated by rapid vibrations of his attending sphere devices.

  “Why have you sought us out again?” she asked.

  “Telisa. Objective: collect artifacts. Shiny. Objective: collect artifact. Suggest cooperative mode.”

  “I missed the funny way he talks,” Telisa said.

  “Did you notice he said ‘artifact’ singular?”

  “Shiny, do you have a particular artifact in mind? Which one?”

  “Industrial seed. Very valuable.”


  “You suggested cooperative mode,” Magnus noted. “Shiny, what other modes do you have?”

  “Social modes: cooperative, competitive, reproductive.”

  Magnus nodded. “What about some kind of independent mode? Where you just ignore the other guy.”

  “Ignoring peers not optimal, safe, recommended. Never ignore. If not cooperating, reproducing, default to, prefer, select competitive mode.”

  “If we’re not with you, we’re against you, huh?”

  We sure as hell aren’t going to put him in reproductive mode, Telisa said to Magnus. It could be like those VRs where the aliens lay eggs in your paralyzed body.

  Ugh.

  “Yes,” Shiny said.

  I’m afraid to ask about non-social modes.

  “Would you change to competitive mode while we’re out there? Are you going to kill us if you switch?” Magnus asked.

  “When benefit of conflict outweighs, is greater than, is more beneficial than, Shiny switches. Could kill you. If optimum, most performant, most efficient solution to long-term goals. Estimate, guess that probability is low.”

  Telisa and Magnus exchanged looks.

  Holy crap, Telisa sent to him.

  At least he’s honest. Kind of, Magnus responded.

  Yeah, he’s honest unless he’s lying because that’s optimal.

  Okay look, whenever you fully trust anyone, human or otherwise, you’re taking a risk.

  Yeah.

  “Well that sounds less than optimal to me,” Telisa said. “Why should I work with an alien who might kill me?”

  “Potential benefit for Telisa,” Shiny said.

  “Potential of dying. How can I keep you from killing me?”

  “Remain useful, desirable, beneficial. Stay alive,” Shiny buzzed. The voice sounded a bit happy.

  “Unbelievable,” Magnus breathed out loud.

  We’ll have to take out an insurance policy. Something that can damage Shiny if we die, Telisa sent to Magnus privately.

  Right. Make our deaths suboptimal.

  “Shiny, where do you suggest we go to get these artifacts?”

  “Shiny. Homeworld. Origin.”