The Trilisk AI (Parker Interstellar Travels #2)

by Michael McCloskey

  Relachik nodded. “Got it. Okay, I’ll set some stuff up. See you soon.”

  He got up and went back to his quarters. He contacted Arlin to see if the mercenary would join their little exercise. Arlin agreed eagerly.

  He needs something to do as well.

  When Arlin and Cilreth showed up a bit later, Relachik was ready. The first environment he’d created looked just like the Vandivier. Arlin and Cilreth appeared in the simulation. They appeared as perfect copies of their current selves.

  “Okay, what’s the drill?” Cilreth asked. She sounded genuinely curious and ready to go.

  “We should practice using the disabler remoras and boarding another ship.”

  “Pirates now, are we?”

  “Of course, he means to practice a boarding in case we find the smugglers on a ship or a space station,” Arlin said.

  “Exactly,” Relachik said. The ship is on our scanner now. Arlin will deploy the remoras. Cilreth, you watch my interface. I’ll show you how to use these defensive probes to mask our approach.”

  “They can do that?”

  “Yes. Their primary mission is, of course, to observe for us, but their EM capabilities include the ability to create false images of the ship, and to obscure the real one.”

  “Okay, I’m watching.”

  They worked for the next fifteen minutes to move in on the other ship. Cilreth watched as Relachik launched two probes and tried to cover their approach.

  One side of his display showed his best guess of what the other side saw. At one point, a ghost of the Vandivier appeared on the other screen.

  “I think I screwed that up,” Relachik said. “Okay, if this happens, move to plan B. Make them think there’s more than one of us. But let them think we’re farther out.”

  “You could even say you’re Space Force. Pretend that you’re escorting them to the nearest planet. So they won’t expect a boarding action.”

  “Yes. Anything to keep them from being ready to defend the lock.”

  “The remora is down. Arming it now,” Arlin said.

  The Vandivier had launched a remora earlier, a small disc-shaped device that had attached itself to the other ship. When it discharged, it disrupted the target’s control systems. The other ship would be temporarily disabled unless it had military grade safeguards.

  “And what should we do?” Cilreth asked.

  “We’ll need some gas masks, small arms, and a couple of seeker grenades,” Relachik said.

  “Okay, I’m on it.” Cilreth went over to the virtual weapons locker. “Wow, we have some interesting stuff in here. Do we have swords for real or are they only here?”

  “For real, too,” Relachik said. “I’m told they’re amazingly, unbelievably, super-dangerously sharp. Emergency only.”

  “Check,” she said. “Okay, I have the grenades. One for each of us?”

  “Yes. Three masks, right? One for Arlin, of course.”

  “Of course.”

  They met at the lock. Cilreth handed out stunners and soft slug pistols. Relachik and Arlin had utility belts to hold unused weapons, but Cilreth ended up with one in each hand.

  At least she’s not pointing either of them in our direction, Relachik thought. If her weapon discipline is lax, she’ll end up shooting us sooner or later. Hopefully in a simulation.

  “There’s a bit of cover here,” Cilreth said. “But only enough for one of us on each side.”

  “Arlin and I are Space Force. You’re a search specialist,” Relachik said. “So you stand beyond, around that bulkhead,” Relachik said.

  “You got it,” Cilreth said. “I wasn’t looking forward to hitting the beach first anyway.”

  She handed her gas grenade to Arlin. He nodded his thanks and armed the grenade with his link. Relachik did the same with his.

  “Give yours a low detonation threshold. I’ll set mine higher, let it go farther into the ship,” Relachik said. Arlin replied with a short digital chirp used by the Space Force as an efficient acknowledgement. The marines called such transmissions ‘battle yah’ and ‘battle nah’, for a positive and a negative, respectively.

  The lock doors opened. A set of robotic arms folded up from the floor and started to pry the hatch of the other ship. If it weren’t for the disabler on the other ship, they would have to cut through. As it was, the arms, designed to open the hatch of a dead or disabled ship, would work fine.

  As soon as a gap opened, they released their seeker grenades. The devices rolled through the lock and into the other ship.

  “Masks on,” Relachik reminded Cilreth.

  Arlin’s grenade reported its detonation. The doors had opened wide enough to allow the team through. Arlin jumped through first while Relachik remained under cover.

  “You can come forward,” Relachik said. He pointed his weapon into the opening to cover her as she moved into the lock and to the side. Then Relachik went in.

  “At least one of them succumbed,” Arlin said.

  The other side had filled with translucent gas. Battery powered emergency lights illuminated the interior. A man was down, but it wasn’t Arlin.

  Relachik’s second grenade reported detonation, further into the ship.

  “The main hall is clear, one more appears down,” Arlin reported.

  “Okay, just cover the hall. We’ll go door to door,” Relachik said. He tried the first portal on his left. Power room.

  Then he walked out into the main corridor. He caught a glimpse on his right of Arlin covering him. In the middle of the corridor, another smuggler lay unconscious. The next chamber looked like a common room beside the mess.

  “No one in the mess,” Relachik said. He checked in a food cabinet, but it was an electric storage belt that could bring food in from a larger store. No room for anyone to hide.

  Relachik walked back out and checked the other side of the corridor. It was a private quarters, empty. He checked another room. Telisa was inside, unconscious.

  “I found her. She’s okay.”

  “That was straightforward. We’re a good team,” Cilreth said.

  “Don’t relax until we’re out,” Relachik said. “One of them may have found a gas mask.”

  “Okay. But I’m barely even in yet,” she said. Cilreth backed out while Relachik carried Telisa out. Arlin was the last to leave.

  “So far so good,” Relachik said. “Of course, the settings will get harder. I’ll challenge us a bit more next time.”

  “Sure,” Cilreth said. “That was pretty tame.”

  “It went better than I thought. Of course, it gets a lot uglier than that if we screw up. Now, how about a planetside approach?” Relachik said. He brought up another of the scenarios he had prepared.

  The three of them stood in an alien woods. Huge, thick trunks of some kind of life forms rose around them. The trunks were orange, but quickly turned green toward the top, where fern-like leaves spread in a dense canopy. Whatever star lit this world was either dim or fading for the evening.

  The team wore surface breathers over their faces.

  “Are we restricted to this?” Cilreth asked, holding up a stunner.

  “No. Outfit yourself from the ship,” Relachik said. “We’re making an approach right before dark, so there’s a bit of time. This planet rotates slowly.”

  Cilreth nodded. Her appearance changed instantly as she donned a military skinsuit for the simulation. Arlin added to his inventory as well. One of the sword tubes appeared at his belt.

  “Should come in handy getting in,” he said. “It can cut right through most locks.”

  Relachik nodded. “Ready then? You’ll see the target on our maps now. To the north.”

  “Got it,” Cilreth said. She cast a glance around the forest.

  She’s alert. That’s good. I’ll have to take a bit more time and add outside threats as well, to encourage that. And Arlin is thinking ahead, too, bringing the sword to cut in.

  They moved out. The alien forest floor was strangely cl
ean, devoid of anything that resembled dead leaves. Strange tracks of glistening goo crisscrossed the scene, as if the debris had been cleared by giant slugs. Whatever had done it didn’t appear to the newcomers.

  The target structure came into view. It was a primitive-looking two-story dwelling, made of local materials. The huge hulks of cut trees were visible in its walls. The roof was covered in rough ceramic tiles. What few windows it had emitted bright white light into the forest around it.

  “Wow, this place is really out there,” Cilreth said over their link channel.

  “Yes, very isolated. We have to get in suddenly and hit them. The grenades won’t work, the house isn’t airtight and they’ll have breathers on in there.”

  “I can get us through that door,” Arlin said.

  “Let’s see if there’s a side door or a back door,” Cilreth said.

  “Out here, does it really matter? There is not real front.”

  “But there’s a deck. Psychologically, this is the front. Tradition dictates it would open into a wider common area than the back door.”

  “We don’t know the local traditions, but I see a sensor module there, just above the entrance,” Arlin said. Relachik couldn’t see anything. He looked over and noticed Arlin had a scope goggle on.

  “Cilreth, do you know how to disable security systems?” Relachik asked.

  “No. But I can look into it for next time,” she said.

  “You’ll have time to learn the basics, most likely. But we’ll have to work around not having an expert in that area.”

  The team slipped around the cleared perimeter of the homestead until a side door became visible. It didn’t have an obvious sensor module, but that didn’t mean there weren’t others out of sight.

  “That looks good,” Relachik said. “If there were one more of us, I’d say we should break in at two places simultaneously. But with only three of us, it’s a close call. Arlin and I will go in that door. Cilreth, see that window? It may open into the room we’ll hit first. You can go up there and check if it’s empty or not, and cover us once we’re in.”

  “Okay,” she agreed.

  Arlin grasped the sword tube at his belt and prepared to draw the blade out.

  They took their positions beside the house.

  Cilreth reported immediately. “There’s a woman in there. But it’s not Telisa.”

  “Does she have armor? Weapons? Do you have a shot?” Relachik asked.

  “No armor. She has a stunner, like me. I think I can hit her if I break the window. But how strong is it?”

  “Probably very strong,” Arlin said. “No one out this far would take any chances.”

  “I agree. Just tell us when she’s facing away from the door.”

  “She’s not looking in that direction,” Cilreth said.

  “Okay, go.”

  Arlin drew his sword and sliced it across the locking mechanism. The sword sliced completely through the lock and a large bit of the door. Arlin kicked it in. He tossed the sword aside while Relachik charged in. He saw the woman and shot her with his stunner.

  He summed up the area and decided it was a kitchen as she dropped. Arlin came in with a slug pistol in his hands. There was only one way out, a set of swinging doors.

  “Wait or go?”

  “Go.”

  Arlin went through the doors. He didn’t see Cilreth but he figured she would be coming any second. Relachik followed Arlin.

  Relachik heard the retort of a gun. He saw Arlin still standing in a corridor and assumed he had shot first. A set of stairs rose to his right, so he swung around a bannister and headed up. He didn’t see anyone at the top. There was another hall and two open doors and a closed one. Cilreth appeared at the bottom. He waved her up.

  Relachik walked as quietly as he could over a carpeted floor. The two open doorways showed rooms that appeared empty at a glance. Some kind of a bedroom and a den with an old-fashioned clothing fabricator. The hallway turned ninety degrees and ended in another closed door.

  “We’re clear downstairs,” Arlin said. “No sign of Telisa.”

  He turned back and saw Cilreth in the hall.

  “Either there’s a basement, or she’s right here ahead of us,” Relachik said.

  “Where?” Cilreth asked.

  “In the center room. There are two ways in. You go in that side at the same time I come in here. Ready?”

  “Wait, almost...okay, ready.”

  “Go!”

  Relachik burst into the room. It was big, maybe a master bedroom. He caught sight of two men and Telisa. He felt an impact through the armor of his suit. One of the men had already hit him. His stunner flew from his hands as he fell to one side. He drew his glue pistol.

  A split second later, Cilreth came through the other door. Her stunner fired.

  Relachik shot again. This time he glued the second kidnapper. He saw the man on Cilreth’s side drop to his knees. Cilreth kicked him in the face.

  I doubt her shin is hard enough for that in real life, Relachik thought. Then again, a shin bruise would be worth getting Telisa back alive.

  “Oh, crap, that hurt,” Cilreth said, confirming his suspicion. He’d set the pain thresholds for the sim fairly high. Nevertheless, the two men were neutralized.

  The target raised her hands and stood patiently. The look on her face was passive. More passive than she’ll be when she sees me for real, he thought.

  “What now? Are we done?” asked Cilreth, limping toward him.

  “Check the bathroom there,” he said.

  Relachik stared at the copy of Telisa standing before him. The simulation gave her a blank smile, indicating she was unharmed. He pretended she was real for a second. She looked familiar, yet he felt like she was a stranger. There’s one more thing I need to practice. What am I going to say to her when I find her?

  “Bathroom is clear,” Cilreth said.

  “Yeah, that’s enough for now,” Relachik said. I have more work to do. But there’s time. I think.

  “Has anyone ever been doing simulations of their ship like this, then they exit, and forget they’re not in a simulation and blown themselves up, or walked out an airlock incarnate?” Cilreth asked.

  “Not any more often than the same shit happens on Earth. What age were you linked?”

  “Nine.”

  “Then you shouldn’t be getting reality and VR mixed up,” Relachik said. “Just don’t turn off your link’s exit simulation alert.”

  I wonder if she’s telling the truth about nine years old.

  Some people were linked at birth. Their parents wanted their child to take advantage of the plasticity of a young brain, for instance, to develop a wider visual cortex capability while the brain was still forming. Many disadvantages attacked these children, though, such as a lesser appreciation for what was real and what wasn’t. Kids linked too early often ended up dead one way or another. Many said humans would eventually learn how to get infant-linking working safely. Whole societies had left Earth over the controversy and set up their own colonies with different rules, ranging from required linking at birth to no linking at all, ever.

  Relachik himself hadn’t been linked until age ten. He had linked Telisa at age nine, knowing that was what her mother wanted. It had seemed to work out well for her.

  Not that I was really around that much to know.

  The practice session disbanded. Relachik assumed Cilreth returned to her search algorithms. He settled into his tiny cabin. At the first hint of boredom, he automatically countered it with work. But now he wasn’t the commander of a huge ship, he was merely a passenger on a small vessel.

  The diagnostics made him feel a bit like he was back on the Seeker. He missed her a lot. He missed his men, the best in the force. He missed the ship’s artificial personalities, Observer, Mechanic, and Shooter. Leaving them all behind was painful, like saying goodbye to family. I already said goodbye to my real family long ago. And I don’t even really miss them anymore.

&n
bsp; Commanding an advanced ship like the Seeker had been the pinnacle of his existence. If he still had her, he felt sure he could find his daughter quickly. The UNSF had amazing cyber-specialists, black-ops robots, and alien technology at its beck and call.

  Relachik satisfied himself by conducting a virtual inspection of the vessel. An anomaly caught his eye. The ship’s life support system was working for four people.

  A wasteful oversight to set it manually, he thought.

  Relachik inspected the settings. It was set to auto detect. He frowned and double-checked everything. Nothing seemed amiss, yet the scrubbers, oxygen monitors, and heating requirements were providing for more than Arlin, Cilreth, and himself.

  The conclusion was inescapable. There are four people on this ship.

  Chapter 5

  The alien skittered on board, his golden legs a blur. At the top of the ramp he paused for a second to wave his mass-sensor bulb back and forth before continuing. Three huge containers floated along behind him. The airlock closed behind Shiny and his train of containers.

  It’s shocking to see him again. Almost as if everything before was a dream, Magnus thought.

  Magnus eyed Shiny’s luggage. “We don’t have much room for all that. I’m using most of the bay to build a robot from your walker.”

  “Shiny help increase packing efficiency of your cargo bay,” buzzed Shiny.

  “What is all that stuff?” Telisa asked from behind Magnus.

  “Useful materials. Supplies,” Shiny said.

  “Food?”

  “No. Construction materials. Remote devices to build, construct, configure. Must mimic Terran designs.”

  “What are they going to be, Shiny? Why are you using our stuff? Isn’t Terran technology way behind your own?”

  “Destroyers, invaders, conquerors search for all that is part of Shiny’s race.”

  One of Shiny’s tiny spheres floated lazily by between them.

  There’s more of them than last time, Magnus thought.

  “I see you got resupplied,” Magnus said, heading for the bay.

  “Achieved limited inventory gains,” Shiny agreed.

  “What do those spheres that float around do for you?”