***
“Do you really think he’s okay to keep going?” Telisa asked Magnus.
“We don’t really have a choice,” he said. “Obviously we have no idea about his physiology, but we have to get back to the ship as soon as possible.”
“You’re right,” she agreed.
They stepped around the body of the awful creature that had bitten Shiny. The thing looked like a giant salamander, but it had moved like a tiger, bolting out of the cover and attacking without warning. Just looking at its mouth gaping in death made her shudder. She kept her stunner ready and scanned the forest. If another thing like that lurked nearby, it could kill them.
Obviously Magnus thought the same since he cradled his slugthrower in his hands and his gaze moved across the area warily.
They moved up the hillside and through valley after valley, making good time. Without Jack and Thomas holding them back, Telisa thought they might make it in a single day, but when the light of day faded, twenty percent of the distance remained.
“We’re almost there—let’s keep going,” Telisa urged.
“It’ll be dangerous, but I agree,” Magnus said. “I don’t want to run into one of those monsters in the dark, but we need to leave now to avoid any kind of UNSF response to Joe’s messages.”
“And we’ll take Shiny with us,” Telisa said.
“That’s insane. The government would hunt us down,” Magnus said. “Our DNA is still back there, somewhere.”
“Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t,” Telisa said. “Inside the part that shifted, the matter was being molded all the time. It may be absorbed. And I noticed that in the other room with the Trilisk columns in it, there was no dust. That means it gets cleaned somehow. Any hair or skin we left there might get removed.”
“Well, it’s still insane. But Shiny got us out of that place. So if he wants to come with us, I’m not saying no. Besides, maybe we can sell him,” Magnus said.
“Uh!”
Telisa started at the suggestion, ready to rant back at Magnus, and then she saw that he was smiling at her. It was a joke.
“Of course we won’t. Think what we can learn from him!”
“Yeah, we won’t. But Momma Veer would pay a pretty penny for those floating things of his.”
“We’d be arrested for selling something like that,” Telisa said.
“In normal channels, yes,” Magnus said. “But Jack knew some people. We might be able to work something out and keep out of prison. Maybe. With some work. It helps if you’re selling defense systems and not armament.”
While they talked, the light became inadequate. Telisa took out her flashlight and turned it on. Magnus attached a light to the end of his slug thrower so he could see ahead.
An eerie red light came from behind Telisa, illuminating the nearby leaves and tree trunks. She looked back and saw that Shiny had many glowing cubes.
“Like in the caves back in the complex,” Magnus noted.
“Yes! That’s interesting. He must come from an underground society, at least in its primitive beginnings.”
“Wouldn’t they make regular-shaped tunnels like humans do inside of buildings? The caves seemed… so primitive.”
“The walls were irregular, but they weren’t natural. His race probably doesn’t have an aesthetic about regular-shaped rooms. It’s not surprising, considering how different their technology looks.”
Magnus grunted in response. They worked their way over the last rise into the valley where the ship rested. They walked in silence through the forest for a few minutes before anyone spoke again.
“Worried?” Telisa asked.
“Yes, but I shouldn’t be,” Magnus said. “If they detected the ship and they’re waiting for us, we’re already caught. Our lights will give us away.”
“What about satellites?” Telisa asked.
“This planet isn’t developed at all,” Magnus said. “They don’t have enough infrastructure in place to detect anyone anywhere. That’s one of the reasons why we came here, because there’s a lot to be taken and not a lot of resistance to taking it.”
They came to a flatter area, and the vegetation thinned. Telisa knew they were almost to the ship. She could see a map and their location in her head via her personal link. Would a team of soldiers be waiting to arrest them?
They sped up, consuming the last of the distance in less than half an hour. At last the ship stood before them, and Telisa let out a sigh of relief. There were no lights or cordons of men. The forest remained silent.
Telisa could tell that Shiny was sizing the ship up in the red light.
“What do you think he thinks?” she said.
Magnus snorted. “He’s probably thinking it’s not safe to fly in that thing,” he said.
“I can’t tell for sure if he’s more advanced,” Telisa said. “He seems mysterious, and his modules are impressive, but he may have been there a long time, collecting knickknacks. Maybe his technology is better than ours in some areas and worse in others.”
“Yeah, or maybe we’re primitive worms and he’s barely tolerating us,” Magnus retorted.
The ship’s entrance port activated and lowered a ramp for them.
“Ship says we haven’t been detected,” Magnus reported.
Telisa remembered that she could link in again. It felt reassuring to link in and see the ship’s resources available to her, like coming home. She had never before gone as much as a day without being able to link into nearby services.
They walked up the ramp, and Shiny followed without hesitation.
“Looks like it’ll be a flight for three,” Telisa said.
The Trilisk Ruins Page 27