The Trilisk Ruins
Page 41
Chapter 26
Kirizzo searched through the many chambers in the base by accessing the system interface. Data flowed into the cybernetic parts of his body and became part of his memory. Kirizzo accessed the new information as if thinking of events that had occurred seconds ago. He now knew that hundreds of alien war machines were in the base with him, moving in from three access points. Well behind this force, teams of the aliens themselves came in, forty-one of them in all so far.
He considered the advantages of their presence. The aliens seemed to be of an inferior technology level. It seemed they had little to offer in comparison to his own civilization. Still, they would have access to large amounts of natural resources and perhaps information that could be useful. They might even know of others of his kind, or of the disposition of his enemies.
On the other hand, the aliens posed many problems where they were. Kirizzo faced potential malfunctions in base equipment while the aliens were milling about. If they sought to capture him at an inconvenient moment, his aims could be impeded. There even existed a chance that their weapons, although primitive, could harm him. And since they were so primitive, it seemed unlikely that they could be successfully resisting any of the foes of his race.
Kirizzo decided to activate the automated defenses against the intruders. He calculated a fair chance that the aliens might overcome the defenses through sheer numbers, based on his combative interactions with them in the Trilisk installation. But it was the best he could do for now; he decided to concentrate on gathering what he would need for leaving the base in a fast ship that could take him home as quickly as possible. Almost as an afterthought, he left a few automated entities to make sure that the ones he had dealt with would remain unimpeded. He had developed a rapport with this tiny faction, and he decided to keep that investment intact in case he required their cooperation later.