The Celaran Solution (Parker Interstellar Travels Book 9)

by Michael McCloskey

  Arakaki lowered her weapon. Imanol returned to his seat. Marcant realized he had been very tense himself. He tried to relax.

  When no one else continued, Telisa moved on.

  “I was going to announce that Maxsym and Jamie have agreed to join this team... unless recent revelations have changed their minds. If you decide to stay on, thank you. With your help, we may be able to use the Trilisk AI to gain independence from Shiny,” she said.

  “You mean this team’s independence or that of Terra?” asked Marcant directly.

  “This team for now. In time, with a careful plan, maybe Sol’s as well,” Telisa said.

  “Why isn’t Lee here?” Caden asked.

  “I haven’t told Lee about the AI. Not yet, anyway.”

  “Ah. Lee might tell the other Celarans, and they might tell the Space Force—” Marcant said.

  “And Shiny would eventually hear of it,” finished Magnus. “If he hasn’t already noticed it through the battle spheres or the attendants.”

  “The attendants and battle spheres are totally under our control,” Marcant assured them.

  Telisa nodded. “Vovokan systems are notoriously labyrinthine,” she said. “Just when you think you have them locked down, you discover another layer you didn’t consider.”

  “True, but I have the benefit of Cilreth’s many discoveries there,” Marcant said.

  “And an incredibly intelligent friend to help out,” Adair said privately.

  “That would be me,” Achaius said.

  “It’s not like we don’t have any precedent here,” Telisa said. “We used to leave new team members in the dark about the AI until we knew we could trust them.”

  “Some might consider acquiring the artifact stealing from Celara, even though it is a Trilisk item, not a Celaran one,” Achaius pointed out privately.

  “It has not had the ability to aid the Celarans in centuries, I suspect,” Adair said.

  “I’m not judging her actions. Just wondering if this is part of her decision not to tell Lee,” Achaius said.

  “I would say Telisa has done enough to help the Celarans that she’s earned the AI anyway,” Adair said. “And, using the AI, she could help them more in the future.”

  “Or the Celarans could learn about it and use it to rebuild Celara Palnod,” Achaius said.

  Marcant’s eyebrows furrowed as he concentrated on filtering out the AI conversation and listen to the main meeting.

  “As some of you know, and maybe all of you have heard, we’ve found an advanced faction of the Celarans with cybernetic bodies like Cynan,” Telisa was saying. “The Cylerans we call them. We’ve managed to make friends with them. Our mission here is complete. So, what next?”

  She asked it rhetorically. Marcant could tell she was about to continue.

  “I’ve called the UNSF fleet into action against the Quarus,” she announced. “The Cylerans have been planning more than an attack on that space station. They’ve been studying the Quarus, and they’ve located several of their worlds, including a major, established one that could even be the enemy homeworld.”

  “Before any of you ask me if I really want to start a war that will cost many lives, let me say this: we are already at war. The Quarus won’t stop. I intend to deal them a major blow, show them that they can’t defeat a united Terra and Celara, then return to negotiations one last time.”

  “Does anyone have any objections? Or does anyone want out?”

  Marcant knew he was not about to bail on the team that had brought him this long line of amazing alien technologies to chew on.

  When no one answered, Telisa continued.

  “You know what? I’m going to stop asking that. You all know you’re free to leave the team if that’s what’s right for you. If we pick up any new team members, we’ll all make sure they know that.”

  “Cynan has decided to ‘return to a comfortable vine’ as he put it, and rejoin the Cylerans. I wish him the best,” Telisa said. “Let’s talk separately about what everyone plans to be doing during the trip. Besides our usual training routines, of course.”

  The meeting broke up. Maxsym looked like he wanted to talk with Telisa first, so Marcant grabbed some pasta and glucosoda as he left the mess and found his way to his personal quarters to think about his research priorities.

  He had just settled down to work on Quarus weapons updates when Telisa contacted him.

  “Marcant?”

  “Hello,” Marcant said, trying to sound airy and positive.

  “You enjoy the challenges of understanding alien technologies, yes?” Telisa asked.

  “Yes. Absolutely.”

  She has my attention now. Why would she reiterate what she already knows?

  Marcant sensed it the same as Adair and Achaius did: she must have something special to ask.

  “Don’t sign me up for anything,” Adair said privately.

  “I’ll do it all,” Achaius said.

  “Well I have good news and bad news then,” Telisa said. “You can work on understanding the Trilisk AI.”

  “I think that must be the good news,” Achaius said on the open channel.

  “Is that Achaius? You’re right,” Telisa confirmed.

  “Yes. What’s the bad news?” asked Adair.

  “There’s something important we don’t have. You see, Shiny had figured out how to put his AIs into a kind of... harness. It allowed his thoughts through to the AI, and screened others out. We need a harness like that so that we can use the AI without having the Quarus benefit as much from it as we do.”

  “You need me to build a device that prevents the thoughts of thinking entities from being perceived by a Trilisk AI,” Marcant repeated carefully. His tone said it all: was Telisa being serious?

  “That’s right. You can see why it’s important,” Telisa said.

  “I hope you have—”

  “No. I have no idea how it’s done. It’s actually pretty amazing that Shiny was able to do that at all. All I have is some link memories of its appearance.”

  Uh, I’m going to need help on this one.

  “He wants my help!” Achaius said.

  “He’s talking to me,” Adair said.

  “I guess I... we... have our work cut out for us on this voyage,” Marcant said. “I’ll start with our Trilisk detection systems. Maybe the same kinds of energy that indicate Trilisk presence are related to... remote thought detection.”

  “See? You’re probably onto something already. I’ll let you work, then,” Telisa said and closed the channel.

  ***

  The Trilisk AI interested him more than anything else he had studied before, yet it presented a challenge so lofty that it could take a lifetime to overcome.

  Marcant had no progress to report when the next meeting was announced a day later. Marcant was thankful it was not an FTF. The meeting channel creation was preceded by a message from Telisa explaining that she had told Lee of the existence of the Trilisk AI, though leaving enough out to downplay its true powers.

  Marcant half listened to the news while sitting in a comfortable VR interface chair.

  Caden has been preparing a new and interesting virtual training regimen,” Telisa announced. “Anything you want to add, Caden?”

  “We found ourselves in a new environment inside that Quarus ship. Many of our weapons didn’t work, at least not well. We should probably work that environment into our training schedule, and give some thought about what kind of weapons work best in liquid environments,” Caden said.

  “Good thinking,” Telisa said.

  “We could practice not fighting underwater at all,” Magnus said. “We’re at a distinct disadvantage there, so let’s not do that again.”

  “Seems shortsighted,” said Adair privately.

  “He doesn’t literally mean we won’t practice that. He just means, we should be smart and fight where we have the advantage,” Achaius said. Marcant ignored his little peanut gallery.

  “That’s my choi
ce, of course,” Telisa said. “But we’ll add these to our training library anyway, just in case. Marcant?”

  “I’m working to help us interface with the Trilisk AI,” Marcant said vaguely.

  “I thought all we had to do was pray,” Siobhan said.

  Telisa did not jump in, so Marcant was more specific.

  “Actually, it’s more about who is not allowed to interface with it,” Marcant said.

  “I see,” Siobhan said neutrally.

  “The Celarans continue to analyze Quarus language and communications,” Marcant said. “So I’ll also keep studying Quarus technology with a focus on finding weak points.”

  “How about you, Maxsym?”

  “I, too, have plenty of material to occupy even a long voyage,” Maxsym said. “I haven’t really dug into the Celaran life forms yet, and of course, now we have Quarus samples.”

  “Please put the priority on the Quarus for now,” Telisa said. “Specifically, weaknesses. Also, some psychological analysis on them would be wonderful.”

  “Psychology? What do you take me for, a witch doctor?” Maxsym asked.

  Marcant stifled a snicker. Maxsym continued before anyone could say anything.

  “I suppose that assignment is likely easier than what you’ve assigned Marcant, so I should not complain. I’ll start learning about them immediately and have a full report... during the trip.”

  “Magnus and I are working on grand strategy with the Space Force,” Telisa said. “Lee is helping us to digest the information the Cylerans have gathered.”

  “I’m analyzing our link memories of the Quarus ship to develop tactics we can practice in the VRs,” Arakaki said. “I’ll see what I can come up with for underwater weapons, too. One thing that comes to mind is a design for water grenades the UED had developed.”

  “Siobhan?” prompted Telisa.

  “I got a real hand attached. It’s harder to get going with it than the artificial one was, but I’m making progress. I’m going to attempt to make a factory ship. We have robots and weapons to make. I’m hoping I might even be able to make our own attendants... perhaps with the help of Trilisk technology,” Siobhan said.

  A hint to the rest of us that she wants to use the Trilisk AI.

  “Good. If you have any ideas that prove valuable, feel free to work on them as well, I trust your judgment,” Telisa said. “Send me a quick update if you change your top priority task so I can make sure what needs to get done has someone on it.”

  She left the channel. Marcant dropped as well.

  “We’re going to war,” Marcant said privately to Adair and Achaius. “I guess Telisa can’t let the Space Force and the Celarans handle this on their own.”

  “It seems reckless to assault the Quarus with such a dearth of information,” Adair said.

  “There’s no choice,” Achaius said. “They’ll keep coming.”

  “We have all we need now,” Marcant said. “We have a Trilisk AI.”

  Chapter 20

  The Space Force fleet arrived in grand order exactly on schedule. A light screen of dozens of robotic ships arrived first, spread out, and provided protection for the other ships that arrived a minute later. For the most part, it was the same fleet that had come to the aid of the Celarans at the colony world.

  Telisa had an impulse to schedule an FTF with Admiral Sager, but she knew there was no point—the only reason she was used to meeting incarnate was to hide from the government. In this case, she would be talking directly to them, or at least, a part of the remnants of the pre-Shiny power structure.

  Admiral Sager’s link sent Telisa a message indicating he awaited her convenience to deliver a report. She created a channel for the meeting and added Magnus.

  “Admiral Sager. It’s good to see the fleet,” she said.

  The Admiral added a video feed. She could only see him from the shoulders up. His head looked a bit narrow but not unpleasantly so. He had short black hair and a smooth face. Telisa found the man handsome looking, but not enough so to distract her in any meaningful way. She much preferred Magnus’s more rugged appearance.

  “That planet looks devastated,” Sager sent. “Can you imagine if that happened to Earth? For all that’s happened, at least we haven’t been heavily bombed or poisoned.”

  “They’re in a terrible situation down there, but my main goal is not to rebuild this planet, but to stop this from happening to more planets.”

  Sager nodded.

  “I understand, though you should be aware that we’ve brought a lot of relief supplies. Especially the Celarans, who have a lot of that sap they produce at the colony.”

  “Hurry up and dispense them. We’ll only be here long enough to plan our attack.”

  Attack. I can’t believe I said that.

  “I’ll adjust the schedules accordingly.”

  “I’ll be sending a large intelligence pack from the Cylerans,” Telisa told him. “It contains the data their scouts have obtained on the target system.”

  “That will be enormously helpful,” Sager said.

  Yes. Who wants to charge in without knowing what awaits us? The PIT team has done that far too many times.

  “We haven’t had a chance to dig into the data. Let’s do an FTF in a day or two to discuss what we learn and plan.”

  “Of course, Team Member.”

  Team Member. Sigh.

  “I don’t see many Celaran ships in your formation, Admiral,” Magnus said.

  “The Celarans remain focused on the defenses of their new world,” Sager said. “New ships arrive there from the Core Worlds every few days, but they want to remain in a defensive posture.”

  “Well I can’t say I blame them,” Telisa said. “That planet may be more valuable than Celara Palnod now.”

  “A Vovokan battleship arrived there recently,” Sager said. “Shiny communicated to the Admiralty and the Celarans that it was his contribution to their security.”

  “Just one? Shiny’s so stingy,” Telisa said.

  “He’s paranoid. The norm for his species,” Magnus pointed out. “It’s probably only there to gather data.”

  Or search for the AI.

  “If I may say so, Team Members, I find it quite puzzling how Ambassador Shiny’s crack exploration team shows so little love for him.”

  “We know the real Shiny, I guess,” Telisa said. “Is he still popular back home?”

  “Earth still absolutely adores him. Even Space Force personnel, who are much less enamored of him than other Terrans, have a high opinion of him.”

  “Even the Space Force people who have not visited Earth since his takeover?”

  “Yes, they like him too, for the most part.”

  “And how about the frontier?” Magnus asked.

  “Out on the frontier, I don’t think they know what to make of him. But they like that he stays out of their business, for the most part.”

  “Is Shiny going to support this operation?” Telisa asked.

  Sager shook his head over the feed.

  “So far, he’s not interested.”

  “Then we’ll do it without him.”

  ***

  Telisa connected with the local commander of the Celaran fleet in the Celara Palnod system. Their translation systems were working well and provided a synthetic name for the Celaran: Storix. Telisa started the meeting with Magnus and Sager on the channel.

  “Storix, I’m so glad you and your ships have come to join this fleet. However, I expected that there would be many more Celaran ships built by now,” Telisa said.

  “There are more, but we haven’t brought them to the thickest vine we called home. We don’t want to go to this distant vine, either,” said the Celaran.

  Oh, no.

  “You aren’t afraid that the Quarus will return to the attack?”

  “They may. If that happens, we will defend ourselves as we had once done against our ancient enemy who lived among the roots.”

  That nasty looking Celaran-like rel
ative they saw in the temple.

  “The only way to eliminate the threat is the show them it’s not in their best interest. That means aggressively fighting back, taking the battle to one of their worlds and showing them our new alliance.”

  “We do not destroy vines. If a predator waits underleaf, we find another,” Storix said.

  “I don’t propose that we destroy the planets in that system. We should go there, defeat them, and show them it is within our power to kill them all. Then we will deliver our message, which is, make peace or else. Tell them if we have to come back we will destroy their bases and poison their oceans.”

  “They probably don’t think like Terrans. Clearly they don’t think like Celarans, or they never would have attacked.”

  “You’re right, they don’t think like us. But surely if they’re an advanced, reasoning species, they’ll see that continuing the war against our alliance will only bring ruin.”

  “We cannot go to do this, at least not now. This place needs our help,” Storix said.

  “I’m sorry to hear that. Maybe we can meet again soon if I find out something that might change your mind, or if you complete rescue operations.”

  “We can suck sap and flash at each other again soon.”

  The Celaran commander closed the connection.

  “That did not go well,” Magnus said.

  “Definitely not,” Sager said, speaking on the channel only now that the talk with Storix was over.

  “Telisa?” Magnus prompted.

  Telisa had envisioned the Quarus space fleets and wondered about their history with Vovok.

  “A very compelling theory has come to mind,” she said.

  “What is it?” Magnus asked.

  “I may have just realized what’s going on with the Quarus,” Telisa said.

  “Tell us your theory, please,” Sager said.

  “The same thing that was going on with Terra before we came and removed the Trilisks.”

  “You think the Quarus are under Trilisk control?” asked Sager.

  “It’s perfect,” Magnus interrupted. “The Trilisks don’t want the Celarans, because they’re not aggressive enough. And Shiny’s race was too fragmented and chaotic. But Terrans—and maybe the Quarus, too—were more ordered and hierarchical, more easily controlled and used to build up for interstellar war.”