The Trilisk Revolution (Parker Interstellar Travels)

by McCloskey, Michael

“Yes.”

  “Then I wish you luck,” she said.

  “Thanks, but I think you’re the one that has bitten off the chewiest bite. If you can’t save those people, get your ass out of there. We need you around to fight another day.”

  “I will. Thanks.”

  He thinks I’m taking the hardest mission because Magnus is gone. Maybe he’s right.

  Imanol followed the exit route Caden had used.

  Siobhan offered her hand next. Telisa shook it. “Mine’s as good as dead,” she said and stomped off. Telisa lifted her eyebrow.

  “It was an honor to meet you,” Jason said. Telisa gave his hand a perfunctory shake too, even though they both knew it was just for following the pattern everyone else had set.

  “I know today you’ll earn your spot as a top member of the PIT team,” Telisa said. “I may not see you again. If so, just do whatever you think is right with the company.”

  Jason nodded, though he looked a bit overwhelmed.

  “Status Shiny?” she asked.

  “Terrans have detected anomalies, oddities, disturbances. Disruption minimal,” Shiny said.

  If I survive this, I’m going to have to ask him for the number of people we killed. If I’m lucky, maybe I’ll die and won’t have to ever know.

  “Then I’m headed for Skyhold.”

  Cilreth got up next to her. She approached Telisa and hugged her. “Good luck!” she said.

  Telisa pointed the way to their ships and started to walk. Jason followed.

  ***

  Kirizzo went to a chamber deep within one of his giant ships. Three dark columns with no controls dominated the room.

  A form emerged from the shadow of one of the pillars.

  “Shiny! What the hell is going on?” asked Telisa3.

  “Withholding data,” Kirizzo said.

  “How can I do this mission without knowing what’s happening? Where’s Magnus and the others? The habitat? Am I a copy or the original?”

  Telisa3 held out her arm and flexed, trying to measure her strength.

  “Parts of plan hidden, obfuscated, withheld,” Kirizzo explained. “Trilisks possess, demonstrate, utilize mind reading talents. Optimal situation: information, background, details hidden, obfuscated, withheld.”

  “By the Five! You can’t tell me because you don’t want a Trilisk to read my mind and learn something that could defeat us?”

  “Correct. Trust, believe, obey Shiny for mutual benefit. Telisa absorbed mission parameters?”

  “Yes. I’m going into Skyhold to take down a Trilisk there. But we were far from Earth, last I remember!”

  “Correct. Situation fluid, changing, shifting. Optimal course explained, given, delineated by mission briefing.”

  Kirizzo could tell Telisa3 had doubts. She took a long moment to look at Kirizzo. Telisa3 seemed to come to a decision after a typically short Terran planning phase.

  “Okay, I’ll trust you. Show me to my shuttle and I’ll be off. I don’t like working in the dark, but, I can see it given what you’ve said. If I succeed, I expect a full debriefing, in the other direction.”

  Kirizzo sent her a route.

  “It’s customary to wish me luck,” Telisa3 prompted.

  “Good luck,” Kirizzo said. He understood that was the expected phrase the Terran had asked for.

  “Say it like you normally would,” Telisa3 said.

  Kirizzo felt perplexed. He took a guess.

  “Shiny hopes, wishes, bestows luck upon Telisa.”

  “Better,” she said, yet hesitated. “I have so many questions… sounds like the less I know, the better? I don’t like it. You can’t even tell me where the others are? Magnus?”

  Kirizzo was familiar with this behavior. Called complaints, these statements were a form of soft negotiation which hinged upon the compassion of the listener. Kirizzo refused to budge.

  Telisa3 slowly left the room.

  Kirizzo checked Telisa3’s internal bomb. Its diagnostic reported full function. Kirizzo felt satisfied. When Telisa3 came under Trilisk control, it would activate, releasing the agent that Kirizzo had copied from Maxsym’s lab. Kirizzo hoped that would come as a surprise to the Trilisks.

  A humming noise arose behind Kirizzo. The column released another Terran.

  “Shiny? Where is everyone?” called Magnus3.

  “Magnus has learned, studied, absorbed mission parameters?” Kirizzo asked.

  Chapter 10

  Imanol’s shuttle floated on the water beside a rocky but beautiful island in the Aegean Sea. He opened a top hatch and climbed out. The sun felt warm on his face but the wind was cool. He smelled the complexity of planetary air.

  Imanol lingered only a couple of seconds, then he was back to business. He grabbed his pack and slung it over his shoulder. Then he took a large black case and tossed it into the water. It floated nearby. Imanol slid down an angled side of the shuttle and slipped in. He swam slowly away from the shuttle, pulling the case with him.

  Four attendant spheres skimmed the water nearby, zipping around like nervous dragonflies. He lingered in the water, waiting for the attendants to scan for hidden sensors or traps. They did not detect any danger. It was almost time. A couple of minutes had been allocated for him to apply countermeasures to any sensors or security systems he discovered on the beach. When he got the signal from the Vovokan orbs verifying it was time, Imanol got behind the case and pushed it toward shore with powerful leg kicks.

  He walked out onto the sand of the island. His Veer suit had kept him dry.

  So far, so good. The other team members are in action now, too.

  Imanol lugged the big black case up the beach, headed for high ground. Straight ahead he saw only a rocky hill. The few trees he saw were on flatter ground to his left.

  The house is supposed to be right up there.

  The beach Imanol had landed on was shielded from the house by the hill. He still felt exposed out in the open. If there was hidden security the attendants failed to detect, they would notice his arrival. Then he would be walking into a trap.

  He sent one of his attendants forward to verify that the island looked like he thought it should. The sensor had found the house within a minute. It was right where his intelligence said it should be. The device scanned the dwelling and found life.

  Trilisks!

  The scan was positive. The device told Imanol in his PV that both the targets were on the island.

  Blood and souls. It’s a good sign I’m not dead already. If they were all powerful, I wouldn’t have even made it this far.

  Imanol increased his pace. It was hard going with the heavy case, but he had been training with PIT since he joined. He had the energy he needed and lots to spare. The tiny trail he followed led up the side of a hill overlooking the house, which was built on a lower, flatter hill by a small bay. Imanol followed the general route he had used in simulations built upon their model of the island. Though the tiny details were different, the overall terrain was as expected. Imanol saw details absent in the simulations: a scrap of fabric… a lizard… a reddish rock. He stared at the rock, wondering if it held a hidden camera… or a laser.

  As he neared the top of the rise he slowed. He dropped lower and crept farther, keeping his cover. Then he dropped to the ground and opened the big case.

  Inside sat two cylindrical weapons secured by formed foam in the case.

  Imanol pulled the first rocket launcher out of its soft prison. His plan was to kill both of them at the same time in one shot. The explosive of the warheads was surrounded by the toxin Maxsym had manufactured. That way, they might both die so quickly that there would be no response. He slung the launcher over his shoulder.

  He checked his sidearms for the tenth time, even though they were configured to notify him of any problems. They told his link all was well. Then he grabbed the second launcher and turned toward the ridge he was on. He opened the electronic sight and piped it through to his link. The augmented silhouette of the hous
e appeared in his personal view, right through the solid rock between him and the dwelling. He could see two life forms—they looked human, though running a bit hot. That was typical of the super-bodies created by the Trilisk columns.

  No sign I’ve alerted them. This is insane. I’m shooting two near-immortal aliens on a remote island that look just like regular humans.

  He watched them. One stood at a counter, perhaps a kitchen counter. The other sat nearby. He could tell by their movements that they were talking. Chatting. They looked relaxed.

  I hope they come out onto their porch for some tea. Why do I feel like such a murderer? I’m doing this for all of Terra… aren’t I?

  Imanol could not shake his doubts. He kept arguing with himself as he scooched up to the top of the rise just a meter before him.

  What if these are good Trilisks? They’re going to die without a chance. Snuffed out by me. I could be killing innocents. I’m going to rocket two unsuspecting… things.

  He rallied his resolve.

  There’s no chance to win if they’re warned. It’s too dangerous. The risk is huge. It affects the whole planet. I can’t play fair with the enemy. Not this enemy.

  Imanol prepared the launcher to fire. Its missile was maneuverable enough to shoot over the ridge and rapidly line up on the house, so Imanol did not have to get a direct line of sight. He acquired the house and kept scanning the windows. He just wanted to catch sight of them—then he saw someone running for the house. He quickly sighted the weapon’s targeting sensors onto the newcomer.

  Imanol stared aghast. He froze.

  It’s not possible. That’s me!!!

  Imanol was paralyzed by confusion for another moment, then he understood.

  It’s a duplicate of me. From a Trilisk column.

  “Damn it Telisa, you should have told me! This is idiotic!”

  Imanol’s duplicate ran up to the back of the house. The copy was wearing a Veer suit and carrying a weapon. Imanol watched through the weapon sensor. The others inside suddenly turned toward the back. The sitting one rose. They were alarmed. The duplicate paused, then entered the house. Imanol felt sure he had just broken in. One of the Trilisks grabbed a pistol from a drawer. Another grabbed a knife.

  Trilisks fighting with pistols and knives?

  The windows of the house shattered open. Half a second later, Imanol heard the retort of an explosion. But there was no smoke or fire.

  “Blood and souls!” he exclaimed aloud.

  Was that a grenade? Maybe just a frag grenade. Not incendiary, obviously.

  His duplicate was off the scanner. Imanol sent an attendant sphere in closer.

  Did they blow him up with a thought? Did he have an accident with a grenade? What the hell is going on?

  Imanol felt acutely vulnerable again. He glanced around behind his position, but saw no danger. Then he flipped back to the rocket launcher view.

  Inside the house, the two Trilisks were in distress. They fell to their knees.

  Something has… poisoned them? Of course… Maxsym’s gas!

  “A gas grenade?” he wondered aloud. “Where did I go? Why did you guys leave me in the dark about this?”

  It seemed ridiculous to think that Imanol’s duplicate had blown himself to bits with a gas grenade. It just did not track.

  Wait. Duplicates can be controlled by Trilisks! They must have taken control of him, had him blow himself up with the grenade. But they did not know it was poisoned.

  The forms inside were still on the floor in the house.

  “This is for me,” Imanol said. The grim humor of his statement curled the ends of his lips up a fraction, despite the anger he still felt at being duplicated again without his permission.

  Imanol launched his rocket just over the ridge with the launcher locked onto the house.

  Fooooom… Kablam!

  It slammed into the big house. Debris erupted from the open windows. Then the house started to burn. The bodies inside remained still.

  “Insanity,” Imanol muttered.

  That was so easy. I was sure the Trilisks would just kill me in an instant. That one picked up a knife! Siobhan is breaking into a massive fortress and I get a duplicate and a Trilisk with a Ginsu.

  Imanol took a deep breath. It was hard to believe all this was even happening. He had never experienced such major confusion in any of the drills. He admitted that was a shortfall of their training. They had dealt with reasonable contingencies, but never anything like this.

  Suddenly Imanol had a dark thought.

  An army of duplicates, sent to kill the Trilisks? What if I’m a duplicate, too? What if the others are experiencing the same thing? Are there several PIT teams out there and we don’t even know it?

  “Dammit why does everything always get so screwed up?”

  Imanol discarded the spent missile cannister and unslung the other from his back. His forward attendant did not see any Terran shapes. It paused to observe a rodent fleeing the burning house. Imanol had half a mind to shoot the next rocket at it just in case it held a Trilisk. The attendants did not report it to him as a target.

  Imanol made it down his hill and walked through some tall grasses toward the house. He saw something built of stone ahead, nestled against the softer hillside. It was an old archway with rotting doors. Beyond, Imanol saw the entrance had been blocked with a stone wall.

  An old root cellar? Or an escape route.

  Imanol told an attendant sphere to watch the old entrance. He moved around it toward the house. As he approached the smoldering porch, he drew his laser pistol and slung the missile launcher over his shoulder.

  I can’t believe they sent a duplicate without telling me. I’m not going to work with these bastards ever again. I could have killed myself. In either direction. In both directions!

  He had watched the Trilisks fall. Now the whole house was burned almost to the ground. The plume of smoke rose high into the sky. He thought of the ashes of the other Imanol lying among the ruins. That had been a perfect copy of him.

  If I had known my duplicate was on this mission, I could have gone in at the same time, we would have had a better chance.

  An attendant sphere signaled for his attention. It was the one by the old cellar entrance. A scan showed that a tunnel extended from the entrance deep into the rocky ground.

  Of course. It could not be that easy. But my mission is done, isn’t it?

  Imanol sighed. He knew he had to check it out.

  Well, it was almost easy.

  Chapter 11

  Jason found himself on familiar ground once exiting the Vovokan shuttle. Flair Five walked near him, scanning the roof for danger. Jason looked back at his craft and saw only a Terran aerocab sitting on the landing platform. It fit into the rooftop scheme of New York perfectly. The building he had landed on was tall, over fifty stories, but there were taller ones nearby. In fact a spacescraper was adjacent to it.

  Time to get to work.

  Jason had set up a control center in the building below. It had everything he needed to coordinate with Cilreth. Soon they would be finding Trilisks for the orbital attack. Jason did not have to hack anything; he was authorized to access the building because Parker Interstellar Travels had paid to use the space. Tension built inside as he made his way down to his little control room. Flair Five did little to make him feel at ease.

  Jason unlocked the door with his link and walked into the suite. Something was wrong. He looked around at the equipment. Everything looked intact, but some of his storage units had moved. A heavy duty window screen he had set up to hide everything from spying eyes had been folded and set against the wall. His link threw up feeds onto the view anchors he had set up on the walls.

  Someone’s been here.

  Flair Five dropped from Jason’s link. He turned to look at the guardian machine.

  “I’m under network attack,” Flair Five said out loud.

  “Turn it off or lose it,” a male voice told Jason.

 
Should I? Technically I should resist as much as possible…

  A shot rang out. Flair Five convulsed and went still.

  Why do I bother having a guard robot, anyways?

  “I see your stunner. Don’t reach for it,” the voice said. Then a hand fished the stunner out of his suit. Jason stood still. A firm hand turned him around. Four men dressed in black had come into the room behind him. He heard more coming out of hiding in the suite.

  “Jason Yang, of Parker Interstellar Travels,” one of the men said. The speaker was tall, like most of the other men, fit, with short cropped hair. He had a lined face that spoke of experience.

  Men in black suits. How cliche. I’m screwed.

  “Yes,” he said, resigned. Of course they already knew exactly who he was.

  “We know what you’re doing. We just want to know why,” said the man. “Come with us.”

  Wow. That was nice. This must be the good security agency executive. Next is the bad one?

  They walked over to a suite across from his own. Jason wondered what he’d done wrong. They had found him. If a Trilisk escaped because of his failure…

  I waited so long to really join the PIT team. Now I failed them.

  The other suite had a command center of its own. Probably set up to monitor Jason and the PIT team. The man indicated a chair in a way that did not invite refusal. Jason sat down. He received a truth check request.

  Truth check. Damn. What should I do? Just say nothing.

  “You know the drill, Jason. An easy way, and a hard way,” the man in the black suit said.

  Jason just sat there.

  “Okay,” the man said. He looked at another agent and pointed at Jason Yang. They closed the suite door. Jason counted his enemies. Four men and three women.

  “She’s going to attach a medical monitor,” the agent said.

  One of the women came up and put a patch on his neck. Jason glanced at her. She was a black haired beauty. He smelled her perfume. Strangely intriguing.

  “Now what are you doing here, Jason?” she asked.

  “I’m coordinating my sensor network to target Trilisks,” Jason said.