The Trilisk Ruins (29 page)

Telisa sat back, frustrated. “How in
the hell is a girl supposed to make a living if she can’t even grab
a choice alien weapon or two without dying?”

“
Join the space force, then
use expensive scanners and robots to poke through the stuff for
you,” Magnus answered.

“
That’s what we need, some
robots. Then we could send them in to grab all the good stuff for
us.”

“
Yeah, well you know that we
can’t get anything bigger than a cleaning robot back
home.”

Telisa ground her teeth. The world
government and its rules. She had managed to forget about that for
a while, since she had left civilization. If they had any real
robots, they would have to be custom built and kept
secret.

Robots had become widespread until
their power became evident. Just as the world government had
restricted lethal weapons in the hands of civilians, they expanded
the rules to cover ownership of robots. Secret groups with control
of dangerous robots were routinely rooted out and exterminated by
the space force.

“
Then we should build our
own and keep them out in space, like the rich corporation
executives do.”

Magnus shrugged. “I think Thomas had
some plans along those lines. But it takes money. We needed to
bootstrap ourselves with a few good hauls first, before we could
come up with the kind of credit that it takes to establish a cache
of our own in deep space.”

Telisa sighed.
Shiny, does it bother you if we ask more
questions?

Mild disturbance. Ask.
Query. Begin.

Uh, do you have any robots
here?

Affirmative.

Can we see them? Can we
have one?

Magnus laughed.

“
Hey, it can’t hurt to ask,
can it?”

Magnus shrugged.

Affirmative.
Affirmative.

Telisa’s link brought up an image of
the sphere they were in drawn in three dimensions. It spun in a
confusing way, peeling off layers and finally exposing a
highlighted path through the base.

Thank you,
Shiny.

“
I think he just sent me a
map to them, but it’s a little more... three dimensional than we’re
used to.”

“
Well he offered us a robot
so let’s go check it out, if you can tell which way to go,” Magnus
said.

“
Yeah, definitely,” she
said, making a face. “I think it’s this way.”

They moved through the caverns with a
new purpose. The route took them through the rest of the ruined
base sphere and to its far outer edge. When they entered the final
chamber, the light inside increased as several of the glowing cubes
lit up. A wall on their right seemed to melt away, revealing a
smooth-walled oval shaped bay. Three tall walking machines stood
inside, towering over Telisa and Magnus.

“
Wow,” Telisa muttered,
walking forward to touch one shiny leg. The machines had eight
slender support legs, each about as tall as the two humans. The
bodies of the constructs were the size of a compact
autocab.

The machine Telisa had touched whirred
to life. Telisa stepped back. Magnus crouched and pointed his
slugthrower at the machine. The body slowly lowered until it
hovered less than a foot above the sandy floor.

Now Telisa could see that a clear
cockpit dominated the top of the machines. The top of the lowered
robot slid open.

“
I guess it can take a pilot
or a rider as well,” Magnus said.

Telisa peered into the machine. The
inside had forty tiny metal buttons arrayed around the
circumference. A single metal rod rose from the center with a tiny
stirrup or chair at the top.

“
You think Shiny could fit
in there?” Telisa asked.

“
I don’t know. I think if he
were curled up he could. There’s a button for each leg.”

“
I’d assume he would use a
neural interface rather than buttons. But I guess it might be a
backup control system.”

Magnus shrugged. “The important
question is, how are we going to get this into the bay?”

Chapter
Twenty Five

Captain Relachik stared at the alien
base in an artificial world painted in his mind’s eye by the ship’s
sensors. The general shape of the base was known but the interior
remained mostly blank. Only a few outer regions and corridors were
part of the view, places where a few teams had attached sensor
drones and managed to report back despite the alien EM
scrambling.

“
Download what we have to
orient the ARs,” Relachik said aloud and simultaneously transmitted
over his command link. He wondered if he was about to commit his
child to death. The assault robots were not known for their
finesse. “I want the alien and the smugglers alive, if possible.
Make sure the controller teams are on top of that.”

There, maybe I’ve given her
a chance.

“
Aye, sir,” came the reply
from the officer next to him, Colonel Baker. Baker handled the AR
teams and would coordinate with the
Seeker
’s assault shuttle crews to
deliver the deadly arsenal that the scout ship held in her metal
belly.

“
Prepare to launch within
the hour,” Relachik ordered. So far the encounter had been a
stalemate. The scout ship’s sensors were almost blinded by the
amazing electronic warfare capabilities of the alien base, but they
had managed to figure out that the outpost was damaged in some
previous battle.

Send Lieutenant Hartlet
into operations,
he ordered over the
command link and walked into a glassed-off side room of the
bridge.

Most of Relachik’s officers
now believed that the base they had found had been crippled to the
point where it had no external weaponry it could bring to bear on
the
Seeker
.
Relachik wasn’t so sure. He thought that they might be right, or
perhaps the aliens weren’t so hostile as to attempt to destroy
the
Seeker
on
sight. He also knew that his daughter had been seen consorting with
a live alien, a shock that took a while to fully absorb.

His daughter. Telisa had been more on
his mind these past few days than since her childhood. Part of him
wanted to forget about her. She had chosen her own path. But he
couldn’t ignore the fact that she was his daughter. He’d try to
save her now. Then, he’d hunt her down next time he got back to
Earth, and try to set her straight. But she’d gone so wrong this
time... was she beyond saving? He ground his teeth in
frustration.

Joe Hartlet came in and saluted. The
captain returned his salute and pointed him at a chair.

“
Are you ready to join the
action, lieutenant?”

“
Yes sir. We’re making an
incursion on the alien base?” Joe asked.

“
We’re conducting a probe.
To gather information, learn more about the base. Ideally we’ll
find the alien, and perhaps the smugglers, and bring all of them
aboard the
Seeker
.”

“
I have reason to believe
it’ll be very dangerous. In my report–”

“
Yes. It may be dangerous,
but this is vital to our future. These aliens may have technology
that we need to learn more about. Having the first live alien ever,
would of course come in handy as well.”

Relachik watched Joe consider objecting
further.

“
I can guess what you’re
thinking. But given that the base is not responding to our efforts
to communicate, and appears largely inactive, we think it may be
deserted. And you’ve already come under hostile fire in the
installation.”

“
But that could have been
from some other alien culture,” Joe said. “I don’t know who it was
that destroyed my escort. Also, given the programming of the
robots, it could have been a misunderstanding.”

Relachik steepled his fingers and
leaned back.

“
It’s a moot point. The
order has been given. The UNSF is prepared to accept the risks to
this ship and the marines in order to learn more about an advanced
technology in the hands of a race that could still be in
existence.”

“
I see, sir. Then I hope we
can find some valuable items or information.”

“
You’ve been assigned to
Major Franks’ personal squad. They’ve targeted a sector of the base
that looks particularly promising,” Relachik said. He sent Joe’s
link a pointer, indicating the area on their electronic master map
of the outpost.

“
Will I have any
responsibilities with regard to the... combat effectiveness of the
unit?”

“
No. Which isn’t to say you
won’t be armed... but the assault robots bring to bear more than
ninety percent of a squad’s firepower. Your primary task is to lend
us any additional thoughts your particular perspective may offer on
the base, since you have been in this creature’s environment
before. Assuming, of course, that the theories you put forth in
your report prove correct.”

“
Of course I welcome the
opportunity to accompany the probe.”

“
There’ll be more than one
boarding party. Someone’ll come up with something.”

***

Telisa and Magnus found Shiny sitting
still in a twisty cavern . Telisa thought it looked like the alien
was thinking or busy with a mental interface. The familiar leg
twitch revealed the gold and silver statue of an alien as
alive.

“
Hi Shiny. We managed to
load your robot into the bay. Thanks for letting us study
it.”

Shiny responded through their
links.

No problem. You’re welcome.
You owe me one.

Telisa laughed. “Yes we do. Can we ask
you some questions about what attacked your base? We’d like to take
some samples of the technology but we’re afraid it might be
dangerous.”

No time. Collection not
feasible. Others in proximity.

“
What? Others of your
race?”

Humans. Companions.
Allies.

“
Other humans are
here?”

UNSF Seeker,
transmitted Shiny.
Leave.
Rejoin.

“
Holy shit! The
Seeker
?” Telisa
asked.

“
You know the ship?” asked
Magnus.

“
That’s my father’s ship.
The bastard is probably here to exterminate Shiny and anything
vaguely alien.” She took a deep breath. “Then he’ll throw us in the
brig and bring us back to Earth in chains.”

Telisa. Magnus. Rejoin
humans. Shiny, leave. Separate.

“
Now wait just a minute,”
Magnus said, raising his voice slightly. “Those guys are after us
because we took off with you. If not for us, you’d be their
prisoner by now.”

“
Well, mostly for that
reason,” added Telisa, thinking about her father. What would happen
if she were captured by her father’s ship?

Corrective action. Abscond.
Retreat. Flee.

Telisa’s link received an
external pointer. She accessed it and saw a scanner interface from
the
Iridar
. She
saw that the
Seeker
had arrived as Shiny claimed. Assault shuttles were
disembarking assault robots and electronic warfare teams from the
scout and forcing their way into the base at several points. A
message came through to
Iridar
from the
Seeker
.

“
This is the UNSF
transmitting to suspected smugglers aboard unknown vessel. You are
to surrender immediately. All contraband will be annexed by the
UNSF and you will be held pending charges. Repeat, surrender to
UNSF personnel or risk being killed.”

“
Holy shit! They’re going to
be swarming in here in a matter of minutes!” Magnus said. Telisa
realized that he was examining the same data that Shiny had sent to
her link.

The pointer continued to feed more
data. Telisa saw hundreds of red points indicated in the three
spheres of the base.

Defenses. Weapons.
Resistance,
Shiny said. A path lit up in
green in Telisa’s mental image of the base.
Retreat.

“
The path leads back to the
Iridar,” Magnus said. “But what I don’t get is, are those defenses
going to be gunning for us, too?”

Telisa. Magnus. Access
allowed. Flee.

Shiny turned away and scuttled down one
of the side passages.

“
Where are you going?”
Telisa called out, but no answer came.

“
The map says we need to go
this way,” Magnus said.

“
Should we go? What’s going
to happen to him?”

“
I don’t know. Y’know what,
we can’t make his decisions for him. This is our chance to leave.
And we still have shitloads of artifacts. If we can get the hell
out of here we might still make it.”

Telisa shrugged. “Okay. Let’s get outta
here!”

She grabbed Magnus’s hand and they ran.
“Good luck, Shiny!” Telisa yelled back at the receding alien. Then
they were loping through the dim tunnels, passing the mysterious
clusters of glowing cubes.