The Trilisk Ruins (33 page)

“
Let’s hope their bodies and
any trace of our DNA was dissolved. The UNSF is going to go through
that base with some sophisticated equipment.” Magnus shook his
head. “If only it had been a few artifacts in some cave or
something. They never would have bothered to waste the resources to
find us, if they even knew we were ever there. But with an alien,
the complex we were trapped in, and Joe... we may just be
doomed.”

“
I’m not going to give up
and neither are you,” Telisa said. “They have a lot of other stuff
to worry about, too, and it’s going to take them time. We’re a
small part of it. Shiny is what they’re going to care about. The
Trilisk stuff is what they’ll care about.”

“
Maybe.”

“
Well what else is there to
do... you have the ship’s logs to clean up?” Telisa
said.

Magnus let his head droop. “That’s the
big one. It’s going to take a long time, and it sucks.”

“
Well we have time. Take a
day off,” Telisa suggested with a smile. “You deserve a
rest.”

“
Well, I was thinking...
about a crash pod inspection.”

“
What?”

Magnus winked at her. “Team crash pod
inspection.”

Telisa moved closer.
“Oh,
team
crash
pod inspection. Yes, I think one of those is in order.”

Epilogue

Kirizzo examined the data from his
survey of the planet below. His vessel collected more data every
minute but the preliminary analysis was almost
irrefutable.

Kirizzo’s home planet lay dead,
destroyed by a thorough application of heavy weapons from
orbit.

He sent down drones to salvage what he
could. It might be possible to retrieve useful supplies from the
ruins of the planet. Close range scans showed the enemy had been
Bel Klaven. The war machines had dropped onto the planet after the
original barrage to dig the remaining Gorgala out of their tunnels.
All evidence indicated this had been a year-long campaign,
involving millions of invaders.

For Kirizzo, this revelation came as a
life-altering event. New goals would have to be conceived, new
plans laid to attain them. In some small way he was responsible for
the carnage below, by allowing himself to be trapped in the Trilisk
complex rather than returning in a timely manner with important
Trilisk secrets. But now he could use what he had learned of those
secrets to make a new life.

The Gorgala contemplated the aliens he
had encountered, the soft ones with fat ugly bodies. Their
primitive civilization looked more appealing in light of this new
data. Perhaps they could offer Kirizzo the resources he
desired.

He wondered where they had traveled to.
There had been some sort of confrontation between the ones he had
traded with and the others who were hunting them. Would it be
dangerous to contact any of them without learning more
first?

Kirizzo searched his download of the
information he had gleaned from the computation tools of the
aliens. Some of the data included star charts and astronomical
reference material. And of course he had exacting records of the
core replication elements of the individuals he sought.

With a little work, he should be able
to find them again.

***

A hooded figure moved through the lock,
passing smoothly under the security scanner. A brief disruption of
the feed caused the nearby controller to review the data. It
initiated a weapons scan which came up negative. The DNA of the
latest few entrants ran through the matcher again but nothing
seemed out of order. The discrepancy was logged.

Inside, a well dressed gentlemen waited
at a long table in an empty warehouse room. The newcomer walked in
and removed her hood.

“
Ms. Vorauche?” asked the
man, coming to his feet. He looked well manicured if slightly
overweight, with brown hair and a thick moustache.

“
Mr. Franklin,” Telisa
responded.

“
Well, the item is quite a
find. I would of course ask where you got such an amazing artifact,
but I guess I know better.”

Telisa shrugged. “The artifact itself
will have to be enough.”

The man nodded. “It is enough. Mystery
enough all by itself. And I am paying quite enough for it, as
well.”

“
Well you know, high
demand... ”

“
Limited supply. Yes. We can
thank the space force for that.”

Telisa thought of her father for a
moment. She wondered where he was. Then she reached into her jacket
and brought out the device. It was a glowing egg with a thin
covering of silvery netting.

“
Be careful, it has a memory
recorded in it,” she said.

“
Yes! Actually, I can’t wait
to see it myself.”

“
It is as I said. Very
powerful. You won’t be disappointed, even though you don’t have a
third brain lobe to receive the full experience.”

The man took the artifact into his
hands and examined it. After a moment, his eyes stopped moving, and
he froze. She listened to his breathing for a few moments while he
experienced the memory. Then he blinked and came out of
it.

“
Fantastic. Amazing.
Unbelievable,” he muttered. “And I hope we may do business again,
if this is any indication!”

“
Then we have a deal, Mr.
Franklin,” Telisa said, offering her hand.

The man took her hand in his own doughy
appendage and shook it vigorously. “Excellent. A wonderful item it
is. Being a xenoartifact smuggler must be very lucrative, and
doubly as exciting!”

Telisa smiled. “It is, Mr. Franklin. It
is.”