Parker Interstellar Travels 6: The Celaran Ruins (17 page)

“Hard
to kill huh?
Oh I will
kill you,” she rasped. Another creature came into
sight, bringing her total unharmed enemy count to three. She breathed heavily
and wiped the gore off her shock baton. This time two of them would arrive at
the same time from opposite directions. To avoid this, Siobhan stepped toward
one, dragging her right foot with effort. Her left foot fell through the
undergrowth, bringing her face to face with the thing coming.

“Arrrgh!”
she yelled in disgust. The creature came into range, clacking. Its limbs and
hairs were disgusting. A rich scent assailed her. Siobhan attacked all out,
afraid the other would arrive from behind too soon. She thrust the baton into
its maw. That stopped its forward march. Then she anticipated its angry charge
and met it with an even stronger thrust. The baton cracked against its hard
exterior and caused purple mush to ooze out.

Siobhan
heard the other one close behind her and panicked. She pressed the baton down
onto the bug before her, supporting herself, and climbed right over it. She
almost screamed in frustration at the one clinging to her ankle.

One
free second and I swear I’m gonna smash that jammer off my leg so damn hard!

Some
part of her realized she was making gasping mewing sounds that did not at all
sound as ferocious as she would like. She pivoted on the last foe and brought
the baton down savagely on the one that had threatened to get her from behind.
This time the wet crack was expected. It was spectacular, sending purple goo
flying. She smashed it again and again.

Another
two pig-things came forward. They had to run the gauntlet of corpses
surrounding her, but she knew they would make it to her. She pried most of the
body off the pair of mandibles that stubbornly clung to her leg. That one still
struggled despite the mess of its body, but without a pair of jaws, she counted
it out of action.

Her
last grenade was ready to blow up if it looked unwinnable. Siobhan struggled
for breath. The smell felt like it was suffocating her now.

I
can take one more with me. Always one more. Just kill the next one then I can
die.

Siobhan
heard a rattling sound like an angry snake.

What
now? Another creature come to fight for a meal?

The
scavenger pig before her started to thrash in anger or distress. Then it slowed
and froze. Siobhan looked over her shoulder at the new danger.

It
was Vincent.

“Vincent?”
she said uncertainly. “Are you helping me?”

The
Blackvine did not answer. It shuffled over. Siobhan’s link picked up noise.
Ironically, Siobhan suddenly felt creeped out by the alien. She told herself it
was crazy. It had just saved her from monsters trying to eat her.

Why
does the quiet plant freak me out? Because I’m a mess. Fragged.

Siobhan
pried herself up. She was tired, very tired. She did not think she could climb
back up into the vines. Besides, what if there were still more of the shooter
ants or pigs around?

“What
now?” she asked.

Vincent’s
link sent her a nonverbal command.

“Prepare.”

Siobhan
rose unsteadily. She looked around.

“Repair.”

Vincent
held out her laser pistol. Siobhan took it.

“It’s
fine, according it its diagnostics,” she said. She re-armed it and kept it in
her hand, searching for enemies.

Vincent
sent more of the nonverbal codes.
“Repair. Return.”

“What?”
She sent the nonverbal command for lack of understanding.

Vincent
sent a tendril out. The alien wrapped the tendril around her pistol.

“Return.”

“You
want it?” Siobhan felt torn. Vincent had just saved her life. Now it wanted
something very useful back.

Vincent
pulled the pistol from her hand, but held it between them.

“Authorize.”

Oh.
It won’t listen to his link. That’s why he asked me to ‘repair’ it.

Siobhan
felt nervous. She decided to help, since she still had her baton. Some paranoid
part of her prepared to duck and swing the baton at Vincent if for some
inexplicable reason the alien decided to shoot her with her own pistol after
saving her. As soon as the thought crossed her brain she realized she could
easily prevent that from happening.

Siobhan
accessed the pistol through its link interface. She verified the pistol had her
on its no-target lists, then authorized Vincent to use the weapon, while
keeping herself as the owner. Vincent would not be able to convince the pistol
to shoot her. She gave him permission to inquire status, arm, fire, and add new
target profiles.

That
should do it. Unless he’s as good a hacker as Shiny is.

Apparently,
Vincent saw the new services appear in his link. He targeted one of the dead
bodies before them and fired. Smoke rose from the disgusting purple mass.

“Satisfied?”
Siobhan asked.

“Follow.”

Vincent
headed west toward the New Iridar. Siobhan shrugged to herself and followed.

Chapter 17

Jason
ran across the hardtop toward Telisa. He had not given it a moment’s thought;
it was his instant reaction to seeing her drop. Caden was at his side, then
outpacing him.

“Wait
for cover fire!” Imanol yelled. Jason’s tactical showed two grenades rolling
away from Imanol’s position.

Blam, blam. Blam, blam.

“No,
cease fire!” Cilreth said. “Let them think the enemy was the battle sphere.
Otherwise that ship will destroy us next.”

Jason
did not see or hear the grenades explode. He assumed that Imanol had disarmed
them as Cilreth suggested. Jason focused on reaching Telisa quickly. Caden
reached Telisa and grabbed one of her arms. Jason grabbed Telisa’s other arm
and dragged her with Caden. They seemed to move so very slowly while the
reports of projectile fire echoed around the field.

We
can make it out,
Jason
said to himself, though he feared otherwise.

Jason
looked at Telisa. There was blood on her face. He could not see any holes in
her Veer suit, but he knew if it had been penetrated it might reseal and
staunch her bleeding. His link checked with her suit. The suit said its
occupant was still alive.

“She’s
only stunned,” Jason said hopefully.

“Who?
Where is everybody?”

Jason
was confused for a full second. That female voice... his link identified the
speaker as Siobhan.

“Siobhan!”
exclaimed Caden. “Where are you? My tactical shows you approaching the
New
Iridar
from the forest!”

“Yep,
I’m here,” Siobhan said. “I see smoke. The ship isn’t hit is it? Who are we
fighting?”

“The
ship? Ask how many times I’ve been hit!” Caden said, holding his head low and
pulling Telisa toward the forest.

“I’m
there in a couple minutes!” Siobhan said.

“Meet
us at the
New Iridar
or beyond. The battle sphere is gone,” Imanol told
her.

The
PIT team ran into the vines of the forest. The battle died down behind them. No
projectiles or energy beams cut into the forest from the compound.

If
that Celaran ship goes for the New Iridar, we’ll be stuck here forever, or
close to forever.

Caden
and Jason stopped to rest about fifteen meters outside the fence. They placed
Telisa with her back to a huge vine spire.

“That
was a disaster,” Imanol said.

“We
got rid of the battle sphere,” Telisa mumbled.

“You’re
back! Take it easy,” Jason said.

“Temporary
brain scramble,” Telisa said. “Luckily I’m only a copy,” she said, managing a
slight smile.

“Siobhan
is back,” Caden told her, already loping off toward the
New Iridar
.

“Follow
him,” Telisa ordered, though she did not move.

Jason
started to prop her up. “No hurry, I think,” he said. “The Celarans aren’t
pursuing us.”

“I
think they’re smarter than we give them credit for,” Cilreth said. “They know
we’re not violent.”

“Well,
at least they’re peaceful,” Telisa said. “They only defend themselves if
attacked.”

Telisa
stood. Jason hovered nearby, ready to help.

She’s
probably recovered. And once again, several times stronger than me,
Jason thought.

“Catch
up with Caden,” she said, moving forward. Jason could tell she was not one
hundred percent because she did not use her amazing strength to leap up to a
wider vine above.

“Tall
order. Wunderkind wants his girlfriend back,” Imanol said. But he ran up the
vine and tried to catch Caden.

By
the time Jason and Telisa arrived, Caden stood below the
New Iridar
.

Jason
checked the map. It showed Siobhan and Vincent were almost there.

“Be
careful,” Jason said. “This could be a deception.”

“Hey!
The green recruit is paranoid!” Imanol said proudly.

“He’s
not green anymore,” Telisa said, readying her weapon. “Like he says. Stay
sharp.”

Jason
walked over and took partial cover at the base of a vine. There were no
attendants for him to command, but a Terran scout machine lingered near the
New
Iridar
. He added its video feed to his attention cycle. The view flipped
into his PV rotation periodically.

Siobhan
emerged from the forest with Vincent beside her.

Caden
loped forward and embraced her.

“I
thought you were a goner for sure,” Caden mumbled against her. Siobhan simply
clung to him tighter.

Jason
glanced at Imanol, but his acerbic companion did not say anything. He looked
pleased.

“Vincent
found me at a critical moment. Maybe saved my life.”

“I
take back everything I said about him,” Imanol said.

Maybe
Imanol is human after all.

“Is
the
New Iridar
in danger? Are we in danger?” Jason asked.

“Let’s
move the ship back,” Imanol suggested.

“What
few eyes we have left are showing me everything is over,” Telisa said. “The
ship is gone. The guardians are out, but not shooting at anything.”

“The
ship left?”

“No,
New Iridar
says it’s back in the building,” Cilreth said.

“Everyone
in,” Telisa ordered. “I’ll get patched up. You guys size up the damage to the
Celarans. We need to find out if we’re enemies now.”

“Where
did Vincent rescue you from?” Jason asked as he entered the ship.

“The
Celarans gave me the look over,” Siobhan said. “Though I saw only robots. Then
they dropped me off in the forest with my stuff. My suit is damaged and out of
power.”

“By
the Five,” Telisa said. “I’ve screwed this up eight ways from extinction. We
started this battle to try and get you back, but you were probably already
released. Now we’ve made enemies of them.”

“Maybe,”
Siobhan said. “The battle sphere is gone?”

Telisa
did not answer. Jason could tell she was angry with herself.

Everyone
rested for an hour and waited to see what would happen. Jason sat alone in his
quarters and thought about his life.

Am
I a core worlder or a frontiersman? Is this life better? Am I going to die too
soon out here?

It
seemed to Jason that one felt truly alive when danger threatened, yet that
danger would eventually end his life. How could anyone balance that?

The
core worlders had come to find that when they lived their virtual adventures in
artificial worlds, their fun was muted by a lack of danger. Slowly new
replacements to physical danger had been introduced, such as monetary penalties
and bursts of pain used to provide meaning to failure in virtual reality. Some
extremists actually suppressed or replaced their memories so that they did not
know they were in a simulation until they died and woke up. A fraction of those
maintained that their current life was also a simulation, and that they would
awaken to a new reality when they died.

Jason
saw now how those replacements paled compared to the incentives provided by
real life on the frontier. An urgent message interrupted his thoughts.

“Interesting
advance in the cargo bay,” Cilreth announced. Jason left for the work area set
up there.

“What?”
Telisa asked on the channel.

“This
is important. I think. Maybe. Look at these items. The all purpose laser, the
unknown baton here, and this plain rod with all the complicated sub-sections of
different materials... they are all the same mass. Just over three kilograms.”

“That’s
all?” Imanol asked. “Some of us are hurt, you know.”

“Interesting,”
Telisa said.

“It’s
important,” Cilreth said, though she sounded like she might be convincing
herself too. “I mean they are all
exactly
the same mass.”

“That
is important, it must be,” Caden said.

“They
were made from this,” Siobhan asserted, picking up the plain rod. “These other
two things started out like this thing.”

“Ah,
wow. Some kind of generic base material rod? But don’t these two things require
different materials?” asked Caden.

“They
do. Kind of. Terrans would have used different materials. But these aliens—they
like to be flexible, you know? They would have the same attitude about their
materials. They have the variety they need here in this base rod. They would
use materials that have a wide range of different uses. Like structural
insulator, and a flexible conductor, vice-versa, each material selected for
more than one possible function. Then through some advanced manufacturing
process, maybe nanomachines, I don’t know, they transformed it into what they
needed.”

“But
we don’t use different materials just for fun,” Imanol said. “We do it because
for any particular function, we choose the best material, well, tempered by its
price anyway.”

“These
things have more than one function.”

“But
their components each do one thing... wouldn’t they?”

“Imagine
how much cheaper it would be to equip a new colony if you just manufactured
these generic rods and could make a hundred different tools from the same
thing?”

“It
might even be programmable,” Cilreth said. “Reconfigurable!”

“Amazing,
if you’re right,” Caden said.

“The
end result is inferior or we’d do this too,” Imanol maintained.

“We
prefer our way. They prefer theirs. They have different goals and ways of
weighing success and failure,” Telisa said. “You would have five tools Imanol.
Each one may do its job very well. A Celaran only has to carry one tool instead
of five. It might not be quite as good as each of your tools, but it was
cheaper.”

“And
lighter! They are probably flyers, remember? One light multifunction rod would
be important,” Jason said.

Telisa
nodded. “Exactly! See, it probably makes sense for them.”

“That
weight, or a multiple of it, is probably at an upper limit of what they would
to carry with them on a flight,” Caden said.

“That
reminds me. I found out something about the laser,” Telisa said. Telisa looked
at the device, then she held it before her, level with the ground. Then she
took her hand away. It floated in place.

“Whoa,”
Caden said.

“Wowsa,
it hovers?” Cilreth said.

“As
Jason says, perfect for a flyer. Or a glider,” Telisa said. “They’re all light.
And this can hover. I bet the other one can, too.”

“I’m
working on verifying that these two different rods used the same material
somewhere inside for two different reasons. Like something used as an insulator
in one device that was used structurally in the other, something like that,”
Cilreth said.

“Okay,
your theories sound good. I’d like to know what the other fully formed rod
does,” Imanol said. “That one’s a laser. What’s this?” Imanol pointed to the
other tool.

“I
can’t figure it out yet,” Cilreth said. “But the battery is smaller and it’s
much more mechanically complex.”

“I’ll
have a crack at it,” Telisa said.

“What’s
the plan, then? Just leave with what we have? Maybe take some parts from the
houses?” Jason said.

“No,
we have to neutralize the rest of the guard machines,” Telisa said. “Or
convince them to ignore us like they ignore Vincent.”

“Then
we would have access to all the toys,” Caden said.

“I
believe that’s a spacecraft in there,” Telisa said. “The thing that defeated
the battle sphere. That’s our objective. I think we could trade a Celaran
spacecraft for Magnus.”

“That’s
great! I agree. Surely Shiny would go for that,” Siobhan said. “What’s Magnus
compared to an alien spaceship? I mean, to Shiny. Of course he’s worth it to
us.”

“That’s
the plan. I hate to destroy more of the Celaran’s stuff, but, first of all, I
don’t think any of them are here. Our need is great. Secondly, well, we already
blew a bunch of stuff apart starting that fight with Shiny’s battle sphere. As
far as the Celarans are concerned, whether there are any of them or their AIs
here, we are enemies. I’m skeptical they appreciate the distinction between the
Vovokan battle sphere and us. If there is one. I mean, I decided to initiate
that battle.”

“Also,
we have the attendants around us, also Vovokan,” Imanol pointed out. “If an
alien or an AI has watched us carefully, then they would probably conclude we
are allies with the Vovokans. And we were at one time.”

“We’re
going to set up an ambush,” Telisa said. “The towers in our direction are
destroyed. I’ll go out onto the concrete or whatever it is, and when they come
to get me, you’ll be ready to snipe the security machines. Everyone, long range
weapons. A mix of lasers and projectiles, please. Be ready in five minutes.”

“No,
that’s not the way to go about it!” Siobhan said.

“Really?”

“They
let me go. I was rudely examined, sure, but they let me go and even let me keep
my equipment!”

“But
we just had a major battle with them. They might not be so friendly now!”

“That
was a Vovokan battle sphere. Lose the attendants and go in unarmed,” Siobhan
said.

“I
don’t think that’s safe,” Caden said.

“I’ll
take Vincent with me. He seems to get along fine with them.”

Imanol
and Telisa traded looks.

“When
they first ran in there to get Telisa, I was shooting just after the sphere was
destroyed,” Imanol said. “Those are machines. They have to have noticed.”

“We
could test it,” Cilreth said. “Send Vincent in with a simulacrum.”

“Things
this advanced would know the difference instantly,” Telisa said. “Besides, do
you have an android sitting around?”

“We
need to make friends with them, not fight them,” Siobhan said.

“I’d
like to,” Telisa said. “We were desperate because you had been captured.”

“Okay,
I want to go in with Vincent.”