The Trilisk Supersedure (25 page)

Arakaki
listened to the amazing conversation, left behind. But she appeared intensely
interested.

“Well
that Trilisk, tourist or not, has killed hundreds of Terrans, maybe more.”

“So
much for the benevolent Trilisk ideas.”

“It may
be a single example,” Telisa said. “It doesn’t represent its race any more than
a single human can represent us. Besides, it may have been driven insane by
loneliness, or the collapse of its prayer receiver, or who knows. There’s so
much we don’t know.”

“Okay,
now I know you’re unreasonably biased toward anything alien,” Cilreth said. “I
agree we know nothing for sure, but a growing body of evidence suggests
Trilisks may have been nasty characters.”

“It
might not be a Trilisk. It could be someone else in a special Konuan body just
like I was.”

“I
found a body in one of the tubes when I was searching for you,” Cilreth said. “I’m
pretty sure it was a Trilisk corpse.”

“I need
to see it!” Telisa exclaimed.

“Wait,”
Magnus said. “We have to go after it as soon as possible to have any hope of
catching it.”

“I got
you a sample,” Cilreth slipped in. “Including an important piece of what may
have been a body-wide link or enhanced nervous system that worked like a
distributed link. Hell, I don’t know. I got you a sample of some damn thing or
other.”

“Send
Shiny after it,” Telisa said. “We’ll follow. He can message us with directions.
I need to see that body. We need to take this equipment with us. We can’t
leave. Not even to chase a Trilisk.”

“Okay.
Besides, it may still not be that particular Trilisk in the body. It could
still be some other creature, or another Trilisk…”

“If you’re
hunting the thing, then I want in,” Arakaki said.

“I don’t
think we need any—” the younger woman started, then stopped. To cover the
awkward silence while she argued with Magnus in private, Arakaki offered a bit
of a carrot.

“Well,
I can offer you a lot in return. For starters, I know where your Trilisk is and
what it looks like.”

“What?
How is that possible?” Cilreth asked.

“Just
tell us,” Magnus said. “Earn our trust. We aren’t ready to offer you anything
yet.”

“Holtzclaw.
Our commander. He just radically changed personalities. Toward the rabidly
homicidal. I think the Trilisk just took him over,” Arakaki said.

“How do
you know your man didn’t just cut and run? Losing the battle may have broken
him.”

“Are
you kidding? He hadn’t given in to the Earth forces yet. Years after we lost.
Do you think he would just leave? He was determined to fight to the bitter end.
And bring all of us with him. Even if he was finally giving up, he’d never
leave without all of us.”

“And
what about you? You’re giving up all that loyalty just like that?”

“I used
to be loyal. Until it dawned on me that we’d lost and we had no hope of ever
winning. Once I had accepted that, it was just a matter of biding my time. At
least, until we came here and the Konuan started hunting us down.”

“We
could do a truth check,” Cilreth said.

“Not
really. Who knows what kind of link she has? The UED may have made
modifications to their officers.”

Magnus
sighed. “We have an option. There’s Shiny.”

“What
about him?” Telisa asked.

“How
much you want to bet he can tell if one of us is lying?”

Telisa
frowned. “I suppose he might be able to do that.”

“I
think it’s part of why he’s still aligned with us. He knows we’re not going to
switch on him because he can tell we’re sincere about working with him.”

Arakaki
shifted uncomfortably. “Who’s Shiny?”

Chapter 26

Kirizzo
scanned again for anomalies as his Terran allies attempted to explain odd
aspects of his physiology and culture to the newcomer named Arakaki. His allies
had accepted her into their group after Kirizzo scanned her statements for
deception. She had been truthful in expressing her desire to chase the probable
Trilisk. He had not yet made an appearance within her sensory range, and saw no
need to as yet. There remained higher priorities.

The
assertion that the target had taken Terran form altered his search
configuration considerably. The possibility now existed that the target had
moved back above ground but evaded his detection grid. Kirizzo produced another
signature profile and released it on half his surface monitoring assets.

Drones
shot around above the ruins at high speeds to cover ground while using the new
profile. Kirizzo almost immediately picked up the target again. The anomalies
were indeed centered on a Terran retreating back toward the UED base. Several
other Terrans moved with him.

Suddenly
his allies became extremely agitated.

“Shiny,
what’s going on? Are we being attacked? Are you attacking someone?” Telisa
transmitted.

“Negative.
Scanning for target. Verified Trilisk superseded a Terran.”

“You
don’t hear—oh. I mean, do you sense that atmospheric disturbance?”

Kirizzo
looked through his mountains of monitoring data. He did not make progress until
he had the key insight: the Terran sense of hearing.

“Speculation,
theory, explanation: scout drone’s supersonic velocities disturbed local,
nearby, proximate gaseous envelope. Please acknowledge: is theory probable,
likely, satisfactory?”

“Oh,
sonic booms? Yes, it sounds like that. Okay, as long as they’re yours. Thanks.
So you think it’s in a Terran body as Arakaki said?”

“Over 90
percent probability. Otherwise, a Trilisk deception, misdirection, trick.”

“Can we
capture him?”

“Routing
location to you. Move in,” Kirizzo urged.

It did
not appear he had to offer any incentive in trade. The Terrans gathered their
equipment rapidly. They spoke of the target among themselves, including the new
one. Kirizzo activated his walking machine and paralleled their course.

“This
Trilisk is likely very dangerous,” Magnus said.

“Scratch
the likely part. It is dangerous,” Arakaki added.

“Theorize,
suppose, expect target has exhausted advanced resources. Otherwise, UED forces
likely, probably, certainly, extinct,” Kirizzo said.

As the
Terrans moved out toward the suspected Trilisk, Kirizzo monitored the Terrans
and the target intently.

Kirizzo
detected a statistically significant increase in communications from the Terran
named Telisa directed to her mate Magnus. His initial impression was that
Telisa reacted with hostility to his interaction with the new female of
breeding age. After all, they had encountered other Terrans without eliciting
this response from Telisa. Perhaps she attempted to solidify her position with
Magnus in anticipation of a possible cooperative shift in Magnus toward the new
female. In any case, Telisa was agitated and it appeared to have something to
do with the new interloper.

Kirizzo
made a note to investigate other differences between this female and the older
one called Cilreth, but he assumed it had to do with the superior fertility of
the UED soldier. Her suitability as a mate must be an order of magnitude higher
than Cilreth; therefore she was more of a threat to Telisa’s status. Perhaps
Kirizzo would get to observe a shift to competition within the tightly knit
Terran group at last.

Updates
came in from his many machines on the planet, shifting his attention away from
the interplay between the Terrans. Enemies ahead launched projectiles at the
walker. At the same time, his Terran allies came under fire. One of Kirizzo’s
attendant drones serving Magnus reported a projectile intercept, then another.

“Take
precautions against enemy action,” Kirizzo transmitted.

“Uhm,
yes, Shiny,” Telisa said. “We hit the dirt. We have a sniper. I think they’re
far away.”

Kirizzo
checked Telisa’s position. She was indeed on the ground, along with her
companions. Kirizzo found it odd how her phraseology had not changed even
though the surface was now hard and rocky: “hit the dirt” remained her chosen
expression. If Terran terminology was this inflexible, perhaps the Terrans
themselves were inherently inflexible. Could this explain their reluctance to
switch to competitive mode?

“Light
screen of combatants ahead. Probable goal: delay pursuit,” Kirizzo summarized
for them. He sent along his sensor readings. The closest soldier in the screen
was over a kilometer from their position. More rounds came in from the UED
Terrans. Though they likely did not have clear targets, their projectiles knew
roughly what they were shooting for. Or were they more likely configured for
what they were
not
shooting for? At least in the case of the other
Terrans it was likely they would be targets of opportunity for passing rounds.

“It’ll
take awhile to advance against them,” Magnus said.

“A
soluble problem,” Kirizzo said.

“What
are you doing?”

“Launching
countermeasures,” Kirizzo said. He allocated drones to four small positions
held by pairs of Terrans ahead of them. His allies talked more among
themselves. Kirizzo allocated more attendant spheres to them so that each of
them would have at least two protectors.

The
four sniper nests exploded in quick succession.

“Threat
neutralized. May continue at current, present, existing pace.”

Once
again a stir went through the Terrans working with him.

“I knew
those men. You didn’t have to kill them,” Arakaki said on the group channel.

“Terrans
seek to delay pursuit,” Kirizzo informed them. “Target moving away.”

“She
means those soldiers are not against us,” Telisa explained to him. “They are
not in competition with us; they don’t understand their leader has been taken
over by an alien.”

“What
exactly are these things flying around us?” Arakaki asked.

“Don’t
kill any other Terrans please,” Telisa said to Kirizzo. “They are not our
enemies.”

“May
further delay pursuit. Offer in exchange 5 percent more resource allocation
from industrial seed. Alternative, secondary, additional offer: increased
access to Vovokan military hardware.”

“What?”

“Is he
offering us things in exchange for our buy-in on killing more of my fellow UED
soldiers?” Arakaki asked. Her voice indicated higher than average levels of
strain or emotional disturbance.

“We can’t
bargain with you on this, Shiny,” Telisa said.

“Seven
percent more resource allocation from—”

“We can’t
bargain with human lives,” Arakaki said.

Perhaps
an individual’s worth to society had to be fully measured before the Terrans
would allow exchange of the individual’s life for resources. Kirizzo changed
tack.

“Offering
1.3 times Terran average life valuation on Earth in any currency or resource
for license, permission, agreement to kill intervening Terrans without breaking
existing alliance,” he offered.

“We
refuse!” Arakaki said.

“Wait a
minute,” Magnus said. He sent further private communications among the other
Terrans. Kirizzo did not intercept the signals, though he might well have done
so if things were less hectic. The Terrans were obviously hung up on a point
perhaps practical but more likely terminology oriented. Perhaps the one called
Magnus could see a way through this particular intercultural maze. Kirizzo wasn’t
sure what the conflict was, but he hoped Magnus could mesh their negotiation
styles quickly.

“Don’t
kill them unless any of us are in real danger,” Cilreth suggested.

“Goal
in danger, wish to prevent escape of valuable target,” Kirizzo said.

“Where
is the target going to go? You’re tracking it, right? We don’t need to kill
these people,” Telisa said.

“Target
may descend into Trilisk tunnels to escape detection. May escape in UED space
vessel.”

“He
wouldn’t get past the
Thumper
, though?

“Unlikely,
improbable, doubtful.”

Kirizzo
entered a planning phase. What should he do if the Terrans remained
obstructionistic to the capture of the Trilisk in a Terran shell? Proceed
without their assistance. Take the Trilisk back to the base in his own ship.
The
Clacker
would be left with the valuable Trilisk artifacts, but he
would have a Trilisk. The trade would be in his favor. Should he relocate the
base in that case to avoid further Terran entanglement? It would depend on what
he could learn from the Trilisk. Would it be dangerous to allow the Trilisk
close to the AI? It was a troubling thought he hadn’t considered. A Trilisk
might well be able to undo his handiwork with the prayer blocker and simply run
rampant with it. Then Kirizzo would be the captured specimen. A great deal of
time would be required to complete the phase. He would be better served by
switching back to action now.