The Trilisk Supersedure

Chapter 15



Cilreth had the last load of cases loaded onto the four scout robots she had gathered. The tiny convoy headed back to the ship at her command as Chigran’s star lightened the eastern horizon.

“Magnus? Telisa? Shiny?” she transmitted. No answer. “What the hell am I gonna do if no one shows up? Take off in the Clacker by myself?”

She sighed. Then the opposite thought struck her: What would she do if a lot of people showed up? Magnus had said the UED might be coming for the Clacker. There had been yesterday’s huge cloud in the distance and the sound of thunder like a bomb. Should she lock herself inside? The Vovokan vessel was so advanced; maybe they would not be able to get in.

Right about now she wished she had grabbed those pills at the criminal’s compound. With a thousand or so of those, she might be able to forget about everything for a while.

Cilreth wondered how long she had before the UED showed up. But she did not want to leave. She wanted to get her friends out of trouble. How could she help Magnus and Telisa?

Well, the bad guys already know we’re here, she thought. Telisa had gone down into one of the Trilisk tunnels. They hadn’t taken time to map them yet. Yet. The Clacker could probably perform the scan…or she might be able to accomplish it right here. She asked the cases for inventory. One of them had a seismic analyzer.

Cilreth dug out the analyzer and pulled it from its case. It was a tall, hourglass-shaped metal cylinder with a flat black top and bottom. The curved parts in the middle were silver. Her link found its activation service. She turned it on with a thought and placed it on the ground. It didn’t sit very well on the ragged rocks. She went to the nearest plant and shined a light down into its fissure. There among the roots she saw soft black soil. A few scuttling creatures ran from her light.

“Wonderful,” she said to herself. She dropped to the ground and put the device into the fissure. She had to put her entire arm deep into the hole to place it. She closed her eyes and pushed it into the soft dirt. Then it was over. She snatched her arm back up and rolled away from the rocky opening.

I hope no one is listening.

The machine sent out impulses into the ground from the plant well. The resulting scan was fuzzy but good enough to take a peek. Tunnels crisscrossed the area about eight meters under the surface. Cilreth focused on the building where she and Telisa had gotten separated.

The tunnel below branched in three directions. Cilreth decided she had no way to know which way Telisa went, not with the jamming going on. But assuming Telisa had the presence of mind to run towards the Clacker, she might have taken the tunnel leading…almost below her current camp. Cilreth followed the tunnel further. The next intersection was a building not far from the camp.

And it’s toward the Clacker.

Cilreth ordered the scout robots to resume carrying the load back toward the ship. She walked alongside them, carrying two cases herself. Then she set the cases down to check her weapons. She thought of the thing again: fast, deadly.

“I’m no match for that thing. Next mission we need fighting machines,” she vowed. But she knew she still had her stealth suit. And it had worked to get her away alive once.

“What now?” she asked herself aloud.

Hmm. Maybe Telisa didn’t go far. I could look for her down there. Or her blood. Oh, by the Entities, I don’t want to find her body.

Cilreth fidgeted with her stunner. Then she drew her machete.

“I’ll never hit the bastard with this,” she said. What other weapons did they have? Pistols, stunners, lasers, grenades, and swords. The thing was fast, so light, handheld weapons were the only thing she might hit with…unless….

Cilreth looked at the Trilisk corridors. Long and straight. Sometimes as long as half a kilometer.

Cilreth found another case. She took out a sniper’s weapon: a powerful three-shot laser with a tripod and a scope. The weapon wasn’t a rifle since it had no need for a long barrel, but it could deliver a lot of energy accurately at great distances.

Maybe I could kill it from a long ways away.

Cilreth tossed her machete to shed some weight and slid the three-shot over her shoulder. She left the case on the ground and gave the scout that had carried the rifle case one of her own containers. She told the scouts to carry the last load to the Clacker, then headed off toward the other building. She recalled her favorite danger mantra.

The twitch is already killing me anyway.

She left the tiny train of scouts and headed for the building. When she got there, she realized her oversight immediately. She faced an ancient wall with two of the grilles built into it. And she hadn’t brought anything to dig them out with.

“You are the most miserable planner that ever existed,” Cilreth said to herself. Telisa had been carrying Shiny’s digging device at the time they separated. Cilreth considered her rifle. It was a high-powered weapon, but shooting each grille out would eat through her ammo quickly. The weapon was at least much quieter than Magnus’s incredibly loud rifle.

“Okay, just check the perimeter first,” she said, still angry at herself for forgetting about the grilles. She turned and looked all around for a moment. Without any scout machines nearby, it rested upon her to be more alert than ever.

Movement caught her eye. Another of the tree clumps was dropping green worms. In all the action, she had forgotten completely about the tiny things. She saw a small clear creature pluck up a worm and pull it back toward the fissure where the stalks emerged. Then she saw another do the same.

“Ah, when the worms move, it’s feasting time—”

A huge creature registered on Cilreth’s mind. It had been standing there the whole time, next to the shedding plant, though its coloration made it look like a stand of plants itself. It was a horror of knobby legs and green tufts, a lobster-like monster. Cilreth saw a terrifyingly wide trap of a mouth with a hundred tendrils along the top and bottom edges. She knew instantly, utterly, her life was in danger.

She raised her rifle, but the thing attacked first. Four long spikes shot out toward her as fast as arrows. She felt an impact on the front of her suit and another on the top of her right leg. She shot the laser but missed as something yanked her forward. The weapon had no seeking projectiles, and it was not configured to lock onto something that looked like a stand of plants.

Cilreth realized the spines it had shot toward her were still attached to the monster. A wail rose from her throat as the tendrils began to take up more slack.

The damn thing is reeling me in; then I go into that Venus flytrap mouth—

Terror turned into a cold need that set aside her emotions. The laser lined up for another shot. A powerful yank of the tendrils sent her hopping forward a meter. The thing was closer now, easier to hit…

She activated the fire command. This time she hit her mark. A third of the pack’s charge went into cooking the creature from the inside out. It burst into flame and made a squeal grotesquely similar to that of a real lobster dropped into boiling water.

The tendrils’ pull subsided as the thing died. Cilreth dropped onto her backside.

Shouldn’t I feel pain? Have I been poisoned? Paralyzed?

Cilreth drew a deep breath. She heard a sound like a frightened schoolgirl. She looked down at herself. Two of the spikes were embedded in her, one in her chest and one in her leg. She looked away and closed her eyes. She couldn’t feel the pain. It must be blocked out like the initial stage of a gunshot wound.

Oh no.

One shuddering breath later she looked again. She grabbed a spine and moved it a bit. The spines had hook tips, but they were caught in her suit, not her flesh. The last layer had protected her from the attack, but the biological spear hooks were caught on her suit.

She grabbed the one sticking from her chest and pulled. It was stuck firmly.

I didn’t bring the damn machete. Holy Entities…

She did not lament long about the lack of a machete. She was still alive, and that was what was important. Cilreth came to her senses and considered her other equipment. There should be a smaller knife in her pack. She looked around for other creatures, but didn’t see anything threatening. She flicked a green worm away in disgust.

Her pack slid off her back as she lay there, allowing her to search for the knife. She found the tool, then cut away the tendrils. They were strong but no match for the sharp alloy.

I should have gone back to the Clacker. I should never have left it.

The scare had been severe, but she had been lucky. She tried to calm her nerves. Telisa might still be depending on her. Once Cilreth cut herself free, she tried to work the spines out of her protection. As she worked she ran the suit diagnostic. It reported some damage but judged itself to remain 95 percent effective.

Once she dropped the spines free on the ground before her, thoughts of returning to the ship assailed her again. But she decided to keep looking for Telisa.

How much worse could it get? I don’t want to find out.

She walked toward the next corner with her stunner in her hand. Her gaze even flitted upward occasionally, looking for anything lurking on the roof. The other wall of the building had one grille opening, but the grille was missing.

“Yes! Wait. Who did that?”

Cilreth checked over her shoulder, then took out a flashlight. She directed the powerful beam into the entrance. She saw just another ruined Konuan room. Scraps of cloth or paper, a few old plant stalks, and a small rock carved into something. Something with three arms and three legs.

Creepy.

Cilreth knelt down and slid through the entrance. She paused to let her eyes adjust. She examined the little statuette again.

Wait. That’s important. It shows they knew the Trilisks were here. Either that, or it’s a bizarre coincidence. If a child has twenty toy monsters, what are the chances one of them accidentally looks like the alien race living below her? Focus, Cilreth. Telisa needs you.

She checked her tunnel map in her link. Straight ahead. The grille that direction was missing, too.

Someone else has done this. But it looks like it was a long time ago.

She crawled through to the next room, and the next. All she saw was rotten garbage and a few old pieces of oxidized metal. She kept an eye out for more little statues, but she did not catch sight of anything similar. She came to the room above the tunnel.

The center of the room held a circular opening leading straight down. Just like where she had been separated from Telisa. As soon as she saw it, Cilreth nervously checked the ceiling. She started to shake.

Dammit, dammit, dammit. I’m such a damn coward.

She turned her stealth suit on to calm down. It helped a bit. The suit still had a lot of juice. She decided to leave it on as a crutch, at least until it showed a third of its energy store was expended. She would use it now to get a grip, but she would make sure and leave plenty for if, or when, she really needed it.

I’m not really an explorer. I’m just a private investigator. Of the deskbound type.

Cilreth had a smart rope in her pack. She took it out with her suit’s ghostly outline service turned on in her PV, to help orient herself while invisible. The rope anchored itself and prepared to bring her down to the tunnel below.

She took a deep breath and descended.

At the bottom, Cilreth pulled the sniper rifle off her shoulder. She activated the scope with her link and flipped through various low-light options. She saw the tunnel ahead in various frequencies of light, but none of them revealed any potential dangers.

She followed the long, smooth tunnel. She kept flipping through low-light settings until she saw a light ahead. It came from a larger room at the end. She slowed as she approached. No sounds disturbed the long tunnel.

Cilreth raised the rifle before her and took one step at a time. The room looked smooth walled and of advanced make, as if constructed of one piece of metal or plastic. There was no dust. Everything there looked brand new. The room had three pillars extending from floor to ceiling. Each column was black and silver, wide, way too thick for her to wrap her arms around. In fact, she felt threatened by the fact she couldn’t see what might be hiding behind them. Two other tunnels exited the room.

Cilreth walked over to the nearest pillar. “Telisa, where the hell are you? I don’t know anything about Trilisk stuff.”

Cilreth examined the massive pillar. It was way overbuilt, simply thicker than a metal pillar would have to be to support the ceiling. The other three pillars were the same thickness. Cilreth carefully touched the surface. The metal was smooth but it didn’t feel warm or cold.

“How can this be human body temperature? Ridiculous,” she noted aloud. She tapped the surface. Did it sound hollow? She wasn’t sure.

What’s in there?

Cilreth felt a vibration. There was a sound. A low humming. She stepped away.

Suddenly the top of the pillar was dropping. Cilreth realized the surface had been moving from the moment she felt the vibration, but it had been so smooth she hadn’t seen it moving. In the next second the top had dropped almost to the level of her head. Cilreth took several steps back and aimed her heavy laser.

What am I shooting at?

The pillar’s outer clasp continued to drop. In another couple of seconds, she would know.

A clear tube had been revealed beyond the outer wall of the column. The last bit of the sheath sunk into the floor. It was filled with…

“Ugh,” she grunted. “What is that crap? Green moss?”

The inside of the tube had been stuffed with a fluffy green material. The mass must have been more than her own weight, unless it was extremely light. The color was darker than the plants above, she decided. But the closer she looked, the more she realized the mass had shape.

A massive, three-legged, three-armed shape.

By the Five!

Cilreth’s hands wavered wildly. She dropped the barrel of her compact rifle lower, then looked around the room in case she had been so taken aback that something had approached unnoticed. But it was only her, her two attendant spheres, the three covered pillars, and the massive, fuzzy green derelict in the tube.

If Telisa was running from that thing, she may have hidden in one of these. Shit. She may be suffocating in one right now. She could be in one of the other three!

She took a deep breath and tried to gather her wits yet again. Her shaking subsided. The thing in the tube, Trilisk or not, looked very dead. Rather crumpled toward the bottom of the tube and utterly still. Had the Trilisks looked like that in life?

Cilreth walked over to another of the massive cylinders.

“So, how did I do that?”

She touched the pillar. Then she spoke quietly, “What’s inside?”

The hum returned. The pillar was opening.

This is madness. How can the Trilisks know how to interpret the brain of a Terran and open on command? It’s not like vastly different creatures across the galaxy could possibly have any universal wiring or patterns that would allow a machine to simply—

This time the clear cylinder revealed was empty. It lit up with a violet outline of a human brain. The walls of the tube rotated with thousands of glowing symbols. Even as Cilreth watched, the brain pulsed with activity. She watched flashes of light dart here and there through the brain as the symbols danced across the surface of the tube.

A brain. My brain? It is showing me…it has analyzed me, read me; it understands me as easily as I can read a network service driver…

Cilreth realized she was standing, mouth open, weapon dangling from her hand like a mesmerized idiot.

“Telisa. Where’s Telisa?” she asked the pillar.

The display shifted. A new shape appeared. It was a flat, complex creature. The rendering of the creature was transparent to display some of its inner workings. An apparent nervous system flashed green. Cilreth couldn’t see any centralized brain; its nerves were laid out in a grid like some kind of well-organized electronics project.

“What? Telisa. Where is Telisa?”

The display didn’t change. Cilreth looked at the creature. It was disgusting. A living carpet with a hundred crab legs. It had four foldable antennae on top and two long, sharp-ended drinking tubes tucked underneath its body like huge fangs.

That is nasty! It must be one of our Konuan.

“Show me Cilreth,” she said as a test. The Terran brain display returned. There was no discernable change in the display. The brain continued to hum with activity. A few diagrams flashed by too quickly for her to understand.

Cilreth tried to reach Magnus. She couldn’t get through. She prepared a message and told her link to send it as soon as any connection opened to Shiny or Magnus.

“I’ve found a series of complex metal tube machines. They are large enough to be used as a hiding spot. Telisa could be inside one. We should deploy some scouts to search for more of them,” she recorded. Then she attached a target signature and coordinates of the device before her.

Shiny can’t get our links working too soon, she thought.