The Trilisk Revolution (Parker Interstellar Travels) (10 page)

She
checked everything. She needed to notice remaining problems now. Something
caught her eye. A slight anomaly on a computing resources usage display.

What
is that?

Cilreth
zeroed in on a modest section of the Clacker’s computational power. It was less
than one percent of her total, but it was working hard and she did not know
what for. It was not doing anything Cilreth or the
Clacker
had told it
to do.

I
thought I had locked everything and everyone out. Even Shiny. Cilreth2 probably
made some last minute change and didn’t have time to tell me.

Cilreth
asked her link if it had suppressed any messages from her double lately. There
were no deferred communications.

The
anomaly grew slightly. Cilreth went to work to eradicate the incongruity. She
allocated ten percent of Clacker’s computing power to finding the rogue
elements and setting them back to known states. The problem seemed small, but
Cilreth knew that did not mean much—at the speed of Vovokan computation, a
small problem could become a big problem in the blink of an eye.

The
oddity got squeezed away by her actions. She compartmentalized important
systems and strengthened requirements for running tasks across logical
boundaries in the ship. Vovokan computers had a maze of authorization types,
each of which had a continuum of security levels. It all made her head hurt.

There.
Cilreth felt the flush
of victory. Until a moment later, when she saw it crop up again.

What’s
the problem Cilreth? This is a symptom. What’s the source? An attack. Do
Vovokan computers get sick?

“Cilreth.
I need you. I need your super-help!” she sent to Cilreth2.

There
was no answer. Cilreth checked Cilreth2’s location. There was no report.

“What
the…”

Cilreth2
was not answering… was she having trouble on one of Shiny’s ships? Would the
alien have locked her out of everything?

Shiny
may have quarantined her as an extra safety measure.

Cilreth
forced herself to think about other, even darker alternative theories.

A
Trilisk could have control of her. Maybe she only pretended to leave the
Clacker. Stealthed out? Or hacked out? She could be doing this.

Cilreth
shook her head. “I don’t know it’s her. I don’t know who it is,” she said to
herself aloud.

Jason
came back online and requested a connection.

Hrm.
Suspicious.
Cilreth
attached a security program to monitor his feeds.

“Jason!
I thought they got you.”

“The
other guys got me,” Jason said. “Core World Security. But they want to work
with us.”

What’s
wrong with this picture?

“Seriously?
They believe you?” Cilreth decided to roll with it. “I mean, that’s great. Well
we’re gonna need their help. I’m under attack here. Cilreth2 is missing.”

Coincidence?
Yes. No.

Cilreth
grudgingly restricted Cilreth2’s privileges to those of a simple guest of the
ship. Then she started to eradicate the sick parts of the system again.

“They
say it’s a no go unless we verify one first.”

“What?
I’ll hack it back,” Cilreth said.

“No.
We can risk one. They’re going to have a half dozen snipers stun it
simultaneously. Then they’ll have some doctors check it out. If we can find one
in a big city where he has a team, he says, a few minutes later, we can fire at
will.”

“I
still say hack it,” she said.

“Let’s
keep in mind I’m their captive…”

“That’s
okay. You’re pretty new to the team,” Cilreth said. She smiled.

“Uhm…”

“Okay,
Telisa’s not here so… I agree to their terms. But two minutes later and I’m
going for it one way or another.”

As
it is, this could be a monumental screwup. We’re talking about creatures that
might be able to escape with milliseconds, who knows, maybe nanoseconds of
warning. But the reality is our people won’t be able to strike that close
together despite our attempts to synchronize. They are all going to find
different levels of resistance.

Each
of the PIT members who went out to hunt Trilisks had timetables. Those with
more to do started earlier than others. The ones who found themselves ahead of
schedule would delay, and those behind would try their best to take shortcuts
and catch up. Everyone knew the optimum time to strike. They also knew it was
an impossible order. The strikes would not all fall at the same time.

Cilreth
received another link request. It identified itself as ‘Corbin’, though the
source block was not filled out correctly and it came from…. CWS.

“Corbin
wants to come in on the channel.”

He
wants to hack us? He’ll have to get in line. No doubt he’s already listening in
on Jason’s end, anyway.

Cilreth
double checked her security program. No signs of any problems.

Corbin
could be a Trilisk
, she
thought.
Dammit. I’m already somehow under attack… and the deadline is
approaching.

“Okay,”
she said. Corbin connected. The sensor network went live.

“We
have half a dozen positive scans. All over Earth,” Corbin said.

At
that moment, the entire scheme, based on a theory, became more real to Cilreth.

They
really are here. At least there’s not many on the surface.

“I’m
selecting this one,” Jason’s voice said. “Right here in New York.”

“Okay,
let me know if you change your mind about the first one. I have my hands full
here,” Cilreth said.

“Acknowledged,”
Jason said.

A
new sliver of Vovokan computation power remained rogue. Cilreth had stamped it
out several times now, but somehow, somewhere, it kept coming back.

“What’s
happening?” Cilreth said to herself. She pushed down her frustration.

The
only sources I can think of are: Cilreth2, Shiny, or Trilisks. Cilreth2 would
have enough inside info and authorization to kick off some bug like this.

Shiny,
of course, knew Vovokan tech inside and out. Trilisks, well, were Trilisks. They
were capable of anything in their prime.

I
can’t believe this is happening. The most logical explanation is Cilreth2
because she’s missing. I’m fighting my superior self. Or did someone take her
out of the way so she couldn’t help me? Dammit!

A
new feed came in as a team moved in on a target in New York. The Trilisk was in
the body of a young man in an apartment. The man did not move—he appeared to be
in a VR. The team was setting up outside the apartment. So far, the target did
not seem to be alerted.

Cilreth
prepared her satellites to strike. With a single thought she believed she could
crack the sensor network, find the targets, and attack them all simultaneously.
It was still early according to the plan. The other PIT teams were just now
going in.

Cilreth
half watched the feed. The CWS team was ready to go in. Cilreth noted most of
them were androids. They had violated old laws by making them indistinguishable
from real humans, but Cilreth was not about to complain about it in the middle
of the most critical moment of the attack. The team broke the security of the
room, slipped in, and assaulted the Trilisk. The androids ran into the room and
stunned the host. Government people flooded into the room.

They
were telling the truth. They really are checking Jason’s story. They must have
had some pretty strong suspicions.

The
word came through in less than a minute.

“Not
human. Repeat, this is not human!” a voice reported. Cilreth assumed it was one
of the field doctors.

“I
knew I was making the right play to back you, Jason,” Corbin said. “Maybe it
was that honest face of yours. The sensor net is at your disposal.”

“You
heard that, Cilreth? We’re a go,” Jason said. His voice sounded anxious. Jason
had agreed to have his vitals monitored for the mission. Cilreth saw he was
stressed but not to the level where he was actively afraid for his life.

“Only
a couple more minutes,” Cilreth said. “I have the targets in my sites.”

“I
hope collateral damage will be minimal,” Corbin said. “We’re getting some scary
reports about losses out in the belt.”

Just
the Space Force panicking
,
Cilreth thought.
Shiny has cut them all off from each other.

Cilreth
armed the satellites at the appointed time. Five more Trilisks were on the
sensor net. The other teams had gone in a few minutes ago. It was time.

“The
shots are pretty clean,” she said.
If we’re lucky, not a single side injury.
But I won’t say that unless it happens.

Cilreth
checked the numbers on the
Clacker
problem. Three percent of her
resources were fighting her.

Cilreth
told the satellites to fire.

Her
personal view indicated the strikes went out. Two seconds later, the sensor
network reported success.

“If
the sensor network still works, if they haven’t fooled us, we got them,”
Cilreth said. “We still need to back up some other targets, though. We have
team members going after some others we could not scan.”

“Corbin?
Is the feed real?” Jason said.

“Yes.
It’s real. We haven’t fed you a fake.”

If
it’s not, when would Corbin come clean? Never? If it’s fake, we just shot at
random into several cities.

Cilreth
wanted to check the integrity of the sensor network herself, but she was much
more concerned about the anomaly on
Clacker
.

“Let
me know if any more show up,” Cilreth said. “I still have a problem here.”

“Got
it,” Jason said.

Maybe
I can eliminate one of the possible sources with a bluff.

“Shiny!
Shiny, stop attacking the
Clacker
!” Cilreth sent. “I know it’s you!”

There
was no response.

“By
Cthulhu!”

Okay…
I can talk to Jason, still. Who else?

Cilreth
opened her communications net wider. She picked up on a lot of traffic on the
Terran network. The most interesting activity was coming from the Space Force,
which of course was on high alert due to Shiny’s distractions. Cilreth decided
to listen in on some and see what the Space Force knew.

Cilreth’s
eyes grew wide. She stopped breathing for a moment. Then she just sat in shock.

“We’re
screwed eight ways from extinction,” she muttered.

Chapter 13

Caden
stepped out of his shuttle onto a huge docking area on Space Force Command.

SFC
was a huge orbital habitat above Earth. A giant gravity spinner allowed the
base to stay in peaceful orbit around Sol with the home planet. Using the
spinner, the habitat did not have to orbit Earth, but an asset this valuable was
kept close to the heaviest defenses the Terrans had.

I
know what I have to do
,
he told himself. His heart raced and his palms were sweaty. This was the center
of the Space Force. He had dreamed about coming here so many times, under very
different circumstances.

I
have to calm down. I’m going to activate a hostile intention trigger walking
around like this.

He
took a deep breath. He had done enough VR simulations of this to take the edge
off any normal nervousness, but the enormity of this task had him feeling the
pressure.

Fortunately
Caden was no stranger to pressure.

He
slipped one of his four attendant spheres out of his pocket. He told the
attendant to electronically disguise itself as a simple courier robot. Robots
were commonplace here and on Earth. Each one had to obtain an ID and
authorization for every task it undertook. Luckily Shiny had the edge when it
came to security technology.

Find
me my Trilisks, little one.

The
attendant flew away eagerly. Caden looked down at himself.

I
could have been in this uniform legitimately,
he thought.
Though I wouldn’t already be at this rank.

Caden
followed the flow of traffic from the starport hub. He felt that he blended in
completely. Everyone was in a hurry. Clearly the activity in the outer system
had caused a stir here. He picked up a news feed.

All
personnel had been called in from all forms of leave. The Space Force was on
red alert.

Everyone
knows the aliens are here. They think the aliens are here to hurt them, not
save them.

Caden
stepped aside into a comm niche along the side of the wide corridor. He could
call anyone in the system with his link, but the niche could supply a video
feed for the other parties of his call, a sound curtain, and refreshments.
Caden really wanted just a bit more privacy for the next step.

He
sat in the niche in front of the camera and let another attendant free. It
hovered in the comm niche and connected to the base directory. Caden let it do
its work.

I
feel like a traitor. I shouldn’t be hacking Space Force security. I know I’m
helping, but it feels so wrong.

The
attendant managed to attain a high security clearance and retrieved the
location of three admirals. The men who PIT suspected of being at high risk of
Trilisk control. Caden dispatched the closest position to his attendant that
had already gone ahead. It would be near the admiral within the minute.

Caden
left the tiny booth. He moved faster now that he had a clear destination. He
walked down a side corridor, headed to another deck above him in the gravitic
orientation of the base.

All
around the system, the PIT team is hunting Trilisks.

Caden
stepped into a gravity free tube to be whisked upwards in a stiff stream of
air. At the next level he grabbed an exit bar and swung out.

I’m
close now
, he thought,
looking at his link map.

Caden
turned another corner and got the man in sight. He checked the uniform. It
indicated the man was an admiral. His lead attendant had completed its scan:
The admiral was a Trilisk host body.

He
must be between meetings… my time is running out.

The
corridor was not empty. Besides, everyplace on the base was monitored by the
security AI. Once he acted, it would not be long at all before armed robots
would be moving in on him. His chances of taking out a second Trilisk would be
low, but he might scare the others into running into Shiny’s backup trap.

Caden
told two of his attendant spheres to go find the other admirals. Each of them
had small payloads of Maxsym’s deadly gas. They would have a fair chance of
killing the others within the next couple of minutes.

The
admiral turned a corner ahead into an adjoining room. Caden followed. Other
officers were coming from behind. Caden thought they might be headed for the
same room. When Caden arrived at the door,  he entered and activated his
stealth suit.

A
couple of officers behind him stopped in shock. In one more second, they would
think to warn the admiral. The Trilisk admiral stood in the room, looking to
one side. A hologram of the system dominated the center table. The rest of the
room was filled with anchor points that looked empty to Caden but no doubt held
data displays for everyone else. One other person, a female commander was in
the room.

Caden
drew his laser. He told it to shoot the enemy. His laser refused to fire.

Oh
no…

The
man’s head snapped up to examine Caden. Caden did not know what had alerted the
target. Somehow, the admiral seemed to lock eyes onto Caden.

Strong,
fast… untrained?

Caden
prepared to defend himself against a superhuman foe.

The
scouting attendant came into Caden’s line of sight behind the Trilisk host. It
accelerated to a blur and smashed into the back of the admiral’s skull. The man
dropped. The sphere reported that the target was dead.

“Admiral!”
someone called out. Everyone in the room ran toward their fallen admiral. Caden
felt only relief.

“Intruder
alert!” a broadcast announced. Everyone in the room took their attention off
the admiral and started to look around. The broadcast had indicated Caden’s
current position exactly.

What?
I’ve received no message, but something’s obviously up! They know I’m here.

Suddenly
a man appeared in the doorway with a stunner in his hand, aimed at Caden. Caden
threw himself aside and fired his laser. This time the laser activated. Both
weapons hit their targets. The man fell, a hole in his shoulder. Caden
staggered. His suit had protected him from most of the stunner energy, but it
still confused him for a moment.

In
that moment, Caden became caught in two glue grenades. More men moved in.

Stealth
suit fail
, Caden
thought. Glue covered his face. He tried to think of a way out, but he lost
consciousness before succeeding.

***

Caden
could smell solvent on the air. He looked down at himself. His suit had been
disabled. It had several globs of glue stuck to it. His surroundings looked
like a typical interrogation room. Dark gray, bland, almost empty, secure. A
man confronted him. He looked angry.

I
wonder if we got the others.

The
interrogator spoke.

“Aliens
are attacking. Now, we have three dead admirals on our hands in as many minutes.
You’re a part of it.”

“I’m
one of the good guys.”

Three
dead admirals! Excellent.

“Then
accept our truth check mode.”

Caden
nodded. The man looked surprised. The truth check engaged. The inquisitor could
now use Caden’s own link against him.

“Tell
me what this is about. Who sent you? We know you’ve been to the frontier.”

He
thinks I’m from a terrorist faction. Or taken over by alien mind control.

“Check
the bodies. They’re not human!” Caden said.

“Ridiculous,”
the man said. “My own eyes—”

“Your
eyes are wrong. I scanned him before I took him down. He was an alien. Placed
high to control things here.”

The
man obviously wanted to see that Caden was lying, but the truth check must have
verified his statements.

“Any
doctor can tell you in five minutes,” Caden said. “Just examine them.”

The
man did not respond. He was busy on his link.

Lousy
interrogator. I can tell all kinds of crap is going down. He’s distracted.

“How
did you close in on me so fast, anyway?” Caden asked.

The
man smiled. “Aigis saw two of you. Clones. Pretty sloppy of you. I suppose to
aliens like you, we all look alike anyway!”

Aigis
was the Space Force Command security AI. Caden had read about it as a kid. It
was a famous entity working for the Space Force, although not as famous as its
grand strategist, Caisar.

“Clones?”

Oh
crap.

“Yep.
Sorry to say your copy didn’t make it. But you knew that. Were you supposed to
explode too? Another suicide bomber?”

“No.
I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The
man shook his head. “By the Five,” he muttered. He was seeing that Caden
believed his answer.

He
thinks I’m a mind slave. Brainwashed and sent on a suicide attack…

“What
is the toxic gas you’ve released?”

“I
shot an alien pretending to be an admiral. If you check the body, you’ll see
everything’s not right with it. He was stronger and faster than he should have
been, and immortal besides. The gas kills them.”

“Well,
it’s made several people very sick.”

“The
robots did not release enough to hurt anyone.”

“It
was in the bomb your double detonated. We have people in the infirmary!”

“They’re
young and fit? It’s only truly deadly to Trilisk hosts,” Caden said.