The Trilisk Revolution (Parker Interstellar Travels) (12 page)

Androids.

As
they moved away she took the corridor they had used to arrive. Since her
cloaking device provided a special sound curtain as well, she decided to run
for it.

I
really don’t want to end up having to crawl around outside the station figuring
out how to get in.

She
made it to the lock. The umbilical corridors remained attached and empty,
though two androids stood ramrod straight at the entrance ahead.

More
of them? I guess the Trilisks are serious about security. That shouldn’t be
surprising.

She
looked at them. It was hard to force herself to walk through. She felt like
they must see or hear her. The two silent humanoid shapes creeped her out.

Telisa
steeled herself and kept coming. She walked right between them and stepped
through the lock. She expected to see an amazing space habitat on the other
side. A luxurious playground. What she saw instead gave her pause.

A
huge hardpoint had been built watching the lock. More androids stood at the
wall. Three laser turrets were built into the wall facing the entrance. They
looked like armored pillboxes with stubby metal barrels sticking out.

Wow.
Paranoid. Today, with good cause. They’re going down.

Skyhold
had more security than she had ever seen. Up ahead, two corridors led in and
out of the station. Banks of scanners were emplaced on either side.

Telisa
slipped to one side to observe. Once again she felt doubt. Was her cloaking
device up to this?

The
longer I stand here, the bigger the chance it runs out of juice and I’m dead.

Telisa
looked at the corridors and tried to decide if she should run or walk through.
She stepped on a conveyor platform that would carry her through. The conveyor
whisked her past the checkpoint. Telisa caught herself holding her breath.

Crazy.

She
willed the alarms to remain silent, then winced when the panel she rode on
turned red. Androids started to move ahead and behind her, running along the
sides of the checkpoint.

Telisa
had a split second decision: freeze or run?

They
see me here. The strongpoint has the most sensitive equipment. They wouldn’t be
able to see me inside.

She
started to run forward.

I
wonder what tipped them off… there must be a lot of sensors. Probably my weight
on the conveyor. Maybe even the air I’m breathing. They could have chemical
sniffers.

Telisa
told her Veer suit to seal up. Her emergency pressure mask flipped over her
head and sealed. The soft face covering hardened into a clear, optically
perfect visor.

I
should have done that before. I’ve never had the cloaking device fail though.

A
squad of androids appeared at the end of the long runway she was on. They did
not see her, though they held their weapons up. They started to run toward her.

Telisa
hopped up on the guardrail and kept running ahead.

Nothing
here, androids. Just a malfunctioning sensor in your conveyor.

None
of the weapons of the androids tracked her as she ran by on the rail. Telisa
did fine with her balancing act until she neared the end. Her stride got a bit
of side-to-side wobble, almost sending her back onto the conveyor. Telisa
accelerated, going for an all or nothing finish. More androids waited
motionlessly at the end.

Telisa
leaped right over them from the end of the guardrail. Her landing was rough.
She faltered and had to roll straight ahead. The stealth sphere covered the
noise of her impact and roll. Then she regained her feet and kept running. She
soon lost herself in the wide concourses of the interior of Skyhold.

Finally
on board. A bit behind schedule. The others must be well underway.

Beyond
the huge strongpoint, Skyhold was every bit as luxurious as she had expected.
The inside was huge, filled with gardens and tennis courts, swimming pools and
zero-grav play zones. A few people walked about, though it was mostly empty.
She checked the directory.

Shopping
malls. How quaint. You get to go pick up the merchandise yourself instead of
have it delivered. Fun for a vacation, sure, but it gets tiring fast.

Telisa
did a quick Trilisk host check for everyone within range. She got no hits for
about twenty people near her.

Negative.
Hrm. So much for just opening the gas cannister and being done with it.

Telisa
let one of her attendants hack the network around her and authorize itself as a
registered courier. Then she let the attendant exit her stealth zone. It flew
off to look for Trilisks. She saw a VR lounge nearby and decided to check it
out.

Maybe
Siobhan was wrong. Maybe the rich and powerful only need these android
servants. If there are no young or old ones, I could risk the gas. Depending on
how many Trilisks I find.

She
looked around at the five people in the VR lounge. They looked disheveled.
Unhealthy. A man sat with his arms limp at his sides and a blank look on his
face, but Telisa was not sure he was even hooked up to a virtual environment. A
woman sat ten meters away who looked like a drug addict. She had hollow cheeks
and messy hair.

These
are the rich and powerful? They look more like the inhabitants of an ancient
mental health hospital.

Telisa
went to the next large entertainment center, a combination restaurant and
observation lounge looking out over Earth. Most of the public places on Skyhold
involved either eating or exercise, since modern core worlders spent a lot of
their time in virtual realities. Their real bodies still had needs, though, so
the habitat provided pleasant places to feed and stay fit.

The
restaurant was largely empty. That did not surprise Telisa. The rich and
powerful would not enjoy struggling with crowds. The population density here
was low, or at least the station was designed to make it feel that way. She saw
a few couples. Her link cache told her one of them was on the list: Theo Soros.
The attendants told her none of them were Trilisk. Nor was her remote attendant
finding any Trilisks.

I
wonder what the others are finding. Could the Trilisks have found ways to hide
themselves better? Maybe the attendants just can’t tell. What a disaster.

Telisa
decided to take a risk. She ducked into a restroom to flip off her stealth
device. She appeared in the mirror.

A
bit martial looking. But if I don’t take risks, I’m not going to get to the
bottom of this.

She
walked out into the restaurant. It felt dangerous to be out in the open, but
she hoped she would have some time. She went back to the table with Mr. Soros
and the woman he dined with. She sat down at the table uninvited.

“How
are you two doing?” Telisa asked. “I’m with the Space Force.”

The
couple exchanged looks. Telisa winced internally. How would they react?

“We’re
getting by, considering,” Mr. Soros said. Telisa detected no hint of sarcasm.

“Considering
what?”

“Considering
how sick I am of this place,” he said. He looked at Telisa pointedly.

“Well,
if you hate it so much here why don’t you just leave? You must have another
house somewhere,” Telisa said.

Everyone
here can afford several houses all over Earth.

“Yeah,
why don’t you fly my shuttle?” he replied harshly.

Hrm.
What’s that about?

“I
can fly,” Telisa said idly.

Mr.
Soros turned to the woman across from them.

“I
guess we’re starting to lose it here, huh? Some of us more than others,” he
said sadly, tilting his head toward Telisa.

“When
did they send you here?” asked the woman. She was looking at Telisa.

“Send
me here? Who?”

“The
Space Force? Hell I don’t know
who
any more than anyone else,” the woman
said testily. “Whoever it is that has us all canned up here. How long ago?”

“I
just got here,” Telisa said.

“So
you’re here to make fun of the prisoners? Or did you screw up and they sent you
here to rot?”

Aha.

“Oh,”
Telisa said, looking concerned. “Those androids are your keepers?”

“If
you really don’t know, then they’re your keepers now too now, miss,” Mr. Soros
said.

Telisa’s
roving attendant detected androids on the way. Most likely her presence had
been noticed. She wondered if the monitoring was simple or as elaborate as an
AI wired into the whole network.

“I’m
here to help you,” Telisa said quickly. “Spread the word quietly. Help is
here.”

Telisa
flipped on her stealth sphere.

The
woman gasped. Mr. Soros stood up and looked around.

Three
androids arrived as Telisa padded over to the other side of the room. She stood
behind a bank of plants, even though she was invisible.

“Citizen
Soros, please point out the female you were speaking with,” one android said.

“Uhm…
sorry. That was just a hologram,” he stumbled.

“I
see, Citizen Soros… please stand by.” The androids stood quietly for a second.
“Carry on,” the android said. Then all three began to walk in different
directions, scanning the room.

Hrm.
I wonder if they called up to an AI. I should leave. Of course, that is what an
AI would expect. I could stay.

Telisa
decided to be unpredictable. Her attendant still searched around the habitat.
It was looking like there were no Trilisks in Skyhold at all. Just prisoners…
rich, powerful people who had been herded here and trapped.

So
we had it backwards. The Trilisks decided to give themselves free roam of the
system and bottled up everyone one else here.

Telisa
suddenly realized she was going to have more trouble
leaving
than she
had getting in. Now she was a prisoner too, with Earth’s once-most-powerful.

So
the other PIT team members are facing the Trilisks and I’m stuck here.

The
androids searched for a minute longer, then dispersed. Telisa stayed put. She
had thinking to do, anyway. An attendant brought an anomaly to her attention.
It had found another attendant device that Telisa had not launched.

What
is a rogue attendant doing here? No way.

Telisa
got up to leave. One last thought stilled her.

Is
that a clever trick? Maybe the attendant was noted, a copy was made, and… wait.
I could tell if it’s a copy.

Telisa
told her attendant to communicate with the other one. If it knew the Vovokan
protocols, it was real. Otherwise, it was part of a trap.

The
other attendant responded properly. It was real, but it refused to reveal
information about the owner. Telisa left the restaurant. She wanted to check
this out in person.

The
owner of the other one may well show up there, too.

Telisa
moved quickly to the spot on the map. She had to go down two long corridors and
take a grav-free tube. When she arrived, she found the two attendants staring
each other down in front of another Telisa.

“The
Five hate me,” she said. She uncloaked herself. Telisa3 did a double take.

“Shiny
didn’t tell me anything,” Telisa3 said. “You?”

“Shiny
talked to you? Sent you? Damn him.”

“Are
you the original? I don’t know much because the Trilisks can read minds,”
Telisa3 said. “I’m just supposed to find Trilisks.”

“Actually
I am too,” Telisa said. “But there aren’t any here. This place is a giant
prison for the rich and powerful. I’m starting to think the Trilisks shuffled
them all here so a small number of Trilisks could control them.”

“So
the Trilisks really are… enemies?”

“At
least some of them. Maybe all.”

“Your
eye?”

“Battle
injury,” Telisa said. “This new one is fine.”

“You
must be a little different than me. I’m not sure I would keep the scar,”
Telisa3 said.

I
kept it to remember.

“I’ll
get rid of the scar soon,” Telisa lied. “If I live through this.”

“Did
Shiny have your permission to make me? I know I’m one of the Trilisk copies.
I’m strong.”

By
the Five.

“What’s
the last thing you remember?” Telisa asked.

“We
were getting ready to go after the Trilisk. On
Clacker
. We had just
found a space habitat.”

“The
Five curse me!” Telisa spat.

“What?”
Telisa3 asked.

Telisa
took a deep breath.

My
first instinct is to tell myself everything. Are there negative repercussions
to doing that?

“Great.
Just great. I’m standing here thinking about lying to myself,” Telisa3 said.

“Well
you trust me,” Telisa said. “I’m just thinking it through a second.”

Telisa3
nodded.

“You’re
super strong and fast,” Telisa said. “You’re also helpless around Trilisks. They
put in a back door. A Trilisk column clone is super easy for them to mind
control. About instantly.”

Telisa3’s
mouth dropped open.

“I
know,” Telisa said. “We know now, Trilisks are here in the Sol System. I came
to kill some in Skyhold. I don’t know why Shiny would send you. Just to back me
up? I guess he decided… I don’t know what he was thinking! You’re great for any
mission but this… against anything but Trilisks! If there had been Trilisks
here it would have been disastrous! They would take you over and you would help
them hunt me down. It’s almost like he
wants
us to fail.”

“He
could be Trilisk himself?” Telisa3 asked.

“Maybe.
At this point I’m scared of what I don’t know. But he could have just killed
the whole PIT team outright. I just can’t put it together.”

“I
don’t have a cannister like that,” Telisa3 said. She indicated Telisa’s gas
tube.