The Trilisk Revolution (Parker Interstellar Travels) (16 page)

Caden
got a pointer. He tried to connect to Cilreth. His link was still isolated. He
could only access what Bailey wanted him to see.

An
image feed opened in his mind’s eye. A spherical Vovokan assault drone the size
of a land car flew through a shuttle bay. Its shields glowed in two or three
spots. Caden assumed it was getting hit by high frequency lasers invisible to
his eyes. As he watched the drone traded fire with a military robot and a
handful of Space Force marines. The sphere dodged two missiles, then reduced
its opponents to ash.

“It’s
not just here. Even the
Bismarck
is missing in action,” Bailey said in
dismay.

“No!
No… that’s not the plan. This is all wrong.”

The
Vovokan drone in Caden’s PV burned through a bulkhead and melted two more
robots in its way. Bailey looked at Caden. He was suddenly very sad. “Maybe you
believe that, son. You’ve been used by aliens. You probably never had a chance
to see the truth, until now.”

Could
this all be an act? He’s kind of showing a lot of dismay for someone conducting
an interrogation. You’re supposed to keep your cool, demonstrate dominance and
control. I believe him… they gave me drugs, though. I can’t trust anything.
It’s social engineering.

“Oh
no… no,” Bailey said.

Could
it get worse?

“What?”
Caden asked.

“Skyhold.
The aliens have destroyed it.”

Telisa!

“Look,
this is crazy, but, I came to take out one kind of alien, but these battle
spheres are from another alien. It was supposed to be on our side.” Caden dropped
his head. He had failed the Space Force, failed his parents, failed all of
Earth.

How
could this happen? I wanted to be a hero. Now I’m what… the biggest traitor in
history?

“Where
is this alien? We have to kill it,” Bailey said.

A
trick? Maybe. What difference does it make? They can’t hurt Shiny.

“It’s
on a huge spaceship the size of Space Force Command. An advanced space ship. We
have no hope without Cilreth.”

“Who?”

Caden
perked up. “Cilreth! A friend of mine… she has control of one of the ships! If
we can contact her, we might be able to get her to help us.”

Bailey
watched the spheres burn through a hardpoint. Sweat ran down his face.

“Talk
to whoever you want,” Bailey said. “It’s over.”

“Cilreth!”
Caden sent out. “Cilreth!”

There
was no answer.

Caden
contacted his attendants. The machines responded. They had escaped when Caden
was captured. They reported all three suspected Trilisks had been killed. They
verified that SFC was under attack, but they could not communicate with the
larger Trilisk arsenal attacking the station. Caden recalled them.

I
may need them just to survive. If they don’t turn on me.

Bailey
opened the door to the room and left. He left the door wide open.

Could
this be a virtual trick? Caden thought. The Space Force probably has the
ability to override people’s links. This isn’t real. Right. So I should not be
giving away secrets. My link is probably showing them how to talk to the
Vovokan attendants, if nothing else.

Caden
left the room. He was in some kind of security station. The first of his
attendants flitted toward him. He reached for a weapon that was not there at
his belt. A huge amount of noise came to this link as he re-accessed Space
Force Command.

“Abandon
ship. Abandon ship. Follow your shuttle evac lines.”

“There’s
one coming for Central Security!” a soldier transmitted.

“We
have two lasers and five Tiger Twelves. We can’t stop it.”

More
vibrations came through the station. This time the rumbling did not stop.

“Aigis
isn’t replying! Aigis is offline!”

Central
Security… that’s where I am now!

Caden
swallowed hard. A bright red line flickered in his mind’s eye, directing him to
the nearest evac bay. The deck shook again, violently. Gravity cut out from
under him.

Caden
reacted. There would be enough time to wonder later. He brought tucked his
knees up, then pushed off as he spun into line with the corridor with his red
escape line.

Is
this real?

Thoughts
of what was happening and his part in it submerged as Caden fought to survive.

Chapter 20

The
attendants circling Imanol gave warning. Multiple Trilisk signatures had been
detected within the vicinity of the eerie temple, including the man before him.

The
man gasped. He stood shakily. The man looked extremely thin, almost skeletal.
His face was gaunt and sunken. Then he screamed several unfamiliar words
hoarsely. The man snatched up his spear and shield.

Imanol
could not catch the meaning. His link provided a translation: “The portal! The
way is open!”

“Oh
no you don’t, incomalcon,” Imanol said, backing up and drawing two pistols.
Imanol shot as the ancient being before him threw its spear. Imanol tried to
dodge, but the throw was well aimed. Imanol’s Veer suit deflected the
projectile. The man fell at the same time as his spear. Blood poured from the
wound caused by a projectile impact.

“That
was hardly a superhuman attack,” Imanol said aloud. “Not that I’m complaining.”

Imanol
charged up the stairs, weapons ready. He held his laser pistol in his right
hand and a projectile pistol in his left. The dark surfaces of the temple made
the shadows tricky. He slowed at the top, trying to discern the niches of the
architecture. He decided nothing lurked within his vision.

Inside
the temple, Imanol saw more columns, but these were different. Tubes and lights
were scattered across their upper quarter. They looked like taller versions of
the other Trilisk columns, the ones they had used to duplicate themselves.
Imanol checked his flanks. He saw another man in ancient garb advancing on him
from the left with a chipped sword. At the same time, he heard a noise behind
him.

Imanol
ran toward the enemy he could see and shot him with his slug pistol. Then he
spun, putting his back toward a Trilisk column. Two more unhealthy-looking men
advanced. They held spears and one had a shield.

One
yelled something. “Kill him!” his link translated.

Imanol
tried to shoot both at once. Thanks to the enhanced targeting of his smart
weapons, he was able to hit both of them simultaneously. One of the spears came
toward him, but this time an attendant deflected it. The men fell to the
ground. One of them moaned.

Imanol
walked over to the one he knew was still alive.

“How
long? How long have you been here?” he demanded.

The
man stared ahead but Imanol could not tell if he saw anything. Imanol’s
attendants emitted a translation of Imanol’s question. Blood poured out of the
chest of his fallen attacker.

The
man uttered something, then weakly coughed up more blood.

Imanol’s
link provided a translation, labeled at 85% likely: “Forever”.

This
is insane. If they want out, why don’t they just run for it?

Imanol
saw a long table on the other side of a black dais set between several columns
at the center of the temple.

It
was clearly a dining table. The plates were empty. Given the state of the men
that had attacked him, Imanol did not find that surprising. The number of bones
everywhere made him suspect cannibalism.

So
their base down here shuts down, they run out of food… and they start eating
each other. But it’s been thousands of years… unless the Trilisk bodies are a
hell of a lot tougher than I thought.

Imanol
had the impression that the super-bodies needed more calories, not less.

It’s
so dark in here. The walls absorb my light. I wish I could see better,
he thought.

The
illumination in the temple rose feebly.

Imanol
did a double-take.
I want it darker.

The
light receded. Imanol was plunged into darkness. Only the light from his weapon
shone across the temple.

Wow.
Light, please.

The
light slowly returned. Imanol caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He
spun to confront whatever moved.

It
was a Trilisk.

Imanol
felt an instinctual fear of the unknown rise and grip him. It was not
terrifying because of the awesome technology the Trilisks had wielded. It was
just an awful monstrous thing. Imanol stared at the three legs, three arms, and
the hideous shape of its body, looking just enough like a giant face to be
deeply disturbing.

Imanol’s
laser came up and fired. He yelled something unintelligible. The thing turned,
smoke coming from its side, showing him another grotesque face, one gray eye,
cold like a giant squid eye, with a mouth or gill slit underneath. The laser
fired again, putting another hole into the body. The thing kept coming,
bouncing into Imanol and bowling him over. Imanol yelled in disgust and fear
again. An attendant smashed into one of its legs, emitting a grotesque
crunching sound.

Imanol
had thought of the slit beneath its eye as a mouth, but now he was on the floor
he saw its real mouth, a triple-tusked maw on the underside between the three
legs. Before Imanol could shoot again, it bit him on the leg.

Imanol
screamed. He set the laser to double energy and shot again and again. Finally
it stopped moving. His laser reported an overheated condition. Imanol ignored
it and pushed the Trilisk’s limbs away with his legs.

Imanol
spasmed. He tried to stand but just fell back, shaking violently.

“Get
it together! Get it together you incomalcon!” he yelled at himself. The thing
was so weird, so ugly, his reaction was a hundred times worse than if a large
crocodile had appeared and tried to eat him. Imanol had never shaken so much.
He watched his own hands quivering and willed them to stop.

It’s
like living a horror VR. I think I could make a good horror VR now.

Somehow
the thought struck him as funny. Part of his shock wore off. He laughed a bit
even as he spit vomit out of his mouth. “Yeah, I’ll make a bloody horror
simulation and get rich. Just get rich and sit around doing nothing. No more
ancient temples.”

He
checked his leg. The Veer suit had protected him from most of the damage. Only
the tusks had penetrated it. Some blood had leaked out, but the suit had
sterilized the wound and sealed him up automatically.

Bitten
by a Trilisk. Bitten! It was nothing more than a savage. A primitive monster.

Imanol
still shook. He felt ill. He thought of poison for a moment, then just told
himself it was just his mental reaction to the attack. The Trilisk had acted
like a rabid dog, not a member of a super race that had dominated their section
of the galaxy.

It
must have been trapped down here for hundreds… or thousand of years? How could
they survive? They have starved… but even an augmented body would have to eat
in this time?

Imanol
considered the piles of bones.

Well
they didn’t all survive. Maybe the columns provided limited food and water
which they had to fight over? Or maybe they figured out how to grow some food.
Something down here still works a little bit. It gave me light. Kind of. No
wonder they’re all mad as loons though.

“Cilreth?
Can you hear me?”

Imanol
received no reply. He was on his own.

He
considered the situation. The Trilisk base was large; there could be more
Trilisks hiding in here. On the other hand, they clearly were not in any shape
to threaten Earth. And he had had enough slaughter for one day. He felt the key
in his pack.

Maybe
I should talk it over with Cilreth?

He
felt like he might be second guessing himself. He did not want to continue
killing these things. But that was his mission. Was he dodging out on his part
of the plan?

No.
They aren’t a threat like we thought. I should ask the team what to do about
them. Maybe we could take them prisoner and learn from them.

He
decided to head back to the surface and check if he could raise Cilreth from
there. He sent one attendant ahead to check the entrance and see if anyone or
anything had escaped. Then he took a deep breath and walked away from the
Temple of Hades.

Chapter 21

Siobhan
awakened. She coughed.

I’m
dying!

She
opened her eyes. Her lungs burned. She coughed again. Looking at the jagged
metal sticking out of her, she thought she must be coughing up blood.

Her
suit was malfunctioning, but she was able to manually switch to an isolated
oxygen supply. She breathed deeply. She could not feel any bubbling in her
lung.

The
metal had not pierced her lung. She grabbed it and pulled it out. Then she
screamed in pain. She rolled over, got her hands and feet under her and stood
up. She staggered back into a wall. Blood poured out of the wound in her chest,
so she pulled her pack around and grabbed a medical sealant. She wiped the
blood clear and sprayed it over quickly. The sealant staunched the flow of
blood.

That’s
good. The gas… oh. If that was poison, I’m dead anyway.

Siobhan
felt ill, but it was not severe. The gas was definitely not pleasant.

I’m
just having a psychosomatic reaction to it,
she told herself.
If it was real poison I would have
dropped like a fly in a stunner cone.

Siobhan
tried to fight it off. She still found it odd that the substance could nauseate
her so thoroughly and yet it was not something deadly meant to kill her.

Maybe
just luck. Maybe I only caught a few molecules of something really lethal.