The Trilisk Revolution (Parker Interstellar Travels) (18 page)

“Those
are supposed to… what? That sinks distributed results into an accumulator?”

“No,
it’s supposed to prepare to
disperse
tasks across the work group by
updating the work cells with the various infrastructure modules needed for each
task. In this case, the enemy is riding on that.”

“So
we can stop it, but it will cost us the ability to deploy new jobs across the
worker cells.”

“I’ll
let this one loose, and solve that problem next. We can still deploy jobs as
long as they don’t need different modules than the old ones, which is
restrictive but better than nothing.”

Cilreth
watched the result. It was slow, but she saw that the enemy stopped growing.
Its losses could not be replaced. Cilreth took a huge sigh of relief.

“We
have it for now,” Cilreth said.

“You
said it. For now. Let’s see what’s going on with our friends,” Cilreth2 said.
“Wait, what’s this? Communications are down.”

“The
rogues shut them down. I didn’t have time—”

“The
Space Force is reporting a massive attack, which is expected, but look at these
casualty lists. That’s a lot more than the suppression Shiny was supposed to be
doing.”

“Unholy
Cthulhu! The
Bismarck
? Skyhold?”

“No
way… they must have counted
Bismarck
out because we captured it?” asked
Cilreth2.

“It
doesn’t say missing in action anymore. It says verified destroyed.”

“The
bug traitored us!”

“Could
the Trilisks be making all this up?” asked Cilreth. “After all, they want to
galvanize the Space Force against us.”

“They
were already paranoid about alien attack. It wouldn’t take any more
galvanization. Also, look at this,” Cilreth2 said. She pointed Cilreth at a
feed of the Clacker’s long range scan of the asteroid belt. It showed massive
changes in moving objects in the belt. Cilreth looked at the largest differences.
Each was a large asteroid where a Space Force base had been located. Those
asteroids had been broken into millions of pieces.

“You’re
right. And the tracking system is showing only
five percent
of Terran
military traffic we registered upon arrival.”

“Is
there any chance the rogue elements introduced this? Are we still hacked and
don’t know it?”

“Well
there are
Trilisks
around. Who knows what they could do?” Cilreth
pointed out.

“No.
You know what? The Trilisks of old would just take over the whole ship in a
heartbeat. This was Shiny’s doing. Magnus was right all along.”

“What
can we do?” Cilreth said.

“Attack
the big bug back. We have the
Clacker
.”

“He’s
got several…”

“We
know which one he’s in. If we’re lucky, maybe we get him. Or take out his Trilisk
AI.”

Cilreth
nodded. “Okay. You’ve got offense. Target him. I’ll see to our defenses.”

It’s
easy to agree with myself, even on the radical ideas.

Cilreth
diverted power to the defenses of the massive starship. She kept one eye out
for the cyber attack to return. Part of her thought its demise was too good to
be true.

Maybe
I finally plugged all the holes Shiny can use to get in.

Vovokan
ship to ship weapons were mostly energy-based. Cilreth fed the Clacker’s EM
shields to a large power reserve and put the ship on an erratic course. Since
the other ships were farther than a light minute away, having an erratic course
could help to avoid counter attacks.

Cilreth
saw the ship’s energy reserve drop in half.

“Salvo
away,” Cilreth2 said. “We’ll see what Shiny thinks of that!”

Cilreth
waited nervously. It would be a while before they could discern results. The
round trip for light all the way out to the belt would ensure that.

“Cilreth?”
It was Jason.

“Yes
Jason. What news?”

“Well
we fried several Trilisks, but Vovokan ships have been wiping out the Space
Force.”

“I
know. We’ve attacked Shiny. But it’s just the
Clacker
against all the
others.”

“If
you can point out the location of the other ships, I can pass that along,”
Jason said.

“I’ll
send you their last known locations,” Cilreth said. She sent Jason the pointer.

“Have
you heard from the rest of the team?” Jason asked.

“No,
but our computers were attacked. We lost communications for a long while.”

“I
say contact them directly,” Cilreth2 said. “We have to disconnect. I think this
link traffic could help Shiny pinpoint our location and hit us.”

“Good
luck,” Jason said, then disconnected.

The
other Vovokan ships in the system flickered then disappeared from the system
scan.

“I’d
like to say that means you got them, but since you shot at one and they all
disappeared, it just means he’s alerted to our hostility.”

“R’lyeh
rising! They’re coming for us!”

“Did
that damn centipede betray us or was he taken over by Trilisks?”

The
Clacker
shook violently.

“What’s
that? There’s no way he could have returned fire so quickly!” Cilreth said.

“
Returned
fire, no. Maybe he
already
fired before ours got there.”

“I
took evasives.”

“We
need to modify our algorithms. Also, who knows what those rogues accomplished?”

“That
took most of our reserve,” Cilreth said. She checked the damage report. It
became clear they had been hit by more than one ship. “Three of them! We’re
fighting three of them. And they’re closer than we thought.”

“If
we can take one out, it could mean a lot for Terra.”

The
ship shook again.

“We’re
being hit again!”

The
energy reserves drained to zero. The
Clacker
shuddered more violently.
Cilreth watched giant pieces start to break off the ship in her PV. Massive
explosions ripped through the remains and flickered out quickly in the vacuum.
The deck under them just kept shaking. The artificial gravity went dead.

“That
shuttle,” Cilreth2 said. “You go now. You know I can catch up.” She pointed out
an escape ship on their ship map.

“You
better,” Cilreth said, clumsily releasing herself from her seat. She called for
attendants to help pull her to the escape vessel.

I’m
not equipped for this. I don’t have my pack. Not even a flashlight.

Cilreth
hoped there still would be a shuttle there when she arrived.

Chapter 24

“He
has us,” Telisa3 announced.

The
Thumper
held Telisa’s shuttle in an invisible grip. It drew them in for
docking.

“He
wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near this close to Earth,” Telisa pointed out.

“Really?
I still don’t know most of the plan. For instance, I suppose I’m headed back to
stasis soon?”

“I
don’t know,” Telisa said.

Telisa’s
mind had been racing. Was Jason seeing the data fed to Earth as part of a
Trilisk deception to rally the populace against what should be their
liberators? Or had Shiny actually ruthlessly attacked Earth?

There
is so much of it. So many dead. He must have switched to competition mode. The
lure of a whole system of his own was more valuable than our alliance.

Telisa
felt sick. If it was true…

The
massive Vovokan ship consumed the tiny shuttle and brought it into a massive
bay. Then, the lock cycled and the doors opened.

“Here’s
where we get off,” Telisa3 said nervously.

Telisa
walked side by side with her double down the ramp. They walked onto a huge bay
floor, looking for Shiny. Nothing moved. The openings of dozens of Vovokan
caves beckoned from several levels adjoining the bay.

Reality
flickered. It was almost not noticeable.

“What
just happened?” Telisa said. She flinched. Telisa3 was gone. Telisa checked her
link.

“You
there? Did you stealth?”

There
was no answer.

“What?
What’s wrong?” even as she asked, she realized she suddenly had memories of
Telisa3, walking up in a column room and getting instructions from Shiny. Then
she had flown to Skyhold, alone and nervous, worrying about the lack of
information. She had actually been glad to meet her original, because it made
her feel better about going into a situation on Shiny’s word alone.

We’re
synced up. Telisa3 will know about Magnus now. She’s probably inside a Trilisk
column.

“Why
did you sync us up?” Telisa sent the question to Shiny.

Finally
the alien answered her. “Telisa duplicate not meant, intended, planned to
survive mission.”

That’s
not a good start.

“Tell
me what’s happening,” Telisa said.

“Trilisks
neutralized. Shiny taking control. Cooperation no longer optimal.”

“You
attacked the Space Force? Our plan was to distract them and minimize
casualties.”

“Shiny
taking control. Space Force damaged, crippled, disabled. Terrans subservient,
dependent, enslaved to Shiny.”

It’s
all true.

Telisa
fell to her knees, overwhelmed. Her worst case scenario was true. Shiny had
betrayed them, and killed huge numbers of people doing it. A huge proportion of
the blame fell upon Telisa.

“The
Bismarck
?” she dared ask.

“Terran
battleship destroyed in attempt to escape, elude, evade,” Shiny reported.

At
least Magnus didn’t live to see his fears were warranted. He could saying ‘I
told you so’ about now,
her
inner monologue said. But Telisa knew he would never have said it. He would try
and fix it. Still, it took her a long moment to continue.

“Shiny.
I want to negotiate a release of my race. We will pay you handsomely. Serve you
in many ways. But total servitude takes away all hope from us. We won’t
accomplish as much under your heel as we can on our own. Terrans do not
function optimally when forced to serve. We want cooperation, not competition.
We’re not Vovokans.”

“Understood.
Cooperation not optimal at this time. Other deal, bargain, arrangement is
possible. Shiny delineate, explain, propose?”

Hopelessness
assailed Telisa. She was perhaps the greatest traitor Terra had ever known. And
Magnus… so long gone.

I
want to die.

“Go
on,” she said, though her voice broke.

“Telisa
copy departs, flees, leaves Earth. Shiny controls Earth. Telisa forbidden
interference, resistance, defiance. Telisa copy collects artifacts. Give,
submit, provide artifacts to Shiny. Comply for period of ten Earth years, Shiny
returns Magnus copy to Telisa.”

“What!
You have Magnus? Where is he?” Telisa exploded. She jumped to her feet.

“Trilisk
column set aside. Column contains Magnus data. Possible to create Magnus clone.
This is offered compensation for surrender, compliance, obedience.”

“Which
one? Where is it!” Telisa sent queries from her link to ship’s services. The
Thumper
denied her access.

“Consider,
contemplate, evaluate offer,” Shiny said.

“If
you’re worried about my resistance, why don’t you just kill me, like you did to
those thousands of Space Force men and women?” Telisa asked bitterly.

“Telisa
useful, skilled, beneficial. Known quantity. Shiny will not kill, destroy,
eliminate unless optimal. Space Force threat removed, eliminated, destroyed
with minimum loss of life.”

Minimum?
The minimum in this case is very high.

“You
deceived us all,” Telisa said. Tears began to stream down her face. “You’ve
lost your trust forever. Prove to me he’s still alive. Show me. Make him.”

“Not
optimal for Shiny at this time.”

“He
is my motivation. I won’t serve you without proof. I refuse your deal.”

Shiny
did not answer.

I
believed in him. I won’t ever do it again.

Telisa
waited for a minute, wondering what would happen next. Finally, her link
received a pointer. She accessed it, causing a green routing line to appear.
She followed it.

Maybe
he revived Magnus.

Telisa
started to run. Past the first door, the floor was covered in sand. The inside
of the
Thumper
held only dark Vovokan caverns. Telisa ran on
desperately. She slipped in the sand, struggled to get up, then kept going.

The
route led deeper into the ship. Part of her worried about a trap for a second,
but she dismissed it. Things could not get any worse. Telisa’s hope soared when
she saw a square, sand-free room with Trilisk columns. She staggered forward,
dropping grains of sand all over the floor. Then she saw him.

Magnus.
Telisa did not care which copy he was.

He
looked confused. Telisa ran into his arms.

“Hello?”
he said.

“You
were right about Shiny. He took over Earth. You’re dead. I mean, the first you
is dead and I think the second one is, too. You were made from a Trilisk
column.”

Magnus4
held her tighter.

“I
see things are getting complicated. I’m confused of course. I don’t even know
when
I am. If that’s true… Telisa, listen to me. You have to run away. I’ll cover
your escape. Find someplace safe, then figure out what to do about Shiny.”

“He
says he’ll let you live free again if I don’t interfere for ten years,” Telisa
said.

“Can
we escape this place?”

“No.
We’re on his ship. He has control of everything.”

“You
can’t serve him for ten years. He might not let me go, anyway.”

“I
will. That’s what I intend to do. I’ll figure out how to make sure it’s in
Shiny’s best interest to release you. Then I’ll have you again.”

Magnus4
pushed her back and looked into her teary face.