The Trilisk Ruins (26 page)

“
Good idea,” she said and
pulled him closer.

Chapter
Twenty Two

Hours slipped inexorably
into days while the
Iridar
traveled through the void. Telisa puzzled over her
artifact collection while Magnus prodded the computer system,
trying to learn what limits Shiny had placed on their
controls.

Telisa found herself daydreaming about
Magnus again, despite her attempts to remain focused. Since their
encounter in the crash pod, they had grown much closer. She relived
their experiences in her mind’s eye, pleased to know that even
though their situation remained dire, she had him to share it with.
The uncertainty of their future made the relationship all that more
intense. Everything that had seemed important in her past life
suddenly seemed so trivial, so silly.

An odd twitch in her chest brought her
out of her reverie. The artifact she held had done something she
could feel. It looked like two horseshoes welded together side by
side and felt like dense plastic. Her notes from earlier said that
the passive scan had revealed an ultradense block and a single gray
panel on one side, presumably some kind of visual feedback
mechanism that worked in the wavelengths usually associated with
Trilisk artifacts.

The lights in the bay
flickered.

“
Desist. Refrain,” Shiny
buzzed.

“
What was that? The artifact
did it.”

“
Energy emission.
Disruptive.”

She looked at the latest scanner buffer
in her mind’s eye to see if it had recorded anything unusual. In
the data she saw an electromagnetic spike, an event that had
induced a current through her body. It had lightly shocked her. In
fact, it had almost been enough to reset her link.

“
Now how did that happen?”
she asked herself. She carefully set the object back down into its
holding container. If the thing could shock her, it might be
potentially lethal, even though the current she had experienced had
been small.

The scanner didn’t reveal any
recognizable power signatures from the device. Either it didn’t
have any power cells, or its surface blocked her scanner from
detecting them.

“
I’m sorry, Shiny, did that
hurt you?”

“
Disruptive,” Shiny
said.

Telisa looked at the alien again. She’d
actually started getting used to Shiny—even the eerie front end of
his body that had struck her at first as being a faceless head. She
realized that she still didn’t understand very much about how his
body worked.

“
Shiny, did you look up
anything about our bodies in the computer?”

The backside of the alien flinched
again. Nerve damage, the alien had said. She wondered how severe it
was.

“
Cache contains rudimentary
data,” Shiny said.

“
Ah, yes. I’m used to a
cache that can retrieve more from the outside system. But we’re
isolated here on the ship. I guess you don’t know quite as much
about us as you’d like. And I’d like to learn more about your
physiology, as well. Do you see things?”

“
Yes. Collect visual
data.”

“
Where... where are your
eyes?”

Shiny’s front leg indicated the tiny
fibers under his wide head at the opposite end of his body from the
hook Telisa now thought of as his mouth.

“
Oh, wow, those little
things? Hrm. Do they allow you see through walls?”

“
No. No human analog of mass
sense.”

“
Mass sense? You can detect
mass?”

Shiny swung his head side to side in a
now familiar motion.

“
Yes. Relative motion
required.”

“
Amazing... I envy you that
one, I must say.”

“
Hearing, smell, these
inputs are advantageous as well. I do not possess them by
nature.”

“
Then how do you know what I
say?”

“
Artificial detection. My
attendants. Just as I speak with them.”

“
Those tiny spheres that
float around you and attach to the silvery part of your
back?”

“
Correct.”

“
Hrm, so you can’t hear or
smell. Interesting. Magnus had guessed that you had some kind of
ability to sense things through walls.” Telisa became nervous as
she thought of the attack on Thomas and Jack. Would Shiny do
something bad if she told him they believed he had killed their
friends?

“
Collected data, created
theory to explain Shiny actions?”

“
Yes... it was when we were
attacked. The attack seemed very much like you or another of your
race was behind it.” Telisa winced, hoping she hadn’t said
something dangerous. Would the alien deny it?

“
Memory. Recall. Encounter
before alliance. Competitive status and resulting
conflict.”

“
Competitive? Why did you
assume that we were in competition, Shiny?” Telisa asked in a
quiet, shaking voice.

“
Preventative measure. Avoid
attack.”

“
Then why did you assume
we’d attack you?”

“
Your race. Attacked Shiny
before. Projectile barrage. With war machines.”

“
Oh. I’m sorry we had the...
misunderstanding then. My race... we don’t all share the same
goals. Magnus and I would never attack you. Do you
understand?”

“
Alliance. Cooperative
relationship. Optimal at this time.”

“
Yes, that’s optimal,”
Telisa said. But she had caught his words...
at this time
.

***

Every fourth day was grappling day on
the ship. Telisa arrived in the gym area early, carrying a workout
bag.

She broke open the recloseable top and
took out a spray bottle of artificial skin and gave the tops of her
feet a quick layer. Telisa found that she tended to bleed all over
the mat from tears in her feet if she didn’t strengthen the skin
there. Magnus’s feet were covered in thick calluses that prevented
the problem. When she’d asked about it on the voyage to Thespera,
he told her it had taken years to thicken the skin on the tops of
his feet.

Magnus came in. He stripped off his
Veer skinsuit, leaving him in thin black stretchy pants. Telisa
stole a look and smiled. Training days like this were one of the
rare times he could be observed out of the protective
suit.

“
Hi. How’s it going with
Shiny?” he asked, grabbing a pair of white gi pants out of his
pack.

“
Oh, he’s been pretty
helpful pointing out a few details about the artifacts. The big
thing is just having my link back. It’s hard to use any of our
equipment without one.”

“
Yeah. We’re pretty
dependent on the links.”

Telisa could tell from his tone that he
was thinking about the disadvantages of depending on their links in
combat.

“
What’s it like, grappling
with the skinsuit on?”

“
Close to the same. But
elbows and knees don’t hurt, even with a lot of weight behind them.
It’s harder to get a choke or a joint lock, but it’s still
possible. It’s mostly just that the little things that make you
uncomfortable aren’t there. So you can’t train with one or your
stomach won’t harden up right, for instance.”

Telisa nodded. She took a VR hookup out
onto the floor and lay down on the mat. They each usually went
through about an hour of virtual lessons and practice before
warming up for real and doing some grappling against each
other.

“
See ya in a few,” she said
and hooked in.

Telisa found herself in a beautiful
training building made of glass and wood. Light streamed in from
outside, a bright sunny day on a tropical island. Palm trees were
visible through the giant windows, swaying in a breeze that
couldn’t be heard.

Telisa faced herself on a matted floor.
For weeks she’d been fighting herself, overcoming her own
weaknesses. Each time the computer upgraded her virtual opponent
with her own tricks and added new ones. Telisa learned the new
tricks and shored up her weaknesses by fighting the model of
herself.

She stepped forward and grabbed the
enemy at neck and arm. They stepped around each other, pushing and
pulling, trying to throw each other off balance. Finally Telisa
stepped inside and tried to trip her opposite. The attempt failed,
and she got thrown off balance but managed to twist so that they
both fell onto their sides next to each other.

Telisa tried to wrap her leg over her
opponent’s legs, but unexpectedly her mirror image grabbed her foot
and then moved back from her to twist it. The pain rose rapidly.
Telisa tried to ignore it, but something snapped in her foot so she
tapped her opponent’s leg, indicating submission. Her replica
released her foot, and Telisa pulled it back and massaged it. It
didn’t seem broken despite the snapping sound. She decided it must
have been a tendon sliding over a bone ridge. The foot felt
sore.

“
Legs, huh? That’s
cheating,” she said, even though she knew it wasn’t
true.

“
Breaking an opponent’s foot
would be a desirable outcome,” the computer replied.

Telisa shook her head and started
again. By the end of the session, she’d figured out that it helped
if she pulled herself towards her opponent, trying to bring her leg
close and grab onto her enemy. But applying the same hold to her
duplicate’s foot eluded her.

She cut the link and returned to the
real training area. Magnus sat nearby, involved in his own training
session. Telisa took a drink of water and stretched until Magnus
finished.

“
Okay, let’s hit it,” Magnus
said. He rolled forward onto the mat and stopped before Telisa.
They started on their knees, grasping each other at neck and elbow.
The combat proceeded as a familiar ebb and flow of forces, bringing
Telisa alternately forward then backward. Telisa knew that pitfalls
existed in either direction. If she went off balance towards
Magnus, she could be brutally pulled down and find herself in a
lock with an arm choking her head. If she were thrown back too far,
then Magnus could take a top mount.

After a few moments Magnus decided to
force the issue. He pushed forward and to one side, sending Telisa
reeling away. He dashed to her backside. Telisa rolled to face him,
although he had passed her legs and now held a superior position
over her, pinning her onto her back. He kneeled with his knee
pressing down into her stomach, making breathing difficult. Telisa
concentrated on defense, keeping her arms up to protect her head
and neck.

He pressed forward mercilessly,
pressing his other elbow against the side of her jaw. Telisa
growled at him in pain and frustration. She pushed his elbow away,
but he brought it back a few seconds later, pressing again. Telisa
ignored the pain and grabbed at his legs instead, rolling towards
him. She fishtailed her body out from underneath him, pushing away
with her arms.

Magnus slid smoothly back over her and
brought his leg around, taking a top mount. He grabbed one of her
arms and pried it back. Telisa knew she didn’t have long before he
would apply a lock to it. She wrapped one of her ankles over his
and threw him to one side with her hips, rolling with the
motion.

Now Magnus lay on his back underneath
her, but his legs still trapped her. She slipped her knee along the
inside of his leg to pry it back, passing his guard. His powerful
arms came forward to take hold of her gi, preventing her from
mounting him. Telisa faked an attempt at attacking one of his arms,
threatening to apply a lock.

When Magnus responded to the danger,
she changed her tactic and shot her other leg over his knee, taking
a full mount. She settled onto him, keeping her center of gravity
low to make herself hard to throw off.

Telisa tried to control one of his arms
again, but Magnus was too strong. Her thin arms, although toned,
seemed inadequate to take control of his heavier limbs. Under her
mount, Magnus presented her with his stony elbows, keeping her from
his throat. She stilled for a moment, breathing
steadily.

Vaguely some part of her became aware
of the hardness of his groin cup under her pelvis, reminding her of
other things she had experienced in the crash tube with her
opponent in similar positions. She relaxed, molding more of herself
against him.

Magnus sensed her subtle change in
mood. He opened his elbows and allowed her to press his arms back
over his head. She felt a flutter of a noncombative emotion in her
stomach.

“
Let me show you a new hold
I’ve thought of,” Telisa said, bringing her face close to
his.

Magnus looked into her eyes. “By all
means, instruct me.”

Chapter
Twenty Three

“
Hi. Are you making
progress?” asked Magnus.

Telisa turned to see him walk into the
bay. She smiled and pointed out the horseshoe device.
“Some.”

“
So these can be dangerous,
right? That’s why the space force makes it illegal to have them.”
He winked at her to let her know he wasn’t trying to justify their
policies.