Read Online The Trilisk Revolution (Parker Interstellar Travels) by Michael McCloskey - Free Book Online Page A

his giant ships. Three dark columns with
no controls dominated the room.
    A
form emerged from the shadow of one of the pillars.
    “Shiny!
What the hell is going on?” asked Telisa3.
    “Withholding
data,” Kirizzo said.
    “How
can I do this mission without knowing what’s happening? Where’s Magnus and the
others? The habitat? Am I a copy or the original?”
    Telisa3
held out her arm and flexed, trying to measure her strength.
    “Parts
of plan hidden, obfuscated, withheld,” Kirizzo explained. “Trilisks possess,
demonstrate, utilize mind reading talents. Optimal situation: information,
background, details hidden, obfuscated, withheld.”
    “By
the Five! You can’t tell me because you don’t want a Trilisk to read my mind
and learn something that could defeat us?”
    “Correct.
Trust, believe, obey Shiny for mutual benefit. Telisa absorbed mission
parameters?”
    “Yes.
I’m going into Skyhold to take down a Trilisk there. But we were far from
Earth, last I remember!”
    “Correct.
Situation fluid, changing, shifting. Optimal course explained, given,
delineated by mission briefing.”
    Kirizzo
could tell Telisa3 had doubts. She took a long moment to look at Kirizzo.
Telisa3 seemed to come to a decision after a typically short Terran planning
phase.
    “Okay,
I’ll trust you. Show me to my shuttle and I’ll be off. I don’t like working in
the dark, but, I can see it given what you’ve said. If I succeed, I expect a
full debriefing, in the other direction.”
    Kirizzo
sent her a route.
    “It’s
customary to wish me luck,” Telisa3 prompted.
    “Good
luck,” Kirizzo said. He understood that was the expected phrase the Terran had
asked for.
    “Say
it like you normally would,” Telisa3 said.
    Kirizzo
felt perplexed. He took a guess.
    “Shiny
hopes, wishes, bestows luck upon Telisa.”
    “Better,”
she said, yet hesitated. “I have so many questions… sounds like the less I
know, the better? I don’t like it. You can’t even tell me where the others are?
Magnus?”
    Kirizzo
was familiar with this behavior. Called complaints, these statements were a
form of soft negotiation which hinged upon the compassion of the listener.
Kirizzo refused to budge.
    Telisa3
slowly left the room.
    Kirizzo
checked Telisa3’s internal bomb. Its diagnostic reported full function. Kirizzo
felt satisfied. When Telisa3 came under Trilisk control, it would activate,
releasing the agent that Kirizzo had copied from Maxsym’s lab. Kirizzo hoped
that would come as a surprise to the Trilisks.
    A
humming noise arose behind Kirizzo. The column released another Terran.
    “Shiny?
Where is everyone?” called Magnus3.
    “Magnus
has learned, studied, absorbed mission parameters?” Kirizzo asked.
     

     
    Chapter 10
     
    Imanol’s
shuttle floated on the water beside a rocky but beautiful island in the Aegean
Sea. He opened a top hatch and climbed out. The sun felt warm on his face but
the wind was cool. He smelled the complexity of planetary air.
    Imanol
lingered only a couple of seconds, then he was back to business. He grabbed his
pack and slung it over his shoulder. Then he took a large black case and tossed
it into the water. It floated nearby. Imanol slid down an angled side of the
shuttle and slipped in. He swam slowly away from the shuttle, pulling the case
with him.
    Four
attendant spheres skimmed the water nearby, zipping around like nervous
dragonflies. He lingered in the water, waiting for the attendants to scan for hidden
sensors or traps. They did not detect any danger. It was almost time. A couple
of minutes had been allocated for him to apply countermeasures to any sensors
or security systems he discovered on the beach. When he got the signal from the
Vovokan orbs verifying it was time, Imanol got behind the case and pushed it
toward shore with powerful leg kicks.
    He
walked out onto the sand of the island. His Veer suit had kept him dry.
    So
far, so good. The other team members are in action now,