Read Online The Trilisk Supersedure by Michael McCloskey - Free Book Online
Authors: Michael McCloskey
Tags: Science-Fiction
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scouts and see what we can see. I’d
rather avoid them and continue our work on this side of the ruins. They may not
be wanting any visitors.”
Chapter 6
Holtzclaw
forced himself to look over the body of one of his soldiers. It lay broken
across the red rocks at his feet. It was the same as always. Most of the flesh
had been gouged or dissolved away from the shoulder blades upward. Only parts
of the brain remained within the skull. The stench of ammonia lingered over the
corpse. Holtzclaw did a mental accounting.
The
forty-fourth victim of the monster. Assuming there really is only one.
Captain Arakaki believed strongly it was the work of only one
Konuan. She had a lot of data to back the idea up. The pattern of kills, their
distance apart, and the frequency of attacks all supported the idea that only
one creature was out there killing them.
Or at least only one creature at a time. Maybe they take
turns like some kind of hunting club.
Holtzclaw
had Arakaki on the Konuan almost full time. She had the authority to pull a
kill team whenever she chose. She had yet to do so, and Holtzclaw knew it was
because she was a perfectionist. She wouldn’t scramble the team until she knew
they had a very real shot at slaying the creature.
Until
then, it had the initiative. Their sensors weren’t tracking it for the most
part, though there were tantalizing clues, ghosts really, and half the time
even those proved to be deceptions. Holtzclaw had no doubt about one thing:
that creature was smart, smart on the level of full sentience. Maybe smarter
than the Terrans.
A
couple of soldiers wrapped the man up in blackvines. The dead had two
destinations here: cremation or burial in one of the plant fissures. Most of
the men chose cremation, but this man, Hummel, had been something of a nature
lover and had chosen to be put into a fissure to become plant food. The
soldiers carried him away.
Holtzclaw
looked after the receding corpse and felt his morale slip one iota further into
the void.
We’re
slowly dying here. Not just from the Konuan, but from everything. There can’t
really be any point in resisting the UNSF any longer, can there?
Sometimes
Holtzclaw would discuss it with his officers. The new frontier was a big place.
They wouldn’t necessarily have to surrender. They could go out and join some of
the outfits coming together far from Earth, and no one would come looking for
them for a long time, if ever. Yet the dream of humanity freed from the old
government of the core worlds was something they all believed in so strongly,
they hadn’t given up.
Holtzclaw
thought about the recent landing again. Whoever it was, they had come in a big
ship. They had to have a lot of supplies. Maybe even mobile factories that
could produce new hardware with the right specs to feed into them. He had a
feeling they had to turn this to their advantage or it might be over. They had
to risk action now.
He used
his link to call his officers in for a FTF. He told them to show up at the
surveillance tent. It was close to Holtzclaw, in his sight at the moment. He
headed for it at a slow walk, knowing the others would take longer to arrive.
They had built their above-surface camp carefully, molding it to the terrain
and the alien plant stalks to achieve concealment. They only needed access to
one of the Trilisk tunnels, because the entire system was interconnected
beneath the ruins. A system of active camouflage nets covered the entire camp,
open space and all, so that men could walk between the tents and the
underground entrance without notice from above.
Holtzclaw
arrived at the surveillance tent, a long, low tent set to a green that matched
the clumps of plant material above. He scratched fiercely at the growing skin
on his shoulder, then ducked into the tent. Captain Caicedo sat inside among a
large collection of stripped drones. The machines had been cannibalized for
parts.
“Anything?”
“I don’t
think there’s many of
rather avoid them and continue our work on this side of the ruins. They may not
be wanting any visitors.”
Chapter 6
Holtzclaw
forced himself to look over the body of one of his soldiers. It lay broken
across the red rocks at his feet. It was the same as always. Most of the flesh
had been gouged or dissolved away from the shoulder blades upward. Only parts
of the brain remained within the skull. The stench of ammonia lingered over the
corpse. Holtzclaw did a mental accounting.
The
forty-fourth victim of the monster. Assuming there really is only one.
Captain Arakaki believed strongly it was the work of only one
Konuan. She had a lot of data to back the idea up. The pattern of kills, their
distance apart, and the frequency of attacks all supported the idea that only
one creature was out there killing them.
Or at least only one creature at a time. Maybe they take
turns like some kind of hunting club.
Holtzclaw
had Arakaki on the Konuan almost full time. She had the authority to pull a
kill team whenever she chose. She had yet to do so, and Holtzclaw knew it was
because she was a perfectionist. She wouldn’t scramble the team until she knew
they had a very real shot at slaying the creature.
Until
then, it had the initiative. Their sensors weren’t tracking it for the most
part, though there were tantalizing clues, ghosts really, and half the time
even those proved to be deceptions. Holtzclaw had no doubt about one thing:
that creature was smart, smart on the level of full sentience. Maybe smarter
than the Terrans.
A
couple of soldiers wrapped the man up in blackvines. The dead had two
destinations here: cremation or burial in one of the plant fissures. Most of
the men chose cremation, but this man, Hummel, had been something of a nature
lover and had chosen to be put into a fissure to become plant food. The
soldiers carried him away.
Holtzclaw
looked after the receding corpse and felt his morale slip one iota further into
the void.
We’re
slowly dying here. Not just from the Konuan, but from everything. There can’t
really be any point in resisting the UNSF any longer, can there?
Sometimes
Holtzclaw would discuss it with his officers. The new frontier was a big place.
They wouldn’t necessarily have to surrender. They could go out and join some of
the outfits coming together far from Earth, and no one would come looking for
them for a long time, if ever. Yet the dream of humanity freed from the old
government of the core worlds was something they all believed in so strongly,
they hadn’t given up.
Holtzclaw
thought about the recent landing again. Whoever it was, they had come in a big
ship. They had to have a lot of supplies. Maybe even mobile factories that
could produce new hardware with the right specs to feed into them. He had a
feeling they had to turn this to their advantage or it might be over. They had
to risk action now.
He used
his link to call his officers in for a FTF. He told them to show up at the
surveillance tent. It was close to Holtzclaw, in his sight at the moment. He
headed for it at a slow walk, knowing the others would take longer to arrive.
They had built their above-surface camp carefully, molding it to the terrain
and the alien plant stalks to achieve concealment. They only needed access to
one of the Trilisk tunnels, because the entire system was interconnected
beneath the ruins. A system of active camouflage nets covered the entire camp,
open space and all, so that men could walk between the tents and the
underground entrance without notice from above.
Holtzclaw
arrived at the surveillance tent, a long, low tent set to a green that matched
the clumps of plant material above. He scratched fiercely at the growing skin
on his shoulder, then ducked into the tent. Captain Caicedo sat inside among a
large collection of stripped drones. The machines had been cannibalized for
parts.
“Anything?”
“I don’t
think there’s many of
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