Parker Interstellar Travels 6: The Celaran Ruins (19 page)

Chapter 19

Cilreth
went to visit Telisa in her tiny quarters on the
New Iridar
. She found
Telisa brooding.

And
I think I know what about
,
Cilreth thought. They had been collecting samples of Celaran technology from
all accessible areas of the base for three days. The cargo hold was full of
large numbers of hovering tech batons, Celaran clothing, and spare parts. They
had not found any quiescent robots to steal, nor had they dared to capture any.

“How
are we going to get that Celaran ship out of there?” Cilreth asked. “I don’t
know the first thing about it. My brain is already full of Terran and Vovokan
stuff. It pains me to think about learning Celaran next.”

Said
like a true old timer.

“I’m
not sure that we’re going to get it out of there,” Telisa said. “I suspected
you might feel that way, so I’ve asked Siobhan and Caden to learn everything
they can about the Celaran cybernetics.”

“She
has a more technical background,” Cilreth said.

“And
he’s highly intelligent and competitive. It can’t hurt to challenge him.”

“Yes.
I agree,” Cilreth said. “I’m surprised to hear you say we might not be taking
it.”

“It’s
not our ship to take.”

“Well,
it might be if the Celaran civilization is dead,” Cilreth said. “And we already
shot the place up...”

“How
secure is this ship now that we got rid of that watchdog?” Telisa asked,
dodging the topic.

“I
imagine the attendants are impossible to make safe,” Cilreth said. “My guess
is, Shiny has ways to take control of them I can’t do anything about, since I’m
not allowed into those systems. But at least they almost certainly don’t have
the power to make tachyonic transmissions.”

Should
I have said that with so much confidence? On the other side of the light
barrier, faster transmissions actually take less power, not more... if the
Vovokans can intercept insanely fast messages...

“I
thought we had complete control of them.”

“Oh
they seem to take our orders, all right. But we don’t have core access. They
just do what we say... I think they will do what Shiny says over us. The
New
Iridar
is a brighter story, though. I have direct access to the core
system. I learned a lot on the
Clacker
...”

And
I wish my double was here, because she was even better at this than I am.

“Do
you think he’s tracking us? Do you think he could remotely recall the ship?
Does he know if we’re alive or dead? Is he listening to our every word?”

Cilreth
sighed.

“Well.
The ship will send a message before it dies if it can. I could turn that off,
but I figured, if we die, no harm in letting him know the particulars. This far
out, I don’t think he can track us using the normal setup. He might have
attached an isolated system that transmits tachyons, then blinded our sensors
to it. But where would the power come from?”

“Where,
indeed,” Telisa said in that way that meant she wanted Cilreth to check it out.

“I
think I have genuine control of the ship. But I’m not the equivalent of a
Vovokan hacker. Let’s face it, there have to be advanced methods they use to
hijack systems, and how can I really be aware of those?”

Telisa’s
face showed a pained look.

I
just can’t give her the answers she wants.

“I’m
sorry, Telisa, but this is an alien ship, and they’re so advanced—”

“I
get it. That’s okay. I prefer you honest, even if it makes me want to shoot
myself.”

“Then
let me say a human ship might not be much better. Shiny has studied human
computer systems and I’m sure he knows how to compromise those, too. Given his
vast computing power, amazing tech, and a Trilisk AI to listen to his prayers,
it’s probably child’s play to him.”

Telisa
did not say anything.

She
has to be thinking about getting Magnus back!

“I
think we could trade the Celaran ship for Magnus,” Cilreth said. “It’s got to
be a juicy find. Who knows what that ship is capable of?”

Telisa
nodded. “Maybe. We don’t even have access to it at the moment. We’ll give Shiny
everything else—the clothes and the tools and the robots. We can even take one
of the houses apart for its components before we leave.”

“So
what now? We just go back to Earth?”

Telisa
did not answer immediately. After long seconds she shook her head.

“We
got rid of that damn watchdog of his. I don’t want to go back yet just to have
another one put back into the cargo hold. I want to talk to real Celarans. If
we can make friends with them, they could help us so much.”

“We
have no idea what they’re like,” Cilreth said. “They might be ornery.”

“Well
at least we know they don’t bite,” Telisa smiled.

Cilreth
raised an eyebrow.

“I’m
going to risk it,” Telisa continued. “We keep the ship as our ace in the hole.
Find the Celarans without our watchdog and make a deal with them. Maybe they
can help us with our Shiny problem.”

“Last
time we—”

“‘Maybe’
I said. Aliens are by definition different from each other. The Celarans won’t
be Trilisks and they won’t be Vovokans. They might be friendly. We’re due to
find some friendly aliens, don’t you think?”

“Maybe
the nice ones don’t make it. They get steamrolled by the aggressive dominant
races,” Cilreth said.

“I
want to find out.”

“Where
are we going to find these Celarans?”

“The
next planet on the route,” Telisa said. “These are all supposed to be Celaran
sites. And supposedly we know the homeworld, too.”

“Okay,
I’m in. Gotta convince the others, though.”

Telisa
smiled sadly. “Where else do they have to go?”