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 a.n.a.log of ma.s.s sense."
"Ma.s.s sense? You can detect ma.s.s?"
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. Compet.i.tive status and resulting conflict."
"Compet.i.tive? Why did you a.s.sume that we were in compet.i.tion, Shiny?" Telisa asked in a quiet, shaking voice.
"Preventative measure. Avoid attack."
"Then why did you a.s.sume 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 gla.s.s 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 sh.o.r.ed 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 ma.s.saged 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. .h.i.t 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 pa.s.sed 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, pa.s.sing 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 s.p.a.ce force makes it illegal to have them." He winked at her to let her know he wasn"t trying to justify their policies.
"Yeah. Well, I could be more careful in a real lab. This is the artifact I shocked myself on," Telisa said. "It still has some juice, even after all this time."
"I wonder how?"
"Search me. I don"t know what the power source is. My scanner isn"t showing that it has any power at all. It should be dead. But it just generated quite an EM spike."
"Broadcast power, maybe," Magnus suggested.
"We left the planet a long time ago. You"re not suggesting that it could have such a range...?"
"No. I don"t know. We could try to hook up a circuit to check it out more carefully," Magnus suggested. He chuckled. "It might be easier to study when your body isn"t part of the conductor."
Telisa smiled. "Yeah, that sounds like a great experiment. Let"s set it up. I wonder how much power the thing has left? Of course, we might end up using the last bit of energy it needs to work, then we"ll never figure it out."
"Well, right now there"s something else up. I came down here to tell you... we"ve arrived."
"Where?"
Magnus shrugged. "What Shiny called the sanctuary, I guess. Some kind of s.p.a.ce station or outpost. Here, I"ll point you at our sensor data."
Telisa"s link received a location to find what Magnus saw. Telisa closed her eyes and saw the ship"s sensor output interface in her mind. She flipped through the acc.u.mulated scans, seeing images and three-dimensional models in her mind"s eye.
The base extended well beyond the size of the Iridar, shaped like three identical spheres anch.o.r.ed together in a triangle with thin filaments of material. The entire a.s.sembly shadowed a rocky moon in its...o...b..t around a nearby planet.
"It"s not really rotating. I wonder if Shiny"s race has mastered artificial gravity," Telisa said.
"I"m betting there is. They have to have gravity control or else the whole base would eventually collide with the moon. I think it"s paired with the moon, kept at a constant distance with some kind of force link."
"Shiny"s probably been gone for a while. I hope they welcome him back... and for that matter I hope they welcome us, too."
"I a.s.sume that Shiny will be going over there soon. Question is, will we be going over there?"
"We could stay here, but I"m tempted to follow. There might be more artifacts, and we could meet more of his kind, see if they are at all interested in us."
"They might just flush us out the airlock, of course," Magnus said.
"Yes, they might. But Shiny hasn"t seemed openly hostile. Despite his recent takeover."
He shrugged. "Alright. As we"ve said, he could have killed us already. Let"s follow him and see what we can learn. But make sure your link logs the way back. I a.s.sume this time, the stupid tunnels won"t switch around on us."
"Funny, it makes sense that they won"t now, but I half expect them to," she said.
Magnus nodded. "We"ve learned not to take that for granted anymore. At least for a while."
They walked over to the equipment bags they had taken with them on the previous sortie.
"I already restocked the food and water. And added a little more, this time," Telisa said.
"Can never have enough of that canned rations c.r.a.p," Magnus added sardonically.
Shiny marched into the bay, his many legs flicking nervously.
"Lead the way, Shiny!" Telisa said.
The alien stood in place for a moment. One of his legs twitched periodically, making a slight sc.r.a.ping sound.
"Why do you do that, Shiny?" Telisa asked.
"Brain damage. Leg moves sometimes," Shiny answered.
"Wow. Sorry to hear that. At least you have nineteen other brains!"
"True. Correct."
"We can go onto your base, can"t we?" Telisa asked.
"Egress. Entrance. This is allowed," buzzed Shiny"s generated voice. The statement ended the moment of inactivity. The cargo bay doors activated, filling the s.p.a.ce with the sound of the hatch mechanism.
"s.h.i.t! Shiny, you"re not depressurizing the bay, are you?" Telisa asked, her voice wavering near panic.
Magnus bolted across the bay, motioning to Telisa. "Go for one of the pods!" he called.
"Pressure, present externally," came a broken sentence from the alien.
Telisa stared at the growing opening of the bay doors and realized that there was no screaming wind of depressurization. Instead of the darkness of s.p.a.ce, a soft white light filtered in from the outside.