"I"m sure it is," Telisa said. "When we first show up, they may be searching ships trying to find us. But if they don"t know who we are, or what the ship is, they might try searching but give up if they don"t find the artifacts. So we need to stash them for a while. Maybe even only bring them back a few at a time, I don"t know."
"We may have to give up our ident.i.ties," Magnus said. "No one will know Thomas and Jack are dead for a while, but the fact that they"re gone may eventually lead to investigation."
"Does anyone know they died? Did we mention it to Joe? And their bodies... once they died, I wonder if their bodies were dissolved away once we walked out of range."
"Let"s hope their bodies and any trace of our DNA was dissolved. The UNSF is going to go through that base with some sophisticated equipment." Magnus shook his head. "If only it had been a few artifacts in some cave or something. They never would have bothered to waste the resources to find us, if they even knew we were ever there. But with an alien, the complex we were trapped in, and Joe... we may just be doomed."
"I"m not going to give up and neither are you," Telisa said. "They have a lot of other stuff to worry about, too, and it"s going to take them time. We"re a small part of it. Shiny is what they"re going to care about. The Trilisk stuff is what they"ll care about."
"Maybe."
"Well what else is there to do... you have the ship"s logs to clean up?" Telisa said.
Magnus let his head droop. "That"s the big one. It"s going to take a long time, and it sucks."
"Well we have time. Take a day off," Telisa suggested with a smile. "You deserve a rest."
"Well, I was thinking... about a crash pod inspection."
"What?"
Magnus winked at her. "Team crash pod inspection."
Telisa moved closer. "Oh, team crash pod inspection. Yes, I think one of those is in order."
Epilogue.
Kirizzo examined the data from his survey of the planet below. His vessel collected more data every minute but the preliminary a.n.a.lysis was almost irrefutable.
Kirizzo"s home planet lay dead, destroyed by a thorough application of heavy weapons from orbit.
He sent down drones to salvage what he could. It might be possible to retrieve useful supplies from the ruins of the planet. Close range scans showed the enemy had been Bel Klaven. The war machines had dropped onto the planet after the original barrage to dig the remaining Gorgala out of their tunnels. All evidence indicated this had been a year-long campaign, involving millions of invaders.
For Kirizzo, this revelation came as a life-altering event. New goals would have to be conceived, new plans laid to attain them. In some small way he was responsible for the carnage below, by allowing himself to be trapped in the Trilisk complex rather than returning in a timely manner with important Trilisk secrets. But now he could use what he had learned of those secrets to make a new life.
The Gorgala contemplated the aliens he had encountered, the soft ones with fat ugly bodies. Their primitive civilization looked more appealing in light of this new data. Perhaps they could offer Kirizzo the resources he desired.
He wondered where they had traveled to. There had been some sort of confrontation between the ones he had traded with and the others who were hunting them. Would it be dangerous to contact any of them without learning more first?
Kirizzo searched his download of the information he had gleaned from the computation tools of the aliens. Some of the data included star charts and astronomical reference material. And of course he had exacting records of the core replication elements of the individuals he sought.
With a little work, he should be able to find them again.
A hooded figure moved through the lock, pa.s.sing smoothly under the security scanner. A brief disruption of the feed caused the nearby controller to review the data. It initiated a weapons scan which came up negative. The DNA of the latest few entrants ran through the matcher again but nothing seemed out of order. The discrepancy was logged.
Inside, a well dressed gentlemen waited at a long table in an empty warehouse room. The newcomer walked in and removed her hood.
"Ms. Vorauche?" asked the man, coming to his feet. He looked well manicured if slightly overweight, with brown hair and a thick moustache.
"Mr. Franklin," Telisa responded.
"Well, the item is quite a find. I would of course ask where you got such an amazing artifact, but I guess I know better."
Telisa shrugged. "The artifact itself will have to be enough."
The man nodded. "It is enough. Mystery enough all by itself. And I am paying quite enough for it, as well."
"Well you know, high demand... "
"Limited supply. Yes. We can thank the s.p.a.ce force for that."
Telisa thought of her father for a moment. She wondered where he was. Then she reached into her jacket and brought out the device. It was a glowing egg with a thin covering of silvery netting.
"Be careful, it has a memory recorded in it," she said.
"Yes! Actually, I can"t wait to see it myself."
"It is as I said. Very powerful. You won"t be disappointed, even though you don"t have a third brain lobe to receive the full experience."
The man took the artifact into his hands and examined it. After a moment, his eyes stopped moving, and he froze. She listened to his breathing for a few moments while he experienced the memory. Then he blinked and came out of it.
"Fantastic. Amazing. Unbelievable," he muttered. "And I hope we may do business again, if this is any indication!"
"Then we have a deal, Mr. Franklin," Telisa said, offering her hand.
The man took her hand in his own doughy appendage and shook it vigorously. "Excellent. A wonderful item it is. Being a xenoartifact smuggler must be very lucrative, and doubly as exciting!"
Telisa smiled. "It is, Mr. Franklin. It is."
end.