The Rovan Gate

By Michael McCloskey

The Rovan Gate is the 15th book in the PIT series.

Just as it seems that the PIT team has learned the answers they sought about the Rovans, the team uncovers one last lead so tempting that they decide to stall the coming confrontation with Ambassador Shiny to investigate another legacy of the Rovan civilization.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael McCloskey
• Release date: May 24, 2020
• ISBN: 9780998569765

Michael McCloskey

I am a software engineer in Silicon Valley who dreams of otherworldly creatures, mysterious alien planets, and fantastic adventures. I am also an indie author with over 140K paid sales plus another 118K free downloads.

Book preview

The Rovan Gate

(Book 15 of the PIT series)

by Michael McCloskey

Copyright 2020 Michael McCloskey

Published by Michael McCloskey at Smashwords

ISBN: 978-0998569765

Learn more about Michael McCloskey’s works at

www.squidlord.us

Cover art by Stephan Martiniere

Chapter 1

Imanol stretched in his sleep web within a modest Celaran house, floating gently in the interior of Blackhab. He thought about his life.

How is it that I ever made it to a place like this? Me. A washed-up frontier security man.

Imanol still was not sure how he had ever gotten on the radar of an outfit like PIT. He supposed it had something to do with a few times he had been fired for refusing to toe the line for a megacorp that wanted to do the wrong thing. He despised those organizations that proclaimed themselves to be something noble when in fact they worked only toward achieving their own ends. Imanol could tolerate a machine geared toward profit—if at least it admitted that was its goal.

Telisa and her team, at least, had never tried to bury him in bullshit. After the things Imanol had seen, that alone was reason enough to work for them. On top of that was the fact that the work was often exciting and sometimes rewarding.

But today Imanol was not happy.

He checked the time. Less than an hour until he would go in and be replaced by the Trilisk Special Forces version of himself: faster, stronger, smarter.

But it won’t really be me. Not this me. Right? Not the Imanol lying here in this web.

No one really knew for sure how much the Trilisks had learned about the nature of consciousness. Had they finally peeled away the confusing outer layers to reveal the deeper meaning of consciousness with their vaunted technology? Would it really be his consciousness moved into a host body, or just a copy?

Imanol knew if he did not bother his little mind with it, he would walk in there, be exchanged, and the universe would go on just fine… or would it?

No. What will happen is the new copy of me will be as irritated by the thought as I am now. And he will wonder if someday he’ll be ‘retired’ and my copy will come out to take his place.

Imanol had been all for the swap to Trilisk host bodies the first time the team had tried it. What had changed since then? Imanol supposed he had gone from a man with nothing to lose to a member of the PIT team. His work was now important, meaningful. He did not want to silently go off into a slumber that he might never wake up from.

I need to promise myself that I’ll come back for myself. Then the new Imanol will hold to the promise.

Imanol got up from the web and headed out early. He had it in his mind to take a look at the Trilisk column and—what? It was simply an impulse. He walked out onto the tiny balcony of the home and launched himself into the bright artificial sky. His attendants tweaked his course and let him drift toward the meeting building. A few minutes later, he landed at his destination with a thud.

In my new body, every landing will be perfect. Like Telisa when she starts leaping around and shooting like some kind of machine.

Imanol slid through a hatch and walked quietly into the column room. A pair of Celarans flitted around in one corner above the rows of Terran chairs.

Imanol took a deep breath and looked up at the pale column.

The Trilisks did this. And they had mastery over so many things. They would not have done it themselves if it meant that they actually died each time. Right?

Imanol was mostly convinced. The only hole in his argument was what if the Trilisks just did not think of life and death the same way that Terrans did? Maybe they did not care if one copy of them died as long as they knew another copy would go on. Maybe those awful creatures had never had souls in the first place.

Hi! Taishi said gleefully.

Imanol jumped out of his skin. He whirled to see the green snake that had taught Telisa to use the column.

What?!

What was its name again? Oh. Taishi.

Sorry! Taishi said.

Imanol stared back. Taishi’s enthusiasm was over the top and that irritated Imanol even more than being surprised.

Are you… here to be upgraded? Taishi asked. Its voice was a little more even now. Perhaps it had already sensed his irritation.

That thing is smart. Way smart.

Yes. Have you backed yourself up? Imanol suddenly asked.

Yes.

"Did you feel any hesitation? After all, your mind is… well, physically you. A copy, not so much."

"Well, if a copy is made of me, it will most likely be because I’m dead, Taishi said. Your situation, though, is a bit more complicated."

Ah, right. You’re not being preemptively disintegrated and replaced.

At no point will your body be disintegrated, Taishi clarified. Your body—this copy of it you now reside within—will be placed in stasis.

No teleportation, either?

Not clear. But you will be here in the column. The only thing to worry about is: will anyone ever want to wake you up with a better copy around?

Twisting tentacles. Now I feel so much better, Imanol said dryly.

Well, if I wasn’t going to give it to you straight, would you really learn to value my opinion? Taishi asked.

Way smart. Dangerous.

Imanol sighed.

You don’t want to do it, Taishi said.

Not really. But I’m a team player, now that I found the right team, Imanol said. "This will make the team more effective, and I risk my life in a lot of other ways anyhow. I’m going to focus on the idea that this way, when I do inevitably die, there may be other copies of me about and around anyway."

A constructive attitude! I’m sure Telisa would appreciate it.

Why do I feel like I just talked myself into accepting death? Or did Taishi subtly manipulate me?

Okay, let’s do this, Imanol said.

Well, I’m fine with going ahead now, but maybe…

Imanol nodded. He initiated a connection to Telisa.

Telisa, I’m ready to go ahead and switch over to the host body. I thought I would check in just in case you’ve decided to call it all off.

Telisa took a moment to respond.

That’s still the plan. Thank you for going ahead with it. I know it feels kind of… metaphysically disturbing.

Yeah.

Imanol gave Taishi a smile of resignation and nodded.

Close your eyes when you’re ready.

Imanol looked at the column and closed his eyes. He stood for a moment, trying to be very still.

And open them, Taishi instructed.

Imanol opened his eyes. He was not standing in exactly the same place. He quickly realized it was simply that his original body had been standing somewhere else, and now he had been transferred.

Here we go. Ug.

Other team members had shown up. Caden, Siobhan, and Maxsym stood nearby.

Who’s done? Imanol asked.

Only you and me so far, Telisa reported.

Imanol took a moment to adjust. Everything looked and sounded cleaner, crisper. In fact he heard… footsteps. Cautiously advancing ones. Imanol looked to his right, instinctively knowing exactly the direction and distance the sound came from. A woman in a Veer suit had walked in.

It was Siobhan. Another Siobhan.

Blood and souls.

The other Siobhan seemed to read the situation in a second. She did an about-face and marched back out of the room. Imanol looked away, but he saw that the entrance had not gone unnoticed by Telisa.

There are some other PIT teams here at Blackhab, just for your information. You might run into yourselves, Telisa told the team. For now, it seems like an unspoken agreement that we will avoid each other rather than get together for a giant PIT party.

Caden and Cilreth nodded. Imanol’s incredible senses allowed him to hear them all breathing now. It was a little overwhelming.

Imanol noticed the others staring at him.

Gonna take some adjustment, but it’s good, he encouraged them. Just a little… intense.

Chapter 2

Magnus wrapped himself around Telisa in a coiled ball of deadly Trilisk-designed muscle. Her face slid into place between his pectorals, then pressed into his chest, driven by the inexorable force of his flexing arms wrapped around her head.

Magnus squeezed slowly despite his ability to proceed much faster. Telisa finally tapped out, patting her hand against his back. He disengaged his arms.

Magnus’s revenge, she croaked. You finally have more strength than I do, like the old days. Her face was bright red and still subtly deformed from the tremendous pressure that had been put upon it.

They sat on the mat in the incarnate workout room.

It’s also our training, Magnus said. I’ve been facing a superior opponent in a host body for so long, I was forced to sharpen my tactics and techniques to deal with it, even given the assistance of the various handicaps we’ve been adding for incarnate training. This is a reflection of our failure to fully adapt our training to the point where we could both gain the same benefit from it.

Telisa considered that for a moment.

You could be on to something there, she admitted. But most of our training is virtual. We often put me into normal Terran mode for our virtual fights.

Often. Not always. Plus, our incarnate training sessions were always like this. This is a known phenomenon. For example, the smallest or youngest of a group of siblings often ends up becoming the most formidable by the time they fully mature.

Magnus could not deny that he felt amazing. The aftermath of a workout with his ‘Trilisk Special Forces’ partner was usually a painful thing. Today, he felt invincible.

They stripped for a shower. Their bodies bore a comedy of scrapes, red welts, and bruises. The Trilisk host bodies would heal in minutes, but for the moment, they looked like torture victims.

Telisa still managed to look amazing. Magnus felt a wave of lust. Luckily Telisa’s host body had a libido to match his own.

***

Magnus watched Telisa pace back and forth with the fierce energy born of a Trilisk host body. He felt it himself: power and energy coupled with razor sharp senses. The wear and tear of the workout two hours distant was already a fading memory. The bruises were gone, the skin self-repaired.

They were the only two on the bridge of the Synergy, having lingered on their prized starship after the workout. Marcant and Adair were the only other team members currently on the ship where it held station at Blackhab.

From a lotus position, Magnus used one leg to launch himself upward. He shot up to the ceiling, stopping on ten extended fingertips, then fell back down, spinning around once before landing on his feet.

Magnus had discussed such feats with Telisa back when she was the only host body. She had explained that rather than needing endless practice to perfect muscle memory for complex feats, everything seemed to happen more slowly in such a body, allowing each move to be carefully considered. Then the brain and muscles remembered the results so well that the move could be repeated and perfected in only a few trials.

You’re thinking about attacking Shiny, I assume, Magnus said.

Thinking about the Rovans. Once they all learned to cooperate completely and trustingly, their civilization must have evolved so quickly! Imagine, no locks, no deceptions, no security layers or need to waste energy guarding against thievery. What percentage of Terran endeavor goes toward securing what we have from others? Exposing lies? Building contingencies against malicious actions… and the losses every time a person or a corporation or government is the victim of enemy activity.

Their progress must have been impressive indeed—until Psycho Vovokan, Magnus said.

Until Psycho Vovokan, she echoed.

I wonder how deep their trust and cooperation ran. Did they easily agree with each other? Were they always on the same page or did they argue and squabble like Terrans do?

Good question, Telisa said. Perhaps the battleship will someday teach us more.

After a few seconds, she continued. I feel like I’m letting the team down if we don’t go after Shiny, but I’m pretty sure that effort will fail.

Your job is to lead them, not please them, Magnus said.

But Shiny is dangerous. I have to admit that.

The Rovans were exterminated. It will be… different… for… Magnus trailed off.

The Rovans were not exterminated. There is one system left.

The revelation came to Magnus, shocking him into silence. He was vaguely aware of Telisa staring at him.

A new memory, she deduced. She referred to the handful of memories that had been implanted into Magnus’s mind by the alien device he had worked with to escape the Rovan dreadnought.

Magnus nodded. There’s another Rovan planet. A special one… like a Core World.

Yes?

The Rovan battleship was hiding that fact. There was a very special place. Somehow this world wasn’t destroyed… the Rovans must still be alive!

How could that be? How could they have survived? Why didn’t they come back to reclaim their bases, their planets? Come back to release the battleship from its duty?

Magnus shrugged. I don’t know. Maybe the war is still going on? Or maybe those Rovans are hiding there?

Actually, how did the battleship even know about it? Why didn’t the battleship go back there?

Maybe it was afraid of leading the enemy there, Magnus said.

We’re going to go find out, of course, Telisa said.

She was already opening a channel to the team.

What about Shiny? The teams are assembling here, Magnus pointed out quickly.

An assault on Earth may happen with or without this team, Telisa said to him.

Team. We have a hot new lead on the Rovans. Looks like they may not all be gone after all, she said. Close up shop here and get ready to go as soon as possible.

What about the attack on Shiny? Caden asked.

We might be able to slip in an important discovery before something is launched here, Telisa said. It might affect everyone’s plans.

Tell the Celarans to stall for us, Magnus suggested.

To them, we’re all the same. The Celarans have no reason to prefer us over the other teams, Cilreth said.

"Lee was on this team," Magnus said.

Yes, Lee might have some pull. But we should also tell our copies we have good reason to delay. They should trust themselves, right? Telisa asked.

They might trust you, Imanol said. Maybe the rest of us should not get involved.

Magnus smiled. The other teams have others of us as the leaders, you know.

Really? There’s a team with an Imanol in charge? Imanol asked.

Magnus put his hand on Telisa’s shoulder, interrupting her before she could reply in the positive.

"Oh. I don’t know about you, Magnus teased. That’s going a bit far."

Imanol snorted on the channel. Siobhan laughed. Telisa shot Magnus a chastising look but then she smiled.

Just get ready, please, she said.

Chapter 3

Cilreth noted the Synergy had left Blackhab far behind. Yet another voyage seeking clues of the Rovan legacy had begun.

The first leg of their journey took the PIT ships out into interstellar space to set up an approach path that was not in line with any nearby stars—a maneuver designed to avoid any other Rovan traps that may have been set during their war. Doing this would cost them a lot of time—time which they did not have. The machinery for an assault on Earth had already been set into motion as more PIT teams assembled to join the effort. Cilreth supposed the splintered teams would connect and organize at any time.

As she rattled around in her quarters, adapting to her new super-powered body, Cilreth found her thoughts more and more focused on Shiny rather than the Rovans.

She was a woman with a mission. Now that she believed a confrontation with Shiny was inevitable, her understanding of Vovokan software became one of the most important skills on the PIT team. She drove herself into learning more with a new energy—though part of that energy may well have been her Trilisk host body.

In between stints of focused study about how to attack Vovokan systems, she paused to entertain various daydreams about her new potential in a young, super-sharp body. One idea she had grabbed hold of was the idea that Shiny must have hacked the Terran fleet. What if she could break or disrupt his control at a critical time?

Her previous life as a person-finder had equipped her with some skills at breaking into Terran systems—something which Shiny must have done. If she could figure out the approaches he may have taken, perhaps she could fight him.

The old Cilreth would have shrugged and found the task too monumental to tackle. She would have told herself that the Space Force cyber assault people must have already had the same thoughts. She would have decided that only a whole team of experts could hope to accomplish such a thing.

The new Cilreth did not sell herself short.

I can do anything. Anything!

A wave of desperate hunger flowed over her. Her Trilisk Special Forces body wanted a lot of calories.

Anything, that is, as long as I have large amounts of food to eat.

Cilreth burst up from her ‘command throne’ VR chair. She marveled again at the new body. Sudden movement came smoothly and naturally. Her joints and connective tissues were constantly springy, never achy. Terran medicine had amazing treatments for aging that kept people young for decades longer than ever before, but the Trilisk host bodies did all of that and