The Kriseel Invitation

By Michael McCloskey

The Kriseel Invitation is the 17th book in the PIT series.

When the PIT team is formally invited to meet with the Kriseel leaders, Telisa splits the team into three groups to accomplish more than diplomacy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael McCloskey
• Release date: Jul 31, 2021
• ISBN: 9780998569789

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

Chapter 1

Telisa watched Magnus blink. His brows furrowed.

Kang’s the Trilisk? It wasn’t Spero after all? he asked. He kept his voice down, almost conspiratorial, in the tiny Celaran room.

It was Spero. I don’t know if that’s connected or not. Though it’s interesting it was Kang that got rid of him. Maybe Kang’s a good Trilisk!

Telisa’s voice almost broke as she returned yet again to her childhood assumption: had there ever been compassionate Trilisks?

Let’s back up. What makes you think he’s a Trilisk?

I’ve been putting pieces together for a while now. I didn’t see it at first. But he changes as he takes on different roles. When he’s fighting, he’s cold and distant... and deadly. When he’s examining artifacts or working with Marcant on something, he becomes a consummate scientist. It’s only when he’s not doing those things that he becomes so... likeable. Everyone has felt his charm.

You mean... he’s like a Trilisk changing stances.

Exactly. Trilisks have three facings, and three personalities: one is always related to warfare. In fact that facing has a thicker hide or carapace. And as far as I know, another side is focused on science or engineering. Learning. The third one is almost a kind of politician, or at least, a social expert. Focused on interrelationships between beings. In their native form, one of these personalities is dominant at any given moment.

Then who controls which personality is in control when? Magnus asked.

I’m not sure. I don’t know enough, even given the memories I’ve experienced, and my time in a Trilisk body when I fought for control of the AI. If I had to guess, I think that they probably had an instinct for it, for example when threatened, the fighting stance would automatically take over. However, like us, they probably gained a more rational, conscious control over it as they developed into an advanced species.

If Kang is a Trilisk in a Terran brain... would he really still have stances?

Apparently so... if I’m right about this. Look, it fits what we’ve seen. If he’s a Trilisk then any scientific problem we have must be child’s play to him. It’s easy for him—but he can’t give himself away.

So the obvious questions are, can we trust him? And do we pretend we don’t know? Magnus asked.

I would have said, he’s only helped us so far... but that’s what I said about Taishi!

I’m surprised he doesn’t use the AI and the column more. Actually he must be, right? He hasn’t stolen them away yet...

I just don’t know. I’m not ready to let him know yet. I think I need to talk to the Embeez about it. I’m going over to try and contact Eye.

Oh! How? Magnus asked.

I’m going to try the TRB. I feel like this is over our heads. Maybe the Embeez will know what to do.

Magnus nodded.

Good call. Let me know what they say right away. He looked as worried as Telisa felt. "I’ll see you on the Synergy after that?" he asked.

Sure.

I guess no point in moving in here, then, he said. Magnus grabbed their gear packs and left.

Telisa walked into another room of the little house and found two young Celarans there, playfully darting back and forth between their roosts.

Thank you so much for offering to share your home with us! Unfortunately, we’re going right back out on a mission now.

Awww. We never got to play with you!

I’m sorry. Terrans are kind of a dull lot, you know. I have to get back to work.

Honestly I did notice you don’t play much. The elders said that’s your way. So I hope you’re happy doing all that work.

What are those flying things? Toys? asked the other. Telisa realized zhe was asking about her attendants.

Those are scouts. They’re Vovokan.

Vovokan? Wow. They can fly pretty well!

Telisa told one of her attendants to drop its PIT-specific code and accept safe commands from Celarans. Then she told it to fly around with the young ones.

Here. You can have one.

Really? Wow!

It will do whatever you tell it to do... except hurt anyone.

Hurt anyone? Gosh, I would never tell it to do that!

Good luck, maybe we’ll meet again, she transmitted.

Bye! one told her.

Goodbye! said the other.

The young Celarans flashed and resumed darting around. The orb chased after them, and they flashed even more, laughing.

Telisa walked out onto the balcony and pushed off with her powerful legs. She flew out into the gravity free zone beyond the house, accompanied by her three remaining attendants. She hopped from house to house, enjoying the bright artificial light for a few minutes until she arrived at the official Celaran building that housed the Trilisk column.

Once inside, she found the building mostly empty. She thought of Taishi again and wondered at the suddenness of her friend’s demise.

I suppose Taishi is backed up in the column. Hrm. Could it have anticipated all this and had a backup plan? I should warn Cynan.

She found an empty room with a row of Terran chairs on one wall, rotated at ninety degrees from the current surface she stood on. They faced a string of Celaran roost cords on the other wall. Telisa hopped over to the wall, letting it become her new ‘floor’ and sat in one of the chairs. The buildings had been so confusing when they first found them, with the gravity switching here and there seemingly at random, but now it felt perfectly normal and comfortable.

Hi Cynan.

Hello, zhe responded. How is your crew?

Much better now, thanks to you. I wanted to mention a worry I have. Taishi was very smart, and that column must have Taishi’s pattern. Taishi said the column could reset the whole base to a previous snapshot.

Really? That’s interesting. A little alarming, too.

Yes. I was thinking that Taishi may have set things up to bring him back later.  It could be a security risk.

I’ll see what I can do... not sure what that might be, but maybe we can come up with a plan.

You said you could screen out requests... perhaps you can set things up to deny Taishi access, if a copy of it should come back.

We’ll do that at least. Thanks for the warning. Is there anything else you need before you depart?

Yes. I need a slice on the TRB, please?

Very well. How much data?

Just a short conversation’s worth, I think.

You have it.

Thank you very much! Oh, and I left an attendant with some young ones back at my guest house. I cleaned it of our combat codes, so it’s harmless enough, but I thought I should mention it.

Understood. I’ll double check it and make sure it doesn’t cause any trouble.

Thank you.

Telisa linked to Blackhab’s services list and found the TRB link-through to Earth. She accessed it and within a few seconds her link told her the tachyonic receiver was ready. Telisa found Eye’s connection info in her link records and tried to send a message.

Eye? Telisa transmitted.

Yes. I hear you. I’m here.

Telisa blinked. It was a fast response, but given the nature of the other party in the conversation, she supposed it could have been expected.

I think we found a Trilisk. In a Terran body.

I heard.

You did? Oh. I don’t mean Spero. I mean our new team member, Kang.

Hrm, another one... the Embeez may break their alliance with Terra if you’re going to let Trilisks on your team, Eye said.

I had no idea that—

Oh come on. I’m just kidding you. The response had a humorous intent tag with the maximum possible value in the metadata.

What should I do about the Trilisk, though?

How do you know Kang is a Trilisk? He told you?

No, but I’ve seen some very suspicious similarities in his behavior with that of Trilisks, Telisa said. You tell me. Is he one?

Mmmaaaaaaaybe. Hrmmm lemme take a look, Eye said.

You can see us here?

Yes. Wait, no. Okay, yes, Eye said playfully. I won’t be able to tell for sure if Kang’s a Trilisk. He might have the ability to mask himself.

Telisa followed the twisty answers or lack thereof with difficulty.

Then what can we do?

"Just a moment. Ah, that is kinda weird."

What?

Kang’s brain. I see what you mean. Looks kinda like Kang is the imprint of a Trilisk mind onto a Terran body... doesn’t look like Kang knows that, though. I’d cut him some slack!

He doesn’t know? That’s possible?

Oh yes. You’d be stunned what’s possible. You Terrans are really only seeing the tip of the iceberg on this whole body-switching thing. That’s okay. Baby steps...

But we never created him from a column, did we?

No, your exact self didn’t. Not Shiny, either. Kang comes from somewhere else. It could have been one of your copies screwing around on some other mission, or he could be from another column entirely, almost anywhere in this arm of the galaxy.

Is he dangerous?

Yes, but not any more so than any other bright, talented, and driven primitive like you and everyone that you hang out with. No offense.

I see. So there’s no need to kick him off the team, or turn him in to the Embeez?

Nah don’t do that.

Okay. I trust that Shiny is still being watched?

Yes.

Then I guess that’s all I need. Telisa felt relieved.

Wrong there. You need more info, Eye said.

Oh? Tell me, please.

You have some list of Kriseel planets there, the ones the Traders revealed to you in their invitation. Don’t go to this one yet.

Telisa received a pointer to a starmap. One of the Kriseel worlds was marked there with a red skull and crossbones.

No joke this time? she asked.

No joke.

"Don’t go there yet... you know our future, right?"

Let’s skip the ‘since you’re omniscient just tell me what to do’ conversation. You want my advice? Here it is: don’t go to that system yet. Instead, there’s an Embeez operative in an Imperian space station just beyond the Kriseel frontier. Meet up with it, join forces, and then your chances of survival will be greater than zero! You can thank me later.

Thank you. Wha—

See? I knew you’d thank me later. Good luck!

The connection dropped.

Embeez operative? An Imperian space station!? With or without Imperians on it? she asked the empty room.

There was no reply.

Chapter 2

Magnus arrived for the first incarnate meeting of the mission in one of Synergy’s many conference rooms. Someone had set the default room decorations to look like the table sat inside a small transparent spacecraft hurtling through a field of asteroids. None of the others were yet present.

Magnus had just finished overseeing the stowage of their fresh contingent of battle machines on board. They had a strong variety and plentiful stock: rovlings, Rovan heavy combat machines with shields, two Terran-produced battle orbs, Terran-Vovokan hybrid soldier bots, and of course, a lot of Celaran-produced attendants.

Maxsym walked into the room—for real, not as an avatar. Magnus raised an eyebrow.

Are you with us for the voyage? Magnus asked.

I thought to ask you about that, Maxsym said. "Telisa said I should drop my things on the Iridar then report here incarnate."

Ah. Then Maxsym will be on the Iridar when we leave.

She probably just wanted to see you in person again before the mission starts, Magnus said. Maxsym nodded.

More team members started to filter in, including Telisa. Once everyone had arrived and taken a seat around the oblong table, Telisa stood at one end. She took longer than usual to start talking. Magnus could tell she worked furiously off-retina to prepare something.

I’ve made relatively extensive plans for this voyage. To expedite these plans, I’m breaking us up into teams. We’re taking no less than three ships this time.

Wow. Three? asked Cilreth.

I’ll get to that in a moment. I’ve realized that I need to bring you all up to speed on some recent developments first, in order for this all to make sense. I’ll apologize now, I may still end up talking in circles to get it all covered.

Telisa paused again.

First announcement: Four Rovans have come to Blackhab from the secret Embeez enclave.

That was news to Magnus.

Rovans, now! Blackhab is becoming quite the alien nexus.

"These Rovans have set up to participate in our technology integration projects. Two of the Rovans have inspected and prepared one of the Rovan cruisers we retrieved, the Serendarn. One of our teams will be conducting a brief joint mission with them into Imperian territory."

"On the Serendarn?" asked Siobhan.

"No, they will set out in the Iridar with the Serendarn. I’ll get to that in a minute."

She had piqued the team’s interest. Siobhan and Marcant leaned forward in their chairs. Telisa sent them a location pointer.

Second announcement: I spoke with Eye back on Earth. We’ve been warned away from this particular system for now, so don’t go there. However, Eye made me aware of an important Imperian starbase that lies outside of Kriseel territory. I intend to find that starbase for reasons beyond the obvious—the retrieval of alien technology—which I will get into later.

This is indeed quite complicated!

Let me guess. Eye didn’t say why we shouldn’t go there? Imanol asked.

We should not go there because it’s very dangerous... for now, Telisa said. You’re right, though, in that Eye was extremely sparse on details.

Typical of the Embeez and their minions.

You said, find the starbase that was mentioned. Is it lost? Surely the Embeez know its location? Cilreth asked.

That information was inconveniently left out.

Arakaki frowned and shook her head. Caden and Siobhan looked puzzled.

Cilreth opened her mouth as if to ask a question, then stopped. Like Magnus, she probably figured that Telisa would get to whatever she wanted to know soon enough.

"Third announcement: The Celarans and the Space Force have decided to open diplomatic relations with the Kriseel. The Celaran ship Belfann will be departing to a location given to us by the Kriseel Trader faction, with a PIT team on board. The Space Force is sending an exploration ship, the Adventurer, directly to the same location."

Okay, to the teams and your missions, Telisa said. She took a deep breath.

"Kang, Imanol, Arakaki, Yat, Maxsym and Adair will be taking the Iridar to this location," she said, sending a pointer. Magnus saw it was a system outside the suspected Kriseel sphere of influence, but within the known Imperian zone of habitation according to the old Rovan and Vovokan records.

"Your assignment is first, to accompany the Serendarn, crewed by two of the Rovans, Titan and Hydra, on a retrieval mission. They want to obtain another Imperian construct for study, just as we’ve done. Assuming there are suitable ruins there for them to recover, you will assist them remotely—not physically—to find and lift up another Imperian ship. Meanwhile, you should check for the presence of the Imperian starbase."

Whether or not you find it, then proceed to this rendezvous location. Our teams will all meet up there once they are done with their respective tasks.

This is Team Serian, Imanol said quickly.

Dare I ask?

"Serendarn, Imperian..." Imanol stopped there as if his explanation were complete.

Okay, that’s Team Serian, Telisa acknowledged.

"Magnus and I will be going to meet the Traders on the Celaran ship Belfann, with the Celaran ambassador, Chaelon."

Magnus felt a bit of disappointment to be assigned away from the Synergy, but he was glad to be with Telisa.

"Once we’ve learned a little from the Traders, we’ll move over to the UNSF Adventurer, a deep space exploration vessel that is bringing the Core Worlds ambassador. The Adventurer will then head out, minus the ambassadors, to the frontier beyond the Kriseel sphere of influence to help us look for the starbase. We’re going to search one system on the old Rovan maps, then meet you at the rendezvous point. The Belfann will remain with our envoys at the Trader’s world."

Marking this team as Team Chromata, Imanol added.

What? Why? asked Telisa.

"Chaelon, Traders, Adventurer... isn’t it obvious?"

No, not at all. But the name’s not bad, as your names go, so let’s move on, Telisa said.

Despite the mediocre endorsement, Imanol looked happy.

"Cilreth, Marcant, Caden and Siobhan are on the next team in the Synergy. Your assignment is to stealthily check several Kriseel worlds for Trilisk signs and also to look for any evidence that they’ve incorporated any Imperian technology into their fleets. Don’t go to the forbidden system! Then you’ll proceed to this system outside of Kriseel occupied space and look for the Imperian starbase."

Magnus’s PV updated with the route of the Adventurer displayed in a three dimensional star chart, along with the routes of the other teams. He saw that the Synergy would visit three Kriseel worlds and one of the suspected ruins sites outside Kriseel territory.

This is Team Express, Imanol said.

Not bad, Cilreth said, apparently talking about the name and deciding to skip any byzantine explanation for it.

From there, whether you find the starbase or not, you will go to the rendezvous point.

Telisa paused and looked at the others.

Questions?

Imperian starbase? Cilreth echoed. With live Imperians on it? Or...?

Unfortunately, that is one of the details Eye did not provide.

Imanol made a disgusted noise. Arakaki and Caden frowned.

And what was it we need at the starbase? asked Arakaki.

Magnus was happy to see Arakaki participate. Since a Yat had been