The Trilisk Ruins Read Online Free PDF Page A

distance from any of the heavies.”
    Henman would know. He served as an
intelligence officer in the organization that kept tabs on
communications across the entire human civilization. Magnus
wondered, who watched the watchers?
    “ Yeah, well we’ll make that
choice when we get the info.”
    Henman guffawed. “You guys do whatever
you want, you just make sure that money gets to my kid.”
    “ We stick to our
deals.”
    “ Awright then, we got
nothing to argue about. You got anythin’ for me?”
    “ Yeah, we have a new team
member. She’s a xenoarchaeologist, and get this—she’s Captain
Relachik’s kid. Not that they keep in touch anymore... still,
pretty amazing.”
    “ Wow, whatta angle! You guys
are slick. Talk about an insurance policy. If the Seeker gets on your tail,
all you gotta do is play your ace. Nice.”
    “ Do you really think that’s
what we’re up to? Thomas is pretty into these artifacts, and so is
this girl. I don’t think it’s like that.”
    “ Jesus, how can you fight
through a whole friggin’ war and still be so naive? You musta
caught something from that femme that really made you lose your
mind.”
    “ I hardly know her. I just
think that if Jack was planning on using her as a shield he’d
mention it to me.”
    “ Well, shit, it’s a good
thing I’m here to set you straight,” Henman said. “Of course that’s
what they have in mind. And if you know what’s good for you, you’ll
play along. These guys didn’t hire you for your picnic skills, pal.
Don’t get attached to this bimbo, they may be needing to cash out
their policy at some point, y’know?”
    “ Hrm. Maybe... anyway, I
just wanted you to make sure she was clean. It makes me nervous,
having someone along so close to the force. Besides us, I
mean.”
    “ She’s too obvious to be a
spy,” Henman said.
    “ Yeah that’s what Jack says.
Can you check her anyway?”
    “ Yeah, I’ll friggin’
check.”
    “ Good. Then I’ll see you
next time.”
    “ Yeah. I hope you do,
Magnus. Grow up and get real, and you’ll make it just fine.” Henman
rolled his eyes and broke the connection.
    Magnus sat back for a moment, thinking
about the new kid, Telisa. He knew Thomas and Jack weren’t angels,
and he wasn’t either... but would they really blackmail the old
captain with her? And if they did, would he go along with it?
Magnus shook his head. He didn’t really have the stomach for that
kind of shit, he decided. He could convince them to drop her off
somewhere quiet if it came to that. He had enough blood on his
hands for a lifetime.

Chapter Three
     
    Three days later Telisa was in deep
space on an illegal mission with three mysterious men whom she had
only known for a week. The enormity of her venture began to make
itself felt. She worried about her decisions and wondered if she
had made a terrible mistake.
    But she had never felt more alive in
her life.
    Her quarters were small but completely
private. The showers on the ship were barely larger than
human-sized tubes and the kitchen was the size of a walk-in closet,
but she had known it would be like that. She considered it a small
price to pay for money, career, and adventure.
    The quiet surprised her the
most. Without the thousands and thousands of microdevices embedded
in almost every manmade object talking to her link, space seemed
quiet. And the Iridar had a few hundred such services on board, a lot of traffic
compared to an undeveloped planet. Once there, she realized she
would have practically no contacts on her link at all. That must
have been what it was like before humans had links, she thought.
The world must have been so silent and lonely in those
times.
    One of her tasks during the voyage was
to organize packs of equipment to bring with her on various kinds
of sorties from the ship. She started with one basic pack that she
would need at all times. Clearly the medical supplies were a good
choice as well as her tablet device, which she would use as