Magnus increased his pace. He didn"t want to be winded when he arrived, but he could make good time without undue fatigue. The lack of sleep might become more of an issue. He had his suit dispense a stimulant into his bloodstream. Then he followed a map toward the location Cilreth had provided. The breadcrumb devices verified his route.

Very useful little things during a communications blackout.

He found a hole in the wall of a building close to the spot. The chips of the wall next to a removed grille were a slightly different color of red than the surface of the wall or the rocks below, so they had probably been made recently.

They came in this way.

Magnus turned on a light, clipped it to his rifle, and dove through the hole.

I need to find Telisa...alive.

Chapter 13.

Arakaki moved slowly across the ruins after the Konuan.

She didn"t have any delusions about who hunted whom. The Konuan was letting her follow. It wanted to lure her out away from her friends, her Guardians, and her probes. It planned to ambush and kill her just as it had done to so many of her fellow soldiers.

I"m coming, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d.

Arakaki checked her PAW for the tenth time. Its self-diagnostic reported optimal. The laser at her hip verified at full charge over her link. All her grenades checked in, including the one around her throat. The UED probe taking up the rear thirty meters behind her monitored the area. It reported another sensor ghost near a larger building ahead.

So this is the spot for your trap. Fine.

It had steadily led her across half the city, going toward the area occupied by the newcomers and their tiny robots. Arakaki figured the Konuan must be hunting them as well. At least she hoped it was. Anything to distract its predation of the UED unit would be a welcome break.

Or so I tell myself. Have I grown so used to it being out there, hunting, that I would miss it? Miss my chances to kill it or die trying?

She chomped down painfully on the sliver in her mouth. The tiny fragment was so tough she could gnaw on it for decades without accomplishing anything but wearing her teeth.

Arakaki dropped the self-a.n.a.lysis and walked toward the building.

"Captain Arakaki, report," Holtzclaw ordered over the link.

"I"m pursuing the Konuan," she said. She half expected to be chewed out for calling for fire support, or to be pulled away for another remote pickup. But Holtzclaw had something completely different cooking.

"Good. Keep on it. Keep that thing away from camp. I"ve pulled a lot of men and probes to go after the science ship east of the ruins. Our tech team is vulnerable in the back."

"Yes, sir."

That suited Arakaki. She was seldom so happy to have to obey. Especially since she had given up all hope for the war. She had contemplated desertion several times, but...where would she go? What would she do without him? And here, she had the creature to hunt.

In another five minutes she saw the first face of the structure. Like all the other cl.u.s.ters of Konuan living chambers, it was a hodgepodge of square cells heaped one upon another three or four layers above ground. There was often one layer under the surface as well, and below that, Trilisk tunnels.

There was a hole in the side of the building. Arakaki looked at the roof and cl.u.s.ters of plants nearby. She didn"t sense any danger. Neither did the probe trailing her. She padded over to the opening.

Arakaki checked the rocky ground. There was no dirt to hold any prints, but the red coating on the rocks became darker if their surface was recently scuffed or struck. The rocks around the entrance held a lot of evidence of movement through the area. She spotted some wide scuffmarks-Terrans"-as well as the smaller pick holes caused by the spider legs of their little robots.

Who are these people? Scouts? Scientists? Why are there so few of them? They said the ship was huge.

The UED soldier knelt beside the entry point. She listened and scanned. Her weapon picked up a power signature. A machine. It could be a piece of equipment or a robot. It wasn"t moving though.

They left something behind here. Maybe some poor sucker was carrying something, the Konuan got him, and he dropped whatever he was carrying.

Her curiosity had been awakened. A Konuan trap? Unlikely. It had never used such tactics before, at least not that anyone had survived to report. The creature was always certain to destroy the link in its victim. It was scary to think it knew that would limit their knowledge of it.

Arakaki dropped to the ground. Her dark gray battle suit protected her from the cold, hard stone. She crawled forward, weapon first, toward the hole left by the pulled grille. The probe covered her back. She hoped it would be enough warning if the Konuan darted in from behind to attack her.

She saw it. A silvery metal ant the size of a large dog. It stood near the center of a room filled with rusted strips of metal hanging from walls and ceiling.

The machine turned toward her. There was a split second where she had the choice to fire first. She decided against it. Some part of her knew instantly that her target was the Konuan, not these odd robots.

The machine didn"t fire at her.

As I thought. It"s got weapons, but not for me.

Then she scolded herself slightly. If the machine had shot a glue grenade at her, she could have been pinned here like food on a dinner plate awaiting the Konuan"s pleasure.

But of course I have the ace up my sleeve...or around my neck.

"So, you"re not going to shoot me?" she said quietly. She left her weapon aimed at the machine and slid forward through the low portal. The floor inside was a bit below ground level. She regained her footing.

The machine turned back toward one of the other openings and froze. Arakaki gave the room a once-over. She didn"t see anything Terran looking except the robot. It was definitely responsible for the power signature: the machine had a lot of juice. At its current output, Arakaki doubted it could go for more than a few hours.

Arakaki"s own weapon angled toward the same doorway the machine covered.

Do we have company?

Her weapon didn"t see any other targets. The probe trailing Arakaki sidled up outside the building. It was a tall cylinder about a quarter of a meter in diameter adorned with countless ports, sensors, and sampling equipment. The machine gently hovered outside, then settled onto the red rocks to save energy. It wouldn"t go through the doorway by itself, even though it could theoretically fit through if turned on its side. The machine could only hover in an upright position, so Arakaki would have to lug it through herself if she wanted it inside the building. Even if she were willing to make that investment, it would have to be repeated for every new room. She left the probe outside. It could still pick up a lot through the walls of the Konuan ruin, since it had extremely sensitive sonic sensors and radiation scanners.

Whoever owns the bug here knows I"ve arrived. Unless the Konuan already got them.

Only one of the grilles in the room had been opened. So if one of the scientists had been here, they went that way, or they went to a lot of trouble to make it look that way.

Just to be sure, Arakaki checked the other grilles. With her weapon ready, she pulled on them one at a time and examined them for signs of tampering. The other exits looked solid, and she didn"t find any signs of the Konuan. The probe outside told her the adjacent rooms were clear.

Which proves almost nothing, she thought to herself. She prepared to slide through the grille hole into the next room straight ahead.

Arakaki stole a glance back at the bug. The machine didn"t move.

"Guarding the door, huh? Good luck with that," Arakaki murmured. She turned back to the room. She saw silvery webs of metal gleaming on the walls.

What the h.e.l.l?

Arakaki grabbed a grenade as she stared for a couple seconds, trying to figure out what the structures were. She saw the flash of a furry, umbrella-shaped body flitting away like a squid swimming through the air. At the same moment the probe notified her link of a reading. She didn"t hesitate. She tossed her incendiary grenade to the ground and gave it a destination in the adjacent chamber to her left.

It"s too fast. I"ll aim where it isn"t.

The grenade whirred through the grille and into the side room. There, it took the next right and rolled through another grille.

Blam! Blam!

Arakaki sent a couple of rounds from her PAW straight ahead to run the creature toward her seeker grenade coming in from the side. The thing might well go in another direction, but she had to try.

A ma.s.sive flower of flame erupted from the grille opening. A redundant detonation report from the grenade arrived at her link. She stepped aside a bit late. Her face burned. Then just as quickly as the heat had come, it dissipated.

The summary result was target grazed. The grenade"s computer brain, at least, believed in its last instant of existence it would slightly damage the enemy. Arakaki had set all her weapons slightly on the "trigger happy" side, knowing the Konuan was a fast and resourceful target.

Her probe lost track of the creature again. But Arakaki felt sure it wasn"t dead.

No, I didn"t get it. This is just the beginning.

Chapter 14.

Telisa"s consciousness resumed.

Something is very, very wrong.

Her link did not respond. Her surroundings were dim. Small spots of light floated randomly about the room. Her eyesight failed her in the darkness, but she could smell the rock walls and she could hear air moving through the grilles nearby. These clues brought her to the conclusion: she was inside one of the cube-shaped Konuan rooms.

She tried to move her head. It didn"t go well. Her head had melted into a flat ma.s.s. She took a deep breath. She had no lungs. She only heard a loud rustling.

What is that? WHAT HAS HAPPENED?

Telisa tried to stand. She moved forward. She could tell it was moving forward, but she didn"t have two long, strong legs. She had a dozen. A hundred. More.

Oh, by the Five! I"m one of the banana slugs. This is just a bad dream. It has to be. The technology required-Trilisk. Nononono...

Telisa paused to calm down. She tried to breathe again. Instead of the familiar feel of air bags expanding in her chest, tiny flaps of flesh-gills?-vibrated beneath her, causing the rustling sound again.

Can this body even handle distress? I could have the slug equivalent of a heart attack and die. No. Most organisms must be able to handle a bit of fear. Unless I got a damaged or frail body. Just don"t panic.

Telisa tested her legs. Yes, hundreds of them now. She experimented. She could move just one, if she tried. It was like wiggling a toe. She scratched the rock wall. Despite the tiny victory of control, despair railed through her.

What am I going to do? It"s not a recording. I"m living this.

Telisa decided to try and look around. She could only see in four small, hand-sized spots that roved about the room. It was like four small flashlights moving about.

Wait. I am controlling those with my...arms. My arms are flashlights. Five Ent.i.ties, hear me!

The words came to mind of their own accord. When Telisa was scared, really scared, she talked more like her mother, more like she had when she was a little girl. But she was old enough to know now that the only thing getting her out of this predicament was herself or her team. Unless, of course, a Trilisk prayer device was operating within range.

Change me back now. I want my old body back.

Nothing happened. But she remembered her friends. Maybe they could help. Magnus. Or Shiny or Cilreth. If they didn"t shoot her on sight.

The room had some bits of cloth and rotten plant stalks on a wall. They had been glued in place, or...for some reason they just sat there. A few rods stuck out of the walls. Then Telisa realized she had misoriented herself.

The plant stalks were sitting on the floor. She wasn"t.

I"m already on the wall. I"m clinging to the wall. I"m crawling on the Five Times Accursed wall.

Telisa just sat there and waited to adjust further.

Get it together. Just get it together, dammit.

Her sight was abysmal. The colors were washed out. Or maybe she just couldn"t see red anymore. But her hearing. Telisa could hear everything around her in the sharpest detail. Her tiny claws sc.r.a.ping against the stone. A drip of moisture that must be fifty meters away. In fact, she could tell it was about fifty meters away just by the way it sounded.

She crawled forward a little more. Her legs coordinated themselves. It made her feel more in control to move. Somehow, she didn"t have to think about how to coordinate the legs. It felt natural. She focused on the far wall. She could feel coiled power in her body.

Telisa sprang off the wall. Several things happened at once. When she launched, her body folded quickly like an umbrella, forming a torpedo shape that cut effortlessly through the air. She felt muscles or their equivalent compressing the trapped air, squeezing it out of her collapsing body to help accelerate. One of her arms seemed to point ahead to light the way for her eyes all by itself. Then she was flying through the air, effortlessly, like a missile in slow motion. She seemed to fly for a long time, though it could only have been a fraction of a second. Like a tumbler, her body swung around as she traveled, timed perfectly to land on her legs at the destination.

Just before landing, she popped back open with a snap, decelerating as the air cushion trapped between her opening body and the wall pressurized. Her wiry legs absorbed the last of the impact, what little there was left at the moment of landing. And there she was, one second later, on the opposite wall.

Banana slug, my a.s.s. Let"s see a slug hop across the room like that!

Telisa felt like a combination gra.s.shopper-bat. Instead of two giant hopping legs, she had dozens. Instinctual movement? But I"m Terran. My brain is Terran. It was Terran. How do I know how to jump like a Konuan? The Trilisk machine just...endowed me with these abilities? How could such a thing be translated? How can I still be thinking like myself at all? Same software, different hardware? Impossible.

Telisa hopped back to the other side of the room.

Not impossible. Very, very difficult. Very, very amazing. And the Trilisks knew how to do it.

The exhilaration of jumping made her feel just a bit better. And more in mastery of her own fate. Telisa couldn"t see anything interesting in the room. No clues as to how she had arrived. She crawled toward the nearest grille. She arrived atop the grill, then realized she couldn"t fit through the vertical vents from the top. She had to approach from the side, where the long openings would accept her wide body. Then she just slipped through. It was effortless.

Okay, well, the grilles are indeed just doorways. And having more than one slit means that more than one Konuan can enter or leave at the same time. Any non-Konuan probably can"t follow, though; neither can bulky objects be moved about.

The next room had tiny square pits in the floor filled with ash. Horizontal metal rods were affixed a couple of centimeters from the walls. The ceiling had vents. Telisa a.s.sumed it was some kind of cooking or smoking chamber. She moved for another grille, trying to find her way outside by listening to the air movements around her.

Something abruptly changed. Telisa stopped, overwhelmed by a new sensation. She felt a flood of new impulses coming from...the surface under her feet. She brought her tiny lights to bear but saw nothing.

I can sense...a trail...smell? Touch?

The sensation had a direction. Forward and to the right. She followed the trail into the next room. It was a mostly empty cube filled with garbage. Dust that might have once been wood or cloth or paper sat in piles with bits of rusted metal. The trail led onward.

It could be a trap. Maybe the other Konuan is luring me.

Telisa slowed but did not stop. What alternative did she have? She tried to rustle her breathing flaps more quietly and listened to the world. If she couldn"t see well, she would have to rely more upon her hearing to sense danger.