"Just switching to alien bodies doesn"t sound like it would be harmful to others. Freedom of physiology has already been granted to individuals wanting to live in regrown or android bodies," Cilreth said.

"This technology highly unbalancing to Terran society," Shiny interrupted.

"How so?" asked Magnus.

"Supersedure target possesses enhanced physiology. Transfer endows subject with artificial gains."

"How do you know? Maybe Konuan are just fast and strong."

"Trilisks enhanced host bodies. Faster, stronger, greater intellectual receiving capacity. Likely increase in longevity of host."

"Wait. By how much are we talking about here?"

"Potentially infinite, limitless, immortal."

Telisa and Magnus just stood thinking it through. Cilreth was the first to respond aloud.

"We can"t sell even one," Cilreth said. "They could be adapted to put a person into a fake human body, stronger, faster, and immortal. Wait. I need the d.a.m.n thing!"

Magnus lifted his hand. "Let"s not get ahead of ourselves."

"Shiny, how old are you?" Telisa asked.

"Fifty-two Earth years. In antic.i.p.ation of next question, Vovokan lifespan expected over three hundred Earth years."

Cilreth shifted uncomfortably. "So you mentioned a Trilisk. What if...that Konuan has a Trilisk in it?"

"What?" asked Magnus.

"That would explain so much. Like how there"s only one Konuan left. How it killed off so many. How it had worshipers who said it was amazingly wise."

"Agree, a.s.sent, concur. Anomalies detected on surface quite probably align with movements of Konuan hunter. Urge priority of capturing it."

"How can we find it? Can you detect it?"

"Possible on planet surface," Shiny said. "More difficult within Trilisk complex."

"Don"t we need to take these artifacts and leave?" Cilreth asked.

"Loading machines can complete process," Shiny said. "Trilisk specimen more valuable. Trilisk possess keys to understanding. Be notified: Terran approaches from southeast. No violent intent indicated."

"I"m here to see Magnus," she told the sphere. It reacted almost immediately, moving to one side. Another sphere appeared on her left.

I guess I just keep moving forward.

She walked along an ancient street between two old buildings, then into a wide patch of native plants. When she emerged, she caught sight of a couple of the scientists ahead. Large alien-looking machines were working on a dig. A person came forward. Magnus.

"Please don"t shoot. I would like to speak in peace," she called out. She waited a moment, then walked forward with her empty hands held before her.

"Oh. It"s you," Magnus said.

"Who? Is she Arakaki?" the younger woman said. Her voice held an edge. Arakaki guessed she was Telisa.

"Captain Arakaki, UED. Ex-captain, I guess, considering the state of my unit and United Earth Defiance." She stood straight and extended her hand.

Telisa stared at Magnus, waiting for an explanation. An older woman with silvering hair and dark eyes appeared on her right. Arakaki was surprised she hadn"t seen the older one. She berated herself silently, then stepped forward to accept her handshake.

Ah. She"s wearing a s.p.a.ce force stealth suit.

"I"m Cilreth," she said.

Why didn"t she divulge her rank? No reason to let the enemy know, I guess, even a defeated enemy. Or she"s been out of the force for a while.

Arakaki nodded stiffly.

"It"s probably no use turning yourself in to us," Magnus said. He hesitated. Telisa looked angry, but she wasn"t saying anything on any link channel Arakaki could hear.

Those two are having a disagreement over my sudden appearance, Arakaki thought. I"d love to hear that link channel.

Arakaki smiled. "Oh? So you were telling the truth about not being s.p.a.ce force, then?"

Magnus nodded.

"You"re very powerful for an independent," she said. Organized crime? With an alien on their side, no less.

"We"re after the Konuan. It"s a Trilisk," Magnus said.

No way. No way. "Come again?"

"The Konuan we killed was actually Telisa here. She used Trilisk machines to switch bodies. I know. Impossible. But so is half the other stuff the Trilisks can do. Anyway, the Konuan that"s been hunting us might be a Trilisk."

Arakaki shifted uncomfortably.

Perhaps I was knocked unconscious by hallucinogenic gas?

"So you guys came for these artifacts? What do they do?"

She"s not sure whether to believe us, so she changed the subject, Telisa thought. She wondered if Arakaki wondered if they were a legal operation.

"We don"t know everything about them. At least one transfers your...consciousness into another creature. In this case, it put me in a Konuan."

"A simulation."

"No, it was real. You killed me."

Arakaki looked at Telisa carefully.

Is that concern or skepticism?

"Your brain architecture couldn"t map directly to-" Arakaki started.

"I know. I didn"t even have the same number of eyes or legs. I don"t know how they did it, but the Trilisks mastered some kind of adaptive process that allowed me to stay very much myself, even though I had another body. The physical control had to have been helped along a great deal. I was clumsy, confused, but it wasn"t like starting over as a baby in a new body. The transfer mechanism somehow did a *best fit" a.n.a.lysis of how my old body moved and connected it to my new one."

"Trilisk capable of transfer, replacement, supersedure of sentient creatures to other forms. Natural bodies and artificial ones known to be within their capabilities," Shiny said. Arakaki looked around, probably searching for the source of the voice.

That one"s going to be a surprise, Telisa thought.

"That"s beyond amazing. Think about it. They came here who knows how long ago. They made their support base to answer prayers of sentient beings, and then they transfer into-supersede-the natives."

"Shiny said Trilisks had an outpost on Earth," Magnus pointed out.

Oh my Five Ent.i.ties.

"They may have become human. They may have...could some of them still be human?"

"Too bad for them," Cilreth said sarcastically. "The outpost eventually c.r.a.pped out on them. They would have been stuck there, without their precious prayer machines, they"d be reduced to...well, Stone Age, or whatever we were at the time."

"We were wondering if some of them stayed human. Their children, if they had any, would be human. I think."

"We don"t know if they came to other planets specifically to take over the native bodies. This may have been nothing more than a research project, or even an entertainment to them," Magnus pointed out. "Travel to strange worlds, see new things, try new alien bodies. It could have been a vacation package for all we know."

Arakaki listened to the amazing conversation, left behind. But she appeared intensely interested.

"Well that Trilisk, tourist or not, has killed hundreds of Terrans, maybe more."

"So much for the benevolent Trilisk ideas."

"It may be a single example," Telisa said. "It doesn"t represent its race any more than a single human can represent us. Besides, it may have been driven insane by loneliness, or the collapse of its prayer receiver, or who knows. There"s so much we don"t know."

"Okay, now I know you"re unreasonably biased toward anything alien," Cilreth said. "I agree we know nothing for sure, but a growing body of evidence suggests Trilisks may have been nasty characters."

"It might not be a Trilisk. It could be someone else in a special Konuan body just like I was."

"I found a body in one of the tubes when I was searching for you," Cilreth said. "I"m pretty sure it was a Trilisk corpse."

"I need to see it!" Telisa exclaimed.

"Wait," Magnus said. "We have to go after it as soon as possible to have any hope of catching it."

"I got you a sample," Cilreth slipped in. "Including an important piece of what may have been a body-wide link or enhanced nervous system that worked like a distributed link. h.e.l.l, I don"t know. I got you a sample of some d.a.m.n thing or other."

"Send Shiny after it," Telisa said. "We"ll follow. He can message us with directions. I need to see that body. We need to take this equipment with us. We can"t leave. Not even to chase a Trilisk."

"Okay. Besides, it may still not be that particular Trilisk in the body. It could still be some other creature, or another Trilisk..."

"If you"re hunting the thing, then I want in," Arakaki said.

"I don"t think we need any-" the younger woman started, then stopped. To cover the awkward silence while she argued with Magnus in private, Arakaki offered a bit of a carrot.

"Well, I can offer you a lot in return. For starters, I know where your Trilisk is and what it looks like."

"What? How is that possible?" Cilreth asked.

"Just tell us," Magnus said. "Earn our trust. We aren"t ready to offer you anything yet."

"Holtzclaw. Our commander. He just radically changed personalities. Toward the rabidly homicidal. I think the Trilisk just took him over," Arakaki said.

"How do you know your man didn"t just cut and run? Losing the battle may have broken him."

"Are you kidding? He hadn"t given in to the Earth forces yet. Years after we lost. Do you think he would just leave? He was determined to fight to the bitter end. And bring all of us with him. Even if he was finally giving up, he"d never leave without all of us."

"And what about you? You"re giving up all that loyalty just like that?"

"I used to be loyal. Until it dawned on me that we"d lost and we had no hope of ever winning. Once I had accepted that, it was just a matter of biding my time. At least, until we came here and the Konuan started hunting us down."

"We could do a truth check," Cilreth said.

"Not really. Who knows what kind of link she has? The UED may have made modifications to their officers."

Magnus sighed. "We have an option. There"s Shiny."

"What about him?" Telisa asked.

"How much you want to bet he can tell if one of us is lying?"

Telisa frowned. "I suppose he might be able to do that."

"I think it"s part of why he"s still aligned with us. He knows we"re not going to switch on him because he can tell we"re sincere about working with him."

Arakaki shifted uncomfortably. "Who"s Shiny?"

Chapter 26.

Kirizzo scanned again for anomalies as his Terran allies attempted to explain odd aspects of his physiology and culture to the newcomer named Arakaki. His allies had accepted her into their group after Kirizzo scanned her statements for deception. She had been truthful in expressing her desire to chase the probable Trilisk. He had not yet made an appearance within her sensory range, and saw no need to as yet. There remained higher priorities.

The a.s.sertion that the target had taken Terran form altered his search configuration considerably. The possibility now existed that the target had moved back above ground but evaded his detection grid. Kirizzo produced another signature profile and released it on half his surface monitoring a.s.sets.

Drones shot around above the ruins at high speeds to cover ground while using the new profile. Kirizzo almost immediately picked up the target again. The anomalies were indeed centered on a Terran retreating back toward the UED base. Several other Terrans moved with him.