Part 3 (1/2)

Telisa was perplexed. She turned her wide-eyed stare to Thomas. ”What? Is that true?”

”I'm equipped to screen us from orbital detection. We fired off several electronic countermeasure modules before entering the atmosphere. I think their jamming window was wide enough to hide us. The chances are good that they don't know the location of our landing site. They might not even know that we landed for sure.”

Jack stepped up beside Magnus.

”Although I admit that this is one of the worst things that could have happened, we still have a fifty-fifty chance to make it out of this. I'm not going to just give myself up. We can go and check this place out, and get some artifacts. Then if the s.h.i.+p hasn't been found, we might be able to make our way out without being detected,” Jack said.

Telisa was speechless for a moment. Then she said, ”They know someone's here though. They'll bring in more s.h.i.+ps.”

”That'll take time, probably weeks,” Magnus said. ”There probably aren't many security people in system. It'll mostly be scientists. There's a chance they might not even come after us.”

”We'll probably have to sell the artifacts somewhere else though,” Jack conceded. ”The best prices are on Earth, but it'll be too risky to try and bring them in for a long time.”

”If they do come for us...” Telisa started.

”None of us will ask you to do anything but defend yourself,” Jack clarified. ”I understand that you didn't sign up with us to kill UNSF people.”

Telisa nodded weakly. ”Okay... so we'll look for artifacts and hope for the best,” she said. She didn't feel as confident as she tried to sound.

”How far is the anomalous site?” Magnus asked.

”About sixty-five klicks.”

”We're going to be walking it too, if you're serious about avoiding detection,” Telisa said, getting drawn in despite herself. Her excitement returned as she thought about the Trilisk artifacts again. ”How large a power source did you detect?”

Thomas smiled as her enthusiasm returned.

”Enough to power a small city,” he said. ”I'm thinking it's military. Just the kind of stuff we need to get filthy rich.”

”How much you wanna bet four aliens aren't going to pa.s.s security?” Telisa said.

”Yes, but we'll only have to deal with the purely automated stuff. This civilization's clearly dead, there probably won't be any Trilisks around to oppose us.”

Telisa raised her eyebrow. ”Probably?” she asked. Humans had never encountered a live alien of any race. The ruins of three different races had been discovered, but they were from ancient times and were no longer around.

”Well, they are aliens after all,” Thomas said. ”I try not to make a.s.sumptions about things like that. For all we know, this is just the local powerplant, anyway.”

”Then why don't we try some of the other ruin sites?”

”Because we're after intact tech, and there's a greater chance of finding intact stuff in a place that still has power. The entire site might be sealed up completely, utterly unaffected by the elements. That would be a find that could make us, if we can get back off this planet.”

Chapter Four.

Joe Hartlet barely breathed as he examined the odd creature through the scope of his NX-37 sniper rifle. It looked like a tentacled mollusk with a flat plate-like sh.e.l.l, hanging upside down from a branch so the sh.e.l.l faced the ground. It had at least three tiny eyestalks waving around, examining its next potential meal, a big green fruit dangling in front of it. The thing was about the size of a large housecat.

”Here's another one,” he said. ”Let me know when youa””

”The scan is complete, sir. You may take your shot,” a clean, emotionless voice responded from behind.

Joe swept some of his black hair off his face and centered on the target. He gently squeezed the trigger. His beefy 110-kilogram frame easily absorbed the light recoil.

The round hurtled towards its target, too fast for the human eye. While still dozens of meters from its target, the bullet detected a wind drift from its logged destination and corrected for it with tiny bristles on its surface that could alter its drag. The projectile slammed into the unfortunate tree dweller and tumbled through its innards, dropping it from the branch.

Joe searched through his scope for a moment, looking for his target. He found it lying on the ground, leaking red fluid. The thing looked very dead.

”Looks like it's got iron-based blood, anyway,” he noted happily.

To Lieutenant Hartlet, this was a dream job. Travel to strange planets, scan every type of lifeform, catalog it, and make sure that it could be killed. After all, part of his job was to identify species that were potential threats to the UNSF personnel who were working on-planet. Besides, none of the scientists ever complained if he brought in an extra corpse or two for dissection.

”That would be consistent with other life forms catalogued on this planet, sir,” the robot behind him agreed flatly. It was a humanoid constructed of black plastic and metal, its head smooth and featureless other than a black plate where a human's eyes would be.

”Okay. This critter is definitely not a threat,” Joe summarized. ”Let's pick up some big game. It's kinda fun to plink at these things, but I doubt anything that small could hurt humans anyway.”

”Size is only one of several variables involved, sir,” the Series Seven commented.

”Agreed. I don't care. Now, big game,” Joe insisted. He scratched at the dark stubble forming on his chin.

”I'm afraid we're needed at the base, sir.”

Joe's eyebrow rose, but he didn't have time to reply. His comm link announced an incoming message with a mental flourish of musical notes. Joe connected and saw Commander Mailson waiting to speak with him in his mind's eye. He immediately joined the channel.

”Hartlet here,” he announced.

”Lieutenant. We have something requiring your immediate attention.”

”Yes sir. What is it, sir?”

”Looks like we have a surprise visit from some smugglers. Over on Yarnitha.”

Joe considered the news for a moment. Yarnitha was the second largest continent on the planet. So far no UNSF bases had been set up on it.

”Smugglers? That sure was quick. We just got here. What's the plan of action, sir?”

”Here's the suspected landing zone,” the commander said. A map appeared on the link and Joe mentally examined it. The continent of Yarnitha was displayed with a wide red swath over about a third of its surface.

”I know, it's large. They were quite resourceful in our orbital encounter. Take your copter out there and see if you can snoop them out. If you do find the landing site, try and identify the s.h.i.+p so we can intercept it at its destination port if they elude us here. Of course, if you run across any of them while investigating...”

Joe knew what that meant. Smuggling alien artifacts was a grave offense, posing a considerable danger to the United Nations. Grave enough, in fact, that anyone caught doing it could be shot if they didn't surrender immediately upon coming into contact with the s.p.a.ce force.

Commander Mailson knew Joe quite well. The lieutenant's line of thinking was transparent to him.

”I thought you'd enjoy the chance to bag something other than alien varmints, for once.”

”Yes sir! I appreciate that, sir.”