Part 10 (1/2)

”We're in deep trouble on the speech part all right,” Magnus said. ”It's looking more and more like you said at first, that's how s.h.i.+ny talks. He stomps his feet. And he's using complicated patterns of all those legs... so many combinations that we'll never follow.”

”Yes, that's gonna be hard to learn, considering that we have two feet and he has... forty! Forty exactly.”

”I wonder if it's the vibration of his feet hitting the ground that he senses. It would be either that or sight, and I don't see any eyes.”

Telisa shook her head. ”He could see through his skin for all we know. Let's do some tests and see if we can find out.”

Telisa took her arm and slowly waved it over her head. s.h.i.+ny copied her move, his body flexing beneath the silvery coating.

”How can we tell how he senses it?” Magnus asked.

”Keep watching him, we'll learn what we can,” Telisa told him. She walked around to the other side of s.h.i.+ny. The alien didn't move much, s.h.i.+fting its legs a little. Telisa waved her arm again. Once again, s.h.i.+ny waved its arm.

”Well, it still notices, even though you're behind it,” Magnus said.

Telisa walked about twenty paces farther back, still on the other side of s.h.i.+ny. She waved her arm again, and s.h.i.+ny matched it.

Telisa thought for a moment. ”Wait here. Tell me if he does anything,” Telisa said. She walked around to the far side of the large cl.u.s.ter of cubes and waved her arm.

”He's waving his arm,” Magnus said, his voice distant. Telisa walked back around.

”He can tell I'm waving my arm on the other side of that,” she said.

Magnus shook his head. ”Maybe he can hear, I mean maybe he can hear so well that he can hear us move limbs through the air.”

”Or maybe he can see through stuff we can't,” said Telisa.

Telisa noticed Magnus had started pointing his rifle back at s.h.i.+ny again. He had a frown on his face.

”Magnus, what's wrong?”

Magnus s.h.i.+fted uncomfortably. ”This reminds me, Telisa. After Jack and Thomas were killed. Remember, we were in that corridor and the wall exploded right next to me from some kind of projectile hitting the other side. I'm pretty sure whoever killed Jack and Thomas could sense through rock too.”

Chapter Twelve.

Magnus and Telisa sat down against the rock wall of the large chamber while the alien worked with the cube devices piled in the center of the cave. The creature worked rapidly, its limbs moving almost faster than Telisa could follow. She saw that each of its legs ended in three stiff, pointy toes that were equidistant from each other around the perimeter of each foot. Each foot reminded her of a three-way crab pincher.

”Do you think he's trapped here just like us?” Telisa pondered aloud.

Magnus grunted. ”Maybe. Probably.”

”He must have brought a lot of equipment with him.”

”Or he collected it. We should probably start doing that ourselves. If everything s.h.i.+fts all the time, we should search every room for food and supplies and take it with us.”

”So maybe this is his h.o.a.rd of stuff that he's collected,” Telisa thought out loud. ”But how does he keep it from going away when he's gone?”

Magnus blinked. ”I never thought of that. That's a great question. Maybe the corridors change but the caves don't... or maybe he is a Trilisk after all.”

”Or he may have learned how to tell what's going to change when.”

s.h.i.+ny abruptly stopped and waved the head-like bulb on the front of his body.

”He seems to be acting differently,” Telisa said.

”I wish I knew if that was its head,” Magnus said. ”I mean, I wonder if its brain is in there.”

Suddenly Telisa caught a glimpse of movement at the nearest adjoining tunnel mouth. She gasped as she realized a human stood at the entrance looking at them.

The person stepped closer, coming into a patch of reddish light so that Telisa could see a man dressed in a UNSF officer's uniform.

”s.h.i.+t,” Telisa whispered. She realized that the newcomer held a deadly looking pistol in his hand, pointing it right at them. She glanced at Magnus and saw that he was covering the man in turn with his own weapon, his finger resting on the trigger.

The UNSF man spoke.

”No one move. Tell me what's going on here. What is that thing?”

”We don't really know what it is,” Magnus said. ”It's intelligent, though.”

”We call it s.h.i.+ny,” Telisa added. ”There's no need for the weapon.” Telisa's heart thumped against her ribcage. She feared that a gunfight would break out, and more people would end up dead.

”Put the weapon down,” the man commanded.

”No,” Magnus said.

”There's no point in us shooting each other,” Telisa said.

The officer stared back at Telisa and Magnus. Then he took a long look at the alien. s.h.i.+ny seemed content to stand idle while the humans talked.

”I'll make you a deal. Tell me how to get out of this place, and I'll forget that you were ever here,” he said.

”We don't have any idea,” Telisa said. ”Everything changes around here.”

”What about him? s.h.i.+ny?”

”We're just trying to communicate with him... or it, I mean,” Telisa said. ”Look, let's cooperate. I don't know who you are, or how you got here, but I bet we all have the same problem.”

”Eminently reasonable,” the officer said. ”But I don't trust you. How did you get here?”

Magnus and Telisa exchanged looks. ”We're here illegally,” he said. ”I'm Mark and this is Tam.”

”I'm Lieutenant Joe Hartlet, UNSF,” he announced. ”As you've probably guessed, my job is to arrest you. But I meant what I said before. If you know how to get me out, I'm willing to forget about you. I need to tell the UNSF that this complex and this alien are here. It's possibly one of the greatest discoveries we've ever made. That's all I care about now.”

”The alien may not be real,” Telisa said. ”None of it may be real. h.e.l.l, you may not be real.”

Joe nodded. ”This place may be virtual. I don't know how, but it might be possible. But it's a weird kind of virtual. Different things bring their environment with them and interact here.”