after the fall of the Confederacy, man’s last attempt at an empire spanning all of human space, Earth was still the center of human existence. Certainly that was the case with the Mother Church, which had endured on this spot for over two thousand years, through even the worst years of the Terran Council three hundred years ago.
After those dark days, when the inward-looking Council had been succeeded by the outward-looking Confederacy, St. Peter’s had been restored. Today, it was impossible for Cardinal Anderson to tell what parts of the structure had burned down in the twenty-third century, and which had been standing since the sixteenth.
It was very early in the morning in Rome, the sky just purpling with dawn, and there were no crowds as he walked across the square toward the Apostolic Palace. No one challenged him as he entered the palace; most of the Swiss Guard knew him on sight and, more important, the wide-spectrum biometric surveillance that covered St. Peter’s Square and the area around the palace would have alerted security if he was anyone other than who he appeared to be.
He made his way through the ancient palace, from the public areas by the Sistine Chapel and the library, into the heavily secured private areas close to the papal apartments.
His Holiness was waiting for him.
Despite the palatial Renaissance decor, and frescoes that appeared as if they could have been contemporary with Michelangelo, the office where the pope received him was one of the more recent additions to the huge complex of the Apostolic Palace. Despite the fifteen-meter-tall windows giving a panoramic view of St. Peter’s Square, this room was wrapped in layers of the most sophisticated physical and technological security that had ever been gathered into a single location. Behind the frescoes were walls that were impregnable to fire, explosion, EM radiation, and sound. The grand windows were not even visible from the outside; any observer would see just the blank wall of the palace.
When the ornate gilded doors shut behind him, Cardinal Anderson could hear a slight sucking sound as the portal sealed tight and the office switched to using its own isolated environmental controls. Even the air was screened by several layers of security here.
His Holiness stood in front of the windows, hands clasped behind his back, staring at the dome of the cathedral across the square.
“I trust you had a fruitful journey to Occisis?”
“Yes, Your Holiness. Father Mallory proved to be good choice.”
“So was Kennedy, I fear.” The pope shook his head. “Does Mallory know?”
“We briefed him with the absolute minimum information,” Cardinal Anderson said. “While he saw Kennedy’s transmission, he believes it was just another random intercept from the Virginis colonies.”
“That is probably for the best.” The pope turned around. He was shorter than Cardinal Anderson, and younger. Physically, he reminded Anderson of Father Mallory, though Pope Stephen XII had been born on Earth and was short and stocky through genetics rather than high gravity. “If the Caliphate should uncover Mallory or his mission, better they presume he is the first envoy we’ve sent to the Virginis colonies.”
“Yes,” Anderson said. “But the Caliphate will eventually move, regardless of their knowledge of the Church’s actions.”
The pope nodded. “Eventually. It is certain they know these colonies are out there and as long as they believe those worlds are their own secret, they’ll be inclined toward caution.”
The exchange couldn’t be called an argument, or even a disagreement, except by someone who had access to the decade of subtext behind the words. Cardinal Anderson had never completely approved of the cautious route they took toward these far-flung colonies. He had long debates with the pope about the strategic implications of each move they made.
To Pope Stephen, the longer they went without the Caliphate making any overt move toward these colonies, the better information they had and the better they could react. Even when the Caliphate moved, it would take years to build a substantive connection between the Caliphate and the Virginis colonies. Tach-ships had effective jump ranges of twenty light-years, and while ships could be built that could take the multiple jumps that would be needed to cross the seventy-five light-years between the Caliphate and the nearest of the Virginis colonies, to build a permanent connection, the Caliphate would need to build at least a nominal colony at each jump point to accommodate refueling and repairs if they expected to move trade goods or troops. Building such a corridor took too many resources to remain secret.
To Cardinal Anderson, it didn’t matter if the Caliphate had not made such moves as of yet. In his mind, this particular standoff would favor the side that made the first move.
He believed that was true even before they had received Kennedy’s transmission. The first envoy they had received any word back from. Kennedy’s only words back to them repeated a cryptic message, “Tached into the 89 Leonis system and have lost all visual contact with Xi Virginis,” then, overlaid on the transmission, another voice quoting the Book of Revelation.
However, His Holiness still believed they should move clandestinely with low profile assets. So Mallory would be the fourth man sent to the Virginis colonies, and the first one sent to Xi Virginis.
