Both the location of these colonies, and their possible historical ties to the planets of the Caliphate, made it almost inevitable that the Eridani Caliphate would claim them as part of their sphere of influence, growing by 50 percent almost instantly; expanding into a space that would, given the limits of current tach-drives, have very limited access to the rest of human space. From the point of view of Mother Church, that would be unacceptable.
Father Mallory shook his head. “Forgive me, Your Eminence. I understand the Church’s interest in these worlds. What is the interest in me?”
“These worlds were discovered by accident,” said the cardinal. “A chance interception of a tach-comm transmission. We’ve been secretly monitoring ever since. Unfortunately, these are low power signals. Over such distances they degrade. We can only obtain a few hours’ worth of comprehensible intelligence over the course of a year. And, of course, a listening post by Helminth, or anywhere near there, risks alerting the Caliphate. We’ve been using Vatican property on Cynos.”
“You said ‘disturbing’ transmissions, Your Eminence.”
Cardinal Anderson thumbed a control on his holoprojector, and the air was filled with an awful static whine.
The holo’s picture became fluid and refused to stabilize. It seemed to be the view out of a tach-ship. Stars spun and blurred, and a blue orb filled the display.
“. . . with Xi Virginis . . . bzzt . . . have lost visual contact . . .”
Something blurred the view. The planet pixilated and reformed, and something clouded the space between the camera and the planet. At first the black specks seemed to be some digital artifact.
Suddenly, a very different voice was speaking. “. . . bzzt . . . coming toward . . . bzzt . . . behold a great . . . bzzt . . .”
It wasn’t an artifact. The cloud was real, the specks moving purposefully toward the planet.
“. . . seven heads . . . bzzt . . . crowns upon . . . bzzt . . . the third part of the stars . . . cast . . . bzzt . . .”
The transmission died.
“The last part?” Father Mallory asked.
“Behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth,” quoted Cardinal Anderson, “Revelation, Chapter Twelve.” He switched off the holo projection. “We need someone to investigate.”
“What does it mean?”
“We do not know,” Cardinal Anderson said. “Analysis of the star field places that planet close to, if not in orbit around, Xi Virginis, on the far side of these colonies.”
“Why me?”
“The Church cannot move without attracting attention,” he said. “But one man can.”
Father Mallory nodded. “How am I to travel there without attracting the Caliphate’s attention?”
“Are you familiar with the planet Bakunin?” Cardinal Anderson asked.
CHAPTER THREE
Audience
Power is not the same as knowledge.
To know all things is not permitted.
Cardinal Anderson returned to Vatican City within hours after his transport tached in from Alpha Centauri. Even
