What was it Speaker Solera wasn’t saying? she wondered. Something had passed between the two of them at the conclusion of the meeting, Adela knew, but what? It was obvious to her, and certainly to Montero as well, that he was holding something back.
She was no closer to figuring out what it was an hour later when, back in her cabin, her thoughts were disturbed by the door chime.
“Yes?” she called, activating the room system. “Who is it?”
“Only me, Doctor.” She recognized Lieutenant Woorunmarra’s melodic voice. “May I talk to you?”
“Open.” She crossed the short distance to the door, picking up a notepad from her desk, and extended her hand as she welcomed the officer in and led him to the seating area. “Please, feel at home.”
“Thank you.” He looked enviously around at the comfortable suite with an appreciative look common to military personnel more used to spartan living quarters, and nodded his approval. “We’ve received formal invitation to attend a session of Joint Dominion, and Commander Montero has accepted.”
“That’s excellent! When?”
“In three days, ship’s time.”
She opened the pad and quickly keyed in the information. “They didn’t waste much time, did they?”
“No, but I’m not really that surprised. The session must’ve been planned for weeks to coincide with our arrival. No doubt they merely needed only to relay our willingness to join them before makin’ it official.”
It made sense. Why else would they have been so confident that setting up a Joint Dominion could be handled as quickly as they’d indicated? “I’ll need every bit of the time to get ready,” she said, still tapping notes into the pad. “Although I’ll be able to let some of the others handle a few of—”
“There’s something else,” he interrupted, his voice uncharacteristically somber. “I’m the only member of the diplomatic team who’s to attend the session.”
Her fingers froze over the keys of the notepad and she was about to protest, but he held up a hand before she could speak.
“I’ll be accompanied by several members of the ship’s security, politely and discreetly armed, of course; but Commander Montero feels that, in the interests of safety, no other essential contact personnel should go down at this time.”
“Safety!” she burst out, unable to hold back her anger, and was on her feet immediately. “Safety from what? System!”
“Ma’am?”
Adela stood facing the holo display area in the corner of the room, her back to the young officer. “I want to talk to Commander Montero, right now.”
There was a confirming chirp as the room system complied. She looked over her shoulder and stared wordlessly at the Lieutenant for several moments and, literally too angry to speak to him just then, turned away again and entered a few more notes into the pad before slapping the cover closed. Woorunmarra started to say something, but apparently thought better of it and settled back quietly and waited as the call was put through.
There was another chirp as the system responded, and Adela faced the corner, expecting it to brighten with the glow of the holo. It did not, and Adela felt the anger rise anew within her. “Ma’am? Commander Montero requests that—”
“System,” she said forcefully, cutting off the response. “Put it through again.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am,” the room system responded, sounding efficiently anything but apologetic, “your last command had been disallowed by executive order of the Commander until delivery of current message. Will you accept?”
Damn him, she thought, sighing in frustration. “Yes! I’ll accept.”
“Commander Montero requests that you and Lieutenant Woorunmarra meet with him personally. He’ll be waiting in his starboard office on the command deck, and will expect your arrival in fifteen minutes.”
Adela turned and went back to sit across from Woorunmarra, calling back over her shoulder, “Tell Commander Montero we’re on our way.” She looked at him, studying his features, and couldn’t decide if she was mad at him or not.
“Well, now,” he chuckled. “If I didn’t know better, I’d swear he was expecting your call.”
“The movements are taking place here, here and here.”
As First Officer Nelon spoke, Adela saw a glowing red dot appear at each of the points he described on the projected representation of Pallatin hanging in the air next to him. A dozen such marks were already scattered on the surface of the projection, most of them located in the Eastland portion of the continent.
“And here,” Nelon went on, “are the locations where we’ve detected fluctuations in power consumption and routing.” A series of pulsing yellow circles appeared, interconnected by thin yellow lines. Again, most of the activity appeared in the major cities of the east and along the eastern edge of the Arroyo fault.
Montero sat behind the desk, hands steepled against his chin, and frowned in displeasure at what he was hearing. She and Woorunmarra occupied two of the chairs placed opposite the desk, the angle just right that Adela could see the Commander’s displeased reflection in the smooth plastic surface of the desktop.
“We’ve been holographing the surface of the planet for weeks, of course,” Montero put in. “But the activity you see up there has been taking place for only the last few days, beginning first in the east. Westland has begun to respond in a similar manner, as you can see, to whatever is happening down there. We don’t know what the significance is, or if there’s any reason to suspect a hostile intent directed at us.”
“Nothin’ at all on the air?” asked Woorunmarra of the First Officer.
Nelon glanced once at Montero, who nodded for him to continue. “We’ve monitored all their broadcasts, both public and private—we have been, in fact, since long before we were close enough to get these readings here—but there’s been nothing said of this.”
Adela swiveled in her chair and indicated the marks on the holo. “No hint in the broadcasts what any of this might be about?”
“Well, there’s been a great deal of talk about our coming, as you might expect. Not all of it complimentary to the Hundred Worlds, either.” Nelon shook his head in frustration and swept an arm through the projection. “But nothing that seems related to any of this. Either this is something that’s so normal there’s no reason to broadcast it, or they want to keep it from us as long as they can.”
Adela stood, nearing the projection for a better look, and studied the locations of the overlaid lines and marked spots on the globe. There were far more on the eastern continental mass, with the power readings radiating in logical sequences from point to point. On the western side, the markings were much more random and interspersed, as though being done in a hurry. After several moments she turned back, addressing no one in particular. “Maybe it’s not us they’re trying to keep this from.”
The room was silent for several moments as Adela’s suggestion was considered. Finally Montero nodded thoughtfully, stroking his moustache with the tips of his thumb and index finger. “It makes sense. That would explain why the readings appeared in the east first, followed later by similar activity in the west. Monitoring satellites operated from the spaceport in Dannen must have picked up the same readings at about the same time we did, and are only now responding to whatever is happening. It might also explain why both Speakers were so vague when we contacted them and asked what was going on down there. Obviously neither is fully aware of what the other is up to.” Montero paused. “I think it’s just as obvious that our real adversary here is Eastland.” He turned to his First Officer. “Thank you, Nelon. Keep monitoring the movements and power readings, and let me know if any significant changes in the numbers occur.” Nelon snapped stiffly to attention, nodded curtly and exited the room, leaving the three of them alone.