The Weave by Nancy Jane Moore

Author:Nancy Jane Moore [Moore, Nancy Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Space Exploration, colonialism, Alien Contact, telepathy, Feminist Science Fiction
ISBN: 978-1-61976-078-3
Publisher: Aqueduct Press
Published: 2015-04-09T05:00:00+00:00

Sanjuro went back to her own quarters when Masire went back on duty. She had a few hours to kill before taking the shuttle planetside, and she wanted to spend the time reviewing her data.

A message pinged just as she shut her door. It turned out to be a forward of a message from the Cortez, odd because usually the personal messages that came from Earth or the Cortez were sent out weekly, right after they arrived. She’d had hers yesterday.

The message was from Derek. “Caty: I hear the powers that be are ignoring what you’ve learned about the Cibolans. I told you they only wanted you for window dressing. I’m sure you’ve got stuff that’s not in the official reports. Send me what you’ve got. I can bring some System clout to bear.” Below the message were some instructions for delivery — a way of sending to the Cortez that would fool the official checkpoint, which implied that it was secret from that ship’s command as well.

For a brief moment she felt tempted. Maybe Derek Li hadn’t sold out to the corporate interests. Maybe if she fed him stuff — the speculations that weren’t going into her official reports — he’d bring Bogdosian into the picture and they’d get orders to deal with the Cibolans that even Vargas couldn’t ignore. But common sense prevailed. Li liked to parade his integrity, but he was too ambitious to be that pure. He didn’t want her material to help her or the Cibolans; he wanted something to give himself an edge. Regardless of what humans did with Cibola, any xenologists who studied the Cibolans were assured academic success. The message might even be some kind of trap, to see if she did have some kind of clandestine dealings with the Cortez. She wondered how it had been sent and if it had been programmed to wait to ping until she was alone.

She thought about just setting it aside, like she had the earlier message. But the idea that it could be a trap made her nervous. So she went to Gervaise. The legal officer didn’t look thrilled to see her, but the message got her attention.

“We’ve been working on the assumption that there’s a mole on board and that they have a collaborator back in the System who sends things to and from the Cortez. Maybe if they’re getting this brazen, they’ll make a mistake.”

“Why would they risk it, now that we’re cooperating with the Cortez?”

Gervaise made a face. “I suppose they’re assuming that we’re not sending everything we know. Your message from Li implies that. And we’ve found traces of unofficial communications with the Cortez. We just haven’t been able to trace the sender. This has to have been via ETQ, given its reference to what happened at the meeting. Maybe we can try to trap them by planting something for delivery. Thanks for letting me know.”

“If I thought I could trust those people, I’d have been tempted to respond,” Sanjuro said, then wondered whether it was politic to admit something like that to Gervaise.

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