The second, and most involved, division was the one I wound up working for. We were trying to find out if the Olyix had opened any private portal doors between their arkship and Earth—something that would allow them to collaborate with their Kcell development partners without having to go through the official channels established by the Sol Senate—which would explain how they knew about Horatio’s snatch. That was a tough one. It’s not like the Olyix themselves could move around Earth unnoticed. They would have to use human agents to mount hostile operations.

But it didn’t matter how many renditions we threatened and alt-legal interrogations we performed. There was no verifiable line of sight back to the Olyix. I never got that: people who would betray their own species. But I’d been in law enforcement and corporate security long enough to know that every bastard in that field simply took the money and skipped the questions. They wouldn’t know and wouldn’t want to know whom they were working for.

Our other problem was why the Olyix would bother. Their sole purpose for stopping in the Sol system was to buy energy to generate antimatter so they could continue their pilgrimage flight. The original theory was that they wanted to increase revenue for the Kcells by introducing new treatments and didn’t care about their human partners performing illegal experiments to develop those treatments. But then we started to notice the buildup of hostile incidents in Sol’s defense sector, like the attempt on the New York shield files. Nobody could figure out what was happening. Then after we heard what Cancer was doing at Delta Pavonis, Ainsley’s paranoia skyrocketed up to whole new levels. The attack against Bremble made absolute sense if it was in preparation for an invasion.

My division was refocused on technology, physically locating quantum spatial entanglements between Salvation of Life and Earth. If we could find a portal that led back to Earth, or a habitat, we’d finally have solid proof the Olyix were hostile. But while it is possible to detect a portal’s quantum signature, the equipment is short-range, large, and expensive. More than half of the Olyix Monitoring Office budget was spent on refining the sensor technology. First they had to perfect it. Then they had to make it small—really small. Finally, and with wonderful irony, they had to make it undetectable.

After that, smuggling it on board the Salvation of Life was almost easy. Which is where I came in.

The 2199 joint ecumenical delegation, of which I was a proud member, assembled in Vatican City. There were four such delegations every year. Somewhat inevitably, the Olyix were keen to welcome emissaries from human religions to the Salvation of Life. Equally understandably, our priests and rabbis and imams were eager to explore alien religion. Sorry, but the utterly devout Olyix were literally a heaven-sent opportunity in that respect.