“We think that the Rix ship wants to establish communication with the Legis XV compound mind,” the sovereign said.

Nara felt bafflement in the room. No one in the Risen Empire knew much about compound minds. What would such a creature say to its Rix servants? What might it have learned about the Empire by inhabiting an Imperial world?

But from the Emperor came a different emotion. It underlay his anger, his indignation at Zai’s betrayal. A dead man, he was always hard to read empathically, but a strong emotion was eating at him. Oxham turned her empathy toward the sovereign.

“The Rix compound mind has no access to extraplanetary communication,” the general explained. “The Legis entanglement facilities are centralized and under direct Imperial control, and of course could only transmit to the rest of the Empire. But from the range of a few light-minutes, the compound mind could communicate with the Rix vessel. Using television transmitters, air traffic control arrays, even pocket phones. Legis’s infostructure is composed of a host of distributed devices that we can’t control.”

“Unless we do something, the Rix will be able to contact their compound mind,” the Emperor declared. “Between the mind’s global resources and the battlecruiser’s large array, they will be able to transfer huge amounts of data. With a few hours’ connection, perhaps the planet’s entire data-state. All the information that is LegisXV.”

“Why not shut down the planet’s power grid for a few days?” Henders suggested. “When the ship approaches apogee?”

“We may. It is estimated that a three-day power outage, properly prepared for, would cause only a few thousand civilian deaths,” the general answered. Oxham saw nothing but cold equations in the man when he gave this number. “Unfortunately, however, most communications are designed to survive power grid failure. They have backup batteries, solar cells, and motion converters as part of their basic makeup. This is a compound mind; the entire planet is compromised. A power outage won’t prevent communication between the compound mind and the Rix vessel.”

At these last words, Oxham’s empathy felt a jolt from the Emperor. He was agitated. She had witnessed the fixations his mind could develop. His cats. His hatred of the Rix.

Something new was in his head, consuming him.

And then, in a moment of clarity, she felt the emotion in him. Saw it clearly.

It was fear.

The Risen Emperor was afraid of what the Rix might learn.

“We don’t know why the Rix want to talk to their compound mind,” he said. “Perhaps they only want to offer obeisence to it, or perform some kind of maintenance. But they have dedicated years to this mission, and risked almost certain war. We must assume there is a strategic reason for this attempt at contact.”