Hidden Empire - Kevin J. Anderson [165]
"What the hell was that?" said the watch commander, bleary-eyed, rushing into the control room. "Tamblyn?"
"I don't know, sir." She looked helplessly at her fellow soldiers.
"It was a Roacher ship," said Patrick Fitzpatrick. Somehow, she always drew shared duty with him. "Ask Tamblyn."
"That signal was similar to one the pilot transmitted at the moonbase," Tasia said, knowing that if she hid that fact it would only make them wonder more. "Can't figure out why, sir."
"Probably some kind of spy signal," Fitzpatrick said.
The watch commander said, "A coded message? Get it decrypted, pronto!" He looked at Tasia, then at the other Eddies in the communications center. "Put our best cryptographers on it. I want to know if that Roamer contacted a spy or a mole in our midst."
Tasia's skin crawled, realizing what everyone must be thinking, but she sat stony-faced, bearing it. If she protested her innocence, it would only make her look worse. "He went to the moonbase first, sir," Tasia pointed out, "then came here. Maybe he's looking for someone."
"Well, for the sake of the human race, let's hope that Roacher turncoat didn't find whoever he was looking for."
Tasia bit her lip to stop herself from defending the captain. They had no proof that the Roamer intended anything that might harm the Terran war effort. She sighed. She had worked so hard to demonstrate her loyalty, preparing to avenge Ross as soon as an opportunity presented itself, but even as she made progress, something cost her all the ground she had gained. She might have to punch a few more noses next mealtime if the kleebs got too obnoxious or rowdy.
Whatever the Roamer captain had wanted here, it was the last thing in the universe Tasia needed.
EA waited two full days, according to the command instructions in the coded transmission. Then the dutiful compy approached Tasia as discreetly as possible.
Tasia had offered her personal robot for the performance of vital EDF duties, but EA still devoted part of her time to watching over her owner. This shift she and Tasia had been assigned together to a red-walled storage bunker to take inventory of cold-environment garments for the Martian surface. The small compy worked diligently at her side, and Tasia was comforted just by the Listener robot's presence.
EA hummed, as if scanning. "There are no eavesdroppers. It is safe for me to speak." The voice that came out of the compy was eerie and familiar. "Tasia, I'm so glad I found you. I have to give you some terrible news, and this was the only way I could manage it."
It was Jess's voice! She whirled, but only the little robot stood there playing her recorded message, reminding Tasia of a demon-possessed person speaking with a different personality.
Jess's voice continued. "Roamer compies have special programming, Tasia, and I activated it by sending a coded signal. EA knows to engage protective measures if she is ever in danger of being captured by an enemy, and she has instructions to find a time when she can talk with you. We didn't know if a message would get through by regular channels."
Tasia's mind ran through many possibilities. What would Jess ask of her? What bad news did he bring?
"Tasia...Dad is dead," Jess said through EA's vocal speaker. "He suffered a stroke the night of Ross's funeral, the night you ran away. He never recovered. We searched for you, but you had already gone."
Tasia reeled. Her vision blurred with sudden, stinging tears.
He paused, and his voice took on a grimmer tone. "You've got a decision to make, and I can't really help you out now. There's been another attack on a Roamer skymine, just like Ross's. The facility at Erphano was completely destroyed, all hands lost."
Now his voice sounded poignant and beseeching. "You've got your own obligations and responsibilities. I understand that. But only you and I are left in the family. Our uncles