Nemesis by Alex Lamb Page B

Earth had a Revivalist branch of some kind. Even with his augmented memory, Will struggled to keep track of them all. Before the war, there had only been Truism – the belief in the supremacy of man over all of nature – with Earth’s church at the top. While foreign to Will’s sensibilities, he could at least wrap his head around it.
    Then, at the end of the war, Gustav Ulanu had realigned the faith under Transcendism: the idea that there were benign mentor species in the universe hoping to guide humanity towards God’s truth. For a while, it had looked like the new doctrine was going to convince everyone to cooperate. But after years of silence from the Transcended, religious politics had slid inexorably away from them. After Ulanu’s assassination, that process had accelerated dangerously.
    ‘But the Knights are small fry,’ said Ira. ‘They only have a tiny share of the Flag movement, which makes me wonder: if this attack was some kind of inter-sect warning, why bother? The Smithites can hardly be the target – they’re not worth the investment.’
    Ira brought up a freeze-frame of the two ramshackle gunships. ‘Then there’s the shuttles the Reynard encountered. We can’t say for certain but we think they belong to Truth Reborn, the Revivalist arm of Theravad Plus – a bigger player, for sure, but still hardly worth this kind of attention.’
    ‘You think all this is a message for the Fleet, then?’ said Will.
    ‘Maybe,’ said Ira. ‘The fact that both Flags and legit colonists were attacked suggests that whoever did this wants everyone to be afraid. Our strategy software thinks the subtext here is a group making a play to set themselves up as a separate government. They’re using the alien motif to make everyone back off till they can get it together.’
    ‘But who?’ said Will. ‘The Old Colonies wouldn’t bother, and there can’t be more than a handful of sects on Earth with the money to pull that off.’
    ‘That’s what I want you to find out,’ said Ira. ‘To minimise the panic, the public will be told it’s a hoax and that we’re sending an investigation team. At the same time, we’re telling the senate that an exodiplomatic mission is unavoidable, just in case this is exactly what it looks like – a first-contact situation.’
    Will frowned. ‘Why the double message?’
    ‘Because it gives the Fleet the most leeway to operate. And it rules out any political argument for keeping you off the mission – after all, you’re still humanity’s expert when it comes to dealing with aliens. The negotiation around this is going to be fast and nasty, I’m afraid. We need ships out there as soon as possible, but Earth’s senators will be pushing for control. They’ll try to delay things to force us to accept more of their people on the team. They’re already furious that this event makes their sects look like a bunch of planet-grabbing, warmongering assholes.’
    Will snorted. ‘Imagine that.’
    ‘The good news is that Parisa Voss is on the Committee for E. T. Affairs, as is Bob Galt-Singh from Galatea. You’ll have to babysit some VIP diplomats and all that shit, but with luck they’ll cover the chit-chat, leaving you free to work.’
    ‘I can handle that,’ said Will. ‘When do we start?’
    Ira reached out and took Will’s arm. His expression softened. ‘Soon, Will,’ he said. ‘Very soon. But first, my old friend, can we sit down for a moment?’
    Ira’s sudden change of pace took Will by surprise but he knew better than to second-guess it. While he and Ira had remained close since the war, they’d spent little time relaxing together. If Ira had something to say, there had to be a reason, so he let Ira guide him to one of the chairs near the window.
    The view from Ira’s room was far humbler than that from the senate’s executive suite. Probably no more than thirty storeys off the ground, the window looked out on a park that had been crowded around by modern