“What's different this year?”
“There's been more Concordance activity in orbit around the planet. It's normal enough for a few Void Walker attack craft to arrive in-system from time to time, but I'm seeing at least two extra Cathedral ships in orbit.”
That sent a chill trickling though her. Were they planning to do to Migdala what they'd done to her own planet? “They're constructing another shroud?”
“That's unclear. My data is obviously out of date. Something is happening there. You could slip into the system and take a look, pick up the latest nanosensor recordings. I have good predictions on the locations and arrival points of their ships; you could go without being seen easily enough.”
He was trying to get rid of her so he could concentrate on his research. Or, more generously, he d
