Free Three Card Monte (The Martian Alliance) by Gini Koch Page A

and we were speaking softly enough that it was unlikely we’d be overheard. Longdaddy had assured me that this section of the Swampland Zoo had its surveillance curtailed regularly.
    “Ah. What do you think you know?”
    “You’re the one who told him about us.”
    “This is true.” She moved off a few steps, as if we were honestly here to enjoy the exhibit. “He is trustworthy,” she said when I was beside her again.
    “I guessed. I don’t think you’re a traitor, because we’d all be dead already.”
    “No. I fight for what all of you fight for. He does as well.”
    “Yeah, I picked that up. How did you meet?”
    “The usual way, I suppose.”
    “There are no usual ways anymore.”
    She chuckled. “True enough. I met him in the same way you met Roy. I was in over my head and he helped me.”
    “He’s why you haven’t given Doven the remotest go-ahead sign, isn’t he?”
    It was a rare thing, but I did get to bear witness to Ciarissa blushing. “In a way. We are only close friends.”
    “You and Longdaddy or you and Doven?”
    “Both. While I would wish that circumstances were different, Longdaddy, as you call him, needs to ensure that his line, his pure line, continues. We both accepted that a long time ago.”
    “And Doven?”
    “Why is this relevant?”
    “Because it’s the only time I’m ever going to get to ask without Roy or Doven or someone else overhearing. Because he’s worried about you being worked too hard, but Roy’s dismissed the idea, meaning that Roy doesn’t think he’s overtaxing you. But Doven feels you’re overtaxed. Meaning you’re keeping at least one being not on our crew advised of our activities and it’s draining your strength.” I looked straight at her. “I want to be sure of who you’re telling what, when, and why.”
    She didn’t turn toward me. “Much goes on while you are on assignment. The stirrings of what you and I are both trying to fix began well before your trip to Andromeda.”
    “How are you talking to Longdaddy when we’re out of this solar system?”
    “There are…ways.” Now she did turn to me, and I could see the exhaustion in her eyes. I was sure Doven had seen this, and I was equally sure no one else had, because both Roy and Dr. Wufren would have put Ciarissa onto medical rest if they’d caught a whiff of this. “They can be quite…taxing.”
    “How many others are involved in those ways?”
    “Fewer than you would think. It would be easier if there were more, but we are very spread out. All trustworthy. For the same reasons you are trustworthy.”
    “I want more than your word. I want the full explanation. I’m sorry, but under the circumstances, I can’t trust you like I once did.”
    Ciarissa nodded sadly. “I understand. Once trust is lost…” She heaved a sigh. “Espen was spared destruction during the Purge because we have always taken the side of noninterference, of neutrality.”
    “You have laws about it, yeah. And, I’d assume, the Espen government has some way to control all of you.”
    “It does, other telepaths screening for overt activities mostly. But there are some of us who do not feel noninvolvement is always the ethical choice. During the Purge, we worked with many resistance fighters, trying to help them. For the most part, we failed.”
    “For the most part, everyone failed. But, how did you avoid anyone knowing about your involvement? Especially the Espen government?”
    “The same way we avoid detection now. Longdaddy has some very advanced scientists who are quite loyal to him. They created a living organism that combined organically with those of us who continue to strive against the Diamante Families. The tad-biotic enhances our powers exponentially. It allows us to reach each other across the vast distances of space while helping to mask our activities and mental trails.”
    I’d seen Longdaddy’s living computer system. It wasn’t hard to believe that the beings responsible for that