Read Battleground for Free Online

sensed that, but he did not say anything about it at first, so neither did she.
    â€œWe start where?” he asked.
    â€œWell, let’s re-run the searches Starr asked for, just as a check, and go on from there.”
    â€œStarr? Jameson?”
    â€œContact,” she said absently, eyes on the text on a screen.
    â€œThat wouldn’t be the one who used to run the Polity, would it?”
    It appeared that Chain had not thoroughly absorbed several hundred years of history in a few months’ time. He could hardly be blamed for that—especially by Hanna.
    â€œNo one commissioner ‘runs’ the Polity,” she said patiently. “And their powers are limited. To some degree. It’s complicated, Chain.”
    â€œSo he used to be
one
of the people running the Polity?”
    â€œIn a manner of speaking,” said Hanna, trying not to laugh.
    â€œAnd he’s your boss?”
    â€œTechnically.”
    â€œWhat does that mean, technically?”
    She thought, to herself,
It means we sleep together.
Out loud she said with equal truth, “He wouldn’t try to make a first contact himself. I wouldn’t dream of trying to administer something like the department he heads.”
    â€œThese first contacts. You’ve done two of them?”
    â€œAnd I’m here looking for a starting point for a third. Yes, Chain. That’s what I do. That’s what we’ll be doing together, you and I.”
    As they started the searches she heard him think:
Just wait till I tell people who this is!
    She was getting used to being a legend.
    They had a second keyword list ready before the first, predictably fruitless, search was done: anything and any combination they could think of having to do with aliens, nonhumans, starflight, spacecraft, and on and on. Chain threw in “strange beings” for good measure. Nothing, except for many alerts on “landings”; but those dealt with maintenance flights to the mothership.
    â€œThat’s right, she’s still up there,” Hanna said with interest. “And you still send people up?”
    â€œOn a regular basis. If the orbit starts decaying into the atmosphere, we’re going to push her out toward space and wave good-bye.”
    â€œChain, why didn’t your people do that long ago? It wouldn’t have affected your mayday beacon, and you wouldn’t have to worry about debris coming down on your heads. The thing’s huge. It would break up coming down through atmosphere, but it could do a lot of damage. Why’s it still there?”
    â€œSentimental attachment?” He shrugged. “I guess someplace inside we still like to think we’re space travelers.”
    Hanna nodded. It made sense to her. She said, “Let’s see if Mi-o Roland ever put anything on record.”
    She had not. In fact, except for a birth record for Mi-o Roland consistent with the chronology, there was no evidence the girl had ever existed, apart from the
Report to Archives
.
    â€œCould she have changed her name?” Hanna said. “I forget—do women here customarily take their husbands’ names?”
    â€œNot usually,” he said, “but it’s not consistent. It’s an unusual first name, though. Let’s try—”
    Nothing.
    â€œCould she have changed that too? It’s a little awkward to pronounce. If she had wanted to change it to something easier, would it be a matter of public—well, no. That first search would have given us that.”
    Chain said, “This is a land of small towns, Hanna. We’ve spread over one continent, no more, and we’re spread thin at that. In a small town everybody knows your business anyway, so if you get around to reporting it to some central office—that’s me, for now—fine. If you don’t, nobody’s going to fine you or whatever they do where you come from.
All
reporting is voluntary.”
    He wore