Choices | Page 5

through azure seas. Few reach farther north or south than twenty degrees latitude; and given that the axial tilt of the world is little more than five degrees, this makes for what some call a monoclimatic situation--although in truth that is a condition supportable in only the most rigid of closed systems.
On the surface Tradur is every bit as beautiful as it is from space. Perhaps even more so. But that's the physical side of the world. Not the political one. And on the latter score Tradur isn't so pleasant. Indeed, as Burrye had warned me, it's easy to dismiss the scenery once one has become more accustomed to what day-to-day life is like on this planet.
There is an air of guarded restraint whenever one has dealings with the locals. Even in the markets this is apparent, though the merchants are eager enough to part you from your coin. But they do so rather circumspectly, as though they're under the ever-watchful eye of the Church and its minions--which is more than likely true.
Everywhere you go you have the feeling of being under surveillance. For myself that isn't an altogether new experience. Before they gave me a ship to command, I spent several years in Naval Intelligence. As a field operative you learn quickly to be paranoid--it can sometimes mean the difference between life and death.
As ambassador to Tradur I was reminded of those days. No doubt it was partly because of those NI experiences that I ended up here. And it was perhaps also because of those experiences that I was wary when Kieara Cjhar first approached me.

5.
"You shouldn't go," said Burrye.
I looked at him squarely. "Are there valid reasons for this concern?" I asked.
"Only the obvious, like the fact they might try to kill you."
"They've had ample opportunity for that already."
"It would be quite easy for them to arrange compromising circumstances that could prove an embarrassment to the Federation."
"A risk we'll have to take," I said, smiling thinly. "We can hardly be effective in our mission if we allow ourselves to be governed by that particular fear."
"This whole cloak and dagger business is sheer nonsense!" he exclaimed. "What possible reason could the daughter of the prelate have for wanting to see you?"
"I suppose I'll find out soon enough. Perhaps she took a liking to me," I added, only half facetiously.
Burrye gave me an odd look. "I'm sure you're not serious," he said in an even tone. "The Church is still the power here, Captain. And Kieara Cjhar is very much a part of it. On any other world such a relationship would probably cause few problems. But not here. If she did take a fancy to you, she'd never dare breathe a word of it. Not to you or anyone. Certainly she'd never dare act upon it--even if she is the daughter of the prelate."
"I'm not a fool," I said, rather icy-toned.
He muttered something under his breath and shook his head. Then he said more loudly, "It's a fool's errand, Captain."
"I see no threat," I argued. "And I can hardly refuse the invitation. The purpose of our mission is to improve diplomatic relations, not hinder them."
"You might yet do that."
It would have been easy to have laughed off his reservations, but they were quite convincing ones. Indeed, when the request for a meeting between me and Kieara Cjhar had come through, I'd confronted myself with the very same concerns. Tradur, after all, wasn't like most of the worlds that had been a part of Unity. Few of those had begun as enclaves of the Church, and consequently their populations hadn't been almost exclusively composed of devoted practitioners of the faith. When the Unity had fallen, many had welcomed the end of Church tyranny elsewhere in the Empire. Here, however, nearly the entire population was of a fundamentalist bent; and though the Unity had been defeated here as elsewhere, the people of this world hadn't faltered in their beliefs. If anything, they'd become more devout in their adherence to the strictures of the Red Catholic Church. And despite the Federation's best efforts to temper the influence of the Church, its presence remained a powerful, overarching force. That was why a handful of priests and cardinali could continue to exert control over the people through the use of fear. Those who might try to turn their backs on the guardians of the faith did so at peril. The price they could pay for such audacity was dear.
Burrye was right in wondering just who had won the war. In the twentieth century, when Hilter's forces had fallen to the Allies, the Nazis had been crushed and virtually wiped from the face of the Earth. But when the Federation had finally prevailed in its long struggle against the Unity, Red Catholicism and all