Sorry to disturb you, maam, Sylvester Geray said. The matter was deemed urgent.
Naturally, Kirsten said. She datavised a code at one set of high double doors, and gestured for them to follow. Lets get on with it.
The doors opened into her private office. It was a tastefully furnished room in white and powder blue, though lacking in the ostentation of the formal State Office next door where she received diplomats and politicians. French windows looked out into a tiny walled garden where fountains played in a couple of small ornamental ponds. Glass-fronted cabinets and bookshelves stood around the walls, heavy with exquisite gifts from visitors and institutions who enjoyed her patronage. A malachite bust of Alastair II sat on a pedestal in an alcove behind her desk (Allie looking over her shoulder, as always). A classic Saldana face, broadly handsome, with a gravity the sculptor had captured perfectly. She remembered her brother practising that sombre poise in the mirror when he was a teenager.
The doors swung shut and Kirsten datavised a codelock at them. The processor in her desk confirmed the study was now physically and electronically secure.
The datapackage said there has been a new development in the Ekwan case, she said as she sat in her high-backed chair behind the desk.
Yes, maam, Jannike Dermot said. Unfortunately there has.
Kirsten waved a hand for them to sit. I didnt think it would be good news.
Id like to bring in Admiral Farquar, Sylvester Geray said.
Of course. Kirsten datavised the processor for a security level one sensenviron conference and closed her eyes.
The illusion was of a curving featureless white chamber with a central oval table; Kirsten sat at the head, with Roche Skark and Pascoe Farquar on one side, and Jannike Dermot and Sylvester Geray on the other. Interesting that the computer should be programmed to seat the two agency directors opposite each other, she thought.
I would like to formally request a system-wide code two defence alert, the Admiral said as his opening gambit.
Kirsten hadnt been expecting that. You believe Laton will attack us? she asked mildly. Only she could issue a code two alert, which allowed the military to supersede all civil administration, and requisition whatever personnel and materials it required. Basically it was a declaration of martial law. (A code one alert was a full declaration of war, which only Alastair could proclaim.)
Its a little more complicated than that, maam, the Admiral said. My staff have been reviewing the whole Lalonde-Laton situation. Now this reporter Graeme Nicholson has confirmed Laton was present on the planet, we have to begin to consider other factors, specifically this energy virus which the Edenists reported.
I find it quite significant they wanted their findings to be known, Roche Skark said. In fact they actually requested that we should be told. Which is an unusual step given the Kingdoms standard relationship with Edenism. They obviously considered the threat dangerous enough to exceed any political differences. And considering what happened to our G66 troops in Lalondes jungle I believe they were totally justified.
Our analysis of both Jenny Harriss jungle mission and subsequent events on Lalonde suggests that the energy virus and this prevalent sequestration are the same thing, said the Admiral. What we are dealing with is an invisible force that can take over human thought processes and bestow an extremely advanced energy manipulation ability. Sophisticated enough to act as an electronic warfare field, and construct those white fireballs out of what appears to be thin air.
I reviewed parts of the jungle mission, Kirsten said. The physical strength those people had was phenomenal. Are you suggesting anyone who is infected will acquire similar capabilities?
Yes, maam.
How is the energy virus transmitted?
We dont know, the Admiral admitted. Though we do consider the fact that Laton called it a virus to be significant. The very nature of the term virus, whether employed in the biological or software sense, implies a pattern that can reproduce itself within its host, usually at an exponential rate. But again, Im not sure. We really are working in the dark on this one, putting together appraisals from observed data. There has to be a priority to discover its exact nature.
We can find out relatively easily, Jannike Dermot said. The answer is in Gerald Skibbows memoryhow he was infected and sequestrated, how the energy virus behaves, what its limits are. I consider him to be the key to alleviating our lack of knowledge.
Has he recovered yet? Kirsten asked.
No. The doctors say he is suffering from a case of profound trauma; its touch and go if he ever will recover his full intellectual faculties. I want him to undergo a personality debrief.
Is that wise, in his state?
The ISA director showed no emotion. Medically, no, not making him relive the events. But a debrief will provide us with the information we require.
It was a responsibility Kirsten could have done without; Skibbow was somebodys child, probably had children of his own. For a moment she thought of Benedict sitting in Edwards lap. Proceed, she said, trying to match the ISA directors impersonality.
Thank you, maam.
The report from Lalonde said it was Laton himself who warned the Edenists of this energy virus? He claimed he was being attacked by it.
Thats right, maam, Admiral Farquar said. Which is what makes our current problem even more acute.
You think he was telling the truth, that it is a xenoc incursion?
Under the circumstances, I have to give it strong consideration. Which is why I want a code two alert. It will give me the resources to defend the Ombey system should they back up the virus with a physical invasion.
Kirsten felt her palms tingle, that earlier unsettling notion that this wasnt just an ordinary crisis was abruptly resumed. What do you mean: back up the virus?
The Admiral flicked a glance at Roche Skark. It is a possibility that the Ekwan brought it to Ombey, he said.
Oh, dear God. Do you have any proof?
We are ninety per cent convinced Gerald Skibbow has been purged, although none of the science team can offer an explanation as to how that happened. However, in their haste to get him here, the Lalonde Embassys Intelligence team may have overlooked the fact that some of their own people were carrying it. After all, Graeme Nicholsons report confirms that Latonpresumably a sequestrated Latonwas in Durringham the day they left. We have to assume the virus was also present in the citys population at that time.
When the Admirals staff informed me of this probability, my Guyana operatives immediately tried to round up the Ekwan s crew and all the embassy staff, the ISA director said. Three embassy people were unaccounted for: Angeline Gallagher, Jacob Tremarco, and Savion Kerwin. We subsequently found that all three took a spaceplane down to Ombey as soon as the code three restrictions were lifted. We know they landed at Pasto Spaceport seven hours ago. The spaceplane which brought them down suffered from several systems failures and processor glitches during the flight.
Ekwan s flight from Lalonde was one long list of malfunctions. But since it docked at Guyana its systems have functioned smoothly, the Admiral said.
And the spaceplane? Kirsten asked, guessing.
When my people arrived at the spaceport it was in the line companys engineering hangar, Jannike Dermot said. The maintenance crews couldnt find a thing wrong with it.