Takes place underground during Ch 6 of Artemis Fowl, while Root & co are aboveground moving in chez Artemis and sending in Retrieval. We are introduced to Councilor Lope, and Vinyáya makes a public statement. Next time we'll be back with Section Eight.
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Councilor Lope and his crisis response team had set up shop in one of the Council's empty meeting rooms. Finance was not within Vinyáya's Council purview, but the LEP had caused this crisis in the first place, and the LEP would be needed to ensure domestic security in Haven while the unrest continued. As the LEP representative on the Council, her involvement was required twice over.
A typical gnome, Lope was short, strongly built, and had surprisingly weathered skin for someone who lived underground. He wore as much gold in jewelry and ornaments as was socially acceptable, and then some; the traditional belief among the old gnome families, derived from the magical law of attraction, was that like called to like, and gold would beget gold. The amount of gold on his fingers and in his ears Lope wore was testament to his success as a banker, investor, and financier. Vinyáya personally thought it was a bit much, but then again, neither of them was on the Council for their fashion sense.
As Vinyáya entered the room, Lope rose to greet her. "We need to release a statement," he said briskly. "I think we've got the markets settled down again, thank Frond, but that can only last so long. They know something's up. If we don't say something soon, we'll have rioting in the streets."
She cast an eye over the screens on the walls, which displayed different graphs: various stock indices, interest rates, prices of commodities, and so on. Most of them displayed a sudden blip about half an hour ago, before they evened out again, where the central bank's systems had entered the market to intervene and stabilize them. Other markets' lines abruptly ended, when they had shut down automatically, or Lope had ordered them shut down. But sooner or later they would have to reopen…
"We always have rioting," said Vinyáya drily, "but I see your point. All right, do you want to do it, or should I? They might take it better from you."
"Under the circumstances," said Lope (a more polite way of saying "since it was one of your LEP men that caused this crisis in the first place), "it's probably best you do it. I can take over if they have any questions, but the LEP needs to address this, and soon. You should hear some of the rumors circulating. I don't care what you tell them, as long as it gets them to calm down."
The other fairies in the room clearly did not agree with Lope's cavalier statement; the public relations consultant in particular was quite urgently trying to attract Vinyáya's attention. She accepted the tablet the pixie offered her, and flicked through it briefly. Mention Cmdr Root's temper as justificaton, it said. Do not speculate about Mud Men or kidnappers' motives. Do not get derailed into a discussion of Cpt Short. STAY ON TOPIC. All very reasonable, and nothing she hadn't heard before from the PR specialists on her own staff, but then again she wasn't the one who usually had trouble when making public statements.
"Let me see if Root's available on the surface," said Vinyáya (the pixie consultant looked as if he was about to have an aneurysm at the idea of Root saying anything else). "If not, I'll speak to the reporters."
Lope clearly could not care who made the statement, as long as someone did; the gnome had already returned to contemplating the graphs displayed on the wall. "Yes, yes," he said impatiently. "Go on, I'll meet you in the press room once I finish up here."
Long experience from frustratingly unproductive Council sessions had taught Vinyáya that when he got in that state – when any banker got like that over gold – there was no use trying to talk to him. She went.
Root was, of course, not available; Major Feldspar reported that LEPretrieval had packed up from Tara and currently in transit to Fowl Manor. They could have put Root on the line underground, but given the current state of affairs – Root talking to the press on an average day was already asking for trouble; Root in a temper should only be let near his subordinates – it was probably just as well that Vinyáya make the public statement instead.
The thing was, Root's very volatility made him more popular with the public: you could always count on him to tell the truth (as well as what he felt about the truth, and anywhere from three to give other unrelated matters). The people trusted him in a way they didn't quite trust Vinyáya, who had been a divisive figure ever since she burst onto the scene five hundred years ago. Maybe it was her gender; or maybe her meteoric rise through the ranks, which she'd accomplished despite her gender; maybe it was her Council seat; maybe it was the rumors of Section Eight, which she'd never quite managed to shake off; or a combination of all of them. The People would listen to her, but they wouldn't be happy about it.
Vinyáya layered another few strands of magic into the glamour she wore, and rearranged the folds of her white Council robe over her black jumpsuit. It wouldn't do to make a public appearance and not look her best, after all; half the fashion magazines had regular features dedicated to her. It did get wearing. She patted her hair down again, took a final look at herself in the mirror to make sure all her rank pins (a spreading oak for the Council; the hawk-in-flight insignia of Wing, and her silver commander's acorns) were all in order, and then swept dramatically into the press room, where the reporters were waiting.
Upon her entrance, they immediately burst into questions. It was unusual for one of the Council to personally address the press about current events, and they had probably expected one of her subordinates. Well, under the circumstances, an LEP commander was required, and she was the ranking officer in Surface Operations still underground, so there she was. So she settled in behind the podium in the front of the room and swept the reporters with a level look. They fell silent. She cleared her throat.
"Good evening," she said. "I'm here to discuss recent events. After a successful mission, Captain Short of the LEPrecon squad was abducted aboveground earlier aboveground by assailants as yet unknown. Commander Root, Retrieval, and a full tactical and technical complement are already aboveground to recover her. You may be assured that we will not rest until Captain Short is safely among us again." She mentally apologized to Julius for singling out his officer and throwing her under the bus like that, but under the circumstances, Short's career taking a hit was preferable to continued worst-case-scenarios getting thrown around underground.
"Commander Root correctly ordered an evacuation of all unnecessary personnel on the surface, though his methods may have been unnecessarily dramatic." A pause, as the press fairies tittered politely. This was an understatement if there ever had been one. "That order is still in force. Under the circumstances, most of Wing's fleet is on standby, but we are working to transport everyone back underground." This was also technically true, though due to an unfortunate scheduling quirk, the fairies from the Tara shuttleport who had caused the panic underground would be enjoying an extended stay in Wing's custody. She would deal with them later, particularly that idiot Nimbus who had started everything.
"The LEP appreciates your patience and cooperation in these trying times," Vinyáya concluded. She sat back to wait for questions. The press did not disappoint.
"Who kidnapped Captain Short?" shouted the reporter from PPTV. "Commander, are you able to tell us who is responsible for this unprecedented kidnapping—"
"Intelligence is currently investigating," she said. "At this point we are not ready to rule out any suspects, but we are leaning towards the goblin triads." This was patently ridiculous, given how stupid goblins were, but they were a convenient and politically neutral scapegoat.
The reporter knew this too. "Commander Root was quite convinced Mud Men were involved," he persisted. "'The Mud People have committed an overtly hostile act' were his exact words in the shuttleport."
Vinyáya would definitely be making her own feelings known to Root later. "Julius commands Reconnaissance," she said. "It's his job to deal with the Mud Men. He may have leapt to conclusions." Which was a lie, but the sooner the press got off the topic of human involvement in the whole affair, the sooner gossip would settle down again. Under no circumstances could the public learn that humans had kidnapped Short. "As I said, Intelligence is still investigating. The kidnappers may have disguised themselves as humans or used the mesmer on them, which may explain his belief that the Mud Men were responsible." She smiled, inviting the reporters to join in her slight, fond condescension towards Root and his tendencies for crying wolf.
Some of the reporters, including the one from PPTV. bought it, but not enough; clearly, they were rightly convinced that Root had been telling the truth and it was Mud Men. Maybe that was just as well. When the real details of the Short kidnapping got out, this press conference would get dragged out again, and Vinyáya and Intelligence might lose credibility. Well, nobody honestly believed the goblins had managed to kidnap an LEP officer; Vinyáya obviously not telling the whole story. The public could draw their own conclusions from there.
"Do you anticipate any other incidents? Should private citizens be concerned for our safety underground?" asked a reporter, a water-sprite from an Atlantean channel. Vinyáya suspected the involvement of the Atlantean ambassador in her presence here, and chose her words accordingly.
"I can assure you that the Mud Men are not invading, nor will they be invading any time soon. We would have noticed," she said bluntly. That was one of the Atlantean ambassador's particular favorites. "The LEP is on full alert for any other suspicious activity, but this matter remains an isolated surface incident. I urge you all to resume business as usual underground. Haven remains open and welcome to all. Including tourists." That was a specific dig at Atlantis; the Atlantean water-sprite ducked her head and scribbled furiously.
Out of the corner of her eye, Vinyáya noticed Periwinkle and Lope standing in the gallery, out of sight of the reporters. Excellent, if Lope was here, then he could take over, and that would give her an excuse to check back in with things aboveground. This whole press conference had taken a bit longer than she would have preferred.
"And on that note," she said, "I'll leave you with my colleague Councilor Lope, who will answer any additional questions you might have." As Lope started making his way in, she slipped out to meet Periwinkle, and just in time, too. The reporters hadn't expected her to leave so abruptly, and were shouting questions after her; she thought she heard something about bio-bombs. Well, that was Lope's problem now, and the People were bound to calm down eventually. She had other fish to fry.
"We have an open line from Major Feldspar on the surface," said Periwinkle urgently once they were in the hallway. "It's about Retrieval."
"Retrieval?" Standard LEP hostage recovery procedure dictated that they set up a time-stop before sending in the Retrieval squad. Root had taken up Retrieval One, the best of the best. What could possibly have happened – "Did they manage to recover Short already?" She doubted it; surely it couldn't have been that easy.
"…Not exactly, ma'am. You're not going to like it."
She was right.