North American Embassy, Washington, D.C.
Saturday, 09:57 EST

"Anything new?"

Liam shook his head at the face of Renee in his Global. "Dor'al wasn't very helpful."

Renee nodded. "Well, I've got a meeting with Zo'or a bit later about the Portal Grid ceremony. I'll see what I can find out then."

Liam nodded, making sure to keep a straight face. In the short time Liam had known her, Renee had assumed so many different personas that Liam was unsure which one was really her. And he was concerned that she was playing him in the same way.

"I'll check back with you tonight," he said.

Renee nodded, and her image disappeared from the Global. Liam returned his attention to his monitor, which displayed the information Colonel Osobato had given him. Such as it was; Liam had got the impression that neither Dor'al nor his Protector particularly trusted him. He had encountered the situation before; it was well-known that he was the only Companion protector without a CVI. But at least he had been given some details about Osobato's investigative process, information that would be very helpful to the Nigerian underground.

As he sent off the file, he noted a red flag on the Omaha Resistance cell. He grimaced; that was the third one in a week, and marked nearly two dozen since the crackdown. The Resistance was coming down like a house of cards—remove one piece, the whole structure comes apart. Liam didn't know if it was the public reaction to the attempt on President Thompson's life, or Doors' own public denouncement of the Resistance, or the tightening in security after the crackdown, but he feared that the Resistance's days as an effective force were fast being numbered.

"Is something wrong, Liam?" Da'an called. Looking up, he saw that the Taelon's energy shower had ended, and he was now standing, observing Liam closely.

"No," Liam said, deactivating his monitor and standing. "Nothing at all."

Da'an inclined his head. Liam knew the Taelon well enough to tell that he knew he was lying, but would not enquire further. "Is there something you wish to speak to me about?"

Liam suppressed a grimace. Naturally, the Taelon knew him just as well. "Yes," he said. "I talked to Dor'al yesterday about his search for Lubata. He wasn't very forthcoming."

"And you desire me to alter his attitude?" Da'an asked.

"I need more information if I'm going to find Lubata," Liam pointed out.

Da'an fixed him with a piercing gaze. "I see. And why is it so important that you be the one to find Doctor Lubata?"

Liam blinked. Apparently, Da'an knew Liam a little better than he had thought. "I want to get to the bottom of this," he said.

Da'an walked towards the window. "Or, perhaps, Doctor Lubata was involved with the Resistance, and you are worried that Zo'or will obtain sensitive information from him." He looked pointedly at Liam.

"I don't have to dignify that," Liam snapped. Am I really that transparent? No, Da'an simply had an insight most did not. He thought back to their first meeting, at William Boone's funeral. The two of them had shared something there, formed a kind of connection. Liam himself didn't understand it, but it was there.

"No matter," Da'an said softly. "Since Doctor Lubata has been sighted in Lagos, it is only a matter of time before we find him."

"And then what, Da'an?" Liam growled, unable to contain himself. He was not only watching the Resistance fall apart, but now Da'an had even stopped trying to get in Zo'or's way. And now Lili was gone, and he had Renee to contend with. Trouble on all fronts. He was fast running out of places to turn. He felt trapped. "Do you question him? Interrogate him? Give him a CVI and have him point the way to the saboteur? What's your plan, Da'an?"


Da'an was surprised at Liam's outburst. He had been well aware that his protector had been under an increased amount of stress the past few months, but this was his first indication of how deep these feelings ran. Liam was behaving like a trapped animal, lashing out at whoever was nearest.

"I cannot speak for Zo'or," he said carefully, "But I will do everything in my power to ensure that Doctor Lubata comes to no harm." There. He had promised to intervene, but not that he would be successful.

Word games. Of late, he always seemed to have to leave an escape route. When dealing with Liam, with Zo'or, with the human public...always now he had to watch his back, sometimes literally. His existence on Earth seemed to be little more than an attempt at survival.

And it had all started with Liam. Liam's saving him from the Jaridian replicant at Boone's funeral had marked the beginning of all the subversion. He had kept secrets from the Commonality before, but in order to accommodate Liam's, he had deliberately distanced himself from the Commonality. He had realized the dangers of this early on, when a sort of signal interference had severed the psychic link entirely and forced him to revert to the Atavus state.

Those people he had killed....

"I don't know how to thank you," Liam muttered.

Unimpressed. What did he want? Did he actually believe that Da'an did not wish to help? The Taelon had made tremendous sacrifices in order to keep Liam alive, occasionally jeopardizing his own position with the Taelons. Recently, he had even actively helped the Resistance against his own people. The thought of this nearly caused him to lose his facade.

Were it not for these efforts, Liam might not be alive today. Yet he continued to want more, as if he had no idea how much Da'an was already risking. Someday, Da'an would be forced to choose between Liam and his own people, he knew it. And he could not possibly betray his species again.

He was wondering how he could possibly explain all this to the young hybrid when a tone notified him of an incoming signal. He activated the datastream, and the image of Mit'gai, one of the Taelons' leading medical scientists on Earth, appeared in front of him.

"Da'an," Mit'gai greeted. "I have information on Ni'ram and the human which may interest you."


Central Intelligence Agency headquarters, Washington D.C.
11:23 EST

"Agent Sandoval?"

Sandoval turned and extended his hand to the woman behind him, who took it, smiling. "I'm Assistant Director Maria Van Keller. I assume you're here about the Lagos photos?"

Sandoval nodded. "Yes."

"This way." Van Keller motioned to an elevator. Inside, she ran her thumb over a scanner, and the elevator began moving downward. "You realize that releasing this information to anyone, even the Taelons, would be completely improper without your FBI clearance."

Sandoval nodded.

"I'm trusting you to use complete discretion with everything you're about to see."

The elevator stopped, depositing them at the end of a long corridor with plain white walls. Van Keller stepped out and led Sandoval to one of the doors interspaced along the walls, almost blending into them. Again, she ran her thumb over a scanner, and the door slid open. Beyond was a large white room that seemed to be overflowing with consoles, monitors, and technicians.

"This is the Vault," Van Keller said, navigating through the chaos to a set of stairs, which led to a balcony connecting a ring of alcoves which resembled offices with no doors. "Our master center for satellite intelligence. Officially, none of this exists." She smiled. "Unofficially, it's been the backbone of our national defense initiatives for the last twenty years."

She motioned Sandoval into one of the alcoves, in which a young man with long hair and glasses who carried a clipboard was fumbling with a coffee machine. He had the look of someone who got all his sleep in an office chair.

"Agent Ronald Sandoval," Van Keller said, "Meet Keith Finn, our leading technician on the Valkyrie project."

"Mm," Finn said absently, trying to fit an oversized cup into the machine.

Sandoval looked at Van Keller, who smiled apologetically and took another step towards the technician. "Finn!"

Finn jerked up slightly, his head colliding with a desk lamp. "Aah! What are you—" He spun around, saw Sandoval, and froze.

"Doctor Finn, this is Agent Sandoval," Van Keller continued. "From the FBI...."

"Oh!" Finn exclaimed, dropping the clipboard on a pile of papers and disks that supposedly hid a desk underneath and extended his hand. "Oh. Oh—hi." Still a bit shaken by the appearance of the place instead of the calm sterility he had expected, Sandoval took the hand slowly, only to have it yanked away almost immediately as Finn returned to the coffee machine. He finally managed to wedge the cup in somehow, and activate it. "You're one of the Taelons' goonies, aren't you?"

"I work for Zo'or, yes," Sandoval said slowly.

"I think I'll leave you two alone." Van Keller was obviously trying not to smile as she turned and left.

Finn had now recovered the clipboard and was busily typing off it into the computer. Sandoval absently noted that he hadn't seen so much paper in the same place for years. "Let me guess. You want to see the Lagos file?"

"Yes."

"You got it." Finn now moved to another monitor, quickly typing in a password and fumbling with a keycard. A map of the globe appeared, with the locations of specific satellites and their orbits superimposed above. "You know, people have been going crazy over these things since the 1990s; about how they can't live with the government watching over them 24/7—rights to privacy and all that." He tapped in another command, and the satellites suddenly assumed new positions. Sandoval noted that the date had been changed to yesterday. "But I'll tell you, if someone needs to track down a stolen car, or catch some serial killer's hideout, suddenly they aren't that bad."

"I was under the impression that the CIA was involved in more...international concerns," Sandoval observed.

Finn chuckled. "Yeah, these babies were meant more for Saddam than Pike," he said. "Ooh!" He jumped up and wrenched his coffee cup, long full now, out of the machine. "You know, Valkyrie was originally a DoD project; we didn't get access to them till after the SI War."

"Yes, this is all very fascinating," Sandoval said impatiently. "But—"

"Say no more," Finn interrupted. "You're in a hurry. It's cool." Taking a sip of coffee, he tapped out another set of commands. The globe was replaced by an aerial photo of the northern African continent and most of Europe. A stream of unintelligible data ran up and down the side of the monitor. "This is Valkyrie 27," Finn was saying. "It's one of the new satellites, with all those new Taelon gadgets like sensors, bioscanners, full picture extrapolation, what have you." He highlighted the country of Nigeria, which lay in the lower left-hand corner of the screen. "We were really lucky to have one of these in position, otherwise we never would have caught this."

As Sandoval watched, the image was magnified to show exclusively Nigeria, then again so that faint traces of cities and habitation were visible, then again to show what Sandoval assumed to be the city of Lagos, then again, until it was centered on a dark alleyway somewhere in the northwest part of the city.

"Wait for it," Finn said, playing with a pencil.

A moment later, a man appeared in the alley, and was instantly highlighted by a green square that tracked him on his path down the alley. "Can you tell who that is?" Sandoval asked.

"Well, I told you about the full picture extrapolation," Finn said, poking at the keypad. Another window appeared with a model of a man in a white business suit and no jacket. His face was suspiciously blank. "This is what the computer thinks this guy looked like based on the information it's received so far. Right now, he matches most of the physical characteristics for your—" he checked his clipboard, nearly spilling the coffee in the process. "Doctor Aman Lubata. Don't worry; I'm cleared," he added quickly, likely seeing Sandoval's reaction to his use of Lubata's name.

"Most?" Sandoval asked.

"All the traits the computer can determine," Finn said. "Here—this part's good."

The man—presumably Lubata—reached what appeared to be a dead end. Here, the camera zoomed in again, and an irregular rectangle of light began to dance in front of him. "What's that?" Sandoval asked.

"The only reason the satellite flagged this area for investigation," Finn said. "It's a residual trace from an ID slipstream."

"A portal?" Sandoval asked.

"Portal, shuttle, it's all really about the same," Finn said dismissively. "Anyway, no one should be using any kind of ID technology around here. The satellite's programmed to seek out little oddities like that, right? So it logged the date and time and told one of us to look at it when we got around to it." He pointed at another dot at about the center of the rectangle. Oh, and that's a life-sign. Before Sandoval could comment, the technician, finishing off his coffee and balancing the mug on top of the pile of papers, added, "Here it comes."

As Sandoval watched, the wall the man was facing suddenly blurred and disappeared, revealing another man standing in a wire-frame lattice of some sort.

"Holographic wall," Finn narrated. "Very nice. And I'm guessing this—" he pointed at the wire-frame, "is the ID portal."

Instantly, a second window appeared and an image of this man was constructed. He was again faceless, blond, slightly taller than the other, and wearing a black trenchcoat. The man looked instantly familiar to Sandoval, but he did not have nearly enough information to identify him. "Why can't you extrapolate their faces?" Sandoval asked.

"Because the satellite is about a hundred fifty miles above them looking straight down," Finn replied. "And no matter what they tell you, you can't learn everything about someone from their hands."

"Hands?" Sandoval asked.

"Watch this."

As if on cue, the first man extended his hand to the second man as if offering something, and the second man reached out to take it. Finn paused the screen, then zoomed in on the area where the two men's hands met. The image was a bit fuzzy now, but Sandoval could clearly see a disk of some kind being passed between the two men.

"And if you're going to ask, no, I can't read the disk from outer space or anything like that. Just tell you that it's there." He resumed the recording and zoomed back out. The second man turned and walked away, back into the portal. After a few moments, the portal activated, and the man disappeared.

"Can you trace the slipstream?" Sandoval asked as the portal dissolved itself.

"Nope," said Finn. "But it couldn't have been far, according to the power spike." Suddenly, he lunged forward and froze the recording again. "There!"

Sandoval looked to see that the first man—who was indeed Lubata, it seemed—was now looking straight up, right at the satellite. The full-picture extrapolation now had enough data to compose his face, but Sandoval didn't need it; his CVI alerted him instantly that this was the right man.

"Could you track him after he left?" Sandoval asked.

"Yep." Finn typed in another set of commands, and the image was replaced by that of a somewhat busy street in front of what appeared to be an apartment building. A square highlighted Lubata again as he made his way to the entrance. "For another twelve and a half minutes, till he went in here. The satellite passed out of range half an hour later, and it took about five minutes to get another one in place, but he definitely hasn't been outside since then."

"I'll want a copy of all this," Sandoval said. "And—"

Suddenly an alarm sounded, and a message appeared on Finn's computer. The technician, who had been reaching for his clipboard, spun around so quickly that he sent it, the coffee mug, and a few dozen sheets of paper crashing to the floor. "Oh, man...someone just tried to hack into the database!"

Sandoval was standing over him in a second. "Did they succeed?"

"I have no idea," Finn said as he worked furiously with the controls. "I don't think so, but...ah!" He flinched as the entire screen flickered out for an instant. After this, however, everything seemed to be under control. "Well, looks like he gave up," Finn said after a few moments.

Or he got what he wanted, thought Sandoval.

"Oh, you wanted a copy, right?" Finn picked a disk off the new lair of clutter on the floor and inserted it. "You want everything I showed you, and what?"

"Everything you have," Sandoval said.

"Gotcha." A progress bar appeared on the monitor. "Now you know all that legal talk about how you're gonna disappear if you show this to the wrong person and everything, right?"

"Yes," Sandoval said dismissively.

"Then just remember to eat it when you're done." Finn tossed him the disk and started rummaging about the pile. "Is that all? I've gotta make a report...."


Taelon Mothership

"Good morning, Zo'or." Renee made sure to smile as the alien turned and fixed her with that gaze of his. Just act like you don't notice. Zo'or never used that look on anyone else; why was she so special?

"Miss Palmer," Zo'or said, equally flatly. Renee got the sensation that he was looking right through her.

Keep smiling. "I'm glad we were able to meet on such short notice. I'd hate for these matters to be dealt with at the very last minute."

"I agree."

This was wrong. Renee was already dominating the conversation. She was talking, and Zo'or was listening. This was exactly the opposite of what she wanted. "Well, I don't want to waste your time, so let's get right down to it, shall we?"

Zo'or inclined his head towards her. "Certainly."

Renee withdrew her Global, pretending to read information off of it. In reality, she was now recording every word that was spoken. "First of all, I've received a report that you will be attending the ceremony now?"

"That is correct."

Still wasn't volunteering anything. This would be harder than Renee had thought. "Are you sure you don't want to postpone the ceremony?"

Zo'or was now searching her even more intently. "And why would I want to do that?"

Renee made sure she was still smiling pleasantly. "Well, the ceremony is set less than a week after the accident with Ni'ram. People might be more accepting of the Portal Grid if we wait a few weeks for the shock to wear off."

"I see." The Taelon closed his eyes for a moment, but dammed if Renee knew what that meant. "That will not be a concern. The incident involving Ni'ram was not an accident, but the result of deliberate sabotage."

Renee let the smile drop. So Zo'or had actually admitted it. Maybe she would get something out of this meeting yet. Now you're surprised. Maybe a little stutter. "S-sabotage?"

"We are currently in the process of tracking the saboteur," Zo'or said.

"But he hasn't been found yet?"

Zo'or scrutinized her carefully. "No."

Renee paused for a moment, acting as if she was thinking about all this for the first time. "Then are you sure we shouldn't postpone the ceremony?" Should she express concern for the Taelon? No, that would be too obvious. "If this saboteur strikes again there, it would be a media disaster."

"No," Zo'or said. "I will not postpone."

Renee made sure that none of her frustration showed through her mask of worry. For once, the Resistance and the Taelons would both be helped by preventing another bombing, and Zo'or was still not cooperating. "May I ask why not?" she asked.

"We have already located the saboteur," Zo'or said. "It will not be long before we have apprehended him. Any delay will be pointless.

Interesting, Renee thought. Either Zo'or thinks Lubata is the saboteur, or he's going to present him as the saboteur so the Taelons will have a scapegoat. Either way, it looked like the Taelons would have Lubata before long, which meant the Resistance was running out of time if they were to find him first. "At least we should tighten security at the ceremony," she said. "Just in case. I recommend closing off the blocks surrounding the nexus building until the day of the ceremony, and doubling the guards in and around."

Zo'or did not seem particularly interested in the idea, merely waving dismissively. "If you believe it to be necessary. You may coordinate with Agent Sandoval."

Sandoval, thought Renee. Terrific. "Well, other then this, I think we have everything under control," she said. Now for the strictly business, Doors executive bit. "I assume you'll simply be taking Ni'ram's place in the schedule—with your own speech, of course."

"That is correct."

Renee smiled pleasantly. "I look forward to hearing it."

Zo'or suddenly closed his eyes and tilted his head, as if reacting to something that Renee could not hear. "If you will excuse me, Miss Palmer," he said, glancing at her.

"Of course." Renee closed her Global, turned and walked out. She heard what she thought to be Agent Sandoval's voice behind her, saying something about Lubata. She thought about eavesdropping, but the Volunteers posted at the doorway changed her mind. No matter, she had gotten something. Now all she had to do was figure out what to do with it.


Sibley Memorial Hospital

"As far as I—" Doctor Julianne Belman threw a glance at her silent Taelon counterpart, Mit'gai, "As we can determine, both Ni'ram and Clarke were...reconstructed."

Da'an cocked his head at the doctor. "Please explain."

Belman opened her mouth to reply, but Mit'gai beat her, saying, "Neither Ni'ram nor the human were fully reconstructed when the portal was deactivated," he said, with a sideways glance at Belman. "Some percentage of their body mass has remained in interdimensional space. This is the cause of the difficulties."

Difficulties? Belman thought. Were all Taelons like this?

"Will they recover?" At least she could detect some concern in Da'an's voice. Though, with the Taelons, that didn't mean much.

"Clarke should regain consciousness within a couple days," Belman broke in. "He needed major reconstructive nanosurgery, but he's recovering nicely. We should be able to remove him from the blue tank in a day or so."

"But Ni'ram's condition is more serious," Mit'gai said. "He has yet to awake from the Sahmbaad, and his energy may not be restored until he does. To do so prematurely could destroy his identity." Belman noted that that last comment seemed to be directed straight at Liam. Of course. Only a human could be so ignorant....

"I was already aware of this," Da'an said. "And although I am gladdened by the news of Commander Clarke, I am curious. Is this the only reason you have summoned us?"

"Actually, Da'an, we summoned you because we found something we thought you should see." Belman swept her clipboard out from under her shoulder and pulled the tiny plastic bag off of the magnetic strip, holding it out for Taelon and Protector to see. Inside was a tiny black rounded triangle, about a centimeter across. "We found this during the surgery on Clarke."

Da'an was scrutinizing the bag. "What is this?"

"It's a global positioning device," Liam said as Belman handed him the bag. "An implant. It's used mostly by Federal agents and soldiers and Volunteers on special operations. You stick it in your arm, then take it out when you don't need it anymore."

So that's what it is, Belman mused.

"You found this implanted in Commander Clarke?" Da'an asked.

"No," Belman replied. "It was in his skrill."

Da'an tilted his head in the other direction, and Liam was motionless. It was almost funny watching the two of them sometimes.

"Thank you, Doctor," Da'an said. "You will, I trust, keep us informed regarding Commander Clarke and Ni'ram?"

"Certainly," said Mit'gai.

Da'an nodded, then he and Liam turned and strode out, leaving Belman alone with the other Taelon.

"Now, Doctor, I believe we were discussing the equipment I require?"

Belman sighed and went to a computer terminal. You were discussing it, Mit'gai. I told you; I'm just a doctor here, not your secretary.

"If I am to restore Ni'ram, I require these devices," Mit'gai insisted. "I have observed you requisition equipment for medical use numerous times. Requisition the required equipment for me."

Belman wondered what would happen if she took a swing at the Taelon. "I've requisitioned medical equipment, Mit'gai. A military-grade power converter is not medical equipment. You'll have to ask someone else."

"Who?"

"Try the front desk," Belman growled as she grabbed a printout and attached it to her clipboard. When she turned around, she saw the Taelon just leaving the IC ward. Was he actually going to the front desk? Apparently sarcasm was one code the Taelons hadn't cracked yet.

Trying to keep a straight face, she made for Clarke's tank.


Augur's Place

The perfect sandwich. Cheese, tomatoes, more kinds of meat than the average human could count, big enough to feed a regiment of Volunteers...Augur was going to enjoy this.

Just open your mouth and close your eyes, and Mama's got a little surprise....

"Augur?"

"Gah!" Just once, Augur wanted to have a little alone time. "What is it?" he snarled at the fuzzy image of his holographic "assistant." This one was modeled after his most recent—and promising—non-Resistence client.

"You asked me to notify you when I had deciphered the coding on the CIA file you indicated," replied the hologram. "I have successfully eliminated your client's record from the archives, but I discovered something you might find interesting."

Dropping the sandwich back onto its plate, Augur leaped up to the nearest monitor. "Let me see."

An image of Northwestern Africa appeared on the screen. "This appears to be a satellite file, recorded approximately eighteen hours thirty-four minutes ago."

Augur sighed. Sooner or later, he had to give this one a personality.

"Visible is the city of Lagos, in Nigeria," droned the hologram, as the image enlarged to show a network of streets and alleys, finally picking a particularly backwards and deserted one and staying there.

"And why would I find this interesting?" Augur asked, a little annoyed that he had been taken away from his sandwich to look at a guy in an alley on the other side of the world.

"The file contains four keywords you have instructed me to look for."

"Oh? Which ones?"

"In order of importance: Lubata, interdimensional, Taelon, Sandoval."

The recording now had Augur's full attention. As he watched the meeting between Lubata and the other man, he let out a little howl. Liam was going to love this. For a moment, he considered charging the kid.

Nah, this one was free.

A moment later, Liam's face was staring back at him from his Global. "What is it, Augur?" he asked, glancing around. Augur could see he was outside somewhere, with what looked like a hospital behind him. "I don't have much time."

"Liam, I've hit the mother lode," Augur said. "I'm sending it to your Global now, but suffice it to say that you've got Lubata in the bag."

Liam blinked. "You found him?"

"You'll see when you read the file," Augur said. "Oh, and you'd better move quick, he warned. "Sandoval got a copy of this about ten minutes ago."

"Right. Thanks, Augur." Liam still looked a bit confused, but he didn't say anything else before he cut the link.

"Thanks are cheap," Augur muttered, and returned to his sandwich.