12: RIPPLES

Things are happening faster now.

Watching the monitors, Genius smiled grimly as Tiresias was bundled into the Twins' SUV. He waited until the string with his exclamation was out of view, then jumped up and ran for the ladders, shouting down, 'Get up! They've got Tiresias! Mimic, wake up, now! Quick! Fucking wake up!'

Spess shot up the ladder like a monkey, seizing Genius by the shoulders. He had obviously not been asleep. 'What?'

'I was watching the Oracle's to see if Seraph was okay, but then Tiresias came downstairs. Next thing I see, he's been grabbed by the ghost programs and stuffed into a car!'

Phoenix appeared next, her red hair dishevelled, closely followed by Mimic. Spess released Genius and tore across the main deck to the screens. He scanned them quickly and clenched his teeth. 'He's right.'

'Shit,' said Phoenix and Mimic simultaneously. 'We have to get him back,' stated Mimic, stepping forwards and booting up her vitals monitor.

Phoenix slid into the chair and called up a layout map of the city. She typed something, her fingers flashing over the keyboard, and a red dot appeared, travelling steadily. 'Hold it, Mim. We need to find out where they're taking him first.'

'Isn't it obvious? The same place they've taken Aerial.'

Spess looked sideways at Genius. 'You sure?'

'Well, they took Aerial as you were coming out from the Oracle's last time. That bird thing showed up the first time you went to see her. They must know he's the second oracle, but it beats me how they know that...'

'Who's "they", anyway?' asked Phoenix, running a search.

'And why would he or she be concerned about the future?' added Spess, turning to Genius.

'Why're you looking at me? I don't know!'

'You're doing a lot of guessing, Genius. It's weird that it was on your watch that this happened.' Spess stared at him.

'You don't think I had anything to do with this?' Genius' breathing became heavier with anger, and he stared unflinchingly at the taller man.

Mimic came up behind Spess and drew him away with a hand on his shoulder. Genius glared at the pair of them whispering in the corner, and as he watched, Spess' shoulders loosened and his scowl faded. Thank God for Mimic – he was seriously worried Spess would have exposed him.

'Phoenix, how're we doing for squiddy activity where we are now?'

'I think we've got about... three hours before we're in the danger zone. But you never know.'

'We should move,' murmured Spess. 'We need a clear run.'

Phoenix turned around in her seat and surveyed the three of them. 'Would it be possible to negotiate the return of both of them? I'm just thinking,' she added quickly in response to Mimic's raised eyebrows, 'about the last time we tried getting Aerial out by force.' Her voice broke, but she swallowed and kept her composure. 'I don't want that to happen again.'

Four pairs of eyes glanced uneasily at the bay.

'Look,' said Phoenix, gesturing to a screen to her left. 'This is the mansion where Aerial is. After... Well, she's been moved to here.' She pointed to a room off a long corridor. 'This is pretty easy to find, you just go-- hey, what happened?'

The screen flickered and fuzzed, and then cleared. Phoenix scanned it, disbelief etched on her face. 'It's changed...' They stared at the screen. All the right rooms were there, but in the wrong places. 'O-kay...'

'That's weird,' commented Genius.

'If you somehow manage to get into there, I won't be able to guide you. I already tried phoning Aerial, but there's no reception inside. I'm not surprised, really, being in the mountains.' Phoenix touched the screen to cycle to the left, but instead of more mansion, the screen showed something different.

'A club?!'

The others leaned in closer. The label in the corner of the screen displayed the name – Club Hel - with an address. There was a pause, then Spess spoke. 'Is anyone else thinking databases?'

'What?' asked Genius. 'I didn't do offices, I made viruses.'

'With databases, you can link files so that if one changes, the rest change according to it,' Mimic explained. 'But I don't know what changed.'

'Can we get an infra-red view of this?' asked Spess. Phoenix fiddled, and the map flashed into colour. A blue speck moved to the back of the main room, and paused. Then it vanished from view. Spess shot his arm out and touched back to the previous screen, and there was the blue speck again, on the left hand edge of the display. 'They are linked.'

'Look!' exclaimed Phoenix, pointing towards the city map, 'They've taken Tiresias here.' She zoomed in and read the name, 'Le Vrai '. I bet that's connected as well...' She looped through the layout of the club, and sure enough, there was a diagram of the high rise, complete with restaurant on floor 101.

'How close can you get us to there?' demanded Mimic.

Phoenix was silent for a moment, searching for the nearest hardline. 'Three blocks away. You want to go?'

Spess jumped in before Mimic, 'We'll go, but just to learn more. I think we've summarised that they're not going to hurt either of them, so what's the harm in finding out more before we charge in with a rescue mission?'

Only after Phoenix had jacked them all in did she discover the outgoing calls log file had been updated.

------

Falcon lounged on the sofa in the library, channel hopping. He came across the security camera feed and cycled through the channels, stopping curiously on one of the guest rooms. His twin was sprawled on the double bed, sleeping off her ordeal. Word had spread quickly of the humans' rescue attempt, and Cain and Abel were still gloating about it. The Twins were out on "business", as were most of the other programs.

He wanted to talk to her; wanted to find out more about the link they had. A lesser werewolf known as Doberman had turned up an hour ago telling him that the Merovingian wanted him present in the restaurant tonight, but he couldn't think why.

He was staring absently at the screen when the vampire Tiger came in. He looked at the screen, then at Falcon, who snapped out of it and switched off hurriedly.

'Keep it on, if you like. She intrigues me too.'

Falcon placed the remote carefully on the arm of the chair and arched his head back, yawning. Tiger moved across his field of vision, and he felt the settee sag slightly as the program sat at the other end. There were so many questions he was dying to ask Tiger: how long it took to become Merged, for example.

Presently Tiger spoke again, 'The Second Oracle has been caught, by the way. The human spy tricked him into leaving the building alone.'

'Surely the Oracle knows this?'

'She knew it would happen, so she could not warn him. I'm amazed he didn't know. Some oracle.' Tiger slouched and examined the fingernails of his left hand. 'Apparently he's very close with your twin.'

'Yeah, I know. She was protecting him when I tried to get him the first time.' The conversation lulled, then Falcon asked, 'Why does he want the Second Oracle anyway?'

Tiger looked straight at him, and the hair on the nape of his neck rose. 'Who would not want to know the future?'

'Ah. I see your point.' Again, there was a pause. Falcon was cultivating a very bitter feeling, and he blurted out a question. 'Who caught Tiresias?'

'You mean Oracle-boy? The Twins.'

Falcon growled; his wings flared. Tiger smiled wryly, 'The Merovingian isn't too pleased with you, actually.'

'Bloody Twins made me take on Wingless single handed,' raged Falcon. 'Bastards!'

Tiger raised an eyebrow, 'How did it go?'

'I lost, miserably. They said it would be my chance to prove myself, but I blew it.' Falcon was silent for a minute or so. 'Where could I go apart from here?'

'The Agents of the System will catch you. They always do; they've become terribly efficient at it.' Tiger stood up and stretched. 'Pass me the remote.'

Falcon handed it over, and Tiger cycled to a particular security camera. The image showed the albinos walking from their car to the entrance to the restaurant, a tallish young man between them. His head was held at an unusual angle, higher than normal.

'The Master will be busy tomorrow, so he will be held with your twin for tonight.'

'How do you know that?'

'I will make sure it happens,' said Tiger simply. Falcon tilted his head. He was certain Tiger had deeper designs for this, but exactly what they were he couldn't work out. Tiger sighed and switched of the television. 'You'd better go and get her. You two are wanted at the Merovingian's table this evening.

'Yeah, I know.' Falcon stood up. 'Any idea why?'

Tiger shrugged. 'Why not go and find out?'

------

Aerial awoke. The digital clock on the bedside table showed 17:45, and the female program's words came back into her head. Someone will come for me at six.

She was feeling slightly better; her stomach was more settled, and although she was cold, she was not shivering. She stood up and stretched, glad of the clean clothes she had changed into. Her eyes were heavy with dried tears, but she resolved not to cry anymore. The best thing she could do would be to avenge her friends.

The light filtering through the windows was heavy and golden, and dust motes swarmed like living things in the sunbeam. Aerial wondered if there was a specific program to control them, too. Speaking of which...

Aerial moved the middle of her floor and stood in parallel position. Then, after a couple of tries, she went invisible.

A rush of relief went through her as she realised the virus hadn't finished working yet. It was noticeably harder to do it, but the point was, she still could. In light of this new information, a new plan formed in her head. She would pretend she still could, and then maybe they would let her go free when the virus finished its work.

She faded back just as the door opened and Falcon stepped in. "The Merovingian wants us both at the restaurant tonight, though I can't think why. Probably something to do with your abilities."

Aerial was surprised at the degree of friendliness he showed. Considering they had nearly seriously wounded each other, Falcon was very calm. "I advise you to answer all his questions truthfully," he said, taking a few steps into the room.

Perhaps it was just as well she could still split and go incorporeal. Falcon mistook her lack of speech for fear, and gave her a quick smile. "Don't worry. Nothing will happen to you." He gestured to the door. "Please follow me."

A/N:: It should be pointed out that the crew of the Alethea could be wrong about the château linking system… thing.