CHAPTER 3

A moment to rest.

And to think.

Diana closed her eyes, trying to separate herself from the din and distraction of the universe as she reflected on the events of the last few hours. G-forces pushed and pulled on her as her personal shuttle climbed the night skies above Los Angeles on its way to the Mother Ship.

Her neck and lumbar muscles ached from the accumulation of stress, and the need to sleep threatened to pull her into its embrace, but she could not afford to rest just yet.

Tonight was supposed to advance our mission and help ensure our Leader's ultimate victory over these humans.

Instead, this failure may unravel everything we've done so far these last five months and doom our people to extinction.

A quiet electronic chime interrupted her reverie.

"We are on final approach," said her pilot through the craft's intercom.

"Very good."

She closed her eyes again, feeling the shuttle's subtle movements along multiple vectors as it maneuvered into her exclusive docking bay on the Mother Ship. Her hands tightened on the arms of her seat, impatient to disembark the craft.

There is so much to do.

It took a short minute for the shuttle to land, and as soon as the loading ramp touched the deck Diana strode out onto the docking bay. Her top assistant, Martin, was waiting for her.

"Give me a sit-rep," Diana said, walking past Martin without breaking stride, forcing him to catch up to her.

"The investigation of the communications systems failure at Master Control is still ongoing, but based on the evidence accumulated so far, it appears to have been caused by a random equipment failure."

"I find that hard to believe," Diana answered, still walking fast. "A specific system failure that occurs precisely at a critical moment, the manifestation of which removes our ability to terminate signal transmission to the entire network?"

"I know it's incredible, but that's what the evidence suggests. The failure point was determined to be one broken trace on one specific circuit board that was long overdue for prophylactic replacement."

"My instincts tell me sabotage was probable," Diana said.

"To be honest, I'm inclined to agree," replied Martin. "But there's no way to prove that, given the evidence."

Diana kept on walking. "Whatever the case, we do have bigger problems that need our attention. Where is John now?"

"In his suite. Cosmetics has repaired the damage to his synth-skin; he has advised me that he has retired for the night and left orders to not be disturbed until 0600 hours local."

"Unbelievable!" Diana seethed. "Our mission has had a critical blow dealt to it, and he sleeps?"

"My apologies, Diana," Martin said. "It's not my place to question the directives of the Supreme Commander."

"You are correct, of course," Diana backtracked, outwardly calmer now. "And what about the rest of the rebels captured at the medical center? At least we have most, if not all, of them in custody. That is the one thing that has gone right tonight."

She froze and looked behind her when Martin didn't answer. He was a few steps away, having stopped walking when she asked her last question. She couldn't read the look on his face.

"The rest of the rebels?" Martin asked. "I only know about the one – "

"But I heard the report myself. I was with Steven when it came in."

After a moment of silence, Martin said, "I'm sorry if I'm at a loss for words, Diana. I don't know what to tell you. We received no report of additional rebel prisoners taken at the Medical Center."

"Steven will answer for this," Diana said, not bothering to mask her ire any longer. She started walking again, quicker now than before.

Martin jogged after her to close the distance. His voice was deferential, almost apologetic, as he explained: "I'm sorry for all these problems. I will help redress them as much as I am able to."

"At least you seem to be as dedicated to our Leader and our mission as I am," Diana said. When he offered no response, she clarified. "You don't seem to care much for your own personal comfort either, not when there is so much work to be done."

"I only aim to do my duty as well as I possibly can," Martin answered.

"I know that about you, Martin. And I appreciate you for it."

They continued their walk through the corridors of the Mother Ship, ascending a few levels via elevator, until they stopped before a room flanked by a pair of guards. She waved her hand, and the guard on the right spun around and hit the switch to open the door for her.

Diana walked into an anteroom, with Martin a respectful distance behind. Diana waited for the door to close behind them before speaking again. Her voice was low as she spoke.

"I don't know who to trust. However, tonight's events has shown me who I cannot trust."

She watched Martin process this revelation. "Well," he began to say, "I hope you know you can trust me."

"If I didn't trust you, we would not be having this conversation."

She smiled when Martin bowed his head, pleased he accepted her compliment. She stepped towards a door which led to yet another room. "Is there anything else to report?"

Martin bowed his head again. "Only one last detail. I had Bruce extract samples of the prisoner's genetic material as you ordered. The samples are waiting for you in your personal laboratory."

"Excellent. Thank you. I now must offer you my apologies. I've forgotten the hour, and you must be exhausted," Diana said. "I have asked much more from you tonight than I have from anybody else."

"It is my duty to serve as best as I can," Martin said. "If there will be nothing else, Diana, may I take my leave? I need to speak with Lorraine and Barbara."

"About?"

Martin eyes darted for a quick moment, then answered, "Well, I am presuming that the care for the rebel prisoner will be assigned to me and my section."

"I have yet to make any definitive decisions regarding that," Diana replied. "However, given what I know – that Steven and most of the Security command staff have proven themselves incompetent at best and negligent at worst – I suppose it is quite possible you and your staff will draw this assignment."

"Very well," Martin said, bowing his head. "Will you be staying here long?"

"No. I'm here just to get a situation update and for some preliminary observation. I'll be returning to the Medical Center fairly soon thereafter."

"You won't even take a short rest?"

"There's just too much to do," she said, "and time is of the essence."

"Will you need me to accompany you back to your shuttle?"

"That won't be necessary. Again, thank you. You have been most helpful."

Martin bowed his head again, then turned to leave the anteroom. Diana, on the other hand, stepped through the hatch into the inner room.

Three other Visitors – two men and one woman – were already in there, and all of them turned to greet Diana when she entered. She acknowledged all three with a nod.

Although it was mostly dark in there, Diana squinted as she looked through the transparent partition directly opposite the room's entrance. On the other side of the partition, awash in bright lights blinking off and on, was yet another room, inside which was a young human woman standing atop a raised platform.

The human was naked, her eyes closed and her head bent down. She slouched as she stood, with her arms crossed in front of her chest. Her hands were rubbing her biceps, and her obvious shivers and occasional moans of discomfort betrayed the coldness of the room.

Diana took her place in front of a computer console dominated by a pair of monitors. Her gaze was fixed on the human woman.

"Report," she said, her voice low.

Nelson, who stood to Diana's left, spoke. "We are still at the assimilation stage. The nano-transceiver units are all functioning perfectly. We are presently mapping her neural systems, which, as you know, takes some time to complete."

"Have you begun probing her?"

"She is exhibiting a very strong resistance to the truth serum, so interrogation has been slow. We've barely just begun extracting her identification and other biographical data." Nelson paused as he moved his hands on his console, switching to a data screen on his monitor. "Her name is Juliet Marie Parrish; age: 26 years old; occupation: student – engaged in post-graduate studies specializing in medicine and biochemistry at University of California, Los Angeles –"

"Biochemistry?" Diana interrupted, suddenly intrigued. "Have you found out if she has had any associations with members of the scientific community that we have already arrested, converted or eliminated?"

"Yes. Crosschecking her ongoing confessions with records from all the usual sources has revealed that she worked closely with one Dr. Rudolf Metz. We arrested him, implicated him as a member of the scientists' conspiracy, and then added him to the human food stocks nine weeks ago."

Diana frowned. "If she had been in league with this Dr. Metz, why didn't Security arrest her then?"

"Don't forget, she is still just a student. It's not a matter of policy that we arrest common students, even if they belong to a targeted group. Unless, of course, they have already demonstrated attitudes and activities against us. She is not a prominent bio-scientist as Dr. Metz was, and she has no criminal history. Until tonight she had been completely nondescript."

"I acknowledge this is just an indulgence in hindsight," Diana started to say, "but if Security had arrested her as well back then, then tonight's disaster at the medical center could have been avoided."

She stood in silent contemplation for a few moments, her eyes still fixed on the human the way a predator locks its gaze on its prey, then leaned towards Bruce, who manned the medical monitoring station to her right.

"How are her vital signs?" she asked.

"She is healthy enough to endure the process. However, deep-level scans have revealed the existence of a congenital heart condition." Bruce switched one of his monitors to display the relevant information.

Diana looked over to read the data. "A minor atrial septal defect is not especially dangerous. It's so insignificant it has never even been diagnosed, according to her medical records."

"Perhaps not," Bruce frowned. "However, with the rigors of the process, any physiological flaw, no matter how apparently insignificant, could become acute."

Diana continued reading the information displayed on Bruce's monitor. Something caught her attention. "What's this?" she asked, indicating a flashing marker on the screen.

Bruce clicked on the marker. "This part of her medical record appears to be cross-linked to a case filed with the New York Police Department."

"How curious," Diana said, when her chronometer chimed. "Send me a detailed summary of that police department file. I'll attend to it later; for now I must return to the medical center. Before I leave, however, what is your preliminary assessment?"

"It's still early, and we're still gathering data," he began to say, "but given even just the limited amount we know about her it is clear her history suggests she's going to be a very difficult subject."

Diana was thoughtful and silent for a few moments, then said, "I'll break her. She's going to be my masterpiece."