Hera’s office smelt like flowers.

The instant I’d shifted back into Odin, my phone had rung and kept ringing until I answered. Every time I checked it, it contained more missed calls.

I solved this problem by absorbing it into myself where I didn’t have to register its existence, which had the added benefit of stopping it tracking me. The longer I had it sitting out in my pocket, the more I also began to dwell on its potential carrier status for Siphon’s archetypal god bomb.

Ngai’s actions trying to raise the alarm back in Singapore had me worried. How far did Siphon’s reach go, and what would it take for them to trigger it? I couldn’t even be sure their influence would be entirely contained in the country – not when my phone was proof there were exemptions from Themis’ barrier. It was Providence’s computer systems bypassing the blockade – the very systems Siphon had infiltrated.

The only question was by how much. Leaving it unchecked meant being on alert for a threat theoretically able to strike from anywhere at any time. You couldn’t spit without hitting some form of computer in the modern world. Ignoring the danger may as well have been asking to spend the rest of your days as a blinking cursor.

In this, Providence and I found ourselves in agreement for once. Which was why I found myself exiting the managerial lift five minutes later into a scene out of classical paradise.

Two wings of a stone temple towered above me, creeping around wide to the sides before meeting again at a tapering point in the distance. Irrigated canals zigzagged their way through their columns at precise angles, ducking in and out of cover from trees dripping with crystalline pomegranates to cool, echoing chambers and back again. Another fake sun hung high in the sky, not quite overhead but close to. The scent of blossoms pressed at my nose.

I slipped Odin’s ring on my finger and made my way through the lush vegetation towards the back of the office and its semicircle of occupants, where I found myself gazing into the faces of Hera, Vishnu, and Tez.

“Hi,” the latter deadpanned as I approached, giving me an uninspired wave. “I’m the new intern.”

Vishnu looked at him sharply, to which Tez rolled his eyes, created a hilariously out-of-place beanbag and sat down. He’d ditched the long coats and hats in favour of a slightly toned-down version of his hipster aesthetic, possibly as a result of present company.

“Head of Security, more like,” said company announced. Hera wore Providence white, the V of her blazer mirroring the floor plan of her office. “You’ll recognise Tezcatlipoca, formerly of your Helpdesk division. Technically, he’s still under probation, but we could use someone with his expertise in this matter.”

“A seer,” I said, inhaling flowers. “You can say it. I’ll stay out of his way, unless he tries anything inadvisable.”

“Good. Whatever you’ve been sullying your hands with, it can’t possibly be as important as this. So now that we’re all here, to matters.” She cleared her throat. “Until now Siphon have been, at worst, a nuisance. Enough to warrant investigation and preventative measures, but not a serious concern to business operations.”

As Chief Financial Officer I assumed Hera wouldn’t normally be drawn into this side of the business, and looked at her curiously.

She sighed. “This is a joint operation between the three of us now. I suggest we resolve it quickly before it creates a bottleneck. The first order of business is to locate all members of the organisation and arrange their complete eradication. Second, we should endeavour to preserve a functional specimen of the technology for inclusion in upcoming R&D. Third, we’ll need to clean up the mess Themis left behind on her ill-fated excursions. It’s been eating into my budgets for far too long.”

“And when are we doing this?” I asked. I’d checked my calendar for the meeting details, and found it in a neat demarcated outline between ‘weekly Helpdesk debrief’ and ‘appt: Qatari Prime Minister’. As far as I could tell, it was booked up like that for the next several days, including ones that weren’t supposed to be on the clock.

“Now. After this briefing.”

I’ve got this, Tez said into my head. I hoped he was right.

Hera cleared her throat, gearing up for another speech. “Siphon taking out an entire project team, is, as one would expect, cause to escalate priority. And Odin, your intelligence states they are, as Vishnu has quoted, ‘putting us into computers’?”

“I can give you the jargonese if you want,” I replied, “or I could skip to what’s actually important.”

“Do.”

Only a seer could change the future, I reminded myself, and tried not to think about Apollo’s assertion I was a rare exception. If I was going to botch this up, Tez would have said something.

“Siphon were choosing their targets carefully,” I began. “They’re using software to do it – mortal technology. Somehow, they infiltrated the Helpdesk system and subsequent connected machines. Djehuti is compiling a list of infected systems as we speak; those will need to be wiped. Helpdesk as a whole will need a deeper investigation.”

Hera frowned. “How deep? We can’t afford to take it offline.”

“We could revert to using books,” Vishnu suggested. His cheeks had filled out since the last meeting, indicating far more days had passed on his personal timeline. The blank look behind his eyes had been there as long as I’d seen him, though.

“Hardly. That might have sufficed some decades ago, but at our current KPI targets? It’s not feasible. Increases in productivity come at the cost of greater expectations.”

“My teams are working on it,” I lied, waving it off dismissively. “And it’s not just Helpdesk. Everything connected to a machine is suspect. In here, out there, everywhere. What we really want is a sweep of the entire planet. Now, with the right people –”

“No,” Hera interrupted. “That will take time, and if it’s half as serious as it appears, any delays are unacceptable. Unless you want to spend an extended stint in stasis with Vishnu.”

She had me there. I shut my mouth.

“Definitely the right call,” Tez called out from the beanbag.

Ignoring him, Hera tilted her head in my direction. “I didn’t think so. Besides, sweeping for people is easier and far better tested. Tezcatlipoca, you should review the suitability of your trackers.”

“Pakhet’s your woman,” he said immediately. “Tracker and killer in one oh-so-convenient package, with none of the occasional moral compunctions.”

“Watch your tone, seer,” Hera replied, her eyes glinting dangerously. “You might not care about moral standards, but I assure you they’re there. Vishnu?”

Next to them the Preserver glitched, returning with a somewhat wild-eyed goon dressed in poorly-concealed body armour under a loose-fitting tracksuit I was sure failed to meet the dress code I’d never read. Her cats-eye pupils gleamed and dilated upon seeing the three executives in the same room, and she shifted rapidly from foot to foot.

“Don’t get your hopes up,” Hera told the new arrival dryly. “The non-disclosure agreement Vishnu had you sign will alert us if you reveal anything you’ve seen here. The penalty is demotion. Is that clear?”

Some of the energy drained out of Pakhet. Her feet stilled. “It is.”

“Good. Odin, you may continue the brief.”

Siphon had been my plan for distracting Vishnu, even if I hadn’t yet nailed down the specifics of how. Wiping them all out now would shut down that avenue of attack, and I had yet to think of an alternative. I also needed to keep Providence from discovering their connection to Xiānfēng. I hadn’t come all this way just to lose my son again.

“They have a number of international cells,” I began, trying to buy time. “We don’t know all the locations yet –”

“I do,” Tez interrupted.

“Of course,” I added with an inwards sigh, and delivered the half-lie I’d told Vishnu earlier. “Regardless, running in without a plan will get us squashed. We won’t be able to get close. Their systems are triggered by line of sight. If you set eyes on an activated system – boom. You’re gone. Meaning we’ll need range and efficacy without direct visibility.”

Hera glanced at Vishnu.

“Their organisation won’t get a chance to respond,” he uttered. “As per procedure, I’m holding everything outside this office in stasis.”

“Not that simple,” I interjected, snapping my fingers. Following the nearest canal, I stepped back and took a few paces around the edge of the group. “Some of them may be already activated, and I’d expect each branch to have one running at all times as a protective measure. They know exactly who they’re up against and have been studying us for far longer than we’ve studied them. Not only that, but without the skills to detect them in advance, there’s nothing to stop us blundering into them. A few more days will allow us to gather all the information we could possibly want.”

“I have it already,” said Tez. “Don’t all crowd me with thanks at once.”

Stop stonewalling me, I snapped back.

Stop trying to get yourself discovered, he retorted. Still mad at me over the promotion, no doubt. I’m delivering you an opportunity, he added. Go opportune.

I seethed quietly for a moment until realising he was right. This was a chance to watch Vishnu and Hera in action. Or tease out further weaknesses.

“Well, then,” I said, spreading my hands. “How do you propose we deal with each challenge? The range issue, for example. I’d normally help, but as you can see, more than a few of my baubles have gone missing lately.” This was accompanied by a pointed stare in Vishnu’s direction. He knew they’d been fake. I knew they’d been fake. But Hera didn’t. There was always room for a little more undermining where Providence was concerned.

Hera sniffed. “Entitled mortals greedy for unearned rewards deserve to be turned into the ants they behave like. But I’ll need someone to be my eyes.”

“I’m doubly out, then,” I quipped.

“Why don’t you send your ravens?” Pakhet asked, breaking in eagerly with a suggestion.

For a moment I floundered. I didn’t know where Odin kept his pet spies, or what they were doing. I certainly didn’t know how to control them, and I didn’t have a good excuse ready.

You can make them, Tez suggested slyly.

I ignored him. It would take a bigger emergency than this to start experimenting with creating sentient offshoots of myself, not least because of its potential to turn into an exponentially-replicating nightmare.

“They’re busy,” I growled, a little harsher than I’d intended. “Tezcatlipoca, you have a historic reputation for dealing out damage. Why don’t you tell us what you can do?”

A dangerous smile contorted itself around Tez’s face. “About time somebody asked.” His eyes glinted, and something about the way he said it gave rise to a sudden wrench in my gut. “Although it’s the wrong question. You should be asking what I’ve already done.”