* * * EARTH – MEADOWS * * *

Meadows dropped into his favourite armchair. He looked exhausted after his trip to Washington DC. He looked up to find those members of his team who were present looking sympathetic.

“Save your sympathies for yourselves. The Congress has finally realised that almost no one is paying attention to their blame games given what’s happening. Thus the meeting I was summoned to. For round two they are planning on a special congressional hearing and they plan to invite a number of experts, both official establishment figures and independents. They want to interview James Moriarty, the elusive hacker Mycroft and Mary among others.”

“But Mary’s only seventeen,” exclaimed Tod.

“I doubt most of them realise, and those that do can’t care less if it will get them on the news,” explained Meadows.

Tod thought about it, turning over in his head everything he knew that he hoped Meadows did not. “I suppose Moriarty can be served but how can anyone get hold of Mycroft?”

Meadows looked at him with a certain degree of speculation, “What do you know of Mycroft Tod?”

“He... Well I think it’s he, I’ve only come across Mycroft online. I think he handles Mary’s online presence, or lack of it.”

“Well if you know that much, it is probably more than the CIA. Any idea who he is? Any idea at all?” asked Meadows as he slowly came alert.

Tod bit his lip and thought. “No, not really. He’s a vague online presence.”

* * * EARTH – MIKE SILVESTRE * * *

Mike felt like tearing his hair out. He glared at his boss, “This sucks. What kind of masochist do you think I am? If Garfield wants to keep his wunderkind fine! But I’ll be damned if I spend another week at triple time trying to bail the moron out of a mess of his own making.”

“Now, now Mike, you know you and your team can do it. After all it’s only fixing a few bugs.”

“A few bugs! A few! No fucking way. I refuse to touch that pile of...” Mike drew a deep breath and tried to calm down. He looked at his boss and his smug self-satisfied look was the last straw. “I Quit! I QUIT! I’ll even pay the bloody penalty but I’m out of here now.”

With that he left his former boss’ office slamming the door and stormed back to his desk where he grabbed his things, scribbled a brief note and left.

Oscar drifted over to his friend’s desk and glanced at the note on the desk, he shook his head and returned to his desk. He was back at his computer when the office manager came into the room. “Where’s Mike?”

“He grabbed a few things and stormed out Ms Dawkins,” replied someone near the door.

Dawkins made her way to the empty desk and picked a note that had a cheque stapled to it. She read it with a grimace. She walked over to Cindy. “Cindy, any chance you can change Mike’s mind about resigning. Garfield’s a vindictive so and so and he’ll blacklist Mike for leaving the company at a critical time.”

Cindy looked up at Dawkins blankly. “Mike Quit? Why?”

“Young needs help to get the latest project ready on time.”

“What? Again? Then no, not a chance in hell Ms Dawkins. Last time was bad enough; we had to redo the whole thing. I can phone him but I already know what he’ll say.”

“Do so please. Tell him about Garfield’s threat. If he quits after fixing Young’s project then there should be no problems.”

During the lunch break Oscar and Cindy got together.

“So, what did Mike have to say?”

“Mary is willing to bankroll us for a couple of months, and that computer is ours to use. Moriarty knows of a couple of projects. Nothing major but...”

“You know what, I think I’ll be joining him. I have no desire to have to handle another of the wunderkind’s messes.”

Cindy looked at her soggy burrito with distaste. “Me too.”

Cynthia Dawkins looked at the two neatly typed resignation letters with attached cheques and felt dismay. Their three best programmers had quit. There was now no chance their new flagship project could be salvaged in house. Garfield was going to refuse to hire contractors, as that would reflect badly on him and his protégée.

Cynthia dug out her CV and set to updating it. Then she went in to see Garfield.

* * *

Cindy and Oscar found Mike in the kitchen of his home staring in bemusement at a official looking letter. He looked up and gave a rueful grin. “So we’re all committed.”

“Yes Mike, I believe you said there were a couple of small jobs on hand,” said Oscar.

“Small. Yes, but... Here take a look. I have to phone Mary. She’s not going to be happy.” Mike placed a bulging folder on the kitchen table.

Cindy opened it and started going through it. Her eyes grew wider as she worked her way through it. Oscar seeing her reaction started to go through it too. Soon both were completely absorbed.

Mike looked at his phone for a long moment then he hit the autodial for Mary. “Hello Mary. Have you heard about the latest congressional committee? Well they want you to testify.”

“What? Oh, yeah papa, Mycroft’s told me ’bout it. They’re due to have a few problems. Bet they’ll put things off for a bit. Goin’ to plead school.”

Cindy looked up and listened to the end of the conversation. When Mike closed the connection she said, “Mike, this isn’t small. Is Mary planning to go into competition with NASA?”

Mike looked uncomfortable, “Um...”

Cindy’s mouth dropped open as a thought surfaced. “She is! That UFO.... No that’s not pos— Mike?”

Mike looked guilty as he passed over a couple of folders. “Not able to say anything, but those are the contracts Mycroft wants you to sign, and the NDAs.”

Oscar scanned the contract. He fumbled out a pen and signed it. Then he did the same with the NDA.

Cindy watched Oscar, then read her contract. She looked up at Mike. “Can your daughter afford this?”

Mike nodded slowly. “You’ve heard of Magitech Inc haven’t you? Well that’s one of ours too. I can tell you more after the NDA.”

* * * EARTH – MARY * * *

Mary grinned down at the slim young black haired woman, she for her part looked up at Mary. “Ready to face the ravening mob out there? Sorry ’bout the ponies, they seem to have stirred things up to a fever pitch. Any preference in regards to a name?”

The young woman all but rubbed her hands with glee. “This is going to be so much fun Mary. How about Lane Loisdottir? To go with Kent Clarkson.” Lane giggled.

“So be it. Lane Loisdottir it shall be.” Manna swirled briefly and Lane blinked in surprise. “You know what you have to do.”

“Yes Mother. Face your public and give them the run-around. Screen poor old Mycroft so he can do his job uninterrupted and to feed the world press interesting stories.”

“Yep, just make sure they have at least a grain of truth.” Mary grinned. “Distract ’em. Give me a couple of years an’ we’ll be untouchable.”

Lane inclined her head to one side and raised one perfectly sculpted eyebrow, “That long, bet we’ll be untouchable in one.”

“Hope so, but one year isn’t very long.”

“First thing though, Mycroft an’ Moriarty have been diggin’ up a lot of dirt on the members of the congressional committee that wants me to testify. Add innuendos, massage the story a bit; then tell Mycroft where to send them. Figure the committee will be too busy to bother me for a bit.”

« An’ Tessa you still willin’ to see that overly ambitious self seekin’ chairman commits suicide when all the sordid details come out? »

« Yes Mother, it’ll be fun. »

* * *

The diamond core at the bottom of the sea flickered as it surveyed its domains. The two Marys plotted even as they merged and updated each other. Finally they parted again and one of them reached out to Moriarty.

« Go ahead. Buy that restaurant. Close it and throw in the decorators. I’ll divert Kent and alert Lewis. It’s sooner than I wanted but we need an outpost in DC. I’ll get a pride to run it and a clan of man-rats to infiltrate. Victoria’s agreed to have a twin sister to run the clan. »

« But you need some exotic cuisine, the place was popular before the latest owner ran it into the ground. »

« I plan to cheat Mycroft. It’ll be exotic. Guests will be asked to guess what cuisine they’re eating. I will profit from the upheaval Frog’s Arena of Blood caused in Conimbriga. Lots of places have been closed by the council and I’m sure I can buy suitable staff from the Caradix Emporium. They’ll get their freedom, a history an’ papers thanks to you an’ Moriarty. Any cooks an’ staff that can impress the snobs from Conimbriga should be able to do the same in DC. »

« Lion ’folk? Are you sure high society in DC is up to that? »

« No. That’s why I’ll go with lion shifters this time. What do you think to Red Moon as a name? »

« Why are you so fond of lions when it comes to restaurants and inns? »

« It works. They’re family an’ close knit. The males are real tough an’ good at fightin’ an’ the females work well together. Works. »

* * *

« So Lewis how’s your moon enterprise goin’? »

« Why Mary, it is going well. The reduced gravity is allowing me to create a real fairy tale castle with tall elegant towers and spires. I like the conical roofs. They’re useful for making the place airtight. Wonderland on the moon is coming together nicely. »

« Alice havin’ fun? »

« Yes. » Lewis laughed softly. « And those crab ’folk are a marvel. How are they able to take all that radiation without taking damage? »

Mary blanked out for a moment in surprise. « But I gave you the templates an’ the schemata. How come you don’t know? It’s somethin’ I’ve been workin’ on. I’ll soon be able to upgrade all my folk. »

« Mary, Mary I’m a literary chap, not a biologist or geneticist. »

« Huh! – Oh well, is Hawai’iloa ready to resume his travels? »

« Yes, he’s getting downright boring about Mars. Are you sure that’s a good idea? And can you open a portal that far away. Why not open one on the Far Voyager? »

« Can I? Yes. Is it worth doin’? Now that we’ll have to see, it’ll be very expensive in manna an’ I have a lot on my plate at the moment. As for a portal on the Far Voyager, not possible, the portals require a predictable motion, therefore when the Far Voyager changes course or acceleration the portal would fail. »

« I’d like to visit Mars, » said Lewis wistfully.

« Tell you what. You build up a reserve of manna an’ we’ll use that for the portal. ’K? »

« Yes Mother! »

« So you ready for the rover that NASA has on the way? »

Lewis laughed and Alice said, « Yes! Crabmen on the moon and card soldiers on the parapets, with the white rabbit to receive it and lead it to the queen of hearts, it is going to be so much fun. »