Teylon was getting ready to pack up after another easy afternoon shift at the neighbourhood watch centre. Adalace had already left; apparently she had a date with Sarsaparilla. He went to Sarawatch's office to say goodbye for the day. "How's Maggie going?" she said. Teylon sighed. "It's been two weeks, and she is still a nervous wreck. She never goes outside of her apartment unless she has one of the other teenagers with her. Although she is managing to cope at school." "I really feel for her." She looked sad, gazing into space. "Although," said Teylon, "There is one interesting development - I really think that Erasyl is beginning to get feelings for her. He is now, by tacit arrangement, the one to walk her to and from school. Leroy was doing it for the afternoons, but I think he got the message that Erasyl wanted to do that also." Sarawatch laughed. "Teenagers and their romances." She went back to being sad, and said: "My teenage romance never went anywhere, and then there was my new job, and then the big disaster, and then this back water make work little job..." "Oh, never mind, forget I said that." she finished with. "OK. Bye." His wristband chirped. Ah, another category zero asteroid warning. A small cluster of rocks are going to be creating their own micro craters about 50Km to the south of here. Since he was already looking at his wristband, he accessed the health monitor functionality, and then decided to stroll around the central park to build up his exercise for the day. This park was in the dead centre of the dome. It was a built up hill surrounded by pleasant gardens and grassed areas and low trees; from it, one could look out in all directions and see the rest of the dome, along with various lakes and rivers and buildings. It was currently moderately crowded with people enjoying the afternoon. His wristband gave another, different, chirp. What's this? The main power to the central park area has gone down due to a transformer failure? He shrugged his shoulders. It meant he would have to walk half a kilometre to get to the nearest working elevator to the underground, but so what? He was supposed to be walking for his exercise, anyway. He made his way along a winding track that was taking him to the top of the hill. In different circumstances, could I have been attracted to Sarawatch? She's younger than me, for sure. But very nice looking. And, what's more, I enjoy her company. Of course, back on Earth I avoided all of that emotional relationship stuff. Yeah, look where it got me with Emilia. And now? Well, I suppose yes, I could have been attracted to her. If it wasn't for this Angel of Death business, of course. He visualised Esmeralda looking over his shoulder. Nyah, no way can I have that sort of relationship with anyone. I'm here to do a specific task, and then I - drop dead? Teylon marvelled at how this fact did not cause him to stress out in terror. I suppose it's part of the complete package. It allows me to concentrate on the task at hand. He came to the crest of the hill. Because there were not any tall shrubs of trees close to him, he could see outwards in all directions. There were people visible all over the place, in family groups and individually, sitting on the grass or walking along. There were plenty of dogs being walked, little kids on scooters, teenagers cycling, even a few groups flying kites, or at least trying to. The atmospheric circulation fans never produced anything more than a very gentle breeze. He even saw a small cat, sneaking through the undergrowth. The city planners certainly did a good job at making this a people friendly city. Plenty of activities for all the family. For example, an underground cave playground, advertised as suitable for children 3 years and up, parental guidance recommended. The entrance to this was right next to Teylon. Sadly, for any expectant kids or parents, the display that advertised the cave had a message in big red letters saying it was closed due to the current power failure. The display must be run from batteries. Teylon idly flicked his fingers across the solid metal bars of the gate that currently blocked the entrance. Did it close automatically when the power failed? Whatever. He turned to keep going, and found himself face to face with a young lady, carrying a shopping bag, probably getting up her own exercise quota. Oh. I know her. "Oh, Hi, Devina." She looked surprised, then went back to her usual distrustful and angry expression. At least, her usual expression as far as Teylon was concerned. She really doesn't want to know me, doesn't she? "Ah, you're Teylon?" An embarrassing moment while they both stood there. Looks like it's up to me to make a graceful exit here. Fortunately, I'm up to the job! Even if she did try her hardest to kill me at one stage. "I'm just doing my obligatory walking exercise. It's a bit of a chore, isn't it? So I must keep going..." "Where's mummy?" "Huh?" said Teylon. "Huh?" said Devina. They both looked frantically around, before finally realising that there was a small boy standing behind the gate of the underground entrance. "Oh, he somehow got locked in when the power failed." said Teylon. "But that shouldn't happen." said Devina. "I don't suppose so." said Teylon, as he knelt on the outside and smiled at the boy. "Hi there! Mummy isn't here at the moment, but I'm sure we will find her for you." said Teylon. He had on a big, friendly smile, and held one of the boy's hands which the boy had poked between the bars. The bars were far to close set for Teylon to put his hand through. "I want mummy!" Devina looked at Teylon. She doesn't quite trust me, does she? She also knelt down and tried to smile at the boy. Unfortunately, she had not had much practice at doing innocent smiles in the last few years, and the result frightened the boy, who grabbed Teylon's hand with both of his. Quick, think of something to keep her occupied! "Ah, Devina, could you contact emergency services and report a lost boy?" Both adults looked at the wrists of the boy. No wristband was visible. "Say, young man, where did your wristband go to?" said Teylon. "I lost it!" "It figures." said Teylon, "No one is tracking him, probably explains why he got lost and locked up here in the first place." Devina rang the appropriate emergency number, and explained the situation. She finished and said: "OK, they will send someone..." She stopped because she had been interrupted. A siren went off, its tone rising up through a couple of octaves. It was loud, and immediately followed by the sounds of other sirens, ones further away and thus their sound arriving after varying delays. The wails echoed around the dome. In the shocked silence after the last siren faded out, their wristbands flashed bright red. This really got their attention. At least the two adults. Not to mention every other person visible from where they were standing. "Attention. Category three asteroid alert. Possible collision with dome. Possible small dome ruptures. Strongly advise everyone to retreat as far underground as possible." The voice was feminie, and did not appear to be speaking from any discernible location. Teylon looked around, trying to work out where it was coming from. Devina, however, merely said: "That's Annie the Announcer. It's her ability, to project her voice over the entire dome's internal volume." "Oh, right." All round, people could be seen walking very fast or even running. All going directly away from Teylon and Devina. "That's right, the elevators aren't working locally. So we had better get a move on - oh crap." said Teylon. One little boy looked out from behind the bars of the gate. "Will mummy be coming soon?" "Sure she will!" said Teylon, "And, Devina, your ability was something about bringing down walls or something?" "I can make concrete and rock crumble into dust. But this gate and the walls it is attached to are all made out of steel." This is a test of some sort, isn't it? "Esmeralda, what are you doing this time?" "Sorry?" said Devina. Shit, I said that aloud. "Never mind. How about you make a run for the nearest working elevator, and I stay with the boy? No need for both of us to hang around." said Teylon. She looked at him, then at the boy, then back at Teylon. Really, there's no need to look at me as if I had just sprouted black wings and red fangs. She doesn't have any faith in men at all, does she? "You are going to - save the boy?" She is finding it hard to believe. Just what sort of experience caused that I wonder? "Ah, well I hope so." After all, if this was some little scheme cooked up by Esmeralda, then obviously it was going to include the teenagers. And one or two of them could do something about the steel bars... He rang Adalace. "Say, Adalace, can your ability cut through steel bars?" "Ah, yes? Ah, right, this is another Esmeralda moment, isn't it?" said Adalace. Between pants and huffs. "Excuse my breathing, we are currently running towards the nearest elevator..." He gave a very brief explanation, and Adalace promptly said they were on their way. Since they were actually in the park and not too far away. "Wait! There's no need for Sarsaparilla to come also - ah, forget it." Adalace, seeing no need to reply to that, hung up. Teylon managed a weak smile to Devina. "Adalace and her friend have volunteered to help us." "I managed to hear her saying something about Esmeralda, also." "Well, never mind, more to the point, what about that emergency call for assistance?" Devina rang emergency assistance again. The results were not very happy. "They are flat out helping with emergency evacuations all over the place, and they can't spare the personnel to both cut through the bars and airlift away the boy, ah, it looks like it's up to us to at least release the boy." she said when the call was over. They were still both kneeling on the ground. With Mars gravity, even old men like Teylon could kneel for long periods of time without cramping. The little boy was still holding Teylon's hands through the bars. And Devina kept on watching Teylon with occasional glances at the boy. She is finding it hard to cope with the fact that I'm risking my life to help the boy? And what about her life? Does she value it so lightly that she can just wait here on a mere suspicion? And now, there was a second siren blast. Echoing around the dome. However, by now, not too many people were out and about to hear it. All of the people visible from where they were sitting were a long way off; most of them had reached functioning elevators and were disappearing into the ground. "Attention. Category five asteroid alert. Probable collision with dome. Probable non-trivial dome ruptures. Everyone remaining in the open is in danger. The asteroid cluster has suffered unexpected collusions within themselves and some of their trajectories have changed. Strongly advise everyone to retreat as far underground as possible. One small asteroid is expected to hit the dome centre. Orbital Defence cannot get any orbital resources into the correct orbit at such short notice. Dome authorities are calling upon non-conventional resources. Plans have not yet been finalised." "Oh, great." said Teylon, "And when is all of this going to occur?" "Countdown is four minutes thirty seconds." said Annie the Announcer, almost as if she could hear Teylon. Although she could not, she was just blindly talking to the entire dome airspace. He looked at Devina. "Are you sure you don't want to make a run for the exits?" Devina looked back and said nothing. She's going to protect that little boy from me, even if she has to die doing so. I suppose it makes me feel a little easier, considering I risked myself saving her. There was the sound of running feet as Adalace ran up to them. She was holding Sarsaparilla's hand, and practically dragging her along in her wake. Adalace was breathing heavily, while Sarsaparilla was totally winded and gasping. Adalace dropped Sarsaparilla's hand, ran the last ten metres, took a brief look at Devina, and got to work on the gate without any further ado. She stood in front of it, glared at the top of one of the bars. Maybe out of sheer embarrassment or more likely due to the power of her ability, a thin glowing line of red appeared, circling the bar. A similar circle of red-hot head appeared at the bottom of the bar. "This will take a few seconds, I have to vaporise all the way through the metal." Sarsaparilla staggered up, and took a look at Devina. "What is she doing here?" Careful there! Don't start anything! "Ah, she was at the scene at exactly the same time as I was. And, well, she chose to stay here instead of evacuating." said Teylon. "I'm through!" said Adalace. She was now holding the bar upright. "But it's bloody heavy, can you help in..." "Here let me." said a new voice. Maggie. Who had just flown in, and who for some reason was holding Erasyl in her arms. She dumped him without warning, then used her magnetic ability to grip the metal bar. It slid out of its place, smoothly rotated in the air, then settled down on the ground. Right next to where Erasyl was still lying. "Attention. Category five asteroid alert. Shane the shield is being flown up by a levitator on the outside of the dome. It is expected that his shield, at maximum power, will withstand the asteroid. Err, probably. Estimated 85% probability. Countdown is three minutes. Take care, everyone." "Say, how old is this Annie?" said Teylon. "Oh, about seven. She can make her voice sound more mature when she is announcing." said Devina. By now, Maggie and Adalace had tried to get the boy out through the gap, but he was just a bit too big. Adalace was going to start on the next bar, but Maggie got to it first. "I'll just push the two bars further apart." The air between the bars simmered due to all of the energy being poured in. And the two bars slowly bent and bowed away from each other and moved apart. "Devina! Call emergency and say we have the boy out!" said Teylon. "Right, they'll be here in thirty seconds." said Devina. "Right, little fellow, someone is going to fly in and then take you to your mummy! Have you ever flown through the air before?" said Teylon, now holding the boy in his arms. "Noooo, I don't think so." "Well, it's great fun!" "Is it indeed?" Everyone looked up in surprise at the new voice. "Hi, Devina. Tamara told me that you and Teylon and his teenagers were all together and staying in one place, so we decided to come over and take a look." said Francesca. She smiled at everyone, or more like half smile, it did not show on the left hand side of her face. The boy visibly shrank from her. "The story of my life. All the men divert their eyes and run away from me." said Francesca. I can't work out if she's serious or not there. But that's not the relevant point. "You do realise you should have gone underground, right?" said Teylon. At this point a small dot up in the air became a much bigger dot, then expanded rapidly to become a man, dressed in a flying suit with 'Emergency Response' written on it, swooped in. He braked to a halt in mid air, took the boy, rapidly put a safety harness on him, and was off, becoming a dwindling dot in the air. "Sure, but, you know, we were interested in why Devina was hanging around and not going for the elevators herself. I take it that boy, hmm, judging by the hole in that gate, he must have been caught behind it?" "Yes..." Another figure swooped in and landed. Leroy. "Hi everyone. Sorry I'm late, I was going to be here earlier but I had to help out with another evacuation." "Attention: Sorry, everyone, there is no change in status; the countdown is now two minutes. But Shane is in place and waiting!" Annie's voice was clear and distinct and without the slightest bit of echo. This is all going much too fast; the two flyers can take a person each and make a dash for the nearest elevator. Leaving five behind making a run for it, and in less than two minutes, damn. Francesca appeared to read Teylon's mind. "Actually, I was thinking that Maggie could put a shield to protect us all, hmm?" Maggie was getting agitated. "Y-Yes I could! But, what if I don't get it right? I mean..." "Why are you acting so nervously? This doesn't match that girl I had a whopping great big fight with." said Francesca. "Ahh, let's not go into that." said Teylon. "And, you know, isn't this all too much of a coincidence?" said Adalace. "Yeah, it must be Esmeralda's doing, isn't it Teylon?" said Sarsaparilla. "I don't know!" said Teylon. "Who's this Esmeralda chick?" said Francesca. Five way glance between the teenagers. "Never mind" they said in unison. "That's what Teylon said when I asked the same question." said Devina. "Say, shouldn't we do a little planning here?" said Francesca, "If Shane fails and large chunks of asteroid come down, I can probably shoot one or two out." "Oh, right, and I can probably get at least one, also." added Maggie, "but then I will have to turn on my shield real fast, in case any more fragments come down." "Ah, and perhaps you can satisfy my curiosity, can your shield hold in an atmosphere?" asked Francesca. Looking interested but not alarmed. Bloody good question! "Attention: countdown is one minute. I've got my teddy bear by my side so it should be - ah, OK mum, I'll st-" "Yes, but it's leaky. Maybe only for half an hour." said Maggie after Annie had finished speaking. Teylon, already acutely aware of the seconds ticking down, became even more anxious. Maggie, still looking nervous, said "Bunch up, everyone. As soon as the asteroid hits I, and Francesca, will shoot anything if we can, then I have to turn on the shield in a real hurry. Does anyone know how fast that thing is travelling?" "About four kilometres per second." said Adalace. "Ah, so we have somewhat less than a second to act." said Francesca, "This could be fun." The all bunched up. Francesca and Maggie were back to back. Whatever mental preparations they made were not visible. They appeared to be just waiting. Devina and Tamara, stood either side of Francesca, neutral looks on their faces. Adalace and Sarsaparilla stood, arms around each other, Adalace looking up, Sarsaparilla looking at Adalace. Leroy and Teylon were on one side of Maggie, Erasyl on the other. All of the teenagers looking nervous, but doing their best to not show it. Nobody wanted to disturb Maggie's concentration. And Francesca's also, but she looked to be in complete control of herself. Tick. Tick. Tick. In perfect silence, there was a glare of light, ring shaped, straight above. The inside of the ring remained dark - this was the area of Shane's shield. The ring of light was the overflow of the remains of the asteroid, as it slammed into the Shane's shield and converted itself into a very hot and energetic gas. The white-hot gas expanded past the edge of the shield, and some deflected back into space, some hit the dome itself. Maggie did not see any need to turn on her own shield. They all stayed right where they were, and waited. Eight seconds later, a dull boom echoed around the dome. The noise from the dome's top being shaken. "Does that mean it's all over..." said Teylon. Just in time to hear a loud bang, and to see, two hundred metres away, a small rocket, maybe three metres long, launch itself out of the top of a tower. It left a vapour trail behind it. There were more bangs, fainter, coming from a greater distance away. Vapour trails went up and curved slightly and faded into the top reaches of the dome's air space. "I've never seen those in action before." said Francesca, obviously enjoying herself. "Huh?" said Teylon. "They're emergency dome leak repair rockets." said Maggie, "All done by computer, when a rocket gets close to a hole in the dome, it releases a large repair patch, maybe a hundred metres wide. The edges of the patch have many little grasping appendages, and they are guided by computer to grab hold of the edges of the dome's hole, or the dome's roofing structure, or even other patches. Look, see, that patch is red, and it's expanding out, and, ah, that other patch is green, and it joining up to the red one..." That looks quite colourful. Each patch is a different colour, and they're all jumbled together, as they seal off the holes. And, Maggie sounds much more confident now. "Attention: Emergency category has been downgraded to level 1; you are advised to stay inside until further notice. And thanks to Shane for stopping the asteroid, I think he's wonderful! Ah, OK, mum." "Oh. Shane. Right." said Maggie. She turned around and looked at Francesca, who raised her eyebrows in query. Actually, only her right eyebrow. Click. Maggie's shield came on, surrounding all of them. "Ah, what?" said Adalace, "I thought we were now safe?" "I want to have a word with everyone." said Maggie, "And when my shield is up, it blocks our wrist bands from transmitting anything that we say." Francesca folded her arms and looked intrigued. "What's up, teenager? And, you sound a lot more confident now." "I'm tired of running scared, both of Shane, and of whomever they are that tried to 'recruit' me. Teylon, I'm going to ignore yours, and Sarawatch's, advice. I'm not going to let Shane keep on getting away with killing brainwashed teenage girls." "Sorry?" said Francesca. Devina and Tamara took particular notice of this, also. A show of exasperation from Teylon. "Are you sure about this?" "Yes. After all, this is all set up by Esmeralda, isn't it?' "I can't deny it, although she hasn't given me any direct hints." said Teylon. "You're mentioning that name again..." said Francesca. "Never mind." said Maggie, "Instead, answer this, would you like to do a little job for us? Teylon will pay, of course." "What, you want us to kill someone? Can't Teylon do that for you?" said Esmeralda. "Ah, we don't want anyone killed! OK? If it comes to that, then Esm- I mean Teylon, will take care of that. OK?" "Yeah?" "We want you to track someone. To track Shane, in fact. And tell us where he is. You can do that?" Maggie turned and looked at Tamara. "Yes, I can. I have seen Shane a few times at various places, so I can track him. And, of course, since I'm thinking about him now, I'm automatically tracking him. He's just started to move back down from the outside top of the dome." said Tamara. "What is your range?" said Maggie. "About ten kilometres. As long as I have consciously taken note of someone who was within a fifty metre range of me, I can track them." "That much? So you are aware of where I and my friends are, all the time?" "Only if I make the mental effort to be aware of you. Which is fortunate, otherwise I would go mad with the constant awareness of thousands and thousands of people I have accumulated over the years." "More to the point, why do you want to track Shane?" asked Francesca. With some help from the others, Maggie told the story of how she first met Shane. She also briefly touched upon the drama caused by her father's death, with some help from Teylon and Adalace. The Girls in Pink listened intently and silently. More silence after Maggie had finished. Eventually- "Sooo, the Shane that risked his life to save the dome, after all if the asteroid had been just a bit bigger it would have smashed his shield and incidentally Shane himself, also goes around killing teenage girls? And he thinks they are clones, and that by doing so will increase his power?" said Francesca. "Yes." Both Devina and Tamara looked extremely displeased at this information. "Well, not saying I disbelieve you or anything, but this is just a little difficult to accept, at least without some evidence." "Remember, we're not asking you to kill anyone, just to track him down." "Well, sure, it certainly seems like something we would be happy to do. Of course, we still expect payment. Preferably up front, err, Mr Teylon, you are willing to pay us our customary fee?" Big sigh from Teylon. "Sure, sure, these kids have an unfortunate tendency to think of my money as theirs to spend, but, whatever." "Hmm, could be interesting. But-" said Francesca, with a sneaky (half) smile on her face, "Only if we can go along with you to confront him. After all, we want some proof of this - story." "I wonder what Shane will think when nine extra people gatecrash his next - ah, ability level upgrade session?" said Erasyl. Yeah, good question. I mean, what can possibly go wrong? Pitting an unstable Maggie plus a murderous Francesca against a possibly psycho and insanely powerful Shane, together with three more excitable teenagers, and two young ladies who hate men; why that sounds like a positively delightful experience. I must remind myself to bring some popcorn. And perhaps some sunglasses to protect my eyes from the glare. "God knows." said Teylon, "Is everybody sure they want to do this?" All the teenagers agreed. Tamara and Devina nodded their heads to indicate yes. "Well, great! That settles it." said Francesca, "Now, if we could get to the important bit where you pay us some money?" "Fine, fine." said Teylon, "Maggie, you will have to drop your shield so that our wrist bands can communicate with our banks. Which, incidentally, means that the powers to be will automatically know that something is up, I hope you realise." "It can't be helped." said Maggie. I wonder how effective these Faraday cages really are? While Teylon and Francesca were arranging their finances, Adalace took the opportunity to check for news about the asteroid. "Interesting. The telemetry they gathered from the interception indicate that Shane's shield was within about 1% of its maximum capacity." "So, he was definitely a hero." said Leroy. "That's no excuse!" said Maggie. "OK, OK, let's find out, shall we?" said Francesca, who was acting pleased after checking her bank account balance. "Adalace, perhaps you can satisfy my curiosity? If the authorities really wanted to, how easy would it be for them to track our conversations, even with Faraday cages and/or Maggie's shields?" said Teylon. Adalace looked a little sad. "Pretty easy once they decide they wanted to, I would say. For example, by placing little bugs in our clothing, which store any sounds and only relay them by radio when we send our clothes to the laundry. Or by inserting special little viruses onto our phones to record everything and relay it on when they can. If they do it correctly, then even with my amazing programming powers I would have a hard time detecting it." Francesca laughed, while Maggie looked a bit sour. "But we have still managed to do things!" said Sarsaparilla, "So, maybe Esmeralda is helping out?" "I don't get told such things." said Teylon. "And really, who the hell IS Esmeralda?" said Francesca. Five teenagers looked at Teylon, who in turned looked at the Girls in Pink. Oh-oh, these fine young ladies go around slaughtering people, probably men only, so how will they react to the news that an avenging angel is watching them? Esmeralda? Can I have a hint on what to do here? But no hint was forthcoming. Great. I have to decide on my own free will. And the authorities, by now, are probably listening in on this. I'm supposed to recruit people to help me with my task. And, let's see, I've gotten five teenagers and one Sarawatch involved, and they all know about Esmeralda. Even if they don't necessarily believe it totally. So, so, well, I suppose? They are so going to not believe me. "OK, I'll tell you. But, I'm warning you, you probably won't like the implications. And you will have a hard time believing it." He spent ten minutes recounting the story on how he came to be on Mars. However, he left out as much as he could. For example, any information about his career. No need to bare my soul to them, is there? Telling the teenagers was bad enough. Three ladies, each wearing something that was pink, looked at him in silence for a long contemplative period after he finished. "I take it that that was how you knew about Maggie when she was suicidal?" said Francesca. "Yeah, that's right." "And you kids believe him?" she said, her gaze going over each teenager in turn. "More or less." said Maggie, "Otherwise how could he do all of those things that he has been doing?" "Indeed. I think that we will go now; we have a lot to think about. And, of course, Tamara will begin tracking Shane. We'll keep you in touch." With a casual wave from Francesca, and sort of friendly attempts at smiles from the other two, they walked off. "Is this going to work?" said Erasyl. Teylon rolled his eyes. "Who knows? More to the point, do I tell Sarawatch all about this?" The five teenagers were undecided about this, so Teylon was left with the decision, to be made at his own free will. Again. For lack of anything else to do, they all followed Teylon as he made his way back to the watch office. "Say, Maggie, why did you bring Erasyl with you? You could have made slightly better time by flying by yourself." asked Leroy. Maggie started to say something, but Erasyl beat her to it. "Oh, because I begged to come along also. Sorry about that, I delayed getting the boy out by half a minute or so." Maggie looked at Erasyl for a moment. "You're lying through your teeth. You came along because I was too scared to go by myself. Struth, now you're trying to protect me from the consequences of my own action." Erasyl managed to produce a sickly grin. "Don't hit me, please?" "Sure, sure. I won't. I'm back to normal. Well, mostly. I don't need to have my hand held anymore. And I'm going to stop Shane!" Atta girl! I just hope no one is killed. Teylon decided he might as well tell Sarawatch. She rolled her eyes, looked exasperated, and said. "Fine, fine, go ahead. If the powers that be react with extreme prejudice, just don't blame me, OK?" Since they will surely know what is happening, how is this all going to work out? Deep underground number "Well, it's quite cute of Maggie to think of using her shield as a Faraday Cage to block our spying." said Lenny. Small giggle from the Terrence. "But, as Adalace suggested, we are now bugging them directly. So we know all about what they said." "Actually, we don't. There are still those annoying drop outs." said Prakash, "Why haven't you fixed those, yet?" Sour look from Terrence. "We've tried, I can tell you. We have tried. But we still can't get our heads around exactly what is happening." "Let's go past that, shall we?" said Lenny, "And concentrate on what we have been able to hear. After all, we have suddenly been able to get a lot more information than usual." A silence as they all reran the conversations through their heads. "So, let me get this straight. Teylon thinks that he has some sort of direct communication with an Angel of Death." said Teresa. Silence "What the fuck?" said Arnold. "But still, it could sort of explain the sudden deaths that have occurred." said Prakash. "But, but..." said Lenny, "I find the whole concept hard to grasp." "Say, didn't you once say you were brought up to be religious?" said Terrence. "I was. It wasn't until I was twenty or so that I finally got over it all. But, still, if we, for the sake of argument, assume that Teylon is right and there is an Angel of Death having regular chats with him, well..." He gathered his thoughts. "It just doesn't make any sense. In fact, it's one of the reasons I stopped believing in the first place. If there is a God, or divine angels, they why do they allow so much suffering and evil to exist in the first place?" "Well, because of - free will? Or something?" said Arnold. "Or, maybe because people are meant to suffer in this life?" said Teresa. "Yeah, maybe. But, in that case, why is this Esmeralda angel intervening in the first place? What has changed to warrant that?" Nobody could answer that question. Terrence wondered if one or more of those dropouts contained an explanation by Teylon on this matter. "Of course, the Angel of Death hypothesis could explain the dropouts in the first place." he added. "Humph, sounds more like a cop out." said Arnold. "Well, you suggest something better!" "Please, everyone." said Lenny. "So, Teylon says his motive is to eliminate the evil at the heart of our society." said Teresa. "The question is, does he actually believe that?" said Arnold. "Actually, the question for us is, has he the power to do anything about it?" said Lenny. "Well, if he's got the backing of an Angel of Death, then presumably he has." said Terrence. "And, you do realise that this 'evil' could be referring to us?" said Arnold. Another silence. "If we don't watch out, we will get bogged down into another one of the interminably long and ultimately fruitless conversations about the ethics of what we are doing." said Lenny. More silence. "So, what do we do?" said Teresa. "Yeah, like what. Do we just let them confront Shane? Giving Teylon's track record, he, or they, could very well stuff up Shane's conditioning something really bad." said Prakash. "Actually, I've been thinking about this, didn't someone at some point say that Shane is in way too deep to back out now?" said Lenny. "Yeah, I guess you could say that." said Teresa. "So, for the ultimate purpose we have in mind for Shane, it probably wouldn't make too much difference if he found out a few home truths now, would it?" "Hmm, I guess not. Course, he might be driven insane or suicidal - hmm, but he's got a fairly strong personality, so probably not." "Well, then, why not just let things take their course?" said Lenny. "What, just let Teylon piss all over our plans like that?" said Arnold. "Language, please." said Teresa. She got back an extremely annoyed look. "Besides which, if there really is an Angle of Death, or if Teylon thinks there is and is trying to act for the greater good, then won't that imply that any actions we take that don't cause any evil won't be opposed?" she continued. Sigh. "I suppose so. Maybe." said Lenny, "Anyone have any better ideas?" Nobody did. "Well, maybe we will learn something more about Teylon's capabilities. Or this Esmeralda person's capabilities, whoever she may be." said Prakash. Arnold snorted in derision. "In fact, if we are going to just let this all happen, how about we set it up to encourage things happening in such a way so as to give us the maximum amount of information?" said Lenny. "You're going to make it easier for them to subvert Shane?" said Arnold. "Well, it's a waste of opportunity if Shane has a training session and it is all over before Teylon even gets there, isn't it?" Arnold shrugged. "If it all goes wrong, don't blame me, OK?" "But at least you won't drop dead!" said Terrence. He got a glare in return. "I think it is time to move on, we have a lot on the agenda. For example, what to do about the failure of our Orbital Defence system to shoot down that asteroid." said Lenny. A groan from several of those sitting around the table. Nevertheless, they settled in. They were running Mars, after all.