Jessica followed Evelyn and Ori down a long hall. “We are about to enter our briefing room,” Ori said.
“This is where we prep the team on any major updates or special assignments,” Evelyn added.
Two glass sliding doors opened automatically as the three approached. The briefing room was shaped like an octagon, and all walls were made of glass. At the center of the room was a large round table where Vau, Tony, and Jordan were seated, talking among themselves. Another person was standing next to Vau. He looked familiar, a Latino man with a goatee, wearing a nice charcoal suit. He walked over to them. “Hello Evelyn, Ori.”
“Hi, Carlos.” Ori shook the man’s hand, and then said, “Please meet Jessica.”
“Jessica, yes, it’s a pleasure.” Carlos looked back at Ori. “Is she who you were waiting for at the park?”
“She was,” Ori said.
“Ori, speaking of our little chat,” Carlos said, “do you mind if I speak with you in private? There’s something that you need to know. A request has been made that you should be aware of.”
Ori turned to Jessica. “Excuse me for one moment.” Then he and Carlos vanished behind a glass sliding door.
As Jessica took in more of the briefing room, she saw a large screen covering one wall. The wall featured ten video feeds. One showed a beach where the water was turning red. One had a large map of the African continent covered in a black cloud. The image zoomed in, and Jessica realized that the ominous cloud was a swarm of locusts. Another featured beehives caving in over time. Others showed disease, protests, riots, and war. There were images of tall trees being cut down, massive hurricanes, wildfires, and flooding. Each video feed was equally alarming. There was also text along the bottom of the feeds with years and cities around the world.
“What are these?” Jessica asked.
“Those are your check engine lights,” Evelyn said before she took her position in an open seat at the round table. “All right, listen up.” Jessica noticed the team sit up straight in their seats. She took a chair next to Jordan.
Evelyn continued, “As you all know, through the Singularity operation we were able to contain war and ego and accelerate the proportion of humanity moving into GP4.”
Jessica leaned toward Jordan and whispered, “GP4?”
“Growth phase four,” Jordan explained.
“Oh right, people taking more ownership of their time,” Jessica said. Jordan nodded.
“Of course, there’s much more to contend with. We’ve been making some good headway on the next recruit,” Evelyn continued. “We’ll wait for Ori to get back to provide an update with that.” Evelyn paused. “The other major update for this session is that we have confirmed that the next reset will be via solar flares.”
“C’mon,” Jordan said.
“Ugh,” exclaimed Tony.
Vau, more calmly, asked, “Do we know a tighter window of time?”
“I’m trying to get as much information as possible but, like always, the timing is rough. We just need to stay focused on getting them as close to ready as possible.”
“They are far, and I mean far, from ready,” Jordan said.
“Then that means we have a lot of work to do, now doesn’t it? Ori and I meet with the council later today, so I’d like for us to run through the state of the world. I’d like a very high-level overview of where we are and what that means now that we’ve confirmed the nature of the event. Vau, would you mind kicking us off?”
“Sure,” he said. “There’s still a significant amount of deforestation in some critical areas in Africa and the Amazon. It looks like they will hit the twenty-two-point-five percent mark.”
“I’m guessing that’s not a good mark to hit,” Jessica said.
“No, it is not. Once the Amazon basin hits twenty-two-and-a-half percent of deforestation, it will not sustain its ecosystem. It will rapidly decline as will its biodiversity and protection.”
“The Amazon is like the lungs of the planet. Imagine surviving with collapsed lungs,” Jordan said.
“On a positive note,” Vau added, “there’s been a significant increase in the awareness and implementation of regenerative and polyculture farming. Not only in rural areas, but also in the cities.”
“At what level?” Evelyn asked.
“On all levels,” Vau said. “More universities are providing data to support these efforts, and governments are now pushing for and funding these farming methods. If regenerative farming speeds up and expands, then there’s still hope.”
“Good, thank you. Jordan, what do you have?”
“Well, the virus has significantly separated the haves from the have-nots. However, the increase in regenerative farming has led to a decrease in unemployment and an increase in healthy food security. With that, plus the impact of the Singularity mission, we’re seeing more people become financially independent on a sustainable scale.”
“Great,” Evelyn said. “But…”
Jordan continued, “But the second and third wave of the virus keeps kicking humanity in the gut. We’ve got to get it under control if we are going to have a chance.”
“We know, and we’re working on it,” Evelyn said. “That will be part of Ori’s update, along with the Singularity Group transition to Zach.”
Jessica sat up straight. This was the first time she’d heard Zach’s name in a while.
“All right, Tony, you’re up,” Evelyn said as Ori walked back into the room. “What do you have?”
“Starting with some administration, we are completely clear from the Singularity mission. Only our recruits and our contacts know we were there. If anyone finds us, they will need help and a lot of it.”
“Good,” Evelyn said.
“Our screens are on all major devices around the world. This covers smartphones, mobile phones, tablets, TVs, and computers. The good news is that we see what everyone in the world is paying attention to. The bad news is that there’s a lot of garbage being pumped into the minds of humanity.” Tony looked at Ori. “If they start slipping back into GP2, they’re in major trouble.”
“Yeah.” Ori sighed deeply. “We are working on it.”
The room was silent for a minute. “Aja,” Evelyn took command of the room. Everyone, including Ori, was focused.
Where does she come in?
“How’s she doing?” Tony asked.
“Not well,” Evelyn said. “I mean, her whole purpose is to protect all nonhuman life forms. She’s pleased with the progress Vau shared earlier but is concerned with the outlook. Her resources are stressed and stretched to the limits. Between deforestation, desertification, pollution, and population growth, Mother Earth is in a tenuous position. Aja and her team are doing everything they can, but they need more help. She’s worried that the forests can’t do everything—heal themselves and mitigate the virus. Getting her approval won’t be easy.”
“But our recruit is the best way now,” Ori said. “We can use him to jump-start things and put a couple of methods in play.”
“That will be important,” Evelyn said.
“We’ve got to go for it. There’s no way he alone, in his lifetime, is going to be able to convince a very skeptical population and mass-produce enough what, atomizers?” Ori said.
Evelyn pursed her lips. “I’ve been giving him some inspiration.”
“Even with that,” Ori continued, “time is limited, and scale and reach are the name of the game.”
“You’re right,” Evelyn said. “I’ll keep working on her and see what I can do.”
“Thank you,” Ori said.
“All right, you’re up,” Evelyn replied. “Bring the full team up to speed on the latest with the Zach situation and this recruit.”
Ori took a breath and looked around the table. “The bad news first. We weren’t able to correct the interference with Zach…”
“Just great,” Jordan interrupted, exasperated.
Tony almost simultaneously gave a sarcastic, “Fantastic.”
“Yet,” Ori looked at each of them as he finished his statement. “Gabriel and I have an arrangement that, once complete, should put all things back on track.”
“So what’s the plan with Zach out of play?” Vau asked.
“That’s a great question and leads me to my good news.” Ori turned his attention to the wall of screens that now together displayed one big image, a young black man with an earnest expression. “This is Malik. I’ve been priming him for a while now. Our sources close to him believe he has what it takes to go all the way.” Ori looked over to Jordan expectantly.
“I’ve checked him out,” she said. “He’s pretty solid.”
Evelyn spoke, “I’ve interacted with him a few times too. He’s brave and has a big imagination.”
Ori continued, “He has a solution at his fingertips, but some news just came in.”
“What?” Tony asked.
“Carlos just informed me that there’s been a request to make a move on him,” Ori said.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Tony said.
“What is wrong with Gabriel?” Jordan asked, her frown deepening.
“It’s not his fault,” Evelyn said.
Ori continued, “I made it clear when I spoke to him that we wouldn’t allow anymore interference.”
“Really?” Jordan’s voice raised an octave or two, her eyebrows raising with hope.
“Don’t get too excited,” Evelyn said. “We’ll address it in the council meeting first. We need to give Gabriel a chance to intervene.”
“You know he never does,” Vau said.
“We know,” Evelyn said, “but it’s a professional courtesy.”
“For now,” Ori looked at Tony, “you’re up.”
“Who am I?” Tony asked.
“You’ll be a worker,” Evelyn said. “Just keep eyes on him. Don’t intervene.”
“There will be plenty of eyes all around,” Ori said.
“Sounds good,” Tony said as he held up his wrist with his index finger and thumb in the ready position on the bezels. Jessica then realized that they all had the fancy skeleton watches with three bezels. “Where and when am I going?”
Jordan leaned over and pulled a business card out of her pocket. Jessica tried to read the details, but the numbers were too small. Jordan slid the card across the table to Tony. “That’s a safe entry point close to a trail. If you go at that time, no one will spot you.”
“Thanks,” Tony said as he referenced the card while adjusting the dials on his watch. “All right,” Tony said as he got up, “I’ll keep you posted.” Tony walked behind one of the sliding glass doors and out of sight.