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2179 ACE, in ORD/City One
Rustaad burst into SEOH’s office, screaming, “We’re under attack.”
“What the—” SEOH had just walked around his desk to go to the BIRG Con. He’d planned to show up late enough to send the message that all others wait on him.
“The MystiKs are ripping apart our laser curtains. They’re looking for the source of what’s making some of their people sick.”
“Then turn the furkken thing up to high!” SEOH shouted. “Why do I have to tell you that?”
Rustaad sounded like a vicious attack dog, snarling, “I did turn it up. The grid is failing. I think the Hy’bridts are interfering.”
SEOH’s assistant Leesa flashed into his office as a hologram. “The Hermes II Explorer has exploded, SEOH. ANASKO’s research center foundation is being rocked by something with the seismic power of an earthquake.” She disappeared.
Rustaad’s tan skin lost its vitality, turning an unhealthy pallid shade. “That’s no earthquake. It’s the MystiKs. What are we going to do? The leaders are on the way here for you. Now!”
Those MystiKs wanted a war? He’d give them one.
SEOH pulled himself under control. He told Rustaad in a deadly calm voice, “How fast can you inject the K-Virus into our host body and send him back with a message to destroy all the MystiK eggs now?”
“I can have him launched through our time travel portal in three minutes, then it depends on how quickly Brown and Maxwell execute your orders.”
That would run it to the minute for the official start of the BIRG Con. Brown knew that SEOH expected his orders executed immediately. SEOH smiled. He told Rustaad, “Do it.”
Then SEOH rushed back to his desk and called up his monitor. Two holographic displays jumped into place.
Rustaad was on his communicator ordering the injection of the unaware TecKnati scout SEOH had chosen to be the incubator for the K-Virus. When Rustaad finished the call, he stepped over to stand at the side of SEOH’s desk. “What are you doing?”
“Closing the last transender site in the Sphere.”
“What? Your son is there.”
“If he’d gotten the computer, he might have had a value to me.”
“But why are you shutting down the transender?”
“Preventing a backlash of astronomical proportions.” SEOH typed faster.
“We’re facing war breaking out any second, SEOH. I’m betting the Hy’bridts have figured out we have those kids imprisoned somewhere. We need to be strategizing how to face the leaders and diffuse this.”
SEOH ground out a scoffing sound. “Am I the only one who believes in the superiority of technology? The only one who realizes that we have more power than they do?”
Rustaad shouted, “If this goes to war, the destruction will be catastrophic. They will tear apart our cities.”
“Only if they have all their soldiers and right now, we’ve got a major chunk of their MystiK power sitting in the Sphere. Remove that from the equation and we have the edge.” SEOH continued tapping on the screen closest to him.
“What are you doing?”
SEOH waited for the last code to appear on screen then tapped in the other half that would begin the sequence. He did that and hit “Enter,” then turned to Rustaad. “I’m ending project Komaen Sphere. In three minutes, the Sphere and all those furkken kids will be history.”
