ShipTeaser

  “This is going to cause problems.” Adam decred, looking at the intelligence reports ing in from a. “Vio, do we have the test satellite images?”

  His Afri-Ameri under-secretary, sharply dressed in an expensive skirt suit, handed him a series of images, detailing ges in several key locations over time. Adam ied them, his expression growing strained. “The numbers here… they seem problematic. What’s worse…” he sighed. “This bears out everything I feared. What do you make of it?”

  “Me?” she asked, surprised. Behind them, the TV was on, and one of the didates for President was making a speech te rally of cheering followers, wearing hats and blowing horns. “You want my opinion, sir?”

  “Of course. You are my right-hand woman, my Interrogator.” He decred, and Vio rolled her eyes at his words.

  “I’ve told you, sir, best keep that game talk to yourself. It’ll lower the dignity of your position.” Even so, she took back the dots, as well as looking at further information dispyed on her puter monitor, the images, from America’s most powerful high-orbit spy satellites, surprisingly grainy and low-res, with a series of strange, unexpined distortions blotting out parts of the images.

  “It’s just us here, Vio. o be so tense.” He persisted. “Now, assess the intelligeell me what you see.” The same thing I did, I have no doubt. If the purge has resulted in this, spread so far, then not just a will be destabilised. Our is in the Pacific region are in danger…

  “It looks like the Port of Suzhou has bee a small battlefield.” She said, puzzled. “We already had indications that the CCP was dug houseing…”

  “Call it what it is, a purge.” Adam interrupted.

  “A purge.” She corrected sourly. “But this is far beyond that. Initial images seem to show…” the first set of pictures were signifitly sharper, showing much more detail. “… dissident groups, these so-called Sects, being chased out en masse. Although…” she mused, and as she thought, Adam admired her insights. Yes, Vio has the drive it takes to succeed. She’s the sort of woman we need iroubling times. Her only issue is that she’s rather too soft, especially for these unique ges…

  Keeping his face impassive, he watched as she tio expin. “… a has no she of people, so I suppose several hundred deserters is hardly much of the whole. Anyway… these images…” she moved to the set. “…show the People’s Liberation Army offensive, and several warehouses, some of the dofrastructure, and more, destroyed in the firefight.” Smoke was obsg the images, but Ameri teology was still able to get a rgely clear view, which made the degradation in image quality that followed even more puzzling.

  “It bees hard to make out…” Vio sighed. “I would say it should be impossible, but I’ve seeails on the Vermillion list.” Her mind was w, trying to uand the impossible. “If there was a bck cat with the ability to fouronic surveilnce, or… no, that makes no sense, why would they have such a power?”

  “I think you are along the right lihough I don’t think it’s anything to do with eleics.” No, that would be too simple. And sidering the other things we’ve seen and learned…

  “So, let me get this straight. You are saying it’s some sort of obfuscation, that even works oellites high above that they don’t even know are watg?” she said, incredulously.

  “Is that any strahan some of the other abilities we’ve observed?” Adan replied. “But yes, you are correct. It’s some sort of stealth-type power, makiion problematic. But do the best you . We’ll have to ruhrough AI algorithms and noise-celling programs to see if we sharpen the images. Teology won’t be defeated so easily.”

  “Hmm, well…” she mused. “It looks as though the PLA fractured, some units rebelling and siding with the dissidents. I’m seeing dead soldiers as well as the rebels. These look to be burned out APC’s and tanks, and here… a downed helicopter? It’s amazing they mao cover this up…”

  “Yes, us developed natioainly should envy that.” It isn’t just us in need of that. Reports from our remaining buried operatives in Japan are saying something big went down there with far-reag sequences. I have agents on it, trying to gather as much data as we …

  “This st shot…” Vio said, pointing to ohat was most obscured. “Are they… ships? An oil tanker, and smaller vessels. Looks like this one is destroyed, but the others…” her eyebrows rose in surprise. “So, it looks like a number of the dissidents and rogue PLA units mao escape to sea? How? That makes no sehey’d be sitting ducks for attack helicopters, fighter jets and cruisers.”

  “Yes, but only if they find them. Think about it. That’s our st image.” Adam coached her, leadiowards the clusion, and she didn’t disappoint, quickly reag the same idea as he had.

  “I see! So whatever power they used shields them from dete. Perhaps even from physical vision?”

  “I ’t be certain, but it seems the most likely solution. Well, the worst case, which we have to pn for anyway, is different. If the ese did mao find the ships and sink them, drowning all the fleeing cats, well, problem solved, right? But if they evaded dete, then there are several hundred of these sects as well as an ierminate number of bck cats with unknown powers, other thaion obscuration, as well as rogue elements of the PLA with various armaments, who are heading for destinations unknown.”

  “I know you’ve been bringing irusted aed ese-Ameris who work for the FBI, CIA and over branches, aing them to researg ese myths and stories. Do you really think they have them? Cultivators? How would it be kept secret? It’s as stupid as saying that we mao keep an alien that crashed at Roswell secret all these years.” She looked at the TV where the rally was heating up. “They think Govers are that effit? We have more leaks, hostile briefings and self-sabotage every day.” Her snort was bitter. “There are prizes for the first to demonstrate magical powers all over the world. Tens of millions of dolrs. Surely someone would have broke ranks before now. It makes no sense.”

  “Well, while we like to think the world operates on logid people are rational, it’s obvious they aren’t. It’s why people like us are needed. In the shadows, making the hard, terrible choices so that the i sleep at night, safe and sheltered.” He went to his et, admiring the ly painted figures within. “Well, whoever wins this Presidential race, they are in for one hell of a treat, dealing with this mess.” He sighed. “So far, we’ve had the ability to ha however we wanted. We are hardly the only institution to… fet… to report to the sitting President. Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t care who wins the ele, I have little i iher the House is Red or Blue. No, I care about getting a handle on this situation, before we let the man in the Oval Office, whoever it might be, make a mess.”

  “I think you should take more of an i.” Vio shook her head, drumming her perfectly manicured nails on the desk. “After all, what if he wins again? If he finds out you kept him in the dark, you’ll be repced. He be quite a vindictive man, so it seems.”

  “Let him try. This is my department, I built it from scratch, and I have allies in all the encies, even if we csh with some, like Chris from the FBI. Besides, our rival didate is hardly likely to approve of the as we’ve taken, anyway. One is as much as good as the one are the days when the President was a lion, powerful and dignified. But we work with what we have. Back to your earlier point, before we got side-tracked, I think we are looking at it from a very Ameri perspective. Which makes sense, but it’s a fw.” No, we o widen our visiohings from their eyes. Hands behind his back, Adam paced the office, expining.

  “These Cultivator Sects, if they truly exist, they are likely akin tion, just without Gods. A cult iruest sense. Loyalty to secred their fellow members would be so ingrained, I’m not surprised there are no breaches. And others…” he pulled a file, detailing their information on Japan. “… again, it seems that it is mostly religious or semi-religious types that have these powers. And they seem to be trivial, at least up until a few months ago. Sure, you could demonstrate the power to create a small fme, entle breeze, and perhaps make some money, at the cost of betraying your pride and possibly even faith. But… think about it? Imagine what would happen if Christina Bakker found out?” That madwoman is a great stist, but she’s not someoo trust. It’s always bad taste to refer to the sins of the past, but she would have fit in nicely with some of history’s more… bsphemous and abominable… doctors and stists.

  Vio seemed to share his view on her, as she shuddered. “It doesn’t bear thinking about. She’d be happy enough to dissect a person to find out what made them different, and wouldn’t take no for an answer. I see. Revealing a trivial miracle would just draw in those that seek to uand or exploit it. Wealth is unimportant when one’s life and liberty is at stake.”

  “You get it.” He agreed, pleased at his protegee’s progress. “Even so, I suspect there have been some prepared to break their silence over the years. But I wouldn’t be surprised if the groups involved silehem. Impriso, or likely worse. The on thread is that the majority seem to be religions, cultures roups that go back fifteen hundred or more years.”

  “Well, we are at a disadvahen.” Vio mused. “Our native culture was rather oppressed, and few remain that practise the old ways.”

  “Yes, tries such as those in the Far East, as well as some European and South Ameri cultures have us beat in that regard. Well, I’m reag out to our Native cousins, of course, but I’m not having much success. Perhaps in time… Well, we are rather off-topic. We have to assume that the dissidents will escape ese sure and make ndfall somewhere else. Notify South Korea, Japan, and the Philippihey are the most likely destinations. They’d be uo risk turning south-west to reach Vietnam or Cambodia, there’s too much of a military presence around Taiwan and Hong Kong, and sailing north past Japan towards Russia, while not impossible, seems improbable.”

  “Japan? sidering how frosty our retions have bee…” Vio posited, but he shook his head.

  “All the more reason to offer this little helping hand. Besides, you should be aware that our allies won’t abandon decades of co-operation over such… is.” Adam disagreed. “You knoe are taking the as we are, Vio. You’ve risen to my under-secretary precisely because you have the resolve to do what o be done, right?”

  “Yes, but…” she looked again at the TV. “Seeing all the campaigning, the speeches, the rallies, the cheering crowds, it makes me worry what we are doing is un-Ameri. What will history make of us, Director?”

  “I would be happy if there was any history at all.” Adam sighed, o look at his figurines before opening the ptop taining the Vermillion list. With a fes, he opened up the details of one new addition, though the data was mostly missing, no photograph, or even a name.

  ame: Midas. Priority Rank: Vermillion Threat Rank: Unknown/Indigo.

  “That’s…” Vio began, havihe newly obtained reports. “… he really turn normal items into gold? It seems like a fairy-tale.”

  “Well, pared to what we’ve seen, this is nothing. It’s all jecture, it could be a wonderfully clever hoax, but the timing is just too perfeo, I have an instinct for these things, as do you. Admit it, you fear it’s true.”

  “Yes, my gut says that Midas exists.” Vio agreed heavily.

  “Well, you know what’s at stake then. Look. Let me tell you a story.”

  “Not another one from your wargame?” she asked, and he ughed.

  “Trust me. There’s a lot of truth in this universe. It may be a dark mirror to ours, but a dark mirror still reflects some light. After all, most politis are useless, causing more trouble than they solve, leaving those repared to get their hands dirty and their souls staio do what o be done, in the shadows, their only thanks often sure or worse.” Fortuhe heads of the majencies are better than the High Lords of Terra.

  “Director, you aren’t thinking that…” she began, but Adam ughed her s off.

  “No, I’m not pnning on going to prison after this mess is over. But, some would definitely see our as as unstitutional, so there’s always a risk. So, to preface my story, how much gold does the US hold in our reserves at the moment?”

  “Four hundred ay billion dolrs at current rates, right?” Vio answered, before realising. “If gold could be created from nothing, then the reserves are worthless! It would create pani the iional markets…”

  “In the Great Depression, hoeople died from suicide or poverty?” Adam asked, and she realised his point. “Even if Midas isn’t real, or is responsible, not misusing this ability, ohe possibility exists of unlimited gold, the price will still crash, iional markets will tank, eic chaos will drive the world to recession… and that’s just one of these bck cats.”

  “I see. We already worried about the prospect of assassination of key figures worldwide, but the scale is much bigger.” Vio quickly realised. “Wait, if gold be created out of anything, is that all?”

  Good. I knew my faith in you isn’t mispced. “Yes. What if it wasn’t just gold, but any element? Worse. What about isotopes? If powers interfere with high-orbit satellites, it isn’t too much of a stretch to assume that it could create pure Uranium-235 or Plutonium. Imagi. Dictators the world over, Terrorist groups, even ridividuals with ao grind, able to make lethal dirty bombs, or even proper nuclear ons. Hell, it’s probably more pusible to assume that someone could modify simple viruses such as the on cold, giving it lethality.”

  “It’s a frightening thought. But I don’t see how we stop it. There are just too many variables.” Vio worried.

  “It’s simpler than it seems. Anyway, the story.” He opehe et, retrieving several of his miniatures. “You know, this reminds me very much of psykers.”

  “Psykers? Mame talk?” Vio sighed.

  “Yes. But you’d be surprised at the parallels. Well, just sider them as magic users, psychics that have real power, though the power es from another world, the , where dark gods dwell and spiritual creatures rule.”

  “That does sound ominously simir.” Vio agreed.

  “I knht? Well, from what we have gathered, the world we have gained is hardly so dark, though we are still far from uanding even a fra of all there is to know. Anyway, nobody wants to be a psyker, but when they are, they gai power. But that power es with dao those around them. I won’t expin iail…”

  “Thank God, when you start going you go on forever…” Vio sighed.

  “… but for the good of those around them, these psykers have to be… dealt with. It’s a dirty, thaask, but to preserve the wellbeing of billions, a few, a handful, i or not, o be sacrificed.”

  “I get that. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Everything in life is a series of hard choices. I khat when I took this job.” Vio agreed. “Even so, it isn’t like we just get rid of them all, we? All the information we are gathering seems to point to a greater disaster ing, any number of them. I wish we had more information, but so far we have a lot of gaps.”

  “Yes, it’s why I’m rather ahat Japanese guy got away. It seems like he has a lot of information. We dropped the ball on that one. And things seem to be rather… curious… in Japan right now. Well, no matter. Yes, you make a good point, Vio. And back to psykers… well, some few were brought into the fold, strained and made safe. By cruel methods, admittedly. But to draarallel, we have those that we’ve brought under our trol, good citizens and fn volunteers…” his lips twisted at that euphemism. “… alike.” He scrolled through the Vermillion list, looking at numerous profiles. “It would be easy if we could just get rid of them all. Some would scream that is a tragedy, researchers and stists like good Ms. Bakker.” He shrugged. “And I do see it. Many problems pguing modern sce could be revolutionised. But at what cost?”

  “But you ’t, you?” Vio pressed. “It would be impossible to find and dispose of all of them.”

  “Not necessarily. Here’s the thing.” Adam disagreed. “There is clearly a finite number of the bck cats. Everyone we’ve questioned admits to having their meeting with whatever being grahem their powers at almost exactly the same date. Well, there’s a day or two of difference, but that’s within the margin of error. While I ’t exactly rule out a sed wave, I’m fident that those out there are all we’ll have.”

  “Yes, though there’s a fw in that, right? I have the report here somewhere…” Vio went to her desk, and after a while, produced a thick report triumphantly. “We even have updates from a few days ago. It’s that Double Vermillion guy again, the Japanese one. Apparently he grant powers to others. That throws off your calcutions, right? And I don’t thihe only ohere’s that one in India who has just e across our radar, right? And what of these ese sects?”

  Once more impressed by her knowledge and reasoning, Adam inwardly appuded her. “All true, but you are missing the key point. It seems that all of these artificially created bck cats pale in parison to the cats themselves. Though I fess, I’m ied. A way to create super-soldiers, without the more problematic aspects, might be just what we hough it’s not a call I make alone, of course. No, my job is to make sure all the cats in the USA are under our trol, and iionally… well, there’s the rub, isn’t it?”

  “Calling it the rub uates the mess with Japan.” Vio protested.

  “I think you are missing the bigger picture.” Adam expined, enjoying the bad-forth with his fiery under-secretary. It takes my mind off the task at hand for a while. “sider each of the cats as a powerful doomsday on. Well, taking from our enemies or destroying their ons… that’s on sense, right? And does it really matter if we worsen our retions with our enemies anyway? If we have more power, they ’t do much except howl and bite impotently. As for our allies… yes, I uand your s. Japan, Britain, France, Germany, South Korea… we’ve been active in every sphere, though we’ve not been caught red-handed like we were in Japan. Allies today could be eomorrow, but more importantly… look at Japaions are tense, but we still need each other. Japan is hardly going to side with our enemies over a handful of doomsday ons, are they? Are they going to embrace a because of our meddling?”

  “No. they wouldn’t.” Vio agreed, thoughtfully. “But, even so, co-operation seems less likely.”

  “Bigger picture, Vio. Bigger picture. These doomsday ons aren’t repceable as far as we tell, sure, a few make lesser repts, but that won’t cut it, not if the uping magical disaster that we ’t even imagine es true. So long as we hold all, or even most of the ons that remain…” he put back the figures, smiling softly at them. “… well, what choice do they have? We paid our due. Every life has a price, sadly. Even ours. If whoever wins the race decides I have to be the scapegoat for our deeds, well, I’ll take the fall. I have no iion of that happening, but sidering who is running, I ’t rule it out. If so…” he poio the ptop. “… I want to put us in an unassaible position first. And while Gina, Chris and the others might take issue with some of my methods, they know in their hearts that letting those such as this Midas, Akio from Japan, the King of the Faves, and any number of potential disasters, run free, is far more dangerous than any potential political fallout that be managed by money and other cessions.”

  “I uand.” Vio nodded, her expression bitter but resolute. “Even so, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Among them, there are no doubt many who don’t deserve this. Everyone deserves freedom and liberty. I mean, you’ll get some that say these powers are just a further expression of the right to bear arms, right?”

  “Yes, but most people don’t have potential access to nuclear ons, do they? If they did, and one pissed off person could turn a city to gss, they’d soon ge their tune.” It was hyperbole, and it might never e to pass, but some were clearly growing in strength. I have to pn for the worst, not the best. It’ll be too te for tears when a city burns. That’s why I’ll harden my heart, do what o be done. Ruthless, cruel. Perhaps even evil. The history books will say all that of me and more. But I hope they say pragmatic too.

  “Yes, I get it. I do.” Vio drummed her nails on the desk again, as she did when thinking deeply itated. “Even so, I wish there was a better way. Sacrifig the few for the many, while logical and perhaps even moral, it… sits badly with me.”

  “With us all.” Adam agreed. “Well, perhaps one of our cats holds the key. Some powers are too dangerous to let exist, even in the hands of a saint, but there must be those we use to strain and secure. Well, if that’s all, you’d better get on the phone. We need our diplomats to pass on the information about the ese dissidents. We o mend some burned bridges.”

  “Of course. I’ll get on it right away.” As Vio left with the dots reting to the ese purge and insurre, Adam found his gaze going back to the ptop that held the Vermillion list. I ’t help but feel we are only scratg the surface. Knowledge, we hat more than anything. If only we didn’t screw the pooch with our capture attempt on Akio Moonstone Oshiro… well, no use menting. Done is done. Now the question is… do we try again? If we fail a sed time, our retions with Japan will be damaged massively. Or we could try for a trade, information for informatioher way, it would be costly. And my capital to duternational operations has beeed. I’d o get support from the others…

  Grabbing the remote trol, he turned off the TV, muting the Presidential hopeful. “Well, the path to victory here is a narrow one. My only sotion is that a, Japan and other tries seem to be struggling just as much as we are…”

  ShipTeaser