Shig pursed his lips, still working his mouth with the taste of the wine. Then he said, “I can only think of one place where those kinds of equipment might be found. I would assume that you have been in contact with the Maritime Unit? Is there something more than the sick children that’s gone wrong out there?”

“Children? As in plural?”

“All of them, from my understanding. And then there was the murder.”

Kalico stiffened. “What murder? I’ve had Tallia O’Hanley monitoring the PA and hospital bandwidths. She said there’s been nothing broadcast, and they sure as hell haven’t answered any query I’ve sent their way. So, spill it.”

“Ah.” Shig nodded. “As I understand it, they’re using their own hospital frequency for privacy. You might wish to inquire more of Raya, but apparently all of the children are showing signs of infection from some sort of single-cell-based organism. Some of the children are turning green, some exhibit neck swellings, and most troubling of all, one little boy appears to have somehow murdered and then dissected one of the adults. Their clinician was wondering if it could be TriNA taking possession of the child’s cognitive abilities.”

“Pus in a bucket, why haven’t I heard of any of this?” But she knew. She’d been too damned busy with the disaster at Corporate Mine. That and her insane obsession with Dek and Talina. As black as her mood had been before, she really wanted to kick herself now.

“There is more. According to Raya, some sort of slime has crept into the submerged bay and apparently eaten two people.” Shig played with his wine. “I don’t know any more than that.”

“Slime?” Kalico asked.

Shig hunched his shoulders. “You now know as much as I do. Raya said she thought they were all coming apart out there, that the communications have been getting more and more strained.”

Kalico accessed her com, asking, “Hospital please. Raya Turnienko.”

“Roger that.” Two Spot’s voice answered.

Kalico waited, sharing glances with the curious Shig for close to thirty seconds.

“Turnienko here, Supervisor. What can I do for you?”

“You’ve been in contact with the Maritime Unit. Shig tells me that they’ve had a murder? A couple of people eaten by slime? Kids infected with TriNA? That it sounded like things were falling apart?”

“Roger that. I assumed you were in the loop. They asked for a secure frequency to protect patient privacy.”

“Negative on the loop. But that’s about to change. And this time they don’t have a say in it. Anything you can add to that?”

“Just that they haven’t answered my inquiries for the last couple of hours. Either no one’s in the com center, they’ve decided not to respond, or they’ve shut down com for some reason.”