<In order to counter the defensive cellular construct you have discovered, Agent Lana Wilson, we would need to perform a detailed chemical analysis on the cell’s structure and makeup. If the sample were on board one of our satellites we could accomplish this very easily, but as we have no practical method of getting a sample to us, we would need to take operational control of one of you on the surface and conduct the analysis remotely.>

Both John and Shahim immediately saw an opportunity to interrupt the operation and went to volunteer to be that proxy for the AI, but the arbiter was not looking for volunteers. It had an Agent in mind.

<As Agent Lana Wilson already has a sample of the cells in her possession, I can execute the tests as soon as she can get to an appropriate facility.>

Lana’s avatar looked disgruntled by the fact that she was to be a puppet of the AI, but she could hardly refuse. It had been her line of thought, after all. The AI’s disembodied voice continued with the counter proposal Lana had initiated.

<We have located a facility one hundred sixty-seven miles north of Agent Lana Wilson’s current location. It is a private medical research facility and relatively primitive, but according to its description in the company’s annual report it has all the tools we would need. We will need approximately three hours to conduct our tests once the sample is delivered to the facility. If this plan were to be approved by the Council, when would Agent Lana Wilson be ready to leave her current location?>

Princess Lamati thought a moment and then said, “I am officially on duty at the base until tonight at 6pm, I can leave any time after that.”

<In that event, we propose the motion that Agent Lana Wilson bring the blood sample to the facility we have identified. We will facilitate entry past the minimal security and then we will be able to use the body of Agent Lana Wilson as a proxy to conduct the necessary tests.>

That’s it, then, thought John, his personality reeling at how suddenly it had all come to a head. This was it. John knew perfectly well that the design he had supplied to Madeline and Ayala for the antigen was not inherently different from the one that coursed through the veins of every Mobiliei, just modified for the humans’ different bio-chemical makeup. Once it was properly analyzed by the AI it would not take long for the powerful machine mind to devise a way to circumvent it. After all, before it had even been released on back on Mobilius, every nation had already had their war departments working on ways to outwit it.