<Emergency meeting of the Council to review options to avoid imminent destruction of Hub Satellite Number 3 over Azerbaijan. The missiles that were launched by the insurgents in Pakistan are converging on the satellite’s orbit, as are the interceptors launched by Russia. At their current rate they will cross the satellite’s path at the same time that the Russian interceptors are timed to detonate and destroy the incoming HATF-VI missiles. We have only two options: destroy the missiles using the satellite’s onboard defensive lasers, while under the strict scrutiny of a significant number of human military satellites, radars, and observatories; OR accept the likely destruction of one of our four satellites.>

The room was hesitant, the risks of either scenario being equally profound. But Agent Lana spoke up, “This is too much, first the incident in India, then the discovery of the antigen in the human’s blood. Now we have lost contact with one of our own and are faced with this thinly veiled attack.

“Enough of this. It is clear to me that they must know we are here. I do not know how, but there are simply too many signs that they do. In light of that fact I move that we release the virus immediately. Even with the antigen in some of the humans it should still take a significant toll on them, and we can release the updated pathogen when it is ready in a few days and finish the job.”

The room was even more shocked by this blatant overreaction than it had been by the news the AI had delivered. The conversation was, as always, being conducted at machine speed, so even if they discussed their options for what seemed like several minutes, it would still only use a few seconds of the time left before the satellite entered the kill zone.

But as much as Lana may have finally seen through the counter conspiracy, her colleagues were not so keen to admit that they had been discovered by the humans. The debate went on. Without support for her more drastic response, Lana decided to at least second the AI’s motion that it be allowed to defend itself. Even if the room was not with her in her suspicions of the humans’ awareness, surely they were not ready to sacrifice one of their satellites to the increasingly unlikely position that their arrival on Earth remained a secret.

She was, in the end, very persuasive, and the room voted eventually to allow the satellite to defend itself. Except one. As the room came to what it thought was a consensus, Agent John Hunt’s avatar waited placidly, biding his time.

<Agent John Hunt, we have no vote from you. For an attack while under surveillance, our mission parameters dictate that we require full consensus. Please indicate your vote.>