There was an abrupt bang from the video view from Karen’s keyboard. Loud voices yelled in Lorannic, combined with the sounds of furniture being pushed around. Then the view rotated wildly as Karen’s keyboard was picked up. The window stabilized with an upside-down close-up of Marc’s face, livid with anger. He reached forward and the window abruptly went blank.

“An unfortunate turn of events. I expect our remote connection will shortly—” Before Sheldon could finish the sentence, Nat’s laptop screen went black except for the single message: “Connection terminated.”

“Well,” Nat said, “looks like I’m out of a job.”

“Why?” Patrick frowned.

“My fob was used to log into Marc’s account. Even if I report the fob lost, I’m toast.”

“What did you manage to get, Sheldon?” I asked.

“I’m evaluating. A lot of fairly pedestrian items, news reports and the like. Several files were only partially downloaded. But there’s also some very interesting data, such as many more names of collaborationists and blackmail victims.”

Nat clapped her hands and brightened up considerably. “Then it was worth it, at least. Let’s wait until you’ve sorted it out, then you can give us a summary.”

“Agreed. I’ll let you know when I’m ready. However … ” Sheldon, uncharacteristically, hesitated.

“What’s up, Sheldon?” Nat asked.

“The person at the other end of the phone. I assume you noticed that one of the Loranna had a call going? It was the individual at the other end who noticed the log-in, who found the video, and who suggested checking the keyboard.”

“Okay … they’re a smart Lorann?”

“Too smart. And too quick. And with immediate access to digital information.” Again, Sheldon paused. “It is just possible that the Loranna are using a conscious A.I.”

I sat in the conference room, fidgeting with my tablet without really seeing the screen. I’d tried going to my bunk, I’d tried watching some YouTube videos, but nothing was working. I simply couldn’t concentrate on anything but the suspense of waiting for whatever Sheldon was going to produce. I looked around at the others and saw the same anxiety on their faces.

Sheldon broke the silence. “I suppose you’re all wondering why—”

“Jesus, Sheldon,” Nat yelled. “Don’t you dare!”

“Hmph. That seemed like a natural. But very well. You are obviously on edge. All comfy? Anyone need to use the facilities?”

Natalie growled.

“Right. So, let’s start with the small stuff. There is a report of the incident in the administration offices. They identified Phil Ross—probably the same way you did, Natalie—but apparently dismissed Jack and Patrick as lackeys. An order was put out to an independent contractor to collect Mr. Ross and his two assistants for questioning, but it had not returned any results as of the time of the report.”