“Oh, yes. Yes, I’m fine.”

“You look pale. Are you sure you should have come back to work this soon? You haven’t been yourself all day.”

A wave of panic went flooding through Nicole. Shirley was a whiz on the computers and a steady and reliable Monitor, but definitely not one of Central Control’s more perceptive lights when it came to interpersonal relations and interactions. If Shirley had noticed her distracted state, she was flirting with disaster with the Major and Travis. The Major had interviewed her relentlessly when she came on shift. “Why did you come to the stadium out of uniform?” “Why were you going to resign?” “Why did you break off your engagement with Travis?” “What changed your mind about resigning?” “What if you falter in the Monitoring Room in the next crisis?” She had answered him honestly wherever possible, telling him everything except the decision to join Eric. She had satisfied him, and he agreed to allow her to continue as a monitor, but she knew she was on probation and would be watched closely.

Suddenly the public-address system blared out through the cafeteria, the feminine voice high-pitched and clearly excited. “Attention, all personnel. Attention, all personnel. We have a Stage One Alert. All personnel report to your duty stations immediately.”

“Stage One!” Shirley exclaimed as they both raced for the door. “That’s a full-scale emergency. What’s happening?”

It’s Eric! Nicole nearly shouted out loud, her heart soaring with relief. But she just shook her head quickly and broke into a trot toward the Central Monitoring room.

When they reached the room, Travis was already there, a phone in one hand, staring at the monitoring board above the blue-and-orange computer consoles. Three lighted panels were blinking brightly.

Three! Nicole stared. If they had removed three implantations at the same time, they’d be slowed down considerably and highly vulnerable to capture.

And then, even as she slid into her chair, the big board clanged sharply and a fourth set of flashing letters began to wink on and off.

WARNING! WARNING! WRIST COMPUTER 116543, DONALD LEON BROWNLEY, HAS BEEN SEVERED. TERMINATION VOLTAGE SEQUENCE NOW INITIATED. DONALD LEON BROWNLEY IS NO LONGER READABLE VIA WRIST COMPUTER.

“Four now!” Travis shouted into the phone, then spun around to Shirley and Nicole. “Eric’s back. They’ve removed four implantations. Nicole, I need a tracking on where they were when the wrist computers were severed.”

“Right.” Her fingers began to fly across the terminal keyboard.

“Shirley,” Travis barked, “pull up personal data files on each of these people and stand by.”

“Yes, sir.”