She told him about her role in the Firm. He had utter trust in her ability to know her job and to make sure that he would be as safe as she could make him. He marvelled at her sureness, her sheer talent for her work, her knowledge of the communications industry and her understanding of people. Her deftness of mind matched her physical strength. She was complete. He marvelled also at the strength of the security organisation she headed. Its intricacies and its connections. Her spies were truly everywhere. Like a spider at the centre of a vast web she had at her disposal a huge network of information about each employee of JNO the Firm was so sensitive about secrecy that no one it touched was without the most thorough screening. n.o.body was above suspicion. Even Penny and Ric were under surveillance. Alexander was surprised to learn from her that he too was on her net. He was surprised to hear her say that his DNA pattern was of great interest to her. He wanted to enquire further but her regard made him desist.

In the back bed-room upstairs, Alexander was not surprised to find a series of computer consoles like those at Markham. Marina's search of the data bases containing all the serial numbers of all the computers sold in the last ten years soon established that the source of the computer terminal of the hacker was in a machine owned by the Fourth World Software Company of Tuba City Arizona. She knew nothing of this company, other than it was a small subsidiary of Biteasy, Ric Trefoil's outfit. She thrust a print-out under his nose. - it read: Fourthworld: Subsid:Biteasy Corporation Profits for benefit of Navajo Nation Gift of Richard Trefoil, President Biteasy.

MD - Dr Manuelito (Manny) Kanuho.

'See, the hacker used a machine purchased by the 'Fourthworld' Company.' He wondered if she was being deliberately sarcastic. Their relationship, if that was what it could now be called, appeared to be characterised by a trace of mockery in her tone. Not that he minded very much. He was too grateful to let a little derision cause any problems.

'So?'

'So, that's the target. We, rather you, have to find out who in Fourthworld is trying to get into GAIANET and why. We also need to know what they got for their pains and we've got to stop them. Actually, it's your job to find this guy and get the facts out of him. It's probably a bloke, there aren't many women that motivated by boys' toys to work as hard as is needed to get into computer hacking.'

Alexander's first internal response was the question he was now unable to get out of his mind. 'Why me?' He really knew this was not a question Marina was able to answer any better than himself. Not long ago he would have asked the question out loud. Now, since his conversations with Hep and the various mind-melds he had experienced on the 'sphere, his mission now, although still unclear had begun. He would learn on the way. At least he was beginning to like the power he felt through the 'sphere. The son of Zeus had a right to be part of all this. Had he not been trained by Nemmi for this very reason? He had to venture in this new realm without fear and to use its powers to help the Earth, without which there would be no future for his fellow mortals. Distracted by the sheer pleasure of doing anything with Marina he was happy to spend the next few hours planning their journey to Arizona and he antic.i.p.ated spending the next several days in her company, whatever the nature of his mission might turn out to be.

Book 2.

Chapter 1.

On the 89th floor of the JNO building in New York Zeus was sitting with his favourites among the Named. There was Hera, being sweetly imperious, Athena was serious, Prometheus, as usual was a bit aloof, Mnemosyne was calm, Themis was at her ease. Hephaestos was a bit on edge and the ubiquitous Pan was in a world of his own. The room, or more truly the 's.p.a.ce', they occupied resembled a sunlit grove of olive trees, their leaves shivered green and silver in the smallest of delightful breezes. Pan basked in the sunlight at some way away from the rest of the company. He lay on his back on a large, smooth stone by the banks of a quickly running stream where his interest was taken up by the activities of several naked nymphs playing in and out of a curtain of drooping willow fronds trailing in the sparkling jewel of a pretty pool.

Zeus, was talking animatedly to his audience. A fact which did not prevent his own interest in Pan's nymphs and he frowned when the demi-G.o.d rose to his bandy legs and obscured his line of vision. He indicated enough disapprobation to the little man to make him feel uncomfortable and he moved to give his master a clear view. His flow continued none-the-less.

'...the trouble with His Oneness, is that He gave up on the Great Mother Gaia and led mortals to disregard Her. What He calls 'Transcendence'. I call cutting the ap.r.o.n strings too far. He's too self-contained, He thinks He's started something new by stationing Himself beyond the real world in some kind of Heaven where no one can ever be sure of going. For reasons quite beyond me He reckons heaven to be beyond the beauty of those nymphs there and this glade.'

He gestured widely with his hand. 'Pannie - get out the way, I can't see for your ugly hide!'

Hera smiled ruefully to herself and Athena deliberately turned her back on the view and him.

'Now what can be better than this?' he continued in parenthesis, unabashed. 'Gaia provides all without question. All she asks in return is to be cared for and what gifts she gives!' He paused to beam benevolently at his companions and continued. 'This despoliation is all his fault. This G.o.d of Heaven with no Earthly ancestors, no mother nor father anyone can discover. We live on Earth with our mortals. What good is Heaven to them? They really believe in me....er....in us. It's just that they've forgotten us, but we're still there, in their collective unconscious, despite Yahweh and His brilliant Son idea. That was the cleverest trick of the lot. Just when I thought they would see through Him, and leave Him to get forgotten among those desert wanderers in the East, He played His trump card and reincarnated Himself as a human. It was a clever stroke I grant you. He started mortals off on their dangerously wrong track by making His inaccessibility tangibly human to make it seem He was really accessible to them. Stole my thunder so as to speak. I wish I'd thought of it first. Then so much time wouldn't have been lost. Still even I can't think of absolutely everything. Now-a-days the notion of Yahweh's Son is the only myth of any substance they've got left, even if they're still not quite sure what it means any more. They've spent so much time repressing their connections with the Earth, their real Mother, to follow this great Masculine Authoritarian, they've completely forgotten Her. He's taken Her into Himself, as if She belonged inside Him alone. The Great All-In-One! Thou shalt have no other G.o.ds before Me! One G.o.d fits all!....Bah!'

At this, he rose from his languid reclining position and paced up and down punching his mighty fore-finger into the air. Dark clouds appeared on the horizon, causing consternation in the weather forecasting department. Rain wasn't expected at all for several days.

'Well...the point is not even their highest of high priests through history have been unable to transcend the Earth. Mortals are rooted in the Earth whatever other gloss they like to put on it. They've even made poor old Hades take the blame for their failure to live up to Yahweh's needs. Turned him into a monster, a devil. Well I know better. Secretly, mortals prefer us. They get no prophetic harangues from us, eh? No 'thou shalt nots' from the top of Olympus! No nailing up, no mortifying of the flesh from the Thunderer!'

He lay back and mused more to himself than the others who, though bored, knew better than to interrupt or leave abruptly from this impromptu board meeting.

'I know at times I'm a bit irrational, can get a bit out of hand - not without being provoked mind you!'

He held Hera's gaze for a moment as he spoke, 'I know what He wants though,' he glanced triumphantly at the others. 'Don't you think I don't! He's spent ages trying to get the better of me. You all thought He'd won, eh? Didn't you? Admit it, you did! Even I had my doubts, I might not have said much about it but you all thought I'd given up the battle didn't you? After Hypatia, the last true pagan of Europa, there was no one left who was really on my side. So I laid low. We all did. Well, things have moved on too far now. Things have gone past a simple choice between Him and me. The irony is that mortals think we're both dead. Now we're both gone, both conceptions are irrelevant. Even His Son of G.o.d myth has almost faded from them and Gaia is paying the ultimate price without a useful myth to guide them.'

He laughed until the leaves shook on the trees and the wind gathered up again in the Atlantic. He relaxed, and the previously fine weather returned as suddenly as it went. His gales of laughter had turned to gentle chuckles as he enjoyed the joke he was playing on humanity.

'They rejected us because we are too close to Gaia. They preferred His One-Ness so they could ignore Her needs and chase His impossible heavenly dreams; and now look at them. They're destroying Her and have betrayed Him and all of us too. So now they're on their own and they'll just have to sort it out for themselves; and...' he exhaled loudly. 'They need me to make them to do it. That's the best joke of all. I'm the one who has given them this one chance. I, not Him, because He cares about them only when they believe in Him. He thinks I don't understand all this. Transubstantiation - you what! Maybe they've lost both of us, but I've got the last laugh. Gaia listens to me and she's the key to everything. Mind you, Yahweh did some pretty clever things with the Chronosphere, I'm grateful to him for that. I mean He's pretty good at some things, I have to admit that. When I was having trouble getting people to think ahead, instead of just about the cyclical rhythm of the seasons, He came and stretched time to infinity...both ways.'

He stopped, if the others were bored, he was testing his position, and in his quixotic way, he knew they would not tell him to shut up.

Hera reached for his hand and held it gently against her bosom. 'My Lord, I thank you for your great insight into the way of things. You know we here love mortals as we love ourselves. Like you we regret their mortality but know it cannot be otherwise and we thank you for the chance you have given them through this boy and his mother,'she sighed. 'But it goes slowly my love. The boy is being instructed. Mnemosyne has given him remembrance. Themis gives direction and Hephaestos is his strong right arm. He has the woman whom Prometheus taught, at his side. I take care of his mother's fears and surround him with our aid. Our allies wait for him on the 'sphere. He learns of the 'sphere and the mesh of time, slowly, but with interest and with less fear. He knows of his task and starts to believe in himself. Penelope is well ahead with her plan and the human 'sphere is nearly in her control. The boy will seek Hades for us if he is not stopped first. There are rumblings on the Chronosphere, but you know of these, you hear them doubtless as we do.

'Good, it is good,' and as if suddenly bored with business he shouted across to Pan at the lakeside.

'But what of you Pan, my skittish goat, what do you do in this for me?' He rose from his couch and walked over to where Pan was sitting cross legged on the bank ogling the nymphs, some of who were behaving quite wantonly.

'You like my nymphs Master, Hera will chastise you with jealousy and send flies to bite you.' With this retort he laughed and danced in circles around his Mighty Lord.

'Not for nymphs. And anyway,' he continued a little sheepishly. 'A little chastis.e.m.e.nt is worth it my dancing boy, making up with Hera is... ' and remembering his dignity he stopped being jollied along by the goatish manikin.

'Enough!' The nymphs stopped their cavorting at the voice of the great Lord and became bashfully respectful.

'Off with you!' bellowed His Thunderousness, and laughed uproariously.

'Respectful nymphs are no use to us, eh Pannie? I'll be back later for you all, later when I'm free of business. Get off with you now! - Eh Pannie, you and me - a bit of a frolic later.' He said this latter under his breath. In truth Hera did feel a twinge of jealousy but had long ago taken little notice of these harmless peccadillo's.

Until Penny, Her Lord's philandering had created no dynastic or human consequences and had confined himself in the recent past mainly to smaller lapses, which she disliked but had not the energy to prevent. The conceiving of Alexander was another order of behaviour, in which he had not indulged since around the time of Io. Nothing he did with humans or other G.o.ds was without meaning. It always somehow drove things onwards. His purposes were not always clear, but he always made something change and always caused everyone considerable trouble before equilibrium was re-established.

'So Pannie come here and tell us of your part.' Pannie waved off the nymphs and did as he was bid. He sat by Themis and hugged his knees. While he played the fool with all of them, the licence they gave him did not stretch to disrespect.

'My role dear friends, is to play base fiddle to your airy strains. Alexiki is a good lad, a bit grave and too inclined to inaction for my liking, but has his heart in the right place. Themis here is a responsible sister,' he said sarcastically putting his head back and grinning broadly at her. 'Meanwhile Prometheus' trainee, that Marina, has him well grasped and I keep a close eye on them both. I will be near them at all times, I think he likes me and I know he likes her and I like watching them. She's quite a nymph master, this Marina. Quite a nymph!

He was startled as Themis pushed him away from her in disgust and he rolled away from her chuckling to himself.

'Are things ready to begin?' Zeus asked Hera.

'The strings are being drawn in My Devotion.'

'Good, all is under way.' He rose and beckoning Athena to support him, went off with her. Deep in conversation they left the scene.

Elsewhere on the Chronosphere things were buzzing. Chronowatchers who tried really hard and lived on L3 for prolonged periods, could detect unwonted activity in various quarters. But it was tedious work. Most of the activity was humdrum in the extreme. G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses of all persuasions had always used the 'sphere, to hob-n.o.b and gossip. Not since the business of Yahweh's own special version of the old story of the virgin birth had there been much happening of any note. The battles of the t.i.tans and the Olympians had been the previous event of greatest moment, but in that epoch of time the 'sphere was unwieldy and not as sophisticated as it now was thanks to its re-invigoration by Yahweh.

Until He, the Chronosphere had existed in the present tense, so to speak. He unravelled past and future from the circle of the present and made time into lines, and like ropes they were twisted into skeins in a hugely complex web. If people were to defer gratification in the now and reach forward to Him, there had to be a clearer definition of future with contrivances to encourage aspiration into the unknown.

Now that Zeus' will and testament was posted on the 'sphere for the Pantheon, it had set hares running everywhere. The glimmerings of change felt by 'sphere watchers inevitably reached the attention of Hades and Yhawhe. Their reactions were very different. Both placed watchers on the alert and Hades sought his banished father Chronos, spent time in Tartarus and Elysium and in parts of the Underworld where previously he had rarely ventured. The jangle on the 'sphere caused by this unwonted movement of great personages, though deliberately kept as faint as possible, was followed closely by Hephaestos who warned the Pantheon to keep an eye open for Alexander.

Yahweh merely stretched out his mighty arm...and waited.

Penny and Ric spent the next two months setting things up at Markham. They met every morning with Hep, in the panelled library which served as a board room. Whenever Ric entered Penny was there first. Hep usually followed Ric. Fresh coffee and rolls were served on a side table by the long window. Cows were often grazing on the meadow which sloped down to the lake. On fine mornings the windows were opened to greet the early sun. They set an agenda each morning to ensure they maintained continuity. There was a lot to do. After their own meeting heads of departments arrived and the business of the day was run through. Top of the agenda was ensuring GAIANET was as well tuned as possible to counter any further hacking, Ric and Hep were noted against that item. High on the list today was the planning of a secret meeting of the Advisory Group. This was Penny's task. The group was her idea. Her priority was always to ensure the Firm managed their business properly, without exploitation of people or contributing to the mess industry made of the world. The Advisory Group had been set up slowly, its members rigorously selected over several years. At first it was made up of JNO's customers, suppliers, government agents and politicians. Penny called them together regularly to get a feel of the overall impact of the Firm beyond the balance-sheet. They checked how JNO's activities affected the policies of governments, distortions in the market, production processes and pretty well anything to do with the way the earth's resources were managed. The group was highly informal, and the members were continually covertly tested by Marina's department for the consistency of the integrity with which they carried out their own work, their relationships within the other forums in which they were active and their commitment to both people and ecology. As time pa.s.sed, the membership had changed as various of the original mix of people failed Marina's test and as the group itself became more and more incompatible. Some important representatives of industry did not in practice find it easy or congenial to sit with the implacable opposition of some government representatives, and other delegates from ecological organisations and universities did not fit with either.

Gradually, unsuitable people and organisations counselled themselves out of the group by not responding to invitations. The press at first enthusiastic about JNO's initiative lapsed into incredulity as the membership became more bizarre and the project lapsed. Academics wrote articles in the economic and political press applauding the motives but describing in great detail how there were too many incompatible ideas of the best thing to do for the idea to ever work and in any case it was a United Nations issue. Lucina would have none of the U. N. saying it would never react until it was too late and Penny seemed drop the Advisory Group.

The group ceased to meet officially and the world soon forgot its existence. It continued, however, in secret, the current membership having pa.s.sed all the tests, developed a new, unstated role of global minders.

Today the meeting of the three heads of JNO took its usual form. Penny was at her lap-top at the mahogany table when Ric arrived and as usual said good morning, received no answer and poured himself coffee. He didn't expect her to turn from her computer as he arrived, once on her machine she was too involved to acknowledge him. It irritated him but he shrugged off the feeling as he knew it was merely application not rudeness on her part. He wished she was less absorbed. As if to prove the point, Penny snapped the lid down, and smiled up at him.

'Pour me one, Ric.' He reached for another cup and poured one from the cafetiere. He brought the cup and saucer over to her and placed it on the table by her elbow. He sat beside her and pulled his notebook from the battered old satchel he always carried with him.

'You know what?' she said. 'You're the computer buff and it's me with the machine and you with the pencil and paper.'

'Old fashioned ways are sometimes the best,' he replied. 'Like taking a break now and again. I come in here every morning and you're always here first. It looks like you've been here all night sometimes. If you didn't smell all fresh like you do I'd think you'd never gone to bed.'

Penny touched his arm in acknowledgement of his concern. She was unusually keyed up these days. Ric had become very important to her. That alone had shifted the balance of her internal footing more than she had expected. Especially at this time when she needed her fullest concentration. But he was the only man she had met for a long time who understood the responsibility she felt for what she was doing, and felt it also for her. He gave her a sense of solidity, for which she was grateful. She was despite herself, gradually switching this for the strained pitch of nervous energy which had hitherto kept her going. She did not yet know if this was good or bad and part of her felt that now was not the best time to be experimenting with her emotions. It helped her that he knew her feelings, including those created by his growing importance to her.

Nevertheless she was constrained for she knew that for him, as for many men, responsibility was a kind of mind game, a test of virility implicit in the challenge. The outcome might be important but the game was most of the fun. She and Lucina knew what they were doing and went much further. This was no game, the challenge was not a test of strength; though that they were to be tested she knew well enough. The challenge was to do with global meaning and value. She had no interest in games. Penny suspected the challenge went even further for Lucina.

Hep arrived and stood hugely in his usual place by the window. He felt cooped up indoors and needed to have a long view over the outside world to feel comfortable. He found their need to meet irksome and usually only stayed to tell them about GAIANET and give them any useful snippets of information he'd had from the Chronosphere to help them.

'GAIANET good today,' he began. 'Okay. No hacker. Keep eye on HydroNorte of Brazil. Condamine he know what going on. Things up too with Fourthworld in Arizona, but Marina and your boy get on with that.'

'Thanks Hep,' said Penny. I've already spoken to Condamine and Marina says she's got the other matter under control,' she said hastily, not wanting to allude to anything to do with Alexander. 'Talking of Condamine, I think it's time we had a meeting of the Advisory Group. You know I like to keep face to face communications to a minimum. It's getting so hard to get them all here in secret these days they're all so busy. But I think it's important now. Planning in detail is one thing, putting our plan into operation is quite another. I do think though that this meeting's necessary. I know the specific information we need to discuss can be easily sent by any reliable medium and would in all likelihood stay safely confidential. But I need face-to-face communication to a.s.sess the overall reaction to the project getting started at last.'

'Okay if you say,' said Hep. 'But make sure no one know of JNO connection between them. Now is bad time to lose advantage of secrecy which support our power to keep invisible hold of international trading system. You think you can do it without Marina here?'

'No problem Hep,' said Ric. She sorted out the whole rigmarole ages ago antic.i.p.ating the next meeting. Her department has it all under control.'

' Good. I go now you not need me to arrange meeting: ne?"

'Bye Hep, thanks, see you tomorrow morning. Report to me about the HydroNorte thing, I'm interested,' Penny replied. When Hep had left Penny and Ric sat together at the board room table.

'All set then? We go? Time to press the start b.u.t.ton? said Ric.

Both of them were sufficiently wise in the ways of the world to know that no plan ever went according to expectations, however well it was thought through. There were always unexpected events, reactions, and twists of interpretation and consequences which were unable to be envisaged in advance. While the overall direction might be sustainable, the journey, like all active situations, would be the biggest adventure any of the planners had ever embarked upon.

'I feel a bit like the old cartographers,' he continued. 'When they were unsure of what was beyond their knowledge they drew dragons and monsters. We have to accept 'there be dragons' ahead and be prepared to handle them as they appear.'

Penny noted wryly to herself that this was a metaphor often used by her son. 'To antic.i.p.ate them would be better!' was Penny's rejoinder. 'I need to meet them soon. Hep is right it has to be done in the utmost secrecy. I'm not even sure any more if they'll all come. I wouldn't be surprised if they thought the whole thing has got beyond what's reasonable.'

'They'll come. I'll see that the invitations are sent today. Marina's department has its contact methods and we won't get replies, but they'll all come believe me.'

'A full house would certainly be a good test of our support. Anyone missing would be a big problem though. We'd have to follow it up and it would have its effect on the others. They all must come.'

'They will. Believe in them.'

'I do Ric, I'm just a bit overwrought. Preparation has been hard work but setting the whole thing off, while it's really exciting it's also pretty nerve-wracking at the same time.'

She and Ric had spent many hours of the last weeks considering the Advisory Group members' roles and their apt.i.tudes for them. The careful selection process had recruited people of widely disparate backgrounds whose primary loyalty was now to the objects of JNO rather than their own colleagues, friends, agencies, employers or boards of directors and shareholders. Marina, her staff and agents in the field, had investigated each in the kind of detail used to select the most loyal of undercover agents. None of the members would have been the least bit surprised to know of the secret dossiers Marina held, although some might have raised an eyebrow or two if they saw what was starkly registered in black and white. They might have been surprised to know how many of their own staff and colleagues had been vetted and who else made up the huge matrix held in the JNO data banks separating people who were sound from those who were questionable.

The date was set and the invitations sent. It would be interesting but lengthy to detail how the thirteen members managed their respective journeys to Markham for the meeting, without raising the suspicion of their colleagues or the ever vigilant press. Their arrival had been staggered over three weeks, first to credible destinations in the UK. Then each of them had found a reason to go missing for the morning of the Advisory Group meeting without arousing suspicion. They had three hours at most before resuming their normal lives without anyone suspecting they had been absent. A fleet of non-descript cars was available at Markham to take them back to their different destinations.

Karl Kahn had flown in from Bonn two weeks earlier to an international conference on micro-biology in Oxford. Bill Kanapi from Manila was visiting an ex-cell mate, now living in Glasgow and had taken his life in his hands to leave and then return to the Philippines. No one must know he was in the country. Manyathi Khumalo had accompanied her President, Nelson Mandela, on an official visit to Great Britain. Jose Condamine in true Latin form, burst into the country from Brasilia, announcing big deals on beef imports and causing a great flurry both on the commodity markets and the World Rainforest Movement simultaneously. If anyone had asked where he was today, he was last seen escorting a famous Greek super-model into a lift at the Dorchester, the rest was speculation.

Chieko Terakoa was in the country from Taiwan playing at the Royal Festival Hall and thereafter on tour, she appeared in Oxford the previous night playing Beethoven's violin concerto to a full house and the nation on television. This morning she was resting in her hotel. Doris Botham Minister for the Environment in Robert Egan's Government was visiting her mother in Swindon, while Lyle Etchart of the World Bank was breaking his journey from the UN via his historical search for the family tree of his British mother's ancestors in Sandford St Martin, not a stone's throw from Markham. Dov Krajowa from Haifa, owner of the biggest chain of hotels in Israel was having a day off from working on a deal with The Hanson Group to meet his only relative, also a survivor of Auschwitz, who now lived in Manchester. Mo Chu was permanent secretary at the Chinese Emba.s.sy and was visiting Oxford as a tourist and was on official leave for a fortnight. Piotre Ulybin was in the process of doing a secret deal in London over oil concessions in the Urals, was also sightseeing in Shakespeare country. While Lynne Farrell of the Sydney office of the McMa.n.u.s news empire was visiting Oxford to check on the progress of a bid for the biggest independent TV Network in the UK. Matsuko Morii daughter of the world's largest shipbuilding and steel conglomerate tyc.o.o.n Sugiura Morii of Tokyo was shopping in London and was in her suite at the Hilton resting with a migraine. Finally there was Johann Pettershonn of Helsinki. A great Olympic distance runner in his youth, now a leader of a world wide youth initiative to overcome unemployment and a n.o.bel Peace Laureate. He was on a private cycling tour of Oxfordshire on holiday.

As the members of the Advisory Group were wending their various ways to Markham and attending to their alibis, Ric and Penny had shut themselves off from the rest of the world. They had their food sent in, organised the computer room as a place to live and sleep, and worked twenty hour days.

JNO's empire encompa.s.sed vast holdings in all the things which were of the earth. In one form or another the Firm influenced the world-market in all the physical commodities and also many of the artefacts that could be derived from them. They were also deeply involved in their transportation and marketing , either directly or indirectly.

GAIANET listed all the other international main companies and governmental holdings of land and material, all the major processing industries and the global wholesale and retail markets. They used HIGO to scan GAIANET's data-banks and got Hep to make the machine present a moving map of the state of global material and its human exploitation. It was no simple matter to pull all this together at a single point in time. What Hep eventually and amazingly achieved was an accessible and always up to the minute, data base, which showed the larger movements of the elements of production and distribution, which could be separately identified. These could be homed in on and expanded into micro units of information by the application of HIGO. The places round the boardroom table was rigged up for each member of the Advisory Group to access this information via a lap-top linked to HIGO and to each other and to a large display screen.

At 8.30 a.m. on the day of the Advisory Group meeting, Penny Conway, impeccably elegant, accompanied by a rather more relaxed Ric, entered the board room at Markham. They checked each of the fifteen portable PC's personally, tested the large screen and sat at either end of the large oval, green leather topped Georgian table.

The marks of many meetings and other events had scored the dark green leather. Penny wondered if any meetings more important than this had taken place around this venerable piece of furniture. It had been bought at auction of surplus Whitehall furniture and it had amused her to think her ambitions found reality, convened round a table which, it was said, had been used by Pitt's Cabinet. At 8.55 the 'phone by Penny's elbow rang and she s.n.a.t.c.hed it up before the first ring ended.

'You're keen 'said the voice on the other end. 'Thirteen for coffee it is.'

'Thank G.o.d for that! Bring them up Robin. What a relief!' Ric smiled broadly and wagged a knowing finger at her. The door opened and they rose to greet their guests. They welcomed each person with warmth and sincerity, but there was little time for fancy niceties. There was a lot to talk about in a short time.

At midday the group rose and said their farewells. Bill Kanapi's eyes shone, there were tears in those of Matsuko Morii who hugged Penny tightly. Lyle Etchart seemed solemn. Of the others only Jose Condamine seemed unmoved, smiled broadly and kissed her hand in a most gentlemanly way. They left with their own thoughts in the cars provided. Each carried their lap-tops in specially designed security briefcases equipped with internal acid baths if anyone stole them. Apart from those in Markham, these were the only other computers in the world equipped with HIGO and the GAIANET programmes which worked only with specially designed scrambler modems.

Penny and Ric lunched in the computer room with Hep who had been observing on a TV monitor in a back room. All three were grim faced and thoughtful. Penny was the first to break the silence.

'We'll go through the feedback logically, in depth and one at a time. I want Ric to start, if that's okay with you Ric, followed by Hep. I will finish.okay? Ric give us your overall impression and then go through them one by one.'

Ric spread a sheaf of notes he carried in his hand on the dining table, clearing some of the lunch debris to make room.

'Overall it went as I'd hoped. You got your 'full house' like I said all along you would. I still think thirteen is too few, but together with their positively vetted staffs we ought to go ahead. If you think of them as individual centres of a large kind of loose network their influence is pretty wide actually. My first thoughts - and remember this is off the top of my head, are that they are all with us, they're all totally reliable; as far as they can be...

'What do you mean - as far as they can be?' interjected Penny.

'Don't interrupt, Ms. Conway, let me speak and then you can comment,' he said with a joking formality. 'I'm having enough trouble marshalling my thoughts without your anxiety getting in the way. I think the realisation of the size of all this is just properly dawning on all of us. As far as they can be, means as far as each one can grasp not only their roles, which are more or less clear, but also the nature of the task and the possible consequences of the thing we have actually embarked on. Like you keep saying, to set off is to take responsibility. Action is commitment. You can and will be judged by pa.s.sive as well as active people. I know it's not fair that those who shout their mouths off will judge us without taking any risk themselves. But we know that's how it is. We have chosen. That's thought one. Thought two is that these thirteen are only powerful enough on paper to make the kind of difference we hope for. What I mean is even if all of them perform up to and beyond their potential - and there's no real guarantee of that - even acting together, they may not have the international clout we need to shift the balance; to change the direction of the current momentum in the world. We are David against Goliath and our skills with the slingshot are untried. We have to aim well and we probably won't get too many shots. The best we can hope for is that we're not out in the open before we get our aim right. I'm still very worried about the fact there is a hacker and the consequences of that. Hep says Alexander is sent to deal with him. He must tell us soon whether he is a threat or not. It will make a great difference to what we do. In the meantime we must a.s.sume the hacker is an active threat...' He continued in this vein and then Hep gave his opinion of each of their guests.

Penny listened, feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders. When they had finished she spoke calmly and with the clear authority of one who has adopted the mantle of leadership, 'I agree with the a.n.a.lysis. They are the right people and as individuals they will do their best. We will give them all the help we can. I fear though, like you, it won't be quite enough. She seemed to struggle with herself. Her colleagues watched her with care and gave her all the time she needed to express her thoughts.

'Hep, I had hoped we and our colleagues on the Advisory Group could be self-sufficient in this. But I can't see it being possible. There's more than we can do. 'They' must become more involved. I think you know how hard I find this to admit.' she gazed at Hep as she spoke. 'I think Ric has taught me it is okay to own up to a sense of vulnerability. I've been a slow learner in this. There are things which are outside my control for which I lack both understanding and dammit I really don't want to know about. That's the truth. I really don't want to know, so Hep whatever goes on there, with Lucina and the rest, can happen without me. Ric and I will work here and do what we can to the greatest of our abilities, which I believe are not inconsiderable, you must do whatever is necessary with them and with Alexander. I know he is your person more than he is mine so I give him to you.'

'Do not make it hard for yourself' growled Hep. 'You cannot be self-sufficient in this. We all have roles to play. I take care of Alexander, We take care of him. Trust Lucina she knows what she do. Go with Ric and use your friends as I use mine.'

They parted, Hep left the exclusion zone and vanished, Ric and Penny settled down in the computer room and worked for the rest of that day and many days to come.

Chapter 2.

Hera and Thea, working from a parallel timeline in Psathi, between them followed all the members of the Advisory Group as they made their respective journeys back to their normal existences. Hera focussed particularly on two of them to get an idea of how they might play their role in the events hereafter and to consider where she needed to make her own adjustments to maintain control. She picked on Jose Condamine and Matsuko Morii, as she liked them particularly, Thea kept her eye on the others.