"What is it, Agent Murphy?" Colonel Griffin sighed as his reverie was interrupted by Meganwalking into his office unannounced. Really, was it too much to expect the woman to knock on his door? Hewas the freaking head of theOffice of Advance Technology. Female agents grew jaded just as quickly as the men, he thought moodily.


    "Review meeting for Omega-Delphi, sir," Megan said brightly.


    "So it is," Griffin nodded grudgingly, "Let''s give Dr.West a couple of minutes."


    Griffin wondered if the bad guys had endless review meetings too. Atleast Megan''s attire was flawless, he noted approvingly as she took her seat, not a strand of her red hair was out of place.When Jonathan arrived several minutes later he seemed subdued and Megan missed his usual brilliant smile.


    "Update on the South Caucasus incident, Dr.West?" Griffin gave a nod.


    "Right," Jonathan linked his laptop to the wall projector, bringing up an aerial shotof mountainous terrain harshly backlit by two coalescing mushroom clouds, "As you know, two weeks ago, the State Department borrowed our Nuclear Emergency Support Team for an extraction mission into the South Caucasus Republic. The local regime was supposed to hand over a prisoner with sensitive intel on GORGON. In exchange for nuclear capable drones from the Gibbs Consortium. But the deal blew up - literally - before the transfer could take place. NEST personnel have successfully recovered the prisonerwith the intel on site."


    "I take it we didn''t trust the regime to give usthe full picture?" Griffin asked dryly, "We needed the prisoner to vouch for the intel?"


    "Exactly," Jonathan nodded, "Given that this incident has exposed their decade-long collaboration with GORGON, our suspicion was justified. It seems the SCR regime has been selectively breeding child prodigies tousea few as drone pilots and supply the rest to GORGON ."


    "So Sibylline can crack open their skulls and consume their brains?" Griffin asked thoughtfully.


    "Yes," Jonathan winced, "Assumingshe wantsto transcend into a weak super-intelligence, absorbingthesmartest minds is one possible path.The recombinant technology to target the right genes was most likely supplied by Sibylline herself."


    "Can''t she get all the guinea pigs she wants within GORGON territory?" Griffin frowned, "Why risk going beyond?"


    "She has already used up all suitable subjects within her own territory," Jonathan''s voice was flat, the display changed to a video loop of a little girl pouting at the camera with the name Mariam stitched on her shirt, "Our resident geneticist tells me that Sibylline is looking for a rare gene cocktail. This is footage from inside the base shortly before the nuclear incident. That child was a product of selective breeding with intelligence estimated in the 99th percentile for her age group. Note the odd spasms in her limbs. She''s suffering from early onset torsion dystonia. A crippling genetic condition historicallyseen in theAshkenaziJewishpopulation where child prodigies were prevelant at the turn of the 20thcentury."


    "You mean whatever''s making these kids super smartalso cripples their nervous system?" Griffin looked like he tasted something unpleasant, "And Sibylline was breeding them specifically for it. So she could harvest them with minimum lead time, I suppose."


    "The same genecluster is implicated," Jonathan nodded sadly, "Their increased intelligence comes at a terrible cost. We are beginning to understand the components of Sybilline''s omniscience. An ensemble of child prodigies among others. I fear I must revise thethreat analysis on GORGON, again."


    "I''m surprised the State Department isn''t milking this on the diplomatic front," Megan wondered, "The evidence..."


    "... is mostly vaporized," Jonathan finished wearily, "The hospital building at Kazbuk gestating the child prodigies was vaporized in GORGON''s double cross. It seems Sibylline didn''t appreciate the SCR making deals with the State Department. The child you see in the footage had beenrecruited to carry out the attack."


    "But why would this... prodigy blow up her own residence before taking out the prisoner?" Griffin looked puzzled, "Did she have troublecontrollingthe missile?"


    "She didn''t know where the prisoner was being held," Jonathan explained, "She had three missiles and was systematically destroying the other buildings on base. Patient Zero thwarted her plan by remotely diverting one of the missiles."


    "Wait... what the heck does Patient Zero have to do with this mess?" Griffinspluttered.


    "You will recall, sir, that we were steering Patient Zero into an internship at the Zero Sum Institute," Megan interjected, "Given Zero Sum''s leverage in international affairs, it''s an idealspot for Patient Zero''s actions to start messing with Sibylline''s omniscience. Since his ownhypothetical powers - whatever they may be - originate from outside our universe... anyway, his physics teacher who isan OATasset was able to arrange an interview with Julia Thorton ahead of schedule. Following the bullying incident at Cardiff High, Patient Zero..."


    "Bullying incident?" Griffin seemed lost.


    "Patient Zero seems to have been thebrunt ofa particularly nasty bullying incident involving drugs in the chemistry lab..." Megan began.


    Griffin growled, "Why wasn''t I informed of this sooner, Agent Murphy?"


    "Well, sir, you emphatically said you didn''t want me pestering youwith every little..." Megan lookedfaintly embarrassed.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    "Dammit, Murphy," Griffin threw up his hands, "that boy represents a shit ton of tax payer dollars poured into the Brookhaven supercollider grant.Money for which we have nothing to show, unless we can use Patient Zero to bring down GORGON."


    "I''ve expanded the survellience net in Cardiff High to blanket the entire school, sir," Megan assured him, "Next time we''ll step in if Sean... Patient Zero appears to be in real danger."


    "See that you do," Griffin jabbed a finger, "Not sure I like the idea of that Thornton woman getting her claws into the boy. She''s too well connected in Washingtonand hasher own agenda."


    "A minor risk, sir," Megan nodded, "But Julia Thornton''s goals are roughly aligned with our own, at least where GORGON is concerned."


    "Maybe," Griffin grunted, "Now about that new intel..."


    "The prisonerrescued is a US permanent resident," Jonathan clicked through his presentation, "whosefather,a neuroscientistby the name of Leonidas, wascommissioned by the SCR regimeto develop mind-reading MRI technology for covert survellience..."


    Griffin made a rude noise. Jonathan continued, "...which isn''tentirelyfar fetched.He apparently got the technology working but only between subjects with near identical brain structures such as twins. A hard limitation thatLeonidas was able toestablish mathematically."


    "So effectively useless," Griffin chuckled.


    "The SCR regimetakes a dim view of things like mathematical constraints," Jonathan nodded, "and Professor Leonidas found himself in a precariousspot politically. That''s when he disappeared into GORGON territory."


    "GORGON made him an offer?" Griffin raised a brow.


    "Apparently," Jonathan frowned, "butLeonidas failed to keep his appointmentwhich did not please Sibylline, as you can imagine. Turns out the good professor wasn''t thrilled about GORGON interference in his country and instead defected to a resistance group fighting GORGON. He was hunted and eventuallycaptured, but the recruitment video from the resistance - whichhinted attactics effective against GORGON - was stashed in his residence back home. Which explains why Sibylline was keen on destroying it."


    "Resistance group?" Griffin stared, "How the heck do you resistan all-seeing hyper intelligence like Sibylline within her own domain? Even wecouldn''t do that. That''s the whole point of funding Omega-Delphi."


    "Someone found a way," Jonathan hesitatedthenpulled up a photo of a manina labcoat, peering at the camera with asickly smile that did not seem tobelong on the lean gaunt face framed by thick glasses and close-cropped hair, "The group calls itself Krankenhaus-13. It''s headed by a Dr. Johann Braun, a former rising star inexperimental neuroscience at the University of Munich before he was fired for performing procedures not approved by the medical ethicsboard."


    "Let me guess," Griffin said dryly, "GORGON made him an offer he couldn''t pass up."


    "Right," Jonathan clicked to bring up a video, "We know Sibylline has been exploring alternate paths to creategeniuses for her consumption. Dr. Braun - now assigned OAT codename ''Cognito'' - was tasked by Sibylline with creating such hyper intelligent fodder."


    The video on the screenshowed a large indoor swimming pool of the type found ina school or university. Armed guardspatrolled in the background.Jonathan translated the caption on the screen as denoting ahighschoolin northern Poland. A squad of labcoated personnel surrounded by empty gurneys worked hastily on medicalequipment mounted on trolleys. Ducts and cables snaked from the equipment and disappeared into the deep end of the pool where the camera zoomed in. Something large floated underwater backlit by pool lights, shaped like a giant sea urchin with enormousfleshy spines. Megan frowned and leaned toward the screen. What she''d taken to be ''spines'' were actually limbs... human limbs terminating in feet and hands. The perspective flipped and Megan realized she was looking at people... students in school uniform all surgically fused together at the skull, facescoveredby oxygen maks and what looked like VR goggles. Their torsos stuck out radially in all directions, swaying gently like seaweed. Megan turned away abruptly, fighting her rising gorge.


    "What the heck... " Griffin exclaimed.


    "Cognito has perfected a process for directlyjoining human brains in a ring topology," Jonathan sounded heartbroken, "The resulting...hybrid is not viable for more than a few minutes, but in that time is capable of functioning as a weak superintelligence devoid of intrinsic motivation."


    "It can take orders," Griffin guessed.


    "Cognito uses them to formulate superhumanstrategiesagainst Sibylline," Jonathan shuddered, "which would explain howKrankenhaus-13 was able to evade and fightGORGON for so long. That''s his modus operandi. Hetargetsa high schoolon the edges of GORGON territory and camps there until the students have been... processed. He needs brains that are almost fully developed butflexible enough for his purpose. "


    "Whydidn''tSibylline cosume these... hybrids like sheplanned?" Griffin demanded.


    "Apparently she tried and almost died in the process," a ghost of a smile appeared on Jonathan''s face, "The hybridmindwas too alien for her to assimilate. Cognito didn''t take it well when Sibylline shut down his pet experiment."


    "Well, that''s a doozy," Griffinmuttered at the monstrosity on the screen, "Not something you see everyday."


    "Still doesn''t explain why Sibylline didn''t want this to get out," Megan avoided looking at the screen, "I mean, why woud she care?"


    There was silence for almost a minute.


    "It''s speculation at this stage," Jonathan roused himself from his thoughts, "but Sibylline might fear that we will collaborate with Cognito in the Balkan Offensive. The US Army has bogged down in Serbia, and we still do not have air superiority needed to knock out her Doomsday supercollider. Coordinating withKrankenhaus-13 just might allow our Army Group to break the stalemate."


    "Assistingrebel groups in enemy territory is practically US doctrine," Griffin nodded, "But you seem ratherblasé about this Dr. West. I thought you were Mister Sensitive."


    "Colonel," Jonathan drew himself up, "If you instruct OATto make contact withKrankenhaus-13, I assure you I will turn in my ID badge and walk out of here. But I''m afraid it may be too late for that." He clicked through his laptop to pull up a file photo of a man in uniform. "Master-Sergeant Todd Bryson, ex-Air Force. Employed by Gibbs Consortium to market their drones. He was part of the sales delegation to the South Caucasus.Presumed to have died in the blast until the NEST team excavated a hardened bunker under the rubble at Kazbuk base. Basically a tiny spherical room at the bottom of a mine shaft. Bryson was found holed-up there alone."


    "Alone?" Griffin raised a brow, "How did he know the location of the bunker, I wonder."


    "Exactly," Jonathan agreed, "It was a cold-war eraconstruct which could not have been openedwithout detailed knowledge of the old Soviet vaultcombinations. Not something a random veteran of the US Air Force is likely to know. He was working for another organization, someone who wanted to make contact withKrankenhaus-13. Another enemy of GORGON."


    END OF CHAPTER