“Probably calibrated not to damage cybernetics,” Roslyn told them. “And designed to mimic the magnetic scans of a bioscanner—which they intentionally made the nanites vulnerable to so that we couldn’t work out what the hell they were doing to people.”
“That fits with what I’m seeing here, sir,” Andrews agreed. “I’m sorry it took so long. We didn’t realize the magnets were there until we went back a second time, thinking there had to be something.”
“It’s better than nothing, Corporal. Do we have any software data on what sequence or anything those electromagnets would be using?” she asked. “They would have it calibrated exactly for what we need.”
“I think we can pull that from the decontamination chamber’s hardware without needing access to the overall systems,” Andrews agreed. “Might take a few minutes.”
“That’s fine, I need to talk to Knight…and then to the Mage-Captain and Cardinal-Governor,” Roslyn told them. “We’ve found a way for Mages to deal with this shit. Now I just need a better answer.”
Andrews snorted.
“If we have an answer, that’s better than we were doing when you left,” they pointed out.
“Agreed. Forward that software, once you have it, to Dr. Breda and Mage-Lieutenant Jordan,” Roslyn ordered. “Thank you, Corporal.”
She had switched over to Knight before Andrews responded.
“Corporal Knight, report,” she ordered. “Please tell me you’ve got something. We did get you a login.”
“You got a surface-level user login from your prisoner,” Knight pointed out. “From that, we had to work out how to get more user logins so we didn’t lock ourselves. Then we needed to create higher-security logins, and then we needed to find the hidden encrypted files and then create logins to access those files—”
“And where in that list are you?” Roslyn said.
“Finding the encrypted files,” the Corporal admitted. “We’ve built ourselves a decent array of access logins now, but we still don’t have full admin control or access to anything of Orpheus clearance—that seems to have been restricted to Lafrenz and the researchers.
“We’ve got some basic medical data on their test subjects and a lot of information on how this place was built, but I don’t think we have any answers for you,” she confessed. “I’m sorry, sir; this isn’t a fast process.”
“I know,” Roslyn conceded. “You’re linked with Huntress?”
“That’s the only reason we’ve made it so far,” the cyberwarfare Marine agreed. “Give us a week, sir, and we’ll have everything in this database spread out for you. But I don’t know if I can get you anything soon.”
“Okay,” Roslyn said. “You said medical data for the test subjects, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Forward that to Dr. Breda if you haven’t already,” she told the Marine. “We have a way to disable the Orpheus victims, but they all go into a coma we can’t fix yet. There might be an answer to that in the medical data—so, let’s hand it to all of the damn doctors we can find.”
“Will do,” Knight confirmed. “Sir…I hate to admit it, but the spy would be better at this. What happened to Killough?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I think he may have run afoul of a third Mage, one who abandoned the facility. We’ll find him, Corporal, but I don’t think we’re going to do so in time to help with this.”
“I’ll see what I can extract for the medical data beyond what we’ve seen,” Knight promised. “Fuck…that was what we came down here for in the first place, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah. And now instead of having two thousand people suffering from post-Orpheus syndrome, we’re going to have something like a hundred thousand,” Roslyn told the other woman. “So, that data might be the most critical thing on the planet.”
“Right. No pressure.”
“If it was easy, I wouldn’t have asked a Marine to do it.”
47
“Mage-Captain, Cardinal-Governor, Mage-Lieutenant. Surgeon-Lieutenant.”
After the first three titles she greeted the members of the meeting with, Roslyn felt that Dr. Breda also needed the hyphen. Her full rank of Surgeon-Lieutenant wasn’t used very often—it was rare, in fact, for a medical officer on a warship to use any title other than Doctor—but it was hers.
“Thank you all for joining me. I believe we have an answer,” Roslyn told them all.
Daalman and Guerra both straightened, looking directly at her. Jordan was supposed to be Roslyn’s “face” for this meeting, but the Captain and Governor appeared to be choosing to look at Roslyn’s helmet plate instead.
“I am listening, Envoy Chambers,” Guerra told her. “I hope, I pray, that your answer does not involve the mass death of my electorate?”
“It does not,” Roslyn confirmed. “It is not, I must warn everyone, a perfect solution in any sense. Some of the Orpheus victims will still die. It’s not going to be a fast solution, and it’s going to require more Mages than we have to fully resolve the situation.”
“We have five more Mages aboard Song of the Huntress,” Daalman pointed out instantly. “I can request reinforcements via the Link. I am not certain of the number of Mages we can get here quickly, but my understanding is that there are at least four Link-equipped RMN warships within three days’ jump. Another four without Links—and for every day we can wait, those numbers will at least double.”
“I hear hope, officers,” Guerra said. “Please. Do not dash this old man’s hopes. Tell me.”
“We used Marines as a distraction to split one of the major crowds of infected apart,” Roslyn told them. “You should have received at least some updates on that. We believe we’ve successfully bought several hours to provide relief to the refugees we’ve moved into the park.
“However, a component of the crowd, estimated at approximately twenty-five hundred infected, was still heading for the park. To avoid the use of lethal weapons, I engaged them with magic.”
“I know the only way you could have done that, Lieutenant Commander,” Daalman said quietly. “When are you coming down?”
“Soon,” Roslyn admitted. “So, we should probably hurry this up.”
“Captain?” Guerra asked.
“The Mage-Lieutenant Commander used combat drugs to restore her magic after draining her
