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progressed. Have you thought there might be more than one saboteur in here?”
    Frank considered for a moment and then, as if making a mental decision, he leaned forward as if to confide in Osbourne.
    “Ossie, I can tell you that I have had our best people working on maintaining security on this Island, and our computer systems are analysing every conversation, in both directions. Visitors and employees are regularly scanned on, and off, the Island and nobody here has been missed out on our vigilant security checks.
    Despite this, I believe that no complex such as ours can maintain security one hundred percent without making prisoners of all of its people. It’s why we cannot get people into the Fortress; their workers are prisoners within their mountain base.”
    Frank stood up, he pressed his intercom button to summon Annie.
    “Now, I need to go and talk to the military, we need to step up our level of alertness. Let me know if you need security to help you find your ‘leak’.”
    Annie came through the door as they both got ready to leave.
    “Annie, cancel all appointments for the rest of this morning. You will find me over at Pennington-Brown’s. Oh, and tell him I am coming over, Code Red, please.”
    Annie looked startled; her lip quivered at the mention of a ‘Code Red’ which she knew meant imminent threat of attack. She still vividly remembered the last one at the White House. She withdrew from the room ahead of them and went to her desk to contact the General.
    “Osbourne,” Frank grabbed his arm to delay him, “let me know how you get on and watch your back, son. Make sure you have someone you trust behind you, at all times.” He waited until he saw Osbourne nod, and then let him continue, his globe bobbing along behind him.
     
    General John Pennington-Brown received the call from Frank’s secretary with concern. He had three meetings with staff this morning, he was already behind schedule. The alarm systems had been causing security grief throughout the last week. They suspected tampering, possibly from the inside.
    Pennington had come across this before, once or twice, when they were fighting insurgents in the desert. They would sneak up to the fences and set off alarms using something innocuous to watch response times and direction.
    If this was the game here, then he needed to step up the level of alertness. He wondered briefly at the timing of Frank’s visit. Had he heard whispers and was coming to check?
    “Staffie, take that old beaten-up kitbag out of here, I’m expecting the President any moment and he will want somewhere to sit.”
    Pennington, as most of his colleagues called him, wasn’t a desk General; he preferred the ‘hands on’ approach, to rubber stamping orders. It was why he was considered one of the best leaders and strategists in the NATO Alliance. His men followed him to a man. He had taken over here on day one of the formation of the Space Council, recognising the significance of such an organisation immediately. He used the office only as a dumping ground and for personal meetings. It was not a salubrious area.
    Staff Sergeant Jennings returned with the President in tow.
    “Morning, Pennington. Sorry to break up your morning program, but some thing’s come up, we need to talk,” the President said as he breezed in through the door.
    “Frank, good to see you too,” he rose to shake hands.
    They were good friends, having met each other occasionally while Frank was US President, but didn’t see much of each other due to the workload they both were under most of the time. He could see that Frank looked worried, his suspicions grew. Something was brewing.
    “Well, man, don’t beat up the locals, tell us what’s got you rushing over here from ‘The Palace’. “
    It was a standing joke on the island as the SC main building, like everything else built here, had to be functional. ‘The Palace’ was a pre-fabricated building, put together by Zeke and his AI over a