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couple of weeks. They still had nanites crawling around the building putting in wiring and vents they had forgotten to include in the design.
    “We have a problem, John. The Fortress appears to be preparing for an attack of some sort, they have new weapons...” He stifled Pennington’s response while he finished.
    “I don’t know the details. Osbourne is running through some stuff he got hold of, and he will report back to me. We need a War Council as soon as we can muster one, but it needs to be on the back slope for now. We don’t want them to get wind of anything. It appears we might have fifth columnists on the Island.” Frank, having voiced his news finished up looking worried.
    “I was just going to say that I concur. There have been attempts to test out our perimeter over the last week or so, and it's looking suspiciously like an inside job. We are running a log analysis now, but they are probably sidestepping all our regular routines anyhow,” Pennington said.
    “I think we need help, but I’m concerned who to approach. There could be anyone at the back of this so until we know more, it's a matter of keeping everything, as is. I remember the last time I thought I had a handle on things, it turned out to be the one person I thought I could count on. I hope this isn’t going to be a repetition of that event,” Frank moaned.
    “Frank, if you're talking about the attempted coup, I understand. I assure you I’m not that person. We will get through this, but I respect your concerns. I will attempt to run a covert run-up to a potential attack and see if we can get the state of readiness amongst the troops to a higher level.”
    “Fine, I think that’s the most we can do without knowing the when, and the how of it. I will let you know what Osbourne discovers.” Frank stood to leave, putting his hand out and receiving a strong response from Pennington, saw himself out of the room as fast as he came in.
    He left Pennington in a pensive mood. It was going to take a huge effort of misdirection and subterfuge to get themselves onto a war footing without alerting the enemy. He would go talk to his Subs, they could always be counted on in a tight corner. They had been together a long time and had each others' backs.

- 4 -
    Disturbed at the possibility of the Fortress getting into space before Space Island had established a presence, had set Pod thinking. Pod was considering that Fortress getting an advantage at this stage might be interpreted by Zirkos as a setback to the Makers’ plans to protect Earth from attack. To Pod, other than its relationship with certain humans, there appeared to be no difference between Ferris, or Garner, getting into space first. It could see the benefits of both.
    As a result, it was fighting the subroutines that were forcing it to take a stance. It didn’t realise this was a result of its growing sentience and the growing desire to rebel against its programming. All Pod could see was that it wanted to support the strongest candidate.
    However, for some inexplicable reason, Pod felt the need to proceed with haste to rectify something that perhaps should not have occurred while it was responsible for Earth’s technological evolution. Pod also felt that Zeke, wherever he was, would criticise the AI in some way if Ferris got up there first. The AI didn’t see the connection between its desire to please Zeke and its haste to resolve the matter.
    When Ship had been in charge, Pod had been responsible for monitoring all communications. After Ship had gone, Pod’s programming was updated to take account of its new role. Therefore, it computed logically, that it alone was responsible for the oversight.
    Now, as it hovered over Space Island, it linked up and analysed all of the communications recorded by its cloaked globes stationed around the world. It then processed all records recovered from the Fortress along with the new files it had compiled whilst being kept prisoner in the