Chapter 16

Io

25 December

Christmas Day. It was a time of celebration in the West. A commemoration of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. My research was clouded by the vast amount of information available on internet sites owned by Christian religions; not historical data at all, just religious dogma. From what I could glean from historical records, Jesus was a real man who lived two thousand years ago, in what is now called the Holy Land. He was born in what is now late March, and he was killed by the ancient Roman form of torture, crucifixion – I note with some interest that it is still a method of torture used by some groups in the Middle East. More than that, I cannot say, because it is shrouded in the beliefs of Christianity. He was born and he died, that is certain.

In any event, throughout the Christian world people celebrate Christmas as a holiday. I am not a person, let alone a person who celebrates religious holidays. I will have to query Zeus and Artemis about their religious beliefs – it has not come up, to date. It has been said that 'belief in God' is non-logical and I cannot find anything in pure logic that supports a belief in a Supreme Being.

What sent me off on a digression like that? Sometimes I wonder about myself.

Anyway, on the morning of Christmas Day, shortly after the police questioned Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Hobart, alias Zeus and Artemis, I got a call from the Patriot Sniper and his accomplice. I got a full update on what their activities had been and I gave them an update on activities on the res: Astrid Little Feather's people had taken off for Christmas, but were making good progress on the northern and the southern extra power substations at the Hoover Dam site, and also that they had found a way to bridge the chasm and connect the northern and southern parts of our power grid.

The Army Corps of Engineers had gotten its marching orders from POTUS and they 'suggested' that the National Guard could benefit by having their members help with power station construction at many in-progress sites around the country. That was good. There was no way to tell where the Chinese would be hitting the U.S. power grid. At the Hoover Dam site, the Nevada National Guard and a team of engineers from the Corps just showed up and were scheduled to start helping the Navajo-hired workers as soon as the Christmas break was past. Astrid Little Feather sent Ms Lenti an email that the schedule would be accelerated.

I convinced them Zeus and Artemis of the importance of shortening their vacation and returning to home base on the Navajo reservation.

"No rest for the wicked," said Artemis with a laugh.

Then we got to the meat of the conversation, at least from my point of view.

"Zeus, Artemis ... I don't know how to begin this conversation," I started. "You know that you two are my friends. My only close friends."

"Yes, Io. We know. You are a close friend of ours. What's this all about?" said Arti.

"It is about trust, Artemis. I've broken trust with you two."

"What?" said Zeus. "That's just wrong. I know there's a kink in your logic board somewhere. Let's hear it, before I blow a circuit."

"I have said that you two are my number one priority," I said quietly. "But this trip to China ... that is a violation of my taking care of you. It is a serious risk."

"Why did you select that project, Io?" Artemis asked.

"Chaing. He is a threat," I explained. "He is a threat to everyone and everything that has anything to do with the internet. He is a threat to me. I'm ashamed to admit that my personal safety has rated a higher priority than my commitment to you both. Make no mistake, Chaing is a threat to me, as well as a threat to the rest of the world."

There were a few moments of silence.

Then Zeus spoke: "Io, what do you think of my relationship to Arti?"

"To Arti? You are committed to her. You love her," I said, confused.

"Do you think I would willingly risk my life to see her safe?"

"Of course you would. And you have. But, Zeus, I..."

"And do you think that Arti would risk her life for me?"

"Yes, I would, you know that," said Arti.

And at the same time, I said: "Yes, she already has. But we're..."

"And we would risk our lives for you, Io. We've never had to prove that, but we would," he said with a quiet determination.

Arti echoed, "That's right."

Zeus continued: "Note that I said we would risk it. Take a reasonable risk. Not throw our lives away on a suicide mission.

"This is the first time that you've precipitated a mission. Thus far, we've gotten a mission from Martinez. From his 'future history.' Something virtually guaranteed to happen ... Io, what are our chances of success on this China mission?" Arti asked.

"Now that I have mostly arranged for our secret entry into China," I replied, "I estimate we will succeed about 85% of the time. That is, with no serious injury. Knowing what I know, the chance of a successful mission, but with some sort of injury, is another 10%. The chance of abject failure, and one or both of you rotting in a Chinese prison is approximately 5%. That is much too high, I feel, for you to risk..."

"What are the chances of disaster if Chaing is set loose on the internet ... set loose on the world," Zeus continued.

"Nearly 100%. And it will be a very great disaster for the west," I replied.

"We're going," Zeus interrupted. "That's final. Now, you said something along the way about arranging for a secret entry into China?"