Pink and Blue:

On Tuesday, the day started somewhat strangely.

Time froze in the area around Pink's dining room table, and Esmeralda appeared before Pink and Blue.

"Please stay home today, and ask Rebecca and James to come over. You will eventually find out why."

So the four of them sat around the table, scratching their heads and wondering what was going on. Prime did not have any idea. Martha popped her head into the room, said hi, and left.

Martha was enjoying the company of Blue and Pink, plus the visits by Rebecca and James, so she had been happy to keep on living at Pink's. Also, Pink had begged her to stay, anyway. Right now, Martha was intending on getting her current book, and sitting on the veranda and having a read.

Earth Watch Prime: Looks at the universe and discovers something that is much closer

PInk's description of Earth Watch Prime as a single space ship floating a hundred kilometres above the city was, in fact, somewhat simplified. The core computing modules, the ones that did the bulk of the data processing, and the ones that contained his basic personality, plus his manufacturing resources and his main sensory capabilities, and his power sources, were all together, a rough sphere about two hundred metres diameter. However, there were other, smaller parts of him, as separate satellites. They contained more sensory capabilities, radio and particle detectors, lasers and antimatter cannons, and many other things that were useful to keep away from the main vessel. These little satellites floated in various locations, some close by, some on the other side of the earth. Many kept close tabs on the World Wide Web. Others analysed all sorts of interesting phenomena, including many not in any way related to humans and their little concerns. Earth Watch Prime was, after all, a member of an alien data species. His primary interest may have been humans in general, and Pink and her friends in particular, but he was also interested in a lot of other things to do with the universe at large.

For example, the flux of neutrinos that flooded space. A zippy little neutrino can pass through the entire thickness of Earth without even noticing it. But Earth Watch Prime had the appropriate instruments to detect neutrinos. A small subsystem, somewhere deep inside Earth Watch Prime's intellect, had access to these instruments and was busily watching the neutrino flux.

It noticed, with interest, that there appeared to be a neutrino source moving in such a way as to occult the city.

It was probably coming from somewhere out there in the universe. The subsystem made a call to the satellites that also had neutrino detectors, and triangulated and cross-correlated the neutrinos they were detecting.

Hmm, that is interesting, went the subsystem. It actually is coming from the city itself.

It requested a map of the city from a subsystem that stored geopolitical data, and overlayed the neutrino’s source movements with the roads of the city.

So, it is moving down roads and towards one of the industrial regions. It was currently entering one of the buildings and appeared to have come to a halt. A building close to Pink's residence, in fact.

Wonder what it might be? The subsystem called out to various others and eventually found a likely match. In a database of Earth military weapons, more specifically nuclear weapons.

Five milliseconds after this match, the subsystem was augmented with the full power of Earth Watch Prime's consciousness.

"Uh-oh," went Horatio, just after making himself visible to the teenagers. "This might have some bearing on Esmeralda's request. There is what appears to be a small tactical nuclear weapon being moved into a factory building close by."

"What!"

"However, before you all start panicking, I would like to remind you that the military moves around their weapons reasonably often. Especially of late, what with the separation of concerns between the Pinks and Blues."

"Oh, right."

"Nonetheless, I see no reason why you can't go and have a look. Right now I don't have any links to any surveillance cameras in the area, so I'm going to have to rely on your eyes."

So the four of them went for a walk. Out of the gate, which they left open, down the street and towards the factory.

"From my aerial viewpoint, I have just seen the delivery vehicle leave the building's car park. It is now travelling away. Judging by the lack of cars in the parking area, there doesn't appear to be any other people present."

"Perhaps that is a semi secret factory for repairing such bombs?" asked Blue.

"Maybe." said Prime. He did not sound very convinced. "Perhaps if Pink could run ahead and take a look, as fast as possible?"

Pink started running, and rapidly disappeared out of sight. The others started walking faster.

Pink:

It was not far. The factory had shuttered windows, closed doors, and appeared to be unused. It was also on a slight hill, right in the middle of the industrial area, and Pink was interested to note that she had a clear view of the school building jutting up from the River Island, a couple of kilometres away. The factory was surrounded by a chain link fence with a single driveway gate.

It's locked. But that's not much deterrent to me, is it?

So she jumped over the three metre high fence. When it came to sports day at the school, Pink always had to make an effort of will to rein in her athletic ability.

As expected, the front door was locked. The loading bay door was firmly padlocked. The side door was locked. Considering the circumstances, Pink decided that a little bit of vandalism was justified. If it was a false alarm, Prime could always arrange repayment somehow.

Pieces of the side door went flying into the dark interior as Pink shoved her foot through it. The inside was now partly lit up by the sun shining in through the smashed door.

Right next to her on one side was a gas mains box and a fire hydrant.

On the other side was an electrical distribution board.

Scattered around the floor were various bits of junk, but the original contents must have been mostly cleared out.

[What now, Prime?] asked Pink.

Horatio appeared before her, and swept his arms to indicate the floor area.

"There's dust on the floor, move around until you have a good view of the dust as it is lit up from the light shining through the door."

"Ah, there they are!" said Pink.

There were the impressions of a double line of footprints, between the front door and a pile of boxes in the middle of the factory floor.

"Don't disturb anything." said Horatio. Pink noted that he was actually getting anxious. If Earth Watch Prime was getting anxious, then Pink was going to be very careful indeed.

So Pink walked over to the boxes. Some were empty, some closed but presumably not containing much of value. Some were cardboard, some wood, and, as Pink walked around to the other side, one appeared to be made out of aluminium.

"Oh fuck" said Horatio. Pink, and the other three who had been listening in on Pink, were shocked. This was the first time that Horatio and or Prime had shown anything else but a polite, measured demeanour, with occasional humour for the lighter moments.

The radio link went silent; each of the four received a little indication saying 'Busy'.

"Huh?" said Blue aloud. "Prime can talk to a dozen people at once, no effort at all."

"I think we should start running, also." said James.

Earth Watch Prime:

A hundred kilometres above their head, every last system and subsystem in Earth Watch Prime's capacious computer network dropped all non-essential tasks and devoted their full attention to the subject at hand. Seven seconds later he had an initial fully detailed plan, to be modified as circumstances dictate. Even before he contacted Pink and co, he was already contacting others and making his moves. He also mobilised his own manufacturing resources for a crash production run.

Blue:

The 'Busy' indicator vanished, and Horatio's voice came back. As well as remaining visible to Pink, he appeared before the other three teenagers also.

"We have a problem."

"Pink, turn around and run at maximum speed to your house, grab two of the implanting units, and come back, as fast as possible. I'll have Martha waiting with the units at your front gate."

As Pink accelerated through the door, Horatio continued speaking to them all.

"That is a suitcase bomb, containing one small tactical nuclear weapon." He relayed the image of it he had gotten through Pink's eyes to the other three.

"You will notice that the top is closed. In this sort of bomb, it is stored and transported with the top open and the whole thing in a bigger case. There is a control panel and keyboard under the top, and to use it the required parameters are entered, and the password is entered. The final arming step is to close and lock the top lid. The turning of the lock is the irrevocable step, after that it cannot be disarmed. It cannot be moved since it has motion sensors and GPS, once they detect a change in location it goes off. The case is also booby trapped, to detect drilling or any other attempt to open it."

Gulp, went three humans. Pink was too busy running at maximum speed to react. She flicked past the three as they came within sight of the factory.

"Golly, I hadn't realised she could move so fast." said Blue.

They turned and watched as she vanished down the hill slope.

"Oh" said Rebecca. She has just seen the school building in the distance.

"That's right," said Horatio. "That will cop the full force of the blast, not to mention everything else within a five or so kilometre radius."

"Renee!"

"I have already started evacuation of the school, not to mention lots of other places. Including the hospital where your parents work."

Rebecca and James were momentarily frozen in horror.

"What can we do?" said Blue.

Horatio told them.

Janet and Charlie:

It was the usual busy day at the police office. Charlie was signing his way through a pile of paper, while Janet was sitting at her terminal, authorising next week's roster while talking on the phone to some officers out on the beat, and also trying to eat an early lunch.

Charlie received a call on his police mobile. Janet's computer terminal and phone connection went dead without warning and she also received a call.

"Hello, Charlie and Janet. Sorry to barge in like this, but I have a reason. I'm Horatio, Pink's father. You have a big problem. There is a suitcase nuclear bomb planted in a factory not too far away, and presumably, it has been set up to explode as some point. Don't worry about how I know this. I am contacting the two generals of your two political parties, and they will be contacting you soon with confirmation."

This gained the full attention of both police officers.

Janet even stopped eating her lunch.

"Now, the instruction manual for this bomb states that, other factors being equal, the best time delay from setting the bomb down is about an hour. Course the operator may have selected any time from now to next week, but we have to assume something, so I'm assuming one hour. Sadly, I don't have the proper facilities on hand to disarm it immediately. However, I am taking steps to adapt what I do have. At the moment I calculate a 10% chance of totally disarming it, a 30% chance of a full nuclear blast, and a 60% chance I will be able to partially disarm it, turning it into a normal chemical explosion, albeit a dirty one with radioactive contamination. I hope to make these probabilities more in our favour as soon as possible. So this is what I want you to do now..."

General Paterson:

General Paterson was also going through his pile of paper, at the Blue's headquarters, way out to the north side of the city. Ding, ding went his phone.

"I am speaking on behalf of the police. Do you recognise what this photo shows?" said Horatio. At the same time, he put some images on the general's phone, taken through Pink's eyes, of the bomb.

"Let's see, that is... Where and when the fuck hell was this photo taken!"

"Five minutes ago, just on the north side of the river, near River School, in an unused factory. Do you notice the serial number just visible down the side?"

"I do." The general spent some seconds typing furiously at his terminal.

"Yes, that is one of ours, before we split up into two. However, there is no record of which side it went to. Bloody hell! Once they are triggered, they can't be disarmed!"

"I have also contacted General McIver, who has said roughly the same thing. So do you agree to temporarily merging your two forces back into one, and use the combined forces to help evacuate the regions within a ten kilometre radius?"

"Ah, I don't think we have any other choice. Also, I really must confirm this by sending in one of my specialists to examine it."

"Agreed. Lieutenant Harrison was at home, only a kilometre away. I have already contacted him, and he is driving his car over."

"How did you know that...? Never mind, the thing is we can't possibly evacuate three hundred or so square kilometres in an hour!

"That's right. We can't. But we can do our best. The police are already mobilising themselves, if you contact the River Police station on this number you can join your forces with them."

"Shit!" said the general. "I will. It also looks like I have no choice but to go there myself. Since half my men will be in the blast zone, anyway."

"I expect nothing less." said Horatio.

"And, who am I speaking to, anyway?"

But the line was already dead.

General McIver:

General McIver ended up with the same conclusion.

The premier of the Pink side was not amused.

"We can't endanger the lives of half of our troops! And yours!"

"Actually, we can. We're the army, after all. We don't want history to record us as being a bunch of cowards, while the Blues, and the civilian police, gave their lives to save as many people as possible, can we?"

Grumble. "I suppose you are right."

Back to the other side:

The Blue premier was displeased, also.

Sigh. "I suppose I will have to show our strength by also contributing."

Neither the Blue nor the Pink governmental headquarters were anywhere near the bomb location. So they were safe. The premiers stayed where they were, and monitored things on their computer screens.

Martha:

At Horatio's request, Martha had dropped her book, ran inside and carried out two of the radio implanting units. They were a bit heavy, so she had to carry them one at a time to the gate. Just as she was staggering up with the second one, Pink came into sight, grabbed the two units and accelerated away.

"Martha! Aren't you going to get out too?" said Pink, via radio.

Sigh. "You're all stuck at the factory, so I think I will have full faith in you, and stay here." said Martha. She was watching Pink's form diminish down the road, before it turned around a corner and disappeared from sight. The last time she will see her?

"Oh. Ok". Pink did not have any energy to argue, it was taking all her concentration to run a high speed without falling over.

Martha went back to the veranda and sat down. She closed her eyes, and Prime provided a running commentary and documentary on the progress.

Lieutenant Harrison:

Lieutenant Harrison had been at home, building mud castles with his three year old boy. His phone had rung.

"This is an order from your general. There is a suspected armed mud-groper suitcase bomb only a kilometre away from you. You are ordered to get there as fast as possible, and confirm this report. Then you can get back to your family and evacuate them."

He did not even stop to wipe the mud off his hands. He certainly did not obey the speed limit. Fortunately, it was not far and he did not encounter any traffic.

Blue:

Back at the factory.

"Blue, I think I saw a length of steel piping as Pink was surveying the room. Take it and try to wrench open the front gate. Someone is arriving to confirm the bomb's existence."

"Right, Rebecca and James. Are you willing to stay here and help Pink and Blue disarm the bomb? Needless to say, it is dangerous."

Horatio did not even bother to ask Blue this question. He knew that Blue was not going to be abandoning Pink in any circumstances.

"Y-Yes," said Rebecca. "If I can be of help..."

"Yes," said James. Naturally he was not going to be leaving Rebecca, either.

"Ok. Thanks. If you two could clear away the debris from where Pink destroyed that perfectly good door. And clear out all the junk around the fire hydrant and the gas mains. Then try to prise open the door of the electricity meter box."

Puzzled glances. "Certainly."

"But first, I have arranged a couple of phone calls to connect directly to your radio links. So if you could say a few words to your respective parents..."

Blue found the pipe, took it out to the gate, and attempted to prise open the gate. The padlocked chain held stubbornly but the surrounding gate frame was rusted. It broke. Blue dragged the gate open, just in time to see a car drive up and skid to a halt.

"Blue! This is Lieutenant Harrison. Welcome him and lead him to the bomb." said Horatio.

Lieutenant Harrison obviously was wondering what the hell three teenagers were doing messing around in the factory. However, he discarded that question as he took a close look at the aluminium box, and reached for his phone, just as it rang.

"This is General Paterson. Have you..."

"Yes sir, I looking at it right now. It is definitely a mud-groper, in armed position, no doubt about it. Here, I'll send some photos."

He pointed the phone at the bomb and took a ten-second movie shot.

"Right, then" the general started to say, but the phone went dead.

"Sir, you have been requested to now evacuate your family." said Blue. Horatio had spoken the words to Blue, who was repeating them aloud.

Harrison needed no further prompting. He turned and ran. His car disappeared down the road. Just as Pink appeared, running fast and carrying what looked like two rather solid pillows. When she saw the gate was open, she swerved and ran through the gate. Her school uniform dress was beginning to fray and look tattered from all the fast running.

"Pink! I'll take control of your body for a moment."

Horatio carefully placed the two implanting units on either side of the aluminium box. They started to extend themselves and to wrap up the box in their embrace.

Thirteen minutes since the neutrinos had been detected.

Janet and Charlie:

Back at the police office.

"I have taken extreme liberties." said Horatio to Charlie and Janet. "I have already started ordering around your police force around."

Indeed, they could hear, through the partitions of their offices, a certain amount of commotion from the other police officers as they sprang to duty.

"On your computer screens is a summary of the details so far."

The existing contents of their computer screens were wiped away, and a bulleted text list appeared on each.

"You need to pick up the slack and start issuing orders and pretend you have been doing so all along."

"But firstly, I have already rang your respective spouses and am holding open a phone link. You might like to say a few words to them, and then order them to evacuate."

"Honey, it's going to be a bad day at the office..." said Charlie to his wife.

"Sweetheart, I'm staying here to manage things, I may be some time..." said Janet to her husband.

A minute later.

"Here are the details of what I have done so far..."

Police officers started to appear at various locations in the areas around the factory. They blocked side streets, commandeered traffic lights, started ordering vehicles to drive outwards. Some officers from the police station ran across to the road from the police station, and started to organise an evacuation of the entire school.