Things really started going wrong after the second transmission. It took the four remaining members of the Collaborator's Conspiracy until that message to find the time to meet again.

Callisto started it off. "Are you sure there is no way that we can catch that ship?"

Questro replied, "Not that we can be sure of. Anything that we have ready to deploy now would use his propulsion system, and you can be sure that he knows more about how to make it work well than we do. Even if we tuned one for more thrust he could just do the same."

Grimacing, Callisto responded, "I'm sure you’re right about that. You wouldn't believe how many calls I've gotten this week asking if we can still provide the systems that have already been ordered. I would not have believed how many people don't really understand how the Valuestream works." He paused. "Could you maybe, do something with the gravity bump to catch up to him?"

The physicist looked pained. "You know the problems associated with developing a prototype that quickly. I'm sure I could put something together, but I'm not sure that I should.” He nodded grimly. “If the ‘alien’ message was authentic one, then we might get ourselves into more trouble by pushing through more experiments with my GravTech."

"I wish I could argue with that." Callisto said. "But I really really can’t. I feel like life would be a lot easier if we could just ask him what we should do."

"It might be easier, but I suspect that his anticipation of that desire is one of the reasons that he left." Annagail seemed the least affected by Julius' absence. "During our session he told me about one of his recurring dreams. He said that he had been having some version of the dream since he had turned eighteen. The world was ending and he was in a room with everyone looking at him, waiting for him to speak. They were looking to him for answers about every question they had, religious, mechanical, even sexual. That was the point in his dream, he said, where he became filled with a terrible fear. It was in part fear of leading those sheep, my words, not his, astray. He was also afraid that if he said nothing someone else would speak up that knew even less than he."

"You shouldn't have told us that."

If Annagail was the least affected, then Lauria was the most. Her face had the look of someone who needed hours more sleep than she was getting. She had obviously been crying. "That is a violation of his doctor-patient privilege."

Annagail was taken aback. "It is. I don't think that I have done that in 20 years of practice. His life is so public I guess I just assumed..." She tapered off and Questro rested his hand on hers. They were both sitting at the table with Lauria. Callisto paced restlessly while Annagail continued. "I'm sorry, Lauria; you are right. I shouldn't have said it."

"No, I'm sorry. It was a valuable piece of insight, and there is no one here who means him any harm." She couldn't help but look to Callisto Venturi as she said it; he and Questro were the only among them who had not sworn to do no harm. For some reason, in her heart, Lauria trusted Questro in a way she did not trust Cal.

"I'm under so much stress. Everyone on board seems to be getting sick all at once with stress-induced everything. No one on this boat had a perfect bill of health when it started, and now... I don't know.” She hiccupped as her sadness slipped out.

“Do you know how many people he was feeding every day? Most of these people are used to having cooks prepare their meals and there just aren't that many people on board that know how to make healthy meals using sanitary practices." She sighed and rested her head on the table, equanimity restored. "And my bed is cold."

"We might have a bigger problem than you know. Supplies of soap have always been a problem. It seems like a lot of people on board are developing allergies to specific kinds of medicines, and we just didn't anticipate it when we stocked the medical supply closet." Callisto stopped pacing as he delivered this news. "If it keeps accelerating at the rate it has since he left, we might have to land early." Questro gave a bitter laugh. "Mankind's great adventure, brought to its knees for want of soap."

"Being the mayor of this wreck isn't all that it's cracked up to be." Cal grumbled. "Everyone needs answers to questions they don't even know how to ask."

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

With a quiet pain Lauria broke in, "At least you stuck around to answer them."

No one spoke for a full minute.

Eventually, it was the computer everyone called Grace that broke the silence. "There is some news breaking that I think you should probably hear. Would you like to see first hand sources or hear my summary?"

"Just tell us." Annagail replied.

"A group of modular colonists in Montana have asked for recognition from the UN as a legal state. The people living there claim that since they use none of the resources of the state, the state has no claim to collect taxes or implement laws in their community.

“Several prominent members of those communities self-reported religious views as Followers of the 'Stream in last year's tax reports. Reports from the state indicate that around 2000 families live in those communities and their likelihood of surviving the winter is certain. They have a larger per capita percentage of medical personnel than this vessel does."

Before anyone could comment the computer continued. "Also, in northeast Russia there has been an outbreak of a disease with flu-like symptoms with an R-value of between three and four," Lauria gasped. "and a fatality rate of close to point five. The only reported cases of the outbreak come from a series of fishing communities along the coast of the Arctic Ocean, with total casualties still fewer than 100. However, my analysis of the spread of the disease indicates that at least one infected cell is mobile and moving southward along the coast, most likely on a vessel of some sort. My projections indicate that the vessel is within days of reaching the easternmost stop on the Trans-Siberian Railroad." Lauria gasped again.

"Leave aside the sedition in North America for the moment." Lauria began. "This outbreak has the potential to erase half the population of the world. What steps have been taken to stop its spread?"

"I have prepared several reports for the World Health Organization, and will send them upon your acquiescence. Their reduced funding will dramatically impact their ability to respond. I will also increase the health alert to code orange for all Valuestream personnel at the acquiencense of Mr. Venturi."

Callisto answered both implied requests. "Do them both, and mark the WHO memos as having crossed my desk." He coughed into his arm. "We need to send someone down to get more meds for the ship before it spreads any farther."

"That person will forfeit their chance at the Governance prize." Annagail looked almost ashamed to have said it.

Lauria stood up. "It should be me; I don't really have a chance at winning this stupid game and you need someone who knows what the medicine is." She looked at Callisto, "get someone to make the purchases and bring it to the top of the VI Building in New York harbor. Take all the sanitary precautions to ensure that there is no chance that we can bring new bugs onboard."

It wasn't Callisto who answered, but Grace. "I'll arrange for a landing vessel of the type that Mr. Paine took with him. It will be ready in two hours."

"Is this how it is going to be until he gets back? When we actually get to meet, we don't discuss the things that we came here to discuss? We are in the middle of a conspiracy to bring about a New World Government and we don't even have the time to mention any of our plans?" Questro asked bemusedly.

"Grace, can you report on any ongoing developments in the matter we are discussing?"

"Yes."

"Will you?"

"Yes."

For a moment Cal thought that he would have to prompt her even more obviously, but she began her recitation.

"Polling in every province of China indicates that over 60 percent of people polled would prefer to have more control over their lives. 70 percent feel like the government has acted against their interests. However, only 10 percent indicated that they would take an active role in changing the form of governance in their country. Most reported the emotion they felt most often when thinking about the future was fear.

"I've made contact with a few of the more intelligent responders to our poll. All of them have received information regarding participatory budgeting and policies regarding implementing a directly democratic system until a central government can be legally re-established after the fall of the Party.

"Our PR campaign appears to be successful. Reports about government abuses have hit their mainstream media through satellites that we co-opted. The government does not seem to be able to identify the source of the reports, but has not disavowed them. Additionally, our control over their satellite infrastructure has reached a critical mass defined by our ability to redirect guided missiles, intercept a majority of their major media, and report false weather patterns with a minimal likelihood that they will become aware of our interference."

"Good." That was Annagail. When heads snapped in her direction she just said. "What? We are trying to effect a change in government in a foreign state. We knew that this was going to happen. I guess we could still back out, but that is something that we would have to decide on together."

Questro spoke, "And it is something that we might have to decide, but I don't think the time is now. So far we haven't taken any steps that would make our presence known. Personally I am more concerned with stopping the spread of this thing in Russia."