Author's Note: Apologies, as this seems to be getting more delayed every time. On the bright side, this is longer than the previous chapters, and takes the story to about the half-way point. So, it will get done, even if it takes a while!
*****
"So," said Helen, having gathered them all at the office, "let's try to go through this chronologically. What do we think actually happened here?"
"I guess it starts with the alien sphere landing on that waste ground in Kent," began Rebecca, feeling almost guilty for stating the obvious, "a dog-walker comes across it, picks it up and takes it home. Somehow it makes him very ill, and he collapses."
"From what we have on his medical condition," added Nalini, "it looks as if something in the sphere was attempting to gain control over him, trying to see how his nervous system worked."
"Basically computer hacking," suggested Brandon, "only with organic brains."
"No idea how it actually does that," pointed out Rebecca, "but it seems to fit the picture. So, I don't know, maybe it's learned enough from that first failure, or maybe it just tries something different. But, next thing we know, it's making everyone within a few hundred yards go sex-mad."
"During which," said Richard, "a couple, Emma and Denzel, start acting strangely. Without bothering to pick up the sphere, they take the train into London, where Denzel turns up that evening at a University."
"Does he have any connection with the place?" asked Helen.
"Not that we've been able to find, but it's early days. He obviously gate-crashed the student bar somehow, since he's not actually a member."
"But Emma was," said Brendan, "at least until recently. She might still have had her NUS card. It would have expired, but maybe somebody didn't check properly."
"She studied at Queen Mary?"
"No, Greenwich. But there might be some connection there. At least they're reasonably close."
"Hmm... Greenwich isn't part of London University is it?"
"No," said Rebecca, "but it's plausible that she knew somebody who went there. Or at least knew something about it that we haven't figured out yet."
"Well, let's leave that aside for the moment. What do we think happened next?"
Richard picked up the story. "So, shortly after Denzel turns up at the bar - still acting strangely, by all accounts - a huge fight starts up."
"We're thinking it's something like the sex drive effect, only a different emotion," explained Rebecca.
"Whatever this is," said Nalini, "whether it's a transmissible disease, or something that's more deliberate, it seems to affect the autonomic nervous system, at least in part. So it affects hormone levels, creates surges of adrenaline, and so forth. But it's also affecting the brain, maybe creating delusions of some kind, making the victim lose grasp of reality."
"Which would explain the violence, but not so much the sex," argued Rebecca, "that just seems to be an emotional surge. Hormones, yes, but not delusions. I can't shake the feeling that there's a plan of some kind here, not just some illness being randomly spread. Most people affected by it are fine after a couple of hours, so far as we can tell. With a couple of exceptions, obviously."
"Speaking of which," said Richard, "the fight leads to the police being called, and the building is eventually cleared. That's when it gets strange... stranger, I should say. Everyone thinks that Denzel has left the building, but he hasn't; he's hiding in there somewhere. And, at some point, something... our flying robot thing... crashes through the skylight, fires off a shot that hits the bar, then gets itself trapped in a store cupboard with Denzel."
"He was probably trying to run from it," said Kate, "but didn't close the door quickly enough."
"It seems the most reasonable explanation," agreed Richard, "but however it happened, the thing kills him, and the police, having no particular reason to search the place, don't find him before we do."
"Yeah, and while all this is going on," said Curtis, in his American drawl, and casually leaning up against the wall, "his girlfriend is across the way in a different building, spying on the students, or something."
"Where she gets found the following morning," continued Richard "lying out cold in the corridor. Somebody calls an ambulance, and, luckily Curtis and I get there in time to pick her up."
"What do we know about her condition? Nalini?"
"There's no proper diagnosis yet, they're still checking her out. But, from the preliminary indications, it's nothing like the first man. Whatever happened to her was much milder, but until we have more information, there's no way to know how long it will last."
"And nothing odd happened at this student residence building?"
"Nobody's reported anything. Other than her being there, obviously. We've checked the rooms she was closest to when she collapsed, but it seems that none of them was in at the time. But there's dozens of students in the building; it'll take a while to question them all. But maybe somebody saw something."
"Carry on with that, as soon as you can. Take Kate with you, after this meeting. But, otherwise, do we think it's all over?"
"I don't," said Rebecca, "I know that everyone involved is either in custody or dead, but I can't help but feel that there was some plan here, and, at the very least, I'd like to know what that was. Where did that drone thing come from, and what did it want? Are there more of them? And what were Denzel and Emma doing anyway? After the obvious, I mean. Those don't seem like random movements to me."
"Is that drone alien tech?" asked Curtis, sounding hopeful, "because we've got facilities at..."
"That drone is currently the property of Her Majesty's government," said Helen sternly, "if DARPA or Area 51, or whoever else you've got, wants to take a look at it, they can ask through the regular channels. Until then, it's ours, and no, you don't get a ticket to waltz into Porton Down without proper clearance. Which, by the way, is over a hundred miles away, so it's a bit out of your way to visit on spec."
"Jeez... I was just..."
