You, Me, We Are All Mistakes

19. DEX'2O

"And we're the toads in it!" scoffed Nelson, about to raise two inappropriate fingers when Tina interrupted.

"Let the man speak."

There was another tense pause providing Nelson a moment to regret his outburst, yet the situation was causing his blood to run hot, and he continued with another challenge.

"Just tell us... are you aliens?"

"Ha, ha. No, not at all. But then we're not exactly members of the..." he stopped himself abruptly. "Everything will become clear."

"Oh, I am now fed up of hearing that," bawled Nelson picking up steam, "So far it's clear as builder's mud in black bin liner. Please get to the point. We'd like it clear please. Now."

"As I said, everything..."

"Now."

"Nelson!" rebuked the Knowall. "There is due process here. Mountains have been moved following your recent conduct, meetings convened, adjourned, and rescheduled."

Nelson stood his ground.

"And we..." he held out a hand towards Tina, "have been shackled and kidnapped."

The older man considered his options, eventually resting his eyes on Tina.

"You as well?"

Tina raised her eyebrows to indicate the question was unnecessary and nodded mutely.

"Well, a decision still has to be made. But as you are both are so insistent."

He gently touched a silver disk on the wall. In response another impossibly flat, considerably larger screen, descended from the ceiling recess. It flickered to display a map of the world as the floor lights dimmed. On this map blinked a pulsing red fleck at the heart of Great Britain, tagged to declare YOU ARE HERE.

"See. I told you!" exclaimed Tina.

"I'm sorry?" queried the Knowall.

"Nothing. It doesn't matter."

Other red spots were appearing, but none pulsed. They illuminated Iceland, Puerto Rico, Madagascar, Florida, Corsica, Macau, and Tasmania.

"Firstly, some introductions," began their host. He reached across, over his chest, to lightly run a finger across the letters Dex'2O stitched into the shoulder of his robe. "My name is Dex Two Oh, but from now please call me Dex."

"Dex," repeated Tina flatly.

"Yes please." The Knowall turned to look at the slim screen behind and above him.

"As you can see, we are all part of a whole." He waved his hand across the display. "At all these points we have underground installations like this one you are in. Points where you would least expect to find us. Not that anyone knows we are here anyway, but it's reassuring. We prefer small countries, especially islands. We also have a few carefully planted eyes and ears, keeping the feedback loop going and ensuring we don't miss anything important.

"Planted eyes. Like whom?" challenged Nelson.

"I can't divulge names, but we have a handful in key Western governments, one in each of the G7 intelligence communities, two in US news media and one in UK news media."

"The UK's news media! Ha, well I'm in that and never heard of you. You mean, like..." Nelson paused, trying to conjure up a recognised journalist's name, "Trevor MacDonald?" He then scoffed at his own humour whilst Tina rolled her eyes. The Knowall raised a single eyebrow in neither confirmation nor denial.

"No way!" exclaimed Nelson.

Ignoring his outburst, the Knowall continued.

"We have a few high-profile channels, most notably parts of NASA you've already experienced, but we'll come to that."

"Is this going to be a long explanation, Dex?" queried Tina.

"It depends how much you want to know."

"Can we have a seat? These heels are killing me."

"Why of course, please relax."

Dex'2O indicated wheeled office chairs of thin mesh fabric, tucked beneath the assorted desks and workstations. They organized themselves. Nelson slouched, Tina sat straight and crossed her legs.

"Now as you know, we are the Knowalls."

"Yes... quite an unsavoury name," offered Tina. "Do you intend to be taken seriously with that?"

The Knowall looked at her quizzically.

"You know what I mean, surely. I prefer tech mafia, that seems much cooler."

"Knowalls we can see as a curious, some could say unfortunate, name," Dex agreed, "but it's a name we were historically given, and I now believe to be quite apt. And we form part of The Directorate. So, are you sitting comfortably?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll begin."