Sally's Secret

Chapter 32

Kayo kept busy and didn't ever mention missing Alan, but it seemed to Maria that she wasn't quite herself without him around. They weren't officially a couple, but they did hang out together quite a bit. Just because they didn't call each other girlfriend and boyfriend didn't mean they weren't close. In an attempt to give Kayo a little distraction, Maria took another stab at making sushi. It didn't look like the perfect pictures she'd seen in the how-to articles, but it was better than the first disastrous try and Kayo didn't care what it looked like.

"I would have eaten those first ones you made too, if you had let me," she said. "I love this stuff. Don't ever throw any away." She wolfed down more sushi in an hour than Maria had ever seen her eat in an entire day. It was like an optical illusion, seemingly impossible for her to physically fit that volume of food in her tiny body.

"I'm just glad it tastes better than it looks," Maria said with a chuckle. She preferred her fish well-done, thanks. But as long as Kayo liked it and didn't mind its less-than-perfect appearance, she'd be happy to make it for her.

The next day, everyone was out on missions when Maria returned from her underwater perimeter patrol. Sally had just awoken from her nap in the study, but had not tried to sit up yet. Maria helped her up and took her to the restroom before delivering her to her favoured spot in the lounge. Gordon and Virgil were very busy saving people from an underwater hotel collapse in the Maldives. Both of their holo-projections wore serious expressions. Maria couldn't tell exactly what had happened, but they had their hands full.

Kayo appeared to be checking out some kind of abandoned chemical plant, looking for clues to The Alchemist's whereabouts, no doubt. Her holo-image was doing a lot of sneaking around in the shadows and not talking, but it must have been dangerous enough that it was not a good idea to just shut off her comms.

The beep-alert from Thunderbird 5 sounded and the eye lenses in John's portrait lit up, but the holo-image projected into the lounge next to Kayo wasn't John. It was one of the speaking units for EOS with its ring of little lights. A female computer voice said, "John requires assistance. He lost consciousness and is not responding. Something happened when he opened his lunch." Her camera zoomed in on a fast-food cardboard clam packaging, sitting on a table. Inside was an untouched cheeseburger and a small silver egg tucked in the box's corner.

Maria didn't wait for anyone to ask for her input. "That looks like the egg The Alchemist used to give me that virus."

Sally and Brains gasped.

"I didn't have my glasses the first time I saw it. Kayo, can you see the transmissions EOS is sending right now? You can nod if it's dangerous to speak."

"Yes," Kayo said. "I see it. That's exactly like the one I gave to Detective Jim. He said the aerosol dispensing mechanism could be on a timer, triggered by motion, or even by light or sound."

"Thanks, Kayo. EOS, did John just now open his food?" Virgil had sent the care package up several hours ago, before her swim.

"John has not had time to eat since it arrived. It was unopened until approximately three minutes ago."

"Did that egg make a hissing noise and emit a gas?"

"Affirmative. Shall I show you the recording?"

"No, thank you, EOS. Scan Thunderbird 5 for airborne toxins or infectious agents, please. If you find any, compare against the virus he used last time, which is designated Vektor371. It may be under the Cyrillic spelling of Vektor in the WHO database." Maria realised she was probably butting in on Brains' territory here to tell EOS what to do, but she could apologise later if he was offended.