Chapter Four

The ‘O’ Room

Anna approached the O Room door. A few of her fellow Oculus program runners were waiting for her. The door recognised Anna and opened just as she reached it. The rest of the group filtered in behind her and took their seats. “Thomas will be running late so I will take this meeting. As you are all aware, the large explosion in Redmond tunnel today appears to have involved two of our Operators. It is presumed at this time that both James Fleet and Miles Kennedy are deceased although that remains to be seen”. The room went silent as they all looked at each other in disbelief. “Presumed?” Scoffed Charlie. “Their car was vaporised! Their Lenses went down. Playback shows them entering the tunnel.” Charlie Smalls was the lead programmer on Oculus. Although cavalier with the privacy of the general public, he was in general a very grounded guy and well meaning. He was very protective of the Operators as the rest of the group were reckless when it came to their safety and well being. Charlie was particularly concerned with the low level of trust Anna and others had in even the most senior Operators. Were it not for Charlie, the Operators would be monitored every minute of the day. Anna was having none of his pushback. “The very point of this meeting is to ascertain their current status. Yes Charlie, as far as the rest of the world is concerned these men are dead because to talk about them, what they were, would be the end of this program. Furthermore, if we were to confirm to the world that these men have absconded from our secret illegal program it would create mass civil unrest”. “They ARE dead!!!” shouted back Charlie. “If I may”. The deep, calm voice of Paul Firenze brought the tone down as he walked up to the presentation wall and placed his hand gently on Anna’s shoulder, encouraging her to sit. Paul displayed a PDF on screen. “We have obtained information from emergency services at the scene. We have body cam footage also. There are no bodies or blood at the scene, however, that can be the case in an explosion of this magnitude. The likelihood that all three bodies are unaccounted for is a stretch. We also have a still here that shows the maintenance tunnel door was blown completely through, severing the hinges. The chief fire officer has stated that this is possible but the hinges looked like they were cut rather than ripped apart by force”. Charlie raised his hand. Paul nodded in his direction. “Who was the third victim?”. “The third victim was man by the name of Thomas Murphy. He was the driver of the truck. Murphy was an active dissident and refusenik. His name has crossed our radar before but all threat indicators remained low”. Charlie looked over at Anna and reluctantly nodded his head agreeing for her to continue. Anna reassumed her position. “Nobody outside this board is to be told anything other than these men are dead. Not the CIB. Not even our Operators.”