V22 N6 P10

The Ancient One picked up his temporary companions. "Got a message," The Ancient One explained, "that the navy has a problem. Need to check our email. Want you to know how and where anyway."
They flew to a military base and approached a building on its outskirts. The Ancient One went to the key pad, punched in his code, and the door unlocked.
"Again I'm going to have to ask the question," David put in, "why not just walk through the door?"
"Because this building is equipped with sensors," The Ancient One explained, "that can detect the presence of ectoplasmic beings! It alerts me if anybody else enters this facility besides me. Here, I've programmed the keyboard so you can enter a code. Put something in. Don't even tell me what it is. Then if need be, you can get in here without me. When we get on the computer I'll also have you put a code into that. Your designation, by the way is Flyingfish."
Esther laughed. "What do you find so funny?" The Ancient One grinned. "Yours is Helllady."
David joined in the chuckles, and after a moment even Esther did!
"Something is worrying me," David put in as they entered the building. "One of my associates mentioned it last night. You're acting like somebody whose training a successor, and that frightens even us! Is there any truth to that idea?"
The Ancient One smiled. "Not a successor," he answered, "a temporary replacement for eight years or so. If we accomplish our current purpose, which God is still trying to do, I would have the job that would require my entire attentions 24/7, and it would be very difficult for me to carry on my duties as a Lord Of Light. God thought I should have back up, and this might be a very good way to settle the long outstanding grievances between us. If all goes according to plan, you and Esther would be nearby, be able to carry out your duties, and in an absolute emergency we'd be able to jump in and help. It just seemed perfect!"
"Are you ever going to let me forget that little thing?" David asked, "Are you ever going to forgive it?"
"If him and I hadn't forgiven it," Durga put in, "you wouldn't be here now! But it's still irritating."
David sighed. "Well, let's get to work!" The Ancient One snapped. "Go ahead. Log into the email. Let's see what's going on."
David did so. "There's a thank you here," he remarked, "from the Somalian intel. 'Made good use of it.'"
"Just hit acknowledge on that," The Ancient One instructed.
"The second one's from medical. They want to know if what's happening to the kids in China is K12. What in the hell is K12?"
"A virus," Durga answered, "especially designed to destroy the psychic centers in the brain. It was meant to wipe us out, destroy all of us that have the abilities. Tell them no."
David typed the response and Esther looked at him rather crossly. "Did you know about that?" she asked.
"I've heard rumors," David answered. "But nobody ever told me they were working on it. If they had they wouldn't be working for the government very long! The last one's from the navy. They're getting strange reports of a horrid smell on one of their carriers in The Persian Gulf. They say it's worse than the stench of death and they're wondering if you should check it out."
"You're in charge tonight," The Ancient One snapped, "what do you think?"
"I think something wrong on one of our carriers," David answered, "is something that we need to be concerned with! I think we should go and check it out!"
"My opinion exactly!" The Ancient One agreed. "Now, let's check duty rosters of the pilots ferrying the mail. Just as I thought! They've put four of my people in the rotation. Perfect! Let's see...one of the planes will be landing on the carrier in about an hour. We'll intercept it, board, and arrive on it. We can't just appear out of nowhere on an aircraft carrier. Makes far too many questions! We'll have to arrive in some official way. Let's lock up and get going! Wait outside a moment. There's one private email I have to send."
As they departed David had another question. "Why don't I just give the information to people working with me?" he asked.
"We have a long standing agreement," The Ancient One explained, "that we will not give absolute proof of our powers. We can hint at them, put them in stories, all that kind of thing. But we can't openly use our abilities. They're afraid it will cause a panic."