Metafire

Randy then pulled himself back into the original Metafire Two capsule near the bomb workers. He decided to put the virtual reality gear back on and practice some tug maneuvers. It would be neat if he could do the things that tug driver, Scooter, could do. It was extremely demanding to move and target a moving location simultaneously, without crashing, anyway.

Back in Washington, John Ferguson asked Jill, "Did they see USA Today? Do they know about the article?"

"I think they did, John." Jill quickly thought out the scenario and realized that USA Today had broadcast before any orders to halt transmissions to and from the Metafire colony.

"What would they do?"

"I really don't think they would do anything different than they have done. We attacked them, John. I don't think they would have reacted to the newspaper. Do you?"

"Actually, no. I was more worried about the people who would get in touch with them. We had to arrest them and stop all communication. Now we can deny any accusations that these people are special, besides being suspected of kidnapping and extortion." Ferguson had not actually thought about why he had ordered the attack on Metafire. He knew it was the right thing. But it was not until this moment that the reasoning, his reasoning, became apparent to him. Then he realized that this reasoning needed to be communicated within the FBI. "Jill, it just dawned on me. Send a broadcast email to all agents on this case and tell them to explain that the USA Today reporters had simply encountered arrests in process. OK?"