Metafire

Ferguson began, "Erisa, Randy, I am John Ferguson with the FBI. This is Major Henderson, a Presidential aide, and this is Franklin Churchill, an analyst." Everyone in Washington had by now seen pictures of the people on Bluebird. There was no need for introductions the other way. "Erisa, Randy, are you all right?"

"Yes, John. We have a lot to say to you." Erisa was ready to explain what she knew.

"Yes. This is what we are going to do. First, Jim Edenfield there is trained in careful debriefing. Right now we can talk. Later, Jim, I want you to individually debrief Erisa and Randy. Record your sessions and provide a report. We are going to get all of you down from there, but not for a day or two. The bomb sitting there doesn't need company."

"That's a relief." Scooter spoke up.

"OK, Erisa, tell us what you need to tell us."

"These are the terrorists. The Metafire people explained it all to me. They are the ones that set the bombs in all those cities. They are the ones that killed our families. But they said that the explosions were accidents. Their leader, Stan Firestone, lied to them. They had been assured that the bombs would not explode. Not just the first time, but the second time too. They said Stan fooled them after the first explosions, and they killed the wrong people in reprisal. After the second explosions, they discovered it was Stan. They killed him. They told me that, originally, they had just meant to demonstrate the threat convincingly. They wanted people to know the nuclear bomb threat on Earth was not going to go away just because the Americans and Russians were at peace."