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When the gnome had spoken to everyone, he locked the door and hurried back to the kitchen. A minute later, Linden marched into the dining room. Pure Harlequin, Maya thought. The big Frenchman was calm, but alert. Although he didn’t show a weapon, there was something about him-some lack of boundaries-that was intimidating.

“C’est bon,” he said in French and Gabriel came in behind him. The Traveler appeared tired and fragile, as if his empty body had spent too many days alone in the secret room. Maya wanted to stand up, draw her sword, and take him away from these people. Maybe they needed him, but they didn’t understand the danger.

The Traveler circled the restaurant personally greeting everyone who had come to the meeting. He stared at each face with a power that allowed him to see split-second changes in a person’s expression. Maya doubted if anyone else in the room was aware of this ability but they knew that Gabriel saw them clearly and accepted their fears and hesitations.

Simon leaned across the table. “Did you see the change?” he whispered. “When the Traveler is here, this becomes a movement.”

Maya nodded as she watched the transformation. Even EricVinsky, the computer expert who called himself the Nighthawk, tried to sit up in his wheelchair when Gabriel approached him. Finally, the Traveler arrived at their table, touching Alice ’s shoulder and nodding to Simon.

“Is everything all right?”

“We got lost,” Alice said.

“That’s not always a bad thing, Alice. Getting lost means you’re trying a different path.”

He turned away from them and that was it. No words for her. Not even a smile. I’m carrying your child, Maya wanted to say. Just thinking it made her nervous. She pressed her lips together so the words wouldn’t burst out of her mouth.

Gabriel stood in the middle of the restaurant. When he raised his hands slightly, everyone stopped talking. “This is the first meeting of the worldwide Resistance. I want to thank all of you for coming. According to Jugger, our Japanese friends are stuck in Frankfurt Airport, but we do have delegates from the United States, Canada, Australia and Poland.

“You are the core, the foundation of our group. I want all of you to get to know each other after I explain the next step in our evolution. The people in this room have different backgrounds and speak different languages. Some of you have unconventional political views while others see yourselves as liberals or conservatives. This issue unites all of us. It transcends conventional political labels. The real division in our society is between those who are aware and those who choose to remain blind.

“Every person in this room has had a moment when we’ve looked at the world and have realized that a permanent system of surveillance is being created by the new technology. This system is able to track your movements and monitor your actions. In a few years, it would be able to control your behavior and destroy the privacy of thought that is essential for any democracy. We call this system the Vast Machine, and we are attempting to destroy its power.

“Surveillance technology is the most visible sign of a fundamental change in human society. We are approaching a time when each of us could become another bar-coded object in a world of objects. Distracted by fear and the stress of our contemporary lives, we could only pretend to make free choices. I say ‘pretend’ because the direction of our lives would be manipulated from birth.

“The people in this room have taken the first step. You’ve seen what’s going on and realized that our freedom is about to be lost forever. The obvious question is: how can stop this from happening?

“The Tabula and their allies have the power to crush any conventional sort of protest group. They’re like Goliath standing on the battlefield with an enormous sword and shield. The only way to defeat them is to act like a modern David. We need to surprise our enemy with quick, decisive action. We need to conceal our organizing efforts until the last possible moment so that our movement will not be compromised or crushed.

“Most of you have heard about the Nighthawk-the person who created our encryption code. He’s also developed and released a program called the Revelation Worm, which will allow me to speak to people all over the world. Eric, could you give us some more information…”

The Nighthawk moved his wheelchair a few feet from the table. Although his body was still crippled, he seemed happy that he had finally left his dormitory room. “Revelation was released six days ago. I estimate that it’s currently hiding in eight to ten million computers, and millions more are being added every day. Remember, this worm can only be activated once, and then security patches will be developed to block it. Think carefully before you pull this particular trigger.”