“This pilot program was designed to develop the abilities of a group of highly talented young people as well as build bridges and relationships with their families and organizations. By talented, I mean supernatural.”
She paused to let that sink in and, judging by the glances we got and the sudden side conversations, it was a bit of surprise to the intel folks.
“Nathan Stewart, Director of Oracle, can explain further,” Gina said, stepping back from the mic.
“Good morning, colleagues and students. I am so very honored to be here. The germ for Arcane grew from comments I exchanged with Chris Gordon last year in New Hampshire. This semester is the pilot program for something that we hope will grow and bear valuable fruit for all involved. We’ve had some rough patches,” Stewart said, catching my eye as he did. “But that’s how we learn, develop, and build out truly useful programs. To our students, the next few days will be invaluable for learning and understanding. For my professional brothers and sisters, this is an enormous opportunity to make contact with and learn from the children of the supernatural world. There has never been a more disruptive development than the emergence of the supernatural community, but there will be more to come. How we handle the supernatural emergence will define our ability to handle even greater disruptions. So please prepare for a momentous week of learning and please, please treat your fellows with respect.”
Gina stepped back up. “Thank you, Nathan. Now, you all have a schedule of the presentations. We have changed the schedule a bit. The first program will be DARPA’s on drone innovations, then at ten, we’ll have two concurrent programs: Emergent Ramifications in this room and Portal Detection Developments in the room next door. After that, we’ll break for lunch before getting to this afternoon’s agenda. So without further ado, let me introduce Stan Abbott from DARPA.”
Stan was skinny, gangly, a little awkward in his movements but oddly confident about his subject.
“Anyone fly here today?” he asked the audience as he fiddled with his lavalier microphone. About half the suits raised their hands. “Did you thank the plane’s computer for a safe flight?” There were chuckles.
“I say that because almost all commercial flying is now handled, in the main part, by onboard computers. Same with space flight and more and more military aircraft,” he said, pulling a small black drone from one of his cases. He pressed a switch on the machine and we could all hear the little multi-rotors wind up. Then he simply let go of the unit and walked away. The drone hung in the air, motionless. Stan picked up a tablet and turned back to us with a smug grin. “Drone avionics are rapidly absorbing the same kind of flight software used to get some of you here. And it’s even more advanced. This little beauty takes over its own flight controls as soon as it’s powered on. In default mode, it will stay on station wherever I leave it,” he said, reaching out and moving the drone to a different height and place above the floor. As soon as he let go, it stayed glued to the spot he’d left it in. “Now, instead of concentrating on complicated flight procedures, the operator can simply enter commands to whatever interface he or she might be using,” he said, typing one-handed into the tablet. Immediately, the drone swooped up and over the audience, staying about six feet over our heads.
“This frees the operator to concentrate on gathering information, studying the sensors, and carrying out the real mission,” Stan said, using a remote to turn on the massive flatscreen on the wall in front. The picture came up, showing a split-screen view of the drones’ live cameras, both standard and thermal.
Immediately, it was apparent on the thermal screen that some of the audience was a good deal warmer than the rest. The drone slowed and hovered over the were pack.
I could almost see the moment when Stan figured out what that meant. His cool composure slipped a bit as he rapidly entered a new set of instructions, causing the drone to move away from the werewolves, who were now receiving a whole lot of intense looks from the intel people.
I reached over and took Caeco’s hand with my own. That little spark that happens between her nanites and me popped and sizzled along my skin.
“Ah, this program is currently set to seek out higher body temperatures,