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“Weapons specialists. I want them here in five minutes.”

Lucienne had been brooding about what Seraphen had said about her and Ashburn, and what Ashburn had said when he activated the Eye of Time. Everything related to it came alive. Seraphen must be one of the byproducts.

After the weapons specialists arrived, Lucienne briefed her team about Seraphen.

“Seraph means ‘the burning one,’ ” Ziyi said, “a type of six-winged angels in the Christian Bible.”

“He’s far from an angel,” said Lucienne.

“A machine then?” someone asked.

“A cyborg, more likely. Some military factories have started building a second generation, but the models are still crude,” an engineer said. “Maybe someone else built the perfect model.”

“Or a genetically enhanced human. There are a few experiments on the black market.”

“He’s none of those.” Lucienne said. “We don’t know what he is.”

“Whatever he is,” Orlando said, waving a fist, “let’s nuke the Ghost House and bury the thing inside.”

“That would only piss him off,” Lucienne said. “Earthly weapons can’t kill him.”

“No one is indestructible, not even Superman,” Vladimir said. “Suppose he’s an alien. What if we use elements from meteorites to build weapon?”

“The elements are the same as those on Earth,” said a tall weapons scientist. “Even if he’s extraterrestrial, we’ll need to determine which planet he’s from. If earthly weapons can’t kill him, then rocks and metals from planets outside his homeland would be useless, too.”

“If we can’t find a way to eliminate him soon,” Vladimir said, “then we trap him. We put him in a cage, an unbreakable cage.”

“An excellent idea!” the tall scientist said. “Once he’s contained, we can study him until we find his weakness. We could make a breakthrough on quantum physics.”

“He’ll be too much trouble for quantum,” Lucienne said.

“Then we’ll sink him to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean,” Vladimir said viciously.

“I can use carbyne to build a cage,” said a round-faced weapons engineer.

“Build it, then,” Kian said. “What can we use to trap him?”

“A net made of Inconel 625 will do,” said an engineer sitting in the corner of the room.

“Add iridium from asteroids,” the round-faced engineer said, “and we’ll make several net launchers that can sustain maximum thrusts of 220, 000 PSI.”

“Do whatever it takes,” Kian said.

The weapons engineers left to begin building trapping devices.

~

When Lucienne woke up in the late afternoon, she wanted to leave the patient room, but no one would allow her.

“Am I a prisoner in my own home?” she demanded.

“You are,” Kian said. “Until you’re well.”

“I’m not a bed ridden maiden. A warrior doesn’t lie in bed.”

“When a warrior is injured in the field, she must stay in bed and listen to the doctors,” Kian said. “Dr. Wren’s prescription is two weeks. You’ve been in bed less than three days.”

Aida nodded. She’d been treating Lucienne like a five–year-old girl, coaxing her to drink her soup of chicken and ginseng.