The vote was up before the committee. It was not the first time nor would it be the last time, she expected. Once upon a time, the meeting would have taken place in a conference room or a board room. Technology hadn’t made it necessary but secrecy still reigned supreme, thus the encrypted video feed. A pity, given the occasion, Emily Shaffer thought, as she took a moment to survey her office overlooking the Chicago skyline from behind her desk. She turned her attention back to the laptop screen and the little boxes of human faces arranged upon it.

“Miss Shaffer’s motion is that the timetable for EBE disclosure proceedings first adopted by the committee in 1996 should go ahead.” The strong, yet soothing Scottish tones of Malcolm Blackwood filtered into her ears through h...

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