He looked around, enjoying the anxious expressions on the faces around him, careful not to show anything other than a comparable worry. They were working hard, and had come up with some remarkable ideas. None of which could work, of course, but they were still remarkable, and in a different situation might have been effective.

Numbers flashed past on the multitude of small screens, and a constant quiet hum of voices permeated the room. They were efficient, well organized, intelligent, creative... and doomed.

Jenko walked through the room, looking over shoulders and tracking the progress of their plans. He reached for a screen and pointed out an error in a calculation; a nod of thanks and a correction brought the problem into sharper focus.

The map on the wall updated periodically, the glowing dots increasing in number every time. Jenko examined it. They still thought it was a disease, a virus of some sort, but they were doing an admirable job of tracking the spread of his workers.

Somebody stepped up beside him, and spent a long moment studying the map. It was Kenneth, the leader of this centre.

"So, now what?" Jenko said finally.

"We keep tracking it. Trying to find the cause. At first it was spreading like a classic contact-transmitted disease, now like an airborne one, but we haven't found any infectious agents yet." He was silent for a moment, then shook his head. "Airborne diseases are much harder to control. At least before, we had slowed it down a bit with the quarantine and sanitation programs."

Jenko nodded, but said nothing, preferring to let others do the talking. He couldn't let anything slip if he didn't say anything.