It’s okay to do this. This is still me. I’m just accessing an intelligence asset.
This is how Alycia justifies things to herself as she dials Summer’s number a third time.
No answer.
I swear, the one time I need her…
Who else…?
With trepidation, she dials Aria Newman’s number.
The answer is immediate. “Hello? Who is this please?”
Alycia sighs. “It’s Alycia Chin. Listen. I need to talk to you and Leo. Is this a good time?”
The sound of machinery comes from the background. “I’ll get him,” Aria promises.
Alycia takes this moment to dial Alex and conference them in.
With four people on the line, Alycia lays out her question. “In running down a very important lead, I heard about someone named ‘senior commander Saito’, who apparently knows Leo from somewhere. I need to know the story there.”
“That fascist fuck,” is Leo’s first reply. And Alycia, over the next four minutes, hears a very condensed version of a trip to Atlantis.
This is a lot to take in. “So… an imminent invasion of some surface target… a plan to rescue human beings held captive underwater… I think I begin to see.”
“See what?” Leo demands.
Alycia, in turn, explains the basics of Cháwǎn. She omits the specifics about Pyrrhus Chin. It’s not time yet.
Leo is quick on the uptake. “Saito wants the drug so he can dose the human population of Atlantis. If we mount a rescue, nobody will care about escaping. He’ll have his hostages, and our counter-attack will be for nothing.”
Aria chimes in. “Alycia, this ‘Sepiaverse despair drug’. How was it actually derived? In other words, who or what did they study to actually engineer it?”
“I don’t know. We haven’t gotten that far in our investigation.”
Aria’s voice sounds concerned, even over the static of an international phone call. “How secure is this line?”
Alycia doesn’t say it, but somehow she’s proud. Instead, she answers the question. “I’ll vouch for the security of the call.”
This satisfies Aria. “Summer told me about the time she and Jason went to the Sepiaverse. But before that, they visited Amir–”
“Jason’s brother. I know him,” Alycia confirms.
“Well, she said that after that, they were pretty sure he wasn’t this world’s Amir, but that he was from the Sepiaverse.”
Alycia feels a void in the pit of her stomach. “If they got to him, that would explain how the drug was made… but who would know about him? Jason, and Summer, and now you… Have you told anyone else about this? Did she?”
Aria’s voice is firm. “No. It’s not something either of us would share casually.”
Leo comes back on the call. “Alycia. You have to destroy the source of this drug. We can’t let Saito get his hands on it. There’s thousands of lives at stake. Including my mother’s.”
No pressure.
“That’s what I’m committed to doing,” she says. “I’ll let you know how it goes.”
Alex chimes in. “Hey, Ms. Newman, any chance you know where Amir’s holed up?”
“The Florida Keys. I’ll have to ask Barbara for specifics.”
Things feel like they’re coming together for Alycia. “Right. I’ve got a lead on the meet between Saito and the Cháwǎn suppliers. If we disrupt it, that may prevent me from tracing it to its ultimate source. Leo, if we give you details, can you intercept it before it gets to Saito?”
“Yeah. Probably.”
“Good. Then as long as nothing goes wrong, I hope to have positive news for you soon.”