Astralis

Episode Four

Vaughn opened a file on his computer and a video clip began to play on his monitor. It was a compilation of selected surveillance footage sent to him by one of the analysts.

Excellent, he thought, looks like we are down to two candidates.

The videos were of a boy and a girl, both in fifth grade. Going by the footage, neither were popular children. One with blue eyes, the other green.

After a couple hours of watching the scenes play out on his computer, he wasn't sure he could definitively say which was the better candidate. They both seemed to have social issues, they were both shy, studious and grave in their manner. They both were subject to random outbursts of what the teachers no doubt deemed as disruptive nonsense.

But he knew better. One of these 'children' was Astralis. Currently the most dangerous...thing on the planet.

Which one, which one, he thought, as he studied the current clip. A scene of a small girl, abruptly standing up in class and arguing with the teacher about the lesson she was giving. The girl was correcting the teacher about the solar system's oceans and freshwater bodies. He chuckled. She was right, but the teacher wasn't about to admit it. He watched as the teacher stood up, face red as she warned the girl she was about to earn herself a trip to the principal's office. It was as if the girl didn't even hear the teacher, she just kept on correcting the misinformation, like an automaton.

Both of the children had above average intelligence and almost no social awareness so this wasn't a dead giveaway but...

He sighed and paused the video, thinking he might need a break. As he stood up, something caught his eye on the screen and he immediately dropped back into his chair to magnify the image. To anyone else, it would simply look like a girl being tripped as she left the classroom in disgrace. But he saw what he'd been looking for.

"Well I'll be damned..." he breathed. "Why hello there, little Astralis." Vaughn gave a satisfied smile.

He would have to send it back to the lab to verify it, but he was sure that he'd found their target. He got up to tell his boss the good news. Moore would be very pleased indeed...