Balance Point: Prologue

"So?"

"It was one of them.  But not the right one.  Not the one we need."

The young woman sat back in her chair, adjusted her grip on the telephone receiver, and tried to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach stemming from her failure.  All that work, and they had failed to catch the correct person.  Hopefully her superiors wouldn't be angry with her.

The person on the other end sighed.  "Well, it's regrettable, but hardly a problem at this stage.  How did you find out which one we needed, again?"

"Back-tracing of lineage, and a little research of some ancient writings and the pictograms we found here, in the ruins.  Nothing particularly difficult," said the younger woman, relaxing a little.  "She was the only one who fit the criteria whose lineage I could trace back that far."

There was a brief pause, as if her contact was relating what she had said to someone else.  "You have done well," said her contact, finally.  "Keep up the good work.  Just remember, in order to keep on schedule your part must be done within the next two months.  It should be more than enough time for you, though, from what we have seen of your work."

"Thank you.  I will, as always, keep you informed.  I'll be in touch again soon, I hope."  The young woman hung up the phone and smiled to herself.  They said she was doing well, and she still had two more months to complete her part of the plan.  And it was only a matter of time before the right one came...

Her smile faded, briefly, as she snapped her fingers.  "Clean up, will you?" she asked, turning slightly to look over her shoulder at someone standing in the shadows, and then walked off into the night.