“The Vessel” is episode sixteen of season three of First Wave.
A Gua is telling Mabus his consciousness is like radiation; they can’t make husks strong enough to contain it. But he believes he’s found a solution. There’s a human restrained to a table and the Gua states that he is able to withstand unusual amounts of physical and mental pain. He should be able to handle the stress of transference, though he will deteriorate. They’ll be able to extend the host’s usefulness though. Mabus transfers himself without technology, but has to return to his own, decaying, body. He overloaded the human transferring in.
Inception is an OS used in almost every computer in the world and Max Sterman, the president, will release a new version in two weeks. Cade has been down a manhole and he contacts any; the remote unit is in place. Though Eddie thinks tapping into Sterman’s company is borderline insanity; the best programmers in the world work there. But anyone in the company could be Gua. Inside the company, Sterman, who seems to be channelling Steve Jobs, is telling a man, George, that the rollout of the next release will be delayed by two weeks. He needs to make some changes and won’t release them as patches.
Eddie, in his trailer, says the software runs most of the world’s computers, including the Pentagon’s. A hidden program in Inception could crash them all. Eddie finally gets into the system and gets Sterman’s calendar. There’s an appointment tomorrow in Silicon Valley with some guy called Jinks Davis. A legendary hacker, according to Eddie, until he sold out to set up his own internet security firm. There’s a knock on the trailer and Eddie is sure that means his tap has been traced. It is, however, Jordan.
Jordan and Cade are going to break into Davis’ firm; Jordan thinks it’s too easy. Cade tells her it is; the real security is inside the airducts. Jordan doesn’t like airducts. They get past the security, though it looks like they come close to kissing in the process, before Jordan leaves.
Sterman’s car is sent onto a detour, then blocked in. Then the Gua from earlier approaches and tells him to be calm. Sterman tells George to call the police. George is a Gua too. Sterman is taken to the Gua lab and sees Mabus. He tells Mabus he can help whatever is wrong with him. Mabus doesn’t need his money; he needs his body. And transfers into it. George says that on the first day of the attack, every computer using Inception will release a virus and bring down them all. In 30 minutes, every system will be offline or under their control. Sterman was holding back the product release; they cannot allow that.
The Gua doctor states the damage to Sterman’s body is minimal, but to be careful; it won’t heal like a Gua husk. Which means it won’t be identifiable as one either. Mabus can access pieces of Sterman’s mind; he can feel Sterman inside, fighting for control. They can still make their next meeting. Davis’ new security system is a threat to their plans; Mabus believes the man is very dangerous.
Davis is currently not giving the impression of being very dangerous. He’s playing with his staff and saying Sterman might offer to buy his company. Davis finally goes to his office, where Cade has been hiding; Cade asks Davis if he spends any time in his office, as Cade’s been waiting there all day. Cade draws a gun and gets Davis to send all his staff home. Eddie watches them leave as Jordan arrives with three Raven Nation operatives. Who do not look remotely like programmers.
Eddie is worried about Cade and Jordan, as he believes Cade is falling for Jordan, and vice versa, and that this is a distraction they can ill afford with the second wave so close. Eddie is probably right.