For ten years I assaulted the white-and-red walls of their immune systems (we both had governments, spies, money; irrelevant; it was me against them, a single mind of whom I knew everything that matters, of which name and face were not). I designed a virus they conjured a vaccine. They deployed a meta-antigen I found a new passage through protein space. Near the end it felt as if they were helping me sharpen my weapons and I was helping them build the perfect shield. I would have betrayed something far more important than my country to, having found my weapon, prevent its use.
I didn't.
I miss them.
I still do the work. Not for the medals or the money. I still do the work. During the day I build weapons. Later, alone, I build the shields I think they would have and test each one against the other through the feverish night.
(Originally posted on my blog.)