Holtzmann kept cool as he and Barnes cleared security prior to their meeting with the president. They cleared Nexus detectors and terahertz scanners and a physical pat-down. Then an aide showed them into the empty Oval Office and to their seats. A secretary brought them water and coffee.

Holtzmann felt the preternatural calm and confidence of the neurochemical cocktail he’d prescribed himself. The room was bright, every detail vivid. He felt completely sharp, not even the slightest bit nervous or cloudy. He was himself again, before the bombing. Better, even.

The President entered, and Holtzmann and Barnes came to their feet.

“Dr Holtzmann,” Stockton shook Holtzmann’s hand. His palm was warm and large, his shake firm and strong. All-star quarterback strong. The President took his seat behind the desk, waved them down into their chairs. “Director Barnes has sent me memos summarizing the status of the Nexus children. What I want is to make sure I understand the situation.”

“Of course, Mr President.”

“These children are smarter than human children?”

Holtzmann answered. “Not exactly, Mr President. Individually, they have a wide spectrum of intelligences. But when housed together and educated together, they can learn far faster than unaugmented humans, and they can solve problems together that are beyond normal human difficulties.”

President Stockton nodded. “Yes. So in groups they’re smarter. And it matters how early they were exposed to Nexus?”

Holtzmann nodded in return. “Yes, Mr President. Learning is definitely accelerated among groups of people using Nexus. The younger they’ve received it, the larger the effect. Adults receive a boost to group cognition. Children – mostly autistic children – who first received Nexus at younger ages get an even larger boost. And the effect is most dramatic in those few children we’ve found who were exposed to Nexus in the womb.”

“Do we know what the long-term effects are? Health concerns?”

Holtzmann spread his hands wide. “We don’t see any signs of specific health concerns from Nexus, but we could easily miss anything subtle, let alone anything that took many years to develop.”

“And the long-term limits?” the President asked. “How far can these children grow in intelligence, particularly the ones exposed to it in the womb?”

Holtzmann shook his head. “Mr President, I wish I could tell you. But at this point we have so little data. The oldest children exposed to Nexus in the womb are eight, and we’ve only seen a handful of those.”

“What’s your best guess, then?” Stockton said.

Holtzmann wanted to refuse. He glanced at Barnes, and the man raised an eyebrow and inclined his head slightly.

You don’t refuse the President, he thought to himself.