They nodded at him. “Sure.” said Madeline, and they both sipped their coffees.

The admiral looked at them. He did not like what he saw. They were clearly both tired, and more than a little unkempt. Neal in particular did not smell too fresh, and his thinning hair had gone a bit primal. But it was more that. They both seemed a little too … resolved.

“Neal, maybe you can start? I’m sure this is very difficult for you both, but why don’t you start from how you both came to be in India in the first place. I assure you there will be no recriminations, at this point that would be … moot, but we want to know why you were both there, against the orders both Captain Hawkson and Dr. West received.”

The two sleepy conspirators flinched at hearing the names, but Neal leaned forwards, glancing at Madeline quickly before saying: “Admiral, I am sure Laurie wouldn’t mind me telling you, given how things turned out, that she divulged to me that she’d originally recommended I be allowed on board the King’s Transom in her place.”

The admiral remained steely faced at this violation of the military secrecy, and did not interrupt Neal, who, after a deep breath, went on, “I won’t deny that there is a part of me that is happy the request was denied, but there was a reason for her recommendation. I, along with James and Madeline, here, were simply the best qualified to configure the machine.

“While we all knew that your orders prohibited our being on board when she sailed, Madeline and I helped with the set up beforehand, and then stayed ashore to answer questions via radio after she left.”

“By radio?” the admiral exclaimed, “You exchanged classified information over the radio?”

“No, Admiral, not exactly. James … Captain Hawkson … was just as keenly aware of the need for discretion as anyone, so he brought along a matched set of Secure Field Radios for us to communicate with. You see, he and Laurie may have brought us along against your orders, but only because we had already worked on the probe, and knew full well what it was for. The ‘SurFeRs’ are, I believe, theoretically unhackable …”

“Yes, thank you, Neal, I know the capabilities of the device in question.” The admiral smiled slightly. He had to credit James with his thoroughness, even when he was disobeying orders he never forgot the intent behind them. “OK, Neal, so it seems you were in contact with the ship. Then maybe you can shed some more light as to what happened?”

Neal shook his head, staring at his cup in obvious discomfort, before replying quietly but earnestly, “Admiral, I only wish could. I am afraid when we last spoke with them everything was fine on board. I am sad to say we closed radio contact at around 2am, some two hours before … it apparently happened.”