Nimec looked at him.

"What makes you sound so definite?"

"Remember a second ago, when I was talking snowflakes, and you wanted to talk explosions?"

Nimec had already gotten enough of a feel for Jeremy to realize the question wasn't rhetorical.

"Uh-huh," he said.

"Well, it happens we were already on the same page. An offshoot of my work in thermodynamic crystal geometry, which involves various types of controlled explosions, has been an interest in blast geometry."

"Somehow," Nimec said. "I had an inkling."

"I know you did."

Nimec gave him a nod.

"Tell me what you've got, Jeremy," he said. "Why so definite?"

"In simple language," Jeremy said, "a certain type of chemical reaction equals an explosion equals a pattern. And to me the splay, burn, and scoring patterns in this engine had to have been made by tiny thermal charges--could've been something like noncommercial RDX--that were meant to destroy the hydrogen fuel turbo-pumps, but only partially did the job."

Nimec considered that a second and nodded again.

"Thanks," he said.

"S'okay." Jeremy put his hand on the ruined engine, peering at Nimec through the lenses of his wire glasses. "You want to come around this side, I'll show you what I mean."

A comradely overture.

"Yeah," Nimec said. "That'd be good."

"There's something I kept to myself at the VAB," Nimec told Annie half an hour later. "Wasn't sure how much to say in front of Jeremy."

They were having coffee in the KSC commissary, his offer of lunch scaled down because of her packed schedule, Jeremy now on his way back to Orlando.

She watched him intensely over her cup.

"Go on," she said.

"In some instances terrorists will want to leave a footprint of sabotage without taking credit for the act. It's been an increasing trend over the last decade. Lets them have it both ways--they put the fear into you without bringing heat down on themselves."

Annie kept her eyes on him.

"You think Main Engine One wasn't meant to be destroyed ? That the attempt was just supposed to look as if it were botched?"

"I think it's a distinct possibility."

She was silent awhile. Then a pale little smile touched the comer of her lips. "That must have occurred to Jeremy too. My guess is he wasn't sure what to say in front of you."

"Could be." Nimec noticed himself noticing her smile and redirected his eyes toward the tabletop. What was with him? They were colleagues and these were inappropriate circumstances for such things. Weren't they? He was looking at her again before he knew it. "He's certainly smart enough."

Annie quietly drank some more coffee.

"Two questions," she said. "Would UpLink find it acceptable if I inform the press that we are now cautiously progressing along a line of inquiry that may link Orion to the incident in Brazil?"

"We wouldn't have a problem with that," he said.