The ribs in Smith’s back felt like they were grinding a bit as he caught up, but not anywhere near as badly as they had been. “What the hell’s going on, then? What am I doing here at five thirty in the morning?”

“They’re from a nuclear plant, aren’t they?” Maple said, pushing through the door to his lab.

He’d been bound to figure it out. Frankly, if he hadn’t, Smith would have started to wonder if he’d come to the right man.

“Yes.”

“Japanese?”

“Fukushima Reactor Four.”

Maple gave a short nod and sat in front of a computer screen that contained the same hazy, pockmarked image that had been on it when Smith left four days ago. This time, though, Maple seemed to know what he was looking at. He tapped the screen with his finger, and Smith couldn’t help noticing the smear of sweat it left.

“This is nanotechnology, Jon. It’s goddamn molecular manufacturing.”

As a biologist, Smith had a better-than-average grasp on nanotech. The problem was that it was an ever-shifting category that had come to include basically everything human made and small. He’d never heard the term “molecular manufacturing.”

“Explain.”

Maple let out a frustrated rush of air. “It’s the holy grail, Jon. But even if the government decided to throw truckloads of money at it, we’re twenty, maybe twenty-five years away from coming up with anything that would work. Jesus, man, it—”

“Greg! Calm down and start from the beginning. What am I looking at on the screen?”

The scientist paused for a moment to get control of himself. “Okay…listen…nanotech has all kinds of applications. The most basic is creating next-generation materials, right? If you can put the individual molecules—even atoms—in a certain structure, you get a material that does what you want on a very fundamental level.”

“I’m familiar with that kind of research. Basically making stuff harder than diamond, improving heat dissipation, electrical conductivity. That kind of thing.”

“Exactly. The next step would be making very tiny, very simple machines.”

“I’m with you,” Smith said. “I’ve worked with some experimental nanoscale machines that can close battlefield wounds. Amazing stuff with a lot of potential.”

“Yes. Right. The holy grail, though, is machines that can replicate themselves. The best analogy is a 3-D printer that can print out a working copy of itself.”

Maple tapped the screen again, and again left a sweaty fingerprint. “See the pockmarks? The tiny voids? They’re not really voids. They’re microscopic, self-replicating machines.”

“You’re losing me again.”

The nuclear engineer brought up a complex diagram that didn’t really clarify anything.

“There’s a lot of damage to the machines themselves, but after examining a few hundred, I was able to come up with this rough sketch of what we’re looking at.”

“Which is?”

“A microscopic machine that was built up atom by atom.”