Kemp smiled, glad that she hadn’t seen fit to retreat into formality. “Thanks for calling me back, Maddie. I talked to Ivan. They are moving the module, and they seem to have been trying to do it without him noticing. I’m not particularly paranoid, but it stinks like dead fish. Do they have protocols that involve moving the module first?”

There was silence on the line for several seconds. “Originally, they were talking about moving the module away from the base and installing a small nuclear bomb, as a worst-case response. ‘Additional levels of failsafe’ they called it. We talked them down, but I got the impression they were humoring us rather than actually being convinced it was an overreaction.”

“Shit.” Kemp thought for a moment. “Is their behavior consistent with the discovery of a breach?”

“Oh, no, no way. If they found the nanites getting out, they wouldn’t be subtle. It would be like a hornet’s nest that had been stirred with a stick. They’d blow up the entire base if they felt they had to.”

Kemp sighed. “I propose the following: The military will move the module to a remote location and install a nuclear device. After a suitably plausible period of time, they will detonate it and announce that the move was in reaction to an outbreak. But Ivan will have already been moved. And he’ll be a lab rat for the rest of his life.”

Again, the line went silent, this time for most of a minute. Kemp was about to check if Maddie was still there when she finally spoke. “Tell you what. I will contact the UEN administrator and try to get an ICDC representative or two out there for follow-ups. If I’m successful, I can probably come up with reasons for them to stay indefinitely. If the Navy throws up roadblocks, we’ll have to go with your theory.”

“And in that case, then what?”

“Damned if I know,” she said. “I’m not really used to this whole espionage thing. I’m usually the hated establishment stooge.”

Dr. Kemp chuckled and thanked her. They hung up after promising to keep each other updated.

56.Failsafe Implementation

56.Failsafe Implementation

Moore shook his head and pushed the transcript away. Castillo, sitting across the desk, gazed at him impassively, waiting for Moore to set the tone.

“Well, hell,” Moore finally said. “Pritchard wants to contact his makers? What a wonderful idea! Let’s help, shall we?”

Castillo laughed at Admiral Moore’s admittedly rare attempt at humor.

“Seriously, though, this concerns me. On a scale from zero to ten, where zero is ‘Sounds like Pritchard’ and ten is ‘Sounds like an alien’, that is, what? An eight?”

Castillo nodded. “About where I’d have put it. Has Pritchard given any indication that he intends to actively pursue his wish?”