“Remotes, coated in industrial glass. Early research showed that the nanites didn’t have the ability to take apart or penetrate the substance.”

Mandelbaum nodded. “Followed, if necessary, by coated nukes?”

“That would do the trick. The self-guided variety, I think. Otherwise he might try to lob something big enough to knock them out.”

“They’ll be harder to coat and still be operable.”

“Harder isn’t the same as impossible,” Moore said. “Also, last time we came at him in a nice convenient clump. Next time, if we come from all directions, he will have to spread his nanites over the entire sphere.”

Mandelbaum glared at him, her head cocked. “Your role in this exercise has been made clear?”

“Yes, ma’am. And it’s also clear that the best outcome for me is a good outcome for this exercise. If you’re worried about me grandstanding or attempting some subtle sabotage, you needn’t.” Moore tried to project an image of candor and trustworthiness.

The Commodore nodded. “Good. Keep that attitude, Admiral, and we’ll get along fine.”

71.Visiting

71.Visiting

Dr. Kemp opened the front door and motioned Dr. Narang in.

She looked around the home as he took her coat and put it in the closet.

“Nice place,” she said. “I caught a bit of the view as I pulled in. I’m guessing that factored into the purchase?”

“Price-wise, oh hell, yes. A small bungalow on less than a quarter-acre needs something special to command a price in the fifty million range.”

“Hmm, I looked up Horseshoe Bay real estate on the way in. I’ll never get here on a doctor’s salary.”

“Well, not as long as you insist on working for the government, no.” Kemp smiled at her as they walked into the living room, then gestured to the right.

Narang turned to the picture window and got her first taste of the full panorama. “Oh. Oh. My. God.”

“And that is why I bought this place.”

The land dropped steeply from Kemp’s house. There was barely a yard. The slope ended in the salt water of Horseshoe Bay, the calm, blue cove below sheltered by the rugged shoreline and numerous islands. In the distance, Vancouver Island could be faintly seen as a ghostly image. It was farther away than it would have been a hundred years ago, as the rising ocean waters steadily moved coastlines up the mountain slopes and farther apart.

Sailboats moved lazily in the near distance, or lay at anchor in the afternoon sun. Closer to home, draconian conservation policies kept the local slopes mostly forested. It was too little, too late, of course. Global warming would continue to erode the percentage of the planet that was still human-habitable. And within a century, if Ivan was to be believed, the entire planet would choke in heat death.