Kemp craned his neck to take a closer look, then, “There! At the corner.”

A number of holes, perhaps a millimeter in diameter, allowed stray beams of light to shine through. They looked at each other, then moved to the refrigerated compartment. MacNeil shone the light, then pointed. Kemp saw what looked like a similar series of pinholes in a corner.

MacNeil gazed into the compartment for a few moments, then turned to look at the sample container. He leaned far into the compartment and stared intently at the corner, illuminating it with the flashlight. He then backed away from the compartment, still staring in the same direction. Kemp watched this performance silently, not wanting to interrupt whatever calculations were going on.

“Both sets of holes line up with the shortest path back to Ivan,” MacNeil said. “Which means the wee beasties drilled straight through the ship. I’ll have to check the intervening spaces for critical wiring or such.” He turned off his flashlight. “Which doesn’t definitively answer the question of where the metal is coming from, but the fact they can eat through a sample case like that gives us a possible answer that I dinna like at all.”

Kemp noted in passing that MacNeil’s accent got stronger in stressful situations. He thought about what the chief had said. “Um. Cannibalizing the ship to rebuild Ivan’s arm.”

“Mm, hmm.”

They turned the room lights back on and sat down. MacNeil looked up at the ceiling for a few moments, rubbing his chin. “The question is, why would they go back to Pritchard in particular? Especially once the nanites were no longer associated with him?”

“Urgh.” Kemp rubbed his forehead. “Unless they’re in more than just his arm. There was nothing in the blood sample I took during the initial exam, but that was before he started to metallize.”

“Right. Time to take another one?”

They got up and Kemp led the way back to sick bay.

* * *

“And there it is.” Dr. Kemp gestured to the microscope.

MacNeil leaned in and looked through the eyepieces. “Oh, dear. Those are…”

“Nanites. Same as the ones that are replacing his cells.”

“So they have taken up residence in our Mr. Pritchard.” MacNeil stepped back and glared at the microscope. “Which at least explains the homing behavior. Now, as for the other part of the question…”

* * *

“They’re eating the ship?” Captain Jennings, for the first time since Kemp had known him, looked unabashedly afraid.

“Not the whole ship, Captain,” MacNeil explained quickly. “They seem to be stripping layers from structures to supply the material for Pritchard’s new parts.”

“And these things are in his bloodstream?”