Moore looked around the table. Serious expressions gazed back at him. No one had any illusions about the situation. “According to Surveil, the SSE fleet has parked themselves at one hundred thousand kilometers plus one meter distance.”

“More or less,” Castillo said.

Moore ignored him. “They’re sending a message. If the political winds shift, or if things go unshiny here for whatever reason, they’ll be back.”

“Which could happen. Have you seen the news lately?” Nevin looked around. “A coalition of Representatives is pushing for a vote of non-confidence.”

“Worrying, but it wouldn’t affect us directly,” Gerrard added.

“It affects Naval High Command, and the fallout will inevitably run downhill, Commodore. I’m not so concerned about the direct orders as I am about the back-room deals.” Moore scanned the table one more time. “Sers, we are living in interesting times. If you have backchannel contacts, now would be a good time to renew acquaintances.”

38.Investigations and Discoveries

38.Investigations and Discoveries

Narang watched over the shoulder of the technician as he re-tuned the AQRI. They had managed to encase a nanite in a plastic resin, without breaking it and without giving it a chance to start eating the resin. This was the real reason why they went through so many nanites. Trying to get one to stay still without turning it into a random pile of atoms or incinerating it had achieved the status of a never-ending game of Whack-a-Mole.

Finally, success, and a chance to look inside.

While one group had been trying to get a suitably prepared specimen, another group had prepared a series of scanning scripts in the event of success. Now, they would have the opportunity to test their work.

The technician turned to Narang. “Third series started. First two went without a hitch. The nanite is still radiating virtual particles, so it’s still ‘alive’, whatever that actually means. Active, anyway. So we should get some good data.”

Narang patted him on the shoulder. “Good. Text me the moment they’re done. If I’m not hovering over your shoulder at the time, of course.” With a smile, she turned and left.

Her next stop was the lab where doctors were studying the images of Ivan’s internal structures. A certain number of scientists on Earth and in Near Space had been read in on the situation and were teleconferencing with the local staff. The lab was a madhouse of yelling and gesturing, as remote and local personnel argued over, well, pretty much everything.

Most of the internal structures hadn’t even been identified. In a couple of cases, structures had disappeared between successive scans. It seemed the nanites could reconfigure to meet changing requirements.

Narang watched two scientists full-on yelling at each other over some arcane point, complete with waving hands and shaking fists. She would have feared the possibility of violence, except that whenever they paused for breath, both participants settled into smiles of happiness.