She dropped her voice lower, and stretched her hand across the table to cover mine. "I want to make amends, Jack. I want to make things right, and get us back on track again." She paused. "I hope you do, too."
I said, "I'm not sure how I feel."
"You're tired."
"Yes. But I'm not sure, anymore."
"You mean, about us?"
I said, "I hate this fucking conversation." And I did. I hated that she would start this when I was exhausted, when I had just gone through an ordeal that nearly got me killed and that was, ultimately, all her doing. I hated that she dismissed her involvement as "bad judgment" when it was considerably worse than that.
"Oh Jack, let's go back to the way we were," she said, and suddenly she leaned the rest of the way across the table and tried to kiss me on the lips. I pulled back, turned my head away. She stared at me, eyes pleading. "Jack, please."
"This is not the time or the place, Julia," I said.
A pause. She didn't know what to say. Finally: "The kids miss you."
"I'm sure they do. I miss them, too."
She burst into tears. "And they don't miss me ..." she sobbed. "They don't even care about me ... about their mother ..." She reached for my hand again. I let her hold it. I tried to take stock of my feelings. I just felt tired, and very uncomfortable. I wanted her to stop crying. "Julia ..."
The intercom clicked. I heard Ricky's voice, amplified. "Hey, guys? We have a problem with the comm lines. You better come here right away."
The comm room consisted of a large closet in one corner of the maintenance room. It was sealed with a heavy security door, with a small tempered glass window set in the upper half. Through this window, I could see all the wiring panels and switch racks for the telecommunications in the lab. I also saw that great chunks of wiring had been yanked out. And slumped in a corner of the closet I saw Charley Davenport. He appeared to be dead. His mouth hung open, his eyes stared into space. His skin was purple-gray. A black buzzing swarm swirled around his head.
"I can't imagine how this happened," Ricky was saying. "He was fast asleep when I checked on him ..."
"When was that?" I said.
"Maybe half an hour ago."
"And the swarm? How'd it get there?"
"I can't imagine," Ricky said. "He must have carried it with him, from outside."
"How?" I said. "He went through all the airlocks."
"I know, but ..."
"But what, Ricky? How's it possible?"
Chapter 19
"Maybe ... I don't know, maybe it was in his throat or something."
"In his throat?" I said. "You mean, just hanging out between his tonsils? These things kill you, you know."
"Yeah, I know. Of course I know." He shrugged. "Beats me."
I stared at Ricky, trying to understand his demeanor. He had just discovered that his lab was invaded by a lethal nanoswarm, and he didn't appear to be upset at all. He was taking it all very casually.
Mae came hurrying into the room. She took in the situation with a glance. "Did anyone check the video playback?"
"We can't," Ricky said. He pointed to the closet. "The controls are disabled-in there."
"So you don't know how he got in there?"
"No. But he evidently didn't want us calling out. At least ... that's how it looks."
Mae said, "Why would Charley go in there?"
I shook my head. I had no idea.
Julia said, "It's airtight. Maybe he knew he was infected and wanted to seal himself off. I mean, he locked the door from the inside."
I said, "He did? How do you know that?"
Julia said, "Um ... I just assumed ... uh ..." She peered through the glass. "And, uh, you can see the lock reflected in that chrome fitting ... see that one there?" I didn't bother to look. But Mae did, and I heard her say, "Oh yes, Julia, you're right. Good observation. I missed that myself." It sounded very phony, but Julia didn't seem to react. So everybody was playacting, now. Everything was staged. And I didn't understand why. But as I watched Mae with Julia, I noticed that she was being extremely careful with my wife. Almost as if she was afraid of her, or at least afraid of offending her.
That was odd.
And a little alarming.
I said to Ricky, "Is there a way to unlock the door?"
"I think so. Vince probably has a skeleton key. But nobody's unlocking that door now, Jack. Not as long as that swarm is in there."
"So we can't call anywhere?" I said. "We're stuck here? Incommunicado?"
"Until tomorrow, yes. Helicopter will be back tomorrow morning, on its regular run." Ricky peered in through the glass at the destruction. "Jeez. Charley really did a job on those switching panels."
I said, "Why do you think he would do that?"
Ricky shook his head. "Charley was a little crazy, you know. I mean he was colorful. But all that farting and humming ... he was a few fries short of a Happy Meal, Jack."
"I never thought so."
"Just my opinion," he said.
I stood beside Ricky and looked through the glass. The swarm was buzzing around Charley's head, and I was starting to see the milky coating form on his body. The usual pattern. I said, "What about pumping liquid nitrogen in there? Freezing the swarm?"
"We could probably do that," Ricky said, "but I'm afraid we'd damage the equipment."
"Can you turn the air handlers up enough to suck the particles out?"