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serene. While Smeby was speaking, he had been staring again out over the treetops rising beyond the ancient temples. “You were there, weren’t you,
Marlin? At the end?”
    “Excuse me, sir?”
    Draeger turned back to him. “During Wilber’s flight, you were one of his . . . they called you the God Squad, didn’t they?” Smeby could feel his face redden. The term
that Draeger had used was uncomplimentary at best. “You were there, trying to smuggle him out of the White House before the Senate could have him arrested.” Draeger touched his data
bracelet and the edges of the eepsheet flashed again. Smeby could see new information displayed there now, and didn’t need to look too close to know what it would be.
    Draeger turned the eepsheet around and slid it back over to Smeby, who ignored it. “Don’t you remember your old name?” asked Draeger. “Or does that stir up too many bad
memories?”
    “Lots of bad memories, sir. But what’s the point of this? You’ve already got me working for you.”
    “I want you to understand how much is at stake here . . . your plastic surgery is excellent, by the way. What I’m about to tell you is intended for only a few people’s ears, so
you should feel privileged that I’ve decided to share it with you. I’m sure you’ll appreciate the risks otherwise.”
    Oh, I do , Smeby thought to himself sourly.
    Draeger continued: “Much of the research carried out on board the Archimedes primarily involved molecular engineering. The station itself is partly a result of nanotech, using
materials farmed from robot lunar mining operations. Some of that research, particularly into developing bio-organic technologies that could fuse with living bodies, was later developed still
further through covert military experimentation.” Draeger smiled, but Smeby could see no humour in the other man’s eyes. “Research which included experimenting on members of the
American public.”
    Smeby shrugged. “Dissidents, enemies of the state – the kind of people who welcomed our worst enemies inside our borders with open arms.”
    Draeger cocked his head to one side. “You approve, then?”
    “That’s beside the point. What’s the purpose of all this, sir?”
    “What if I told you that Wilber was right to think that he could find God through the Archimedes ?”
    Smeby was silent for several seconds as he sought an appropriate reply.
    Instead, Draeger pre-empted him. “Let me fill in the rest of the details, then. There was a containment breach on board the Archimedes before it was even half completed.
Self-organizing molecular machinery invaded the substance of the station, and the Archimedes was subsequently abandoned, under World Court jurisdiction.” Draeger smiled, crookedly.
“Do you know precisely what went wrong?”
    For some reason that he couldn’t quite fathom, Smeby’s throat had become very dry. “No, I don’t, sir.”
    “Your beloved President wanted to find God. He interpreted my theories in such a way that he believed I could help him in that. The heart of the Archimedes consists of
self-learning, self-motivating artificial-intelligence routines embedded in nanite machinery designed to function in cooperative colonies. Hardwired to specific tasks such as decoding the structure
of space” – Draeger smiled more broadly – “or finding God.”
    “You’re crazy.”
    “Quite possibly, yes, but my definition of God is not quite the same as Wilber’s was. If there is a God, Mr Smeby, he’s not Jehovah or any other of an endless pantheon of crude
tribal deities that are still worshipped even today. God is . . . intelligence seeking to sustain itself. If that intelligence exists it would leave traces, in the structure of our universe itself.
The cooperative intelligences on board the Archimedes were designed to find those traces, the evidence.”
    “And have they?”
    “Oh no, Mr Smeby. They’ve done much, much more than that.”
    21 April