Rollback

"What? No, no. It just happened to be the one I changed my answer to. The key consists of all eighty-four of my answers exactly as I actually transmitted them. Any time you need the key you can reproduce it by looking up the archival copies of what was supposedly sent to Sigma Draconis, and making that one change."

"Got it."

"Now, make sure you keep it secret!"

He looked across the table at his wife, who seemed visibly older, and not just because she’d gotten very little sleep. Over the last few weeks, she had aged noticeably. "I, ah, don’t think we can keep it secret from everybody," he said. "I really think you need to tell Cody McGavin."

Sarah was hugging a cup of coffee with both hands. "Why?"

"Because he’s one of the richest people on the planet. And a project like this is going to take deep pockets. Synthesizing the DNA, building the womb, building the incubator, synthesizing the food, and, I’m sure, lots of other things. You need somebody like him to come on board."

Sarah was quiet.

"You have to tell someone," Don said. "You’ll…"

He trailed off, but she nodded. "I’ll die soon. I know." She paused, considering, and Don knew enough to just let her do that. After a time she said, "Yeah, you’re right.

Let’s call him."

Don crossed the room, got the cordless handset, and told it who he wanted to speak to. After a few rings, a crisp, efficient voice came on. "McGavin Robotics. Office of the president."

"Hello, Ms. Hashimoto," Don said. "It’s Donald Halifax."

Her voice became slightly cold. They had, after all, butted heads repeatedly during his many attempts to reach McGavin back in the spring. "Yes, Mr. Halifax?"

"Don’t worry. I’m not calling about the rollback. And, in fact, it’s not me who’s calling at all. I just dialed the phone for my wife, Sarah. She’d like to speak to Mr. McGavin about the Dracon message."

"Ah," said Ms. Hashimoto. "That would be fine. Please hold. I’ll put you through."

Don covered the mouthpiece and spoke to Sarah. "She’s putting the call through."

Sarah motioned for him to give her the phone, but he held up a hand, palm out. After a moment, the familiar Bostonian accent came on. "Cody McGavin speaking."

"Mr. McGavin," said Don, with great relish, "please hold for Dr. Sarah Halifax." He then counted silently to ten before handing the handset to Sarah, who was grinning from ear to ear.

"Hello, Mr. McGavin," Sarah said.

Don moved close enough so that he could hear both sides of the conversation. It wasn’t hard, given that the handset had automatically pumped up its volume when Sarah had taken it. "Sarah, how are you?" McGavin said.

"I’m fine. And I’ve got big news. I’ve decrypted the Dracon message."

Don could practically hear McGavin jumping up and down. "Wonderful! What does it say?"

"I— I don’t want to say over the phone."

"Oh, come on, Sarah—"

"No, no. You never know who’s eavesdropping."

"God, all right. We’ll fly you down here again, and—"

"Um, could you come here? I’m not really feeling up to flying these days."

Don could hear McGavin blowing out air. "It’s our annual stockholders’ meeting in two days. There’s no way I can come up until after that’s over."

"All right," said Sarah. "How about Friday, then?"

"Well, I could. But can’t you just email me the decryption key, so I can look at the message here?"

"No. I’m not prepared to divulge it."

"What?"

"The message was intended for me alone," Sarah said.

There was a long pause. Don could only imagine the incredulous look that must be on McGavin’s face.

"Sarah, is, um, is Don still there? Maybe I could have a word with him…"

"I’m not senile, Mr. McGavin. What I’m saying is absolutely true. If you want to know what the message says, you’re going to have to come here."

"Oh, all right, but—"

"And don’t tell anyone that I’ve found the decryption key. You have to promise to keep this secret, at least until you get here."

"All right. Let me get the details of where you are…"

After she got off the phone, Don looked around. "Gunter does such a good job of keeping the place clean, I guess there’s not much we have to do to get ready for McGavin’s visit."

"There is one thing," Sarah said. "I want you to take the Dracon survey."

Don was surprised. "Why?"

She didn’t quite meet his eyes. "We’ll be talking a lot with McGavin about it. You should be up to speed on it."

"I’ll read it over."

"No, don’t just do that." She sounded emphatic. "Actually fill it out."

He raised his eyebrows. "If you like."

"I do. Go get your datacom; you can download a copy from the official response website."

He nodded. It was hardly as though he had anything better to do. "All right."

Once he’d loaded the survey, he lay down on the couch and started working through the questions. It took almost two hours, but finally he called out, "Done!"

Sarah made her way slowly into the living room, and he handed her the datacom.

"Now what?" he said.

She looked at the device. "Save as ‘Answers Don,’" she said to it. "Run Flaxseed.