Red plaid shirt

‘That’s awful, I’m so sorry.’ Kim’s heart went out to him. The poor man. He had obviously done the best he could to save the clones. Should she tell him he was wrong - that six had survived? As she hesitated, Joe came back into the kitchen, wearing his old red plaid shirt.

‘Just a moment, Jean-Claude.’ She covered the phone’s mouthpiece. ‘Why on earth are you wearing that?’

‘Tell you later. What does J-C say?’

Kim quickly related the conversation to Joe. His expression reflected her own concern.

‘Shall I say about the others?’

Joe thought for a moment and shook his head. ‘Best not. Not yet. See if you can get any more general information from him.’

She went back to Jean-Claude, switching the phone to speaker so that Joe could hear.

‘We wanted to ask you - Xavier wants unfettered access to the internet to learn and we’re a bit concerned. It’s a Pandora’s Box, isn’t it? We don’t know what they’re capable of. What should we do?’

There was a lengthy pause while Jean-Claude considered.

‘I could adjust some of the controls. Make sure the safeguards are properly in place. But if I do that through the central software, it will alert Osborne and Griffiths to their location. I really need to do this myself, directly. To keep him and Emma safe.’

‘On the subject of controls,’ said Joe. ‘Xavier seems to be rather warm. Is that normal?’

There was a sharp intake of breath from the other end of the phone.

‘How warm?’

‘He’s sweating,’ said Joe.