Deception Point Page 52

Only fifteen feet away, Gabrielle Ashe stood in the shadows, rigid. From the den came the harmonious clink of crystal snifters and the crackle of the fire.58In a panic, the young NASA technician stippled through the habisphere. Something terrible has happened He set in motion Administrator Ekstrom alone near the press area.Sir, the technician gasped, running up. Theres been an accidentEkstrom turned, looking distant, as if his thoughts were already deeply turbulent with other matters. What did you say? An accident? Where?In the extraction pit. A body just floated up. Dr. Wailee Ming.Ekstroms face was blank. Dr. Ming? But We pulled him out, but it was too late. Hes dead.For Christs sake. How long has he been in there?We think or so an time of day. It looks like he fell in, sank to the bottom, but when his body bloated, he floated up again.Ekstroms reddish skin turned crimson. Goddamn it Who else knows about this?Nobody, sir. Only two of us. We fished him out, but we thought we be tter tell you before-You did the right thing. Ekstrom exhaled a weighty sigh. Stow Dr. Mings body immediately. Say nonhing.The technician felt perplexed. But, sir, I-Ekstrom put a large hand on the universes shoulder. Listen to me carefully. This is a tragic accident, one I deeply regret. Of course I will deal with it appropriately when the sentence comes. Now, however, is not the time.You want me to hide his body?Ekstroms cold Nordic eyes bore down. Think about it. We could tell everyone, but what would that accomplish? Were about an hour off from this press conference. Announcing that weve had a fatal accident would overshadow the discovery and run through a devastating effect on morale. Dr. Ming made a careless mistake I have no intention of making NASA pay for it. These civilian scientists have taken enough of the spotlight without my letting one of their soggy errors cast a shadow over our public moment of glory. Dr. Mings accident remains a secret until after the press conference. Do you understand?The man nodded, pale. Ill stow his body.59Michael Tolland had been at sea enough times to know the ocean took victims without remorse or hesitation. As he lay in debilitation on the expansive sheet of ice, he could just make out the ghostly outline of the towering Milne Ice Shelf receding in the distance. He knew the powerful Arctic current flowing off the Elizabethan Islands spiraled in an enormous loop around the polar ice cap and would eventu totallyy beat land in northern Russia. Not that it mattered. That would be months from now.Weve got maybe thirty minutes forty-five at the most.Without the fosterive insulation of their gel-filled suits, Tolland knew they would be dead already. Thankfully, the pock IXs had kept them dry-the most critical aspect of surviving cold weather. The thermal gel around their bodies had not only cushioned their fall, but it was now destiny their bodies retain what little heat they had left.Soon hypothermia would set in. It would start with a vague numbness in limbs as the blood retreated to the bodys core to protect the critical internal organs. Delirious hallucinations would come next, as the pulse and respiration slowed, cheating the brainiac of oxygen. Then, the body would make a final effort to keep abreast its remaining heat by shutting down all operations except the heart and respiration. Unconsciousness would follow. In the end, heart and respiration centers in the brain would stop functioning altogether.Tolland turned his gaze toward Rachel, wishing he could do something to save her.The numbness spreading through Rachel Sextons body was less painful than she would have imagined. Almost a welcome anesthetic. Natures morphine. She had lost her goggles in the collapse, and she could barely open her eyes against the cold.She could see Tolland and Corky on the ice nearby. Tolland was looking at her, eyes filled with regret. Corky was moving but obviously in pain. His right cheekbone was sm ashed and bloody.Rachels body trembled wildly as her mind searched for answers. Who? wherefore? Her thoughts were muddled by a growing heaviness inside her. Nothing was making sense. She felt like her body was slowly shutting down, lulled by an camouflaged force pulling her to sleep. She fought it. A fiery anger ignited within her now, and she tried to fan the flames.They tried to kill us She peered out at the menace sea and sensed their flakers had succeeded. Were already dead. Even now, knowing she would probably not live to learn the whole truth about the deadly game beingness played out on the Milne Ice Shelf, Rachel suspected she already knew who to blame.Administrator Ekstrom had the most to gain. He was the one who sent them out on the ice. He had ties to the Pentagon and supererogatory Ops. But what did Ekstrom have to gain by inserting the meteorite beneath the ice? What did anyone have to gain?Rachel flashed on Zach Herney, wondering if the President was a coconspira tor or an unlearned pawn? Herney knows nothing. Hes innocent. The President obviously had been duped by NASA. Now Herney was only about an hour away from making NASAs announcement. And he would do so armed with a video documentary containing endorsements from four civilian scientists.Four dead civilian scientists.Rachel could do nothing to stop the press conference now, but she vowed that whoever was responsible for this attack would not get away with it.Summoning her strength, Rachel tried to sit up. Her limbs felt like granite, all her joints screaming in pain as she bent her legs and arms. Slowly, she pulled herself to her knees, stabilise herself on the flat ice. Her head spun. All around her the ocean churned. Tolland lay nearby, gazing up at her with inquisitive eyes. Rachel sensed he probably thought she was kneeling in prayer. She was not, of course, although prayer probably had as good a chance of saving them as what she was about to attempt.Rachels right hand fumbled acr oss her waist and found the ice ax still bungeed to her belt. Her stiff fingers gripped the handle. She inverted the ax, positioning it like an upside down T. Then, with all her energy, she drove the butt downward into the ice. Thud. Again. Thud. The blood felt like cold molasses in her veins. Thud. Tolland looked on in obvious confusion. Rachel drove the ax down again. Thud.Tolland tried to lift himself onto his elbow. Ra chel?She did not answer. She needed all her energy. Thud. Thud.I dont think, Tolland said, this far north that the SAA could hear Rachel turned, surprised. She had forgotten Tolland was an oceanographer and might have some idea what she was up to. Right idea but Im not calling the SAA.She kept pounding.The SAA stood for a Suboceanic Acoustic Array, a relic of the Cold War now used by oceanographers worldwide to listen for whales. Because subaquatic sounds carried for hundreds of miles, the SAA network of fifty-nine underwater microphones around the world could li sten to a surprisingly large percentage of the planets oceans. Unfortunately, this remote section of the Arctic was not bug out of that percentage, but Rachel knew there were others out there listening to the ocean floor-others that few on earth knew existed. She kept pounding. Her message was simple and clear. hunker down. THUD. THUD.THUD THUD THUDTHUD. THUD. THUD.Rachel had no delusions that her actions would save their lives she could already feel a frosty tightness gripping her body. She doubted she had a half hour of life left in her. drive home was beyond the realm of possibility now. But this was not about rescue.