Deception Point Page 52

Only fifteen feet away, Gabrielle Ashe stood in the shadows, rigid. From the hideaway came the harmonious clink of crystal snifters and the crackle of the fire.58In a panic, the young NASA technician dashed through the habisphere. Something terrible has happened He found executive Ekstrom al wiz near the press area.Sir, the technician gasped, running up. Theres been an accidentEkstrom turned, looking distant, as if his thoughts were already deeply troubled 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, provided it was too late. Hes beat(p).For Christs sake. How long has he been in there?We think closely an time of day. It looks like he fell in, sank to the bottom, save when his body bloated, he floated up again.Ekstroms reddish skin turned crimson. Goddamn it Who else knows to the highest degree this?Nobody, sir. Only dickens of us. We fished him out, but we thought we better tell you before-You did the pay thing. Ekstrom exhaled a heavy sigh. Stow Dr. Mings body immediately. Say nonhing.The technician felt perplexed. But, sir, I-Ekstrom put a adult hand on the mans shoulder. Listen to me carefully. This is a tragic accident, one I deeply regret. Of course I will deal with it appropriately when the conviction interjects. Now, however, is not the time.You want me to hide his body?Ekstroms heatless Nordic eyeb each(prenominal) bore knock off. Think about it. We could tell everyone, but what would that accomplish? Were about an mo off from this press conference. Announcing that weve had a fatal accident would everyplaceshadow the discovery and rescue a devastating effect on morale. Dr. Ming moderate a careless mistake I demand no bearing of making NASA pay for it. These civil scientists have taken enough of the smudge without my letting one of their slipshod errors cast a shadow over our public moment of glory. Dr. Mings accident remains a secret until later 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 he teaseation. As he lay in exhaustion on the lordly sheet of ice, he could just make out the ghostly intimate of the towering Milne Ice Shelf receding in the distance. He knew the almighty wintry current flowing off the Elizabethan Islands spiraled in an capacious loop almost the polar ice cap and would eventually falsify land in northern Russia. Not that it mattered. That would be months from now.Weve got maybe xxx minutes forty-five at the most.Without the protective insulation of their gel-filled suits, Tolland knew they would be dead already. Thankfully, the Mark IXs had kept them dry-the most critical aspect of surviving snappy weather. The thermal gel around their bodies had not only cushioned their fall, but it was now helping their bodies ret ain what little heat they had left.Soon hypothermia would rigid in. It would start with a vague nonchalance in limbs as the strain retreated to the bodys core to protect the critical internal organs. Delirious hallucinations would come next, as the pulse and respiration slowed, cheating the brain of oxygen. Then, the body would make a final effort to conserve its remaining heat by culmination down all operations except the heart and respiration. syncope would follow. In the end, heart and respiration centers in the brain would stop function 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. close to a welcome anesthetic. Natures morphine. She had lost her goggles in the collapse, and she could barely turn out her eyes against the cold.She could see Tolland and Corky on the ice nearby. Tolland was looking at her, eyes filled with regret. C orky was moving but obviously in pain. His right cheekbone was smashed and bloody.Rachels body trembled wildly as her intellect searched for answers. Who? Why? Her thoughts were muddled by a growing heaviness at bottom her. Nothing was making sense. She felt like her body was slowly shutting down, lulled by an invisible force pulling her to sleep. She fought it. A fiery ira ignited within her now, and she tried to fan the flames.They tried to kill us She peered out at the threatening sea and sensed their attackers had succeeded. Were already dead. thus far now, knowing she would probably not live to learn the whole trueness about the deadly game being 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 Special Ops. But what did Ekstrom have to gain by inserting the meteorite beneath the ice? What did anyone have to gain?Rachel flas hed on Zach Herney, wondering if the President was a coconspirator or an unknowing legal document? 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 answerable 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, steadying 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 sav ing them as what she was about to attempt.Rachels right hand fumbled across her waist and found the ice ax distillery 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 token of the Cold War now used by oceanographers worldwide to perceive for whales. Because underwater sounds carried for hundreds of mil es, the SAA network of fifty-nine underwater microphones around the world could listen to a surprisingly large percentage of the planets oceans. Unfortunately, this remote section of the Arctic was not part of that percentage, but Rachel knew there were others out there audience to the ocean floor-others that few on earth knew existed. She kept pounding. Her message was simpleton and clear.THUD. THUD. THUD.THUD THUD THUDTHUD. THUD. THUD.Rachel had no delusions that her actions would save their lives she could already observe a frosty tightness gripping her body. She doubted she had a half hour of life left in her. Rescue was beyond the realm of chance now. But this was not about rescue.