‘Yeah,’ he snorted, ‘one that’ll get me killed if I tell anyone about it.’
‘Which is why we’d need to keep it quiet until it can be revealed to the world in one go - we make it too big for the Covenant to silence. Once it’s exposed, then the genie’s out of the bottle, and there’s nothing they can do about it. Matt,’ she said, moving round so they were face to face, ‘this could be the most incredible find ever. Bigger than Atlantis, even. But if we don’t find it before the Covenant, it’ll be lost for ever, because they want to destroy it. We have to find it.’
‘But what if you’re wrong and there’s nothing there?’
‘Then you’ve annoyed this Dr Bandra by changing the test site. But your robot’ll still get its workout, so you’re no worse off. And,’ she went on, conviction lighting her eyes, ‘I don’t think I am wrong. And, y’know, I’ve got a pretty good track record with this sort of thing.’
Trulli tipped back his head to stare up at the ceiling in resignation. ‘Oh, Christ. All right. I’ll think about it.’
‘Think fast, Malkovich. You’re flying out tomorrow. Oh, and we’ll be coming as well. Me, Eddie and . . . someone else.’
‘What?’ Trulli demanded, sitting up sharply. ‘Oh, come on! I can’t do that!’
She fixed him with an intense, determined gaze. ‘If you’re worried about supplies, we’ll bring everything we need. Hell, I’ll pay for any extra fuel myself if I have to. But I’ve got to be there. I have to see it for myself. You know I do.’
He pressed a hand to his forehead. ‘Okay. I’ll see what I can do. The ship does have some free space - there’re fewer people involved in the test stage than there will be at Vostok. But you can deal with Bandra when he starts complaining. And he will start complaining.’
‘I can handle him,’ she assured him, before kissing his cheek. ‘Thanks, Matt. I knew I could rely on you.’
‘I’m just a sucker for redheads, aren’t I?’ he said, sighing.
Chase and Sophia arrived at Trulli’s apartment half an hour later. Trulli greeted Chase warmly, before regarding his companion with interest . . . and a hint of puzzled recognition. ‘I’m Matt,’ he said. ‘Matt Trulli.’
‘Yes,’ Sophia replied, somewhat dismissively. ‘I know who you are.’
‘You do?’
‘Of course. You used to work for my husband. My late husband, I mean.’
Nina shot her an exasperated glare as the gears turned in Trulli’s head, making him step back in shock. ‘You remember that part where we said about keeping your mouth shut?’
Trulli turned to her, jabbing a finger nervously over his shoulder at Sophia. ‘That’s - that’s Sophia Blackwood!’
‘Yeah, I know,’ Nina answered.
‘She tried to kill you!’
‘I know!’
‘The news said she was dead!’
‘The reports were premature,’ Sophia told him, with a wolfish smile. Trulli backed away still further.
‘Sadly premature,’ said Nina. ‘Still, it doesn’t matter. We’ll be moving on tomorrow.’
‘Where to?’ Chase asked.
‘Antarctica.’
He was surprised. ‘And how’d you arrange that?’
‘Matt agreed to help us. He’s flying out tomorrow, and we’re going with him.’
‘Just like that?’
She grinned. ‘You’re not the only one who can be charming and persuasive.’
‘Right,’ he said, sounding distinctly dubious.
Nina wasn’t keen on his tone. ‘What?’
Chase turned to Trulli. ‘Matt, can you keep an eye on Sophia while I have a word with Nina in private? Just don’t let her get hold of anything sharp and pointy.’
‘Uh . . . sure,’ Trulli said uncertainly, leading Sophia into the next room.
‘So Matt’s taking us to Antarctica, is he?’ asked Chase when they had left.
‘Yeah. Look.’ Nina pointed out the lake on Trulli’s computer. ‘I think that’s where the lost city is - it matches everything I’ve worked out from the inscription.’
‘And he’s okay with changing his plans so you can take a look?’
‘Apparently so, seeing as he said yes.’ Nina folded her arms. ‘What’s up with you?’
‘I’m just a bit worried.’
‘About what?’
‘About you.’
‘Me?’ Nina said, surprised. ‘Why?’
‘Don’t you think you’re pushing things too hard?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean, twisting Matt’s arm to get him to take us to Antarctica at five minutes’ notice. What about everybody else there? They’re not going to be quite as happy to help when three new people turn up and start pissing around with their expedition - especially when one of them’s a bloody terrorist!’
‘Matt’s in charge, and he says it won’t be a problem,’ Nina insisted. ‘And I didn’t twist his arm. I just asked, and he agreed to help. Like he always does.’
‘And what happens when the other people on the expedition complain? He’ll get fired.’
‘Matt’s a smart guy. He’ll be able to find other work with no trouble.’
Chase made a disbelieving noise. ‘That’s not the bloody point! Have you heard yourself ? You’re so determined to find this place, you’re not even thinking what might happen to anyone else. Yeah, Matt could get fired - or a fuck of a lot worse. Did that even occur to you?’
‘Of course it did,’ said Nina, offended - and, for a moment, uncertain whether or not it had. It must have done, she quickly rationalised. If it hadn’t, that would make her as bad as Sophia . . .
‘And what about you working with Sophia?’ Chase continued, as if picking up her thoughts. ‘For fuck’s sake, you want each other dead.’
‘I don’t like it either. But we need her, and I gave her my word.’
‘You think she cares about that?’
‘Probably not. But I do. We’ve got more chance of figuring out what the Covenant are doing with her help - and if we do that, it gives us the advantage. We can expose them to the world and get our lives back.’
‘From what Sophia said, these people are basically religious fundamentalists,’ Chase said grimly. ‘I’ve been in a war against one lot of ’em, and they’re not exactly good losers. So three of them, working together? Even if we do beat them to this lost city, I don’t think they’ll leave it at that.’
‘And what would you rather do?’ Nina countered, growing angry. ‘Nothing? We can’t hide from them for the rest of our lives. And I wouldn’t want to even if we could.’
‘I’m not saying we should. I’m just saying that maybe you’re running into this so fast, you’re not thinking about the consequences. For other people, as well as us.’
Her expression softened slightly. ‘You’re thinking about Mitzi, aren’t you?’
‘Yeah,’ said Chase, jaw clenching at the memory of a dead friend. ‘She got killed because I rushed her into a situation without thinking it through. I don’t want that to happen again. And I don’t want you having to learn the same way I did.’
She took his hand. ‘Eddie, you know I don’t want anyone to get hurt. Not Matt, not anybody. Hell, I don’t even actively want anything bad to happen to Sophia.’ The small joke prompted the very slightest upward twitch of Chase’s mouth. ‘But if we don’t do something about the Covenant, then there’re only three things we’ll ever be able to do - we run, we hide . . . or we die. And I don’t like any of those options. Especially the third one. That really sucks.’
Again, his mouth curled into a near-smile. ‘You’ve got a point.’ He gently squeezed her fingers. ‘But I want to make sure you know what kind of risk you’re taking. We don’t have any backup this time; no IHA, no rich guys. If anything goes wrong, we’re on our own.’ He looked at the Antarctic map on the computer. ‘And in about the worst possible place to get in trouble on the entire bloody planet.’
‘Then we’ll just have to make s
ure that nothing does happen.’
‘Right, like that’s ever worked for us.’
‘There’s a first time for everything,’ said Nina. She smiled, then took his other hand. ‘We can do this, Eddie. The city’s there, I’m certain of it.’
‘Hope you’re right.’
‘I am. I promise.’
‘Can I get that in writing?’ The threatened smile finally broke through. ‘All right. If you think freezing our arses off with Pingu is the only way we can beat these wankers, then we’ll have to do it. But you just be really careful.’
‘I will. Good job you’ll be there to pull me out of any crevasses.’
‘I meant of Sophia.’ Chase’s expression became serious again. ‘If she gets the chance, she’ll try to escape. Or kill us.’
‘So let’s not give her any chances.’
Chase nodded, then looked down at his black leather jacket. ‘Think I’ll need something a bit thicker than this, then.’
20
Antarctica
The sea rushing below the Bell BA609 tilt-rotor was a serene, perfect blue under the stark sunlight. But the day’s brightness was deceptive; even at the height of the Antarctic summer, the temperature was barely above freezing.
Huddled inside a thick parka, Nina peered over the pilot’s shoulder to watch the approaching coastline with awe. The land ahead was dazzling, a wall of ice rising practically vertically out of the sparkling ocean. Ice floes whipped past, tiny dots huddled on one. ‘Oh, wow, Eddie!’ she said. ‘I just saw my first penguins!’
Chase grinned. ‘Maybe we can p-p-p-pick one up on the way back.’
‘This is not a sightseeing tour,’ growled the man beside the pilot. Dr Rohit Bandra, Nina had quickly discovered after landing on the RV Southern Sun following the long flight in the tilt-rotor from Tasmania the previous day, was not someone who responded well to the unexpected. He had immediately launched into a huge argument with Trulli about the unscheduled arrival of his ‘assistants’, and it had taken all Nina’s persuasive powers - and fame - to mollify him even slightly. Apparently, news of her suspension hadn’t reached the South Pole.
He was still fuming, however, and had made it clear that the moment Trulli’s tests were successfully completed - and the expedition switched from a technical to a scientific exercise - the unwelcome guests would be sent packing, accompanied by a sternly worded complaint to the IHA. Although Trulli had downplayed it with his usual casualness, Nina could tell he was actually very worried about what it would mean to his career, and now felt horribly guilty for having involved him.
But her concerns faded as they approached the coastline. The sea was full of drifting ice; the Southern Sun was anchored over eighty miles offshore to keep clear of the floes calving off the ice cap that stretched away to the horizon, a slice of blinding white sandwiched between the deep blues of the ocean and the sky. More ice floes below, densely packed like crazy paving, then the cliff rolled past to reveal nothing but solid whiteness ahead.
They had arrived in Antarctica.
‘Feet dry at oh-eight seventeen,’ said the pilot, a Norwegian called Larsson. ‘Rough air ahead. We’re in for some chop.’
‘You’re not joking,’ Chase said as the Bell lurched, hit by the winds sweeping across the endless plains. He tightened his seatbelt. The other occupants of the cabin - Nina, Sophia, Trulli, Bandra and a pair of Trulli’s engineering assistants, David Baker and Rachel Tamm - quickly did the same.
Larsson checked the GPS, adjusting course. The newly selected test site was seven miles from the coast, the ice sheet having expanded hugely over the millennia. The terrain became more rugged, the flat plain rising up into mountains of pure ice, jagged chasms splitting the surface between them. The walls of the ravines changed colour as they got deeper, turning from white to startling, almost unreal shades of cyan and turquoise. ‘That’s beautiful,’ said Nina, amazed. ‘Why’s it that colour?’
‘Compression, Dr Wilde,’ said Bandra, voice filled with don’t-you-know-anything condescension. ‘The weight of the snow and ice above it squeezes out all the trapped air and turns it solid, so it absorbs red wavelengths of light. Hence, blue ice.’
‘Yeah?’ said Chase. ‘And I thought blue ice was the stuff that falls out of the bogs on planes. Cheers, doc, you learn something every day.’ Bandra looked more annoyed than ever, though Nina and Trulli both smiled at his deflation.
Something else below caught Nina’s attention: a column of what looked like smoke rising in the wind. She found its source, a strangely elongated and angular cone of ice protruding from the surface like a stalagmite. ‘Volcanic vents - we must be in the right place,’ she said, seeing more of the formations in the distance.
‘How far to the site?’ Trulli asked.
Larsson checked the GPS again. ‘About two kilometres.’ He pointed ahead. ‘Past that crevasse.’
Nina craned forward for a better look. It was a blank expanse of snow, not even broken by a volcanic vent, a deep ravine angling away towards the coast before it. The lack of landmarks made it difficult to judge scale, but the plain seemed at least a couple of miles across. The lake hidden beneath it, according to the radar survey, was considerably smaller.
‘I still want to make it perfectly clear that I object in the strongest possible terms to changing the test site,’ said Bandra as the tilt-rotor began to descend. ‘I will be complaining to the UN about the IHA’s appropriation of UNARA’s resources.’
‘Yeah, we got that, Dr Bandra,’ said Nina wearily.
‘But surely, Dr Bandra,’ said Sophia with mischievous innocence, ‘it doesn’t matter where the test takes place? After all, ice is ice.’
‘Ice is most certainly not ice!’ Bandra huffed. ‘Do you have any kind of scientific background at all, Miss Fox, or are you just another freeloading tourist like Mr Chase?’
She smiled. ‘Actually, I have some experience in the nuclear field.’ Trulli coughed at that, and Nina and Chase both gave ‘Miss Fox’ - the name on her fake passport - warning looks. Fortunately, none of the others picked up on her black joke.
The tilt-rotor dropped towards the centre of the ice plain, Larsson zeroing in on the precise GPS co-ordinates Trulli had provided and transitioning the aircraft from flight to hover mode, the engine nacelles on the wingtips pivoting to turn the oversized propellers into rotors. The Bell hung hesitantly above the centre of the vortex of blowing snow and ice crystals before landing with a bump.
Larsson peered out, leaving the engines running at just under takeoff speed. ‘Okay, the ice seems stable. But take a thickness reading before you unload any of the gear. I’d want at least ten metres under us to be safe.’
‘On it,’ said Trulli. He and Baker climbed out with a radar measuring device and circled the aircraft, hunched in their parkas as they took readings. Finally, Trulli gave Larsson a thumbs-up. He returned it and powered down the engines.
‘We’re over the lake,’ Trulli told Nina as he re-entered the cabin. ‘The ice is about forty metres thick, like we thought.’
‘How long will it take to drill through?’
‘Don’t jump the gun! We’ve got to get Cambot set up first; that’ll take a couple of hours. But forty metres . . .’ He stroked his chin, thinking. ‘I don’t want to push too hard, not on a first test run, so maybe half an hour. Unless you want to find one of the thinner patches of ice above the volcanic vents and drill through there.’
‘How thick were they?’
‘Twenty, twenty-five metres.’
‘So it halves the amount of time we have to stand around in the Antarctic. Sounds good to me.’
Bandra frowned at them. ‘And do you really think that is a proper test of the drill? It has to get through four kilometres of ice, not twenty metres!’
‘Cambot’s got to crawl before he can walk, eh?’ said Trulli, picking up more equipment. ‘All right, everybody, let’s kick some ice!’ Even Chase groaned at the pun.
Nina climbed out, immedi
ately glad of her layers of clothing as she stepped on to the plain, the spiked crampons on her boots biting into the frozen surface. She put on a pair of mirrored sunglasses to shield her eyes from the glare of the sunlit snow. Apart from the tilt-rotor, there was no shelter from the constant, cutting wind. The landscape seemed completely flat, not so much as a rock breaking up the hard-packed surface snow. Despite having visited several barren deserts, she had never seen anywhere so utterly empty and lifeless.
Trulli and Baker took about twenty minutes with their radar device to find an area of thinner ice, only twenty-one metres thick. After marking the position with a red flag on a pole, the preparations for the test began.
Cambot, Trulli’s robot submarine, was a segmented metal cylinder some nine feet long and three feet in diameter, one end capped with a menacing array of interlocking drill heads and the other with pump-jet nozzles and folded fins surrounding a complex spool mechanism. Assisted by Rachel, Trulli and Baker carefully lowered it on to a sled. Chase, Nina and Larsson joined in to help them slide the heavy machine to the flag. Sophia elected to watch from the cabin, while Bandra made a show of ‘supervising’ without actually applying any physical effort.
Leaving Cambot at the flag, the engineers returned to the helicopter to bring over a generator, then set about erecting a winch system to lift Cambot by its tail, suspending the drill heads just above the ice. This took a while, the others returning to the BA609 for hot coffee. Disconcertingly for Nina, the sun barely moved in the sky for the whole time: at this point of summer, so close to the Antarctic Circle, daylight lasted almost twenty-three hours.
Once the submarine was hanging like some huge cybernetic fish on display as a catch, everyone examined it, even Sophia’s interest piqued. ‘So how does it work?’ Chase asked.
Trulli was on a ladder, connecting one end of what looked like a long length of rubber hose to the robot’s stern. ‘Most of it’s pretty straightforward. We lower it, it drills down into the ice - but it’s heated as well so it’ll go through faster. The drills get up to sixty or seventy Celsius once they’re at full speed, and the body’s at about thirty degrees, so the meltwater keeps it lubricated while it’s going down.’