BENEATH - A Novel (5 page)

"Only from the air,"
Nancy
said. "It's not that we're trying to keep it a complete secret, but many of these plant species are endangered or already extinct. We try to keep exposure to outsiders to a bare minimum."
Nancy
raised her hand toward one of the tallest trees in the room, which had been trimmed to keep it from bursting through the glass ceiling. "That's a Brazilian Mahogany tree. Ten years ago it was used to make furniture and flooring, so much so that it simply couldn't recover and the best efforts of green organizations couldn't save it. There may be a few trees surviving in what little is left of the rainforests, but for all intents and purposes, the species is extinct, and that...that is the last one. We're hoping to reintroduce them in the next year."

Peterson looked at the tall tree. Its bark was smooth and grey; its leaves a brilliant green. A powerful tree. The fact that this might actually be the last of its kind on Earth made it awe inspiring. Peterson looked at
Nancy
with wide eyes. "Why did you bring me here?"

"Three reasons,"
Nancy
said. "First, to give you a glimpse of the future. A greenhouse twice this size has been constructed for your mission, only the plants are different. If they're not producing food, they're cleaning the air or some other kind of benefit. Second, look up there."
Nancy
pointed through the glass ceiling towards the dark blue sky.

Looking up, Peterson could see the moon hovering in the sky above. "It's been fifty-two years since man first walked on the moon and we still look at it as a crowning achievement of mankind. With manned missions to Mars thrown in the trash for various reasons and the more recent moon trips being...redundant, space exploration has been in a slump. We need this to work, Michael."

"Not to worry," Peterson said with confidence. "Everything is on schedule."

"You're sure about that? About everything? I'm meeting with the board tomorrow. They'll give me the final go ahead even with a slim chance of success, but the final say is mine and I don't like slim chances. They haven't worked for any space program thus far and we don't need another failure on our hands. So I'll ask you one last time. Are you absolutely, one hundred percent, without question, sure that you'll find what you're looking for?

"Not a doubt in the world. I've worked my entire life for an opportunity like this. I promise you, we will succeed." Peterson smiled. "I wouldn't be doing this otherwise. I don't like to fail."

"Good,"
Nancy
said. "Neither do I."

A loud ring filled the air.
Nancy
reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a tiny cell phone. "Director Heintz here."

"Dr. Connelly and her crew are here to see you, Ma'am," came the voice of a receptionist on the other end.

"Direct them to my office,"
Nancy
said, before hanging up the phone. She turned to Peterson, who was looking at the massive greenhouse. "Feel free to stay here as long as you'd like, but don't touch the plants. I'm meeting with the TES crew now. Update me on your progress by the end of the day."

"Will do," Peterson said.

Nancy
entered the elevator and disappeared behind its closing doors, leaving Peterson alone in the gargantuan greenhouse. He looked at all the vegetation, some of it otherworldly and then up to the moon. His body shivered with nervous energy. He knew his view from the next greenhouse he'd be standing in was going to be even more impressive.

*
  
*
  
*
  
*
  
*

Connelly stretched and touched her toes, which felt awkward in the formal business suit she was wearing, but the three flights it had taken to get them from Antarctica to northern
California
had been cramped. Flights were much faster than they used to be, but more people than ever were flying. After landing in
San Francisco
it had taken them another three hours to drive to the Global Exploration Corporation's headquarters, which was situated in a forty acre portion of prime landscape. The grounds were impeccably maintained. The lush green grass was as trim as a marine's hair. A brook ran perpendicular to the main entrance at the front of the building. The compound could have been mistaken for a national park, if not for the expansive parking lot, barbed wire fences and large marble sign which read: Global Exploration Corporation. Overall, visiting the site was a relaxing experience and Connelly could understand why so many scientists clambered to get research space within the facility, but coming here was never a good thing for her.

The GEC had been funding her project for the past five years and in the last year alone, her funding had quadrupled. She wasn't sure why the money was increased, and she never asked. It allowed her to finish work on TES three years ahead of schedule. Upon arriving at the front door of the GEC headquarters, they were ushered in like celebrities, offered drinks and muffins, and had been waiting quite comfortably for twenty minutes when a pretty, young receptionist strode into the lobby and flashed a smile.

"Director Heintz is ready to see you now," the receptionist said. "Please, follow me."

Connelly stood with Robert and Willard at her side and followed the receptionist to the elevator. The doors opened and the receptionist motioned for them to enter. Once all three were in, the receptionist joined them, hit the button for the tenth floor and then stepped back out. "Take a right out of the elevator. Director Heintz's office is the last door on the left." With that, the doors closed and the three were left alone.

"Do they pay them to act cheery?" Willard said with a grin. "I think that girl ate Happy Flakes for breakfast."

"Corporate complexes like this tend to be imposing," Robert said, "even to the employees. It helps to a see a happy face, even if it's fake."

"'Imposing' is an understatement," Connelly said. "And I have a long list of questions that need answers."

Robert played with his beard. "Like why they pulled us out two days before our first full test."

Kathy nodded. "Or the urgency behind the trip. Next day air from
Antarctica
isn't standard procedure."

"Or," Willard started, "why we're being treated like royalty. They were practically shoving those muffins down our throats."

"Fattening the goose," Robert said.

"And I take it you've never been picked up at the airport by a limo before?" Willard said.

Connelly shook her head, no. "Just another in a long line of questions we need answered. This better not be a waste of time."

Ding
. The doors opened and all three put on phony smiles before exiting the elevator. They turned right and headed down the hallway. The impending sense of doom grew like a tangling vine. Connelly paused at the polished oak door before knocking. "You ready?"

Both men nodded. Connelly knocked.

"Come on in," came Nancy's voice from the other side of the door.

Connelly turned the handle and entered the gleaming office. Connelly squinted as she entered the massive corner office, two walls of which were windows.
Nancy
was standing by her boomerang shaped desk. Connelly noticed a few family photos on the desktop, but nothing else out of the ordinary. No schematics, no documents or even a laptop that might provide some hint as to why they had been summoned.

Nancy
motioned to three plush chairs that faced her desk. "Please, have a seat."

The three silently took their seats and waited for the bomb to drop.
Nancy
sat across from them, in her own comfortable-looking seat. She leaned back and smiled. "Mr. Willard, I see that your sense of style has not been exaggerated to me by our mutual acquaintances," she said with a grin as she took in Willard's casual blue jeans and green fleece outfit.

Willard turned red and looked at his clothes. He glanced at Connelly, with her business suit, which accentuated her long, firm legs. Then he looked at Robert, who'd at least made an attempt to look professional with his sweater and tweed jacket. Compared to them he looked like a college student. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut short by
Nancy
. "Of course, I only jest. Your other, more impressive qualities, have been made clear over the years as well. Your expedition has one of the highest safety ratings of all our expeditions and you're in one of the most inhospitable environments. Well done, Mr. Willard."

Willard smiled, clearly pleased. "Thank you."

Connelly shifted in her seat.
Nancy
turned to her and said, "I trust your flights were bearable?"

Connelly nodded, "I slept through most of them."

"Well, you must be wondering why we've made such a to-do about you being here?"
Nancy
said.

"The question has crossed our minds," Connelly said.

Nancy
took a deep breath and let it out slowly, as though she were chewing over how to best phrase her next words. Connelly's stomach twisted with nervous tension. She was sure her funding was about to be pulled. "I trust everything is operational? With TES I mean."

"Yes," Connelly said. "We were planning to do our first full run through in two days, but we're positive she's fully functional and ready to go. We'll prep for the test as soon as we get back."

"That won't be necessary,"
Nancy
said. "Kathy...may I call you Kathy? I always prefer talking to my best scientists on a first name basis."

"Of—of course," Kathy said.

"Kathy, how would you feel about continuing your work with TES at another location?

Connelly raised a skeptical eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"For the sake of time, I'll put this bluntly,"
Nancy
said. "TES is needed for a more pressing expedition and we'll be transporting her by the end of the week. This is well within our contract agreement and is final. But I need to know if you'll be coming along."

"You can't do that," Connelly said defiantly.

"Look,"
Nancy
said, softening her voice. "I know this is hard to comprehend right now, but the fact is, I had to pull a few strings with the board to keep you on this project."

"This is
my
project!" Connelly gripped her armrests.

Nancy
rocked in her chair for a moment and then said, "Not anymore."

Willard interjected before Connelly could stand and start screaming. "Hey," he said, "I just got a natural history lesson from these two so even I know that there is no other place on Earth where there's a frozen lake buried under that much ice. So please enlighten us. Where on Earth, aside from
Antarctica
, is there a lake buried beneath miles of ice?"

Nancy
smiled. "There isn't."

"I don't understand," Connelly said. "Where do you plan on using TES?"

Nancy
looked into Connelly's eyes and said, "Not on this planet."

Robert leaned forward with his eyebrows perched high on his wrinkled forehead. "Come again?"

Nancy's smile grew wider. "Not on this planet... As you probably know, NASA had been planning a trip to the sixth moon of Jupiter, Europa, for years. But they ran out of support from the
U.S.
government. The GEC picked up the tab and have been coordinating our private enterprise with NASA and the
U.S.
government."

"This is unbelievable," Robert said. "Europa...but I thought they sent a probe there in 2010?"

Nancy
nodded. "The Europa Orbiter. After a preliminary scan of the moon's surface, measuring density, temperature and other common elements, the probe was destroyed."

"You mean it crashed," Willard said.

Nancy
shook her head. "No, it was destroyed in orbit."

Robert's forehead became even more wrinkled. "As in blown up?"

"Yes,"
Nancy
said. "Just before contact with the probe was lost, it recorded an extreme increase in external energy. NASA believes a massive solar storm caused an overload. The rest is history. However, the mission was not a complete failure. The probe was able to determine that there is, in fact, a vast ocean one mile beneath the ice crust on Europa."

"I sincerely doubt that the existence of water alone is enough evidence to spur a manned mission to the center of our solar system," Robert said.

Nancy
leaned forward on her elbows, growing excited. "Last year, a geologist named Michael Peterson, discovered a meteorite in the
Arctic
. It's been determined that the asteroid originated from Europa. It was the size of a football yet contained biological material swirled among some unknown elements."