Quantum (30 page)

Authors: Tom Grace

BOOK: Quantum

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‘Damn, I wish we had that lab kit on board. It’d be nice to know if we found anything alive down there.’

‘You’ll just have to wait. We’ll know within a couple of weeks after we get home.’

When the sampling was complete, Collins resumed the descent. Sixteen feet down, the water in front of the camera cleared considerably. The hydrobot’s lights grazed the underside of the thick silty cloud suspended over the lake bottom. Particles glinted as they fell through the powerful beam of white light.

‘I’m going to maintain about thirty feet off the bottom while we take a look around,’ Collins said. ‘Water temp is now in the mid-seventies.’

‘It looks like we’re inside a snow globe.’

‘Only that’s volcanic ash, not white glitter.’

Collins moved the hydrobot forward slowly as they scanned the image of the silty bottom for any sign that life existed inside this remote, alien realm.

‘Water temp is moving up,’ Collins said. ‘There just has to be a vent close by.’

‘If you do find one, just make sure you don’t get too close or you’ll fry the electronics,’ Nedra cautioned.

‘I know what I’m doing,’ Collins snapped.

He brought the hydrobot to a stop and began turning it in a slow horizontal sweep to the right. Forty-three degrees right of his previous heading, he spotted a plume of particles billowing out of a lumpy black mass of rock that jutted up from the lake bottom like a broken fang. The ash gray landscape surrounding the smoker was mottled with patches of white.

‘Is that what I think it is?’ Nedra asked.

Collins swallowed hard, his throat suddenly feeling very tight and dry. He pushed the hydrobot forward, gliding cautiously toward the nearest field of iridescent white. As he closed the distance, details began to emerge from the indistinct mass – long, thin strands of filaments. Collins brought the hydrobot to a stop just a foot above the edge of the spaghetti-like mass. The gentle turning of the hydrobot’s maneuvering thrusters disturbed the water, rippling through the filaments like a breeze through a wheat field. Small, transparent creatures similar to jellyfish darted out of the hydrobot’s light.

‘I don’t think you need that lab kit now,’ Nedra said.

Collins’s eyes were transfixed on the digital image. ‘Send a message to the Jet Propulsion Lab:
Lake Vostok is alive.
’

Acknowledgements

My thanks to John Van der Velde, Yukio Kamazara, and Lawrence Jones – professors of Physics at the University of Michigan – for their insights into the challenges and promise of physics research in the near future; to Fred Mayer, University Planner at the University of Michigan, for helping me dig up the past; to Shannon Zachary and Kathleen Dow of the University Library for an education in the preservation of books; to Stuart Cohen of the University of Michigan Marine Hydrodynamics Laboratory for the tour of Martin Kilkenny’s old workshop; to Prof. Wolfgang Porad for giving me the lay of the land regarding research and Notre Dame; to B. J. Keepers and Scott Gochis for their generous advice on the Special Forces; to Barbara Jones for her understanding of the transportation industry; to the Ann Arbor Police Department; and to Nathan Jacobson, my friend and guide to Russia.

Thanks also to my editor Rob McMahon for his sound advice and sense of humor; to my agent Esther Margolis for her wise counsel; and to Larry Kirshbaum, Maureen Egen, Jamie Raab, Harvey-Jane Kowal, Jimmy Franco, Stephen Lamont, and their talented and able colleagues at Warner Books for their support and encouragement.

A special thanks to my wife, Kathy, and our children for their love and support as I write late into the night.

About the Author

Tom Grace was born, raised, and still lives in Michigan. He studied architecture at the University of Michigan, where he developed his strict eye for detail. In just over twenty years of practice, Tom has worked on projects ranging from modest home renovations to major urban designs for Chicago and London. His superior knowledge of technology has found its way into his writing and has earned him tremendous acclaim as a result.

Tom credits his second career as a writer in equal parts to a voracious appetite for books, an overactive imagination, and a compulsive desire to set challenging long-term goals for himself.

Tom Grace lives with his wife, five children and a yellow Labrador. His interests are architecture and current affairs; he also enjoys scuba diving, martial arts and running marathons. To find out more about Tom go to www.tomgrace.net.

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By the same author:

The Secret Cardinal
Spyder Web

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

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FIRST EDITION

First published by Pocket Books in 2000.

Tom Grace asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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