The Antarcticans (9 page)

“Uh, yes.” She looked over at Gavin quizzically.

“Where did you study?”

“I completed my PhD at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. I did my postdoctoral research in adaptive mutations in marine species.”

“Oh? Very impressive. We could use you in our work. Would you have any interest in joining our research? We’re lacking someone who understands the sea, which is so intimately intertwined with the life on Antarctica. We keep in close contact with the
Dragon
through the use of our holographic projection technology, so you’ll be able to monitor Joshua’s progress as if you were right here on the ship with him.”

Noila looked at Gavin for an answer. He said no with his eyes.

“I’ll need some time to consider the offer. I’m involved in a project at the Southeast Marine Institute, where I work, although I asked for a short leave of absence due to Joshua’s illness. I’d need to check in there before I made any decision. How long are you suggesting?”

“A month at most. I’m sure we could make a donation, which would put them in a position to hire someone to replace you,” Lucifer said.

Noila shook her head. “I don’t think that’s necessary. The work sounds worthwhile and interesting.”

Gavin gave her a surprised look.

“How noble. In that case they’ll get more than they could have imagined when they first hired you. It looks like a win-win for everyone involved. I just love that.” Lucifer clenched his fist in the air and pumped it, then stopped and looked at her face. “You don’t look convinced.”

“What’s the security situation there?” Gavin interjected.

“Safer than where you’re living now,” Lucifer quickly replied.

“As interesting as it sounds, I’m not sure how much I can help on the project,” Noila said. “I don’t know anything about viruses, other than a few classes I took as an undergraduate, and that was decades ago.”

“No need, really, for that kind of knowledge,” Lucifer said. “Everything we’re working on is unprecedented. You won’t find what we’re doing in any textbooks. The viral research is just one part of a larger project. We’ll put your best skills to use. After dinner, we should go to the amphitheater; I can give you a demonstration of our holographic technology and the types of things we’re trying to accomplish in the world. No need to decide over dinner.” He cut through an orange lopsided vegetable and slid it into his mouth.

The main course, rack of lamb, was set down in front of each of them in complete synchrony.

Arkita stood up and retreated to the corner. The high tones of “Moon River” took to the air, and she sang from the shadows, creating a subtle background ambience that wouldn’t interfere with the meal. Lucifer sliced a piece of the delicate lamb, closed his eyes, put it in his mouth, and let the savory meat linger on his tongue before he opened his eyes wide and declared it delicious. Everyone else followed his lead and began devouring their food.

“So how do you predict where an outbreak might occur?” Noila asked Ruftan.

“The simulation programming is beyond me—we leave that up to the girls downstairs. I just give them the parameters of the inputs for what makes an outbreak deadly and prone to spread quickly. The processing power is amazing.”

“What’s there to do in Antarctica then?” Noila asked.

“The inputs are still organic,” he said. “The simulations can only be reliable if we have the right research to support the scenarios. In Antarctica we take temperature readings, drill ice-core samples to see what we can find about the past environment of that continent, and push known pathogens into the subzero air to see how they’ll react. It’s a mixture of using the data we have and subjecting it to new environments and also extracting the unknown from these environments.”

“Have you found anything publishable?” Noila asked.

“Publishable?” Ruftan laughed and looked at Lucifer. “We don’t disclose our results. That would be a violation of our contract.”

“Your contract with whom?” Noila asked cautiously.

“You’ll meet them in Antarctica. No sense in going into a description now,” Lucifer said.

The music and Arkita’s singing was pushed from the background and quickly increased in volume to fill the room. “Nothing comes from nothing. Ain’t that the way…” Her voice took on a throaty power that drowned out Noila’s next question.

“Dessert is served,” Lucifer said. “Would you look at that architecture? The chefs’ talents continue to amaze me.”

The dish was five interlocking pieces of candied pastry, with a column of flan rising up from the middle and capping out, supported by the rest of the dessert.

“How on earth do you eat this?” Nazia asked.

“It’s like a conversation, my dear, a delicate balance of force and agility,” Lucifer replied. He shaved a piece of the flan off the top and then, spoonful by spoonful, broke the dessert down, never letting it collapse, until there was an exact outline on the plate of the sugar left behind.

When the song ended, Arkita retook her seat at the table and sampled the dessert. “You’re being far too evasive,” she told Lucifer. “I think the truth will let Noila make the right decision.”

“I’ll go,” Noila said.

“What?” Gavin glared at her, his forehead crinkled.

“The work sounds like it could saves millions of lives,” Noila said.

“You could save the whole race if you’re not careful with your enthusiasm,” Lucifer said with a laugh.

“Is the whole race in danger?” Noila asked.

“You tell me—you’re the scientist.”

The lighting in the room grew brighter, and the pink-and-brown designs of the wallpaper were visible again. It occurred to Gavin that the room was under a constant state of surveillance, which increased his suspicion that he wasn’t ever going to be alone again.

…

Noila and Gavin were back in their quarters. Noila had stepped into the glass-enclosed shower and let her hair out of the braided bun she had arranged it in before dinner. She left the bathroom door open.

“Honey, do you want to go see Joshua?” she called out.

“Now?” he answered from the bedroom. He started opening his books on the leather-topped desk, intent on getting some work done before the night was over.

“Yes, now. I have a meeting with Ruftan in the morning. He mentioned that I might be able to leave for Antarctica as soon as the day after tomorrow. I want to make sure I see Joshua in person and spend some time with him before I go.”

“That hologram technology must have been impressive. I’ll have to see it later when my swirling mind isn’t making my stomach do the same.” Gavin walked into the bathroom and leaned against the sink, admiring his wife through the glass shower door. He loved the way her wet hair clung to her muscular shoulders. He always thought it was a great comment on her essence: her strong, brilliant mind held up by strong shoulders that merged with her soft, feminine body.

“With the exception of being able to touch what’s on the other side, it appears to be the perfect human interface. Lucifer said that within a year, you’ll even be able to do that. Can you imagine?”

She was soaping her breasts; Gavin felt himself getting aroused.

“Remember what I said about Lucifer: he’s not on our side.”

“I’m not going with Lucifer—I’m going with Ruftan. And he seems to be a respectable man. If the funding is coming from a place I don’t agree with, well, I guess that’s a philosophical problem I’ll have to work out in my own head. But saving lives is saving lives, right? “

“Not if you’re endangering souls in the process,” Gavin shot back.

“Okay, let’s not get into an argument.” Noila wiped the steam off the glass so she could see him. “So back to my original question: Joshua?”

“Yes, as soon as we get done here, we’ll get dressed and head over,” he said.

Gavin opened the door to the shower; he had taken off his clothes. He got in behind her, closed the door, and pressed up against her small, tight body.
The perks of being married
, he thought. Noila pushed her body back into his. Then she turned around and pulled him over to the shower seat and sat him down on it. She got on top of him, and as he slipped inside her, she let out a light gasp. The steam filled the bathroom and coated the glass; the only thing visible to Arkita, who was watching from behind the bathroom mirror, were Noila’s handprints on the steamy shower door. Arkita stepped back from the two-way glass in her own bathroom and pressed the button behind the faux soap dispenser on the wall, which turned the window back into a mirror, and picked up a tube of lipstick. She applied it generously to her lips. When she was done, she pressed her lips together

“Mmmmm, mmmmm, mmmm,” she quietly said, shaking her head.

The music announced that Lucifer was entering through the golden doors. The amphitheater seats were filled, and everyone stood to applaud his entry. He made his way through the crowd, his lustrous blond hair bouncing as he walked through the aisles, greeting his guests and waving, his strong chest pushing against the breast of his snugly tailored white suit. His black, rigidly starched shirt, with its unbuttoned collar, showed off his fit physique. After many bows, he took his seat at the front and started the meeting. The front wall of theater, which all the seats faced, turned white then brought up an image of Lucifer’s beautiful, perfectly symmetrical face and shoulders.

“Thank you all for coming. While we have very important matters to attend to, I hope you’re enjoying your stay aboard the
Dragon
. Remember, I designed it with you in mind.” He flashed a smile then took on a stern look.

The audience applauded loudly.

“We have vexing problems. The most-recent report from our Antarctican outpost has indicated that the increasing temperatures in the air and water have created an accelerated profile for the increase in sea levels as the ice melts. I don’t have to remind you that Antarctica holds ninety percent of the world’s ice and seventy percent of its freshwater.”

France’s prime minister pressed the panel in her seat arm to indicate she wanted to speak. The French flag appeared on the screen next to Lucifer’s head. Lucifer deferred the screen to him.

“France’s citizens are very concerned with this problem,” Prime Minister Bourcier said, “but we don’t have the resources to fund more stringent environmental controls.”

The Chinese flag appeared next to him. The face of Vice Premier Dai Zhōu appeared. “We have committed billions of dollars to the cause, but our premier won’t endanger our economy by stopping the use of fossil fuels. Right now we don’t have an alternative to fuel our country.”

Each country’s representative went one by one, explaining that they would like to help, but that either the person in attendance didn’t have the authority to commit their country to the radical environmental actions necessary to stop the warming, or that the detriment to the country was too great. Lucifer took the screen back.

“I appreciate all your concerns,” he said. “I really do. I think what we’re failing to realize, however, is that this isn’t a choice. I haven’t gathered you here, by various means, to hear excuses; I’ve chosen each of you based on your power to make decisions. Some of you had to be convinced, and I’ll use that term lightly, as I believe blackmail and bribery are illegal in most of your jurisdictions. If our predictions are correct—and I have no reason to think otherwise—each of your countries, some more than others, will experience rises in sea levels that will cause unimaginable damage and destruction.” He looked around at each of them. “My proposal is to stop the use of all oil and coal immediately, everywhere in the world.”

“You can’t be serious. Stopping all air travel, automobiles, the heating of homes, industry? You’ll grind the world to a halt,” British Prime Minister Niles Archer argued.

“Maybe that’s what the world needs, a distinct slowing down,” Lucifer offered.

“What about your ship? Are you willing to give all this up?” Archer asked, gesturing around him.

“The
Dragon
is powered by solar and nuclear power. I’m a being of my word. But thank you for your concern. How many of you will sign the treaty? It will be kept quiet—the media won’t know, and most of the servants of your governments won’t know. And then we’ll swiftly execute the policy.”

First the Cambodian flag appeared, followed by the flags of Thailand, Spain, Australia, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, and then it stopped.

“Sixty countries are represented here, and only nine of you are willing? China? The US? India? Where are you?”

The amphitheater was silent. No one moved or whispered.

“I’ll set a date to reconvene. Maybe after we see some of the destruction, some of you will change your minds. Vice President Anderson of the United States, I have to say this is a cowardly move on your part. You’re always going on and on, claiming the health, safety, and prosperity of your citizens are your highest priorities, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Must be an election year.” The screen went blank, signaling the end of the meeting.

The participants gathered in small groups and discussed matters of their personal agendas. Many of the people used this meeting as another politicking opportunity rather than the purpose for which it was intended. Lucifer knew this, but the progress he had hoped to make was worth the side conversations and time spent. He made his way up the steps toward the door, passing Vice President Anderson, who was speaking with Prime Minister Archer. He nodded at them both without a smile.