“I see,” replied Stevas cutting her off. “And does everyone at the USGS agree with your assessment?”
Kathryn was expecting this. Hank Stevas had not so subtly attacked her a year earlier during one of her environmental reports. She was amazed at his total disregard for empirical facts, even his lack of interest in learning the facts. Instead he attacked politically by going after a person’s character or reputation. After her run in with him last year, she later learned that he was friends with her predecessor. It seemed he was not going to let sleeping dogs lie.
Kathryn hesitated only because of the satisfaction he was about to get, even though the answer was far from simple. “No.”
“No,” Stevas repeated nodding his head and frowning. “So how many other scientists do agree with you?”
His accusing tone lingered in the air as she stared at him. How convenient that he said ‘agree with you’ instead of ‘this conclusion’. “It’s not that easy-”
Stevas spread his hands in a mocking gesture. “How many agree with you, half? Less than half? Does anyone agree with your view? Being the head of the largest scientific department on the planet, I would hope that at least some of your subordinates would agree.”
Kathryn had to force herself not to glare at the man. “Some, yes.”
“Some,” he nodded sarcastically. “Some.” Stevas looked around the room addressing everyone at the table. “So we have a minority scientific opinion here regarding a geological event that may or may not be a serious risk, and that could cost who knows how much. Might I remind everyone that last year you gave a presentation claiming that the ocean levels worldwide were actually falling in contradiction to everyone else in the scientific community suggesting the exact opposite, even in fact calculating the opposite.”
Kathryn did not want to respond but would not let it go unaddressed in front of everyone in the room. “My suggestion was that the widely accepted calculations were flawed based on failure to account for a number of variables such as lunar gravitational patterns, the Earth’s equatorial bulge, and-”
“You claimed,” Stevas cut her off again, “that the water level was falling but could not explain where the disappearing water was supposedly going! Tell me Ms. Lokke, does anyone agree with your claim now, a full year later?”
If Kathryn did not want to respond to his last question, she really did not want to respond to this one. Stevas had clearly known what the subject of this meeting was about and decided to dig up some dirt. Reluctantly she answered. “Not to my knowledge. But you have to understand this isn’t like walking down to the nearest beach with a measuring stick. There are many calculations involved.”
“Not to your knowledge,” he repeated.
“Look,” she said ignoring Stevas and addressing the others, “this is a grave situation. If we don’t do something, and soon, to release some of the pressure along that shelf, we may be talking about the greatest disaster we have ever seen. If that piece of the continent collapses, we could have just a matter of hours to evacuate 50 million people.” Now she glared at Stevas. “How smoothly do you think a last minute evacuation plan would go?”
Kathryn looked to the President who had been watching the rest of the table with his hands folded in front of his mouth. “Ms. Lokke, do we have actual proof that this collapse is imminent?”
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Stevas putting his glasses back on. “No,” she answered.
“Well I’m afraid I’m not ready to go around warning half the countries on the planet, and potentially starting a panic, over something that we cannot provide real proof of.” He stood up and the rest of the table abruptly followed. “I’d like you to have your team conduct more research and return when you have something more concrete.” He shook her hand. “Thank you for coming in.”
Kathryn watched in stunned silence as all of the men shuffled out of the room, some shaking her hand on the way out. Stevas was not one of them.
She slowly gathered up her things and put them back into her bag while Mason waited for her in the hall. She could not believe what had just happened. The President sat there and completely bought Stevas’ argument, which in the end was that she was incompetent.
She began to feel slightly sick to her stomach. She had been completely dismissed for nothing more than some political strutting. If she was right, then Stevas and the President of the United States had just condemned millions of people to death.
She walked out of the conference room and followed Mason back upstairs. Knowing they would do nothing until it was too late made her now hope that she was wrong, really wrong.
18
After nearly an hour of twenty foot swells the conditions slowly calmed and the Pathfinder continued plowing north. The ship’s crew and guests, thoroughly battered, began nursing their wounds. Several of the journalists had sustained injuries after being flung around the lounge, requiring treatment and some bandaging by the ship’s medical staff.
On the bridge Alison had made her way out to the side of the ship to make sure Dirk and Sally were still with them. The two dolphins remained near the bow swimming and jumping effortlessly through the waves. Alison turned and stepped back inside just as Emerson returned to the bridge from the other side.
“Alright Clay, I’ve got a ship full of sick and injured people and my lounge has been turned into a clinic. We’ve damn near run out of bandages and splints. What the hell is going on?”
“I don’t know Rudy. I’m still trying to figure it out myself.”
Emerson shook his head. “I’ve never seen anything like that before. A storm out of nowhere with perfect skies, nearly sinking my ship, something awfully strange is happening here.”
“I wish I knew,” Clay replied.
“Well, what the hell was that call about? Sounds like you learned something.”
Clay turned toward Alison and her team. “I don’t suppose you have a security clearance?”
They all shook their heads in unison.
He sighed. Clay turned back to Emerson. “They’re all going to need to be read on. Caesare and one of our experts at the Pentagon seem to have found something on the Triton video recorded by your team.”
Emerson looked at him expectantly.
“It looks like there may be an unidentified object on the ocean floor, something very big.”
“How big?” Emerson asked.
“Upwards of twenty five kilometers.”
“Jesus Christ!” choked Emerson. “Are they kidding?”
“I don’t think so. They said it was in the shape of a ring.”
Emerson furrowed his brow. “A twenty five kilometer ring. What the does that mean?”
Clay shrugged helplessly. “You know as much as I do. I’ll call him back and see if we can get more information. In the meantime, Ms. Shaw shall we find out what your dolphins have to say?”
Alison nodded. “We’ll need to shut down the engines first.”
Emerson looked at his first officer. “Give them a rest.”
“Yes sir,” Harris responded and gradually reduced the engines, finally shutting them down. The ship slowly coasted to a stop.
Lee sat down at the table and typed Hello Sally Hello Dirk and clicked the translate button.
Hello Lee.
Are you okay? Lee asked.
Yes.
Did you find the metal bubble?