Christopher Cartwright
Habitat Zero
Prologue
The extravagant pleasure cruiser tore through the light blue waters surrounding the constellation of tiny islands and atolls that made up Micronesia as though it were a racecar. The ship had a length of two hundred and eighty feet, two helipads, a swimming pool with a retractable roof, and a sand-covered hydraulic platform that slid out of its port side right at the water line to create a perfect oasis. Not only did the floating oasis boast real sand and deck chairs, but also palm trees for a truly authentic experience. Inside, the ship was embellished with gold trimmings. It was the sort of overt and ostentatious show of wealth one would expect to see in a new class of new money — the mega rich of Silicon Valley.
She was owned by Travis Macintyre, whose digital startup was recently bought out by one of the bigger players for a sweet 1.2 billion dollars. Like the ship’s name, Carpe Diem, the owner had seized the day with his unimaginable good fortune, bought the ship and filled it with every extravagant toy a kid could dream of, including a three person submarine, a small armada of jet skis, two helicopters and a seaplane.
Alicia Yeager stretched out along the front deck of the pleasure cruiser. She knew that she was just one of those expensive toys. She could have fooled herself into believing that Travis had fallen in love with her and one day the two of them would get married and have beautiful children. She had the looks and the guile to possibly even make it happen. But Travis wasn’t the type of man she wanted to marry. He was still a kid and billionaires, she’d discovered, made the worst kind of kids.
No, she didn’t want to marry Travis.
Oh, Travis adored her, all right. And why wouldn’t he? She was twenty-five years old and had deep blue eyes and light brown hair. She had smooth, tanned skin and the sort of face that somehow formed the shape of a heart when she smiled. Just shy of six foot, she had small breasts, with a slim and athletic figure. She wore a tasteful, but scant bikini that accentuated her long legs. She smiled mischievously. Right now, he would give her anything she wanted, but she knew that when he got bored with her, she would be discarded like the rest of his used toys.
It didn’t bother her. Travis was like no guy she’d ever met or was likely to meet again. It was like living in a dream, where she could go anywhere she wanted or do anything that took her fancy based on a whim. He was good looking, and good in bed, too. So why should it bother her that she knew it wouldn’t last forever? Nothing lasts forever anyway, right?
The fine vibrations of the ship’s powerful engines eased as they came to an idle. She felt the ship slow, and sat up. Ahead of them was an island covered entirely in white sand. She smiled, revealing a set of evenly spaced teeth like a model.
What’s taken his fancy today?
She stood up, slid into a light see-through kaftan and made her way up to the bridge. Travis stood there studying the navigation table with James, the skipper. Travis was so engrossed by whatever he was studying that he didn’t even notice her walk in.
After waiting for a moment to be noticed, she said, “What is it Travis? Where have you taken me today?”
Travis grinned. “I have no idea.”
Alicia’s eyes swept the small white island in front of her. She matched his smile. It was coquettish, calculatedly alluring. “No idea…where?”
“That’s just it. I don’t know.”
“It looks nice,” she said.
“Sure it does. But it doesn’t belong here.”
She shrugged. “What do you mean, it doesn’t belong here? Islands don’t just move, do they?’
“Not usually.”
“But this one does?” she asked.
Travis opened a large admiralty map out onto the desk in front of her. With a pencil he made a marking of their current latitude and longitude on the map with an asterisk. “We’re here. What do you see, Alicia?”
She studied the map. Despite her somewhat ditsy and playful persona, she was highly intelligent. Travis never would have fallen for her if she wasn’t. He was rich enough to have a dozen beautiful strippers, but he wanted more than that. She could see clearly where they were, but there was a real difference between what she saw on the map and what was out the front of the bridge. In fact, it showed the Carpe Diem in the deep waters south of Guam, more than a hundred miles from any island. She glanced at the latitude and longitude displayed on the GPS and then noted the depth sounder — it read 1000 feet and had a plus symbol in front of it, which meant the real depth was greater than that amount — possibly much greater.
Alicia looked up at Travis, a genuine smile filled with curiosity spread along her face. “Where have you taken me, Travis?”
Travis studied the white island using binoculars. It was roughly the size of a football field and appeared flat, not more than a few feet high all over, with the exception of the middle section which was about ten feet. The island’s shore was rolling in and out with each ripple of the gentle waves. He adjusted the focus on the binoculars and then smiled again. The shore wasn’t just being swept by the waves; it was being gently lifted, too.
“What the hell is that?” He handed the binoculars to James. “Have you ever seen anything like this?”
James adjusted the binoculars, but remained silent.
Alicia asked, “When did you spot it?”
“About five minutes ago.”
“You didn’t see it earlier than that?”
“No.”
“What about the radar?”
“It didn’t spot it, either.”
Alicia said, “What did it do, just turn up?”
“Yeah, something like that,” Travis said. “It just popped up, and a new island was born.”
She turned to James, “Well. What do you think it is?”
James smiled, and shook his head in disbelief. “It’s not an island.”
“Really?” Travis said. “It’s much too big to be anything else. What do you think it is then?”
“Pumice!” James said.
Travis stared at the island in a new light. He could see it clearly now that his mind had gotten past its preconception. It was a sea of white volcanic stone and it wasn’t an island. It was floating. “Let’s bring her in closer for a look.”
“You can’t be serious?” James said.
Travis pushed the twin throttles forward and the pleasure cruiser eased forward. “Of course I am, why not?”
“It’s probably not safe!” James and Alicia replied in unison.
“Of course it is. What’s it going to do to us?”
Alicia shrugged. “What if the thing breaks apart?”
“It’s not high enough to damage the Carpe Diem.”
Alicia looked at James. “You want to tell him that he’s acting like a fool?”
James shrugged. It wasn’t his ship, and the man knew better than to contradict the owner and real master of the vessel.
“It’s all right, Alicia.” Travis eased the throttle back a little and glanced at the depth sounder. There was still more than a thousand feet beneath the hull. “I’ll just take her in a little closer so we can get a better look. That’s all.”
“All right,” Alicia said. She wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed the back of his neck with her soft lips. “Be careful, please.”
“I will.”
James idled the Carpe Diem in close to the shore until the portside of the pleasure cruiser rested against the floating pumice island. He pushed the throttles backward until the vessel slowed to a complete stop.
Alicia asked, “Now what?”
Travis smiled. “Now we go exploring.”