“Technically it’s not really an island then, is it?” Sam said.
“No. Technically it’s a floating island. It’s made up of porous volcanic rock called pumice and lava tunnels. We found it buried inside an ice wall within the Arctic Circle. Originally, that’s where Cassidy’s scientists worked. One year, when the ice melted and it broke away, most likely as a result of one of Cassidy’s experiments, we discovered it floated quite well. With the entire infrastructure needed already inside the island, a decision was made to keep it as an island for research and development.”
“Broke away, where?”
Margaret smiled. “You see, we worked out that the island naturally floated being made of porous rock. Then we could flood the lava tunnels in order to sink the island if its location ever became known. You see some of the research happening on the island was the world’s best. Governments from all nations, friendly and enemy, would kill to get access to the sort of information it was turning out.”
“Could it move?”
“Not on its own. But a series of ships could theoretically tow it, but it would be slow. About ten years ago one of our nuclear submarines disappeared whilst in dry dock for maintenance. We believe Mr. Cassidy was behind that.”
“Someone stole one of our nuclear subs and no one reported it missing?”
“It was intentionally documented as a mechanical fault leading to decommissioning.”
“Why did he want a submarine?” Sam asked.
“Because underneath the island was a large cavern with air inside. The submarine could surface there and move people and equipment inside the island without anyone noticing from above.”
“Okay, so we’ve been searching for this island for how many years now?”
“Since 1983.”
“So why haven’t we found it?”
“One of the many projects being performed on the island was a device that creates a fake cloud overhead.”
“They create rainclouds?”
“No. They send out a signal that even the best of our satellites picks up and interprets as impenetrable cloud cover. The shape is often different and unless you knew the island was below you would never see it. Despite the simple fact that the sky above was clear.”
“So why not search for a cloud the size and shape of the island?”
“Because the island is comparatively quite small.”
“How small?”
“Five square miles. Think of the equivalent of a few modern aircraft carriers lined up together to make one giant raft. From the surface it looks like a beautiful island, but underneath it’s a monstrous submarine. It’s incapable of driving itself, but can be slowly towed by surface vessels.”
“I have a theory… and you’re not going to like it. What if Robert looked at his beautiful island and decided he just wanted to live by himself?”
“He was never by himself. He had a small population of scientists living aboard. Nearly a thousand people in total.”
“You mean, at the height of the cold war, when people were frightened of what was to become of them, we built Robert Cassidy his own private paradise?”
“Yes.”
“How does he even feed that number of people?”
“If they’re still alive, he’s been bringing food in from somewhere. Which is why I think he stole one of our submarines — so he could use it to bring in food and supplies without being detected.”
“Is it much larger below the waterline?”
“Yes. Like an iceberg — it’s the areas you can’t see that are often larger, and submerged. Cassidy’s not stupid. The clouds that he creates change and at times are ten times the size of the island, whereas at other times they don’t even cover the island.”
“When that happens can’t you pick it up by making an exact match on images taken on satellite passes?”
“No. The island itself keeps changing. The topside where you can see it is often covered in ice, but it doesn’t have to be. There are large heating and cooling systems designed to cover the entire island within minutes.”
“The blizzard that nearly killed me when I was searching for the Pegasus on Ellsworth Land — it was caused by the island, wasn’t it?”
“Exactly.”
“Now it makes sense!” Sam felt the fog of confusion lift.
“What does?”
“When I boarded the Antarctic Solace, Alexis was certain the blizzard had only raged for fifty five minutes, while Tom and I were certain it had carried on for nearly three days.”
“Go on,” she said.
“The cooling systems were facing us. That’s why the storm didn’t show up on any synoptic charts. It was a truly localized storm, because it was artificially created on the island.”
“That would make sense.”
“Then when the island moved, the direction of the blizzard changed momentarily and headed towards the Antarctic Solace — making it appear to only rage for fifty five minutes.”
“Before the island opened its doors and flooded the lava tunnels, causing it to sink and disappear — which means the island is still nearby.”
Sam shook his head in disbelief. “All right, tell me exactly, what was Cassidy’s Project?”
Chapter Fifty-Nine
“The Project came about as a secondary discovery during our initial tests involving high altitude nuclear explosions above the Pacific during an operation code-named Starfish Prime.”
Sam tensed his jaw. “If I recall the story, Electro Magnetic Pulses were wreaking havoc from New Zealand in the southern hemisphere to Hawaii in the north in response to those tests — which disrupted electrical fuses and damaged communication systems for thousands of miles.”
“That’s right. Of course such a concept had tremendous potential. If we could strike the Soviet Union with an EMP capable of taking out their communication system, we could then eradicate them with a first strike nuclear attack without any fear of repercussions.”
“There’s a great thought,” Sam said.
“Hey, you weren’t around during the height of the Cold War. The Russians were trying similar experiments on their side of the planet. Mark my words, it was a race run on many platforms. If they’d won it, we wouldn’t still be here today.”
“So why didn’t someone succeed?”
“The problem was the EMP didn’t last long enough. Ultimately, we gave up on the project when we discovered it would never block the Soviet’s communications long enough. That’s where Robert Cassidy came in.”
“Go on, what did he discover?” Sam persisted.
“After determining that a nuclear blast created an EMP, Cassidy discovered that he could create a radio wave on the back of the nuclear event that remained in the atmosphere for years. It could then be used to block communications and electronic signals.” She looked tense. “It had something to do with disrupting the Van Allen Belt or creating a secondary radiation wave inside it.”
“If a standard EMP disrupted electronics for five or so minutes, how long could one of these radio waves theoretically disrupt electronic signals?” Sam asked.
The Secretary of Defense grinned. “Indefinitely — modest projections showed the possibility of blocking the area above the Soviet Bloc for over a hundred years.”