“I appreciate the attempt to soften anything you have to report, but we are precariously short of time, gentlemen,” Compton said as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“Yes, of course. It seems Mr. Everett may have far more trouble than originally thought, if that’s possible,” Morales said. “Europa, report number 45454, please.”
On the second largest of the newly installed monitors a map showed the current status of Antarctica. Europa then focused more specifically on the southern region of the frozen continent.
“Ross Island, its current state. Home of Mount Erebus, an active volcano.”
“Yes, it’s been active continuously throughout recorded history,” Niles said.
“Yes, it has, but very active since 1972. The problem here is”—he looked away momentarily—“Europa, next slide please.” The picture changed to show Ross Island without the ice covering. All eyes saw immediately that Mount Erebus had been joined by three other volcanoes.
“Four volcanoes in the same area?” Mendenhall asked from his chair next to Jason Ryan.
“Yes, and through deep ice core drilling and back-scanner ice intrusions we are more than sure these four volcanoes were extremely active during the time frame we may be looking at. So much so that three of the volcanoes, Mounts Terror, Bird, and Terra Nova, vented so heavily they became extinct. Mount Erebus is the only one to survive and live on.”
“What are you saying, Doctor?” Niles asked, becoming increasingly angry at his head of the geology department for not reporting this herself. Yes, he was angry with Sarah just as much as Collins.
“Europa estimates that all four volcanoes were in eruption in the same time frame as Mr. Everett’s disappearance.”
“How does this affect the survival possibilities for a man?” Jack asked.
“Not very good,” Morales said, and they could all see he was a patient and knowing teacher who answered in a way that the simplest mind could understand. The Event Group would have to be patient with the new man. “Europa does not agree with the proposed speculation of other noted geologists. She believes this eruption of four volcanoes simultaneously brought on a massive ice age the world over. The world as we know was mostly a barren landscape of ice and snow. What Mount Erebus did was deliver the coup de gras to not only the more exposed northern land masses, but effectively killed the entire continent of Antarctica. This killer eruption was the death sentence for the continent and its overabundance of animal life, which conservative estimates place at ten thousand times the amount of life in Africa at its height.”
“Jesus,” Jenks said, whistling.
“The air will become poisonous and the world will turn freezing if it hadn’t already by the time of Admiral Everett’s arrival there. We just don’t have enough information to go on.”
“So, if Carl survived the exit through the wormhole, and also the reentry of the escape pod, his chances of surviving the animal life and the eruption of these four monstrous volcanoes are not very good.”
Morales nodded sadly into the television monitor at Compton. “Europa estimates the odds of survival at”—Morales changed tack when he saw the expectant and knowing faces around the table—“well, you said it yourself, Director Compton: not very good.”
The room was quiet enough that most could hear Alice Hamilton as she tapped her notes on her electronic pad.
“Colonel,” Niles said, trying to get the room back to some form of activity to keep them from thinking about the possible horrible fate of their friend, “how are you and Colonel Farbeaux coming with your team?”
“They’re assembling now,” he said with his eyes carefully avoiding Jason and Will, who exchanged concerned looks. Was the colonel really considering leaving the two men behind on this one?
“Master Chief, are the components ready for the portable doorway?” Compton asked, knowing Collins had some explaining to do to his security department over the choices for the doorway mission team.
“Two complete sets. I have to admit that Slim’s, er, uh, I mean, Dr. Pollock… her division has been pretty damned impressive as far as reverse-engineering that damn time machine. Of course, it was my newly acquired engineering staff that pieced the portable doorway together in record time. But that is not my concern.” The master chief pulled the unlit cigar from his mouth and looked at the director. “I’ll say this, though, if anything happens to our only portable power unit, we’ve all had it. We’d end up dining with the cavemen if that power generator is lost”—he looked over at the monitor and Dr. Morales—“and I guess choking on volcano farts also.”
“Well-worded, Master Chief,” Morales said with a smile.
“That cannot be helped. The only other portable power generator is owned by the Russians and I don’t think they have a current superpower loan department,” Compton said, losing patience with the same arguments from the master chief.
Jenks was about to say something when he saw Collins lightly shake his head, telling Jenks that he had said enough for the time being.
“Niles,” came the voice, and the image of Virginia appeared on the monitor next to Morales. “We’re as ready as we’ll ever be for the power-up and test. Europa has reworked the old programming and brought it into this century. We are now completely digital. Power source is hooked up and the Los Angeles is capable of giving us one hundred and fifteen percent of her reactor power.”
“Very good.”
Niles stood with difficulty and then placed his hand on Jack’s shoulder and with a final look at Mendenhall and Ryan, nodded his good luck.
“Let’s adjourn and see if we have a mission or not, shall we?”
As the group filed out to witness history, again, Jack waited on Will and Jason as he gathered his notes.
“No,” was all he said when they approached him. He finally looked up and into the angry faces. “The team has been set and you two are sitting this one out.”
“Look, we—”
“Sitting it out,” Collins said with a stern look at Ryan.
“No disrespect, Colonel, but we have a right to go,” Will said.
Jack placed his case down and then fixed the men with the look that said, “The order has been given, and that’s that.”
“If no disrespect is intended, why are you doing it? You have your orders, both of you. You will secure the building and the grounds. If that’s too much then I’ll assign Sergeant Rodriguez to the job and then send you two back to Nellis.”
“Sir,” Mendenhall said when he saw Ryan was too angry to say anything.
“Look, the odds are not that good for a return trip on this one. You two are not essential to the team and will therefore stay behind. We’ll only be risking personnel that we feel can be lost without it devastating the Group.”
“And just who in the hell would that be?” Ryan asked not too politely.
“Dismissed, gentlemen.”
“Jack—” Ryan said, but stopped when Collins turned back to face them.
“We’ve already lost too much. You two are far more than just men in my department, you’re my friends, and Carl would never allow that friendship to be placed in jeopardy to get him home. This is my job and yours, gentlemen, is to make sure everything you have learned from the both of us is carried on at Group. We’ve come too damn far to lose what we’ve learned over our years together. I’m sorry. And, Jason, you were right the other day, you did exactly as I would have done in Mexico.”
They watched Collins walk from the room, leaving them standing and looking like schoolboys who had just received corporal punishment.
The same question came to each man simultaneously. Just who did the colonel think was expendable?