Deception Point Page 30

The chair shook his head. Im triskaidekaphobic I didnt make myself clear. Youll be doing the brief from where you are via video conference.Oh. Rachel he mock upated. What time did you create in mind?Actually, Herney said, grinning. How round skillful instanter? every(prenominal) unity is already assembled, and theyre staring at a big dumbbell television receiver set. Theyre waiting for you.Rachels body tensed. Sir, Im totally unprepared. I cant possibly-Just declare them the truth. How hard is that?But-Rachel, the professorship said, leaning toward the silver screen. Remember, you compile and relay entropy for a living. Its what you do. Just talk more or less whats going on up there. He reached up to flick a thumb on his video transmission gear, precisely paused. And I think youll be blithesome to find Ive set you up in a position of power.Rachel didnt understand what he meant, wide-cutly it was too late to ask. The President threw the switch.The screen in face of Rachel went blank for a moment. When it refreshed, Rachel was staring at atomic number 53 of the virtually unnerving images she had ever retardn. at present in front of her was the black-and-blue shack ellipse Office. It was packed. Standing room only. The perfect White House staff appeared to be there. And every one of them was staring at her. Rachel now realized her view was from atop the Presidents desk.Speaking from a position of power. Rachel was hidrosis already.From the looks on the faces of the White House staffers, they were as surprised to match Rachel as she was to see them.Ms. sacristan? a raspy vocalise called out.Rachel searched the sea of faces and implant who had spoken. It was a lanky woman retributory now fetching a seat in the front row. Marjorie tench. The womans distinctive appearance was unmistakable, even in a crowd.Thank you for joining us, Ms. Sexton, Marjorie Tench said, sounding smug. The President tells us you throw some news?33Enjoying th e darkness, paleontologist Wailee Ming sat alone in low-keyed reflectance at his private invent area. His senses were alive with anticipation for tonights event. Soon I will be the most celebrated paleontologist in the world. He hoped Michael Tolland had been bountiful and featured Mings comments in the documentary.As Ming savored his impend fame, a faint shaking shuddered by means of the ice to a lower place his feet, causing him to recoil up. His earthquake instinct from living in Los Angeles made him hypersensitive to even the faintest palpitations of the ground. At the moment, though, Ming entangle foolish to realize the vibration was perfectly normal. Its just ice calving, he reminded himself, exhaling. He still hadnt gotten used to it. Every few hours, a distant burst rumbled through the night as somewhere along the glacial frontier a huge block of ice change off and fell into the sea. Norah Mangor had a prudish bearing of putting it. New icebergs macrocosm bo rnOn his feet now, Ming stretched his arms. He looked crossways the habisphere, and off in the distance beneath the blaze of television spotlights, he could see a celebration was exciteting underway. Ming was non much for parties and headed in the opposite focalization crossways the habisphere.The labyrinth of deserted last areas now felt like a ghost town, the entire dome winning on an almost sepulchral feel. A chill seemed to have settled inside, and Ming tied up his long, camel-hair coat.Up ahead he saw the extraction shaft-the point from which the most magnificent fossils in all of merciful history had been taken. The giant metal tripod had now been stowed and the kitty sat alone, surrounded by pylons like some kind of shunned chuckhole on a vast lay lot of ice. Ming wandered over to the pit, standing a safe distance sand, peering into the two-hundred-foot- kabbalistic pool of rimed water. Soon it would refreeze, erasing all traces that anyone had ever been here.The pool of water was a beautiful sight, Ming thought. sluice in the dark.Especially in the dark.Ming hesitated at the thought. Then it registered.Theres something wrong.As Ming focused more than closely on the water, he felt his previous contentedness give way to a sudden whirlwind of confusion. He blinked his eyes, stared again, and consequently quickly turned his gaze across the dome fifty yards away toward the lot of people celebrating in the press area. He knew they could not see him way over here in the dark.I should tell someone most this, shouldnt I?Ming looked again at the water, wondering what he would tell them. Was he seeing an optical deceit? rough kind of strange reflection?Uncertain, Ming stepped beyond the pylons and squatted down at the abut of the pit. The water level was four feet on a lower floor the ice level, and he leaned down to get a better look. Yes, something was definitely strange. It was unrealizable to miss, and tho it had not become discernibl e until the lights in the dome had gone out.Ming stood up. psyche definitely need to hear about this. He started off at a hurried pace toward the press area. complemental only a few steps, Ming slammed on the brakes. Good God He spun back toward the hole, his eyes going wide with realization. It had just dawned on him.Impossible he blurted aloud.And yet Ming knew that was the only explanation. Think, carefully, he cautioned. There must(prenominal) be a more tenable rationale. But the harder Ming thought, the more convinced he was of what he was seeing. There is no other explanation He could not conceptualise that NASA and Corky Marlinson had somehow missed something this incredible, but Ming wasnt complaining.This is Wailee Mings discovery nowTrembling with excitement, Ming ran to a nearby work area and found a beaker. All he needed was a little water sample. nil was going to believe this34As intelligence liaison to the White House, Rachel Sexton was saying, trying to keep h er voice from shaking as she addressed the crowd on the screen to begin with her, my duties include locomotion to political hot spots approximately the globe, analyzing volatile situations, and reporting to the President and White House staff.A bead of excrete formed just below her hairline and Rachel dabbed it away, wordlessly cursing the President for dropping this brief into her lap with zero warning.Never beforehand have my travels taken me to quite this foreign a spot. Rachel motioned stiffly to the cramped jab around her. Believe it or not, I am addressing you right now from in a higher place the caoutchouc Circle on a sheet of ice that is over terce hundred feet thick.Rachel sensed a get anticipation in the faces on the screen before her. They obviously knew they had been packed into the Oval Office for a reason, but sure as shooting none of them imagined it would have anything to do with a development supra the Arctic Circle.The endeavour was beading again. Get i t together, Rachel. This is what you do. I sit before you tonight with great honor, pride, and above all, excitement.Blank looks.Screw it, she thought, angrily wiping the childbed away. I didnt sign up for this. Rachel knew what her pay off would say if she were here now When in doubt, just spit it out The doddery Yankee proverb embodied one of her moms basic beliefs-that all challenges can be overcome by speaking the truth, no matter how it comes out.Taking a deep breath, Rachel sat up tall and looked cracking into the camera. Sorry, folks, if youre wondering how I could be hidrosis my butt off above the Arctic Circle Im a little nervous.The faces before her seemed to jolt back a moment. Some uneasy laughter.In addition, Rachel said, your boss gave me about ten seconds warning before recounting me I would be facing his entire staff. This baptism by fire is not barely what I had in mind for my counterbalance visit to the Oval Office.