Due to the urgency involved in getting the project underway, it was decided that it would be carried out in a staggered approach. This meant that with the essentials addressed, Kathryn would then be onsite to continue the planning from their base on the ice. Thanks to some innovative inflatable building structures from Norway, they were able to bring a relatively permanent form of shelter with them. Made out of an expandable material that strengthened as it was exposed to oxygen, the small outbuildings would be fully insulated and capable of housing up to five people each. Best of all, they were heavy but still mobile, so as the drills moved, so could the camp.
The explosives were expected to be approximately a mile apart, just enough according to their computer simulations to create the vibration and stress needed on the inner shelf to effectively allow it to break itself off and relieve stress at the core. Finally, due to the energy required for the mobile drills, explosives and fuel would be delivered on an almost constant basis. And while her team would be measuring and assessing the surface for the drills, the best news Kathryn could give her team would be that they would sleep warmly at night. That fact alone made them smile.
It only took four hours to land and transfer their equipment to the waiting C130 planes. They were the best aircraft for transport to the ice shelf as they were more durable and had a much better strength and carrying capacity when factoring in the length required for a landing field. Kathryn had hoped her body had adjusted at least a little to the extreme cold, but the deep chill on board her C130 told her otherwise.
The planes finally landed and began unloading. The long sunlit nights allowed them to begin setting up immediately and within just a few hours, they had most of the inflatable houses up and operational. The inside temperatures were increasing and expected to reach a balmy sixty degrees Fahrenheit. The drill teams prepped their three mobile drillers and readied them for the next morning. They estimated that each mobile drill could create one two-hundred foot hole per day which meant that they were expecting a rate of progress of two or three miles a day for a total of 60 to 70 miles per month. Therefore their best case scenario would allow them to detonate in six to eight weeks.
Kathryn hoped they had enough time.
41
The swells were getting taller the further Alison got from land, and the morning sun was finally beginning to crest over the horizon. The straps that the guys installed were keeping the server relatively stable, but she kept her hand on the equipment when she could to help counter the rocking motion of the boat. The increasing swells and the sensitivity of the server kept her limited to a relatively slow speed, so after more than two hours she was not even half the distance to Bimini. Alison also realized that to transmit a clear signal, she had to stop and turn off the engine. This kept the engine noise from impairing the broadcast from the speakers, something she remembered from their trip on the Pathfinder. Unfortunately, every time she turned off the engine, the battery backup device would sound an audible alarm indicating that it had lost power from its source. She wished Lee would have remembered to disable that. The benefit though was that she had a digital display of exactly how much more time she had left before the battery went dead.
She throttled down again and let the boat coast to a stop. Most of the boat’s rolling motion disappeared, and she let go of the server to reach over and turn off the ignition. She turned on the monitor and typed the command again; Dirk Sally Stop Danger. A moment later, she heard the sound come out from the speakers under the boat. She waited patiently for a couple minutes and tried again. While she waited, she wondered how far the sound from those speakers could travel in the open ocean. She knew that sound traveled better underwater, but she had not thought to ask Lee what the distance was. It also occurred to her that she didn’t know exactly which direction Dirk and Sally might be coming from. They assumed it would be a similarly straight line from Miami, but if not then the range of those speakers were even more critical. The other unknown was when Dirk and Sally would be coming. John Clay indicated it was going to happen soon but the more she thought about the statement, the less sure she was. Did he mean soon as in now or soon as in a couple of weeks? In the end she didn’t know, she just had to go with her gut.
Alison was beginning to feel the exhaustion setting in. She sat down and reached for a couple more packs of Oreo cookies. The previous dose had perked her up, and she was hoping they would again as she tore the wrapper open. She slowly chewed the cookies and thought about how much less enjoyable junk food was when it was your only option.
Alison sent one last message before starting up the engine again. When the engine rumbled to life, the alert on the battery shut off and the system when back to charging. She eased the throttle forward again and verified her location on the GPS as the boat resumed her drive forward through the small waves.
After the third hour, she began stopping the boat more frequently and sending more broadcasts. Sitting on the seat waiting, she watched the server nervously as it rocked more from side to side under the influence of the swells rolling under the boat. She looked at the digital screen on the backup battery. She had three minutes of power left. At two minutes, she turned the engine back on and continued forward. Alison was getting increasingly nervous.
After each stop, Alison’s anxiety grew until she was well within sight of Bimini Island’s south cay. She did not know where this underwater city was, but she couldn’t be very far from it. It probably would not be long until she was right on top of it which meant she may not be able to reach Dirk and Sally until it was too late. Her heart began beating faster at the sudden prospect of now being too close to what was about to happen.
Alison quickly stood up and decided to head back away from the island. She turned the key to start the engine and listened to the battery alert, waiting to hear it go off. In a moment of confusion, she looked down at her hand thinking something did not seem right. The battery alert was still sounding, but she realized the key had already been turned. She was not sure what she did wrong, but she tried it again, twisting it back to its original position and then turning the key again. Again, nothing happened. She looked at the battery and the alarm was still ringing. The display on the battery read five minutes and forty-eight seconds, but what caused Alison to panic was that the display did not indicate that it was charging again.
She quickly examined the ignition area, thinking she hit something or flipped a switch accidentally turning something off. She could not find anything, every piece seemed firmly in place or downright immovable. She tried to start the engine again, this time a little more forcibly. All she heard was a mechanical “click” somewhere inside. She instantly felt a feeling of dread come over her and stop right in the middle of her stomach as though she was going to be sick. “Oh god,” she said, trying the key one more time. Still nothing.
“Oh god! Please, please start!” she moaned. She kicked the area beneath the steering wheel, very nearly breaking her foot. She was now in a full panic. She looked at the battery display which read five minutes and twenty one seconds left. Alison suddenly realized that if she could not start the engine this was all she had left on the server. She desperately hit the return key sending out another broadcast. The battery continued to count down. “No No NO!” she screamed. She checked the gas gauge and found the tank still a quarter full. She tried an interior light which showed the electrical was working.