We happy for you back.
Alison looked over her shoulder and smiled at Lightfoot floating next to her. “So are we.”
You come for plants.
“Not this time.” Alison reached down and retrieved a small device from a pocket on her BCD. It was the device Borger brought.
They knew what they were dealing with now. The plants were the same, which suggested the cause had to be the same. Just like at Acarai, something was in the water. Now they just needed to find the source.
The device in her hand came on automatically and glowed with a soft blue light. On the mountain, it had measured the concentration levels of a very special compound, which ultimately led them to the secret vault. Now they were trying to find the second source: the ship.
Alison twisted around, studying the display. She kicked forward, traveling twenty yards, but there was no change. She turned and swam further still, but could not see anything different. Then it hit her.
In the jungle, it was easier. There was a flow of water, and it was one directional.
“What’s wrong?” Lightfoot asked.
“It’s not working.”
“Why not?”
“Because what this is looking for isn’t in front of us, or behind us. It’s everywhere.”
Alison began to call up to Lee, but stopped when she spotted Dirk and Sally, floating patiently in place.
No plants.
“No. Not the plants this time.”
Come Alison. Come now. We show.
Both dolphins thrust their tails and moved past her and Lightfoot, who both turned and followed. Together they descended back into the darkness and watched as the green glow eventually reappeared below them. The effect was both eerie and breathtaking.
The dolphins continued downward, pausing to allow Alison and Lightfoot to catch up.
Hold us.
Alison glanced curiously at Lightfoot before wrapping her hand around Sally’s dorsal fin. Then he did the same to Dirk. The dolphins continued, diving deeper into the expanse of dense vegetation.
When they reached a small drop-off, the dolphins dropped with it, skimming over the tops of enormous sea plants, all shining brightly under their headlamps. They suddenly ducked beneath long waving tendrils, and saw a dark yet thriving dip in the coral. Leading the way, Dirk slowed and approached the area carefully. Yet when he reached the wall of plants, Dirk didn’t stop. Instead he continued forward smoothly, passed through the vegetation, and disappeared inside. Alison barely had time to blink before Sally did the same.
Both human passengers watched incredulously as the underwater growth extended through a small passageway — through coral tight enough that it caused them to bump repeatedly against the sides.
Gigantic green plants billowed before them, brushing their masks and rolling past harmlessly.
Still holding tightly onto Sally, Alison remembered her device, brought it up to her face, and then gasped. The concentrations were off the chart! It was from here that the nourishing compounds were emanating.
The dolphins reached the other side of the passage and emerged into something much larger.
With her mouth open, Alison let go of Sally and slowed. Just several feet ahead, Lightfoot instinctively did the same upon seeing what lay before them.
Neither moved for a long time. Instead they remained, floating still in the water. It was a cavern. And it looked as though the coral had grown over it, sealing the cavity off from above. The area was approximately fifty yards across with thick columns of coral twisting and extending below in places, providing a natural support system.
And as small as the cavern was in width, it extended much deeper below them, covered in even thicker vegetation.
But it was what the vegetation had attached itself to that left Alison and Lightfoot completely speechless.
Enveloped within a vast green glow was something metal. Manufactured. With powerful looking gray walls and a smooth surface, the structure extended less than a hundred feet before it was completely consumed by the vines and tendrils of plant life around it.
Along one side, and partially obscured, were strange markings. Reminiscent of what Alison had seen in the mountains of Guyana.
Lightfoot pushed himself forward, mesmerized. He closed in, studying the wall of metal. “It looks perfect, without a mark on it.” He reached forward and gingerly touched a finger to the object. A green glow rippled out in a small circle, then disappeared.
Lightfoot turned and looked back at Alison, hovering just behind him. He then pressed his entire hand against it to see a larger circle ripple out, before fading again.
Alison peered down through the water. The ship’s hull descended further than she could see. She reached out and brushed her hand across the surface of the wall, watching as a green trail briefly followed her glove.
Sally and Dirk floated next to them, barely moving their fins.
This you look Alison.
Alison blinked behind her mask and smiled. “Yes. This is what we were looking for.” She continued staring in awe. It was unlike anything she had ever seen.
Borger was right.
Two hours later, Langford picked up his ringing cell phone and answered it.
“Langford.”
On the other end, Wil Borger stared at the phone in the middle of the small table. Sitting in the room with him were Captain Emerson, Neely, and lastly, Alison, sporting wet but neatly brushed hair.
“Admiral, it’s Borger. I’m here with Captain Emerson, Alison, and Neely Lawton.”
“Good morning. I hope you’re calling with good news.”
“You could say that.” He turned to Neely and nodded.
“Admiral, this is Commander Lawton.” She leaned forward, toward the phone. “I’ve confirmed that the samples we’ve recovered here on the sea floor contain the same genetic properties as the plants from Guyana.”
“You’re sure?”
“There are still a few more tests to run when we return, but yes, sir. I’m sure.”
“Thank you, Commander. That is good news.”
Borger frowned slightly. The admiral’s tone sounded more somber than he was expecting. Even for him.
“Is everything all right, sir?”
“Everything is fine,” he replied. “Captain Emerson, under the circumstances, I’d like you to hold your position and await further instructions.”
“Aye, Admiral.”
Borger cleared his voice. “Uh, Admiral. We also have something else to tell you.”
“Go ahead.”
Borger glanced around the table at the others.
“Sir, for this… I think you’re going to want to sit down.”
93
The morning sun was barely climbing into the sky as a gray Crown Victoria was waved through the airport’s southern gate. It sped past the row of nondescript aircraft hangars, heading directly for the Gulfstream sitting on a private tarmac.
Upon reaching the plane, the car slowed and came to a stop, where one of the rear doors was immediately opened. Secretary of Defense Miller stepped out in full uniform, closing the door behind him. He walked to the metal staircase and climbed briskly to the top, stepping inside the cabin.
Admiral Langford and CIA Director Hayes were already seated inside, waiting. Each sitting on opposite sides of the aisle.
Miller grinned at the obvious tension between the two and sat down, just seconds before the heavy door was closed behind him.
After remaining an independent and self-governing province for nearly four hundred years, the Republic and Canton of Geneva rejoined the Swiss Confederacy in 1815, establishing itself as Switzerland’s westernmost region. Surrounded by the lush green hills of France on nearly all sides, the French-speaking canton remained the most metropolitan and wealthiest in the region. And was home to some of the most powerful multinational corporations in the world.