Phillips moved to the small, clear area before the projection screen that Gantt had placed in front of the lavatory door.
“Gentlemen,” he began, “we are pleased to welcome Mr. Isaacs and Dr. Danielson from the Central Intelligence Agency. They have an interesting problem to set before us. It’s not on our formal agenda, but I’ve promised Mr. Isaacs we’ll lend what insight we can. They’ll present us with some details and then lead a general discussion to explore the nature of the situation. Mr. Isaacs.”
“Thank you, Professor Phillips,” Isaacs began, looking around the room. “I want to thank you all for giving up your Saturday afternoon on such short notice. As you will see, we are dealing with a problem so foreign to our experience, that any hint of how to proceed will be most useful.”
Isaacs spent ten minutes giving a general but concise review of the surveillance role of the CIA and the parallel operation in AFTAC with particular stress on the capabilities of the Large Seismic Array and the undersea acoustic monitors. He also described the role of the Office of Scientific Intelligence in guiding and interpreting the surveillance missions. He then turned the floor over to Danielson.
Although nervous, Danielson had maintained her demeanor while watching the group file in. Butterflies struck in earnest, however, as she listened to Isaacs. She was intent on giving a professional presentation. She knew intellectually that she was well versed in her subject, but her emotional reaction was tainted by the knowledge that she, as a woman and an engineer, was about to stand up before an audience of male physicists considered the best in their fields.
As she stepped around next to the projector, she was vividly aware that the all male group was equally conscious of her sex. Her voice broke slightly as she began, and she spoke her first few introductory sentences at a low volume that scarcely carried over the faint traffic noise from the window.
“A little louder for those of us who are hard of hearing, please Dr. Danielson.”
The admonition came from Phillips, but it was delivered with a warm supportive smile. Danielson heartened and her tone strengthened. She turned on the first slide, which drew her attention away from the audience and to her subject matter. Soon she was caught up in the precise intricate web of analysis that, through her deep involvement, was an extension of her own personality.
Danielson’s reading of her small audience was largely accurate. Before she began to speak and establish some grounds for an intellectual bond, the instinctive response was to react to her as a female. Not a man in the room failed to run a glance from her softly curled hair down to trim ankles and back and say to himself, “not your standard CIA type” or variations on that theme. There was a communal embarrassment and the reinforcement of some prejudice as she began so softly, but by and large they were a sophisticated and open-minded group prepared to relate on an intellectual level. Once Danielson got involved in her subject, she commanded their attention, and a growing respect. When she reached her major point, that the seismic signal kept sidereal time, time with the stars, there was a muffled commotion of gestures and excitedly whispered comments that told Danielson that she had established the desired rapport with her audience.
When Danielson finished, Ellison Gantt spoke from his seat in the swivel chair at the desk.
“This is a very strange situation, but let me say for the information of my colleagues that Dr. Danielson seems to have a good command of the basics of seismology in general and the nature of the Large Seismic Array in particular. I’d like a chance to study the data she’s presented in more detail, but at first sight I have to concur that the signal’s a genuine one. I’ve never seen one like it. It’s certainly not the result of normal seismological activity.”
Danielson knew Gantt by reputation. She was pleased by his gesture of support.
Harvey Leems spoke up from his seat near the door. “Do you have other independent evidence of the existence of this phenomenon—something other than this seismological record, that is?”
“Yes, let me speak to that,” replied Isaacs. “The seismic data is crucial because it told us that something systematic was occurring and led us to look for corroborative evidence. That’s the other half of the story.”
He gave a quick smile and nodded at Danielson. As he rose, she took his chair that was more convenient than the sofa. The remnant state of intense nervous involvement with her own presentation persisted. Several minutes passed before she could concentrate adequately on Isaacs’ remarks. Isaacs outlined the associated sonar data and the behavior it portrayed. Whereas the seismic signal was lost in the mantle, the sonar signal proceeded along the extrapolated path to the ocean surface, disappeared for about forty seconds and then retraced its path to the ocean bottom where the seismic signal was picked up once more.
“On the basis of such data,” Isaacs continued, “about three weeks ago a Navy destroyer was sent to investigate a site of the predicted surfacings. At its first station it recorded and relayed a signal typical of the one I just described. It then took up position near a second predicted point of surfacing.”
Isaacs paused and looked around at his audience. “Our data is incomplete, but at approximately the predicted time of surfacing, the ship exploded, capsized and sank. Two hundred thirty-six of the crew were lost.”
Most of the men to whom he spoke stared down at their hands or off to various spots in the room. Only Leems and Runyan kept their eyes on Isaacs.
“There’s some evidence that the turbines exploded. There’s no proof that the sinking of the ship was related to its mission, but the circumstantial evidence and other events suggest to me that that possibility must be strongly considered.
“We have seen in hindsight that a related event probably occurred to the Soviet aircraft carrier Novorossiisk last April. It was in the Mediterranean on the trajectory Dr. Danielson described and at the right time, as nearly as we can tell. Something punctured a small hole through it vertically a few millimeters to a centimeter across and triggered extensive fire damage. There was an associated sonar signal. We suggested a meteorite, but the Soviets rejected the idea; we’re not sure why. In any case, that event began an escalating and very dangerous conflict with the Soviets. We needn’t go into that here, but to say that the Soviets mistakenly blamed us for the damage to the carrier. Besides direct physical damage, ignorance of the true nature of this phenomenon threatens us with other indirectly related, but very real perils.”
Isaacs paused and scanned around the group.
“It’s imperative that we understand this phenomenon for its intrinsic menace, and to contain this related confrontation with the Soviets.”
He looked at them again, satisfied he had made the point.
“To summarize the picture we currently have, then,” said Isaacs, “some influence moves along a line fixed in space. It travels through the Earth or the ocean where its passage can be detected with seismographs or sonar, respectively. It seems to reverse just above the Earth’s surface and then return on a parallel path. There is evidence that this influence is responsible for puncturing a hole several millimeters across through solid steel. And there is every reason to think that it is something that is an immediate threat to life and property and, indirectly, to our political stability.”