'Fine,' Ekstrom said, sounding unimpressed. 'So you're aware of the newest addition to the EOS constellation? It's called PODS.'
Rachel nodded. The Polar Orbiting Density Scanner (PODS) was designed to help measure the effects of global warming. 'As I understand it, PODS measures the thickness and hardness of the polar ice cap?'
'In effect, yes. It uses spectral band technology to take composite density scans of large regions and find softness anomalies in the ice-slush spots, internal melting, large fissures-indicators of global warming.'
Rachel was familiar with composite density scanning. It was like a subterranean ultrasound. NRO satellites had used similar technology to search for subsurface density variants in Eastern Europe and locate mass burial sites, which confirmed for the President that ethnic cleansing was indeed going on.
'Two weeks ago,' Ekstrom said, 'PODS passed over this ice shelf and spotted a density anomaly that looked nothing like anything we'd expected to see. Two hundred feet beneath the surface, perfectly embedded in a matrix of solid ice, PODS saw what looked like an amorphous globule about ten feet in diameter.'
'A water pocket?' Rachel asked.
'No. Not liquid. Strangely, this anomaly was harder than the ice surrounding it.'
Rachel paused. 'So… it's a boulder or something?'
Ekstrom nodded. 'Essentially.'
Rachel waited for the punch line. It never came. I'm here because NASA found a big rock in the ice?
'Not until PODS calculated the density of this rock did we get excited. We immediately flew a team up here to analyze it. As it turns out, the rock in the ice beneath us is significantly more dense than any type of rock found here on Ellesmere Island. More dense, in fact, than any type of rock found within a four-hundred-mile radius.'
Rachel gazed down at the ice beneath her feet, picturing the huge rock down there somewhere. 'You're saying someone moved it here?'
Ekstrom looked vaguely amused. 'The stone weighs more than eight tons. It is embedded under two hundred feet of solid ice, meaning it has been there untouched for over three hundred years.'
Rachel felt tired as she followed the administrator into the mouth of a long, narrow corridor, passing between two armed NASA workers who stood guard. Rachel glanced at Ekstrom. 'I assume there's a logical explanation for the stone's presence here… and for all this secrecy?'
'There most certainly is,' Ekstrom said, deadpan. 'The rock PODS found is a meteorite.'
Rachel stopped dead in the passageway and stared at the administrator. 'A meteorite?' A surge of disappointment washed over her. A meteorite seemed utterly anti-climactic after the President's big buildup. This discovery will single-handedly justify all of NASA's past expenditures and blunders? What was Herney thinking? Meteorites were admittedly one of the rarest rocks on earth, but NASA discovered meteorites all the time.
'This meteorite is one of the largest ever found,' Ekstrom said, standing rigid before her. 'We believe it is a fragment of a larger meteorite documented to have hit the Arctic Ocean in the seventeen hundreds. Most likely, this rock was thrown as ejecta from that ocean impact, landed on the Milne Glacier, and was slowly buried by snow over the past three hundred years.'
Rachel scowled. This discovery changed nothing. She felt a growing suspicion that she was witnessing an overblown publicity stunt by a desperate NASA and White House-two struggling entities attempting to elevate a propitious find to the level of earth-shattering NASA victory.
'You don't look too impressed,' Ekstrom said.
'I guess I was just expecting something… else.'
Ekstrom's eyes narrowed. 'A meteorite of this size is a very rare find, Ms. Sexton. There are only a few larger in the world.'
'I realize-'
'But the size of the meteorite is not what excites us.'
Rachel glanced up.
'If you would permit me to finish,' Ekstrom said, 'you will learn that this meteorite displays some rather astonishing characteristics never before seen in any meteorite. Large or small.' He motioned down the passageway. 'Now, if you would follow me, I'll introduce you to someone more qualified than I am to discuss this find.'
Rachel was confused. 'Someone more qualified than the administrator of NASA?'
Ekstrom's Nordic eyes locked in on hers. 'More qualified, Ms. Sexton, insofar as he is a civilian. I had assumed because you are a professional data analyst that you would prefer to get your data from an unbiased source.'
Touche. Rachel backed off.
She followed the administrator down the narrow corridor, where they dead-ended at a heavy, black drapery. Beyond the drape, Rachel could hear the reverberant murmur of a crowd of voices rumbling on the other side, echoing as if in a giant open space.
Without a word, the administrator reached up and pulled aside the curtain. Rachel was blinded by a dazzling brightness. Hesitant, she stepped forward, squinting into the glistening space. As her eyes adjusted, she gazed out at the massive room before her and drew an awestruck breath.
'My God,' she whispered. What is this place?
20
The CNN production facility outside of Washington, D.C., is one of 212 studios worldwide that link via satellite to the global headquarters of Turner Broadcasting System in Atlanta.
It was 1:45 P.M. when Senator Sedgewick Sexton's limousine pulled into the parking lot. Sexton was feeling smug as he got out and strode toward the entrance. He and Gabrielle were greeted inside by a pot-bellied CNN producer who wore an effusive smile.
'Senator Sexton,' the producer said. 'Welcome. Great news. We just found out who the White House sent as a sparring partner for you.' The producer gave a foreboding grin. 'I hope you brought your game face.' He motioned through the production glass out into the studio.
Sexton looked through the glass and almost fell over. Staring back at him, through the smoky haze of her cigarette, was the ugliest face in politics.
'Marjorie Tench?' Gabrielle blurted. 'What the hell is she doing here?'
Sexton had no idea, but whatever the reason, her presence here was fantastic news-a clear sign that the President was in desperation mode. Why else would he send his senior adviser to the front lines? President Zach Herney was rolling out the big guns, and Sexton welcomed the opportunity.
The bigger the foe, the harder they fall.
The senator had no doubt that Tench would be a sly opponent, but gazing now at the woman, Sexton could not help but think that the President had made a serious error in judgment. Marjorie Tench was hideous looking. At the moment, she sat slouched in her chair, smoking a cigarette, her right arm moving in languid rhythm back and forth to her thin lips like a giant praying mantis feeding.
Jesus, Sexton thought, if there was ever a face that should stick to radio.
The few times Sedgewick Sexton had seen the White House senior adviser's jaundiced mug in a magazine, he could not believe he was looking at one of the most powerful faces in Washington.
'I don't like this,' Gabrielle whispered.
Sexton barely heard her. The more he considered the opportunity, the more he liked it. Even more fortuitous than Tench's media-unfriendly face was Tench's reputation on one key issue: Marjorie Tench was extremely vocal that America's leadership role in the future could only be secured through technological superiority. She was an avid supporter of high-tech government R D programs, and, most important-NASA. Many believed it was Tench's behind-the-scenes pressure that kept the President positioned so staunchly behind the failing space agency.
Sexton wondered if perhaps the President was now punishing Tench for all the bad advice about supporting NASA. Is he throwing his senior adviser to the wolves?
Gabrielle Ashe gazed through the glass at Marjorie Tench and felt a growing uneasiness. This woman was
