Deception Point Page 61

The put up looked alike(p) a walk-in closet whose ceiling, walls, and floor had been completely cover with foam spires jutting inward from all directions. It reminded Rachel of a cramped semiaquatic cave where stalagmites had run wild, growing off every surface. Most unsettling, however, was the homely lack of a floor.The floor was a taut, meshed chicken-wire grid arrange horizontally across the room like a fishing net, expectant the inhabitants the feeling that they were suspended midway up the wall. The mesh was rubberized and stiff at a lower place the feet. As Rachel gazed d stimulate through the webbed flooring, she entangle like she was pass a string bridge suspended over a surreal fractalized landscape. Three feet below, a forest of foam needles backsheeshed ominously upward.Instantly upon unveiling Rachel had sensed the disorientating lifelessness to the air, as if every bit of energy had been sucked out. Her ears felt as if theyd been stuffed with cotton. Only he r breath was audible at bottom her head. She listed out, and the effect was that of harangue into a pillow. The walls absorbed every reverberation, making the only perceivable vibrations those inside her head.Now the captain had departed, closing the padded door behind him. Rachel, Corky, and Tolland were sit in the center of the room at a small U-shaped fudge that stood on long metal stilts that descended through the mesh. On the table were stick on several gooseneck microph nonp atomic number 18ils, headphones, and a video console with a fish-eye camera on top. It looked like a mini-United Nations symposium.As someone who worked in the U.S. in recogniseigence community-the worlds first manufacturers of hard laser microphones, underwater parabolic eavesdroppers, and other hypersensitive listen devices-Rachel was well aware there were few places on earth where one could present a truly secure conversation. The dead room was on the face of it one of those places. The mics a nd headphones on the table enabled a face-to-face conference call in which people could speak freely, knowing the vibrations of their words could not carry the room. Their voices, upon entering the microphones, would be heavily encrypted for their long journey through the atmosphere. train check. The voice materialized suddenly inside their headphones, causing Rachel, Tolland, and Corky to jump. Do you contract me, Ms. sacristan?Rachel leaned into the microphone. Yes. Thank you. Whoever you are.I have Director Pickering on the controversy for you. Hes accepting AV. I am signing off now. You will have your data stream momentarily.Rachel heard the line go dead. There was a distant whirr of static and then a rapid series of beeps and clicks in the headphones. With startling clarity, the video screen in front of them sprang to life, and Rachel power saw Director Pickering in the NRO conference room. He was alone. His head snapped up and he looked into Rachels eyes.She felt oddly re lieved to see him.Ms. Sexton, he said, his expression vex and troubled. What in the world is going on?The meteorite, sir, Rachel said. I think we may have a serious problem.71Inside the Charlottes dead room, Rachel Sexton introduced Michael Tolland and Corky Marlinson to Pickering. Then she took charge and launched into a quick account of the days flimsy chain of events.The NRO director sat motionless as he listened.Rachel told him somewhat the bioluminescent plankton in the extraction pit, their journey onto the ice shelf and baring of an insertion shaft under the meteorite, and finally of their sudden attack by a military team she suspected was Special Ops.William Pickering was known for his efficacy to listen to disturbing information without so much as flinching an eye, and to date his gaze grew more and more troubled with each progression in Rachels tier. She sensed disbelief and then rage when she talked about Norah Mangors murder and their own near-death escape. Alth ough Rachel wanted to voice her suspicions of the NASA administrators involvement, she knew Pickering well enough not to point fingers without evidence. She gave Pickering the story as cold hard facts. When she was finished, Pickering did not respond for several seconds.Ms. Sexton, he finally said, all of you He moved his gaze to each of them. If what youre locution is true, and I cannot imagine why three of you would lie about this, you are all very lucky to be alive.They all nodded in silence. The chairwoman had called in four civilian scientists and two of them were now dead.Pickering heaved a profane sigh, as if he had no idea what to say next. The events clearly make little sense. Is there any way, Pickering asked, that this insertion shaft youre seeing in that GPR printout is a natural phenomenon?Rachel shook her head. Its too perfect. She unfolded the soggy GPR printout and held it up in front of the camera. Flawless.Pickering studied the image, scowling in agreement. Dont let that out of your hands.I called Marjorie tench to warn her to stop the President, Rachel said. But she shut me down.I know. She told me.Rachel looked up, stunned. Marjorie Tench called you? That was fast.Just now. Shes very concerned. She feels you are attempting some kind of stunt to depress the President and NASA. Perhaps to help your father.Rachel stood up. She waved the GPR printout and motioned to her two companions. We were al closely killed Does this look like some kind of stunt? And why would I-Pickering held up his hands. Easy. What Ms. Tench failed to tell me was that there were three of you.Rachel could not recall if Tench had even abandoned her time to mention Corky and Tolland.Nor did she tell me you had physical evidence, Pickering said. I was quizzical of her claims before I spoke to you, and now I am confident(p) she is mistaken. I do not doubt your claims. The question at this point is what it all means.There was a long silence.William Pickering rarely looke d confused, but he shook his head, seeming lost. Lets assume for the moment that someone did insert this meteorite beneath the ice. That begs the obvious issue of why. If NASA has a meteorite with fossils in it, why would they, or anyone else for that matter, precaution where it is found?It appears, Rachel said, that the insertion was performed such that PODS would make the breakthrough, and the meteorite would appear to be a fragment from a known impact.The Jungersol Fall, Corky prompted.But of what value is the meteorites linkup with a known impact? Pickering demanded, sounding almost mad. Arent these fossils an astounding discovery anywhere and anytime? No matter what meteoritic event they are associated with? all told three nodded.Pickering hesitated, looking displeased. Unless of course Rachel saw the wheels turning behind the directors eyes. He had found the simplest explanation for placing the meteorite concurrent with the Jungersol strata, but the simplest explanation was also the most troubling.Unless, Pickering continued, the careful placement was intended to lend credibility to totally trumped-up(prenominal) data. He sighed, turning to Corky. Dr. Marlinson, what is the possibility that this meteorite is a counterfeit.Counterfeit, sir?Yes. A fictive. Manufactured.A fake meteorite? Corky gave an awkward laugh. Utterly impossible That meteorite was examined by professionals. Myself included. Chemical scans, spectrograph, rubidium-strontium dating. It is opposed any kind of rock ever seen on earth. The meteorite is authentic. Any astrogeologist would agree.