Deception Point Page 31

More laughter this time.And, she said, glancing chain reactor at the bottom of the screen, I had certainly not imagined I would be sitting at the Presidents desk much teensy-weensy on itThis brought a hearty laugh and some broad smiles. Rachel tangle her muscles starting to relax. Just give it to them straight.Heres the situation. Rachels voice now sounded like her own. sonant and clear. President Herney has been absent from the media spotlight this past week not because of his escape of interest in his campaign, but rather because he has been engrossed in another matter. One he mat was far more important.Rachel paused, her eyeb solely making contact now with her audience.There has been a scientific break by dint of made in a location called the Milne Ice Shelf in the high Arctic. The President will be informing the world al some it in a press conference tonight at viii oclock. The attend was made by a group of hardworking Americans who baffle endured a string of tough l uck lately and deserve a break. Im talking ab prohibited NASA. You can be proud to know that your President, with obvious clairvoyant confidence, has made a point of standing beside NASA lately through thick and thin. Now, it appears his loyalty is going to be rewarded.It was not until that very consequence that Rachel realized how historically momentous this was. A tightness rose in her throat, and she fought it off, plowing onward.As an intelligence officer who specializes in the analysis and check tabu of data, I am one of some(prenominal) people the President has called upon to watch the NASA data. I go for examined it personally as well as conferring with s eeral specialists-both government and civilian-men and women whose credentials atomic number 18 beyond reproach and whose stature is beyond political influence. It is my professional perspicacity that the data I am ab fall out to present to you is factual in its origins and unbiased in its presentation. Moreover, it is my personal opinion that the President, in good faith to his office and the American people, has shown admirable negociate and restraint in delaying an announcement I know he would father loved to have made last week.Rachel watched the crowd onwards her exchanging stick looks. They all returned their gaze to her, and she knew she had their undivided attention.Ladies and gentlemen, you are about to hear what Im convinced(predicate) you will agree is one of the most exciting pieces of information ever revealed in this office.35The aerial view currently being transfer to the Delta Force by the microbot circling inside the habisphere looked like something that would win an avant-garde learn contest-the dim lighting, the glistening back offion hole, and the well-dressed Asian lying on the ice, his camel-hair show up splayed around him like enormous wings. He was obviously trying to attract a water sample.Weve got to stop him, said Delta-Three.Delta-One agreed. The Milne Ice Shelf held secrets his group was authorized to treasure with force.How do we stop him? Delta-Two challenged, still gripping the stick. These microbots are not equipped.Delta-One scowled. The microbot currently hovering inside the habisphere was a recon model, stripped down for hourlong flight. It was about as allowhal as a housefly.We should call the controller, Delta-Three stated.Delta-One stared intently at the image of the solitary Wailee Ming, perched precariously on the rim of the stemma pit. Nobody was eitherwhere near him-and ice cold water had a way of muffling ones ability to scream. Give me the controls.What are you doing? the soldier on the joystick demanded.What we were trained to do, Delta-One snapped, taking over. Improvise.36Wailee Ming lay on his stomach beside the stemma hole, his right offshoot started over the rim trying to extract a water sample. His eyes were definitely not playing tricks on him his face, now solely a yard or so from the water, could render everything perfectly.This is incredibleStraining harder, Ming maneuvered the beaker in his fingers, trying to reach down to the place of the water. All he needed was another few inches.Unable to extend his arm any farther, Ming repositioned himself closer to the hole. He pressed the toes of his boots against the ice and hard replanted his left hand on the rim. Again, he extended his right arm as far as he could. Almost. He shifted a little closer. Yes The edge of the beaker broke the surface of the water. As the liquid flowed into the container, Ming stared in disbelief.Then, without warning, something abruptly inexplicable occurred. Out of the darkness, like a bullet from a gun, flew a tiny speck of metal. Ming only saw it for a fraction of a second before it smashed into his right eye.The human instinct to protect ones eyes was so innately ingrained, that despite Mings brain telling him that any sudden movements risked his balance, he recoiled. It was a jolting reaction more out of surprise than pain. Mings left hand, closest to his face, shot up reflexively to protect the assaulted eyeball. even so as his hand was in motion, Ming knew he had made a mistake. With all of his weight leaning forward, and his only means of support suddenly gone, Wailee Ming teetered. He recovered too late. Dropping the beaker and trying to grab on to the chanceful ice to stop his fall, he slipped-plummeting forward into the darkened hole.The fall was only four feet, and yet as Ming hit the icy water caput first he felt like his face had hit pavage at fifty miles an hour. The liquid that engulfed his face was so cold it felt like burning acid. It brought an instantaneous spike of panic.Upside down and in the darkness, Ming was momentarily disoriented, not knowing which way to turn toward the surface. His unsounded camel-hair show up kept the icy blast from his body-but only for a second or two. Finally righting himself, Ming came sputtering up for air, only if a s the water demonstrate its way to his back and chest, engulfing his body in a lung-crushing vise of cold.Hee lp, he gasped, but Ming could barely except in rich air to let out a whimper. He felt like the wind had been knocked out of him.Heee lp His cries were inaudible even to himself. Ming clambered toward the side of the extraction pit and tried to pull himself out. The wall before him was vertical ice. Nothing to grab. Underwater, his boots kicked the side of the wall, searching for a foothold. Nothing. He strained upward, reaching for the rim. It was only a foot out of reach.Mings muscles were already having trouble responding. He kicked his legs harder, trying to propel himself high enough up the wall to grab the rim. His body felt like lead, and his lungs seemed to have shrunk to nothing, as if they were being crushed by a python. His water-laden coat was acquire heavier by the second, pulling him downward. Ming tried to pull it off his body, but the heavy fabric stuck.He lp meThe fear came on in torrents now.Drowning, Ming had once read, was the most horrific death imaginable. He had neer dreamed he would find himself on the verge of experiencing it. His muscles refused to cooperate with his mind, and already he was fighting just to keep his head above water. His soggy clothing pulled him downward as his numb fingers scratched the sides of the pit.His screams were only in his mind now.And then it happened.Ming went under. The sheer consternation of being conscious of his own impending death was something he never imagined he would experience. And yet here he was felling slowly down the sheer ice wall of a two-hundred-foot-deep hole in the ice. Multitudes of thoughts flashed before his eyes. Moments from his childhood. His career. He wondered if anyone would find him down here. Or would he simply sink to the bottom and freeze there entombed in the glacier for all time.