Distant Shores - Marco Palmieri [168]
“And then the sub just vanished?”
“So it would seem. Checking through the Falnari historical databanks, there are references to a number of similar incidents, vessels going off course or lost at sea in certain regions. Over time, the incidents diminished, becoming more folklore than fact. The last such occurrence was over a decade ago”
“Sounds like Earth’s Bermuda Triangle,” Paris said and at Torres’s look, he said, “Well, it does.”
Tuvok merely arched an eyebrow. “If memory serves, what was attributed to the supernatural was finally revealed to be variations in the Earth’s magnetic field coupled with unpredictable weather and water patterns, neither of which is relevant here, Lieutenant.”
“Well, I’ll tell you what’s relevant,” said Torres. “There’s been no distress signal, no communications, no nothing. And the Falnari expect us to swallow that they can’t just go look?”
“There is a great deal of ocean, Lieutenant.”
“Following a projected course would be a start. What about them saying they probably can’t get down to the sub even if they find it? For heaven’s sake, the Falnari tap thermal vents for power. Do you know how deep they have to go to do that?”
“As a matter of fact, I do not.” Then Tuvok’s eyes shifted to her. “Crewman Gilmore, perhaps you can enlighten us.”
“Uh,” was all Marla said. Her pulse skipped then ramped up. “Well,” she said then saw the disdain on Torres’s face-and that got Marla good and steamed. Fine; this ain’t my first rodeo, doll. She spoke directly to Tuvok. “On Earth, most smokers are located along plate boundaries, like the Galapagos Rift off the eastern Pacific basin. Those particular vents are about twenty-four hundred meters down, well above crush depth for most standard submersibles. But there have been some vents on Kronos measured at five thousand meters. If the Falnari’ve developed geothermal-based power grids, they’ve got to be able to make it down at least that far.”
“What did I say?” said Torres. “This just proves it.”
“No, it doesn’t,” said Marla, ignoring Torres’s scowl. “Trenches go a lot deeper. Plus, you said the water’s sensor-opaque. Do you know why?”
“We do not, though there is precedent,” said Seven. “When we encountered the Moneans, we were unaware of a field generator that maintained the containment field holding the Monean waterworld in place. In part, that was due to depth. The generator was six hundred kilometers deep. But density was also a factor. The Monean’s employed hydrolysis to create oxygen and hydrogen for fuel cells. As a consequence, the water’s density increased, creating a region that was sensor-opaque. The situation here appears similar.”
“How is that possible? With glacial melt and all those clouds, you’d presume the water to be pretty dilute.”
“One would presume,” said Seven. Her tone was so dry, Marla couldn’t decide if that was just very Seven, or if she’d missed something. Standing, Seven activated the briefing room’s viewscreen. An image of the planet’s single, massive ocean overlain with green whorls shimmered into focus. Seven pointed to a region where the whorls were densely-packed. “These are cells…”
“Cells?”
“I mean cells in the meteorological sense, as one might describe a storm. These are photodynamic cells of high salinity extending into deep trenches. The water is also very cold.”
Marla frowned. “That can’t be right. Salinity increases with temperature. It should decrease if the water’s cold.”
“Nevertheless,” said Seven, enunciating every syllable. “Furthermore, until a short time ago, these columns appeared stationary.”
Marla shook her head. “If the water’s in a column, there should be temperature gradations and internal circulation. Otherwise, it would just be… still. No kinetic energy at all, like being at absolute zero. With the surrounding water creating a temperature gradient, that’s not possible. Regions of higher temperature would flow into…” Then Seven’s qualification registered. “What did you mean a short time ago?”
“Two hours, to be precise,” said Seven. She called up another data set. Two close-ups of