CHAPTER 37
The next morning, Penny returned to the small media lab. Emory had just told her that Chiffrey wanted to meet there, and she assumed that meant with Andrew and her father as well, but when she arrived, she found Chiffrey on his own.
“I spoke with your father and the Captain already,” he said. “We had a little meeting in the Captain’s cabin late last night. Hope you don’t mind.”
She did mind but didn’t say anything.
He went on. “Apparently, they have some tricky things to work out with the people at the Point, a conference call. The board of directors is not completely happy with your father’s part in the turn of events. We’re letting it go through, of course.”
“Kind of you.”
“I have important news, so let’s not waste time.” Chiffrey edged his way a little closer. “They began bottom scanning the Honey Pot area again and the circle checks out. Indications of the arc you found are still there, only in a slightly different location.” He handed her a printout with a composite of all the data from the old and new charts. It was much smaller than the originals, but the resolution was finer and the whole area could be seen in one view.
“Clear as glass, now,” he said. “Confirms it absolutely for me.”
“You said, a ‘different location.’ What does that mean?”
“The circle expanded a mite.”
“And how much is ‘a mite,’ exactly?”
“Not much. Twenty meters is what I was told, so the diameter is still about the twenty-three kilometers you calculated before. A fluctuation, maybe. Good as any explanation for now, and fits in nicely with the idea of some kind of induced field.”
“There aren’t as many new arcs here as I had hoped.”
“No, but two-thirds of a circle is plenty enough to make this actionable. The pattern holds up, that’s the point. The ability to predict is a fundamental aspect of moving a premise to theory, and later to fact, right?”
“Sorry, I was stifling a yawn. Hard to hear.”
“Well, it’s true, and a damn sight better than sitting around playing guessing games.”
“When are they going to sweep the rest of the area?”
He looked like he was internally debating whether to refrain from a rejoinder. Finally, he let out a small sigh.
“They’re not. All their gear got fried.”
“What!”
“Yes, and the ship went dead in the water. Sound familiar? It drifted out of the circle finally and, what do you guess, most everything came back online. Speculation it was something like an EMP effect, a pulse that overloaded everything, but it doesn’t really fit that profile because an EMP would have caused permanent damage and this didn’t. Everyone’s okay, by the way. Don’t lose any sleep over that.”
“Sniping season was declared over, remember? Where was the ship when this happened?”
“Dead center—if you’ll excuse the pun.”
“Why were they in the middle? I assumed they would prioritize on following the arc. The center would obviously be the most risky area.”
“Well, that may be more clear now, but it wasn’t then.”
“It was to me.”
“I am not calling all the shots. It was decided to be worth the risk.”
“And the responsibility nicely passed on.”
“Something about ‘sniping season’ being over, a while back?” The smile that always hovered around Chiffrey’s face slipped away. “I can assure you that I am being held responsible for everything I do. Lots of eyes on me now. Some waiting for me to screw this up so they can move in and take over. You can cheer them on if you like, but you’ll miss me when I’m gone. And the first thing they’ll do then is send you home under escort.”
He seemed uncharacteristically unguarded. “So,” she said, “they’re putting the squeeze on you.”
“On all of us. Every minute that goes by, there is more attention being drawn to this show. More at stake now, and those in power have a sixth sense for both opportunities and threats. We are all on stage, and this one is only for players. Trust me.”
“We agreed to work with you,” Penny said. “We didn’t agree to trust you. What else?”
“The scanning ship had an ROV down in the center of the circle. That’s a Remotely Operated Vehicle.”
“I know that!” Penny said loudly. “You’re on a research ship, damn it. We’ve got at least two on board. You should have waited until we got there. I thought that was decided.”
“Not specifically, and people up the line went over my head. I’m sorry. There wasn’t any way to stop them. But listen. They captured only a few minutes of imagery, but I can tell you they definitely saw something down there! ‘Bigger than an aircraft carrier,’ they said. ‘Looked natural, but unnatural.’ Direct quotes from the crew operating the ROV. And, oh yeah, the thing was magenta. Purple!”
Chiffrey looked at her and smiled, but there was a grimness she hadn’t seen before. “This is it,” he said. “Looks to me like we finally have the source.”
“They will wait for us before they do anything else, right?”
“Absolutely. Considering what happened, they’re now mostly convinced that the Valentina is their best shot. Related to that, your dad and the Captain are on the horn with your administrators back at Port Angeles to smooth the way for the Valentina taking the lead in investigating the circle. The board of directors has some misgivings about the plan to off-load some of the crew and resupply at sea.”
“Not surprising. This does seems rushed, if not a little panicked.”
“You’re getting your wish, aren’t you? And I do think the Valentina has an excellent chance of operating there without the problems the Navy has had. We were untouched when the whales disappeared, at least the ship still functioned. They were circling us for a reason. It might be the transceiver. Or maybe we’re just in their good graces somehow.”
He glanced at her in a strange way, almost smirking. It suddenly struck her why, and she didn’t like the why. Chiffrey had made the connection to the transceiver that Andrew predicted he would, but he had gone further.
“If you’re thinking Matthew is some kind of lucky rabbit’s foot,” Penny said, “I wouldn’t count on it.”
“I’m far from certain, but going back to the Eva Shay, he certainly has the longest history with this and seems to have a connection of some kind. And where he is, things happen.”
“That’s why you’ve been so accommodating and helpful. You think Matthew, along with the Valentina, is the key, and when you have the only key, you don’t want to lose it.”
“What’s the beef?” Chiffrey said. “You wanted a piece of the action, and I just scored you season passes.”
He looked at the scans again and traced the circle with his finger. “If we work together, we may be able to sort this out on our terms, which just might mean avoiding any unfortunate repercussions. We have a responsibility, and everything I have heard from you all since I got here tells me this is exactly what you most want.”
“But not with you waiting in the wings to swoop in anytime and hijack whatever we discover.”
“I’d suggest just dealing with what is, but listen, what if it turns out to be a threat of some kind? I’m sure you will agree it would be good to have some backup.”
Penny shook her head. “You’re jumping your guns yourself, as usual. This could easily still be a natural phenomenon with no malice behind it at all.”
“I don’t know where you get ‘easily’ out of this. But I hope you’re right about ‘no malice,’ because if there is any, we just might be the ones outgunned.”