Chapter One: Distress Call.

1 Chapter One: Distress call . "I'm certain that the Mark-IIb jetmarine can handle your laboratory specifications," Phyllis Newton was assuring her audience as they walked through the passageway. "One hundred ninety-eight feet in length .. eighteen point six feet in diameter .. average cruising speed of forty five knots on the surface and seventy two knots submerged." "We've been impressed with what we've seen during this demonstration trip," Dr. Ellis Binns replied. "There's really no reason to gild the lily. Howard and I are certain that all we have to do is apply slight modifications to our lab designs in order to outfit a ship like this for the University's purposes." Next to him Dr. Howard Coleman .. also of McGill University in Montreal .. nodded in agreement. "Then we can finalize the sale?

2 " Phyllis asked. "I'm certain we can," Dr. Binns said. "We just have a few additional questions which we were waiting until we arrived at this point to ask." "Then let's continue forward," Phyllis said, "and we'll talk." * * * * * * * Here the sky above was deep cobalt blue, punctuated by the lighter sapphire and turquoise of the more porous masses which allowed the ghost of sunlight to drift through. Below there was no ground to be seen; only the velvet deepening into darkness. Beautiful .. fascinating, but also holding the power to frighten. There was no good reason for anyone to be traveling here. It wasn't a world made for humans. But humans still came. "'I've drifted, silver-sailed, on seas of dream'," Sandra Swift softly murmured. "'Hearing afar the bells of Elfland chiming'." Making a small adjustment on the helm she once again felt grateful that Bingo had introduced her to the poetry of Robert Service.

3 Service had certainly never come as far north as they were now, but his words and his spirit seemed sufficient for the surroundings. According to the instruments, Carlopa Lady was currently cruising at forty knots some one hundred and twelve feet beneath the Arctic ice. A considerable distance from Service's beloved Yukon, but still an environment he might have resonated with. It had been seventeen hours since Carlopa Lady had slipped beneath the sea ice at Baffin Bay, and just over two days since departing from the seaport at Fearing Island. So far the trip had been peaceful, and hopefully would turn out to be profitable as well; two conditions which she certainly desired. Ahead of her the blue waters of the Arctic glimmered through the transparent nose of the jetmarine's observation deck, and Sandy quietly mulled over her next move.

4 The option of continuing west towards the Bering Sea had been discussed, but Sandy privately felt such an extension to the trip would hardly be necessary now. Phyllis seemed to be outdoing herself with her sales pitch. As if to punctuate the thought, Phyllis' voice was now becoming more and more evident from the corridor behind Sandy. ".. an opportunity here to fully demonstrate the sort of work your University could do with this vehicle. Not only with your laboratory proposals, but up forward on the bridge." Glancing over her shoulder, Sandy smiled at the brunette form of her best friend as she led the two scientists onto the bridge. Phyllis was a major part of the marketing and public relations hierarchy for Swift Enterprises, and she felt that a personal touch was an occasional aspect of the job.

5 Case in point. Giving Sandy a bright nod, Phyllis guided her audience past the helm and on forward to the observation deck. It amused Sandy to note that, as many times as the two men had gazed out from the nose during the sales trip, they always treated the view as if seeing it for the first time. "Incredible," Dr. Coleman murmured. "Now, in answer to your questions," Phyllis began, "I want to demonstrate how research work can be easily carried out here. "For instance: some people have made the comment that the jetmarine's signature transparent nose is just a meaningless frippery. Consider that, after descending several feet below water , any sort of ordinary window or porthole becomes useless because of darkness. A jetmarine is, of course, equipped with exterior lighting, but in some undersea work such lighting could create problems.

6 " Coleman, a research deep-sea ichthyologist and fisheries scientist, nodded in agreement. "Oh, definitely." "The transparent material of the jetmarine nose, however, is composed of a Swift Enterprises invention known as SmartGlas," Phyllis continued. "Allow me to demonstrate." Turning, she touched her fingertips to the SmartGlas. Immediately several icons glowed gently upon it. Touching one caused a selected square area of the nose to gradually brighten. Phyllis indicated it with a wave of her hand. "One of the features of SmartGlas is its built-in image intensification feature. Regardless of the depth we could adjust the entire viewing surface of the nose to where the surroundings would seem bright as day." Touching other icons caused additional images to flicker upon the inner surface of the nose.

7 "As you can see, anyone working here in the nose can pull up displays concerning water temperature, chemical composition .. accessing any sort of information pulled in by the jetmarine's sensors. Touch sensitive computer keyboards can also be brought up which can allow more detailed work." "This would certainly enable us to work in close proximity to the bridge," Dr. Binns pointed out. He then nodded in Sandy's direction. "But wouldn't that also get us in the way of whoever's driving the sub?" "Not in the least," Phyllis replied with a smile. "As you can see, Sandy's sitting behind what looks like an ordinary heads-up display. But, more than that, it's a pane of SmartGlas which can block out the image of whoever or whatever happens to be standing in its way. You've probably noticed how Sandy can turn the helm controls about on a pedestal.

8 If necessary she can `see' outside the jetmarine no matter where she looks simply by using the SmartGlas' interface with the jetmarine's sensors. They feed a real-time image of the surroundings to her conrols." From the helm Sandy beguiled the scientists with a sunny smile. The two men responded with matching expressions as Phyllis quietly watched over the entire scene. For all practical purposes, Binns and Coleman saw nothing more than a willowy blue-eyed girl in her twenties. They had no way of really knowing that Sandy's hair was currently short not because of fashion, but because it had only been less than two months since she had been released from intensive medical care. Sandy had, in fact, been undergoing almost a year's worth of detoxification and cellular regeneration treatments, trying to repair the radiation damage she had taken as a result of battling a rogue computer, and her usual long blonde hair had been an early casualty which she was gradually trying to recover from.

9 Better than most people, Phyllis knew that Sandy had been in dangerous spots before. And certainly the battle with the Solomon super-computer had been the most well-publicized of Sandy's recent exploits. But not too many knew how much Sandy had been hurt by the last adventure. Despite assurances that she was being restored to full health, things had been touch and go for a while. In fact, Sandy was still carrying medical nanobots inside both her bloodstream and bone marrow; the microscopic machines working diligently to remove the final traces of radiation poisoning. But, more than physical trauma, Phyllis had been finding herself becoming more concerned about other things. Solomon had failed in its attempt to kill Sandy's body .. but it had damn well succeeded in smashing her friend's spirit.

10 On the surface, Sandy was still vivacious, still seemed happy and content. Even more so now that she was out of the hospital and involving herself in things like the jetmarine trip beneath the Arctic. But there was something missing. A vital part of Sandy. A spark .. the intense curiosity and drive that had pushed her to extreme risks in locations as distant as the Moon, or piloting a Mach three vehicle across the Nevada desert. That spark had been missing for some time now. Phyllis silently reminded herself that Sandy had declared she was going to hang up "the hero hat" and assist in marketing for a while. And, in the beginning, it provided a sense of relief to have Sandy puttering about in comparatively safe surroundings. But, as the months went by, the situation was becoming more and more scary.