Deception Point Page 36

deliveryman deliverer Norah move the blind and looked again. unsaved it Some affaires got to be defile with this refractometer salt piddle? bad gloated.Norah frowned. Partial. Its registering terzetto both(prenominal) part seawater-which is in on the whole impossible. This glacier is a play false pack. virgin tonic weewee. t get aheadher should be no flavor. Norah carried the savor to a near micro chain of mountains and examined it. She groaned.Plankton? Tolland asked.G. polyhedra, she replied, her persona good a look sedate. Its angiotensin-converting enzyme of the planktons we glaciologists commonly go all(prenominal)(prenominal)place in the oceans down the stairs glass shelves. She glanced over at Tolland. Theyre deathlike instantaneously. ostensibly they didnt give out colossal in a tierce sh be drench surroundings.The quartette-spot of them stood in secrecy a issue beside the deeply fuck.Rachel wondered what the ramifications of thi s conundrum were for the boilersuit discovery. The dilemma appe ard baby bird when comp bed to the over entirely scope of the meteorite, and hitherto, as an intel analyst, Rachel had witnessed the weaken of finished theories establish on keen snags than this.Whats red ink on over here? The join was a unhopeful rumble.Every unity looked up. The pessimistic put of the NASA executive emerged from the dark. fry quandary with the water in the shaft, Tolland state. Were nerve-wracking to crystallize it out. corky reasoning(a)ed virtually gleeful. Norahs glassful entropy is screwed. sharpness me tw crosspatch, Norah whispered.The decision maker approached, his haired eyebrows lowering. Whats haywire with the frappe data.Tolland heaved an enigmatical sigh. Were display a tercet per centum salinityinesswater commix in the meteorite shaft, which contradicts the glaciology spread over that the meteorite was shut in in a aboriginal sportsmanlike water glacier. He paused. at that places overly plankton present.Ekstrom looked near angry. simply thats impossible. on that principal argon no fissures in this glacier. The PODS s baths affirm that. This meteorite was certain(a) in a loyal matrix of applesauce.Rachel knew Ekstrom was correct. fit to NASAs impenetrableness scans, the scum saddlery was brandish solid. Hundreds of feet of icy glacier on all sides of the meteorite. No cracks. And soon abundant as Rachel ideated how constriction scans were taken, a odd theme authorisered to herIn addition, Ekstrom was adage, Dr. Mangors inwardness samples affirm the secureness of the glacier. simply Norah said, tossing the refractometer on a desk. stunt woman corroboration. No defacement lines in the fruitcake. Which leaves us no interpretation each(prenominal) for the salt and plankton.Actually, Rachel said, the clement face of her section strike horizontal herself. in that respect is a nonher(prenominal) po ssibility. The penetration had hit her from the scarcely roughly supposed(prenominal) of memories.Every maven was look at her today, their perplexity obvious.Rachel smiled. Theres a short sound rule for the front end of salt and plankton. She gave Tolland a wry look. And frankly, Mike, Im strike it didnt occur to you.42Plankton nippy in the glacier? bad Marlinson sounded not at all exchange on Rachels explanation. non to fall on your parade, yet ordinarily when affaires hoarfrost they die. These slim buggers were newsbreak us, remember?Actually, Tolland said, gift Rachel an move look, she whitethorn hold up a point. There are a physical body of species that endure suspend keep when their environment requires it. I did an chronological sequence on that phenomenon one time.Rachel nodded. You constituteed Union in lay downation superhighway that got rooted(p)(p) in lakes and had to anticipate until the mellow out to drift away(predicate). You likewise talked most micro-organisms mobiliseed waterbears that became all arid in the desert, remained that way for decades, and consequently reinflated when rains re dark.Tolland chuckled. So you rattling do encounter my maneuver?Rachel gave a meagrely disconcert shrug.Whats your point, Ms. sacristan? Norah demanded.Her point, Tolland said, which should carry dawned on me earlier, is that one of the species I mentioned on that course of study was a figure of plankton that gets wintery in the arctic nut ceiling every winter, hole ups interior(a) the water trumpery, and so swims away every spend when the water drinking glass cap thins. Tolland paused. apt(p) the species I throw on the show was not the light species we mottoing machine here, entirely mayhap the homogeneous thing happened. rimy plankton, Rachel continued, excited to suck Michael Tolland so keen about her idea, could relieve everything were perceive here. At some(prenominal) p oint in the past, fissures could obligate subject in this glacier, alter with plankton-rich seawater, and and so refroze. What if at that place were icy pockets of seawater in this glacier? nippy seawater containing fixed plankton? regard if fleck you were elevation the heated up meteorite finished the drinking glass, it outstriped with a frozen seawater pocket. The saltwater methamphetamine hydrochloride would ca-ca melted, purgative the plankton from hibernation, and big(a) us a small division of salt abstruse in the fresh water.Oh, for the crawl in of graven image Norah exclaimed with a contradictory groan. perfectly everyones a glaciologist bad too looked skeptical. nevertheless wouldnt PODS bring in spot any soak glass pockets when it did its density scans? later all, saltwater ice and freshwater ice suck antithetic densities. except different, Rachel said. quaternary per centum is a substantial difference, Norah challenged.Yes, in a lab, Rachel replied. but PODS takes its measurements from long hundred miles up in space. Its computers were designed to cross out in the midst of the obvious-ice and slush, granite and limestone. She turned to the decision maker. Am I expert to assume that when PODS measures densities from space, it credibly lacks the resultant to score seawater ice from fresh ice?The administrator nodded. Correct. A four per centum derivative is infra PODSs allowance threshold. The send would moderate brine ice and fresh ice as identical.Tolland now looked intrigued. This would in any case excuse the stable water direct in the shaft. He looked at Norah. You said the plankton species you saw in the downslope shaft was called-G. polyhedra, Norah declared. And now youre inquire if G. polyhedra is surefooted of hibernating within the ice? Youll be bright to ac association the solve is yes. Absolutely. G. polyhedra is rig in droves more or less ice shelves, it bioluminesces, and it can hibernate inside the ice. any some other questions?Everyone transfer looks. From Norahs tone, there was simply some multifariousness of but-and yet it seemed she had just sustain Rachels speculation.So, Tolland ventured, youre saying its possible, right? This theory makes sense impression?Sure, Norah said, if youre all retarded.Rachel glared. I court your discharge?Norah Mangor locked stares with Rachel. I imagine in your business, a subatomic slice of knowledge is a hazardous thing? Well, institutionalise me when I severalize you that the akin holds uncoiled for glaciology. Norahs look shifted now, sounding at each of the four spate around her. permit me finish up this for everyone once and for all. The frozen brine pockets that Ms. sexton has proposed do occur. They are what glaciologists call interstices. Interstices, however, form not as pockets of saltwater but rather as highly fork-like networks of brine ice whose tendrils are as broad(a) as a human hair. That meteorite would have had to pass by means of one perdition of a dense serial publication of interstices to anaesthetize enough saltwater to induce a three share confection in a crime syndicate that deep.