Deep Storm (2 page)

Lindengood glanced at him. Hicks, the on-duty process engineer, was a perfect example. Hicks had a first-generation iPod on which he had stored nothing but Beethovens thirty-two piano sonatas. He played them constantly, day and night, on shift and off, over and over and over. And he hummed them while he listened. Lindengood had heard them all, and had in fact memorized them all as had just about everybody on Storm King through Hickss breathy humming.

It was not a tutelage likely to foster music appreciation.

Pig in position over number three, Hicks said. He adjusted his earbuds and resumed humming the Waldstein sonata.

Lower away, said Wherry.

Roger. And Lindengood turned back to his terminal.

There were just the three of them in the Drilling Control Center. In fact, the entire massive rig was like a ghost city this morning. The pumps were silent; the riggers, drillers, and derrick men were lounging in their quarters, watching satellite TV in the crews mess, or playing Ping-Pong or pinball. It was the last day of the month, and that meant everything had to come to a complete stop while electromagnetic pigs were sent down to clean the drilling pipes.

All ten drilling pipes.

Ten minutes passed, then twenty. Hickss humming changed in tempo, acquired a kind of nasal urgency: clearly, the Waldstein sonata had ended and the Hammerklavier had begun.

As he watched his screen, Lindengood did a mental calculation. It was over ten thousand feet to the ocean floor. Another thousand or more to the oil field itself. One hundred and ten thousand feet of pipe to clean. And as production engineer, it was his job to run the pig up and down again and again, under the watchful eye of the rig boss.

Life was wonderful.

As if on cue, Wherry spoke up. Pig status?

Eight thousand seven hundred feet and descending. Once the pig got to the bottom of pipe three the deepest of the bores into the ocean bed it would pause, then begin crawling upward again, as the slow, tedious process of cleaning and inspecting began.

Lindengood shot a glance at Wherry. The offshore installation manager was validation of his certain-kind-of-man theory. The guy must have been beat up one too many times on the school playground, because he had a serious authority problem. Usually, chiefs were low-key, laid-back. They realized life on the platform was no fun, and they did what they could to make it easier on the men. But Wherry was a regular Captain Bligh: never satisfied with anybodys work, barking orders at the line workers and junior engineers, writing people up at the least opportunity. The only thing missing was a swagger stick and a

Suddenly, Hickss console began beeping. As Lindengood looked on uninterestedly, Hicks leaned forward, scanning the readings.

Weve got a problem with the pig, he said, plucking out his earbuds and frowning. Its tripped out.

What? Wherry walked over to examine the monitoring screen. High pressure discharge?

No. The feedbacks all garbled, never seen anything like it.

Reset, said Wherry.

You got it. Hicks made a few adjustments on his console. There it goes. Tripped out again.

Again? Already? Shit. Wherry turned abruptly to Lindengood. Cut power to the electromagnet and do a system inventory.

Lindengood complied with a heavy sigh. There were still seven pipes to go, and if the pig was acting screwy already, Wherry was going to have a fit

Lindengood froze. That cant be. Its impossible.

Without taking his eyes from the screen, he reached over and plucked Wherrys sleeve. John.

What is it?

Look at the sensors.

The manager stepped over, glanced at the sensor readout. What the hell? Didnt I just tell you to turn off the electromagnet?

I did. Its off.

What?

Look for yourself, Lindengood said. His mouth had gone dry, and a funny feeling was growing in the pit of his stomach.

The manager peered more closely at the controls. Then whats making those

Suddenly, he stopped. Then, very slowly, he straightened, face going pale in the blue wash of the cold-cathode display. Oh, my God

TWENTY MONTHS LATER

Chapter 1

It looked, Peter Crane thought, like a stork: a huge white stork, rising out of the ocean on ridiculously delicate legs. But as the helicopter drew closer and the outline sharpened against the sea horizon, this resemblance gradually fell away. The legs grew sturdier, became tubular pylons of steel and pre-stressed concrete. The central body became a multilevel superstructure, studded with flare stacks and turbines, festooned with spars and girders. And the thin, necklike object above resolved into a complex crane-and-derrick assembly, rising several hundred feet above the superstructure.

The pilot pointed at the approaching platform, held up two fingers. Crane nodded.

It was a brilliant, cloudless day, and Crane squinted against the bright ocean stretching away on all sides. He felt tired and disoriented by travel: commercial flight from Miami to New York, private Gulfstream G150 charter to Reykjavik, and now helicopter. But the weariness hadnt blunted his deep and growing curiosity.

It wasnt so much that Amalgamated Shale was interested in his particular expertise: that he understood. It was the hurry with which theyd wanted him to drop everything and rush out to the Storm King platform that surprised him. Then there was the fact that AmShales forward headquarters in Iceland had, rather oddly, been bustling with technicians and engineers rather than the usual drillers and roughnecks.

And then there was the other thing. The helicopter pilot wasnt an AmShale employee. He wore a Navy uniform and a sidearm.

As the chopper banked sharply around the side of the platform, heading for the landing zone, Crane realized for the first time just how large the oil rig was. The jacket structure alone had to be eight stories high. Its upper deck was covered with a bewildering maze of modular units. Here and there, men in yellow safety uniforms checked couplings and worked pump equipment, dwarfed by the machinery that surrounded them. Far below, the ocean frothed around the pillars of the substructure, where it vanished beneath the surface to run the thousands of feet to the sea floor itself.

The chopper slowed, turned, and settled down within the green hexagon of the landing zone. As Crane reached back for his bags, he noticed someone was standing at the edge, waiting: a tall, thin woman in an oilskin jacket. He thanked the pilot, opened the passenger door, and stepped out into bracing air, instinctively ducking under the whirring blades.

The woman held out her hand at his approach. Dr. Crane?

Crane shook the hand. Yes.

This way, please. The woman led the way off the landing platform, down a short set of stairs, and along a metal catwalk to a closed, submarine-style hatch. She did not give her name.

A uniformed seaman stood guard outside the hatch, rifle at his side. He nodded as they approached, opened the hatch, then closed and secured it behind them.

Beyond lay a brightly lit corridor, studded along both sides with open doors. There was no frantic hum of turbines, no deep throbbing of drilling equipment. The smell of oil, though detectable, was faint, almost as if efforts had been made to remove it.

Crane followed the woman, bags slung over his shoulder, glancing curiously into the rooms as he passed. There were laboratories full of whiteboards and workstations; computer centers; communications suites. Topside had been quiet, but there was plenty of activity here.

Crane decided hed venture some questions. Are the divers in a hyperbaric chamber? Can I see them now?

This way, please, the woman repeated.

They turned a corner, descended a staircase, and entered another hallway, wider and longer than the first. The rooms they passed were larger: machine shops, storage bays for high-tech equipment Crane didnt recognize. He frowned. Although Storm King resembled an oil rig in all outward appearances, it was clearly no longer in the business of pumping crude.

What the hell is going on here?

Have any vascular specialists or pulmonologists been flown in from Iceland? he asked.

The woman didnt answer, and Crane shrugged. Hed come this far he could stand to wait another couple of minutes.

The woman stopped before a closed gray metal door. Mr. Lassiter is waiting for you.

Lassiter? That wasnt a name he recognized. The person whod spoken to him over the phone, briefed him about the problem at the rig, had been named Simon. He glanced at the door. There was the nameplate, white letters on black plastic, spelling out E. LASSITER, EX-TERNAL LIAISON.

Crane turned back to the woman in the oilskin jacket, but she was already moving back down the corridor. He shifted his bags, knocked on the door.

Enter, came the crisp voice from within.

Lassiter was a tall, thin man with closely cropped blond hair. He stood up as Crane entered, came around his desk, shook hands. He wasnt wearing a military uniform, but with his haircut and his brisk, economical movements he might as well have been. The office was small and just as efficient looking as its tenant. The desk was almost studiously bare: there was a single manila envelope on it, sealed, and a digital recorder.

You can stow your gear there, Lassiter said, indicating a far corner. Please sit down.

Thanks. Crane took the proffered seat. Im eager to learn just what the emergency is. My escort here didnt have much to say on the subject.

Actually, neither will I. Lassiter gave a smile, which disappeared as quickly as it came. My job is to ask you a few questions.

Crane digested this. Go ahead, he said after a moment.

Lassiter pressed a button on the recorder. This recording is taking place on June second. Present are myself Edward Lassiter and Dr. Peter Crane. Location is the ERF Support and Supply Station. Lassiter glanced over the desk at Crane. Dr. Crane, you are aware that your tour of service here cannot be fixed to a specific length?

Yes.

And you understand that you must never divulge anything you witness here, or recount your actions while at the Facility?

Yes.

And are you willing to sign an affidavit to that effect?

Yes.

Have you ever been arrested?

No.

Were you born a citizen of the United States, or are you naturalized?

I was born in New York City.

Are you taking medication for any ongoing physical condition?

No.

Do you abuse alcohol or drugs with any regularity?

Crane had fielded the questions with growing surprise. Unless you call the occasional weekend six-pack abuse, then no.

Lassiter didnt smile. Are you claustrophobic, Dr. Crane?

No.

Lassiter put the recorder on pause. Then he picked up the manila envelope, tore it open with a finger, pulled out half a dozen sheets of paper, and passed them across the table. If you could please read and sign each of these, he said, plucking a pen from a pocket and placing it beside the sheets.

Crane picked them up and began to read. As he did so, his surprise turned to disbelief. There were three separate nondisclosure agreements, an Official Secrets Act affidavit, and something called a Binding Cooperation Initiative. All were branded documents of the U.S. government, all required signature, and all threatened dire consequences if any of their articles were breached.

Crane put the documents down, aware of Lassiters gaze upon him. This was too much. Maybe he should thank Lassiter politely, then excuse himself and head back to Florida.