Fire Ice

"That seems like a good idea," the president said. "When can you line up your expert?"

"As long as it takes to summon him from the reception room. Actually, I've brought along two experts, Dr. Leroy Jenkins, an oceanographer formerly with the University of Maine, and Dr. Hank Reed, a geochemist with NUMA."

"You never go anywhere without backup, do you, James?" the president said, with a smile.

"It's my old academy training. Why fire one torpedo when you can launch a whole spread? I've also taken the liberty of inviting NUMA's chief computer programmer, Hiram Yaeger."

The president murmured an order over the intercom. A few minutes later, the Secret Service agent ushered Yaeger, Reed and Jenkins into the office. Yaeger was no stranger to the corridors of power and was little impressed by anyone who did not speak in terms of megabytes. In deference to the president's title, he had do

If the president wondered at what may have been the oddest-looking assortment of human beings ever to visit the Oval Office, he was diplomatic enough not to show it. After a round of handshakes and introductions, he said:

"The admiral here was telling us about that tsunami business up in Maine. He seems to think the wave was man-made."

Jenkins had been nervously playing with the knot of his tie. Under gentle prodding from the president, he spun out the story of the Rocky Point tsunami and his investigation as to its cause.

The president turned to Reed. "Do you agree with Dr. Jenkins?"

"Totally. I see no reason to doubt his conclusions. My re- search shows that force applied at specific points on the continental shelf could produce the results he's predicted."

Austin jumped in. "I've described the projectile I saw on the Ataman ship to some ordnance people. They suggested that it might be a concussion bomb with a shaped charge capable of great penetration. The thrusters drive it deep into the seabed. It might have multiple warheads similar to a nuclear ballistics missile."

"You're not suggesting nuclear warheads?" the president said, with a look of alarm.

"From what I understand, it could be done with conventional explosives. Some of the new ones are almost as powerful as a nuke. There's another thing. When I talked to the captain and pilot of the NR-1, they said Ataman had been using the sub to look for weak spots, faults and thin cover in the crust along the slopes and canyons of the continental shelf."

"Where is this Ataman ship now?"

"Off the New England coast. I've asked our satellite people to look around. A courier will have the results here shortly."

"I'll instruct my receptionist to send your person right in," the president said. He turned to Sparkman. "You're the mining man, Sid. You know anything about this methane hydrate?"

Sparkman, who had been quiet throughout the presentation looked as if he were having acid indigestion. "Yes, Mr. President. It's basically frozen natural gas. Some people call it fire ice."

"Let's get back to specifics, Dr. Jenkins. What could we expect off the U.S. coast?"

Jenkins looked preoccupied, as if another thought had occurred to him. "Damage depends on the shallowness of water near shore, the shape of the bay, whether there is a river where the wave concentrates its energy." He took a deep breath. "It's possible that a wave might reach a height of one hundred feet after it hits the shore."

The president looked shocked. "That could cause unimaginable damage."

"Unfortunately, there are worse things than tsunamis," Jenkins said quietly.

"What could be worse than a giant wave hitting a metropolitan area?" the president said.

Jenkins took another deep breath. "Mr. President… a massive release of methane could trigger large-scale global warming."

"What? How could that happen? I thought it was just man-made causes we had to worry about."

"That, too, but – look, let me give you an example. Back in the eleventh century, there was a huge 'burp' of methane that released a giant amount of methane into the atmosphere and started a worldwide warming trend. The tropics advanced as far north as England and the sea may have extended as far as Arizona."

The room was silent.

"Razov must know about the possibility," Sparkman said, at last. "Why would he do such a thing?"

Reed offered an explanation. "The Russians have always wanted to warm the northern wastes of their country. It's an incredibly rich, but very harsh land. There was serious talk at one time of warming the waters off the Arctic with atomic energy to accomplish the goal. A temperate climate would allow vast development and settlement. At the same time, some people speculate that global warning would turn America's interior into a dust bowl."

"My advisors have filled me in on global warming," the president said. "It's a very complex process, as I understand it. There's no guarantee it would turn out the way Razov wants it to."

"Apparently, Razov is willing to take that chance," Reed said.

"Good God!" the president said. "That would be a disaster of unimaginable proportions."

"It would be worse than that," Sandecker observed. "With his huge methane hydrate mining ships and a weakened U.S., Razov would be in a position to control the world's future energy supply. He could be the closest thing to a global dictator we've ever seen."

"This man must be stopped," the president said.

"A squadron of fighter planes would make short work of Mr. Razov," the vice president said.

"Do we have enough evidence to blast this ship out of water, especially with the situation in Russia?" the president asked.

Sandecker said, "That's an excellent point, Mr. President. As we all know, Russia is in turmoil with Razov's rightwing forces battling the moderates. Razov would use any at. tacks against Russian ships to show that the U.S. is the enemy. The moderates would be done for. Russia's nuclear arsenal would come under the control of the Cossack lunatic fringe."

"But we can't let that ship carry out its mission," the president said.

The receptionist knocked softly at the door, then opened it. A young woman rushed in with a folder in her hand. "Sorry for the delay," she said breathlessly. "We ran into complications."

"That's quite all right," Sandecker said, "but how complicated could it be to find one ship?"

"That was easy," she said, handing over the folders. "We picked up the target so quickly we decided to look at the rest of the East Coast down to Florida."

"You found another ship, then?"

"Actually, sir, we found three of them in position off the East Coast. Another three appear to be on their way, and there seems to be some activity off the Pacific coast as well."

"Thank you," Sandecker said, dismissing the courier. When she was gone, the president exploded. "Three ships? And more on the way? Damn! How will we know which city is the target?" The shadow of a cloud passed over the president's face. "What if there is more than one target?"