“You mean in your experiment you found—”
“Only ten percent of the cooling we’ve recorded out there in the open ocean. Yes, that’s exactly what I mean.”
She looked around. She didn’t have to ask if he’d done the experiment right or if he wanted to try it again. He’d been secluded up here for hours, and he’d been an engineer before becoming a computer programmer. She guessed he knew what he was doing. Besides, she saw six other setups that looked identical to the one in front of them. She assumed they were controls.
“So what does that mean?” she asked. “And this time pretend you’re a woman and share.”
“There are two possibilities,” he said. “Either something else is responsible for the majority of the cooling or the microbots are cooling the ocean through some other process or mechanism that we’ve yet to observe or discover.”
“All the more reason to keep sailing toward them,” she said.
“I’m afraid so,” he replied.
Before Gamay could say anything more, an alarm began to sound throughout the lab. It was sharp, piercing, and accompanied by flashing strobes.
“What’s happening?”
“Fire alarm,” Marchetti said. He reached for an intercom switch and pressed it. “What’s happening, chief?”
“We have multiple heat signals,” the chief replied, sounding as if he was still checking. “We have confirmation,” he added. “There’s a fire in the engine room.”
CHAPTER 27
PAUL TROUT HEARD THE ALARMS AND RACED DOWN THE hall until he reached the makeshift lab. Marchetti was on the intercom in a rapid-fire discussion with his chief of engineering. Gamay stood next to him with a concerned look on her face.
“Fire,” she said.
“I figured that,” Paul replied.
He began to smell smoke and the distinctive odor of diesel fuel burning. “Engine room?”
She nodded.
Marchetti asked into the microphone. “Can you get the robots back online?”
“They’re not responding.”
“What about the fire-suppression system?”
“Also not responding.”
Marchetti looked ill. “Keep working on it,” he said, pressing the intercom button again. “We’ll have to fight it by hand. Have Kostis and Cristatos meet me there. Have the others stand by.”
Marchetti looked over to Paul and Gamay. “Either of you have firefighting experience?”
“I do,” Paul said. “I’ll go with you.”
Now Gamay looked ill. “Paul, please,” she said.
“I’ll be okay,” he replied. “I’ve had plenty of training. Get yourself to somewhere safe.”
“The control room,” Marchetti said. “My chief is there.”
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Gamay nodded. “Be careful.”
Paul raced out the door with Marchetti and they took a stairwell down toward the main deck. From there a second stairwell took them into the hull and then along a hall that led to the engine room. The smoke thickened as they neared the aft end of the island.