Pacific Vortex! (Dirk Pitt 1)

“I still find it hard to believe that a man of Dr. Moran’s stature,” said York, “could simply drop from sight for three decades and suddenly reappear as a murderer and kidnapper.”

“Did this Delphi say anything else that might tie him to Dr. Moran?” Chrysler asked.

Pitt smiled. “He implied that my intelligence fell far short of Lavella and Roblemann, whoever they might be.”

Chrysler and York stared at each other.

“Most strange,” York repeated. “Lavella was a physicist who specialized in hydrology.”

“And Roblemann was a renown surgeon.” Chrysler’s eyes suddenly widened and locked on Pitt. “Before Roblemann died, he was experimenting on a mechanical gill system so that humans would be able to absorb oxygen from water.”

Chrysler paused and walked over to a water cooler in one corner of the room. He filled a paper cup, creating deep, gurgling sounds from inside the glass bottle, and then returned to the table, downing the cup’s contents before continuing.

“As we all probably know, the primary function of any respiratory system is to obtain oxygen needs for the body and to cast off carbon dioxide. In animals and humans, the lungs hang loosely in the chest and must be inflated and deflated by means of the diaphragm and air pressure. Once the air is in the lungs, it is absorbed into the lining and then into the bloodstream. On the other hand, fish obtain their oxygen and expel the carbon dioxide through soft vascula tissues containing many tiny filaments. The device Roblemann supposedly created was a combination gill-lung that was surgically attached to the chest with connecting lines for the transportation of oxygen.”

“It sounds incredible,” said Hunter.

“Incredible, yes,” said Pitt. “But it explains why none of the men who boarded the Martha Ann carried diving gear.”

“Such a mechanism,” Chrysler added, “would hardly allow a human to remain underwater much more than half an hour.”

Denver shook his head in wonderment. “Maybe half an hour doesn’t seem like much, but it still beats the hell out of lugging the bulky equipment in use today.”

“Do you gentlemen know what became of Lavella and Roblemann?” asked Hunter.

Chrysler shrugged.

“They died years ago.”

Hunter picked up a phone. “Data Section? This is Admiral Hunter. I want details on the deaths of two scientists named Lavella and Roblemann. Pipe it through the minute it’s in your hands. Well, that’s a start. Dr. York, what do you make of the marine geology in the Vortex area?”

York opened a briefcase and laid several charts in front of him on the table. “After questioning the survivors from the Martha Ann’s instrument detection room, Commander Boland at the hospital, and listening to Pitt’s remarks, I’m forced to only one conclusion. The Vortex is n

othing more than a previously undiscovered seamount.”

“How is it possible that it was never found before now?” Denver queried.

“It’s not at all unusual,” said York, “when you consider that mountain peaks on land were being discovered right up until the late 1940s, and we have yet to map in any detail, ninety-eight percent of the ocean’s floors.”

“Aren’t most seamounts the remains of underwater volcanos?” Pitt probed.

York filled his pipe bowl from a tobacco pouch. “A seamount may be defined as an isolated elevation that rises from the seafloor, circular in dimension, with fairly steep slopes and a comparatively small summit area. But in answer to your question, most seamounts are of volcanic origin. However, until a scientific investigation proves otherwise, I might suggest a different approach.” He paused to tamp and light his pipe. “If we suppose the myth of Kanoli is true, and the island and its people did indeed sink beneath the sea during a cataclysmic disaster, then I might consider the theory that it was uplifted in the beginning and sank in the end by faulting rather than by vulcanism.”

“In other words, an earthquake,” said Denver.

“More or less,” York returned. “A fault is a fracture in the earth’s crust. As you can see by the charts, this particular seamount sits on the Fullerton Fracture Zone. It’s quite possible that heavy activity could build a rise of several hundred feet, pushing it above the sea’s surface during the span of a thousand years and then suddenly drop it back in a matter of days.” He was facing the window, his eyes turned inward, envisioning the step-by-step process of destruction. “Mr. Pitt’s report on the seabed rise and the cooler water temperature around the mount, also tends to support our fault theory. Cold, deep-bottom water often up-wells thousands of feet to the surface from extensive fractures along the seafloor, and this in turn explains the absence of coral; coral will not thrive in water temperatures of less than seventy degrees.”

Hunter stared thoughtfully a moment at the charts before speaking, “Since the people who boarded the Martha Ann had to come from somewhere, could they have come from the seamount itself?”

“I don’t understand,” York replied.

“Nothing showed on the Martha Ann’s radar. That eliminates another ship in the area. Except for the sunken wrecks, no other vessel was detected on sonar which eliminates a submarine. That leaves two choices. They either came from a man-made underwater living chamber, or from within the seamount itself.”

“I’d have to strike out the underwater chamber,” Pitt said. “We were attacked by a force of nearly two hundred men. It would take an immense facility to house that number underwater.” “Then we’re left with the seamount,” said Hunter. Chrysler rested his chin on his hands and looked across the table at Pitt. “I believe you said, Major, that you smelled eucalyptus when the fog surrounded the ship.”

“Yes, sir, that’s correct.”

“Odd, most odd,” Chrysler murmured. He turned to Hunter. “As astounding as it might sound, Admiral, your suggestion of the seamount isn’t too farfetched at that.”