Breakthrough (14 page)

“How far?” asked Alison with a glance at Clay.

After a longer pause Dirk replied. 
Very far.  Many clicks.

She frowned.  “What is a click?”

Click is go.

Alison shook her head.  She was going to have to approach this from a different angle.  “How far is a click Dirk?”

Dirk turned to look at the other end of the tank.  He darted off, swimming to the far end and then back to the glass in front of Alison and Clay. 
Click.

“That was a click?”

Yes.

“How many clicks to
the metal bubble Dirk?”

Dirk was silent for long moment.  Finally he replied. 
Hundred.  Eight.
   Again IMIS changed the words.  Dirk’s reply became
Eight hundred.

Alison and Clay looked over at the sound of Chris dropping his cup.  He was staring at Dirk.  Clay looked down at the spilt coffee at Chris’ feet and then back at Alison.  “What happened?”

Alison looked like she had seen a ghost.  “They can
count
.”

Clay raised his eyebrows in surprise.  “Wow.”

“They can count,”  Alison said again to herself.  “I’ve got to sit down.”  She backed up and lowered herself onto the edge of a nearby table.

“This is big,
” said Chris.  “I mean really, really big.”

“I know,” nodded Alison.  The ability to count had far reaching implications.  It indicated a depth of understanding far removed from simple hellos and questions about feeding time.  Just the indication that they understood the difference between words and numbers were staggering.  In fact, just their understanding of
words
would have been incredible.  Alison was beginning to feel completely unprepared for the kind of information that Dirk and Sally were revealing to them.

Clay smiled.  “It seems I’m amazed every time I come here.”

Alison was not listening.

Clay leaned toward her.  “Not to spoil the mood but can we ask them how deep our sub was?”

Twenty,
replied Dirk.

Clay was startled.  “They can understand me too?”

Alison smirked.  “Evidently.”

Clay turned back to Dirk.  “Twenty clicks deep Dirk?”

Yes
.

“Thank you,
” Clay nodded.  He looked at Dirk and Sally for a long time before turning around to the team.  “Well I’d better-”

Near them city.

Clay suddenly stopped.  He turned back.  “What?”

Near them city.

Alison quickly stood up again.  “Did you say a
city
?”

Yes.

Alison looked at Clay nervously.  She wasn’t sure she wanted the next answer.  “Who’s city?”

Them.  Others.

Clay stepped closer to the glass.  “Have you been to the city Dirk?”

Yes.

“What does it look like?”

Beautiful.

Alison, Chris, and Lee looked thoroughly confused.  They had no idea what the dolphins were talking about.  Clay did.  “How many live in the beautiful city?” he asked.

No know.

Clay thought for a moment and then pulled the silver brick out of his pocket.  He took another step closer.  “Dirk, Sally, do you know what this is?”  He held it up high.

No.

No.

Clay took a deep breath.  “Do you know why the other people are here?”

Dirk’s answer was unmistakable. 
Water.

Clay put the brick down on the table and reached for his cell phone.  It had no signal.  He looked at Alison.  “I need to use your phone.”

24

Palin sat alone in the middle of a large, white room in a small metal chair, his hands cuffed behind his back.  The only exit was a single door on the far wall.  Two security cameras were perched at the ceiling in either corner.  Next to the door was a large, one-way mirror which served as an observation room.  He looked around the room curiously and looked up when the door opened and broke the deafening silence.

In walked a lean man with glasses and short red hair.  He eased the door closed and then turned to Palin.  Walking across
the room the man sat down in the chair opposite, facing him.  After a moment he spoke in a calm voice.

“Hello Palin.  My name is Albert Keister.” 

Palin did not answer.

Keister nodded unsurprised.  “I work for the Navy and I’m here to ask you some questions.”  When Palin remained silent he continued.  “I know you speak English.  I’ve read the report on what happened aboard our ship.  Something out of the ordinary to say the least.”  Still nothing.  “We obviously would like to know who you are and how you did that.”

Palin still had not moved but looked at him unblinking.  Keister studied Palin for a long time.  This, he thought, was going to be difficult.

As soon as the Humvee stopped, Clay jumped out of the passenger’s seat and ran to the
nondescript building where the door was being held open for him.  This time he was quickly escorted through the security checkpoint and down the elevator to the conference room where they had their group video call less than twelve hours before.   As Clay walked in, he was surprised to see Defense Secretary Miller and Security Advisor Stevas in person.  They were seated with Langford and Foster and instinctively stood up when he entered.

Clay stopped and saluted.

Miller quickly returned the gesture and motioned to a chair at the end of the long table.  “Have a seat Clay.”

Clay quickly sat down.

“Clay I’d like you to tell me again exactly what you said to this Palin person and what he said to you.”  Miller said.

Clay repeated the exchange while the Secretary listened intently.  When he was done
, Miller gave a short nod and put his hands together thinking.  Finally he looked at Clay.  “I am aware of your security clearance but nevertheless I want to stress that nothing leaves this room.”

Clay nodded.  “Of course.”

“To begin with,” he started, “our friend does not appear to be very talkative.  Albert Keister is one of our very best interrogators and he couldn’t get a word out of him.”  Miller shrugged.  “Now we obviously need to be careful here, so we are not about to get aggressive with him.  But judging from Keister’s visit, we had better do something or we could be waiting here a very long time.”

“Yes sir,
” Clay responded.

“He has already talked to you,” Miller continued, “so to make this short and sweet, we’d like you to try
talking to him.”

“Me sir?” Clay replied with surprise.  “I’m not really qualified-
”

“These are unusual circumstances which require unusual tactics.  Besides some of us are concerned that whatever it is we are dealing with, it may have the means of being weaponized.
”  It was clear that Miller was referring to Stevas.  Miller looked intently at Clay.  “I know you’re not an interrogation expert, but we’re not talking about waterboarding here.  You’re a smart guy and, like I said, you have already established at least a limited level of communication with him.  We need some answers and we need them quickly.”

Clay nodded again.  “I’ll do my best sir.”

“Good,” Miller said.  “Now what is it about these dolphins that you wanted to share?”

Clay looked
uneasily around the table.  “Sir, it appears that the dolphins have made contact with whoever these people are.”  He paused at their initial reaction of surprise.  “And there may be a large number of them involved here; enough for the dolphins to refer to a
city
.”

Their surprise moved instantly to shock.  Stevas almost coughed his reply.  “What do you mean a city?!”

“I mean an establishment underwater, near the ring.  Maybe large enough to house hundreds.”

Miller held up his hand cutting Stevas off.  “Are you positive about this?”

“Not positive sir.  I repeatedly asked the dolphins, and in multiple ways.  I always got the same answer.”

“Wait just a damn minute!”
shot Stevas.  “You’re telling us this revelation came from a computer that may or may
not
be talking to some dolphins?  Are you kidding?!”  He looked at Langford.  “Please tell me this is not your top guy!”

Langford
’s eyes narrowed, but Clay replied quickly.  “Sir, I believe this communication to be real.  And that system they built is damn impressive.”

“I’m not going to base
security decisions off of a fish.  We need some real intelligence here,” Stevas folded his arms and leaned back, “not messages from a computerized magic eight ball.  Jesus Clay.”

Miller looked at Stevas and then back to Clay.  “I’m inclined to agree.  I will say that I think I believe you on this system, but we need something much more concrete.”

Langford turned to Clay.  “Did you find out where the Triton is?”

“I believe so.”

“Okay, we’ll arrange for whatever you need to go get it.  We need to know what that camera has on it.”

“Yes sir,
” Clay replied.  He looked around the table.  “There is something else I need to tell you.”  Everyone at the table looked at him expectantly.  “I asked the dolphins if they knew why these people were here.”  He took a deep breath.  “They said ‘water’.”

“Water?”  Miller’s eyes narrowed.  “What does that mean?”

“I’m not sure.  I wasn’t able to get much more context,” replied Clay.  “It may be that water is somehow critical to them or what they are doing.  Perhaps the ring is using the hydrogen from our water to power itself, or some other need that we don’t know about.”

Stevas frowned.  “You’re saying this is what is powering that thing?”

“Perhaps,” Clay answered.  “I spoke to Borger about it.  It’s certainly feasible.  Hydrogen atoms hold a lot of potential energy.”

Miller opened his mouth but was cut off by Stevas.  “That sounds like a stretch to me,” he said, shaking his head.  “This is all from
these fish again, I’m assuming.”  The tone Stevas used every time he said ‘fish’ was very derogatory.

Clay nodded somewhat reluctantly.  “They evidently didn’t get that exact.”

“So you’re telling us,” Stevas continued, “that there is a city on the bottom of the ocean and the people living in it need our water for some reason.”

“I believe-
” Clay started but was cut off by Stevas.

“Let me tell you what I believe,
” Stevas said clearly frustrated.  “In case you have forgotten, in the last twenty-four hours, we have established that this is a portal which is probably designed as a delivery mechanism for some kind of weapon that’s probably more advanced than anything we could build for a long time.”  Stevas’ voice grew louder as his words became more impassioned.  “And we don’t know whether that something has come through it yet!  We could be on the brink of warfare and only finding out about it now!  And,” he said rolling his eyes, “you come to us with
they might need the water for something? 
You know what I say to that?
Who gives a goddamn?!”   He turned and looked at Miller.  “We need to be planning defensive steps now before it’s too late, rather than talking to these damn fish!” 

Miller sat quietly considering what Stevas had said.  Finally
he said “I’m beginning to agree that we need to take a defensive position here.  We just don’t know anything about this thing.”  He looked at Clay.  “Even if your dolphins are right, unless it presents itself as some sort of priority we need to focus on defense here.” Miller glanced at Stevas.  “However that doesn’t mean we should ignore it completely.  Clay, please continue your investigation.  If you and Borger find something more on this that warrants further discussion let us know.  But first have a talk with our Palin friend.”

“Yes sir,
” Clay said.  “Is there anything else sir?”

Miller looked to the others before shaking his head.  “No, that will be all.  Mr. Keister is waiting for you outside.  He will brief you
, and together you can take another crack.”

Clay nodded and stood up.  He promptly turned and walked to the door.

Stevas watched the door close slowly behind him before looking at Miller.  “We better do something and we better do it fast.”

“I agree,
” Foster finally spoke up from across the table. 

“And what exactly would we do?” Miller asked.  “We don’t even know definitively what this thing is.  Do you?!  Hell, for all I know it could be a giant illusion.”  He looked hard at Stevas.  “Do you know something that I don’t?  Because if not I’d like to know just what kind of
action
you have in mind based on the same lack of factual intelligence that I’m facing.”

Stevas hit the table with his hand.  “I’m not approaching this from an intelligence perspective.  I’m thinking that whatever this thing is built to do, it may already have done it.  We don’t know how long this ring has been down there.  All the data gathering in the world is not going to make a damn bit of difference if we wake up tomorrow under attack!  If this means you want to label me as shooting first and asking questions later, I don’t give a damn.  What scares the hell out of me right now is that we might not be here later to ask questions!”

Clay followed Keister into the large white room and felt a pang of sympathy when he spotted Palin.  He was not sure what arrangement he would find him in, but was somewhat regretful that he was dressed and bound like an inmate from a maximum security prison.  He noticed the video cameras as they walked across the white polished floor.  Looking at the walls, he guessed them to be soundproof.  He suspected this room was used often.  

Palin watched them approach from his forced posture.  A look of acceptance could be seen in his eyes for he did not struggle.  In fact
, Clay thought, his body did not seem to move in the slightest.

Both men took a seat in front of Palin,
with Clay sitting slightly off to his right.  He was surprised to see Palin looking at him rather than Keister.

Keister noticed this and gave a slight nod to Clay, giving him permission to start with the questions and tactics he had outlined.  Questions were one thing
, but the correct phrasing, context, and words used were critical.

Clay leaned forward and cleared his throat.  “Are you alright?” he asked.

Palin looked at Clay for a long moment.  His expression seemed to soften slightly.  “Uncomfortable,” he said slowly, “but not unexpected.”

“Is there anything we can get you?” Clay asked.

Palin slowly shook his head.

Keister wrote something onto a pad of paper and showed it to Clay.  It read
start with name
.  Before Clay could speak Palin said “My name is Palin.”  Both Clay and Keister looked at each other. 

Just Palin.  Okay.
 
Clay turned back to him and asked, “How did you get on board our ship?”

Again Palin did not answer righ
t away.  “A doorway was created,” he finally said slowly.

Clay waited for more information but did not get it.
  Palin merely sat calmly staring at him.  “What kind of a doorway?”

“An energy doorway.”

Clay smirked at the short answers.  Why did he think that Palin would deliver some giant monologue?  “An energy doorway,” he repeated.  “An energy doorway to where?”

“From,
” he corrected.

“
From
where?” Clay said.

“The doorway was created from our settlement.”

“And where is your settlement?” asked Clay.

Palin gave Clay a look of vague amusement.  He cocked his head slightly as one might do when asking someone else if they were serious.  “You already know the answer to this question, yes?”

“The bottom of the ocean?”

Palin nodded.

“Are you human?” Clay asked.

“Yes.”

Clay looked at Keister and then down to his notebook.  He had no more messages for Clay written on it.  Instead, he continued watching Palin intently.  No doubt for the more subtle body movements.  Clay wondered how much body language Keister could get when Palin was handcuffed with both arms behind his back.  “So,” he continued, “you are human but you are using a technology which appears to be beyond anyone else’s capabilities.”

“Anyone else?” Palin questioned.

Clay raised his eyebrows and shrugged.  “Countries, governments, anyone else on the planet.  No one to our knowledge is capable of doing what you did.  What nationality are you?”