Abduction by Robin Cook Page B

silence. Donald and Suzanne turned to face him.
"How could we be inside a mountain?" Donald asked angrily. "Hey, I'm only making a suggestion," Perry said. "Mark told me this morning he had some radar data that suggested the mountain might contain gas, not molten lava." "He never mentioned that to me," Suzanne said. "He didn't mention it to anyone," Perry said. "He wasn't sure of the data since it was coming from a shallow study of the hard layer we were trying to drill through. It was an extrapolation, and he only mentioned it to me in passing."
"What kind of gas?" Suzanne asked while her mind tried to imagine how a submerged volcano could become void of water. Geophysically speaking it seemed impossible, although she knew that on land some volcanoes did collapse in on themselves to form calderas. "He had no idea," Perry said. "I guess he thought the most promising candidate was steam held in by the extra-hard layer that was giving us so much trouble." "Well, it can't be steam," Donald said. "Not at a temperature of almost seventy degrees." "What about natural gas?" Perry suggested. "I can't imagine," Suzanne said. "This close to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, it's a geologically young area. There can't be anything like petroleum or natural gas around here." "Then maybe it is air," Perry said.
"How could it get here?" Suzanne asked. "You tell me," Perry said. "You're the geophysical oceanographer. Not me." "If it is air, there is not a natural explanation that I know of," Suzanne said. "It's as simple as that." The three people stared at each other for a beat. "I guess we'll have to crack the hatch and see," Suzanne said. "Open the hatch?" Donald questioned. "What if the gas is not breathable or it's even toxic?" "Seems to me we have little choice," Suzanne said. "We have no communications. We're a fish out of water. We've got ten days of life support but what happens after that?" "Let's not ask that question," Perry said nervously. "I say we crack the hatch." "All right!" Donald said with resignation. "As captain I'll do it." He stood up from his pilot's seat and

took a giant step over the central console. Perry leaned out of the way so that Donald could pass.
Donald climbed up inside the sail. He paused while Suzanne and Perry positioned themselves just underneath him.
"Why don't you just undog it but not open it," Suzanne offered. "Then see if you smell anything." "Good idea," Donald said. He took Suzanne's suggestion, grabbing the central wheel and turning it. The sealing bolts retracted into the hatch's body. "Well?" Suzanne called up after a few moments. "Smell anything?" "Just some dampness," Donald said. "I guess I'll go for it." Donald cracked the hatch for a brief moment and sniffed. "What do you think?" Suzanne asked.
"Seems okay," Donald said with relief. He opened the hatch about an inch and smelled the damp air that flowed in. When he was satisfied it was as safe as he could determine, he pushed the hatch all the way up and poked his head out the top. The air had the salty dampness of a beach at low tide. Donald slowly rotated his head through 360 degrees, straining his eyes in the darkness. He saw absolutely nothing but intuitively he knew that it was a big space. He was staring into a silent, alien blackness as frightening as it was vast. Poking his head back inside the submersible, he asked for the flashlight. Suzanne got it for him, and as she handed it up she asked what he'd seen. "A whole lot of nothing," he replied.
Reemerging from the hatch, Donald shined the flashlight in the distance. The mud stretched away in all directions as far as the light could penetrate. A few isolated mirrorlike puddles of water reflected back at him.
"Hello!" Donald called after cupping his hands around his mouth. He waited. A slight echo seemed to come from the direction of the Oceanus 's bow. Donald yelled again; a distinct echo came back in what he estimated to be around three or four seconds. Donald climbed back down into the