Subterranean by James Rollins Page B

window, teemed with small fish and other marine life. A luncheon basket, prepared by the mess hall cook, was open beside her. Two half-eaten sandwiches sat on a paper plate. Bologna and cheese.
    â€œThey look like little monsters,” Jason said.
    Smiling, Linda glanced over to the boy crouched over her portable Nikon microscope, viewing a water sample taken from the lake. “Those cone-shaped ones are called tintinnids,” she said. “The squarish ones are diatoms.”
    â€œWhat are they? Some sort of bugs?”
    â€œNot really. More like plants. They’re in a family of organisms called phytoplankton. They take sunlight and convert it to energy the way a plant does.”
    â€œBut if they need sunlight, like a plant”—Jason swiveled to face her, his face scrunched up with concentration—“how do they survive down here in the dark?”
    She tousled his hair. “That’s a very good question. I’m not really sure. But I believe there must be an underground current carrying the plankton from the surface waters to this underground lake. The water is very salty. Like diluted seawater.”
    â€œWhat’s so important about . . . these . . .” He pointed at the microscope. “Bugs?”
    As Linda considered the implication herself, she allowed her gaze to drift across the camp. She noticed a flurry of activity among the military personnel by the gorge that split the base. Probably some sort of training exercise.
    â€œWell?” Jason asked, recalling her attention.
    She turned back to the boy. “Do you want a science lesson?”
    â€œSure!” he replied enthusiastically.
    â€œAll right, you asked for it.” She smiled at him, appreciating his inquisitiveness. “These plankton are the building blocks of life. On solid ground, grass turns sunlight into energy. Then a cow eats the grass. Then we eat the cow. This is the way the sun’s energy is passed on to us. In the sea, it is the phytoplankton that turns sunlight into energy. The phytoplankton is then eaten by small creatures, such as jellyfish”—she pointed to the small fish just offshore—“which in turn get eaten by those tiny fish. Then even bigger fish eat the little fish. And so on. So even in the sea, sunlight’s energy is passed along. Do you understand?”
    â€œSo these plankton thingies are like our grass.”
    â€œExactly. They are the grassy fields from which this ecosystem sprouts.”
    He nodded. “Neat.”
    â€œSo we’ve done step one and determined that the water is alive. Next, after we finish our sandwiches, we have to collect some of the creatures that live in the water. I saw some starfish close to the shore over there and some sponges. Wanna help me get a few?”
    â€œYou bet!”
    â€œLater, one of the Marines promised to catch us one of those glowing fish too.” She was curious about the phosphorescent properties of these large fish. Never having seen anything like them before, she grew excited by the prospect of classifying a new fish species.
    â€œWhy don’t we start now?” Jason began to rise. “I saw some—”
    â€œHold it, young man.” She pointed at the plate. “You finish your lunch first. You’re my responsibility until your mother gets back.”
    He curled his lip and plopped back down on the blanket. “Oh, all right.”
    Passing him his sandwich, she took a bite of her own. “Let’s hurry up, though. We’ve got fish to catch!”
    â€œBig ones,” he added with a small smile.
    â€œThe biggest. We could have them for dinner.”
    â€œGlowing fish? Yuck!”
    â€œHey, buddy, don’t knock it. If the lights go out, you can still see what you’re eating.”
    That started him laughing. She grinned, almost forgetting the miles of rock that hung over her head.
    Ben watched Ashley bend over and study the altar site. Damn