James Rollins - Ice Hunt

Deaf, dumb, blind.

Yet his body remained, preserved for all time. Deep in the black depths of the Arctic Ocean, one thought persisted as madness ate at what was left of him.

How long? How long is eternity?

Over the past years, I have been asked many times about where the line lies between truth and fiction in my stories. So here at the end of Ice Hunt, I thought it might be interesting to share some of those details.

Let’s start at the beginning. The novel opens with a fictitious newspaper article detailing the disappearance of an Inuit village on Lake Anjikuni. The details of the tribe’s sudden and mysterious disappearance are based on fact. The fate of the poor people is, of course, of my own imagining. The same could be said for the story and fate of the unfortunate sailors aboard the Jeannette back in 1881. The tragedy was real; the fate of the crew of the lone missing lifeboat is pure fiction.

As to the threat posed by the Polaris Array, this scenario is based on scientific theory, but the practical application of the star-shaped harmonic device was my own invention. The stated effect of such an annihilation of the northern polar cap — the creation of a new ice age — is also based on projections by leading Arctic researchers.

Now, as to the derivation of the “grendels,” the species is a blend of fact and fiction, too. The species Ambulocetus natans, known as the walking whale, has been documented in the fossil record. Additionally, the biological oddity of the Arctic wood frog is factual. These strange frogs do indeed freeze solid for months at a time, then revive upon thawing. Ken Storey of Carleton University has been researching the mechanism for this miraculous adaptation. The role of simple sugar in this “suspended animation” process is also factual, as is the singular and surprising fact about its genetic mechanism: that all vertebrate species carry these genes. I then mixed these facts and species to create the grendels.

Lastly, a comment on the one detail I thought would be the hardest for folks to believe: Could the United States, along with Russia, be involved with something as heinous as secret human experimentation? In the novel, Admiral Petkov states his case based on historical facts, but even he barely scratches the surface of the truth. So, as a cautionary note, let me end this book by documenting a partial list of historical abuses collated and copyrighted by the Health News Network (www.healthnewsnet.com):

1932The Tuskegee Syphilis Study begins. Two hundred black men diagnosed with syphilis are never told of their illness, are denied treatment, and instead are used as human guinea pigs. They all subsequently die from syphilis.

1935The Pellagra Incident. After millions of individuals die from pellagra over a span of two decades, the U.S. Public Health Service finally acts to stem the disease. The director of the agency admits it had known for at least twenty years that pellagra is caused by a niacin deficiency but failed to act since most of the deaths occurred within poverty-stricken black populations.

1940Four hundred prisoners in Chicago are infected with malaria in order to study the effects of new and experimental drugs to combat the disease. Nazi doctors later on trial at Nuremberg cite this American study to defend themselves.

1945Project Paperclip is initiated. The U.S. State Department, Army intelligence, and the CIA recruit Nazi scientists and offer them immunity and secret identities in exchange for work on top-secret government projects.

1947The CIA begins its study of LSD as a potential weapon. Human subjects (both civilian and military) are used with and without their knowledge.

1950In an experiment to determine how susceptible an American city would be to biological attack, the U.S. Navy sprays a cloud of bacteria from ships over San Francisco. Many residents become ill with pneumonialike symptoms.

1956The U.S. military releases mosquitoes infected with yellow fever over Savannah, Georgia, and Avon Park, Florida. Following each test, Army agents posing as public health officials test victims for effects.

1965Prisoners at the Holmesburg State Prison in Philadelphia are subjected to dioxin, the highly toxic chemical component of Agent Orange used in Vietnam. The men are later studied for development of cancer.

1966U.S. Army dispenses Bacillus subtilis variant niger throughout the New York City subway system. More than a million civilians are exposed when Army scientists drop lightbulbs filled with the bacteria onto ventilation grates.

1990More than 1,500 six-month-old black and Hispanic babies in Los Angeles are given an “experimental” measles vaccine that had never been licensed for use in the United States. CDC later admits that parents were never informed that the vaccine being injected into their children was experimental.

1994Senator John D. Rockefeller issues a report revealing that for at least fifty years the Department of Defense has used hundreds of thousands of military personnel in human experiments and for intentional exposure to dangerous substances.

1995The U.S. government admits that it had offered Japanese war criminals and scientists who had performed human medical experiments salaries and immunity from prosecution in exchange for data on biological warfare research.

1995Dr. Garth Nicolson uncovers evidence that the biological agents used during the Gulf War had been manufactured in Houston, Texas, and Boca Raton, Florida, and tested on prisoners in the Texas Department of Corrections.

1996The Department of Defense admits that Desert Storm soldiers were exposed to chemical agents.

1997Eighty-eight members of Congress sign a letter demanding an investigation into bioweapons use and Gulf War syndrome.

A book is seldom the work of the author alone, but usually the collaborative effort of many folks. This novel is no exception. First, Steve Prey must be mentioned as the chief engineer and draftsman for this novel, whose painstaking work on constructing the station schematics both inspired and changed the story. Then I had a posse of language experts who helped with countless details. Carolyn Williams, Vasily Derebenskiy, and William Czajkowski helped with the Russian translations, while Kim Crockatt and Nunavut.com were integral to finding my Inuit translator: Emily Angulalik. I also must thank John Overton of the Health News Network for his assistance in collating historical information used in this novel.

Additionally, I must heartily acknowledge my friends and family who helped shape the manuscript into its present form: Carolyn McCray, Chris Crowe, Michael Gallowglas, Lee Garrett, David Murray, Dennis Grayson, Penny Hill, Lynne Williams, Laurel Piper, Lane Therrell, Mary Hanley, Dave Meek, Royale Adams, Jane O’Riva, Chris “the little” Smith, Judy and Steve Prey, and Caroline Williams. For the map used here, I must acknowledge its source: The CIA World Factbook 2000. Finally, the four folks who continue to remain my most loyal supporters: my editor, Lyssa Keusch; my agents, Russ Galen and Danny Baror; and my publicist, Jim Davis. Lastly and most importantly, I must stress that any and all errors of fact or detail fall squarely on my own shoulders.

James Rollins is the nationally-bestselling author of five adventure novels: Subterranean, Excavation, Deep Fathom, Amazonia, and Ice Hunt . An amateur spelunker and scuba enthusiast, he holds a doctorate in veterinary medicine and has his own practice in Sacramento, California. Please visit www.jamesrollins.com.