Clive Cussler: Polar Shift

"How long do we need to do this?" Zavala said.

"Until we run out of fuel, and then some," Austin said with a steely determination in his voice.

The mood was euphoric on the observation platform of the Polar Explorer.

Margrave and Gant gazed up through the glass-paneled ceiling, their faces bathed in the pulsating, multicolored light emanating from the aurora high above the ship. Margrave's strange face never looked more satanic.

"Spectacular!" Gant said in a rare show of emotion.

Margrave stood behind the control consol. He had been gradually accelerating the dynamos to full power, and the console was lit up like a pinball machine.

"The aurora indicates we've reached critical mass," he said. "The electromagnetic waves have penetrated the ocean floor. They'll change the electromagnetic flux and nudge the pole over. Keep an eye on the compass for the big flip."

Gant glanced at the compass dial, and then gazed out one of the big picture windows.

"Something is happening to the sea."

The ruffled surface of the ocean immediately around the ship had gone flat.

"We're at the epicenter of the polar shift," Margrave said. "A ring of giant waves will spin off from around the edge of an expanding circle. There will be some vortexes around the perimeter."

"Glad we're not in the way," Gant said.

"It would be unfortunate if we were. The area of disturbance is pretty random. That's what sank our transmitter ship. It's like the calm at the eye of a hurricane. We'll be fine here except for a slight mounding of the water."

Gant stared out at the rising sea. He had never felt so powerful in his entire life.

Austin's mind-set was the opposite of Gant's. He was like a doctor trying to bring a flatlining patient back to life, only in this case the lives of millions lay on the table. He peered out the window as the plane banked for another pass, unable to tell whether the antidote was working or not.

Then he noticed a circular area immediately around the ship where the water seemed to go dull, as if it were being flattened by a helicopter downdraft. He could see striations on the surface of the sea like the grooves made by a strong current. Moments later, the water began moving in an unmistakable swirl with the ship at its center. Within seconds, the area of disturbed water was at least a mile across, bordered by a ring of foam on its perimeter. As the current's speed picked up, the sea within the circle became lower than the surface around it.

Austin was witnessing the birth of a giant whirlpool.

The Polar Adventure only rose around six feet above the surrounding sea level before it began to settle again.

Gant noticed that a depression seemed to be forming in the ocean around the ship. "Is this another side effect?" he said.

"No," Margrave said. His puzzlement changed to concern when the surface became even more radically dish-shaped. White-foamed rips indicated the clash of strong currents. He snatched up the microphone connecting him to the bridge. "Full engine power. We're sinking into a whirlpool."

Margrave shut down the dynamos.

"What are you doing?" Gant said.

"Something's not right. There shouldn't be this kind of reaction."

The ocean hollow was deepening and swirling currents had begun to form, but the ship was under power by then, and moving toward the side of the vortex. Its bow was slightly elevated, and it had to fight against the currents that wanted to drag it sideways, but the ship was making slow headway.

The maelstrom was expanding at the same time, however. Margrave screamed at the bridge to give the engines more power, but the ship seemed destined to lose the race, not really moving from the center of the vortex.

Then the character of the water changed again. The currents weakened, and the surface began to rise back to sea level. It was mounding again.

"What happened?" Gant said.

"A slight diversion," Margrave said. He wiped the nervous sweat from his forehead, and he smiled as he again powered up the dynamos.

As the ship rose higher in the air, the water around the vessel began to boil. The ocean liner was twenty feet in the air, then thirty.

"Stop this from happening," Gant said.

Margrave killed power again but the ship continued to rise.

Fifty feet.

"You fool! What have you done?"

"The computer models-"

"Damn the computer models!"

Margrave left the control panel and rushed to one of the big windows wrapped around the observation platform. Her stared with horror at the sea.

The ship was at the top of a huge, fast-rising column of water.

Austin had seen the whirlpool grow until it was around ten miles wide. Now he watched in fascination as the vortex leveled out, changed into a seething pool of white steamy water, and began to mound into a watery cyclone.

The mountainous mass sprouting from the center of the vortex grew in height and width as it spun like a whirling dervish.

The plane was coming around for another pass. Austin dashed up to the cockpit.

"Bring us up as fast and as high as you can. Get away from this area."

The pilot put the 747 into a steep climb.

The water column reminded Austin of photos he had seen of the nuclear bomb tests in the Pacific.

A panicked voice was crackling over the radio. "Mayday! Mayday! Come in, anyone! Mayday!"

Austin borrowed the radio microphone. "Mayday received."

"This is Gant on the Polar Adventure." He had to shout to be heard over the rumbling in the background.

"Looks like you're in for a roller-coaster ride," Austin said.

"Who is this? Where are you?"

"Kurt Austin. We're a couple of thousand feet above your head. Take a quick look because we won't be around much longer. Dr. Kovacs sends his regards, though."

After a pause, Gant said, "What the hell is going on, Austin?"

"We've given you a dose of the polar shift antidote. I'd say that you and your partner are all washed up."

Gant's angry reply was unintelligible, lost in a thundering clamor.

Austin peered out the cockpit window. The ship was at the top of the water column, where it spun like a top. Austin could only imagine the panicked scene on board. But he had no sympathy for Margrave and Gant, who had sown the seeds of their own destruction.

As the plane altered course and began to bear off from its target like a great lumbering whale, it encountered turbulence generated by the powerful forces that had been unleashed, but it was nothing compared to the earlier wind blasts. The plane continued to climb without incident to around twenty-five thousand feet, where it leveled off.

Karla had her face glued to the window even though there was nothing to see other than the normal cloud cover. She turned to Austin, a dazed look in her eyes.

"What happened back there?" she said.

"Your grandfather was right on the money with his calculations."

"But what was that thing, that incredible waterspout?"

Austin wasn't sure what was happening but suspected that the push-pull of electromagnetic pulses from the ship and the plane had set into motion unimaginable forces.

"Nature doesn't like being messed around with. The combination of the antidote and the initial transmissions created a strong reaction." He smiled. "It's like taking something for an upset stomach. There's always a last eruption or two before things settle down for the better."

"Then it's over, finally."

"I hope so." Austin called the cockpit, and asked, "How's the compass doing?"

"Normal," Zavala said. "Still pointing to the north pole, more or less."

Barrett hadn't moved from behind the control panel. When he heard Zavala's report, he slapped his hands together. He came over and gave Karla and Austin big hugs.