Frank Schatzing - The Swarm

'So much the better – and there's Iceland too.'

'Hang on.' Suess flapped a hand to quieten them. 'This isn't some kind of crusade.'

'That's not the point.'

'Oh, but it is. So far, we've only got the simulation.'

'Sure, but-'

'No, he's right,' Bohrmann interrupted. 'We can't go putting the wind up people when we're not even sure ourselves. I mean, we know what's causing it, but as for the consequences – that's just speculation. All we can say right now is that vast quantities of methane are likely to escape.'

'You must be joking,' said Sahling. 'We know exactly what'll happen.'

Absentmindedly Bohrmann stroked his moustache, which had started to grow back. 'Let's say we go public. We make all the headlines – and then?'

'What would happen if the papers announced that a meteorite was going to hit the Earth?' asked Suess.

'Is that a valid comparison?'

'I'd say so.'

'I don't think it's for us to decide,' said Mirbach. 'Let's take this one step at a time. First, we'll tell Johanson. He's the one we've been dealing with and, from a scholarly viewpoint, it's his due.'

'Why?'

'He discovered the worms.'

'Actually, Statoil found them. But whatever. We tell Johanson, then what?'

'We get the governments on board.'

'We go public?'

'Why not? These days, everything's dealt with in the open. We're told about nuclear programmes in North Korea and Iran, as well as idiots releasing anthrax – not to mention BSE, swine fever and GM food. In France, dozens or maybe hundreds of people are dying because of contaminated shellfish – and they're not trying to keep it quiet, are they?'

'But if the public hears us talking about a Storegga Slide…' said Bohrmann.

'There's not enough evidence to be sure it's really that,' said Suess.

'The simulation demonstrates how rapidly dissociation occurs. I'd say that's all we need to know.'

'But it doesn't prove what happens.'

Bohrmann was about to argue, but he knew Suess was right. If they went public before their case was watertight, the oil lobby could dismiss the matter out of hand. Their theory would collapse. It was still too soon. 'All right,' he said. 'How long till we get a firm answer?'

Suess frowned. 'Another week, I'd say.'

'That's a bloody long time,' said Sahling.

'I'd say it's pretty damn fast,' Mirbach argued. 'You can spend months twiddling your thumbs for a taxonomy report on a worm, but we-'

'It's too long in the circumstances?

'We've got no choice,' Suess decided. 'A false alarm won't do anyone any good. We've got to keep working on it.'

Bohrmann couldn't take his eyes off the screen. The simulation had finished, but it continued in his mind, and what he saw made him shudder.

Trondheim, Norway

Johanson entered Olsen's office. He closed the door and sat down on the other side of his desk. 'Is this a good time?'

Olsen grinned. 'I've left no stone unturned for you.'

'And what did you find?'

Olsen lowered his voice to a whisper. 'What do you want first? The monsters or the natural disasters?'

He was keeping him on tenterhooks. Johanson played along. 'Whichever you'd prefer.'

'Come to think of it,' Olsen looked at him slyly, 'isn't it time you were a bit more forthcoming?'

Johanson wondered again how much he could tell his colleague. The man was clearly dying of curiosity and, in his position, Johanson would want to know too. But within hours of Olsen finding out, the entire university would he buzzing.

He'd have to make something up. Olsen would think he was nuts, of course, but it was a risk he was willing to take.

'I'm thinking of being the first to come out with a theory,' he murmured.

'Namely?'

'That the anomalies aren't just coincidence. Those jellyfish, the boats that keep vanishing, people missing or dead … I realised there had to be a plan.'

Olsen looked blank.

'It's all connected.'

'What are you after? The Nobel Prize or a visit from the men in white coats?'

'Neither.'

Olsen stared at him. 'You're pulling my leg.'

'No.'

'Oh, come on. You're talking about. . . the devil? Forces of evil? Little green men? The X-Files ?

'It's only a theory. But, there has to be a connection somewhere. Lots of different phenomena happening all at once – does that sound like coincidence to you?'

'I don't know.'

'There you go. You don't know. And I don't either.'

'What kind of connection did you have in mind?'

Johanson made an evasive gesture. 'It depends on what you've found.'

'Very clever.' Olsen curled his lip.

'Just tell me what you've got and we'll take it from there.'

Olsen bent down to open a drawer and pulled out a stack of paper. 'My Internet pickings,' he said. 'You nearly had me with that nonsense you were spouting.'

'What's the story?'

'The beaches in Central and South America are closed. No one's going into the water, and jellies are clogging the fishermen's nets. In Costa Rica, Chile and Peru, they're descending on the coastline in apocalyptic swarms. Portuguese men-of-war, plus a second species, very small, with extremely long, toxic tentacles. At first they thought they were box jellies, but now they suspect something else, perhaps a new species.'

Another new species, mused Johanson. First unidentifiable worms, now unidentifiable jellyfish…

'And the box jellyfish in Australia?'

'Similar problem.' Olsen riffled through his stack of paper. 'Increasing numbers. Fishing industry in chaos. Tourist industry on its knees…'

'What about the fish? Are they bothered by the jellies?'

'Too late – they've gone. The big shoals have abandoned the coastlines. Reports from fishing trawlers say they've left their normal range and headed out to sea.'

'But they won't find any food there. What's the official take on it?'

'All the affected areas have emergency committees,' said Olsen, 'but they won't tell you anything. I've tried.'

'So they're keeping the really bad stuff to themselves.'

'Quite likely.' Olsen pulled out a sheet of paper. 'Take a look at this. It's a list of stories that hit the press with a fanfare and haven't been heard of since. Jellies off the west coast of Africa. A probable jelly plague in Japan. Confirmation of a jelly invasion in the Philippines. People listed as missing, then a retraction, then not another peep. But that's nothing compared to this. For a few years now there's been talk of a particular kind of algae. Pfiesteria piscicida . A microscopic killer. Targets animals and humans. It's almost impossible to get rid of. Until recently it'd stuck to the other side of the Atlantic, but now France is affected. It's not looking pretty.'

'Any deaths?'

'You can bet on it. The French are fairly tight-lipped about it, but it seems they found the algae in contaminated lobster. I printed out all the key stuff.

He pushed one section of the documentation towards Johanson. 'Then we've got the disappearing boats. Some of the distress calls have been recorded, but they don't make any sense – they break off too early. Whatever happened to those vessels happened quickly.' Olsen waved another piece of paper at him. 'Three of the distress calls ended up on the web.'

'Go on.'

'The boats were attacked.'

'Attacked?'

'That's right.' Olsen rubbed his nose. 'Now there's a conspiracy theory for you. More grist to your mill, I suppose. The sea rises up and takes on mankind… About time too, after all the rubbish we've dumped in it. Not to mention the fish and the whales. Which reminds me, the last I heard was that ships in the east Pacific were being set upon by whales. Now everyone's too scared to venture out, apparently.'