Frank Schatzing - The Swarm

Frank gave Anawak a long look. Then his face creased into a smile. 'Wasn't that a stirring Indian lecture, my friend? Come on, we should drink to it. Except you don't drink…'

Trondheim, Norway

Still no sign of Lund. They were supposed to meet in the canteen, then make their way to the conference hall upstairs. Johanson stared at the clock on the wall above the counter, watching the hands creep round the dial. Steadily, remorselessly, the worms crept with them, never flagging. With each passing second they burrowed deeper into the ice. And there was nothing he could do.

Johanson shivered. Time isn't just passing, it's running out, a voice whispered inside him.

This is the beginning.

The beginning of the plan.

Now, that was ridiculous. Locusts weren't planning anything when they ruined a harvest they were hungry. Worms didn't plan and neither did jellyfish, nor algae.

Did Statoil have a plan?

Skaugen had flown over from Stavanger for the meeting. He'd asked for a detailed account of the findings. He seemed to have made some headway with his enquiries, and was keen to collate their results. Lund had wanted to meet Johanson beforehand so that they could agree on a strategy.

She must have been delayed, probably by Kare. They hadn't talked about her personal life since they'd left Trondheim for the Sonne . He'd avoided asking questions: he didn't like to press, and he hated indiscretion. Besides, he'd had the impression that she needed time to herself.

His mobile rang. It was Lund. 'What's happened to you?' he asked. 'I had to drink your coffee for you.'

'Sorry.'

'What's up?'

'I'm in the conference hall. I meant to ring ages ago, but I haven't had a second.'

There was an edge to her voice. 'Is everything all right?' he asked.

'Sure. Are you coming up?'

'I'll be there in a tick.'

So, she was upstairs already. Some business he wasn't supposed to know about, no doubt. Not that he minded. It was their bloody project.

He walked into the conference hall. Lund, Skaugen and Stone were standing in front of a large chart, which mapped the proposed location of the unit. Stone was talking in hushed tones to Lund, who seemed irritated. Skaugen didn't look too happy either. He turned as Johanson came in and gave a half-hearted smile. Hvistendahl was standing in the background, talking on the phone.

'Shall I come back later?' Johanson asked.

'No, you're just the man we need.' Skaugen gestured towards the table. 'Take a seat.'

Now Lund seemed to see Johanson for the first time. Leaving Stone in mid-sentence, she walked over and kissed his cheek.

'Skaugen wants to get rid of Stone,' she whispered. 'We need you to help us.'

Johanson showed no outward reaction. She was asking him to stir things up for them. What the hell was she thinking, getting him involved?

They sat down. Hvistendahl flipped his phone shut. Johanson was tempted to leave them to it. 'Right,' he said, sounding frostier than usual. 'A quick explanation before we get going. I had to narrow my investigation from its original focus, which is to say I specifically targeted scientists and institutes with known connections to energy conglomerates.'

'Was that wise?' asked Hvistendahl, in alarm. 'I thought we wanted to be as discreet as possible about, uh, putting our ear to the ground.'

'There was too much ground to cover. I had to set some boundaries.'

'Well, I hope you didn't say anything about-'

'I contacted them in my capacity as a biologist from the NTNU. A straightforward scientific enquiry.'

Skaugen pursed his lips. 'I don't suppose they were especially forthcoming.'

'That depends on how you look at it.' Johanson pointed to his file and the printouts. 'You have to read between the lines. Scientists make bad liars. They don't like politics. Their statements are like a dossier of muffled testimony – at times you can practically hear them shouting through their gags. I'm convinced that our worm has appeared elsewhere.'

'Convinced?' said Stone.

'So far no one's admitted it. But certain people became very curious.' Johanson looked at Stone. 'And they all happen to work for institutes with close ties to the energy industry. One of them is specifically involved in the technology of methane extraction.'

'Who?' Skaugen asked sharply.

'A scientist in Tokyo. Ryo Matsumoto. I didn't speak to him directly, only to his institute.'

'Who is he?' asked Hvistendahl.

'Japan's leading expert on gas hydrates,' said Skaugen. 'Worked on a methane-extraction project in Canada. He was testing drill sites in the permafrost.'

'His team got very excited as soon as I described the worm,' Johanson continued. 'They started asking questions. Was the worm capable of destabilising hydrates? How large were the colonies?'

'That doesn't mean they knew about it,' said Stone.

'Oh, yes, it does,' growled Skaugen. 'Matsumoto works for the Japan National Oil Corporation.'

'Are they interested in methane too?'

'You bet. In 2000 Matsumoto was mailing extraction methods in the Nankai Trough. The test results have been kept under wraps, but if he's to be believed, there are imminent plans for commercial extraction. The methane age is all he ever talks about.'

'Fine,' said Stone. 'But there's still no proof that he'd come across the worm himself.'

Johanson shook his head. 'Imagine our detective exercise in reverse. The enquiry comes to us. They ask my opinion as a so-called independent scientist. The person doing the asking is also a scientist and an adviser to the JNOC, but he claims he's writing out of scientific curiosity. Now, I don't want to tell him outright that we know about the worm. But I'm alarmed. I want to know what he knows. So I pump him for information, like Matsumoto's people did me. And that's the mistake. The questions I ask are too pointed, too targeted. If the scientist's got his wits about him, he'll know he's hit a nerve.'

'If that's true,' said Lund, 'then the Japanese continental slope has been affected as well.'

'But you don't have any proof' persisted Stone. 'There's not a shred of evidence to suggest that anyone other than us has come across it.' He leaned forward and the light caught the frame of his glasses. 'Dr Johanson, this type of information isn't any good to us. I'm sorry, but no one could have predicted the appearance of the worm because it's never been found elsewhere. I mean, for all we know, Matsumoto might just be curious to learn more about worms.'

'My instinct says he isn't,' said Johanson, unperturbed.

'Your instinct?'

'My instinct tells me that we haven't heard the end of it. The South Americans have found it too.'

'Let me guess. They asked leading questions too.'

'Exactly.'

'You disappoint me, Dr Johanson,' said Stone, scornfully. 'I thought you were a scientist. I assume you don't always rely on instinct.'

'Cliff,' said Lund, 'maybe you should shut up.'

Stone's eyes widened. He stared at her, outraged. 'I'm your boss,' he barked, 'and if anyone here needs to shut up it's-'

'That's enough,' said Skaugen. 'Not another word.'

Johanson could see that Lund was having difficulty containing herself He wondered how Stone had provoked her. 'In any case', he went on, 'I think Japan and South America know more than they'll let on. Just like us. Fortunately it's much easier to get reliable data on water than it is on deep-sea worms. There's hardly a stretch of water that isn't under analysis at any one time. I tapped a few people for information, and they confirmed the situation.'

'Which is?'

'Unusually high quantities of methane are entering the water column. It all fits.' Johanson hesitated. 'I'm sorry to bring instinct into this again, Dr Stone, but when I was speaking to Matsumoto's people I had the impression that they were trying to let me guess the truth. No doubt they were sworn to secrecy, but no serious scientist or institute would play with information that people's lives depend on. It's indefensible. It only happens when-'