Frank Schatzing - The Swarm

Skaugen frowned at him. 'When economic interests are at stake,' he said. 'Is that what you're saying?'

'Yes. Indeed.'

'Is there anything you'd like to add?'

Johanson pulled a printout from the pile. 'High levels of methane are being recorded in three areas of the world: Norway, Japan and off the east coast of Latin America. Then there's Lukas Bauer's data.'

'Who's he?' asked Skaugen.

'He works on deep-water currents. He's in the Greenland Sea right now. He uses drifting profilers to track the currents, then maps the data. I emailed his vessel. Here's what he had to say.' Johanson started to read: "Dear Colleague, I'm afraid I'm not acquainted with your worm, though we are recording exceptionally high levels of methane in the Greenland Sea. In fact, in certain areas, large quantities of gas are seeping into the water. It may have something to do with the discontinuities we're observing here – a nasty business, if I'm right. I'm sorry this is rather sketchy, but I'm awfully busy right now. I'm attaching a detailed report by Karen Weaver, a journalist who's here to help me and distract me with her questions. She's a smart girl, and she'll deal with any further queries. You can contact her on kweaver@deepbluesea.com.'

'What kind of discontinuities does he mean?' asked Lund.

'No idea. When I met him in Oslo, he seemed a little absent-minded – likeable, but the epitome of a scientist. He forgot to attach the report, so no surprises there. I emailed straight back, but he hasn't replied.'

'We should probably find out exactly what he's working on,' said Lund. 'Bohrmann'll know, won't he?'

'I'm guessing the journalist does too,' said Johanson.

'Karen… ?'

'Karen Weaver. I thought the name was familiar. Turns out I'd read some of her articles. Interesting woman. Studied biology, computer science and sport. She focuses on marine-related issues – always the big themes: charting the seas, plate tectonics, climate change. Her latest article was on deep-water currents. As for Bohrmann, I'll give him a call if he hasn't contacted me by the end of the week.'

'So, where does that leave us?' Hvistendahl asked them.

Skaugen's blue eyes settled on Johanson. 'Dr Johanson has told you what he thinks. It would be a disgrace for the oil industry to withhold information when people's lives may depend on it. Unquestionably he's right. That's why yesterday afternoon I had a meeting with the board, and made some clear recommendations – as a result of which the Norwegian government has now been informed.'

Stone's head jerked up. 'Informed of what – We don't have any firm results. We don't even-'

'Informed about the worms, Clifford. And about the dissociation of the methane deposits. About the risk of an impending methane disaster. And the danger that the slope could collapse. We even told them that our deep-sea robot filmed an unknown organism in the ocean. Isn't that enough?' Skaugen frowned at them all in turn. 'Dr Johanson will be pleased to know that his instincts were right. This morning I had the pleasure of an hour-long conversation with the scientific board of the JNOC. Now, I'm sure you all realise that it's a reputable company, but suppose for a moment that the Japanese were so eager to lead the way in methane extraction that they were prepared to do anything to succeed before the rest. Unlikely as it sounds, it could result in a certain amount of risk-taking – or maybe in a tendency to overlook expert opinion.' Skaugen's gaze shifted to Stone. 'Then imagine that there are people in this world whose ambition might tempt them to disregard warnings and suppress vital evidence. Oh, I know it's absurd but, hypothetically, if it were true… Well, think how dreadful it would be. We'd have to suspect the JNOC of masterminding a cover-up to hide the existence of a worm that had threatened the nation's dream of being first to get to the methane. We'd have to suspect that they'd been doing it for weeks.'

No one said anything. 'But we shouldn't be so hard on them,' Skaugen went on. 'What if Neil Armstrong had stayed in the shuttle just because of some worm! And, as I said, I was talking hypothetically. The JNOC has found a similar worm species off the coast of Japan, but the director assures me that they first came across it in the past three days. What an amazing coincidence.'

'Oh, crap,' said Hvistendahl, softly.

'And what does the JNOC intend to do?' asked Lund.

'Well, I imagine they'll inform their government. They're a state-run company, like Statoil. They can't afford to keep quiet – not that they would ever have been tempted to do so. God forbid! I might call the South Americans later, to see if they can find the worm as well. Imagine their shock if they did! They'd call straight back and tell us right away. And just for the record, in case anyone thinks I'm pissing all over the others, we're no better.'

'That's a bit-' said Hvistendahl.

'You don't agree?'

'We didn't know how serious it was until now.' Hvistendahl seemed put out. 'And, besides, telling the government was my recommendation too.'

I'm not accusing you of anything,' Skaugen said pointedly.

Johanson felt as if he was in a play. Skaugen was stage-managing Stone's execution, that much was clear. A look of grim satisfaction was spreading over Lund's face. But hadn't Stone found the worm in the first place?

'Clifford.' Lund broke the silence. 'When did you come across the worm?'

Stone's face paled. 'You should know,' he said. 'You were there.'

'You hadn't seen it before?'

'Before?'

'Like last year. When you decided to take matters into your own hands and build the Kongsberg prototype – a thousand metres under water.'

'What the hell is your problem?' Stone hissed. He glanced at Skaugen. 'I wasn't acting on my own. I had their backing. Come off it, Finn, what are you trying to suggest?'

'Oh, you had our backing all right,' said Skaugen. 'You said you'd be testing a new type of subsea unit designed for a maximum depth of a thousand metres.'

'Right.'

'Testing.'

'Well, of course you have to test it. Everything you do right up until production is one long test. You'd practically given me the go-ahead.' He turned to Hvistendahl. 'You too, Thor. You ran the trials in your lab and gave the OK.'

'That's true,' said Hvistendahl. 'We did.'

'Well, there you go then.'

'We asked you,' continued Skaugen, 'to investigate the site and take advice on whether it was prudent to construct a unit that hadn't been fully tested-'

'You can't do this to me!' Stone said angrily. 'That unit was approved.'

'- then get it up and running on a trial basis. Yes, we were prepared to take that risk. Providing all the reports were in favour.'

Stone leaped to his feet. 'Which they were,' he said, trembling with rage.

'Sit down,' said Skaugen, coldly. 'I've got news for you. Yesterday we lost contact with the Kongsherg prototype.'

Stone froze. Then he said, 'I'm not directly involved in monitoring the prototype. I didn't build the unit, just drove the project forward. What are you accusing me of? Of not knowing what's going on?'

'No. The seriousness of the present circumstances compelled us to reconstruct the exact chain of events leading to the building of the prototype. During our investigations we came across two reports that you seem to have… how shall I put it?… omitted to mention.'

Stone's fingers gripped the tabletop. He wobbled. Then he recovered himself His face was expressionless. 'I don't know anything about it.'

'One of the reports states that the exact location of the hydrates and gas pockets proved difficult to chart. It concludes that the risk of hitting a pocket was minimal, although it couldn't be ruled out.'

'The risk was negligible,' said Stone, hoarsely. 'For the past year the unit's productivity has exceeded all our expectations.'