Frank Schatzing - The Swarm

'Negligible isn't good enough.'

'But we didn't hit any gas pockets! We're extracting oil. The unit works. The prototype's been a resounding success – successful enough to convince you to launch a proper unit and this time make it official.'

'The second report,' said Lund, 'states that you found an unidentified worm that colonises hydrates.'

'For God's sake, yes, all right. It was the ice worm.'

'Did you examine it?'

'Why the hell would I?'

'Did anyone examine it?'

'It was… Of course we examined it.'

'The report says it resembled an ice worm. There was no conclusive verdict. It mentions large numbers of the creatures. Apparently their effect on the environment was unknown, although methane was detected in the water around them.'

Stone's face was white. 'That's not quite… not quite true. The worms were confined to a limited area.'

'But in that area there were thousands of them.'

'We built to one side of it. I didn't think the report. . . Well, it wasn't relevant.'

'Were you able to classify the worm?' Skaugen asked calmly.

'We were certain that it-'

'Could you classify it?'

Stone's jaws were grinding. 'No,' he conceded, after a long pause.

'Fine,' said Skaugen. 'In that case, Cliff, you're released from your duties for the moment. Tina will take your place.'

'You can't do that!'

'We'll discuss it later.'

Stone turned to Hvistendahl, who avoided his eyes. 'For Christ's sake, Thor, the unit worked fine.'

'You've been a fool,' said Hvistendahl levelly.

Suddenly Stone looked crushed. 'I'm sorry,' he said. 'I didn't mean to. I only wanted to get the unit up and running.'

Johanson felt embarrassed for him. He'd wanted to be the first to launch a successful prototype. The subsea unit was his baby, a unique chance for him to further his career, so he'd decided to ignore the worms.

For a while it had worked. There'd been a successful year of unofficial tests, then the official start, a production run and the conquering of new depths. It could have been Stone's victory parade. But the worm had appeared again. And this time it wasn't restricted to a few square metres.

Skaugen rubbed his eyes. 'I apologise for dragging you into this, Dr Johanson,' he said, 'but you're part of the team.'

'So I see.'

'The fact is, things are off-kilter all over the world. Accidents, anomalies and so on. People are getting nervous, and oil companies are useful scapegoats. We can't afford to make mistakes. Can we still count on you, Dr Johanson?'

Johanson sighed. Then he nodded.

'Good. That's what we thought. Oh, don't get me wrong, it's entirely your decision. But since you may find yourself needing to invest more time in your role as scientific coordinator, we took the liberty of approaching the NTNU.'

Johanson sat up. 'You did what ?'

'We asked if you might take leave of absence. I also put your name forward to the government.'

Johanson was dumbstruck. Then he recovered himself 'Hang on a minute-'

'It's a proper research post,' interrupted Lund. 'Statoil will provide the budget, and you'll get all the help you need.'

'I would have preferred to be-'

'I can see that you're annoyed,' said Skaugen, 'and I understand why. But I'm sure you're aware of how critical the situation is out there. Apart from the Geomar people, no one is half as well informed as you are. You don't have to accept, of course, but it's in the public interest that you do.'

Johanson felt sick with rage. He had a scathing retort on the tip of his tongue, but he bit it back. 'I see,' he said stiffly.

'Do you accept, then?'

'I couldn't possibly refuse.' He shot Lund a look, hoping it would slice her in two. She looked away.

'Believe me, Dr Johanson,' Skaugen said gravely, 'Statoil is very grateful to you. You've already earned our utmost respect and admiration for everything you've done. But I'd like you to know that in me, at least, you've gained a friend. I'm sorry if we bulldozed you into this, but when this is all resolved you can run me over in any kind of vehicle you like. You can nail me to a cross, if it helps.'

Johanson held the other man's clear blue eyes. 'OK,' he said. 'I might take you up on that.'

'SIGUR, SLOW DOWN, for God's sake!' Lund was running after him as he hurried down the path towards the car park. The research centre was surrounded by lawns and trees, idyllically placed on a hill near the cliffs, but Johanson wasn't in the mood for pretty views. He wanted to get back to his office.

'Sigur!'

She caught up with him but he strode on.

'Oh, come on, Sigur. Do you have to be so pigheaded?' she yelled. 'Do you seriously want me to chase you?'

Johanson stopped abruptly and spun round. She almost ran into him. 'Well, why not? We all know how quick you are. Quick to speak and quick to make promises. In fact, you're so damn quick that you make plans for your friends without even asking.'

'You self-righteous bastard. I didn't want to interfere.'

'No? Well, that's reassuring.' He didn't wait for a reply but continued down the path.

Lund hesitated for a second, then appeared at his side. 'OK, I should have told you. I'm sorry. Honestly.'

'You should have asked me.'

'We wanted to, for God's sake, but Skaugen charged straight in and you got the wrong impression.'

'I got the impression that you bought me from the NTNU, like a packhorse.'

'No.' She tugged at his sleeve, forcing him to stop. 'We were sounding them out, that's all. We wanted to know whether hypothetically, they would grant you some leave.'

Johanson snorted. 'That's not how it sounded.'

'It came out all wrong.'

Johanson glanced down at her fingers, which were still wrapped in his sleeve. She let go.

'No one's forcing you to do anything,' she said. 'If you change your mind, that's fine too. We'll deal with it.'

Birds were singing in the background, and the chug of distant motorboats blew in on the breeze from the fjords. 'If I change my mind,' he said, 'it won't look good for you, though.'

'I'll just have to live with it. I didn't have to recommend you. It was my decision, and… Well, I jumped the gun a bit with Skaugen.'

'What did you tell him?'

'That you'd do it.' She smiled. 'I promised. But that's not your problem.'

Johanson felt his anger ebb away. He would have liked to keep hold of it for a while longer to teach Lund a lesson.

'Skaugen trusts me,' said Lund. 'I couldn't meet you in the canteen earlier. He'd called me up there on my own to tell me about Stone and those hushed-up reports. It's all Cliffs fault. If only he'd been honest from the start, we wouldn't be in this mess.'

'No, Tina.' Johanson shook his head. 'He didn't think the worms could be a danger, that's all.' He was defending Stone, even though he'd never liked the man. 'He just wanted to get on with it.'

'If he didn't think they were an issue, why did he hide the reports?'

'It would've held up the project. No one would have taken them seriously but Statoil would have done its duty and the project would have been delayed.'

'But we are taking it seriously!'

'Sure, but only because of the size of the problem. There was only a small patch of them when Stone found them, right?'

'Hmm.'

'A densely covered patch, perhaps, but a patch all the same. I bet it happens all the time. Small organisms often appear en masse , and how much damage can a few worms do? No one would have worried about it, believe me. When they came across the ice worm in Mexico, they didn't ring alarm bells either, even though the hydrates were crawling with them.'

'Sharing the reports is a matter of principle. The project was his responsibility.'