Michael Crichton - The Lost World

Thorne pointed to the wallboard, the satellite images. "These islands here?"

"Yes," Malcolm said, looking briefly. "They're strung out in an arc, all about ten miles offshore from the bay of Puerto Cortes. Supposedly they're all uninhabited. Local people call them the Five Deaths."

"Why?" Kelly said.

"Some old Indian story," Malcolm said. "Something about a brave warrior captured by a king who offered him his choice of deaths. Burning, drowning, crushing, hanging, decapitation. The warrior said he would take them all, and he went from island to island, experiencing the various challenges. Sort of a New World version of the labors of Hercules - "

"So that's what it is!" Kelly said, and ran out of the room.

Malcolm looked blank.

He turned to Thorne, who shrugged.

Kelly returned, carrying the German children's book in her hand. She gave it to Malcolm.

"Yes," he said. "Die Funf Todesarten. The Five Ways of Death. Interesting that it is in German…"

"He has lots of German books," Kelly said.

"Does he? That bastard. He never told me."

"That means something?" Kelly said.

"Yes, it means a lot. Hand me that magnifying glass, would you?"

Kelly gave him a magnifying glass from the desk. "What does it mean?"

"The Five Deaths are ancient volcanic islands," he said. "Which means that they are geologically very rich. Back in the twenties, the Germans wanted to mine them." He peered at the images, squinting. "Ah. Yes, these are the islands, no question. Matanceros, Muerte, Tacano, Sorna, Pena…All names of death and destruction…All right. I think we may be close. Do we have any satellite pictures with spectrographic analyses of the cloud cover?"

Arby said, "Is that going to help you find Site B?"

"What?" Malcolm spun around. "What do you know about Site B?"

Arby was sitting at the computer, still working. "Nothing. Just that Dr. Levine was looking for Site B. And it was the name in the files."

"What files?"

"I've recovered some InGen files from this computer. And, searching through old records, I found references to Site B…But they're pretty confusing. Like this one." He leaned back, to let Malcolm look at the screen.

Summary: Plan Revisions #35

PRODUCTION (SITE B)____________________

AIR HANDLERS Grade 5 to Grade 7

LABSTRUCTURE 400 cmm to 510 cmm

BIO SECURITY Level PK/3 to Level PK/5

CONVEYOR RATES 3 mpm to 2.5 mpm

HOLDING PENS 13 hectares to 26 hectares

STAFF 17 (4 admin) to 19 (4 admin)

COMM PROTOCOL ET(VX) to RDT (VX)

Malcolm frowned. "Curious, but not very helpful. It doesn't tell us which island - or even if it's on an island at all. What else have you got?"

"Well…" Arby flicked keys. "Let's see. There's this."

SITE B ISLAND NETWORK NODAL POINTS

ZONE I (RIVER) 1-8

ZONE 2 (COAST) 9-16

ZONE 3 (RIDGE) 17-24

ZONE 4 (VALLEY) 25-32

Malcolm said, "Okay, so it's an island. And Site B has a network- but a network of what? Computers?"

Arby said, "I don't know. Maybe a radio network."

"For what purpose?" Malcolm said. "What would a radio network be used for? This isn't very helpful."

Arby shrugged. He took it as a challenge. He began typing furiously again. Then said, "Wait!…Here's another one…if I can just format it…There! Got it!"

He moved away from the screen, so the others could see.

Malcolm looked and said, "Very good. Very good!"

SITE B LEGENDS

EAST WING WEST WING LOADING BAY

LABORATORY ASSEMBLY BAY ENTRANCE

OUTLYING MAIN CORE GEO TURBINE

CONVENIENCE STORE WORKER VILLAGE GEO CORE

GAS STATION POOL/TENNIS PUTTING GREENS

MGRS HOUSE JOG PATH GAS LINES

SECURITY ONE SECURITY TWO THERMAL LINES

RIVER DOCK BOATHOUSE SOLAR ONE

SWAMP ROAD RIVER ROAD RIDGE ROAD

MTN VIEW ROAD CLIFF ROAD HOLDING PENS

"Now we're getting somewhere," Malcolm said, scanning the listing. "Can you print this out?"

"Sure." Arby was beaming. "Is it really good?"

"It really is, " Malcolm said.

Kelly looked at Arby and said, "Arb. Those're the text labels that go with a map."

"Yeah, I think so. Pretty neat, huh?" He pushed a button, sending the image to the printer.

Malcolm peered at the listing some more, then turned his attention back to the satellite maps, looking closely at each one with the magnifying glass. His nose was just inches from the photographs.

"Arb," Kelly said, "don't just sit there. Come on! Recover the map! That's what we need!"

"I don't know if I can," Arby said. "It's a proprietary thirty-two-bit format…I mean, it's a big job."

"Stop whining, Arb. Just do it."

"Never mind," Malcolm said. He stepped away from the satellite images pinned on the wall. "It's not important."

"It's not?" Arby said, a little wounded.

"No, Arby. You can stop. Because, from what you've already discovered, I am quite certain we can identify the island, right now."

Ed James yawned, and pushed the earpiece tighter into his ear. He wanted to make sure he got all this. He shifted in the driver's seat of his gray Taurus, trying to get comfortable, trying to stay awake. The small tape recorder was spinning in his lap, next to his notepad, and the crumpled papers from two Big Macs. James looked across the street at Levine's apartment building. The lights were on in the third-floor apartment.

And the bug he had placed there last week was working fine. Through his earpiece, he heard one of the kids say, "How?"

And then the crippled guy, Malcolm, said, "The essence of verification is multiple lines of reasoning that converge at a single point."

"Meaning what?" the kid said.

Malcolm said, "Just look at the Landsat pictures."

On his notepad, James wrote LANDSAT.

"We already looked at those," the girl said.

James felt foolish not to have realized earlier that these two kids were working for Levine. He remembered them well, they were in the class Levine taught. There was a short black kid and a gawky white girl. Just kids: maybe eleven or twelve. He should have realized.

Not that it mattered now, he thought. He was getting the information anyway. James reached across the dashboard and plucked out the last two French fries, and ate them, even though they were cold.

"Okay," he heard Malcolm say. "It's this island here. This is the island Levine went to."

The girl said doubtfully, "You think so? This is…Isla Sorna."

James wrote ISLA SORNA.

"That's our island," Malcolm said. "Why? Three independent reasons. First, it's privately owned, so it hasn't been thoroughly searched by the Costa Rican government. Second, privately owned by whom? By the Germans, who leased rights to mineral excavations, back in the twenties."

"All the German books."

"Exactly. Third, from Arby's list - and from another independent source - it is clear that there is volcanic gas located at Site B. So, which islands have volcanic gas? Take the magnifying glass and look for yourself. Turns out, only one island does,"

"You mean this here?" the girl said. "Right. That's volcanic smoke."

"How do you know?"

"Spectrographic analysis. See this spike here? That's elementary sulfur in the cloud cover. There aren't really any sources for sulfur except volcanic sources."

"What's this other spike?" the girl said.

"Methane," Malcolm said. "Apparently there is - a fairly large source of methane gas."

"Is that also volcanic?" Thorne said.

"It might be. Methane is released from volcanic activity, but most commonly during active eruptions. The other possibility is, it might be organic.