Clive Cussler - Fast Ice

Yaeger punched up a chart, which appeared on the screen both on the Providence and in the conference room.

The chart compared the Earth’s average temperature to the amount of glacial coverage around the world over the past million years. As would be expected, every time temperatures rose, the glaciers melted. But instead of producing runaway warmth and a tropical Earth, each spike in temperatures was immediately followed by a cooling period, with the world returning first to equilibrium and then dropping into another ice age.

Geologically speaking, the spikes and the cooling trends came at regular intervals and the resulting chart looked something like an EKG readout familiar to anyone who’d ever been in a hospital or watched a medical program on television.

“Yvonne called it the Heartbeat of Gaia,” Yaeger explained. “Which is another name for Earth. She attributed this up and down pattern to the self-correcting abilities of the planet and the release of microbes from the Arctic regions during the hottest eras.”

Rudi added a point. “She called this the Firewall Theory, suggesting that the Earth’s stored biological history will act like a computer firewall to prevent or correct any human-created catastrophe, including climate change or global warming.”

Kurt nodded. It was interesting, if far-fetched. “By what mechanism does she suggest these microbes come and go?”

“It’s based on the melting of glaciers,” Yaeger said. “When the Earth gets too warm, the glaciers melt. As they melt, they release viruses, bacteria and algae that haven’t seen the light of day for twenty thousand years or more. These dormant microbes flood into the oceans, blooming rapidly because they have no natural enemies. They absorb the greenhouse gases, creating a lesser version of the Snowball Earth and bringing about a cooling period and another ice age. As the world ices over, these microbes are cut off from their source and slowly die.”

“Did she have any proof to offer?”

“Not that I can see,” Yaeger said. “But the dissertation was written years ago. A lot has changed since then. And it wouldn’t surprise us if that’s what she and Cora were looking for in Antarctica.”

Considering what he’d heard, it wouldn’t have surprised Kurt either. But looking and finding were two different things. “What are the chances of this being anything more than fantasy?”

Joe spoke up. “I remember hearing about a group of scientists who discovered strains of dormant bacteria living in the meltwater at the bottom of Antarctic lakes. And then, just last year, a research group in Tibet discovered twenty-eight previously unknown viruses dormant beneath a melting glacier.”

Kurt turned to Joe. “You seem to be well versed in this stuff.”

Joe grinned. “If it falls into the realm of zombie apocalypse scenarios, I make sure to stay up to date.”

Kurt laughed.

“You’re not the only one,” Yaeger insisted. “My research has revealed similar things, including a deadly incident in Russia back in 2016, when reindeer carcasses thawed out of the permafrost and promptly released anthrax into the air. A French scientist studying the case warned that bubonic plague, Spanish flu and smallpox are lurking there as well. And that if deeper ice begins to melt, we might be facing diseases that humanity hasn’t dealt with since the Neanderthals were running around. Diseases we have no immunity to.”

“As if the coronavirus and swine flu weren’t bad enough,” Rudi said.

The communications room fell silent, everyone considering the implications of new plagues emerging from the melting ice.

“Sounds like Yvonne’s theory was not out of the question,” Kurt said. “And it explains why she would be on Cora’s expedition. Rudi mentioned she was famous. Last I checked, publishing an academic paper or two doesn’t bring the paparazzi running to your door.”

“No,” Yaeger admitted. “But getting into a tabloid-worthy feud with your wealthy oil baron brother does.”

“Who’s her brother?”

“Ryland Lloyd,” Hiram said. “Owner and CEO of Mata Petroleum.”

As Yaeger spoke, he tapped away at the keyboard in front of him, bringing up photos of the two siblings. Yvonne was blond and natural, her features striking, without a hint of makeup. Ryland had dark brown hair and an angular face. His skin was weathered and furrowed. In one photo he had a tuft of hair underneath his chin, in the next he sported a full beard. “Ryland must be older than her.”

“Fifteen years her senior,” Yaeger said. “He took care of her after their parents died. She was only eight at the time. By all indications, they were extremely close in her formative years. We found an old interview where he claimed the two of them were so similar as to be of one mind. But as he ran the oil company and she went from school to school, all of that changed. In her own words, ‘My eyes were opened.’ After graduating from Stellenbosch, she identified as a radical environmentalist. Radical because, in her opinion, to be anything less made one an accomplice in the Earth’s destruction.”

“And I thought my sister and I were different,” Joe said.

Yaeger continued with more details. “By the time Yvonne was a grown woman, she was getting arrested for breaking into private research facilities and leading environmental protests that went a step too far. At the same time, her brother was buying up deepwater oil fields and mines in all parts of the world and positioning himself as a leader in the movement called climate progression.”

“Which is what?” Kurt asked.

“A third side to the never-ending debate about climate change,” Rudi said. “Unlike the climate change deniers, who insist global warming is not happening, and the climate change activists, who insist that it is and will soon be the end of the planet as we know it, the climate progression movement accepts the idea that climate change is occurring while insisting it will be of tremendous benefit to the Earth in the long run. They consider the idea of preventing it foolish and that, if anything, it should be encouraged and moved along at a faster clip.”

“That’s a new one,” Joe said.

“They’re a small but powerful group,” Rudi explained. “Most don’t like to draw attention to themselves. Ryland Lloyd being the exception.”

“He certainly makes up for the quiet ones,” Yaeger added. “Most famously claiming that melting the glaciers of Antarctica would open up access to eighty billion barrels of oil and countless deposits of rare earths and precious metals. When oil spiked a few years back, he floated the idea of drilling in the waters off the Antarctic coast, with plans to erect heated concrete and steel barriers to keep the area clear of ice.”

“I see what you mean about them being different,” Kurt said. “I’m assuming the sister wasn’t a fan of his drilling proposition.”

“Not one bit,” Rudi replied. “She and her group attacked the idea, viciously pointing out Mata Petroleum’s poor safety record, with secretly taped video of shoddy equipment and oil spills. In response, Ryland called the Antarctic continent empty and worthless in its current condition, suggesting it be strip-mined for minerals and scoured for oil. He went so far as to insist that oil is a natural product of the Earth and that a few spills would actually be good for the Antarctic environment.”

“Molten lava is a natural product of the Earth, too,” Joe said. “I’d rather not swim in it.”

Kurt laughed. “Did Ryland ever attempt to sink a well in Antarctic waters?”

Rudi shook his head. “He spent a year pushing hard for approval, but the firestorm caused by his comments made it a nonstarter. The crash in oil prices a few years later made it a moot point. There’s no way it would be profitable now.”