The Descent

'The abyss  is  the  abyss,'  said  Cooper.  'Light  one  and  you  light  the  other.  We'll  all  be better  for this, you'll see.'

'Propaganda.' Vera  turned her head in distaste.

'Your expedition,' Thomas said. He was angry  tonight. 'Where have  they  gone?'

'I'm afraid the news isn't good,'  said  Cooper.  'We've  lost  contact  with  the  expedition. You can imagine our concern. Ham, do you have  our map?'

Cooper's  son  opened  his  briefcase  and  produced  a  folded  bathymetric  map  showing the  ocean  floor.  It  was  creased  and  marked  with  a  dozen  different  pens  and  grease pencils.  Cooper  traced  his  finger  helpfully  across  the  latitudes  and  longitudes.  'Their last known position was west-southwest  of  Tarawa,  in  the  Gilbert  Islands.  That  could change, of course. Every  now and then we harvest  dispatches from the bedrock.'

'You're still hearing from them?' asked January.

'In  a  sense.  For  over  three  weeks  now,  the  dispatches  have  been  nothing  but  bits and  pieces  of  older  communications  sent  months  ago.  The  transmissions  get  mangled by  the  layers  of  stone.  We  end  up  with  echoes.  Electromagnetic   riddles.  It   only suggests where  they  were  weeks  ago. Where they  are today, who can say?'

'That's all you can tell us?' asked January.

'We'll  find  them.'  Eva  Shoat  suddenly  spoke  up.  She  was  fierce.  Her  eyes  were bloodshot from crying. Cooper cut a glance at her.

'You  must  be  worried  sick,'  Vera  sympathized.  'Montgomery  is  your  only  child?' Cooper narrowed his eyes  at Vera.  She nodded to him. Her question had been phrased deliberately.

'Yes,'  said  Eva,  then  looked  at  her  husband's  son.  'I  mean  no.  I'm  worried.  I'd  be worried if it were  Hamilton down there.  I should never  have  allowed Monty  to go.'

'He chose it himself,' Cooper tautly  observed.

'Only  because  he  was  desperate,'  Eva  snapped  back.  'How  else  could  he  compete  in this family?'

Vera  saw  Thomas  across  the  table,  rewarding  her  with  the  slightest  hint  of  a  smile. She had done well.

'He wanted to be part  of things,' Cooper said.

'Yes, part  of this,' Eva said, throwing her hand at the skybox  view.

'And  I've  told  you,  Eva,  he  is  a  part  of  it.  You  have  no  idea  how  important  his contribution will be.'

'My son had to risk his life to be important to you?' Cooper disengaged. It  was an old argument, obviously.

'What precisely  is this, Mr Cooper?' Foley asked.

'I told you,' said Sandwell. 'A research  facility.'

'Yes,' said January, 'a place to season  your  hadal  captives.  By  the  way,  General,  are you aware  the term  was once used about African slaves  arriving in this country?'

'You'll have  to excuse  Sandy,' Cooper said. 'He's a recent  acquisition,  still  adapting  to

the  language  and  life  on  campus.  I  assure  you,  we're  not  creating  a  population  of slaves.'

Sandwell bristled, but kept  silent.

'Then what do you need live hadals for? What is it you're researching?' Vera  asked. Cooper  steepled  his  fingers  gravely.  'We're  finally  starting  to  collect  longer-term data  on  the  colonization,'  he  said.  'Soldiers  were  the  first  group  to  go  down  in  any numbers. Six years  later, they're  the first to show real side effects. Alterations.'

'The  bony  growths   and  cataracts?'   said  Vera.   'But  we've   seen   those   since  the beginning. The  problems go away  with time.'

'This is different. In  the  last  four  to  ten  months  we've  been  monitoring  an  outbreak of   symptoms.   Enlarged   hearts,   high-altitude   edemas,   skeletal   dysplasia,   acute leukemia,  sterility,  skin  cancer.  The  horning  and  bone  cancers  have  come  charging back. The  most  disturbing  development  is  that  we're  starting  to  see  these  symptoms among  the  veterans'  newborns.  For  five  years  we've  had  nothing  but  normal  births. Now,  suddenly,  their  newborns   are   displaying  morbid  defects.   I'm   talking  about mutations. The  infant mortality rate  has soared.'

'Why haven't I heard of this?' January asked suspiciously.

'For  the  same  reason  Helios  is  rushing  to  find  a  cure.  Because  once  the  public  finds out, every  human inside the planet is going to evacuate.  The  interior is  going  to  be  left without  security  forces,  without  a  labor  force,  without  colonists.  You  can  imagine  the setback.  After  so  much  effort  and  investment,  we  could  lose  the  whole  subplanet  to whatever  this is. Helios doesn't want that to happen.'

'What's going on?'

'In twenty-five  words or less? The  subplanet is changing us.'  Cooper  gestured  at  the creature  on the stadium screen. 'Into that.'

Eva  Shoat  laid  a  hand  upon  her  long  throat.  'You  knew  this,  and  you  let  my  son  go down?'