The Descent

'Where  you're  going  is  considerably  deeper.  Beneath  the  ocean  crust,  we're  dealing with  a  whole  different  rock  from  limestone,  much  newer  in  geological  terms  than  the continental rock. Until a few years  ago, it was presumed that the interior of ocean rock was nonporous and much too hot and pressurized to sustain life. Now we know better.

'The  abyss  beneath  the  Pacific  is  basalt,  which  gets  attacked  every  few  hundred thousand  years  by  huge  plumes  of  hydrogen-sulfide  brine,  or  sulfuric  acid,  which snake  up  from  deeper  layers.  This  acid  brine  eats  through  the  basalt  like  worms through  an  apple.  We  now  believe  there  may  be  as  many  as  six  million  miles  of naturally  occurring  cavities  in  the  rock  beneath  the  Pacific,  at  an  average  depth  of

6,100  fathoms. That's  36,600 feet  below sea level, or six-point-nine miles.'

'Six million miles?' someone said.

'Correct,'  said  the  cartographer.  'Very  little  of  that  is  passable  for  human  beings, naturally.  But  what  is  passable  is  more  than  enough.  Indeed,  what  is  passable  seems to have  been in use for thousands of years.'

Hadals, thought Ali, and heard the stillness all around her.

The  screen filled with gray,  shot through with squiggles and holes.  The  overall  effect was of worms burrowing through a block  of  mud,  surfacing  and  diving  into  the  nether zone.

'The  Pacific  floor  covers  roughly  64,186,000  square  miles.  As  you  can  see,   it's riddled with these  cavities, hundreds  and  thousands  of  miles  of  them.  From  Level  15, roughly four miles down, the density  of rock and our limited technology drop  our  scale to  1:120,000.  But  we've  still  managed  to  count  some  eighteen  thousand  significant subterranean  branches.

'They  seem to dead-end or circle on themselves  and go nowhere.  All  except  one.  We think this particular tunnel was carved  by  an  acid  plume  relatively  recently,  less  than a  hundred  thousand  years  ago,  just  moments  in  geological  time.  It  appears  to  have welled  up  from  beneath  the  Mariana  Trench  system,  then  corkscrewed  east  into younger  and  younger  basalt.  This  tunnel  goes  from  Point  A  –  where  we  sit  this morning – all the way  across to Point B.' He walked from  east  to  west  across  the  front of the screen, pulling his pencil point across  the  entire  Pacific  territory.  'Point  B  lies  at point-seven  degrees  north  by  145.23  degrees  east,  just  this  side  of  the   Mariana Trench system.  There  it dips deeper,  beneath the Trench.

'Where  it  goes,  we're  not  quite  sure.  It  probably  links  with  the  Carolinian  system west  of  the  Philippines.  A  profusion  of  tunnels  shoots  throughout  the  Asian  plate

systems,  giving  access  to  the  basements  of  Australia,  the  Indonesian  archipelago, China,  and  so  on.  You  name  it,  there  are  doorways  to  the  surface  everywhere.  We believe these  connect with the sub-Pacific network  here at Point B, but our scan is  still in progress.  It's  a  cartographic  missing  link  for  the  moment,  as  the  source  of  the  Nile once was. But not for long. In less than a year,  you are going to tell me where  it leads.' It  took Ali and the others a minute to catch up.

'You're sending us out there?'  someone gasped.

Ali  was   staggered.   She  couldn't  begin  to  grasp   the   enormity   of  the   endeavor. Nothing  January  or  Thomas  had  told  her  was  preparation  for  this.  She  heard  people breathing  hard  all  around  her.  What  could  this  mean,  she  wondered,  a  journey  so audacious?  Why  send  them  all  the  way  across  to  Asia?  It  was  a  stratagem  of  some sort,  a  geopolitical  chess  move.  It  reminded  her  less  of  Lewis  and  Clark's  traverse than  of  the  great  expeditions  of  discovery  once  launched  by  Spain  and  England  and Portugal.

It  struck  her.  Their  journey  was  meant  to  be  a  declaration,  a  pronunciamento. Wherever   the   expedition   went,   Helios   would   be   asserting   its   domain.   And   the cartographer  had  just  told  them  where  they  were  going,  beneath  the  Equator,  from South America all the way  to China.

In a flash, Ali saw the grand design.

Helios   –   Cooper,   the   failed   President   –   intended   to   lay   claim   to   the   entire subbasement  of  the  oceanic  bowl.  He  was  going  to  create  a  nation  for  himself.  But  a nation the size of the Pacific Ocean? She had to relay  this information to January.

Ali sat  in  the  darkness,  gaping  at  the  screen.  It  would  be  larger  than  all  the  nations on  earth  put  together!  Helios  would  own  almost  half  the   globe.  What  could  you possibly do with such immense space? How could you manifest such power?