water pocket?” Rachel asked.
“No. Not liquid. Strangely, this anomaly was harder than the ice surrounding it.”
Rachel paused. “So . . . it’s a boulder or something?”
Ekstrom nodded. “Essentially.”
Rachel waited for the punch line. It never came. I’m here because NASA found a big rock in the ice?
“Not until PODS calculated the density of this rock did we get excited. We immediately flew a team up here to analyze it. As it turns out, the rock in the ice beneath us is significantly more dense than any type of rock found here on Ellesmere Island. More dense, in fact, than any type of rock found within a four-hundred-mile radius.”
Rachel gazed down at the ice beneath her feet, picturing the huge rock down there somewhere. “You’re saying someone moved it here?”
Ekstrom looked vaguely amused. “The stone weighs more than eight tons. It is embedded under two hundred feet of solid ice, meaning it has been there untouched for over three hundred years.”
Rachel felt tired as she followed the administrator into the mouth of a long, narrow corridor, passing between two armed NASA workers who stood guard. Rachel glanced at Ekstrom. “I assume there’s a logical explanation for the stone’s presence here . . . and for all this secrecy?”
“There most certainly is,” Ekstrom said, deadpan. “The rock PODS found is a meteorite.”
Rachel stopped dead in the passageway and stared at the administrator. “A meteorite?” A surge of disappointment washed over her. A meteorite seemed utterly anticlimactic after the President’s big buildup. This discovery will single-handedly justify all of NASA’s past expenditures and blunders? What was Herney thinking? Meteorites were admittedly one of the rarest rocks on earth, but NASA discovered meteorites all the time.
“This meteorite is one of the largest ever found,” Ekstrom said, standing rigid before her. “We believe it is a fragment of a larger meteorite documented to have hit the Arctic Ocean in the seventeen hundreds. Most likely, this rock was thrown as ejecta from that ocean impact, landed on the Milne Glacier, and was slowly buried by snow over the past three hundred years.”
Rachel scowled. This discovery changed nothing. She felt a growing suspicion that she was witnessing an overblown publicity stunt by a desperate NASA and White House—two struggling entities attempting to elevate a propitious find to the level of earth-shattering NASA victory.
“You don’t look too impressed,” Ekstrom said.
“I guess I was just expecting something . . . else.”
Ekstrom’s eyes narrowed. “A meteorite of this size is a very rare find, Ms. Sexton. There are only a few larger in the world.”
“I realize—”
“But the size of the meteorite is not what excites us.”
Rachel glanced up.
“If you would permit me to finish,” Ekstrom said, “you will learn that this meteorite displays some rather astonishing characteristics never before seen in any meteorite. Large or small.” He motioned down the passageway. “Now, if you would follow me, I’ll introduce you to someone more qualified than I am to discuss this find.”
Rachel was confused. “Someone more qualified than the administrator of NASA?”
Ekstrom’s Nordic eyes locked in on hers. “More qualified, Ms. Sexton, insofar as he is a civilian. I had assumed because you are a professional data analyst that you would prefer to get your data from an unbiased source.”
Touché. Rachel backed off.
She followed the administrator down the narrow corridor, where they dead-ended at a heavy, black drapery. Beyond the drape, Rachel could hear the reverberant murmur of a crowd of voices rumbling on the other side, echoing as if in a giant open space.
Without a word, the administrator reached up and pulled aside the curtain. Rachel was blinded by a dazzling brightness. Hesitant, she stepped forward, squinting into the glistening space. As her eyes adjusted, she gazed out
“No. Not liquid. Strangely, this anomaly was harder than the ice surrounding it.”
Rachel paused. “So . . . it’s a boulder or something?”
Ekstrom nodded. “Essentially.”
Rachel waited for the punch line. It never came. I’m here because NASA found a big rock in the ice?
“Not until PODS calculated the density of this rock did we get excited. We immediately flew a team up here to analyze it. As it turns out, the rock in the ice beneath us is significantly more dense than any type of rock found here on Ellesmere Island. More dense, in fact, than any type of rock found within a four-hundred-mile radius.”
Rachel gazed down at the ice beneath her feet, picturing the huge rock down there somewhere. “You’re saying someone moved it here?”
Ekstrom looked vaguely amused. “The stone weighs more than eight tons. It is embedded under two hundred feet of solid ice, meaning it has been there untouched for over three hundred years.”
Rachel felt tired as she followed the administrator into the mouth of a long, narrow corridor, passing between two armed NASA workers who stood guard. Rachel glanced at Ekstrom. “I assume there’s a logical explanation for the stone’s presence here . . . and for all this secrecy?”
“There most certainly is,” Ekstrom said, deadpan. “The rock PODS found is a meteorite.”
Rachel stopped dead in the passageway and stared at the administrator. “A meteorite?” A surge of disappointment washed over her. A meteorite seemed utterly anticlimactic after the President’s big buildup. This discovery will single-handedly justify all of NASA’s past expenditures and blunders? What was Herney thinking? Meteorites were admittedly one of the rarest rocks on earth, but NASA discovered meteorites all the time.
“This meteorite is one of the largest ever found,” Ekstrom said, standing rigid before her. “We believe it is a fragment of a larger meteorite documented to have hit the Arctic Ocean in the seventeen hundreds. Most likely, this rock was thrown as ejecta from that ocean impact, landed on the Milne Glacier, and was slowly buried by snow over the past three hundred years.”
Rachel scowled. This discovery changed nothing. She felt a growing suspicion that she was witnessing an overblown publicity stunt by a desperate NASA and White House—two struggling entities attempting to elevate a propitious find to the level of earth-shattering NASA victory.
“You don’t look too impressed,” Ekstrom said.
“I guess I was just expecting something . . . else.”
Ekstrom’s eyes narrowed. “A meteorite of this size is a very rare find, Ms. Sexton. There are only a few larger in the world.”
“I realize—”
“But the size of the meteorite is not what excites us.”
Rachel glanced up.
“If you would permit me to finish,” Ekstrom said, “you will learn that this meteorite displays some rather astonishing characteristics never before seen in any meteorite. Large or small.” He motioned down the passageway. “Now, if you would follow me, I’ll introduce you to someone more qualified than I am to discuss this find.”
Rachel was confused. “Someone more qualified than the administrator of NASA?”
Ekstrom’s Nordic eyes locked in on hers. “More qualified, Ms. Sexton, insofar as he is a civilian. I had assumed because you are a professional data analyst that you would prefer to get your data from an unbiased source.”
Touché. Rachel backed off.
She followed the administrator down the narrow corridor, where they dead-ended at a heavy, black drapery. Beyond the drape, Rachel could hear the reverberant murmur of a crowd of voices rumbling on the other side, echoing as if in a giant open space.
Without a word, the administrator reached up and pulled aside the curtain. Rachel was blinded by a dazzling brightness. Hesitant, she stepped forward, squinting into the glistening space. As her eyes adjusted, she gazed out
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