“Is it trying to communicate?”
A shrug. “We don’t know. ELF waves, unlike shorter EM waves, penetrate water to great depths. They do not penetrate ice well, however, though we have been picking up the signals where the ice is thin.”
“Like here, at the Pit.”
“Exactly.”
“So…what does all of that mean?”
“We don’t know. And that, Major, is the point. We don’t know.” He spread his hands. “To those of us monitoring it at the time, it was almost as though…as though it were listening. And the ELF transmission could be an attempt to communicate. Or…it could be RF leakage from some other process entirely. We have no way of deciphering it.”
“You really think it could hear us? Hear the battle, I mean? It’s eight hundred kilometers from here, and eighty kilometers deep.”
“Believe me, Major. I have had considerable experience working underwater. Sound travels very well in the sea, and the roof of ice would serve to focus the sound downward, into deep channels. Yes, I believe it heard. Certainly the sounds of the bombardment. Perhaps other things as well. We don’t know what their capabilities are.”
“What do you recommend?”
“There is little that can be done at this point, Major. Unless you would care to release the research submarines you brought here with you. For as long as we have listened up here, the Singer has remained unmoving, unresponsive. Someday, we will have to go to it, if we are to make contact.”
“I agree, Doctor. Unfortunately, we’re in the middle of a war here, you may have noticed. Not exactly the best time to try making contact with an alien civilization.”
“Understood. But…if it should become necessary to make direct contact…”
“Show me unequivocal proof that we can talk to them, and that they want to, and I’ll do everything in my power to see that it happens.”
“There could be a terrible danger. This…this war is not exactly proof of our civilized nature. We don’t know how the Singer will react.”
Jeff folded his hands before him on the desk. “Dr. Ishiwara, my orders are to safeguard American and CWS interests here on Europa. The Chinese are a threat to those interests. What do you suggest I do to stop them—use harsh language? Anyway, if the Singer gets interested enough to come up and see what’s going on—”
“We might wish it had stayed below, Major.”
“So what is it you want? To surrender? That’s what the Chinese are demanding.” A single, brief communiqué had come through after the enemy retreat from the crater yesterday: Surrender or be destroyed. It was part ultimatum, part message, a declaration that the enemy considered their initial defeat a temporary setback only.
Ishiwara sighed. “Some here have suggested as much. To be blunt, they don’t see any other way out.”
“Dr. Vasaliev?”
“I shouldn’t name names. But we have discussed it.”
Warhurst watched the Japanese scientist for a moment, hands folded. The man returned his stare with a bland lack of expression. “They put you up to this, didn’t they?”
“Excuse me, Major?”
“Vasaliev and the others who want to surrender—or who are afraid that our little scrap with the Chinese up here is going to wake giants down below. You weren’t going along with them, and they made you do this to…what? Humiliate you? Pull you into line? Show you how intractable us low-brow military types can be?”
“I…really can’t comment on that, Major.”
“No, of course not.”
The expressionless exterior finally cracked, just a little. He looked away, embarrassed. “Perhaps, sir, you should speak directly with Dr. Vasaliev about this.”
“I think I will. I don’t like to see power or authority abused.” Jeff leaned back in his chair. “Tell me about yourself, Dr. Ishiwara.”
He looked surprised. “What is it you want to know?”
“You are an authority on underwater archeology. That much is in your record. And my impression is that while Pyotr Vasaliev is the director here, he’s basically the administrative honcho, while you’re the chief expert on our friends down below. Am I right?”
“Dr. Vasaliev has a great deal of expertise in xenotechnoarcheology. He studied under Dr. Alexander himself when he taught at CMU.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“I have only the highest respect for Dr. Vasaliev, Major.”
“Of course.” He decided to try a different approach. “So…what interested you in underwater archeology?”