CHAPTER 97
“That’s way outside my jurisdiction,” said Cerniga. “It’s spook territory. CIA. NSA. God knows what else.”
“I’m just asking if you can make a few inquiries,” said Deborah.
“For old times’ sake?”
Deborah held her breath, gauging his tone. Last time they had spoken it had been at the end of a case where she had helped him out, but the way things had wound up hadn’t been characteristic of the case itself. Before the end he had spent a good deal of the time thinking she was a pain in the ass, and he had probably been right. But by the end she had earned his respect, and that was what she was banking on now.
Old times’ sake.
She couldn’t tell if he was smiling, so it was a gamble to answer as she did: “Something like that, yeah.”
There was a pause in which he might have blown out a long sigh, and she could tell she had won.
“Congrats on the promotion, by the way,” she said.
“Yeah, yeah,” said Cerniga, and now she could hear the smile. “I’ll call you back.”
As the submarine drew closer it was apparent that what had looked to be a sheer wall of rock was actually a corrugated mass of irregular stone outcrops stretching up like the bones of the island, and what had seemed solid was pocked with recesses and tubelike caverns made as hot lava belched into the sea. Where the molten rock had been in contact with the cooling water it had hardened, but the hot core had continued to flow, creating great stone pipes running down to the seabed.
“No wonder we don’t know anything about what lives down here,” said Parks. “Combine the intricacy of the cave network with the fact that the only way in is almost a hundred and fifty meters underwater at the ass end of the world, a place populated mainly by terrorists, and it’s hardly surprising we never found them before.”
Thomas had had plenty of reasons not to like Parks before getting into the submarine, most of which had had to do with their encounters before making this fairly unholy alliance. He had thought that as long as their pact seemed genuine, as long as their goals were the same, he would have no difficulty getting past their previous hostility, but this was not the case, and not merely because Thomas hadn’t forgiven him for abandoning him in the o-furo. It was simpler than that. Though he sometimes found him funny and couldn’t help admiring his self-possession, Thomas just didn’t like Parks, and the more time he spent with him the more the man’s brash confidence and arrogant dismissal of whatever didn’t interest him had begun to rankle. Everything he said seemed calculated to irritate or offend, and the fact that it was not actually calculated at all because Parks never really considered what anybody else thought somehow made it worse.
“Finding the fishapod here is going to be so huge,” he said, “that everyone will forget that what this jungle backwater was previously famous for was the Muslim and Christian idiots throwing coconuts at each other.”
“You look forward to that, don’t you?” said Thomas. “Being the one to enlighten the world. So what’s it all about, this quest of yours?”
“What do you mean?”
“There must be some reason for your Captain Ahab routine.”
“Some personal tragedy, you mean? Some unbearable loss that turned me against God?” said Parks. “Yeah, my puppy died when I was three. Never got over it. How could Jesus let that cute little guy . . .”
“Okay, okay,” said Thomas. “I get it.”
“You don’t need to lose a baby to see that the universe has no controlling intelligence,” said Parks, “that the world is run by the greedy, the cruel, and the stupid. If there’s a God, He fell asleep at the wheel right after humans showed up.”
“Is that what you taught the kids at Berkeley?” said Thomas. The man had a knack for pushing his buttons.
Parks gave him a sharp look. “Found out about that, did you?” he said, the flicker of irritation turning into a sneering amusement. “If you don’t want to be in a science class you shouldn’t register for one.”
“But they didn’t dismiss you for preaching evolution at a university,” said Thomas, connecting the dots as he spoke. “There’s no way.”
“So, you don’t know,” said Parks, pleased with himself. Thomas waited. “Preaching evolution is what it amounted to,” said Parks. “Well within what I thought was protected by academic freedom.”
“They didn’t?”
“There was this one kid,” said Parks. “Jessica Bane. Bane of my life, I called her. Cute, though. Smiled and said ‘please’ and ‘thank you, professor,’ started coming by my office talking intelligent design. I told her what I thought, and made it something of a theme in my lectures for a couple of weeks. Next thing I know I’m being dragged in on charges of religious intolerance.”
Thomas felt himself withdraw a little, wary.
“Surely you could have appealed?”
“And spend the rest of my life walking on the eggshells of political correctness and cultural sensitivity?” he snapped back. “Please. I have a real career to make. I can’t do that in classes stuffed with morons who want their science teachers to stand at the podium with a Bible in their hands.”
“Has anyone ever told you,” said Thomas, “that for someone who has nothing but contempt for religion, you have one hell of a God complex?”
“Hey, at least I use my powers for good,” he said, grinning and joining his hands, mock angelic.
“You remind me of Watanabe,” said Thomas.
“That hack? He’s not a scientist. He’s a wannabe movie star who figured he could make up the rules as he went.”
“That’s the thing about God complexes, though, isn’t it,” said Thomas. “Eventually you figure you’re above the law.”
“Oh, that’s rich,” said Parks, “coming from Mr. Fox News.”
Thomas opened his mouth to respond but had nothing to say, and was fractionally relieved when Parks snapped, “You want to shut up now? This has to be done delicately.”
He was maneuvering the sub into the mouth of a cave only a couple of meters broader than the vessel itself. Their lights shone into the cavern but revealed nothing, because the stone pipe turned up and to the left.
“No way can we get in there,” said Thomas. “It’s too narrow.”
“We’re not going to see anything sitting out here,” said Parks.
“So look for a wider cave.”
Parks sighed, but he pulled the sub back. They adjusted, moved right, and then floated up a few meters, ignoring two other caverns that were no larger than the first. The third was broader, but not by much.
“I say we go in,” said Parks. “The tunnels probably get wider inside, at least for a ways. Where the molten rock hit the water it will have cooled faster, so the opening will be the narrowest part.”
“But if some of the rock turned solid inside the tube the passage will be blocked.”
“Then we’ll have to make sure we have room to turn around and get out,” said Parks, adjusting the sub’s attitude so that its bulbous translucent nose pointed straight into the rock passage. “You think we should have bought her dinner first?” said Parks, leering.
“Just go slowly,” said Thomas.
The engines whirred and the yellow submersible eased carefully into the stone tube.