An acronym for Solar Wind Anisotropies, SWAN is an ultraviolet survey of the dispersed hydrogen cloud around our planetary system that can detect glowing hot spots in space caused by fluctuations of solar radiation. To the SWAN’s wide-angle eye, which charts the full sky around the sun three times each week, a surge in the emissions striking these areas will cause them to light up like flashes from warning beacons even if the surge originates beyond the sun’s visible face, outside the range of earthbound telescopes.

MDI/SOI—short for Michelson Doppler Imager/Solar Oscillations Investigation—is more direct in its approach, measuring wave motions that vibrate through the convective layer of the sun. Depending on their amplitude, deviations from the wavelengths commonly registered by MDI/ SOI can put scientists on the lookout for helioseismological events that are roughly analogous to earthquakes and may be indicators of impending solar flare activity.

Relayed to earth by its telemetry arrays in near-real time, SOHO’s information about the flurry of concurrent beacon flashes and solar tremors did not take long to create a stir of excitement in its command-and-control center in Maryland.

Two men in particular got the headline-making jump on the rest of the pack.

Cold Corners Base, Antarctica

Nimec ate the last bit of his turkey sandwich and set the empty plate onto a cafeteria tray beside him. Then he lifted his demitasse off the table and sipped.

“Well?” Megan said. “I await your verdict.”

“Mmm-mm,” he said.

“I may be a princess,” she said. “But I’m known for my benevolence, truthfulness, and good taste.”

He grunted. “About arranging for that helicopter . . .”

She made a preemptive gesture. “After we’ve had our coffee.”

He sat with the steaming espresso in his hand, watching her drink from her cup. It contained a double something-or-other with caffeine, flavored syrup, and a light head of froth.

Several minutes passed in silence that way.

“Okay, Pete,” she said at last, dabbing her upper lip with a napkin. “The chopper aside, what’s on your mind?”

“That line sounds very familiar,” he said.

She nodded. “It does. It also got a straight answer out of me.”

He looked at her without comment.

“Come on,” she said. “I didn’t miss your backpacker’s travel guide remarks about hearing how people find spiritual cleansing, harmony, and oneness among the king penguins. Or your question about whether I’ve joined that righteous crowd. Or most of all your long looks. Something’s bothering you. I think we should get it out in the open.”

Nimec kept looking at her, then finally expelled a breath.

“You told me you came to Antarctica because the boss asked,” he said. “Or at least you implied that. But I hear you volunteered.”

Megan lowered her cup into its saucer, waited as someone came moving past on his way from the service counter to another table.