“Let me guess; a new water cooler in the entrance foyer.” She snorted. “Don’t sweat it; I can deal with Bill. He doesn’t mind if I’m a few minutes late. You just deal with marking all those student papers on time.” Cate smiled, turning away from her colleague to pack. They had a good boss in Bill Harris, and besides, she knew she could twist him around her little finger.

“Yeah, well, you might want to be in on time today.” From behind her, Greg sounded like he was grinning as he spoke. “Because overnight the new satellite data came in from NASA.”

Cate stopped and turned. “Quadrant 43?”

“Oh yeah,” he said cheerily. “We got the entire west coast of Alaska this time.”

“Yes.” She fist pumped. For Cate, the university role was a dream job. She got to study evolution’s mysteries and indulge her first love of exploring, something she guessed she inherited from her grandfather who went missing exploring the Alaskan coastline over sixty years before.

Her thoughts quickly turned to Violet, her grandmother, the tiny bird-like woman who smelled of lavender and mothballs. Violet had shown her the letters her husband had sent her nearly three quarters of a century ago. It was all that was left of him; his magnificent letters, decorated with hand-drawn pictures of fossilized creatures, that and a few old photographs. Violet, or Vie as her mother called her, used to read them to Cate when she was a little girl, telling of the great and brave soul who had the heart of a pioneer. She once said to her, that she hated him going into his caves, and had told him that one day he’d go so deep, he’d come face to face with the devil himself. She had laughed softly, but there was sadness in her eyes.

“I’ll find him for you,” Cate had said to her with all the solemnity a six year old could muster.

“Hey, still with me?” Greg leaned towards her.

“Huh? Oh yeah, sure.” Cate started to hurriedly pack, sliding books, pens and notes into her satchel. She grinned; Jim Granger was her very own family mystery. It still left her wondering what ever happened to the man with that explorer’s soul – just like hers, she bet.

She’d find out one day, for herself, and Violet, she thought, daydreaming now. One day soon.

*   *   *

“See that?” Cate Granger pointed at the screen, showing image data of the Alaskan southern wilderness taken from about two thousand miles above the continent.

“Sure, Indigo Lake.” Greg shrugged. “So what?”

Cate tapped the screen. “Look, look.”

“You mean there’s something else?” Greg leant over the back of her chair, squinting. “Not… really… sure what am I supposed to be looking at.” He straightened. “But the lake’s very blue, and…” He leaned around to look at her face. “Did you know the color is a bit of a mystery?”