“You know why I’m here,” Cate said, feeling irritation at the man’s knowing smile. She bet he had done more to check on her bona fides than ask a few questions about rare fish. “My university hasn’t the capital to fund an expedition right now. At least not in my lifetime.”

“Perhaps not in a thousand lifetimes, I think.” He smiled again.

She scoffed. “You know what?” Cate got to her feet. “I didn’t come here to play games. This site could potentially hold Lazarus species that have been extinct on the surface world. There may be secrets of evolution that could be beyond anything we can ever imagine.”

Mironov opened his hands and held them wide. “But you can’t get there, and soon someone else will find the site, and then…” He made a small popping noise with his lips, and shrugged.

Cate looked back to the fish tank. “We know there is life there, and I believe a helluva lot bigger and more interesting than a dinosaur eel.” She tilted her head, her lips curved into a confident smile.

His mouth turned down, and he turned back to her image of the serrated tooth on the screen. “Maybe, but without scale, it might be nothing more than a few blind salmon trapped in a cave.”

Cate shook her head. “Well, that blind salmon took out all our equipment. So no, I think it’s something damned substantial.” She narrowed her eyes. “And so do you… or I wouldn’t be here. Whatever it was, we need to check it out – fully map the location, document what we find and do a hands-on exploratory. Be first in, so we can save the habitat, before someone else exploits it.”

Mironov’s eyes narrowed. “Hands on? You want to go in; scuba tanks?”

Cate shook her head. “No. This body of water is so huge it has its own horizon. It’d be a cave dive of unprecedented proportions, and way too big for a free dive. I’m betting it will also have a million places to get lost or hooked up, so a remote vehicle would more than likely become snagged and lost.” She shrugged. “But, the only way to get any sort of accurate sonar mapping and research done, and have immediate decision-making capability is to be there, in person. And yeah, sure, I want to go.” She shook her head again. “No, I intend to go.”

Mironov’s smile returned. “Those that lead and do not take risks themselves, cannot truly expect their followers to also take risks.” He steepled his fingers and leant forward. “And what type of budget did you have in mind? Ballpark?”

She inhaled deeply. Think big. “A million dollars.”

He nodded slowly, his brows up. “A million dollars?” Mironov eased back into his chair. “And you will need a submarine. Hmm? Or do you already have one?” One eyebrow remained up.