She let go of the console, and swiveled in her seat. Her fingers ached, and it was only then she realized how tight she had been hanging on.

“Well, we have, and haven’t seen it. We have strategraphic images taken from satellites, and some sonar readings, but as for seeing it physically, we only had glimpses of a dark water environment.” She decided to withhold the image of the tooth, as she didn’t want to worry the Russian crew, and didn’t have all the answers to questions she knew they would ask.

“I understand it is a huge body of water. Do you think it is a dead sea?” It was if Dmitry had just read her mind. He waited, his grin still firmly in place.

“Dead? No.” She thought for a moment or two, choosing her words carefully. “No, I don’t think it will be a dead body of water. But as for fully understanding and classifying the life forms, if there are any life forms, will be one of the tasks we will undertake while we are mapping the hydro-geology.”

Cate felt Abby and Greg’s eyes on her.

“If there are any life forms?” He leant forward, his eyes going briefly to Mironov, and his voice dropping to a conspiratorial level. “Did you know we now have the ability to direct an extra strong electrical discharge pulse over the skin of the submersible? Was done at Mr Mironov’s request.” He bobbed his head. “So, I also think it is not a dead sea. I also think maybe not everything down there is friendly.” He leant back his voice returning to its normal timbre. “But maybe we don’t need it then.”

Cate could feel him assessing her. She just shrugged. The pulse was news to her, and she turned to Mironov, who just smiled, obviously enjoying allowing her to do all the work. She spoke while keeping her eyes on the Russian billionaire. “I guess Valery just likes to be careful and prepared for anything.” She raised her eyebrows and Mironov nodded in return.

“Good.” Dmitry sighed. “Sorry, I have so many questions. I’m excited about our trip.” Dmitry spun back to his console for a few moments before half turning. “But must be something down there.” He frowned as though wrestling with a thorny problem. “Because, you have one geologist, but two biologists and a marine shark specialist. Plus Mr Mironov, who is interested in ancient living things. So maybe you expect something down there, yes? Something big.” His brows came together. “One more thing; if something down there, how did it get there?”