Gant glanced at the compass dial, and then gazed out one of the big picture windows.

“Something is happening to the sea.”

The ruffled surface of the ocean immediately around the ship had gone flat.

“We're at the epicenter of the polar shift,” Margrave said. “A ring of giant waves will spin off from around the edge of an expanding circle. There will be some vortexes around the perimeter.”

“Glad we're not in the way,” Gant said.

“It would be unfortunate if we were. The area of disturbance is pretty random. That's what sank our transmitter ship. It's like the calm at the eye of a hurricane. We'll be fine here except for a slight mounding of the water.”

Gant stared out at the rising sea. He had never felt so powerful in his entire life.

AUSTIN'S MIND-SET was the opposite of Gant's. He was like a doctor trying to bring a flatlining patient back to life, only in this case the lives of millions lay on the table. He peered out the window as the plane banked for another pass, unable to tell whether the antidote was working or not.

Then he noticed a circular area immediately around the ship where the water seemed to go dull, as if it were being flattened by a helicopter downdraft. He could see striations on the surface of the sea like the grooves made by a strong current. Moments later, the water began moving in an unmistakable swirl with the ship at its center. Within seconds, the area of disturbed water was at least a mile across, bordered by a ring of foam on its perimeter. As the current's speed picked up, the sea within the circle became lower than the surface around it.

Austin was witnessing the birth of a giant whirlpool.

THE Polar Adventure only rose around six feet above the surrounding sea level before it began to settle again.

Gant noticed that a depression seemed to be forming in the ocean around the ship. “Is this another side effect?” he said.

“No,” Margrave said. His puzzlement changed to concern when the surface became even more radically dish-shaped. White-foamed rips indicated the clash of strong currents. He snatched up the microphone connecting him to the bridge. “Full engine power. We're sinking into a whirlpool.”

Margrave shut down the dynamos.

“What are you doing?” Gant said.

“Something's not right. There shouldn't be this kind of reaction.”

The ocean hollow was deepening and swirling currents had begun to form, but the ship was under power by then, and moving toward the side of the vortex. Its bow was slightly elevated, and it had to fight against the currents that wanted to drag it sideways, but the ship was making slow headway.

The maelstrom was expanding at the same time, however. Margrave screamed at the bridge to give the engines more power, but the ship seemed destined to lose the race, not really moving from the center of the vortex.