“A radioisotope thermoelectric generator provides electricity to five sensors designed to monitor everything from atmospheric pressure changes and energy fluctuations to magnetic variations. A computer vision system will create 3-D thermal images while another instrument uses x-ray diffraction to determine the mineral composites within the asteroid impact zone.”

Ben winked as he passed me one of the neon-orange nylon backpacks, along with extreme weather pants, gloves, a hat, spiked climbing boots, and a jacket. There was also a combination magnetometer, GPS unit, and Geiger counter—all contained in a unit the size of my cell phone.

I tested the latter, just to make sure the plutonium canisters were doing their job.

We dressed quickly while the Colonel downloaded coordinates to each of our GPS units. “The first site must be established three-point-seven kilometers to the north at an elevation of seventy meters above sea level. Dr. Liao will remain at the first site while Dr. Wallace makes his way to the northwest coordinates, and Captain Hintzmann heads to the northeast. Once all three devices are powered up and the array triangulates, we’ll send a signal through your GPS units to regroup with Dr. Liao. Return to the sub, and we’ll have you at the extraction site in just under an hour. Are we ready?”

“Hell, no.” Reaching above his head, Ben unlocked the hatch and popped open the acrylic dome.

A blast of subzero air forced me to quickly zip my jacket and mask my face. Ming passed her backpack to Ben, who then helped her out of her cockpit.

Adjusting the straps on my climbing boots, I exited the sub, purposely spiking Ben’s leather seat with my steel cleats just for good measure before securing the hatch.

17

“I have seen so many extraordinary things, nothing seems extraordinary anymore”

—Lewis Carroll

I stood between Ben and Ming in our frigid surroundings, the three of us sharing the same sense of awe the Apollo 11 astronauts must have felt when they first set foot on the Moon, the same emotional rush a mountain climber experiences upon reaching the summit at Everest. For several minutes, we simply allowed our senses to partake of our Miocene world as we stretched away thirty-plus hours of cramped muscles. We inhaled Vostok’s air, smelling its high oxygen content, registering a trace of dizziness in its purity. We listened to the ice sheet as it crackled and groaned and rumbled high overhead, its pitted foundation trickling droplets of water, each liquid discharge congealing during its twenty-second descent into golfball-sized meteors of slush. These semi-frozen projectiles delivered a painful wallop when they found their mark and were impossible to dodge, forcing us to cover our heads with our backpacks.