A silver-haired American turned to face us. “Kevin Coolidge, United States Geological Survey. With all due respect, Dr. Liao, most of us here agree it’s way too early in the game to be sending a manned submersible into Vostok. NASA spent a lot of R and D money to develop their fleet of ROVs, as I’m sure these other marine science foundations have as well. Why risk your life and the lives of these two gentlemen when a sortie of drones can be deployed to cover a far larger area and bring back ten times the amount of raw data?”

Heads nodded in agreement.

Ming Liao seemed unaffected by her mutineers. “Dr. Coolidge, in preparing for this mission, I’ve formed a basic understanding of how remotely operated vehicles are designed. There are two forces in play that affect the stability of any object immersed in water: the center of buoyancy and the center of gravity. The distance between the two determines the vehicle’s ability to remain upright, the drone’s neutral buoyancy being a key factor in maintaining its maneuverability. It is a delicate balance and an important one. A bottom-crawling ROV that cannot sink is as useless as a drone that cannot maintain neutral buoyancy.”

“Appreciate the lecture, Dr. Liao, but let me assure you, these ROV’s were thoroughly field tested before they were shipped to Antarctica.”

“Yes, but they were tested in freshwater tanks. Preliminary lab results indicate Lake Vostok is a hypersaline environment.”

The news stunned the crowd, setting off a dozen side conversations.

The USGS administrator whistled for quiet. “How the hell is that possible? This is an inland rift lake, at least partially fed by meltwater.”

A female scientist in a white lab coat and orange parka entered the tent.

Ming waved her to her side. “Dr. Helmi Jokinen is overseeing the analysis of subglacial lake chemistry. Dr. Jokinen?”

The Finnish biologist looked like a deer caught in headlights. “Yes, sorry for the delay. To respond to Dr. Coolidge’s question, Lake Vostok is situated on a mineral bed. Residual salts from ancient oceans have rendered it a hypersaline chemocline. For those of you giving me strange looks, chemoclines are found in meromictic lakes—lakes with layers of water that do not intermix. The culprit in the case of Vostok is the presence of geothermal vents that release superheated mineral waters from out of the East Antarctic rift. Because of these vents, Vostok’s waters run warmer the deeper you go.”

I glanced at Dr. Coolidge, who seemed caught between frustration and an attraction for the Scandinavian scientist. “If you could give us the density readings, that would help.”