Waves lapped against the Barracuda, rocking us gently. For a long moment the three of us remained quiet, listening to the darkness. A roll of thunder echoed in the distance, the ice sheet rumbling overhead as it inched its way east toward the sea.

If there were a more isolated spot on the planet, I couldn’t imagine where it might be.

After a few minutes, Ming activated her sampling unit and siphoned six ounces of lake water into a collection tube for computer analysis. “Water temperature is thirty-seven degrees Fahrenheit.”

Ben tapped his fingers. “Who cares about water temperature? Cold is cold, what did you expect?”

He was annoyed, anxious to hear back from Vostok Command. Defending Ming, I replied, “Water temperature is important because it governs the kinds of organisms that can live in Vostok. The presence of zooplankton and phytoplankton—even insects and fish—all thrive in different temperatures. Chemical reactions generally increase in higher temperatures. The freezing temperature would indicate there are no geothermal vents present in this area. Ming, what about E. coli?”

“Bacteria readings are still processing. Nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations are low, as we would expect. The pH is 7.1, highly conducive for fish.”

“Fish?” Ben forced a laugh. “Hate to tell you, but I don’t see so much as a speck of pond scum, let alone a fish. Seems like your people dropped us into a dead zone.”

“Ben may be right,” I said. “Bacteria count is near zero. Sorry to disappoint you, Ming, but if there are fish in this lake, they aren’t defecating in it.”

“Maybe they’re using a toilet,” I heard Ben mutter.

“Barracuda, this is Vostok Command. We have acquired your position. You can power down your lasers. As we suspected, your trajectory was altered during your descent.”

“Altered how?” Ben asked.

“We’re still working the numbers, Captain. You were right on target for the first twenty-seven hundred meters. Somewhere around that mark the sub passed through a magnetic anomaly that veered you off-course. The affected area spans a sixty-five-by-forty-seven-mile section of the plateau that separates the lake’s two basins. There was too much interference for us to catch it from up here, and your suit sensors indicate you probably were asleep during the event.”

“How far off course are we?”

“We have you 152 kilometers southwest of your extraction point. That’s about ninety-four miles.”

Ben slapped his palms to the acrylic dome above his head. “Helluva job, amigo. Your team aimed for the moon and landed us in Cleveland. We’re lucky we even hit water.”

Ming smacked the pilot on the back of his head. “Victor, can you pinpoint the source of the anomaly?”