Anna waved behind them. “And keep in mind, these people were clearly advanced. Look at the city they built.”
Elle offered her support, too, leaning on her background. “I told you before how carnivorous plants carry many analogs to mammalian genes.”
“Parallel evolution,” Gray said.
She nodded. “Such species also produce an astounding number of enzymes, some whose function we don’t fully understand. They’re unique to these carnivores. Maybe these ancient people learned to utilize those enzymes to take advantage of the bowheads’ cancer-fighting genes. Maybe to extract that CIRBP protein. Or maybe even to achieve gene transfer into the patient.” She lifted her palms. “I don’t know, but someone should research this, to see if it’s possible.”
Harper nodded her head, as if ready to do just that.
Jason added a few final words, approaching from a different angle. “Remember the Hyperboreans were said behuge, too, toweringly tall. Maybe, beside the whale’s longevity, the treatment also instilled a level of gigantism.”
Seichan sighed heavily, clearly done with this matter. She offered a more cynical outlook. “Or maybe the Hyperborean shamans were just very good at spreading their own hype, spinning a tall tale about their snake oil—or whale oil, in this case—which grew more outlandish as the story was passed from ear to ear.”
Gray straightened, still looking undecided on the matter, but not on another. “Okay, we’ve gained all the information we can at this point. We should head out. Maybe that solar storm has subsided enough for us to reach the outside world, to share what we discovered.”
“If not,” Jason said as they departed, “let’s hope Captain Kelly and the others managed to strand that Russian patrol boat. Or all of this will have been for nothing.”
The group quickly returned to the room with the mudpot, greeted by its noxious belches.
Anna clutched her wad of gauze tighter over her mouth. “This stench certainly can’t be healthy. No wonder Marco and Kane were so bothered.”
“In the past, this chamber must have once been better ventilated.” Gray stared down the side tunnel inscribed with sea life. “I wager that passageway once led to the open sea, where the Hyperboreans set off on their sacred whale hunts.”
Elle turned the other way. “And that tunnel must lead to where they grew their specimens.”
She drifted in that direction, wanting to get a view of that long-dead garden.
Support to do so came from Seichan. “I see light shining back there.”
Gray joined her, stared for a breath, then nodded with a frown. “Maybe it’s another way out.”
“A back door,” Seichan said. “If we need it.”
A look passed between the two. Their worried expressions were easy to read.
Elle understood.
Those two expect to need it.
Seventh
46
May 14, 5:03P.M. ANAT
Airborne over the East Siberian Sea
As the transport plane rushed low over the break in the fogbank, Captain Turov gazed down at the massive bulk of an icebreaker. A triumphant surge rushed through him, but it was equally quelled by relief.
“They’re here,” he gasped out, then called to the pilot. “Circle us over.”
Behind him, others crowded at windows, either in the cockpit or the main cabin. Excited murmurs echoed throughout the plane.
Sychkin shoved up front, abandoning his lapdog, Yerik.
“We found them,” Turov announced.
“Not just them!” Sychkin exclaimed, his voice booming as if from a pulpit. He shifted Turov’s attention to the collection of black rocks sticking out of the ice. “That must be Hyperborea. Or at least, the mountainous tip of a greater plateau buried beneath it.”
