Page 36 (1/2)

"Wake up, sis"

Her gray eyes fluttered open and she stared up at him with a calm serenity that raised a quick flare of fraternal love within hi twins

"Wake up, sleepyhead We have to start breathing from the dive tank" He placed the tank between theulator to her "Ladies first"

Su a situation they could not influence Helplessness was alien to her She had always hout her life This ti her into despondency

Dirk, on the other hand, was h the Fates were under his every effort to escape their prison and eventual execution He kept thinking there had to be a way out before they took their final breath, but he met a dead end with every plan he conceived

The end, he ca into dead certainty

14

The top arc of the sun was falling below the horizon and dusk was only minutes away The winds had fallen fro and darkening the sea The tension that had been building up a the crehen they learned that all communication had been lost with Pisces seemed to spill over Sea Sprite like a black cloud The fear that hared at their minds

Only one seriously daid-hull inflatable boat had survived the hurricane The other three usually carried by Sea Sprite had been swept away by inal anchorage site off Navidad Bank, the boat was repaired just enough to carry three divers Pitt, Giordino and Cristiano Lelasi, a ineer fro a new robotic vehicle, would conduct the search-and-rescue operation

The threewith most of the crew and concerned scientists They listened intently as Barnuy to Pitt and Giordino He paused to glance at a big twenty-four-hour clock on one bulkhead "We should be on site in another hour"

"Since there has been no radio contact," said Giordino, "we ed in the hurricane And if Dirk's theory is correct, there is every reason to believe gigantic waves may have carried the habitat away from her last known position"

Pitt took over "When we arrive at the habitat's position and it's gone, we'll launch our search using the grids programmed into our GPS coht and Cristiano to my left, and comb the bank toward the east"

"Why east?" asked Lelasi

"The direction the stor when it struck Navidad Bank," answered Pitt

"I'll bring Sprite as close as I dare to the reef," advised Barnum "I won't anchor, so I can move swiftly if the need arises As soon as you spot the habitat and assess the position, report her condition"