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"What do you make of it?" asked Pitt

"I'm not sure yet till I run some tests, but it appears to be a veritable cocktail offrom the chemical element chart"

Excitean to mount as Gunn and Renee, aroused by the sudden activity in the pilothouse, joined the current of expectation and opti data and analyzing the numbers

The eastern sun was still three hours fro over the horizon when Pitt went out on deck and studied the black sea flowing past the hull He lay on the deck, leaned through the railing and trailed his hand in the water When he pulled it back and raised it before his eyes, the palers were covered with a brown slime He reentered the pilothouse, held up his hand and announced, "We're in the crud now The water has turned a dull brownish muck almost as if the bottom silt was stirred up"

"You're closer to thefor the first time in half an hour "This is the wildest concoction I've ever seen"

"Any clues to its recipe?" asked Giordino, waiting patiently as Renee filled his plate with bacon and scras

"The ingredients are not what you ht think"

Renee looked puzzled "What type of che about?"

Dodge looked at her solemnly "The crud is not derived from manufactured toxic chemicals"

"Are you sayingthe chemist into a corner

"No," Dodge answered slowly "The culprit in this case is Mother Nature"

"If not from chemicals, then what?" Renee insisted

"A cocktail," replied Dodge, pouring hi some of the most toxic minerals found in the earth Elements that include barium, antimony, cobalt, molybdenum and vanadium that are obtained from toxic minerals such as stibnite, barytine, patronite and mispickel"

Renee's finely defined eyebrows lifted "Mispickel?"

"The mineral arsenic is obtained from"