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“Mercury poisoning this far from land?” Pitt asked “Are you sure?”

“We’ve tested all but the last batch of seawater sahly toxic concentrations of methyl mercury We’ve found bioaccumulation in the plankton, which then works itself up the food chain We also sae numbers, and confirmed the presence of mercury”

“Mercury is nothing new,” Pitt said “Industrial air pollution has been increasing mercury levels in the oceans for decades But this is different?”

Bhatt nodded “The concentration is exponentially higher This isn’t just soeneral acid rain but a specific, localized incident The only comparable toxicity I can find historically is from Minamata, Japan A factory there dumped twenty-seven tons ofin catastrophic dae to nearby residents and local sea life Nearly two thousand deaths have been attributed to it”

“But we’re fifty miles from land,” Giordino said

“If I had to guess,” Bhatt said, “I would say that so industrial wastes out here”

“If that’s the case,” Pitt said, “the AUV will show it”

“The concentration was highest in the water sample where the AUV was launched,” Bhatt said

“She’s due up any s left a calling card”

The trio retreated to the stern deck as the AUV surfaced and was hoisted aboard Giordino downloaded the sonar data onto a portable hard drive and returned to the lab to review the iery, which showed hundred- seafloor There were rocks, sand, and even occasional dunes, but no drums, crates, or other debris Only an odd series of shadowy lines ht underwater valley

“Nothing obvious,” Giordino said, “though those lines ht be worth a closer look It’s difficult to say if they are geological features or man-made”

“Wethat’s buried,” Pitt said, “in which case we’ve got our work cut out for us”

“I can reconfigure the AUV to perforive us a limited look beneath the seabed, if the sediment conditions are friendly”

Pitt stared at the sonar screen, knowing the answer to the mystery was there somewhere He shook his head slowly “No, let’s move on It looks to be a sandy bottom here, which isn’t conducive to the sub-bottoate, and I’ll wager the source will be evident at one of those”

Without debate, Giordino relayed the order to the bridge, knowing froold