Page 52 (1/2)

The tender pulled alongside the red hull, and Si a line to a cleat at the stern They clambered onto the oversized swim step and up a stainless steel ladder to where Des and Leonid aiting in thesun

“Good to see you!” Des called down “I caught some of the news broadcasts about the excitement on the island Can’t say I’m too upset to be out here”

“We’re going to spend at least one night aboard, so we’re right there with you,” Sam said He looked to Leonid “And how are you, my Russian friend?”

Leonid scowled and waved a fly away “We’re h unhappy with the work Sa and instead looked over his shoulder at the pilothouse

“Let’s see what you’ve been up to,” Sam said

The interior of the pilothouse was a es on the monitor, which revealed considerably more of the stone blocks that co the far end of the structure, clouds of debris and bubbles filled the surrounding water until it had all the clarity of mud

“Looks like you’re getting a lot of it cleared,” Remi said “Check out the size of those blocks It et them to shore, much less build the structure”

“We cleaned off some of the base and it looks like they used a coravel to create the islands We’re esti that the bay was only fifteen or so feet deep when it was built, based on that,” Leonid observed

“Sounds like a safe bet,” Saine the size of the earthquake to drop the bottohty feet?”

“Assu years Looking at this, I think it happened in stages The first catastrophic shock, where the entire shelf shifted, possibly creating a fissure that sucked the shoreline into it And then shed as though exasperated “We’ll know for sure once we have more time to study it”

Sa happens fast in this business, as you know”

Leonid threw his I hate about it Did I mention that I’m susceptible to seasickness?”

“No, that was one of the few things you haven’t complained about”

“Only because I didn’t know until I tried sleeping last night”

Des snorted and tried to cover the sound with a cough Reh