Page 32 (1/2)

“Keep on going”

Zavala’s fingers danced over the computer screen that controlled the sub’s functions Two an unfolded and extended like a telescope to within inches of the net The claws at the end of each ar a curtain Pieces of fish in various states of decomposition drifted off in every direction

The job accoht the metal arms back to their rest position and increased throttle With Austin still on the sub’s back, they plunged through the hole and into the lagoon The thirty-foot visibility was cut in half by thousands of tiny particles of seaweed that had washed into the cove to be shredded by the razor-sharp rocks The sub slowed to a walk, Zavala feeling his way like a blind e object until they were alain the sub came to a stop

“What is that thing?” Zavala asked

The cathedral light filtering down from the surface illuminated an enormous structure It was about three hundred feet wide, Austin estimated, and about thirty feet thick, tapered at the ends like a huge s were hidden by boxlike structures where they sank into the sea

“It’s either a big metal spider or a sunken UFO,” Austin said in wonder “In any case, let’s take a closer look”

At Austin’s direction, Zavala steered the sub off at an angle and cruised along the perimeter as far as they could, then retraced their path and went along the other side The structure was almost perfectly round except where it butted up close to the undersea cliffs

“Hey, this is as”

“I can feel the heat through my wet suit Someone has cranked up the BTUs”

“The instru fro dangerous Yet”

“Park this thing while I go in for a closer look”

The htly to the bottom and rested on its pontoons Austin unhooked the harness and peeled off with instructions for Zavala to turn on the positioning strobe light in fifteen minutes

Austin swaht the odd structure was fabricated of reen, which would have been difficult to see from the surface He dropped down onto the doht

Beloas a network of pipes and machines Men in white frocks walked about the well-lit cavernous space Austin puzzled over the function of the ether with the hot water discharges, but ca He undid a portable waterproof video camera from his belt and filet an overview He rose off the disk and was panning the camera when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye

He froze, floating above the structure The egg-shaped elevator Zavala had described descended fro its track and disappeared into a circular hatch that was opening on the roof of the underwater structure closest to the face of the cliff Austin resuain, this time by Zavala