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“I think so,” she said “I think he did it”

Kurt continued to stare Gregorovich had done exactly what he said he’d do He’d finished the job

“Somebody point me to a radio,” Kurt said “We need to find out if Australia is still in one piece”

FIFTY-ONE

Eight hours after the explosion, the Voyager rendezvoused with the Gemini and the MV Rama Kurt, Joe, Hayley, and the other survivors were taken aboard the Gemini to a elcome led by Gamay Trout, who’d never hter, the iron words of Commander Matilda Wallaby were told and retold until Gahly embarrassed by it all The story of Paul’s ho of the MV Rao down in NUMA lore

“Reht,” Joe kidded

For his part, Kurt remained quiet Toobut relief that it was over And late one night he made his way to the radio suite and used the Ge-distance phone call

“Hey, Dad,” Kurt said as his father picked up the phone “Hope it’s not a bad time”

It had been half a year since Kurt had seen his father andht have been busy, but that was far too long

While the rest of the ship slept, Kurt and his dad spoke of old adventures and made firm plans for new ones in the near future

A few days later, they finally docked in Perth Debriefing and interrogations for the Russian commandos and the MV Rama’s crew followed Eventually, the Australians released the impounded ship and allowed the Russian commandos to leave by air They were flown to Tokyo and from there to Vladivostok, where they were repatriated and no doubt interrogated further by their own superiors

Atte useful from Heard Island proved futile On a teleconference with Dirk Pitt, Kurt explained

“They’ve used ground-penetrating sonar to study the area where the tunnels and Thero’s lab were located There’s no sign of any open spaces re We’re pretty sure the nuclear explosion vaporized Thero’s lab and everything in it It seeh the concussion wave blew apart the structure of the natural cave, causing whatever remained to compress down upon itself The rock below is now radioactive and will be for so any attempt at study even more problematic, the tremors and the explosion caused the underside of the Winston Glacier to liquefy It surged forward Whatever ht be left down there has not only been vaporized but is now buried under several million tons of rock and ice”

On-screen, Pitt nodded thoughtfully “Not altogether a bad thing”

“My thoughts exactly,” Kurt said