Shadow Zone Read Online Free PDF Page A

away from all things AquaCorp.
    “My best wasn’t good enough, Melis.” Her hand tightened on her glass. “Dammit, I know we’re close to an answer.”
    “I feel it, too. But I’m grateful for what we’ve been able to do. Only you could have convinced that company to turn your routine sea trials into a massive archaeological expedition. I’ve been trying for years to mount a project of this scope. Without you, I would have waited years longer. My husband, Jed, has poured millions into this project, but I won’t let him sink any more into it. He shares my dream, but I have to take over now. This is my responsibility.” She made a face. “And money is tight in the academic world.”
    “I take it that you weren’t successful yesterday.”
    “It was a complete waste of time. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to take some foundation chairman on a personal tour of the Marinth Museum in Athens, endure a long, excruciating lunch, then hear them tell me that they might have a few dollars to spare in the next fiscal year . . .”
    “I’ve done the fund-raising circuit. It’s no fun.”
    “The executive I met with yesterday told me that I’d better my chances if I would go to dinner with him wearing the silver gown I wore at the Save the Oceans fund-raiser last year.”
    “You’re kidding.”
    “I wish I was.”
    “You didn’t do it, did you?”
    “What kind of woman do you think I am?” Melis smiled and sipped her drink. “Besides, the gown was a loaner from Halston. It’s against my principles to buy designer gowns when I could put the money toward something more worthwhile.”
    “Ah.”
    “So I pulled up anchor and got back here as soon as I could.”
    “It’s a good thing you did. I guess you heard that Pete and Susie just saved our bacon?”
    “Captain Danbury said something to me about it. It doesn’t surprise me. Those two have helped me out of a hell of a lot of tight spots over the years.” She gazed affectionately at the dolphins as they raced each other around the Copernicus. She turned back to Hannah. “As much as I hate to say it, it may be a good thing you’re ending the expedition now. We’ve already been out here a couple weeks longer than we expected, and your people are getting tired. We both know how dangerous that can be. Accidents do happen. You could have been killed.”
    “But I wasn’t. And the answer is still here somewhere. It’s probably right in front of our eyes.”
    “If it is, we’ll find it. You’ve given us enough data for years of study. Thanks to you, we’ll be able to explore every inch of this city from the comfort of our computer keyboards. We’ll be able to look up, down, left, and right from any vantage point. It’ll be even more amazing than the mapping work you did on the Titanic .”
    “I hope it amounts to something.”
    “It will. In time, schoolchildren will be able to log in to the Marinth Web site and explore the entire city, just like you’ve helped them do with the Titanic. Maybe one of them will make the discovery we’re looking for.”
    “I guess I’m just more impatient than you are.”
    Melis smiled. “I’ve been living with Marinth for most of my adult life, and delving into its mysteries has never been an easy battle. When I first found it, we were able to swim down to it wearing scuba gear. But after the underwater earthquakes along El Hierro Ridge, the island sank more in the next five years than it had in the four thousand years previous. It seemed so unfair . . . like some deliberate slap of fate. But vessels like yours have brought it back to us. And new underwater currents have cleared away hundreds of feet of silt and exposed far more of the city than we ever realized was there. So maybe those earthquakes weren’t such a disaster. Marinth seems to give up its secrets only when I’m best able to understand their meaning.”
    “That’s why I grabbed a skiff and came over here. I needed some of your