Beyond the Ice Limit by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

Author:Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, azw3
Tags: Mystery, Thrillers & Suspense, Thrillers, Thriller & Suspense
ISBN: 9781455525867
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2016-05-16T07:00:00+00:00

35

GIDEON CREW STOOD with Glinn and Manuel Garza at the foredeck rail. They were speaking in low tones. Their conversation was about the nature of the Baobab, but as usual it seemed to wander into wild speculations and crazy theories. It frustrated Gideon that, even now, they had so little hard evidence on the thing. They didn’t know even the basics: was it a machine or a life-form, or some bizarre combination of the two? Was it intelligent—or just a dumb plant? This lack of information was becoming a serious problem on board ship, because the resulting vacuum was being filled with rumor and speculation.

At least the remarkable weather was still holding, the ocean as calm as a millpond. Every day brought them closer to summer, and the calving of the icebergs seemed to be accelerating in the advancing spring weather. As Gideon looked out, he counted six stately bergs dotting the sea. The rising sun hung low, casting a golden pathway over the water. The calmness of the scene belied the turbulent atmosphere on the ship.

“Excuse me, gentlemen?”

Gideon turned to see Dr. Patrick Brambell approaching, looking neat as a pin, but with such a concerned expression on his normally placid face that Gideon grew instantly alarmed.

“Dr. Brambell?” said Glinn.

Brambell came up with tentative steps, hands clasped together. “I’ve completed the autopsy,” he said. “Of Lispenard,” he added, unnecessarily.

Gideon felt a tightness in his chest. He had viciously suppressed all thoughts of Alex, which otherwise seemed to erupt regularly out of nowhere and stagger his peace of mind. But this he had to hear. He waited.

“Well?” Glinn asked when Brambell didn’t go on.

“The brain is missing,” said Brambell.

“What do you mean, missing?”

“Absolutely missing. Not a trace of it, not a trace.” The words came tumbling out, his Irish brogue heavier than usual. “It appears to have been removed at the brain stem, severed as if with a scalpel, and with evidence of the application of searing heat. I did a quick section and bioassay, and found that the proteins at the site of the removal had denatured—proof of heat.”

Gideon stared at him. “Removed? Not crushed?”

Brambell ran a hand across his bald head. “It appears the brain was removed before the skull was crushed—otherwise there would have been traces of it on the inside of the skull, neural matter forced into the fractures. But no—there’s no trace of gray or white matter anywhere in the remains. Not even microscopic traces. The Baobab seems to have…well…”

His face collapsed into confusion.

“Eaten it?” Garza completed the sentence.

Listening, Gideon heard himself tense up.

“That’s what I thought at first. But if it was going to be absorbed as nourishment, why remove it intact? And I have no doubt it was removed. What happened to it after that, I don’t have a clue—eaten, absorbed, whatever.”

“Scanned?” Gideon heard himself ask.

Garza turned sharply. “What do you mean by that?”

“Her brain was removed intact,” Gideon said. “Why? Maybe the creature wanted to interrogate it, download its contents—that would be a good reason to take the brain out undamaged.

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