Dr. Trevor tried to get past Samuels but the commander blocked his way, pulled the small .32-caliber pistol from his pocket, and placed it against the man's chest.

"Captain, amongst your medical papers is a description of a small procedure conducted by the boat's surgeon. This will explain the symptom added to your hereditary illness that isn't listed in any medical journals. Colonel Collins was quite right; the schizophrenia is brought on by something else."

Jack turned from Farbeaux to look at Trevor, who backed away from Samuels until he could sit in one of the chairs.

"You placed a symbiant in her?" he asked.

Trevor swallowed, lowered his head, and then shook it. He refused to look up.

"You son of a bitch," Samuels said, taking a menacing step toward the doctor. "That's why the captain has been aggressive, changing her own orders!"

"I suspect that she has moments of clearheadedness." Farbeaux poured one last drink, limped toward Trevor, and sat down. "The good doctor became suspicious, and had the good sense to note it in his case file." Henri patted the doctor on the knee, then looked up at Heirthall, who was looking ill and lost. "She has much more stamina than the sym she has inside of her. She's quite rational when she is exhausted, like in the early morning hours, or--"

"When she's drugged," Virginia said as she finally sat next to Alexandria and put an arm around her.

"Yes, Ms. Pollock. She must have extraordinary mind power to fight off the thoughts that course through her head. I believe she brought you here not to question you about vaults or what you knew about her. She brought you here, using her subconscious will, to help get Leviathanback and to stop what was happening. Oh, she's still crazy for her cause, but now the insanity issue can be explained," Farbeaux finished.

"God, do you know what you're saying?" Niles asked.

Collins answered for the rest, as they were coming to the same conclusion.

"It seems the kind little symbiants aren't the fuzzy little creatures the Heirthall family thought."

Before they knew what was happening, the lights flickered inside the observation lounge and then they heard the outer hatchway slam closed. Sparks started shooting through the watertight seal lining the hatch. Samuels turned and tried the wheel, but it didn't budge.

"It's dogged from the outside!"

Jack and Everett sprang forward and assisted Samuels. The wheel refused to move.

"They are sealing us inside with a welding torch," Everett said.

Without a warning signal or announcement, they felt Leviathango to full speed once more, throwing them all off their feet. Outside the viewing windows, the behemoth shot through the trench canyons as easily as a sports car on a highway. Niles watched the digital readouts on the hologram once the screens closed, and saw that they were once more traveling at one hundred and seventy knots and were headed due south.

"I think the battle for Leviathanhas just begun in earnest," Farbeaux said as he gained his feet, grimacing in pain.

"Yeah, and like always, we seem to be in the wrong place and slightly outnumbered," Mendenhall said as he assisted the senator to his chair.

Jack slammed the hatch with the flat of his hand in frustration. He angrily turned and looked at Sarah. She looked back at him, and that seemed to bring Jack back to reason. He nodded his head at Sarah and then turned to the others.

"Yes, Will, outnumbered, outgunned, outsmarted." He walked up to Trevor, grabbed him by the collar, and lifted him up out of his chair. "But we do have a couple of advantages. We have the man who knows the plan and who's involved."

"And the other?" Everett asked, joining him at his side.

"Me."

They looked to where Alexandria Heirthall was holding herself firm against the table. She was shaking, and her face was pale. The sym inside of her was obviously reasserting itself.

"Yes, Captain, what better ally to have than the designer of Leviathan?" Jack agreed.

It was Farbeaux who brought that thought into real perspective. "Yes, but which captain are we going to get?"

"Commander Samuels, these coordinates--do you have any idea where they are taking us?" Niles asked, indicating the readout at the base of the observation windows.

Samuels stepped forward and looked at the running numbers. He looked confused to Collins. "Yes, we're making a run for home."

"Where in the hell is home?" Ryan asked.

"Ice Palace--the Ross Ice Shelf."

"What's there?" Everett asked.

"We must retake Leviathanat all costs," Alexandria said just before she collapsed to the deck, unconscious. Virginia, Mendenhall, Sarah, and Alice rushed to her aid.

"It's our base of operations," Samuels said beneath his breath, unable to say what he was thinking. "We're in the process of leaving there and going to a new base--t he ice shelf has become too unstable. There's nothing there but the Heirthall fortune and ..." Samuels lowered his head.

Collins, who had released Dr. Trevor, faced him once more. He removed the pistol from Samuels's hand. He placed it against the right hand of the doctor and pressed.

"It's obviously Sergeant Tyler controlling this thing. Now, why is he going to Ice Palace?"

For the first time Trevor smiled. It was as though he was far braver now that Heirthall was unconscious.

"What's there, Colonel? Five hundred nuclear weapons--enough missiles to destroy every deepwater port on the face of the earth." His grin widened. "The symbiants are taking back their oceans, and the Heirthalls and Leviathanhave helped them do it."

"Does every asshole on the planet have access to these damn weapons?" Mendenhall whispered to Ryan.

"Only the ones we run across."

18

USS MISSOURI (SSN-780)

Missouriwas running at six knots on a southern line toward Antarctica, for no other reason than that was the last known direction of Leviathanas she left the area of Saboo.

First Officer Izzeringhausen handed Jefferson the full list of damages that would have to wait until they returned to Pearl for repairs.

"Not bad considering we hit more debris than a garbage truck," the captain said as he laid the report on the navigation chart he had been studying.

"Conn, sonar, we have just picked up a very weak submerged disturbance. We believe computer says it's Leviathan."

"Did you get a bearing?" Jefferson asked with the microphone gripped tightly.

"Aye, Captain--twenty-three miles due south of the Ross Sea, heading straight for the ice shelf on a heading for White Island. Depth, over three and a half miles."

"We follow, Skipper?"

"Yes, we follow. Get in there as close as we can and hope the damn ice shelf stays intact."

Jefferson was referring to the massive shearing of thirty-three miles of ice that had recently torn free from the world's largest ice pack.

"Take us to five hundred feet and bring us up to twenty-two knots. Order the relief shift for sonar, and get the department supervisors up here. We need the best people at their stations."

"Aye, Captain. I estimate at our revised speed and depth we should arrive at the shelf in three hours."