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hundred things youll discover for yourself. There are mess halls served by kitchens specializing in haute cuisine. Half a dozen lounges, comfortable accommodations for over four hundred persons. Basically, Peter, were a small city, two miles below the surface of the ocean, far from prying eyes.
     
    In th oceans bosom unespied, Crane quoted.
     
    Asher looked at him curiously, a half smile on his face. Thats Andrew Marvell, isnt it?
     
    Crane nodded. Bermudas.
     
    Dont tell me youre a reader of poetry.
     
    Now and then. I got the habit during all that downtime on sub duty. Its my secret vice.
     
    The smile widened on Ashers wind-tanned face. Peter, I like you already.
     
    The elevator chimed again, and the doors rolled back onto another corridor, much wider and busier than the others. Glancing out, Crane was shocked at how well-appointed the staff quarters appeared to be. There was elegant carpeting on the floor, and miraculously framed oil paintings on wallpapered walls. It reminded him of the lobby of a luxury hotel. People in uniforms and lab coats were walking past, chatting. Everyone had an ID badge clipped to a collar or shirt pocket.
     
    The Facility is a marvel of engineering, Asher went on. We were extremely lucky to get the use of it. In any case, this is deck ten. Any questions before I show you to your quarters?
     
    Just one. Earlier, you said there were twelve decks. But youve only described six. And this elevator has only six buttons. Crane pointed at the control panel. What about the rest of the station?
     
    Ah. Asher hesitated. The lower six decks are classified.
     
    Classified?
     
    Asher nodded.
     
    But why? What goes on there?
     
    Sorry, Peter. Id like to tell you, but I cant.
     
    I dont understand. Why not?
     
    But Asher didnt answer. He simply gave him another sly smile: half chagrined, half conspiratorial. -

 
     
    Chapter 6
     
    If the Facilitys living quarters reminded Crane of a luxury hotel, then deck 9 seemed closer in spirit to a cruise ship.
     
    Asher had given him an hour to shower and stow his gear, then hed shown up to escort him to the medical suite. Time to meet your fellow inmates, hed joked. On the way, he gave Crane a brief tour of the deck below his own quarters, known officially as Crew Support.
     
    But Crew Support didnt begin to do deck 9 justice. Asher steered him briefly past a hundred-seat theater and a fully stocked digital library before leading him to a large plaza bustling with activity. Music echoed faintly from what looked like a miniature sidewalk cafe. On the far side of the plaza, Crane made out a pizzeria, and beside it a small oasis of greenery surrounded by benches. Everything was miniaturized to fit into the small footprint of the Facility, but it was so artfully contrived there was no sense of crowding or claustrophobia.
     
    Deck nine has a unique layout, Asher said. Basically, its constructed around two large perpendicular corridors. Someone dubbed their intersection Times Square.
     
    Remarkable.
     
    The multimedia nexus and laundry are down that way. And over there is the PX. Asher pointed at a storefront that looked more like an upscale department store than a commissary.
     
    Crane stared at the small knots of workers all around him: chatting, sipping coffee at small tables, reading books, typing on laptops. A few were in military uniform, but the majority wore casual clothes or lab wear. He shook his head; it seemed almost unthinkable that miles of ocean lay above their heads.
     
    I cant believe the military built something like this, he said.
     
    Asher grinned. I doubt the original designers had this in mind. But you have to remember this project will last many months. And leaving isnt an option, except under the most extreme circumstances. Unlike you, most of the workers here have no experience in submarines. Our scientists arent used to living inside a steel box without doors or windows. So we do what we can to make life as bearable as