Read Raising Atlantis for Free Online Page B

said it. He had forced her to say it.
    “And the Church itself? Just a good idea gone bad?”
    “Like all human institutions, the Church on earth is corrupt,” she said. “But it’s given us hospitals, orphanages, and hope for the human race. Without it civilization would sink into a moral abyss.”
    “I’m glad to hear you say that.” There was tenderness in the pope’s eyes and a tone of disbelief in his voice as he asked her, of all people: “Sister Serghetti, I want you to pause and consider whether the Spirit is prompting you in your heart to take on a holy mission that may truly make you worthy of your calling as Mother Earth.”
    The only thing the Spirit was telling her was that something wasn’t right here. She had rebuked the Vatican and left the Church. Now the pope was asking her to be his official emissary. “What sort of mission?”
    “I understand you are an official observer and adviser to the implementation of the international Antarctic Treaty.”
    “I’m an adviser for the Treaty’s Committee for Environmental Protection,” she explained. “But I represent Australia, Your Holiness, not the Church.”
    The pope nodded and tapped his fingers on his arm-rest.
    “You know those recent news reports about seismic activity in Antarctica?”
    “Of course, Your Holiness. A glacier the size of Delaware was sliced off last month after the most recent temblor. And another one the size of Rhode Island broke away before that.
    In short order it may all add up to the equivalent of the entire eastern seaboard of the United States.”
    “What if I told you that our intelligence sources have located a secret and illegal American military expedition in Antarctica, in land claimed by your own homeland, Australia?”
    “I’d say the Americans are violating the Madrid Protocol of 1991, which established Antarctica as a zone of peace reserved exclusively for scientific research purposes. All military activities are banned from the continent.” Serena leaned forward. “How do you know this?”
    “Three U.S. spy satellites recently disappeared from orbit,” he explained.
    She blinked. How long had the Vatican been in the business of tracking foreign spy satellites? “Perhaps they stopped working or were deliberately destroyed,” she suggested.
    “Dead U.S. satellites are usually left in orbit,” the pope explained as easily as if he were discussing New Testament hermeneutics. “And if one satellite, let alone three, had died, congressional overseers would have made more noise than Vatican II. That did not happen.”
    “I’m afraid we’ve stepped beyond my area of expertise, Your Holiness,” Serena said. “What are you suggesting happened?”
    “The satellites were placed into orbits that would move more slowly across the skies than other high-altitude spy cameras, giving them more time to photograph targets.”
    “Targets?”
    “Military strikes are usually mounted immediately before a spy satellite passes overhead, so they can record the damage before the enemy has time to cover it up. But after the latest seismic activity in Antarctica, no known spy satellites would have passed over the affected area. That suggests that one or more of the missing satellites may be watching.”
    “Are you suggesting the U.S. military is actually causing those seismic shock waves?” she asked.
    “That’s what I want you to find out.”
    She sat back in her chair. The pope had no reason to lie to her. But there must be more to this than what he was telling her. Why else would the Holy See take such profound interest in an empty continent populated by more penguins than Catholics?
    “Is there something more you want to tell me?” she asked.
    “Does it involve Doctor Yeats?”
    The pope nodded. “He apparently has joined the American expedition in Antarctica.”
    So it did involve Conrad, she realized, but in an altogether unexpected scenario. “Why would the American military need an