White Death

Then only blackness.
 
16
WELCOME BACK TO Torshavn, Mr. Austin," said the friendly desk clerk at the Hotel Hania. "Your fishing trip up the coast went well, I trust."
"Yes, thanks. I ran into some very unusual fish." The efficient desk clerk handed Austin an envelope along with his room key. "This came in earlier today."
Austin opened the envelope and read the message neatly printed on hotel letterhead: I'm in Copenhagen. Staying at the Palace. Dinner offer still good? Therri.
Austin smiled as he thought of Them's incredible eyes and her dulcet voice. He must remember to play the lottery. Maybe the winds of good fortune were blowing in his direction. On a clean sheet of sta- tionery, he wrote a reply: Tonight at the Tivoli? He folded the paper, gave it to the desk clerk and asked him to send the message.
"Would you try to reserve a room for tonight at the Palace Hotel?" he said.
"I'd be happy to, Mr. Austin. I'll ready your bill for checkout."
Austin went up to his room, where he took a shower and shaved. The phone rang as he was toweling himself dry. The desk clerk said that his room at the Palace was all set and that he had taken the lib- erty of canceling the previous reservation at an airport hotel. Austin packed his bag and called Professor Jorgensen. The professor was in class, so Austin left a message saying he would like to see him later in the day if possible. He said he would be en route to Copenhagen and suggested that Jorgensen leave a reply at the Palace Hotel front desk.
Austin gave the desk clerk a generous tip, then he caught the hel- icopter shuttle from Torshavn to Vagar Airport and took the At- lantic Airways flight to Copenhagen. Later that day, the airport taxi dropped him off at Radhuspladen, the city's main square. He made his way past the statue of Hans Christian Andersen and the spout- ing dragon water fountains to the stately old Palace Hotel overlook- ing the busy square. Two messages waited for him. One was from Therri: Tivoli it is! See you at six. The other note was from Professor Jorgensen, saying he would be in his office all afternoon.
Austin dropped his duffel bag off in his room and called the pro- fessor to tell him he was on his way. As Austin was leaving the hotel, it occurred to him that jeans and turtleneck were hardly appropri- ate for a night out with a beautiful woman. He stopped at a men's clothing shop in the concourse and, with the help of a knowledgeable salesman, quickly picked out what he wanted. A hefty bribe to the salesman and tailor insured that the clothes would be ready for him at five.
The University of Copenhagen campus was a short cab ride from the central square. The Marine Biological Laboratory was part of the Zoological Institute. Park lawns surrounded the two-story brick building. The professor's cubicle had exactly enough room to ac- commodate a desk and computer and two chairs and a clutter limit that the professor had far exceeded. Graphs and charts covered the walls, and folders were piled everywhere.
"Pardon the mess," he apologized. "My main office is at the Helsingor campus. I use this closet when I'm teaching classes here." He removed a pile of papers from a chair to make room for Austin. Nonplussed at what to do with the mess, he placed it precariously atop a teetering stack of other papers on his desk. "Wonderful to see you again, Kurt," he said with his big-toothed grin. "I'm so glad you were able to make it to our beautiful city."
"It's always a pleasure to visit Copenhagen. Unfortunately, my flight back to the States leaves tomorrow, so I only have one night here."
"Better than nothing at all," Jorgensen said, settling into the cramped area behind his desk. "Tell me, did you ever hear anything further from that lovely woman, the attorney who was having cof- fee with you in Torshavn?"
"Therri Weld? As a matter of fact, I'm having dinner with her tonight."
"Lucky man! I'm sure she'll be a more enjoyable companion than
I was," Jorgensen said with a chuckle. "Well, did you enjoy Skaal- shavn?"
Enjoy isn't the word for it. Skaalshavn is a surprising place.
Thanks for letting me use your cottage and your boat." "My pleasure. It's incredible country, isn't it?" Austin nodded. "Speaking of Skaalshavn, I was wondering how your lab tests turned out."
The professor rummaged through the Mt. Everest of papers on his desk. Miraculously, he found the file he was looking for. He took his glasses off and replaced them. "I don't know if you're acquainted with my main areas of expertise. I specialize in the effects ofhypoxia. I study how oxygen deficiency and temperature change affect fish populations. I don't claim to be an expert in every area, so I've run my findings by various colleagues in bacterial viruses. We have tested dozens of water samples and fish taken at various locations near the
Oceanus operation for signs of anomalies. We wondered if there was a parasite. Nothing."
"What about your original theory that there might be trace chem- icals in the water?"
"No, to the contrary. The Oceanus people weren't exaggerating when they bragged their filtration system was state-of-the-art. The water is absolutely pure. The other fish farms I tested produced waste from feed and so on. In short, I found nothing that would affect the Skaalshavn stocks."
"Which begs the question, what is decimating the fish popula- tion?"
Jorgensen pushed his glasses up on his forehead. "There could be other reasons we haven't touched. Predators, habitat degradation, a disruption of the food supply."
"Have you ruled out a link to the fish farm completely?"
"No, I haven't, which is why I'm returning to Skaalshavn to make more tests."
"That might be a problem," Austin said in an understatement. He proceeded to give the professor a condensed version of his ex- ploration of the fish farm, his narrow escape and rescue. "I'll be glad to pay you for the loss of the boat," he added.
"The boat is the least of my concerns. You could have been filled" Jorgensen was flabbergasted. "I ran into patrol boats when I was making my tests. They looked intimidating, but they never attacked or threatened me."
"Maybe they didn't like my face. I fnow I didn't like theirs." "You may have noticed I am not exactly a movie star," the profes- sor said. "No one tried to kill me."
"It's possible that they knew your tests would come up negative.
In that case, there was no reason to scare you off. Did you discuss your work with Gunnar?"
"Yes, he was always there when I returned from my field tests and seemed very interested in what I was doing." A light dawned in the professor's eyes. "I see! You think he was an informant for Oceanus?"
"I don't know for certain, but I was told that he worked for
Oceanus during the construction of the fish farm. It's certainly pos- sible that he continued to be employed by the company after the plant was built."
Jorgensen frowned. "Have you mentioned this episode to the police?"
"Not just yet. Technically speaking, I was trespassing on private property."
"But you don't try to /fill somebody simply for being nosy!" "That does seem like an overreaction. However, I can't see the Faroe police department pushing the matter. Oceanus would deny that our little dust-off ever took place. The way they reacted to a lit- tle harmless snooping tells me they must have something to hide. I'd like to poke around quietly, and the police would simply stir things up."