Deception Point

by Dan Brown

In my mind, the men and women of NASA are history’s modern pioneers. They attempt the impossible, accept failure, and then go back to the drawing board while the rest of us stand back and criticize.”

Herney had always believed the most dominating aspect of the Oval Office was the colorful American eagle emblazoned on the room’s oval carpet. The eagle’s left talon clutched an olive branch and his right a bundle of arrows. Few outsiders knew that during times of peace, the eagle faced left—toward the olive branch. But in times of war, the eagle mysteriously faced right—toward the arrows.

Finally, as Ming slid downward into the icy darkness, he felt himself going unconscious. He welcomed the escape. All around him in the water Ming saw tiny glowing specks of light. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

The Law of Parsimony, she thought. Her NRO instructors had driven it into her subconscious. When multiple explanations exist, the simplest is usually correct.

“Polar bears actually give the Arctic its name. Arktos is Greek for bear.” Terrific. Rachel gazed nervously into the dark. “Antarctica has no polar bears,” Tolland said. “So they call it Anti-arktos.”

“authentication by association,” and politicians used it all the time to sell dubious concepts.

“Someone else found it first.” “Someone else? Who?” Harper sighed. “A Canadian geologist named Charles Brophy—a researcher on Ellesmere Island. Apparently he was doing geologic ice soundings on the Milne Ice Shelf when he by chance discovered the presence of what appeared to be a huge meteorite in the ice. He radioed it in, and NASA happened to intercept the transmission.” Gabrielle stared. “But isn’t this Canadian furious that NASA is taking all the credit for the find?” “No,” Harper said, feeling a chill. “Conveniently, he’s dead.”

Nobody was supposed to die . . . except the Canadian.

“Iactura paucorum serva multos.” He could see she recognized the words—almost a cliché in national security circles. Sacrifice the few to save the many.