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Page 371
had so burdened her since they met just nine days earlier.
She caught sight of Morgan at the entrance, shook hands with the photographer, and headed toward him, smiling that luminous smile that made her almost beautiful. Oh God, Morgan thought, what have I got myself into? Of all times and of all peopleHe rubbed his eyes, weary, but so charged with adrenaline that he was unable to relax. He remembered reading a fantastic story long ago, by an Argentinean writer named Borges, about a man who had the experience of encountering everything in the world, all at once, even to seeing the circulation of his own dark blood. That's how it is right now for me, Morgan thought, dizzy with the enormity of it all. Anna's touch on his arm sent a thrill through him, and he smiled back at her, wondering if she could sense how he felt.
The Canadians running the show dimmed the lights and started up the videotape player. Morgan spotted Ave Peters and Arkady Karmann where they were already seated, and led Anna over to join them.
The images emanating from the videotape player were repeated twelve times on the screens of large television sets that had been strategically placed across the far end of the large, shabby Quonset hut where the press briefing was being held.
The hut was crowded with men and women in heavy winter gear; the indoor air was hot, smelly, and humid. Outside, the gusting wind had dropped the temperature to minus twenty degrees Celsius, but the gale had also swept the sky of clouds. The stars shone with diamond brightness, shimmering and twinkling in the wind. A sliver of moon cast a pallid light over the frozen tundra. After a day and a half of delay due to the late arrival in Montreal of the Russian contingent, the Air Command Starlifter carrying the Canadian and Russian diving teams was reported inbound.
The Americans sat in a group toward the front, with Arkady Karmann seated between Ave Peters and Morgan, and Anna Neville on Morgan's other side. Joe Ryerson was not seated

 
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