531 The Flood, Ch. 43
Chapter Forty-three
Sinking underwater, I saw the whole flood unfold.
Water trickling under glaciers all over the world. In Antarctica, ice sheets breaking up slowly, and then quickly. A flotilla of icebergs drifting away from Greenland. Ocean currents shutting down. A huge tropical storm rising at the equator, diverging and swirling all the way to both poles. One huge burst of rain and tropical warmth, and suddenly, no ice caps.
Warm freshwater mixing with cold saltwater, the volume of the ocean swelling, then a giant sloshing tidal surge, pushed and pulled by the moon in one twenty-four hour catastrophe.
And now this.
The ground below me comes into view, the old university buildings, some still looking remarkably like they did the last time I was here. When was that? Only a few weeks ago, when I flew down here following a hunch. But now covered with water, silt, and the beginnings of bottom growth. Seaweed. Barnacles. Fish!
Up on the surface, the boat got smaller as I sank further. A dark sliver against the shimmering blue sky.
Below, the pool became clear. The tile was oddly clean, with none of the sediment of the surrounding flooded area. Each tile came into focus, a grid spreading out before my eyes as I sank perfectly into the deep end.
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