"I'd never heard of them," Giordino played along.

"Our scientists are studying their records so we can learn what to expect in the coming months and years."

"How long do you think it will take before we can begin our work on land?" asked Pitt.

"Five, perhaps ten, years before we can go forth and establish a new order," explained Rosa.

"Can a hundred and twenty-five thousand people subsist that long?"

"You're forgetting the other ships," she said boastfully. "The fleet will be totally self-supporting. The Karl Wolf has fifty thousand acres of tilled soil already planted with vegetables and fruit orchards. The Otto Wolf will carry thousands of animals for food as well as breeding. The final ship, the Hermann Wolf, was built purely for cargo. It will haul all the equipment and machinery to construct new cities, roads, ranches, and farms when we are able to walk the earth again."

Giordino pointed up to a digital sign above the doors. "K Section coming up."

"A great pleasure meeting you, Ms. Wolf," said Pitt gallantly. "I hope you will remember me to your cousin Karl."

She looked at him questioningly for a moment, then nodded. "I'm sure we'll meet again."

The train slowed to a stop, and Pitt and Giordino disembarked. They walked from the boarding platform into an antechamber with corridors leading off like wagon wheel spokes into a vast labyrinth.

"Now which way?" asked Giordino.

"We go dead amidships and follow the signs to the K Section," Pitt said, as he set off into the center corridor. "We want to avoid the security office like the plague."

Walking along what seemed to be an endless corridor, they passed numbered doors, several of them open while the rooms were being furnished. They looked in and saw spacious living quarters on a par with luxury condominiums. Pitt could understand now why the guard had referred to them as residences. The plan was for the occupants to live as comfortably as possible during the long wait before they could establish their community on what was left of the earth after the comet's collision.

Paintings were spaced every thirty feet along the walls between the doors to the residences. Giordino stopped briefly and examined a landscape in vivid colors. He leaned close and peered at the artist's scrawled name.

"No way can this be a Van Gogh," he said skeptically. "It must be a forgery or a reproduction."

"It's genuine," said Pitt, with conviction. He motioned toward the other art hanging on the walls. "These works doubtless come from the museums and the private collections of Holocaust victims that were looted by the Nazis during World War Two."

"How charitable of them to save art treasures that never belonged to them."

"The Wolfs plan to carry the great masterworks to the promised land."

How could the Wolfs be so positive that the second coming of the comet would strike the earth? Pitt wondered. Why wasn't it possible the comet would miss again, as it had nine thousand years before? There were no ready answers, but once he and Giordino could escape the shipyard with Pat and her daughter, he was determined to find solutions.

After what Giordino estimated as a quarter of a mile, they came to a large door marked "Security, Level K." They hurried past and finally came to a tastefully decorated reception area with tables, chairs, and sofas in front of a large fireplace. It could have passed for a lobby in any five-star hotel. A man and a woman dressed in green coveralls sat behind a counter beneath a large painting of Noah's Ark.

"Somebody in authority must have a color-code mania," Giordino muttered under his breath.

"Ask them where the American epigraphist, who is deciphering the ancient descriptions, is confined," Pitt instructed.

"How in hell would I know what `epigraphist' is in Spanish?"

"Fake it."

Giordino rolled his eyes and approached the counter in front of the woman, thinking she might be more helpful.

"We've been sent to move Dr. O'Connell and her daughter to another part of the ship," he said softly, in an attempt to muffle his American accent.

The woman, attractive in a mannish sort of way, with a pale complexion and her hair swept back in a bun, looked up at Giordino and noted his security uniform. "Why wasn't I notified earlier that she was scheduled to be moved?"

"I was told only ten minutes ago myself."

"I should verify this request," said the woman in an official tone.

"Better yet, my superior is on his way. I suggest you wait and settle the matter with him."

She nodded. "Yes, I'll do that."

"Meanwhile, you might point out the residence where she is being held, so we can prepare her for the move."

"You don't know?" the woman asked, suspicion growing in her mind.

"How could we?" Giordino asked innocently, "since she is under your charge as section leader. My partner and I are simply paying you the courtesy of checking with you rather than just going in and taking her. Now, tell me where she is and we'll wait until my superior shows with the proper authority, if that will make you sleep easier."

The female section leader yielded. "You will find Dr. O'Connell locked in residence K-37. But I can't give you the key until I see a signed order."

"There's no need for us to enter just yet," Giordino said, with an indifferent shrug. "We'll stand outside and wait" He tilted his head in a gesture for Pitt to follow him, and he began walking back the way they had come. Once out of earshot, he said, "She's held in K-37. I think we passed residences numbered in the thirties on the way from the elevator."

"Is her residence guarded?" asked Pitt.

"Wearing this security outfit, I'm supposed to know if guards are posted. No, I wasn't about to bring up the subject and look like a suspicious idiot."

"We'd better be quick," said Pitt. "They must be on our tail by now."

When they reached K-37, they found a guard standing outside. Giordino walked up casually and said, "You're relieved."

The guard, a man who was a good foot taller than the short Etruscan, stared down with a questioning look on his face. "I have another two hours left on my shift."

"Aren't you lucky we were sent early."

"You don't look familiar," said the guard uneasily.

"Neither do you." Then Giordino made as if to turn away. "Forget it. My partner and I will wait in the dining room until your shift ends."

The guard suddenly changed his tune. "No, no, I could use the extra time to get some sleep." Without further procrastination, he began walking swiftly toward the elevator.

"A productive performance," said Pitt.

"I have a persuasive personality," Giordino said, grinning.

As soon as the guard stepped into the elevator at the end of the long corridor, Pitt kicked his foot hard against the door near the latch and smashed it open. They charged into the residence almost before the door thumped against its stop. A young girl was standing in the kitchen, wearing blue coveralls and in the act of drinking a glass of milk. In fright, she dropped the glass in her hand onto the carpet. Pat came running out of the bedroom, also dressed in blue coveralls, her long red hair spread behind her like a fan. She stopped frozen in the doorway and stared unbelievingly at Pitt and Giordino, her mouth open but unable to utter words, eyes mirroring total confusion.