And Then Everything Unraveled by Jennifer Sturman Page B

quickly.
    The general consensus was that the Polar Star must have hit submerged ice, which is what happened to a cruise ship called the Explorer in 2007. But the Explorer took nearly twenty hours to sink, which gave everyone on it plenty of time to evacuate by lifeboat. Even the Titanic had taken three hours to go down, which had been more than long enough to escape—there just weren’t enough lifeboats for people like the guy played by Leonardo DiCaprio.
    And I knew there was no way T.K. would’ve set foot on a boat without enough lifeboats. She wouldn’t even release the parking brake on the Prius until everybody’s seat belt was buckled.
    So, given the lack of an actual sinking ship or lifeboats or anything, the hitting-ice-and-sinking theory seemed pretty weak.
    I also found a lot of blog posts from people who had theories of their own. There was one guy who was convinced that T.K.’s ship had fallen prey to a band of marauding polar pirates. Another must have been watching too many old episodes of The X-Files, because he chalked it up to an alien abduction, an Antarctic version of the Bermuda Triangle, or some combination of the two.
    These people might not be all that reliable, but a couple did point out something interesting. There are hundreds of satellites orbiting the earth, not just for beaming down TV to places that can’t get cable but for taking pictures and measurements, too. Some of these satellites are dedicated to scientific research—observing changes in the earth’s climate, for example. Others are used for less aboveboard activities, like spying on rogue nations’ nuclear facilities and stalking celebrities.
    Anyhow, according to the bloggers, there was a set of satellite images of the Amundsen Sea right before the Polar Star sent out its SOS signal, and the ship could be seen clearly, perfectly fine and sailing along without any problems. The next set of available satellite images for the area was from only a few minutes later, and the ship should still have been visible.
    But the Polar Star was completely gone—like it really hadvanished into thin air. There wasn’t any disturbance in the water to indicate a sinking ship, nor was there any smoke or debris from an explosion.
    The bloggers used this as evidence to justify their random theories. Of course, they also believed in things like polar pirates and the Bermuda Triangle.
    Still, I wanted to see those satellite images for myself, from the original sources. After all, ships don’t just evaporate, complete with their crew and passengers and equipment and everything. Especially not when one of those passengers was my mother.
    And I couldn’t be the only person who thought there had to be more to this story than we’d been told.

Nine
    Charley had texted earlier, offering to come pick me up, but I was sort of fascinated by the subway and told her I’d be fine getting back to the loft on my own. She replied with several texts’ worth of instructions about which station was most convenient to Prescott, how to buy a MetroCard, which line to take, how to behave on the subway platform and in the train so that people wouldn’t think I was a tourist, which stop to get off at, and the best route from there to the loft. If I hadn’t realized that she was still overcompensating for the airport mix-up, I would’ve worried that she didn’t think I was very bright.
    Anyhow, when the final bell rang, I was ready to go. I collected my things, checked Charley’s instructions again, and dashed to the nearest subway station. The entrance was exactly where Charley had said it would be, and it wasn’t hard to buy a MetroCard or figure out which train was the right one.
    As it rattled through the tunnel, I felt buoyant, like I was floating instead of underground. I couldn’t wait to tell Charley everything I’d learned about the Polar Star and get her thoughts about what to do next. And even in my excitement—afterall, the evidence I’d found