Zircon and the others had been listening. Now the scientist said, "We'll have plenty of chance to talk, Rick. At the moment I'm concerned with getting out of here. After a bit of exploration of course. It's almost certain that the heavy water comes from here. Although I don't know the source."
Scotty motioned toward the Lake of Darkness. "Bradley said to bring a Nansen bottle and a rubber boat. He must have known about this. Why would he say to bring a Nansen bottle if not to take a sample from the lake?"
Zircon flashed a look at Long Shadow. The Eurasian smiled gently. "That's a good question Mr. Scott asked," he told them. "But don't look to me for the answer."
"Search the tents," Zircon ordered. "Chahda, keep an eye on our two friends."
The three Americans walked to the felt tents and began searching through them. Zircon used the infrared camera. Rick and Scotty took torches.
Rick was feeling through a pile of furs when Zircon called, "Here are the flashlights!"
Zircon's had run down, but Scotty's, and Chahda's big lights were still useful. They made the search much easier. Rick went back to the pile of skins and found that they were plastic-lined water bags, similar to the ones they had found on the way to Korse Lenken. Then, stacked in a corner of the tent, he found some Nansen bottles!
At the same moment, Scotty called from the next tent. "Look what I found!"
He had located the ammunition supply. There was powder and ball for the old muskets the Tibetans used, two boxes of machine pistol cartridges, and a small case of grenades!
"Now we know where Ko got the one he tried to use on us," Rick said. "But where did they come from in the first place?"