checked. Dirk meets Karl Wolf, CEO of Destiny Enterprises Limited, and mentions the potential catastrophe. Wolf's reply implies that his family is planning to capitalize on the disaster. The data from the observatory comes back: the prophecy is false. The comet will return in a few millennia, and it will miss the planet entirely. It is noted that Destiny Enterprises is putting a lot of capital into four superships to save themselves and hold everything required for them to re-create civilization in the future. Dirk and Al take a tour of one of the ships and rescue, again, one of the scientists from the chamber in Colorado who was captured for her ability to decipher the Amenes inscriptions. Information linked to a Nazi-built nanotech research facility in Antarctica comes to light. The plan that ultimately comes to light: the villains intend to use nanotechnology to separate the Ross Ice Shelf from the Antarctic mainland in order to unbalance the planet and create a catastrophe that they can ride out in their superships. Then they plan to re-create civilization in the Nazi image. Dirk and his friends head there, deactivate the nanotechnology and deal with Karl Wolf, his relatives and workers. Series continuity It is revealed in the book that 'Dad' is in fact Clive Cussler himself. The fact that he appears in his own work is a recurring theme of the series. And as mentioned by Loren Smith, this is the first time where Dirk Pitt doesn't take back the form of transport used in the book (an old car/plane/boat etc.) to his hangar. In another Cussler novel, Serpent, Pitt and other characters are mentioned in crossover, said to be going to "a Project in the Antarctic". Dirk Pitt novels 1999 American novels Atlantis in fiction Novels set in Antarctica Cultural depictions of Adolf Hitler American thriller novels G. P. Putnam's Sons books