The painting shifted to an image of the Atlantic Ocean. Its focus was on the upper part of that body of water, above Greenland and Norway. "Our client is a shipping company out of Norway," Paragon began. "They became concerned when one of their ships did not return to port in Trondheim. Using GPS satellites, they discovered that the vessel had veered far out of the shipping lanes." Yellow lines ran back and forth from Greenland to Norway. A large red dot began to blink far above them.
"So," Icarus said in sheer boredom, "the boat is floating in the middle of the ocean. What's the problem?"
Paragon continued with the voice that accentuated the information Icarus had been too impatient to hear. "The ship is actually frozen and immobile. The occurrence is not uncommon. Normal protocol in this situation would be for an icebreaker ship to be sent to extract the trapped vessel. The problem is that all attempts at radio contact from the company itself and other vessels have gone unanswered. They fear foul play."
"What was the cargo?" Adem asked.
"According to the company's lawyer, prawns."
"Prawns?" Marshall let out in confusion. "You mean...... shrimp? It was a boatload of shrimp?" Paragon nodded in answer. "Who would want that much shrimp?"
"Someone throwing a really big party," Link Fox replied.
"Where is this lawyer?" Lykopis demanded of Paragon.
"Penny is assisting him with our paperwork in my office."
"I would like to question him. I know how to make sure he tells us the truth. The whole truth."
"I'm sure you do," Paragon's voice became authoritative as he motioned for the Amazon to keep her seat. "Rest assured that I have spoken with him in length about this case as well as done my own research into the matter. I also consider myself a good judge of character. With all those facts taken into consideration, I can state with the utmost confidence that he is in fact telling us the truth as he knows it." William now turned his attention back to the rest of the group. "After all prawns are the largest export of Greenland."
"The concern comes for many reasons. The company is involved with other industries of Norway including petroleum and whaling. This has made them a target for eco-terrorists in the past. They are also unraveled by the growing number of incidents involving extremist metas that have sprung up globally since the seizure of Manhattan. For those reasons we have been hired to go in first to assess the situation. Our clients will then act based upon our findings.
"Prepare yourselves. You leave in thirty minutes for Norway. From there you will be transported via helicopter to the ship. It is unsafe for the chopper to land on the ice, so you will be lowered to the ship's deck. It will remain on standby on an oil platform, but extraction will take close to an hour and a half. Keep this in mind before taking an actions, and dress for cold weather."
