The book begins with an enigmatic prologue which promptly sows the seeds of intrigue for the entire read.In the light of the imminent elections, President Zachary isnt looking too good in the public eye. A staunch NASA supporter, he has endorsed a series of NASAs failed missions with the tax payers money. His nemesis, the manipulative senator Sedgewick Sexton, has used The book begins with an enigmatic prologue which promptly sows the seeds of intrigue for the entire read.In the light of the imminent elections, President Zachary isnt looking too good in the public eye. A staunch NASA supporter, he has endorsed a series of NASAs failed missions with the tax payers money. His nemesis, the manipulative senator Sedgewick Sexton, has used this to his utmost advantage and is basking in the good books of the people, as his intentions of abolishing NASA have been publicized.So when NASA satellites descry a high density meteorite, submerged in the Milne ice shelf and carrying fossils of extraterrestrial bugs, in the midst of this political unrest, the miraculous find seems to be a ploy to secure the incumbent president a second term in the White House. The president personally requests Rachel from the NRO (coincidentally also the estranged daughter of Senator Sexton), to accompany a team of eminent civilian scientists to authenticate NASAs claim. When Michael Tollan, the renowned oceanographer, astrophysicist Corky Marlinson, glaciologist Nora Mangor, paleontologist Wailee Ming, and Rachel Sexton arrive at their destination and examine the fossils, everything seems bona fide and a spirit of victory sets in as the President is informed.As in all of Dan Browns novels, there are multiple events that come to pass simultaneously in different locations. Concurrent with all that has transpired, there is another coterie in the vicinity - the Delta Force. Operating invisibly under the orders of an unknown chief, the unit is observing the arena and monitoring the movements of the scientists closely. In the White House, President Zachary is all set to go public about the new discovery. At the Milne Ice Shelf however, Ming notices some aberrance in the nature of the ice under the meteorite. Before he gets to investigate it further, hes killed.