Resumo de Deception Point

Deception Point (2001) is a thriller novel by Dan Brown, the author of The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, and Digital Fortress.Intelligence Analyst Rachel Sexton is in her mid-thirties, is single, and works for the NRO (National Reconnaissance Office). Her father, Senator Sedgewick Sexton, is a popular presidential candidate surpassing the incumbent president of the United States Zachary Herney. The President sends her to the Arctic as part of a team of experts to confirm and authenticate findings made by NASA deep within the Milne Ice Shelf. NASA''s new Earth Observation System (EOS,) a collection of satellites constantly monitoring the globe for signs of large-scale change, has found an extremely dense spot in the Milne Ice Shelf. NASA discovers a very dense meteorite. In it are fossils of bugs very similar to--but not the same as--species on earth. NASA claims this as proof of extraterrestrial life. This find is something NASA needs desperately, as the agency?s success rate on other fronts has put it in a bad light.Senator Sexton uses this as an example of government overspending and failure to further his campaign.A group of four civilian scientists has already been studying the find and has confirmed NASA''s claims. It is only hours before the President and NASA plan to go public with the discovery.However, one of the scientists is startled by something he sees in the icy water in the pit from which the meteorite was removed, and before he has a chance to tell the others, he is killed by the Delta Force, a special forces unit of the U.S. Army.What the experts and scientists don?t realize is that their every move is monitored from a listening post just a few miles away by Delta Force members controlling a tiny flying "microbot."The other three civilian scientists and Rachel make the same discovery as their martyred comrade. They are unaware of his death. They have found evidence of seawater contamination, suggesting that the ice shelf is not pure freshwater as glaciers are supposed to be. They examine further, discovering that there is a shaft of frozen seawater directly below the extraction pit. It appears that the meteorite has been inserted from below.During Rachel''s and the scientists'' excursion out of NASA''s temporary settlement to investigate the contamination, they are attacked by the Delta Force. One of the scientists is killed, and Rachel and the other two narrowly survive, being rescued by the USS Charlotte.The three, armed with a strong suspicion of NASA deception, set off to investigate further. Their goal is to either reconfirm or deny NASA''s claims before President Herney stuns the world with a possibly false announcement. They fly to the research ship of one of the scientists, investigate the chemical makeup of a meteorite sample, and look up the fossilized organism found in the meteorite. They discover that the organism does in fact exist on earth in the Mariana Trench and that the chemical makeup of the meteorite could prove it to be a terrestrial rock. The scientists come to the conclusion that the meteorite is false well after Herney has publicized the find.Suddenly, the Delta Force tracks down the group and destroys the ship. The three scientists narrowly escape once again, managing to kill the Delta Force team in the meantime. Rachel learns that the NRO head is actually the Delta Force controller for that operation.They are suspicious of the entire NASA organization and the administration. Rachel faxes the information about the meteorite''s makeup and the organism to her father, knowing that he will not be afraid to go public. However, she arrives in time to discover that her father is taking corrupt bribes from private space companies who wish NASA''s demise. With help from Sexton''s assistant, she replaces envelopes containing NASA''s incriminating information meant for the press with ones containing photos of Sexton''s lewd sexual encounter with his assistant. The senatothese envelopes to the press during the conference, verifying the photos'' authenticity while thinking that they are of NASA''s guilt.Soon after, Herney makes the announcement to the world, retracting his statement from the night before. This almost guarantees his second term in the White House.

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