Luca remained silent for a moment, not feeling the need to justify himself by listing his climbing CV. In his prime, he had climbed all over the Pamir and Tien Shan Mountains, successfully summiting almost all of the most technically challenging routes. However, most people only knew the names of the highest peaks, so he kept it simple.
‘I put a new route up Pobeda in the Tien Shan.’
‘Pobeda? I heard of this mountain. It is famous in Russia as mighty seven-thousand-metre peak! If you climb it you have title of snow leopard, da?’
Luca nodded vaguely. ‘Something like that.’
‘Well, Snow Leopard,’ Dedov intoned, as the glow of his cigarette faded, ‘you have only a few days to get your scientists to drill site. We have done the hard work and broken into lake. But I will not allow that hole to re-seal without samples.’
With an air of finality, Dedov stubbed out what remained of the cigarette into an old pocket watchcase and snapped it shut, disposing of the crooked filter. His eyes tilted back to the horizon as he slowly shook his head.
‘At least some good must come of all this,’ he muttered to himself.
The Global Antarctic Research Institute, or GARI as it was commonly known, was a monstrous blue structure raised like a spider on squat, metallic legs. It looked futuristic, as if designed for another world entirely, with separate living modules connected via gangplanks and spaced out in a horizontal line. The closest module rose thirty feet above the top of the tractor, dwarfing the vehicle as they passed directly between the building’s legs and into a garaging unit on the far side.
‘New international base,’ Dedov said, with obvious pride. ‘GARI can accommodate ninety-two people in summertime, with two separate generator houses. Different modules mean if there is fire, you can close off and move to next one.’
‘Incredible,’ Luca muttered, peering out through the window at the underside of the beast. ‘It’s like something out of Star Wars.’
‘Wars?’ Dedov repeated. ‘No wars in Antarctica! Only place on planet where we have no war. No military allowed here. Only scientist.’
As the garage roller door ground down towards the floor, Dedov pulled the tractor to a halt. Before Luca had a chance to open the passenger door the Russian turned towards him, grave-faced.
‘Whole base was built by four governments. But only one task: to drill into special lake.’ He reached out for Luca’s shoulder. ‘Now you see why it is important for you to succeed. If lake is lost, if hole re-seals and we fail to get samples, science will fail too.’
‘I’ll get the guys to the drill site,’ Luca replied. Then, looking out to the far side of the vast hangar, he spotted the silhouette of a small helicopter, the front end covered in thick tarpaulin. ‘Why don’t you just use that thing to get there?’
Dedov followed the direction of his gaze. ‘It is not ours, and it is broken. Apparently, it needs special part.’
‘So fly the part in on the Ilyushin.’
‘And who will fix it? You? Anyway, it is not one part. Apparently it is many.’
‘What about other planes then? Aren’t there smaller ones fitted with skis?’
‘Da,’ Dedov agreed, with a nod of his bulbous head. ‘We have such planes in summer. We have Twin Otter plane, Antonov-2. Even, sometimes, there is DC-3 Basler.’
‘So where are they now?’
‘The birds have flown. Soon there will be last light here and small planes have to fly back to mainland before the start of winter. They hop along coast, from one science base to next, and go out of Antarctica via the peninsula.’
He slapped Luca on the shoulder, abandoning the topic. ‘So you have to use the old-fashioned way, like a proper polar explorer! But you must move fast.’
Luca met his gaze. ‘I can move as soon as the scientists are ready. I’ve already got a routing on my map that we can follow.’
‘Map? Let me see.’
Luca pulled out the laminated paper, folded into a neat square. Dedov took it from his grasp. Tilting his head forward to peer over the top of his glasses, he followed the plotted course. After a moment’s pause, he handed it back.
‘This route is no good,’ he said matter-of-factly. ‘You have no time and quickest way is east around mountain rim. Not west.’
‘I was given instructions. My contact was specific on this point.’
‘Then your contact was wrong.’
Dedov was about to say something more when his head tilted forward. His eyes seemed to zero in on the single beam of light that shone through a skylight on the right-hand side of the hangar. His eyes watered slightly, while Luca could see a thick vein on the side of his neck start to pulse.
‘Please go into the base and meet rest of team,’ the Russian said, nodding slightly towards the door at the far end of the hangar. ‘It is that way.’
‘You not coming in?’
‘Regretfully, I have a radio call to make.’
Luca hesitated, wondering why he would choose to sit inside the garage to make a call, but Dedov remained motionless, obviously waiting for him to leave. Luca swung open the tractor’s door and, without another word, walked away into the main part of the base.
Only once he was out of sight did Dedov try to lift his hand off the steering wheel. His fist was locked tight, the muscles in his forearm straining.
‘The light. Don’t look at the light.’ Dedov whispered the words out loud, but already he could feel his gaze being inexorably drawn towards the single beam flooding into the cavernous space. It was mesmeric, commanding his attention until his whole face twisted up towards it as if enraptured by the sight.
His jaw tightened, back molars grinding together. He groaned, knowing this was the precursor to yet another seizure. They were coming more regularly now, virtually every two days.
Suddenly his body snapped backwards, his back arching while his arms curled up close to his chest. His fingers wrung the air as if clawing at some imaginary foe. He gurgled, neck straining as spittle began to foam out of the corners of his mouth. The colour drained from his face while his upper lip pulled back from his teeth making it look as if a terrible, demonic force had suddenly taken hold of him.
He tried to hold on, to control the seizure in some way, but it ripped through him like an electric current. On it went, foam spilling out across his beard and pooling on the faded leather seat of the tractor. He could feel his peripheral vision darkening with just the single shard of light now visible before him. He clung to it, every part of his being reaching towards the light.
Twenty minutes later, Dedov woke. His eyelids flickered. Slowly he pulled himself up using the steering wheel for balance. He could feel the whole right side of his face was damp and his arms shook with the effort of simply raising himself vertical. He felt exhausted, so absolutely drained of energy that he barely had the strength to move.
Finally, his vision cleared and he stared towards the door of the hangar. It was still closed. Laying back his head on the seat rest, he let out a ragged breath. No one had seen what had happened. His secret was still safe.
But already he knew, it could only last so long.
Chapter 5
DESPITE BEING OFFICIALLY classified as ‘operational’, the interior of GARI was only just that. As Luca walked in, he could see wooden crates lying in the far corner of the room stacked in some long-forgotten order, while instructions for gas piping were scrawled in permanent marker across the sidewalls. He took a few paces further inside to where a makeshift couch had been positioned in front of the main heating vent. Everything about the scene looked unfinished, as if the builders had somehow got distracted halfway through the construction process.
A figure lay on an inflatable mattress next to the couch, with a sleeping bag pulled high across its chest. The hood concealed most of its face, while a single hand protruded from the covers, clutching a novel whose spine had been broken back so the pages could be turned using only one hand. The book was held only inches away from the figur
e’s nose, leaving the eyes protruding above. The eyes blinked several times before switching focus and settling on Luca.
‘So who are you?’ asked the reader, his voice laced with boredom.
‘Luca Matthews. I’m the new guide.’
It seemed to take several seconds for the information to be processed. Then, with a sudden burst of energy, the man tossed the book aside as if it had suddenly become contagious and tried to wriggle his body up through the innards of the sleeping bag. His elbows and knees strained against the heavy down fabric before he managed to jerk the zip lower and free himself. ‘Shit,’ he breathed. ‘You’re finally here!’
Now that he was vertical, Luca could see that the man was exceptionally tall, with long, bony limbs that seemed to unfold rather than bend. He had straggly hair, darkened by grease, which was pulled back from his face by an old Manchester United sweatband. It bunched up at his temples, making him look like a throwback to a 1970s tennis player, while the face itself was hawkish. He stared at Luca with bright eyes, set over a long, aquiline nose.
‘I’m Joel. Joel Cable-Forbes,’ he said, flashing a smile. For that brief moment his whole face seemed to light up, and he shook Luca’s hand as if they were old friends. Luca guessed him to be in his late-twenties. He had the ingenuous manner of someone who had spent his entire adult life encased in academia.
Squinting a little, Joel reached for a pair of round glasses tucked into his top pocket. One end was secured to the frame by electrical tape.
‘Better put these on or I could walk past you tomorrow and not even recognise you.’
He then raised his hands to indicate the building they were standing in.
‘Guess I should say welcome to GARI. Well, the bits of it that are finished at any rate.’
‘It’s quite a place.’
Joel nodded. ‘It’s a beast. Truth is, we could have done the same job in half the space, but I guess that’s not how things work as soon as people like Pearl are involved.’
‘Pearl?’
‘Yeah, Richard Pearl. He’s the guy who funded most of this place. I actually met him once. Real smiley guy . . . seemed to know everything about me.’ Joel paused, recalling the encounter. ‘Yeah, he’s one of those people who’s everyone’s best friend. Joking and smiling all the time. Well, that’s Americans for you,’ he concluded, as if it were all the explanation required.
Luca glanced down to the book Joel had been reading. The cover was so faded it was difficult to read the title, but looking closer he managed to piece together Journey to the Centre of the Earth.
‘Inspiration for this place?’ he asked.
Joel shrugged. ‘Guess so. In the book, they find a prehistoric lake deep underground, so it kind of felt similar. Fewer dinosaurs here though. Unless, of course, you take the Russian base commander into account.’
Joel smiled at his own joke then the humour quickly drained from his eyes.
‘If I were you, I’d watch what you say around Dedov. He’s all smiles and jokes, but there’s another side to him. And he has one vicious temper.’
As an old memory resurfaced, Joel exhaled deeply. A moment passed before he seemed to collect himself once again.
‘I won’t lie to you, Luca, I am glad you’re here. Things have gone from bad to worse in the last two weeks. Since Akira and Sommers fell into . . . well, I’m sure you know all about that. Cabin fever’s been getting to us all.’
‘Is everyone holding it together?’
Joel arched his long back, stretching the stiffness out.
‘Let me put it this way. When Admiral Byrd came to Antarctica a century ago, he brought twelve strait-jackets and only one coffin. And things haven’t changed much since. The fact is – some people just can’t handle this place. Mentally, I mean.’
‘What about you?’ Luca asked, his eyes passing over Joel’s wiry frame and wondering how competent he’d be in the field. ‘You ready to go for the drill site?’
‘Well, I have the distinct advantage of being a bit of a dreamer. Means the days pass quicker for me. But it isn’t the same for the rest of them. It’s been so frustrating, having everything set up to extract the first samples, only to have to sit around waiting like this. Especially for the others.’
‘You mean Andy and Jonathan?’ Luca asked, remembering the files he’d been handed on the helicopter concerning the two other members of the British team.
‘Everyone calls Jonathan by his surname – Katz. Don’t ask me why, but that’s the way he likes it. And just so you know, they haven’t spoken to each other in nearly a week. Fell out over the washing-up rota.’ Joel raised an eyebrow. ‘It’s the little things, huh?’
‘So I hear.’
‘Actually they’ll be OK, but that’s no thanks to the Russians. They’re real dicks when they’re drunk, and since breaking through to the lake they’ve been doing a lot of celebrating. They don’t really speak to outsiders much anyway.’ Joel paused, gently setting the book down on a nearby crate. ‘But we only need them to drive us to the mountain range. After that, it’ll be over to you.’
Luca nodded thoughtfully, then pulled a notebook from his top pocket along with the folded map. ‘You said everything was already set up to extract the samples, right?’
‘Yeah. We had everything in place then the mother of all storms hit. You should have seen it. It was this massive front that came in from the coast.’
As he spoke, Joel’s eyes blurred slightly, remembering the sheer ferocity of the wind.
‘Joel,’ Luca prompted, bringing him back to the present, ‘I need to figure out some timings here.’ He offered the other man the map showing the new route that Dedov had plotted. ‘The base commander said it’s about four hours by tractor to the edge of the mountains, then we have to find a way over. After that, I calculate it’s a six-kilometre trek across the lake floor just to get to the drill site.’
‘I’m not all that good with maps, but that sounds about right.’
‘So how long are you going to need to extract the samples?’
Joel rubbed the end of his nose, turning his eyes skywards in thought. ‘We need to re-open the borehole then feed down the piping. If everything goes well, then I’d say no more than three hours. Like I said, all the hard work’s been done already.’
Luca scratched down some timings on his notepad, when Joel’s hand shot out, stopping him mid-calculation.
‘I forgot to mention that we left two Ski-Doos at the drill site. They’d be perfect to drive us back across the lake, which should cut a few hours off the return journey.’
‘They in good condition?’
Joel shrugged, suggesting that there was no guaranteeing anything left outside in Antarctica.
‘So what do you think?’ he asked, trying to decipher Luca’s notes.
‘Crossing the mountain range is the big unknown, but assuming we find a route, then we’re looking at nearly a whole day’s worth of travel.’ Luca looked up into Joel’s eyes, which were magnified by the lens of his glasses. ‘You think the others are capable of that kind of journey? It’ll be tough.’
‘Andy and Katz may bicker like children, but deep down they’re both committed to this project. They’ve been working on it since its inception. That’s three years’ worth of work, so as much as they’ll moan about their sore legs, they know how important this is.’
‘And you?’
Joel cast his eyes down to the book lying beside them. ‘Put it this way – if I have to read that bloody book one more time, I’ll be joining Hiroko up in Module Four.’
Luca simply waited for an explanation, having realised that Joel hadn’t met anyone new for a long time and seemed to refer to every facet of the base as if it were common knowledge.
‘Oh, yeah, you don’t know about her, do you? She’s the other scientist from the Japanese programme, but since the accident she’s really flipped. Now she’s refusing even to step outside the base. I mean, we’re talking full-blown agoraphobia and it’s g
ot so bad that she can’t look outside the main windows without her legs starting to shake.’ Joel paused, raising an eyebrow. ‘Frankly, I don’t know how things could have got so messed up so quickly.’
Breaking away from Luca’s gaze, his eyes passed across the interior of the room as if the answer were to be found somewhere amongst the discarded crates.
‘She’s made this weird little nest for herself up near the top hatch on Module Four and only comes out to eat when the rest of us are asleep. She should have been rotated out on the last flight, but apparently orders from Japan were that she had to stay until we all leave next week. Idiots have no idea how bad it is. Mind you, I’d probably have gone the same way if it had been my partner who died down there.’
‘She and Akira were a couple?’
‘Yeah, a husband and wife team from Tokyo. And now his body is frozen stiff in the maintenance garage twenty feet below us.’
‘The garage? Why not just store the corpse outside? You’ve got enough snow.’
‘That’s just it. We’re getting a lot of storms at the moment, and that means massive snow accumulation. We’d either lose the bodies under a drift or spend days shovelling them out. Things are different now. The snow’s not cold and dry like it used to be. It’s too warm at the moment.’
‘And humidity makes snow heavy, right?’ Luca added, thinking ahead to their own journey. ‘With enough wind, that kind of snow will destroy our mountain tents. If a front hits us out there, we’ll be totally exposed.’
‘You don’t know the half of it. Winter’s here. And I mean now. I mentioned that storm before – well, by the time we had made it back to base, the wind was gusting past hurricane strength. It peaked at over a hundred and ninety-five kilometres an hour, taking down the radio mast and rolling two shipping containers. They weighed over four tons each and were anchored with steel cabling.’
‘Jesus Christ.’
Joel’s eyes fixed on Luca. ‘That guy? You’re forgetting, we’re men of science. He doesn’t tend to like us much.’
Beneath the Ice Page 6
