The Arctic Code

by Matthew J. Kirby

  “Could I try a few more passwords on my mom’s computer?” she asked.

  Skinner’s eyebrows went up. “Certainly. I’d say this represents a change in attitude.”

  “Not really,” Eleanor said. “Maybe you just have me all wrong.”

  “I would be pleased for that to be the case.” Skinner went to the desk, reached into the drawer, and pulled out the laptop. “Take your time, Miss Perry.”

  Eleanor lifted the screen and started typing more fake passwords. She couldn’t make it too obvious, but having seen what was on the laptop, and then deleted the one email she’d found, she felt like she could give Skinner something. Enough to distract him for a little while and allay his suspicions, anyway. She just had to hope that she hadn’t missed anything important in her previous search of the computer. Julian stood nearby, waiting for his cue to leave.

  A few minutes later, Eleanor exclaimed, “Got it!”

  “You did?” Skinner leaned in, his voice rising in excitement. “What was it?”

  “EllBell,” Eleanor said. “It’s a nickname my uncle Jack gave me.”

  “Charming.” Skinner rotated the laptop toward him. “Well done, Miss Perry, well done.” He immediately started opening files and typing searches, much the same way Eleanor had the previous night. In a matter of moments, it seemed Eleanor and Julian had faded from Skinner’s awareness.

  That was when Julian slipped away, without even looking in Eleanor’s direction. She noticed him going but didn’t look his way, either. She kept her focus on Skinner and the laptop. She was sure a tech guy could dump all the data and find the deleted email, but that would take a lot of time.

  Skinner’s eyes flicked back and forth across the screen, up and down, constantly moving.

  “Do you think this will help find her?” Eleanor asked.

  It took a moment for him to respond, and even then, his voice sounded absent. “Hmm, perhaps.”

  “What are you finding on there?” she asked.

  “Nothing of relevance yet,” he said.

  Eleanor waited a few moments, watching a scowl form and deepen across his face. It seemed he was as frustrated as she had been. At one point, he looked up at her. “Is there something else you need?”

  “Oh, uh, no.” Eleanor gave him a sheepish shrug. “I—I’m just hoping you’re going to find something.”

  He looked back at the screen. “Where did Mr. Powers go?”

  Eleanor clamped down the sudden fear. Skinner may have noticed Julian’s absence, but that didn’t mean he truly suspected anything. “Oh,” she said, trying to make it sound as if she had just noticed he was gone. “I don’t know.”

  Skinner went back to skimming the laptop.

  Eleanor waited, but shortly after that, her presence began to feel awkward, obvious, even to her. Skinner glanced up periodically and seemed to be growing increasingly irritated.

  “I can come tell you if I find something,” he finally said. “There is no need for you to hover.”

  “Sorry,” Eleanor said. “I’m just . . . worried.”

  “Well . . . maybe you should go worry somewhere else,” he said, without any hint of compassion or patience.

  In the next moment, Julian was standing next to her, his chest rising and falling quickly, like he was trying to hide being out of breath. Eleanor and he avoided looking at each other, but Skinner’s eyes shot up.

  “Where have you been, Mr. Powers?” he asked.

  “Just ran back to our pod to talk to my brother.” Julian gestured to the laptop. “Did you find anything?” Julian asked.

  “Not yet,” Skinner said. “And one anxious child breathing over me is quite enough without adding a second. Why don’t you both return to your pod, and should I find something worth noting, I will certainly inform you.”

  Eleanor and Julian nodded and left the command module. At the tunnel, Julian gave her a thumbs-up as he climbed in. He’d scored the key to a transport. Eleanor followed him, her excitement driving away some of her fear at the crossing.

  Back in their pod, they waited in the kitchen until Finn appeared.

  “Did you get the key?” he asked.

  Julian nodded. “You get the alarm?”

  Finn glanced over his shoulder at the staircase. “I think so. I cut the power line, and I didn’t find an internal battery. I don’t think it will go off.”

  “I guess that means we’re ready,” Eleanor said. But she couldn’t leave without doing one last thing. “Give me just a minute?”

  They nodded, and she left them and went down to the sleeping quarters. Then she walked up to Luke’s room and knocked on the door. It whooshed open, and he propped an arm on the doorframe above his head, leaning toward her.

  “What is it, kid?”

  Eleanor took a breath. “Look. Even though you’re not helping us now, I wanted to say thanks for all you’ve done for me. I couldn’t have made it this far without you. I mean it. You saved my life. So . . . thank you.”

  Luke nodded. “Hope you find what you’re looking for.”

  Eleanor nodded once more but didn’t leave.

  “Something else on your mind, kid?”

  “I—I guess I was just thinking that after this is all over . . . when I’m back in Phoenix with my mom . . . maybe when you’re in Phoenix . . .”

  Luke’s mustache twitched with a bit of grin. “You can come see Consuelo anytime.”

  Eleanor smiled and turned to leave.

  “Hey, kid.” Luke’s voice softened. “I’ve been thinking about something you said when we first met. Anyone thinks you’re a freak who doesn’t fit needs to rearrange themselves.”

  Eleanor wanted to hug him for that, but resisted. “Thanks, Luke.”

  “You really doing this?”

  “We are.”

  “I truly don’t want to see you hurt.”

  “I won’t get hurt.” She turned away before he could try again to talk her out of their plan. She didn’t want to argue with him after what they’d just said. “Bye, Luke.”

  “So long, kid.”

  A few moments later, she rejoined Finn and Julian, and the three of them went to their rooms and dressed in their polar gear. Eleanor moved the Sync from her pants pocket to a pocket in her coat. She grabbed her pack and headed for the pod’s supply stores. They took a hermetic tent, food, lights, power packs, microgenerators, a GPS unit, anything they could fit that seemed useful. When they reached the point where they couldn’t stuff any more in, they went to the emergency hatch and put on their masks.

  Finn took hold of the hatch’s handle. “Ready?” he said, his voice metallic.

  “Let’s hope you got the alarm,” Julian said.

  Finn took a breath, a hiss through his mask, and pulled. The hatch fell open. No alarm, but the storm blared inward at them. There was no staircase like there had been at the main entrance. They would have to drop to the snow below.

  Julian leaped first. “Let’s do this!”

  Eleanor and Finn watched him fall, but the snow was deep enough that he seemed to land easily. After he’d scrambled out of the way, Finn motioned for Eleanor to go next. She dropped her pack ahead of her and sat down on the ledge, dangling her feet over the opening, feeling the wind snatching at her boots as it circled below her like a pack of waiting wolves. It reminded her of a moment not too long ago, perched on a sled, high above a construction site at her school. Nothing and no one would stop her now.

  She pushed off, eyes open, falling through the storm’s teeth, right into its open maw.

  CHAPTER

  16

  SHE LANDED HARDER THAN SHE’D THOUGHT SHE WOULD, but it didn’t hurt. The force of the wind against her felt stronger than the force of gravity, blowing snow sideways at her. She rolled out from under the hatch so Finn could follow her, which he did a moment later.

  Then the three of them labored to their feet in waist-high snow that had gathered around the hydraulic feet of the spheres. From the outside, the pods see
med larger than they had on the inside, and even larger than Eleanor remembered them.

  “That way!” Julian pointed.

  The transports sat half buried in a row several yards away. Eleanor, Finn, and Julian trudged toward them, the strain burning Eleanor’s leg muscles within moments. Her mask had a hard time keeping up with her heavy breathing, letting a little bit of cold into her lungs.

  But she told herself they would be out of the storm soon, when they reached the armored transports and got inside one of them. So far, everything had played out as they’d planned, and they were almost there.

  As they drew closer, Finn asked, “Which one is ours?”

  Julian held up the key and looked at it. “I think it’s the middle one!”

  They quickened their pace and reached the rear end of the vehicles a moment later.

  “Hurry!” Eleanor said. “Let’s—”

  Two figures in polar gear stepped out from between the transports. One of them was Luke. The other—

  “Miss Perry!” he shouted. “Mr. Powers and Mr. Powers!”

  Skinner. Eleanor felt her legs wobbling under her from exhaustion and disbelief. Luke had sold them out.

  “Turn around, all of you!” Skinner said. “March back to Polaris Station! Immediately!”

  Eleanor didn’t move. Neither did Finn and Julian. They would never have another chance to go searching for their parents. Eleanor’s mom was out there, somewhere. She’d come so far, and gotten so close. The transport was right in front of them. But so was Skinner.

  “NOW!” he shouted, his anger rivaling the storm.

  “You lied!” Eleanor shouted at Luke.

  “Better that than letting you die,” Luke said. “I can live with a lie on my conscience.”

  Finn leaned in close. “What should we do?”

  “I don’t know,” Julian said. “Think we can make it into the transport?”

  “They’ll just follow us,” Eleanor said.

  “If you do not move now,” Skinner shouted, “I will have you brought back by force.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Julian shouted. “How’re you going to do that?”

  A third figure stepped out from between the other transports. Eleanor stopped breathing for a moment, choking on a gasp. A giant of a man strode toward them. Eleanor knew him. She knew the polar bear pelt he wore.

  It was Boar.

  “WHAT?” Luke shouted. “What is HE doing here?”

  “He works for me,” Skinner said.

  Boar worked for Skinner? But he had tried to rob her. The giant had almost reached them, and Eleanor didn’t know what to do.

  Luke turned abruptly to Skinner. “The G.E.T. hires thieves?”

  “Relax, Mr. Fournier,” Skinner said. “Boar seized the initiative when he saw Miss Perry, perhaps a bit zealously. He knew I needed her Sync. But he is the best bounty hunter in Barrow.”

  The giant was only a couple of steps away now. “Told you this wasn’t over, girl.”

  “Stay away from her!” Finn shouted.

  He and Julian leaped in front of her, and both looked ready to fight what would clearly be a losing battle. But before either of them had the chance, Luke charged at Boar from behind, striking him in the lower back with his shoulder, the impact taking them both down.

  “Run, kid!” Luke shouted, grappling with Boar on the ground. “I was wrong! Get out of here!”

  The giant had almost regained his feet, in spite of Luke’s efforts to keep him down.

  “Stay where you are, Miss Perry!” Now Skinner charged toward them. “Don’t move!”

  Eleanor looked at Finn and Julian. Luke was right. They had to run. Eleanor didn’t know what Skinner intended, but if he was willing to hire men like Boar, the situation was even worse than she had suspected.

  She tried to bolt, but just then Boar lunged up and got ahold of a strap on her pack, almost yanking her off her feet. She screamed, managed to wiggle out of the straps, and then ran.

  A backward glance revealed Finn and Julian right behind her. Luke had Boar in a desperate grip around his waist, holding him back, while Skinner shouted something at them Eleanor couldn’t hear over the storm. A few paces later, the whiteout erased them.

  “Where are we going?” Julian shouted.

  “I don’t know!” Eleanor said. “Just keep running!”

  Just keep running.

  Eleanor had no idea how far they had gone. The storm made it impossible to measure the distance, but to her legs, it felt as though she had run miles. However, it turned out the endless expanse of the ice sheet did offer them one single advantage. Without anything to pile up against, the snow blew horizontally across the surface, scouring the ice without accumulating, so Eleanor didn’t have to plow through deep snow anymore.

  “I’m too tired!” Finn shouted. “I need to rest!”

  “Me too!” Eleanor said.

  The three of them collapsed together to the ground, huddling tightly, pressing their heads together in a circle, the wind and snow at their backs.

  “Who was that other guy?” Finn asked, close enough that he no longer needed to shout.

  “His name is Boar,” Eleanor said. “He tried to rob me when I first got to Barrow.”

  The storm assaulted the silence that followed between them. There had been no time to really consider what Boar’s presence back at the station really meant. No doubt remained in Eleanor’s mind over Skinner’s intentions. He had never been interested in finding Eleanor’s mom, or even in Eleanor’s safety. His sole purpose for being in the Arctic had been to find what Eleanor’s mom had discovered, and he had been willing to lie and steal to obtain that information.

  “What do we do now?” Julian asked.

  “He got your pack,” Finn said, looking over Eleanor’s shoulder. That meant they had lost all their supplies. Their tent, their food, their power. Everything. They were stranded the same way her mother had been. “Without the GPS, we won’t even know where we’re going!”

  But Eleanor had one last hope. She reached into her pocket, pulled out her Sync, and brought it to the center of their huddle.

  “What’s that?” Julian asked.

  “This is what Skinner wanted,” Eleanor said.

  “You mean you had it all along?” Finn said.

  Eleanor nodded.

  “How did you know not to trust him?” Finn asked.

  “My mom sent me a bunch of files before she disappeared and told me not to show anyone. I figured that included Skinner.”

  “And me and Finn, apparently,” Julian said.

  “May I remind you,” Eleanor said, “not too long ago, you were threatening to go to Skinner.”

  Julian fell silent.

  “But I’m trusting you both now,” she said. “We can use the GPS on the Sync.”

  “To go where?” Julian asked.

  “The coordinates,” Eleanor said. “We can’t go back. Our only option is to go forward.”

  “We don’t have any supplies,” Julian said. “We’re not going to last long out here.”

  “We just have to last long enough to get to the coordinates,” Eleanor said.

  “What was in the files?” Finn asked.

  Eleanor pulled them up to show him. It was the first time she had dared to look since her mom had sent them. With what Eleanor had learned, they seemed to make a little more sense. The network of lines crisscrossing the world map looked like they might be telluric currents. They intersected in concentrations at certain points, like Egypt and China, and Eleanor realized those sites were the same locations that nutty Dr. Johann von Albrecht had written about.

  “Whoa,” Finn said.

  “What?” Eleanor asked.

  “The energy measurements on those ley lines are off the charts.” Then he pointed to a star map. “What’s that?”

  “I don’t know why she had this,” Eleanor said.

  “Can I see it?”

  Eleanor passed the Sync to him.

  “Guys,” J
ulian said, “we don’t have time for this. Every second we waste—”

  “This is weird,” Finn said. “This isn’t supposed to be here.”

  “What isn’t?” Eleanor asked.

  “Guys!” Julian shouted. “Seriously?”

  Finn traced his fingers along the arcs and curves. “The distances between earth and the other planets are completely off. And there’s an extra orbit.”

  “Extra?” Eleanor asked.

  “According to this chart, there’s something here that shouldn’t exist.”

  “Something where?” Julian asked, suddenly interested.

  Finn pointed upward. “Out there.”

  “Something like what?” Eleanor asked.

  “I don’t know, it doesn’t say.” Finn shook his head. “Just something . . . big.”

  A sudden gust of wind ripped between them, shoving them into one another, and Finn almost fumbled the Sync. But he snatched it back before the storm could carry it away.

  “Okay,” Julian said. “Okay, that’s enough. We need to move. They could be following us.”

  Eleanor and Finn agreed with him. Eleanor took the Sync back and pulled up the GPS. She plugged in the coordinates of the energy site and set their course.

  “How far away is it?” Finn asked.

  Eleanor stared at the screen, not wanting to think about the answer or say it out loud. “Thirty-two miles.”

  If Finn or Julian responded, the storm stole their replies. But they didn’t need to say anything. If the answer had been five or ten miles, it would have seemed a difficult distance on the ice sheet without supplies. Thirty-two miles edged on impossible.

  “How long will the power last in our suits?” Julian asked. The nanotech that gave them warmth ran on limited energy, like everything else.

  “Not that long,” Finn said. “But we can’t go back, not now.”

  “Then we better get started,” Julian said.

  “At least the storm will cover our tracks,” Eleanor said.

  She put the Sync back in her pocket, and they set off in the direction of the site, pressing forward through the wind. As she walked, it lashed at her as if trying to strip her to the bone, with no intention of letting up, gleeful that it could finally reach her. But the wind was only one of the dangers they faced. Eleanor had read about crevasses, too. Fissures that opened up in the ice without warning, or hid under the snow, waiting to take you down, down, down to who knew where.