by Ben Hammott
Jack turned and smiled at his two passengers. “We're here, folks.”
Jane and Max released the catches of their seatbelts, stood and slipped on their padded thermal coats.
Jack moved into the back and opened the door. When a rush of icy wind entered the heated cabin, Jane quickly slid the zip of her Parka up to her neck.
“Climb down and I'll pass out your bags,” said Jack.
Jane was first to step onto the ice. She shivered as the cold wind blew through her hair and pushed the fur-lined hood off her head.
Max disembarked and smiled at her. “I told you it was cold.”
“I'll soon get used to it,” Jane told him, refitting the hood tighter.
“You never get used to it,” Max said. He looked at the main hut when someone came out. “Here comes our welcome party.”
Jane smiled at the man walking toward them. Though his hood hid most of his face, Jane recognized the white beard from the photograph in the team's info of the man. Henry Sandberg, fifty six years old, a veteran of the ice and an expert in many fields and the man in charge of the expedition. Jane thought he had a kind face. His wife, Martha, who'd battled with cancer for almost a year, had died two months ago. She had made Henry promise that he would still go to Antarctica, whether she lived or died. She, Henry and Max were the only three English participants; the rest of the team were American.
“Welcome to Antarctica, Jane.” Henry slipped off a glove and held out a hand, which Jane shook.
“Hello, Henry. It's good to finally meet you.”
“It's a pleasure to meet you also.” He turned to Max and shook his hand. “Welcome, Max.”
“Thank you, Henry.”
“Grab your bags and we'll get a coffee. and then I'll introduce you to the rest of the rabble.” He turned to two men by the garage busy filling the tank of a Ski-Doo with fuel. “Eli, Theo, can you unload the supplies from the plane and pack them away?”
One of the men waved an acknowledgement.
“Hi, Henry.”
Henry turned to speak to the pilot leaning out of the plane's doorway. “Hello, Jack. Are you staying for a brew?”
Jack glanced at the distant grey clouds gathering. “Not this time. It looks like the weather might turn at any moment. I'll unload, top up the fuel tanks and leave. If I don't go now, I might be stuck here for a while.”
“Okay, have a good flight.” Henry turned to the new arrivals. “Okay, you two, follow me.”
Jane smiled at the handsome pilot. I wouldn't mind being stuck here with him for a few days. She blushed when the thought popped into her head. “Thanks for the lift, Jack.”
“You're welcome, and I hope you enjoy your stay.”
“Thanks, I'm sure I will.” She followed Henry and Max to the main hut.
Henry glanced back at her. “Is this your first visit to Antarctica, Jane?”
Though she couldn't see Max's face, she knew it wore a smirk. She was about to answer when one of the men unloading the plane interrupted.
“Henry, do you want this stuff in the garage or the storeroom?”
Henry shouted his answer. “The storeroom, Theo. It's the extra climbing gear and flashlights and stuff I requested to check out NASA's anomaly.”
Theo acknowledged with a wave of a hand.
Henry turned back to the new arrivals. “Now, where were we?”
“Coffee,” Jane blurted.
“Ah, yes, coffee. Follow me.”
Max flashed Jane a smile and whispered, “That was close.”
“Welcome to your temporary home.” Henry opened the door and they followed him inside.
To prevent the cold from entering the main building, a double door system was used in the entrance. The inner door, which resembled that normally seen on a commercial freezer, was only opened when the outside door was closed. A wave of warmth swept over them when Henry opened the inner door. A long corridor with small triple-glazed windows along the left wall and a series of doors set in the right side stretched the length of the hut.
“It's warmer in here than I expected,” said Jane, closing the inner door behind her.
“That's due to the three feet of insulation in the outer walls, floor and ceiling,” Henry informed her. “It keeps the cold out and the warmth locked inside.” He pointed to a rack of coats on the side wall. “Hang your cold weather gear there and while you are doing that, I'll pour us all some coffee.”
Jane and Max slipped off their coats, hung them on empty hooks and went through the door Henry had taken. They glanced around. A large table surrounded by ten chairs was positioned at one end of the room. Comfortable looking chairs and a matching sofa had been set out to create a relaxation area. Two men with wind burnt faces were engrossed with watching The Thing movie playing on a large flat screen TV on the back wall. A small area to the right of the large table housed coffee and tea making facilities and was currently occupied by Henry. A worktop that almost stretched the full width of the room sectioned off the kitchen area. A large pan bubbled away on the stove to fill the room with the appetizing aroma of something cooking. Jane thought she detected a hint of chili in the air.
Henry turned to the new arrivals. “Milk and sugar?”
“Milk, no sugar,” said Max.
“Lots of milk and two sugars, please, Henry.”
“Okay, grab a seat, and I'll bring them over.”
Jane and Max sat at the table.
Jane sensed a friendly comfortable atmosphere. Her excitement at being here reminded her of a school trip she went on to France with her friends. Then, as now, everything was strange, new, and exciting.
Henry placed their hot drinks in front of them before choosing a seat opposite. “In a minute I'll give you a tour of the place and show you where you'll be sleeping.” He looked at Jane. “You'll be glad to hear you're not the only female here. Lucy Jones is doing her doctorate in biology. She specializes in micro organisms, which she hopes to find evidence of trapped in the ice in the lowest parts of the rift now it seems we're set to explore it. She contacted me to ask if she could join us. Her enthusiasm persuaded me to say yes, and we did have the spare bunk in your room. She arrived yesterday.”
“Okay, good,” said Jane. “Is everyone here now?”
“Yes, all eight.” He nodded over at the two men watching TV. “You probably recognize them from the info packs I sent out but I'll recap, Pike, our maintenance man, is also our cook and a very good one at that.”
Pike paused the movie. “Did I just hear you praise my cooking, Henry?”
The two men crossed the room and greeted the new arrivals.
“Just because you heard the words, it doesn't mean I meant them.” Henry indicated the second man, muscular and broad-shouldered. "And this is Scott, our mechanic. Not a big talker, but he can fix anything and is an invaluable member of the team, as are you all.”
Pike and Scott shook hands with Jane and Max.
“Pike's an unusual name,” said Max when he shook the man's hand.
"It's my family name. I was christened Jesse, but prefer Pike.”
Scott playfully rubbed Pike's hair with a large hand. “He thinks it sounds less feminine.”
Pike knocked his hand away and changed the subject. “Henry moans about my cooking and yet he always eats every last bit,” said Pike, smiling.
Henry rolled his eyes.
“Catch up with you two later.” said Pike.
The two men headed back to the TV to watch the remainder of the movie.
Henry shook his head. “We've only been here two weeks, but I'm sure it's the third time they've watched that movie.”
Pike looked back. “He's exaggerating. We've only watched it twice. The one we're watching now is The Thing, made in 2011, a prequel to John Carpenter's original 1982 version.”
"Well they both seem the same to me.” Henry turned to Jane and Max. “Okay, if you've finished your coffee, I'll take you on the tour and introduce you to the rest of the team.”
/>
Jane and Max gulped down the remains of their warm drinks and followed Henry from the room.
Descent
THE EIGHT TEAM MEMBERS sat around the table with Henry at his usual chair at one end. They'd all just enjoyed a meal of chili-con-carnie and baked potatoes with apple pie and custard for dessert.
“As you all know, we've been planning this expedition for two years. The Pine Island Glacier is one of the largest ice streams in Antarctica, which drains much of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, and because it's grounded in ever deeper sea water, it's vulnerable to melting at its base. Satellite measurements have shown the Pine Island Glacier Basin has a greater net contribution of ice to the sea than any other ice drainage basin in the world and this has increased due to recent speeding up of the ice stream. One criterion of our mission is to attempt to discover the reason behind the ice stream's sudden acceleration and to ascertain if it will continue to increase over time.
“The wide range of tests we'll carry out will be important in understanding the behaviour of the Pine Island Glacier, affectionately nicknamed PIG. However, before we can start with our planned schedule, NASA is insistent we first check out this anomaly we've all been discussing for the past few days, which I admit, does intrigue me.” He received a few nods of agreement from some of the team. “To get them off our backs so we can concentrate on what we came here to do, I've agreed to their demand, so tomorrow we'll investigate the rift. For this endeavour, we need someone to descend into the rift and have a poke around. I suggest a glaciologist goes down first to determine the stability of the ice and to see if anything unusual is down there. Jane and Theo, as our glaciologists, you must decide which of you will go down.”
“I have no problem with going down,” said Theo, “but though I believe our credentials are comparable, Jane is by far the better climber, so perhaps she should have the honour if she wants it.”
Jane flashed Theo a grateful smile. “Thank you, I'm more than willing.”
Henry looked at the other female member of the team. “Lucy, this would be an ideal opportunity for you to explore the rift. I know you can climb, so while we have all the gear set up, if Jane has no objections, you can accompany her.”
“Lucy's welcome. I'd enjoy the company,” said Jane.
“Okay, that's settled,” said Henry. “Jack brought the stuff I requested when he ferried Jane and Max here, so we should have everything we need. I also ordered some flashlights, as I'm not sure how much light will penetrate down to the bottom of the rift or what we'll find down there. If this anomaly is a cavern in the ice, we might need them. I think that's all for now, so for the rest of the evening we can relax.”
“I'm going to stick a movie on if anyone's interested,” said Scott.
“I hope it's not The Thing again,” said Henry.
“No, Henry, it's not. It's Alien!”
The following day Henry checked that Jane and Lucy were safely connected to the ropes before giving them permission to start their climb.
“Beware of falling ice,” Max warned. “Though the ice looks stable, it can crack at any time for no apparent reason.”
“We will,” Jane assured him.
As the two women backed toward the wide gap in the ice, Jane glanced at the two metal stakes to which their ropes were tethered.
Max noticed her looking. “Don't worry, Jane. The ice is like concrete. They're screwed in tight and won't move.”
Jane flashed him a smile. “Thanks for the confidence boost.” She slipped the tinted goggles over her eyes and looked at her climbing companion. “You ready?”
“Let's do it,” Lucy replied, eager to start taking samples.
The two women leaned out and began their descent of the deepest part of the rift. Its bottom was almost two hundred feet below them.
A few yards down they reached a small ice shelf. They backed to its edge and continued down.
Jane glanced up. The faces of the other team members peered down at them from the top of the rift. Henry waved. A few moments later, when they'd lowered themselves into the top of the V-shaped crevasse, the shelf of ice blocked the onlookers from view. Their only communication now was via their walkie-talkies.
Though the wind funnelled along the rift constantly battered the two climbers, it wasn't strong enough to be a problem. Jane glanced below, but the snow and ice picked up by the wind prevented her from seeing very far.
The revving of an engine disturbed the relative silence. Henry turned. Pike approached on a Ski-Doo.
Pike halted the snow vehicle beside the team and raised his goggles. “I have hot chocolate for anyone who wants it.”
The men gathered around the trailer towed by the Ski-Doo. Each accepted the welcome thermos mugs of hot chocolate.
Pike glanced over at the rift. “Are the girls below?”
Henry nodded. “Depending on what they find, they'll probably spend an hour or two down.”
Careful not to get too close, Pike approached the edge and peered into the rift. “Rather them than me.” When everyone had drunk their fill, Pike collected the cups. “I'm heading back to base where it's warm.”
“Okay, thanks for the hot drink,” Henry said.
The others also acknowledged their gratitude. Pike climbed aboard the Ski-Doo and pulled away. When he turned the Ski-Doo, the trailer slid sideways. The left-hand corner struck one of the metal stakes the climbing ropes were fastened to, knocking it at an angle. Unaware of what had happened, Pike drove off and aimed the Ski-Doo in the direction of base camp.
The ice took on a blue tint as the two women descended deeper. Compressed by the weight of many hundreds of years of snow, the ice was crystal clear. Both could discern tiny pockets of air. Little bubbles of age-old atmosphere that might contain the miniscule microbes Lucy hoped to find.
“Nearly there,” shouted out Lucy, loud enough to be heard above the wind.
Jane glanced down. About sixty feet to go and they would touch bottom. When she felt a vibration through the soles of her climbing boots planted firmly against the ice, she looked at Lucy. “Did you feel that?”
Lucy nodded. “Should we be worried?”
“I don't think so. It's only the ice shelf moving on its journey out to the sea. It shouldn't be anything to worry about as it's constantly on the move.”
Jane realized she was wrong when the vibrations abruptly increased in force.
The two climbers hugged the ice wall and made their bodies as small as possible to avoid the small chunks of ice that rained down around them. A crack, as loud as an explosion, echoed along the rift.
Both climbers looked down. The two ice walls moved apart and the rift grew steadily deeper.
*****
When the vibrations increased and the loud crack rang out, the men on the ice stepped away from the edge.
With worry etching Henry's features, he glanced at the two ropes trailing into the rift's depths. It couldn't have happened at a worst time. The ice wall on the far side of the rift trembled, dislodging lumps of ice that fell and tumbled into the crevasse. Though the ice had moved before, it had never been as forceful.
Fearful the edge might break away, Max took another step back. “What's happening?”
“It's the rift,” said Henry. “It's opening.” He put his hands close together and moved them apart to enforce his meaning.
“What, completely?” said Theo.
Henry shrugged. “I hope not.”
“What about Jane and Lucy, should we pull them up?”
Henry glanced at the two ropes and then at Eli. “No. They're both experienced climbers. They'll be sheltering from falling ice. If we tug on the rope we might pull them into danger.” He briefly thought of using the walkie-talkie to contact them, but quickly dismissed the idea. They didn't need any distractions and would make contact when the danger had passed.
Suddenly, the ice shook so violently it almost knocked the men to their knees. All shot Henry a concerned look, but there was nothing
any of them could do. Until the ice settled, the girls were on their own.
Theo glanced at Max. “Do you think the girls will be okay?”
Max was about to answer when something struck Theo on the side of the head before shooting into the rift. When Theo fell, Max grabbed him and lowered him gently to the ground. Max wondered what had struck Theo. When he glanced around, he realized in horror the spike Jane's rope was fastened to had gone!
Jane screamed when she fell.
Kyle's teaching kicked in. She swung the ice axe at the slab of ice whizzing by in front of her. Shards of ice sprayed her face from the blade leaving a deep groove in the ice wall, but it did little to slow her rapid descent. A large chunk of ice bounced off the wall beside her and plummeted into the depths.
Lucy saw Jane fall. She grabbed at her friend's trailing rope, but it was too far away. She was about to swing over and grab it, when a sound made her glance up. The sharp point of the corkscrew spike Jane's rope was tethered to headed straight for her. She quickly swung out of its path. It shot by, missing her by inches.
The trembling ice grew still as quickly as it had started.
Helpless to aid Jane, Lucy watched her friend fall until she was swallowed by the sheets of snow and ice blowing through the rift. If a miracle happened and Jane survived the fall, she'd be seriously injured. Lucy climbed down.
It was all Jane could do to keep her wits about her and not panic. Realizing the ice axe wasn't going to save her, she prepared for the landing. She'd done parachuting before, so she knew that to lessen the impact she should bend her knees and roll as soon as she touched the ground. Though not convinced it would help in this situation, she nevertheless prepared to bend her knees on contact and waited for the impact. She guessed at the very least she'd suffer two broken legs; the pain would be excruciating. She glanced down and caught a glimpse of the ground and something dark directly below her.
