by JC Ryan
Roosky was proud of the execution of his assignment, with only one regret. It was too bad that the Rossler kid had to die with the rest of them. He was good drinking partner, Tovarich JR. Roosky dedicated an entire bottle of the Moskovskaya, his favorite, to the memory of the night they’d had together. Less pleasant was the memory of having to waste an entire bottle before he left the base. The girl with the ridiculous name had to be silenced somehow. He’d bribed a corrupt American to slip her the bottle, which had nebol’shoy syurpriz, a little surprise. She would have felt nothing as she died.
It was a neat wrap-up; he honored Tovarich JR’s feelings for the girl by killing her with no pain, and the autopsy would show nothing by the time the body was shipped home for it. By then, the chemical compound responsible for stopping the girl’s heart would have been reduced by the process of decay to its component parts, none of which would cause concern if found in the body.
While Roosky was congratulating himself, Septentrio’s team was already en route to secure the discovery Roosky had reported. He’d left a small and subtle marker for them, indicating where to dig to enter the cave in the wake of the expedition. Misty’s ill-timed communique had reached its mark and an Orion Society satellite had been re-directed to laser scan the land area under which the cave lay, revealing a large system with a surprise at one end: a valley with a higher heat signature than anyone believed possible.
Left to themselves, the Rossler expedition might have found it. Thanks to Roosky’s actions, however, Septentrio was convinced that his team would be the first to discover what the valley held. After the disappointment of the failure to keep the Pyramid Code to themselves, the possibility of finding an even earlier civilization’s records was worth any expense, and he’d spared none.
Even now, they were speeding across the ice on special snowmobiles that were fitted with fairings for protection from wind and cold, or perhaps they’d already arrived. In any case, he could expect to hear from them by satellite phone that was linked to the private Orion Society communications bird making a tight orbit around the perimeter of Antarctica since Misty’s message was received.
In fact, though Septentrio had not yet received the report, the team had arrived shortly after Roosky’s chopper had departed. They’d watched the ‘copter circumnavigate the canyon from a vantage point concealed by deep shadow cast by the narrow entrance to the canyon, and once it had left, they made haste to locate the cairn of ice that Roosky had fashioned and dig through a shallow drift of snow to reveal the blocked entrance to the cave. They blasted through the rubble that Roosky had brought down, heedless of the possibility that the Rosslerites might be behind it. It was a matter of only half a day before they found their way into the main room the Rosslerites had used as a rallying point.
Unlike the Rossler expedition, the OS team had a map of the cave system created by the ground-penetrating laser onboard the satellite. Where the Rossler team had found only one entrance, the OS team knew of three, one they would find hidden behind the colorful formations of the room JR and Cyndi had found, and one branching off from deep within what appeared to be a man-made borehole. That one would be reached by rope ladder some seventy-five feet down from the surface on the way to the bottom of the hole into which LeClerc had fallen. The team of six split up, two taking the ladder approach, and two each taking the other two approaches. Those who would have to navigate the squeeze were given a head start so that they’d all arrive in the valley near the same time.
The intruders knew that the Rosslerites had either explored further into the cave system or found the valley, since they weren’t found within the large room where they’d entered. A small possibility was that they’d all been buried under the rock fall, but the leader considered that unlikely. In any event, they’d need to be eliminated. The plan was to reconnoiter in the valley to try to locate the expedition team. If they weren’t found immediately outside one of the cave exits, everyone would converge within the largest of the exit rooms, the one hidden behind the strange, colorful room. From there, they would plan an ambush.
Chapter 24 – Let’s Find A Way Out
It had been several hours since the Rossler party emerged into the impossible hidden valley. Their first activity had involved gathering around the pool and watching as Carmen tested the water for bacteria. When she declared it potable, in fact purer than most tap water in the U.S. the team gratefully filled their water containers. Finding a source of water would help them survive until a rescue party could reach them.
The party, to a man or woman, felt a sense of unreality as they gazed around the valley. It took a while for anyone to sort out their amazement to form intelligent questions, but when they did, an excited babble broke out. It almost made sense that the air was warm; after all, they were looking at a veritable jungle, and weren’t all jungles warm? In no time, they had all stripped their cold-weather gear off. Later, they would discuss whether to carry it with them as they explored this place, or leave it where they could find it again. For now, it was simply too warm to wear it, so they took it off.
JR’s earlier memory of the old movie prompted him to ask if there might be animals, particularly dangerous ones, here. Robert suggested that they stop talking and listen for the typical sounds of an undisturbed jungle. After several moments of silence, he gave his opinion that whatever animals had been here, if any, were now extinct. At the same time, he wondered what would have caused such an extinction. This whole valley made no sense, other than the warmth, which he’d already attributed to geothermal activity.
As he looked around, Robert noted the high, almost straight-sided cliffs. They’d be a bitch to climb, he realized, but they also put him in mind of a volcanic cone. Could this place have been found and cultivated by 9th Cyclers, with no natural vegetation of its own and no native animals? He set that speculation aside until a more scientific catalog of what was here could be made.
Summers was excited, too. If anywhere in Antarctica was a possibility for habitation by humans, this was it. But, there was no time to look for ruins. For now, as fascinating as this place was, it was imperative to find an escape route and get back to the Pole before travel became impossible.
Each of the others was thinking or expressing thoughts relative to their own specialties, but it was Angela whose suggestion prevailed. “We should split up and explore the canyon walls for other cave entrances. Maybe they would lead us out.”
Cyndi had wandered off into the jumble of trees and vines nearby and located a tree unlike anything she’d ever seen. Her shout brought the others.
“Look, that looks like fruit growing right on the trunk,” she said as soon as the first to reach her came within speaking distance.
“Ripper, that’s a jaboticaba!” was the answer. Robert had arrived and had such a comical look on his face that Cyndi laughed at him.
“A jaba what?” she asked. By then, the others were ringed around the odd-looking tree, which had fist-sized globes of dark purple growing directly out of the trunk, some of which had burst and were dripping a dark juice onto their neighbors.
“Absa-bloody-lutely, that’s a jaboticaba,” Robert repeated, “but I’ve never seen one with such huge fruit.” He reached for a fruit, tore it off and brought it to his mouth, stopping abruptly when Carmen yelled for him to.
“It could be poisonous,” she explained with a sheepish look at his glance of consternation.
“But, I recognize it,” he said. “They grow in Australia. And this part of Antarctica was once attached to Australia, so I’m thinking its fine to eat.”
“They’re native to Brazil, actually, if it’s what you think. But how would it have gotten here? It was only introduced to Australia recently, certainly not before Western Antarctica broke away from Australia and crashed into the eastern part to form these mountains.”
Summers spoke up, acting the part of a leader for the first time since his claustrophobia had made him ineffective as such. “If we’re correct in our t
heories, they probably got here the same way they got to Australia. The 9th Cyclers brought them. But, Robert, how in the world can this place exist?”
Robert had been thinking about that since they first got here. There had to be a geothermal source, or more likely more than one, to create this jungle-like oasis in the midst of the bitter cold and ice of Antarctica. The rising heat filled the enclosed valley, canyon actually, and held the cold at bay. Looking up, he couldn’t actually see any sign of sky, and it should be quite a bit darker. There was more to be discovered, clearly. But, for now, he was hungry and was determined to try the fruit that was there for the taking. Ignoring Carmen’s protest, he bit into it, causing juice to run down his chin, and closed his eyes in delight.
“Dinkum, this is the real thing. Tastes just like at home,” he announced. “Like grapes.” With few exceptions, Carmen being one of them, the others reached for their own fruits. Robert teased Carmen, “Not hungry?”
“I’ll wait a few hours to see whether you survive,” she said with heavy irony.
“Speaking of hours,” Summers said, “my watch seems to be acting up. Does anyone know how long we’ve been in here? If we expect to get home this season, we need to find a way out and back to base.”
This pronouncement sobered the others immediately. Everyone looked at their timepieces, and it was quickly discovered that everyone was showing a different time of day, those whose watch showed the date also mismatched. Robert frowned. “There must be a strong geomagnetic source here, too. I’d like to find at least the geothermal wells, if not the magnetic source, before we leave.”
“I understand. But if my perception is correct, we’ve been in here for more than two days already. If we don’t get out soon, Roosky and Bart might give us up for dead and leave with the Sno-Cat. Then we’d be stranded here for who knows how long.”
JR almost spoke his mind about Roosky’s role in the cave-in, but thought better of it. Better not to speculate. It was highly likely that the Sno-Cat was already gone, along with Roosky and Bart if he was still alive. There’d be no reason to hang around if indeed Roosky was responsible for the disaster. But saying so would dishearten the others. How would they get back to the base without transportation? They damn sure couldn’t walk it—that would be suicide. He suspected they’d be wintering in the valley.
Robert opened his mouth to argue his point, but JR backed Summers up. “Look, we can keep our eyes open for something like that, but the first thing we need is a way out. We should split up again and work our way around the canyon walls, three go that way and four the other way.”
“Then how would we communicate with the other team if we found something?” Robert objected.
“Hey!” said Angela. “Look around. Does this all look to you like it’s laid out on purpose? Like, could this straight opening through the trees be a street?”
The others stopped arguing to look, and then JR picked a tree that didn’t have fruit growing inconveniently on the trunk and climbed as high as he could to get a look.
“She’s right,” he called down. “The gaps through the vegetation are too straight. Either we’ve got four-legged company of some kind, or we’re standing in a place where people organized the layout.”
“But, where are the structures?” Summers mused.
“We’re talking, what, at least thirty-five thousand years since anyone saw them? Would they have survived?” JR asked, descending from the tree carefully.
“What about those pictures on the internet…didn’t some people find a video with some crazy architecture on it?” Angela asked.
“Hoax,” said Carmen.
“I don’t think so,” said Summers. “However, we’ve only seen a fraction of what’s here so far. The structures could be covered in these vines. The fact remains that we don’t have time to explore, and we don’t have time to stand here arguing about it. We have to find another way out or go back and dig out the rock fall.” He shuddered, remembering the squeeze and the feeling of doom as he’d been pulled through the short coffin-like tunnel. There are seven of us, which means two teams of two and one of three. I don’t think anyone should be on their own.”
“Agreed,” said Rebecca. “I’ll go with JR and Cyndi. That leaves one man and one woman each for the other two teams, all right?” Despite their predicament, and despite the strangeness of the valley in which they stood, JR’s heart did a little stutter as he realized Rebecca had volunteered to go with him, not Summers, not Robert—him. If it came to a vote, he’d cast his in favor of that. Bringing his attention back to the planning with a shake of his head, JR assumed the leadership role again, with no protest from anyone else.
The plan that JR proposed was that Robert and Angela would cut through the center of the valley as closely as they could, while the other two teams would start at the rift where everyone had emerged and travel in opposite directions. That way, if the geothermal wells were nearer the center, Robert had a fighting chance of discovering them and Angela would be able to draft a rough map as well. If the wells were near the perimeter, the other two teams would spot them. It satisfied Robert while wasting no more time. The thought of traveling to the Pole in winter conditions, especially if they had to go on foot and without shelter, was daunting to those who didn’t realize the impossibility of it. Not much less daunting was the thought of wintering over at the Pole.
They tried to synchronize their watches, but within seconds they were all showing a different time again, so they agreed to walk until they were tired or met up, having no idea how far around the valley was. All they could tell was that the opposite canyon wall seemed very far in the distance. After the experiment with the jaboticaba tree, everyone but Carmen was willing to eat any fruit that looked familiar, so they would gather that as they found it. Carmen got the remaining food supply they’d brought with them, both meager and unappetizing, while everyone else was looking forward to some fresh fruit.
Before they set out, JR gave them strict instructions to fill their water containers with water from the pool that Carmen had tested. They were not to drink any other water from the ground under any circumstances, instead they were to quench their thirst with the fruit, or in a pinch, see if they could gather condensation from the leaves of the trees. Since they weren’t sure how long their treks would be, he recommended that they conserve their water as much as possible. Carmen’s group of course would have her with them to test water, so extra water containers were passed to the other groups.
He also instructed them to stay together, follow the protocols that Robert had set forth if they came to any cave openings, and above all, keep eyes and ears open.
“We don’t know what lives here. Just because we didn’t hear anything before, doesn’t mean there isn’t a giant lizard or something a few miles away that would think you’re a tasty morsel.” JR was still thinking about those dinosaurs. “Don’t approach any animal, reptile, insect or bird. If you get stuck or run into trouble, try to come back here.”
Without further discussion, they set off at a good pace, neither too fast nor too slow, everyone cognizant of the price of finding the way out too late in the year. While none had yet raised the possibility, several realized that if the winter storms were raging when they found the way out, it would probably be a better idea to stay where they were than try to get to the Pole. The only downside would be that their loved ones would think them dead if they were missing that long. With no way to tell that they’d already been missing for what Roosky had reported as several days, it didn’t occur to them that they were already feared dead.
~~~
JR had Cyndi set the pace, because she was the shortest. At six-foot-ten, he had even run the legs off his Marine squadron if he set the pace, so he knew how to handle it. Rebecca was taller than Cyndi, but nowhere near as tall as he, so she would be able to keep up with Cyndi all right, and if he wanted, he could run rings around them. He used that to his advantage by stopping now and again to climb a tall tree and
see what he could see, or to pick a fruit that looked familiar.
From his vantage point atop a particularly tall tree, he reckoned that the opposite canyon wall was about five miles away. That meant Robert and Angela had maybe six or seven miles to hike, allowing for the necessity of detours if the path they took didn’t go straight through. Assuming the canyon was roughly circular, he and his team had almost ten. He hoped Robert and Angela wouldn’t get impatient waiting for them. Cyndi was about five-six. Her legs weren’t going to get them around their half any time soon. They were making maybe two miles per hour, fighting through rubble from the canyon wall and dense jungle.
At first, Rebecca and Cyndi chatted, but they soon ran out of topics as they had little in common. Rebecca fell into reflection about JR’s dual personality. When he had a task to do that required him to be serious and competent, he was, and she could admire him for it. But then he would pull a stunt like that drunken binge with Roosky and lose her respect again. Right now, he was being the man she could love. With a start, Rebecca looked around. She hadn’t said that out loud, had she? Where in the world did it come from? Sternly, she told herself to get a grip.
Cyndi, however, was thinking about something Rebecca had brought up when they were talking. Fascinated by the simplicity of the electronics that made up the drone they’d been using, she wondered how many more devices from the 10th Cycle would prove useful in the present day. Furthermore, she wondered whether the science could be expanded into fields like medicine, and whether she could get a Rossler Foundation grant to pursue it. To occupy her mind, she began to compose the grant request mentally as they walked. It was fortunate that her team had two others on it, because she was all but blind to the passing scenery.
