Tom turned his head to the right and looked at the glowing heating element. “Veyron’s idea. It wasn’t for our comfort though. He’s not that considerate. Says it has to stay on so long as we keep the hovercraft out here. Otherwise, the engine will freeze and we won’t be going anywhere.”
“All the same, I appreciate it.”
Sam felt himself relax. The warmth bringing a certain level of reassurance that everything was going to be okay.
He closed his eyes.
The loud bang was instantaneous.
Sam felt the jarring all the way through his spine. “What the hell was that?”
The hovercraft slowed, settled and then kept going. “I’ve got no idea! We lost contact with the ground for a while. Launched by one of the small mounds of ice I suppose. Landed pretty hard, but I think we’ll be okay.”
Sam grinned. “Sorry. That was the chasm. I forgot to mention there’s a slight gap between the island of ice and the Antarctic coast.”
“Right,” Tom shook his head. “Should I expect any more gaps?”
“No. We should be good. We’ll reach the Pegasus station any minute now.”
Tom touched the brakes and the hovercraft settled to a crawl. Directly in front of them, buried to its roofline with snow, was what they had crossed the southern ocean to reach — the Pegasus science station.
Ordinarily, Sam guessed, the scientist would have taken it in turns to clear the front area of snow. It was an immediate bad sign that the snow had been left to build up.
“This is it?” Tom asked.
“I’m afraid so.”
Tom flicked the power to off and the hovercraft sunk into the ground. “Any idea how to get in?”
Sam put his gloves on. “Now we dig — for our lives.”
Over the course of the hour the two men dug deep into the snow. By the end of it, Sam had cleared enough snow to reach the door. He pulled at it, and entered the French science station — Pegasus.
Chapter Seven
Sam pushed hard on the door. It was enough to slide through the gap and enter the science station. The building had a dome shaped ceiling and stretched about eighty feet long. There were four archways that led to other rooms. The lights were all switched to off.
Sam found the light switch and flicked it to on. “Hello.”
No response.
He heard Tom huff as he squeezed his large, muscular frame through the narrow opening. Tom looked at him. “All this effort and nobody’s home?”
Sam shrugged his shouldered. “I don’t know.”
“Hello. Anyone still here?” Tom said loudly.
Silence.
Sam walked forward. “Come on. Let’s go see what we can find. Maybe they left a note or something?”
“Okay.”
Stepping further along the room it all appeared normal. A moment later he heard the automatic electric generator start up. “They must have it set to automatic when the amp-hours reached a certain level. Turning on the light switch must have activated it.”
The first room was small with a second doorway about ten feet in. The room most probably served as a pressurized room to stop the cold air flooding the inside living quarters. Five full sets of snow clothes, including overalls, jackets, and boots all stood on their racks. Above each one was the owner’s name.
“If their outside gear is in here, they must be home?” Sam said.
Tom looked at the boots. They were clean and polished. He picked one of them up. The boot looked like it had barely been worn. The smell of black boot polish instantly brought back memories of basic training in the Corps. “I guess they’ve had a lot of time on their hands down here. The question is, if they’re here — why aren’t they answering?”
“No idea. Let’s go find out.”
Sam opened the next door and entered the main living room.
Stepping further along the room it all appeared normal. It wasn’t huge, but it was big enough to be comfortable for the five scientists who were supposed to be working there. A small kitchenette with a kettle stood at the end of the room. Fold out camp chairs sat in a semicircle. A small bathroom was at the end of it. A bed hung from the ceiling like a hammock. Inside, a single book rested open. A single dog’s ear noting where the last reader paused. Sam picked it up. The Old Man and the Sea, by Earnest Hemmingway. He smiled. He’d read it as a kid, and felt a natural attraction towards it.
Tom came back into the room. “There’s no one here. The food stores are packed with enough rations to keep a group of five men fed for months. The bathroom’s empty. There’s no sign of the scientists or where they went.”
“Strange. Why would the scientists just leave?”
“No idea. And while we’re at it. What did they leave with if they didn’t wear their snow protection gear?”
“Any idea what they were studying here?”
“No. The rooms are all virtually empty. They must have had laptops with them. They’re nowhere to be seen. Maybe they had to leave suddenly, and that was all they took with them.”
“All right. What about their radio?”
“What radio? I didn’t see any.”
Sam walked back into the main living room and started opening up cupboards. “It must be somewhere here. They were able to radio for help when we were still in the Falkland Islands.”
“Good point. I’ll have another look.”
“It would be good to contact the Maria Helena and get word to them that we’re okay. We might be here a while before the weather clears up.”
“I agree, but don’t sweat on it too much. I spoke with Veyron before I left and made him promise not to come looking for us if we don’t come back before the storm finishes. I told him we’d find somewhere to bunker down and ride out the worst of it.”
Sam opened the fourth cupboard. A series of VHF and HF radios were bolted to the internal wall. “All the same, it will be good to let them know we’re safe in the Pegasus station.”
“All right,” Tom said, “You let them know we’re okay. I’m going to go cover the hovercraft with some tarpaulins, then I’m going to raid their stores for something to eat.”
Sam smiled. “Sounds good. See if you can find me some chocolate, too.”
He watched as Tom opened the door and disappeared into the store room. Sam picked up the VHF radio microphone. Switched to channel sixteen. “Maria Helena, this is the science station Pegasus. Are you receiving me?”
No response.
Sam increased the volume and adjusted the squelch. The static became louder. “Maria Helena. This is the Antarctic science station, Pegasus. Can you hear me?”
He waited for a reply.
The same constant, garbled, static whirred indecipherably from the radio. He was about to turn it off. I guess none of the radios are working out here. Sam thought about the first time he ever saw an Aurora Borealis. It was in Fairbanks, Alaska and his brother and he had gone on a team-building orienteering exercise in the wilderness. When the amazing night’s sky was filled with the strange and colorful phenomenon, he’d tried to radio his brother to find out if he could see it too. All he received was radio static. He recalled it had something to do with the high altitude ionization affecting the transmission of radio waves.
Does the South Pole have an equivalent problem with its lights?
He’d seen the Aurora Australis from the mountain earlier. He reached forward to turn off the radio, and then stopped. It wasn’t transmitting pure static. Although it appeared garbled, the sound had a distinct and repetitive nature to it.
Has someone overlapped the radio channel with a constant message?