Alexis stared at the arid landscape; bitter in its hostility. “You want to get out here? The outside temperature is minus 65 degrees Fahrenheit!”
“All the same, I need to get out and refill the fuel tanks.” Sam began sliding each of his legs into the thick exposure suit, which more closely resembled a spacesuit than snow clothing. “Do you want to wait here, in the warmth?”
She smiled. It was full of wonder, like the scientist she was, and it expressed her interest in this rare phenomenon. “And miss seeing this place, first hand, are you kidding me?”
Sam finished zipping up his exposure suit. He wore a thick woolen beany and then strapped the hood of the suit over the top as an additional shield from the elements. Over his eyes, the only aspect still vulnerable to the extreme conditions, he wore thick snow goggles which formed a perfect seal. His entire outfit was cumbersome but imperative to protect him from the katabatic winds that raced down over the ice at the edges of the valley, potentially ripping through the hostile valley floor at speeds as fast as 220 miles per hour.
He waited until Alexis had fully donned her purple exposure suit and then said, “Ready?”
“I’m good to go,” she replied.
Sam released the opening hatch and climbed out through the top of the hovercraft. Standing on the stainless steel grate which protected the massive impeller, he had an unhindered view of the entire Taylor Valley in all its splendor.
Like the other dry valleys that make up the legendary McMurdo Dry Valleys, the Taylor Valley was an Antarctic anomaly. While most of the continent was covered in a thick layer of ice, the dry, frigid valleys were almost entirely ice-free. Sam examined his unique surrounding environment. An arid expanse of mostly dirt, small rocks, and big boulders littered the valley floor. A single frozen lake stood like a mirage on the horizon and Sam couldn’t tell if it was made entirely of salt or ice. There were five jagged trenches — ancient remnants of streams that no longer flowed, and now scarred the valley floor.
Giant ventifacts lined the valley; some as large as the hovercraft. The oddly shaped, smooth formations of the stones were caused by the erosive action of wind and grit sandblasting the valley over the millennia. Sam took a deep breath. The intensely dry, cold air stung his throat. The entire valley gave him the impression he was visiting Mars rather than Antarctica, and with the exception of the fact he could breathe — both environments were just as inhospitable to human flesh.
He felt Alexis’s hand on his arm. Sam looked up; the only part of her face visible were her green eyes, which radiated wonder. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
“Yes. Even though it’s lethal.”
“Oh, it’s deadly, all right,” she agreed. “We should probably do what we need to and get inside before the weather changes.”
Sam nodded and then removed the first fuel jerry can from its cradle. He carried it to the back of the hovercraft where the fuel cap was located. Undid the jerry can’s cap as well as the hovercraft’s fuel tank cover and began pouring.
“Why doesn’t that freeze?” Alexis asked.
“I used an antifreeze additive before we left the Maria Helena.”
“Good thinking. How many of these jerry cans do you think we’ll need?”
Sam finished pouring the first one. “Three more.”
“I’ll start fetching them for you. I don’t want to be stuck outside the vehicle if a windstorm erupts.”
“I agree. This place is cold enough without adding its sandblasting wind-chill.”
Sam started on the second fuel tank. “So, Professor, explain to me the anomaly of the valley?”
“Are you asking me why it doesn’t snow in the valley?”
“Yeah. I mean, it’s certainly cold enough, isn’t it?”
Alexis changed her voice, as though she was suddenly accustomed to lecturing a student. “They’re caused by the katabatic winds — do you know what those are?”
Sam matched her erudite tone as he responded. “A wind that carries cold air, which is therefore of a higher density, from a higher elevation down a slope under the force of gravity.”
“That’s right. So you were listening at school?”
Although he couldn’t quite see Alexis’s face through her protective clothing Sam imagined she was grinning at him with that teasing smile he was fondly getting used to seeing. “Just a little bit.”
“The wind can reach extreme speeds in excess of 220 miles per hour, heating as it descends, and evaporating all water, ice and snow. This valley in particular will receive the equivalent of only 10 cm average of water each year in the form of snow.”
Sam poured the third fuel tank. “So, why doesn’t the snow eventually form water?”
“That’s easy,” she replied.
“Go on.”
“The Taylor as well as the other dry valleys are nestled between the Transantarctic Mountains, which serve as a barrier, largely blocking them from the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. You will have noticed a few small glaciers creep through the gaps, but any ice that breaks off those quickly sublimates — transitioning from a solid state to a vapor without passing through the intermediate liquid phase because of the arid atmosphere.”
“You really are a nerd!” Sam congratulated her.
“Hey, I thought you liked me?”
“I never said I didn’t like nerds,” he teased.
“Didn’t you?”
“No.” Sam stopped pouring. “I’ll have the last jerry can, please.”
She handed it to him and he began to pour the final container. He quickly filled the tank with the final container and firmly locked the fuel lid. He then placed the jerry can back inside its cradle and tightened the strap.
Alexis tapped him on the shoulder and pointed up at the peak of the mountain closest to McMurdo Sound, where they had just come from. “Just in the nick of time.”
Sam looked up. A small tuft of snow rolled over the tip of the mountain. Known as a rain shadow effect, it was often caused by air rolling off the polar plateau being forced over the Transantarctic Mountains; which then cools it, condenses and deposits its moisture as snow which dips down over the ice at the edges of the valley peaks.
Such a formation precedes any number of meteorological events around the world. But in the dry valley of Taylor, it meant one thing only — an extreme wind was coming. The type capable of sending sand, gravel, and grit through the valley at such speeds it would tear holes through the hovercraft and kill them both.
Sam checked the last strap was secure. “Get in the hovercraft!”
He waited until Alexis was inside and followed her, quickly securing the hatch behind him. Sam then immediately went through the process of restarting both the impeller and aft propeller engines.
The engines whined as the thick rubbery skirt inflated, raising the hovercraft five feet on to the new cushion of air. Worried about the effects of the extreme cold, he glanced at the few engine gauges. They were still within normal parameters, which meant they hadn’t cracked a seal yet. Not that it mattered if they had, he couldn’t wait the storm out — he had to go now. Sam threw the left hand throttle down to full, sending maximum power to the aft twin propellers. The hovercraft lurched forward towards the mirage in the horizon — at full speed.
“You’ll never outrun it!” Alexis said.
“Got a better plan?”
“As a matter of fact, I do.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Head for the lake!” Alexis shouted.
“How far do you make it?” Sam asked.
“No more than two miles.”
Sam swerved to the left to avoid falling into a large crevasse without reducing speed. “What’s there?”