Colder Than Ice (16 page)

Sarah
cringed. “Ooh, no wonder she tried to deck you. Why did you say such a
thing?”

Michela
rubbed her forehead with the heel of her hand. “I don’t know. She drives
me crazy sometimes. I managed to control it in Mount Cook, but, lord, she can
be so damned painful.”

Sarah
tilted her head and her eyes lit with understanding. “I don’t mean to be
rude here, but I’m wondering whether I was right about the sexual tension thing
between you and Maddi. Or was Maddi merely a release for something you’re
feeling for someone else?”

Michela
whipped her head around and stared at Sarah, prepared to deny her suggestion.
Try as she might, she couldn’t. “Aargh! The woman frustrates me to hell
and back.” She rubbed her forehead, closed her eyes and then once again
opened them. “But damn it all to blazes if I don’t like her. And what’s
worse, she’s with that useless piece of crap that treats her like a doormat and
she’s happy to be with him. Look at him. She nurses him through a voyage and as
soon as he’s better and she needs him, he’s too busy wanting to be the first of
the team to land on Antarctica. I swear he drives me crazy and she drives me
insane because as an intelligent woman she can’t see through his facade.”

“I’m
not going to give you a lecture on the dangers of falling for a straight woman.
I’m sure you’ve heard all those before,” Sarah said.

“Thank
you,” Michela curtly replied. “But it does raise some accommodations
problems once we get to the site. Allison made a passing comment regarding us
sleeping in the same hut. You know I trust you but I don’t want to add fuel to
the fire.”

Sarah
snapped her fingers. “Damn it. There goes my chance to have my way with
you.” Michela gave her a withering look. “The answer’s simple.
Obviously Alli and Rick will be in one hut, Ewan and Michael in another. Rob
and I are used to close quarters, so we can share. That leaves you with Dianne.
Something tells me she’s not your type, so Alli should have nothing to worry
about. And, besides, Di’s clueless to the developing situation here. In fact
her mind’s been elsewhere through the whole voyage.”

Michela
nodded. “You’re right on all counts. That should solve our long-term
arrangements, but can you imagine the look on Alli’s face when I explain the
tent arrangements for the trip to the site? Females in one tent, males in the
other.”

Sarah
chuckled. “If I were you, I’d have that discussion in a room full of
people. Less possibility of damage that way. I better go find Allison before
she beats up on anyone else. And you keep your nose clean and stop starting any
more fights.”

IN A
STATION the size of Wills, it didn’t take long for Sarah to locate Allison, who
had retreated to their temporary accommodations. She closed the door on the
prevailing outside wind and walked to the middle of the small room, giving
Allison her space. “Say, slugger, that’s a mean right hook you have
there.”

Allison
looked at the offending hand. “I don’t know what happened. I’ve never hit
anyone before but she pushed me too far.”

“Look,
obviously there’s some ill feeling between you two, but I don’t intend to spend
the whole expedition running back and forth dressing your wounds. You two need
to learn to work together and sometimes that means biting your tongue.”

Allison
picked up her jacket and pulled it on. “I can’t believe what she did with
that other woman.”

“She’s
an adult, she can do what she likes.” Allison snorted. “Just hear me
out. Regardless of what you may think, she’s still a professional.”

“Really?
Is she?”

Sarah
shook her head, silently acknowledging how frustrating Allison could be.
“If that’s the way you think about Michela, what do you think about
me?”

Allison
waved away the comment. “That’s different.”

“No,
Alli, it’s not different at all. Michela and I are both lesbians. But that
doesn’t mean for one moment we’re less professional than you, Rick, Di, or
anyone else on the team for that matter.” She watched Allison struggle
with the concept. “Look, I’m not telling you what you should and shouldn’t
think or do. All I’m asking is for you to think about your actions today and
the effect they could have on a small group in the middle of nowhere. And
before you get on your moral high horse, I’ve said the same thing to Michela.
Besides, I’ve no doubt that the last thing you want is to return to Australia
with nothing to show for your efforts other than a group of splintered
people.”

“IT’S
BEEN HOURS,” Rick shouted over the din of the jostling vehicle to Allison.
“It was fun when we first left Wills Station and all those old buildings
were great to look at. But, bloody hell, how long before we get there?”

Allison
leant closer to Rick. “If the weather holds we should be there in about
nine days or so.” Rick nodded and Allison returned her gaze to the view
outside, only to have her arm pulled by Dianne.

“I
thought these things went a lot faster than this. They did the other day when
we were training,” Dianne said.

“We’re
traveling in convoy, so we only go as fast as the slowest vehicle. The slowest
vehicle is BOB, the tractor thing out there.”

Looking
disgusted, Rick shook his head. “Who made that bloody decision? Hang on.
Of course, it was Michela. Why can’t we cut away and let the damned thing catch
up with us? We’re wasting time.”

“It
has to be that way. Things are different out here and people move in
groups,” Allison said. “It’s a lot safer. What’s more, the stores
we’ll need to start the dig are on that tractor. So even if we got there early,
there’s very little we could do.”

Rick
shifted in his seat and attempted to get more comfortable. “I don’t care.
It’s a pain in the backside. And what am I supposed to do, stuck in this damned
thing for that long? At this rate I won’t have an intact bone left.”

“I
think Michela’s decision makes sense,” Dianne said. “After all, she’s
only looking after the good of the team, right Allison?”

Allison
nodded. Despite her anger with Michela, she’d not discussed their disagreement
with either Rick or Dianne.
After all, how do I explain to them that two of
their team members are gay?
She was certain they knew about Sarah, who’d
refused to conceal her sexual preference. But she was sure neither Rick nor
Dianne was aware of Michela.
She may be the biggest pain in the ass, but
that’s no reason to discuss her private life. If only she didn’t rub me up the
wrong way so often.

Seeking
some privacy, she returned her gaze to the view outside. It was white as far as
the eye could see, with an occasional shift in the flat surface, signaling an
ice field that resembled frozen waves, commonly known as sastrugi. Rising to
sometimes a meter high, the sastrugi had been the bane of many of the early
expeditioners who had been forced to go over them with dogs and sleds in tow.
Twice that morning they’d been forced to diverge from their course. The first
had been because of sastrugi and the second had been to dodge a crevasse field.
While they could have gambled and taken the sno-trak across the ice bridges
that sometimes formed over a crevasse, the risk outweighed the possible gain.

She
returned her gaze to the vehicle’s interior and closed her eyes as she thought
about the sleeping arrangements for the move to the base.

Michela
had broken the news before they’d left. As Allison watched Michela make the
announcement, she wasn’t surprised when Michela looked directly at her.
It
was as if she was daring me to speak out.
For the majority of her adult
life, Allison had either slept by herself or with Rick. The sleeping in the
dongas still gave her a degree of space but the compact tent would be cramped
with four people and this would certainly be different to what she was used to.
This, as well as the animosity between her and Michela, made the arrangements
all the more uncomfortable.

Despite
the time approaching six at night, it was still broad daylight outside.
Summer
in Antarctica.
Allison sighed.
It’s certainly going to be strange going
to bed and waking up in the light.

MICHELA
WATCHED AS Michael breathed a sigh of relief when the vehicle they’d been
tossed around in all day finally shut down its engine.

“Thank
Christ. That noise is worse than any nagging I’ve ever had to put up
with,” Michael said.

Rob
laughed as he checked the brake. “I don’t know about that, mate. You
should reserve your judgment until you’ve heard Sarah in full voice.”

“Are
you right there, gob on a stick,” Sarah retaliated in mock tones.
“I’ve heard your fair share of whines when we’ve been stuck together. In
fact there’re times when you’ve almost driven me to drink.”

Michela
attempted to work the cricks out of her back. “Anybody would think you two
are husband and wife the way you carry on. Now comes the fun of setting up camp
for the night. How are the winds out there, Rob?”

Rob
tapped one of the vehicle’s panels. “Pretty calm at the moment. She’s
blowing at about ten mile an hour, with gusts up to fifteen.”

“Good.
I guess we better get set up,” Michela said. “Rob, can you check with
the other two drivers to ensure they’re okay?” Rob nodded and left the
cabin.

“Ewan,
can you, Michael, and Rick start setting up the men’s tent? Sarah, could you
see to the setting up of the blizzard lines between the tents and the vehicles,
in case we’re hit by a storm? I’ll organize Di and Alli to help me put up the
women’s tent. Cooking tonight will be under tent arrangements, using the small
gas stoves we have. Other than that, we’ll look at a seven-thirty departure
tomorrow morning.”

FLAT
ON HER rapidly freezing backside, Dianne struggled to hold the canvas in the
prevailing wind. “Did you say this was a pretty calm breeze?”

Michela
nodded as she centered the main pole. “Yes. This is pretty tame.”

Alli
battled to control her edge of the tent. “It’s a bit different to the one
we put up at Mount Cook. At least there was shelter there. This place is flat
as a pancake and other than the vehicles, there’s not much to protect us from
the bloody wind.”

Michela
masked her surprise at Allison’s contribution and preoccupied herself with the
tie down ropes of the tent.
Maybe things have settled down a bit. I really
should apologize for what I said the other day, but I think I’ll wait until
things are a little more private. And who knows, her moods can change so
quickly. This might be just a lull in the storm.

“What
are you doing?”

Michela
looked up from her work. Rob, obviously finished with his discussion with the
other drivers, looked ready to kill Rick, Michael, and Ewan. The three were
getting ready to throw their belongings into a tent that looked like it could
be blown over by the first decent wind to blow their way.

Michela,
Allison, and Dianne watched in amusement as the four men argued until Rob
proved his point by kicking one of the tent anchors. The tent collapsed on cue,
and Rob made sure it was erected correctly.

Michela
ensured the blizzard rope connected the three tents to the vehicles and a field
toilet—for anyone who wanted to brave the cold—was secure. After a makeshift
meal of re-hydrated pasta and vegetables, accompanied by a cup of hot
chocolate, the respective groups settled for the evening.

ALLISON
WOKE FROM a relatively sound, yet cool night’s sleep and found a sleeping
Michela uncomfortably close to her. At first startled, she realized she must
have rolled into the centre of the tent sometime during the night. What now
greeted her was Michela’s face, snugly encased in the loft of her
Antarctic-weight sleeping bag. Careful not to wake her, Allison took a moment
to observe Michela.

Sleep
softened Michela’s face, making her seem even calmer than she usually was.
That’s
one thing that does bug me. Apart from the other day and despite my goading,
she always remains calm. How does she do that? What do you hide behind that
beautiful mask of yours, Dr. DeGrasse?

Allison’s
eyes widened in surprise. Despite their disagreements, she couldn’t help but
admit that Michela was attractive, and even more so when she was angry.
Michela’s exasperated words echoed through her mind: “What is it that
really bothers you, Dr. Shaunessy? That I had great sex or that it wasn’t with
you?” At the time she’d been outraged at the mere suggestion, but as she
replayed the scene in her mind, she was unsure that her first reaction was an
honest one.

Allison
knew they reacted to each other like fire and ice, always fighting for the
upper hand. But as she recalled the fleeting moments when they touched, she
swore she felt a current pass between them. Remembering her rescue from the
crevasse fall, she couldn’t help but admit to the comfort she’d experienced in
Michela’s arms. While the moment had been fleeting, the warmth Michela had
generated had stirred something in her, something that had been dormant for so
long.

And
then there was the incident in the coffeehouse. When I touched her hand I felt
something and, by the look in her eyes, I think she felt it too.
Allison returned her thoughts to the present. Michela
was so close, her hot breath lightly tickled Allison’s face. Warmth filled the
pit of her stomach.