Colder Than Ice (21 page)

Sarah
put a cup of coffee in front of Michela and then returned to the kitchen area
to prepare a thermos of coffee. “I suppose what’s recently happened around
here wouldn’t be helping much either.”

Michela
looked down at her notes. “You should be doing my job.”

“You
wouldn’t be doing your work on this table if Di and Rick had their way. Just
the other day I caught them on it, in a less than compromising position. Bugger
me, they’re acting like a couple of sex starved teenagers.”

Michela
shuddered at the visual image. “I don’t think I want to go there. But I’m
happy that the three of them have managed to stop arguing.”

“I
know what you mean. The argument they had the day after Rick and Alli’s
breakup, over whether or not to dig a trench around the hut was a doozy. It was
the safe option though. Alli’s keen to ensure the integrity of the
building.” Sarah paused at the pained look that crossed Michela’s face.
“What’s wrong?”

“I’m
pretty concerned about Alli. She seems to retreat into herself a little more
every day. She’s refused to talk about what’s happened, even though I asked her
if she wants to. I see how she watches Di and Rick and it’s plain she’s still
hurting over the breakup. That, and the eighteen hour days she’s putting in. I
wouldn’t be surprised if she ends up as a patient of yours.”

Sarah
screwed the lid on the thermos. “I don’t like the sound of that. I’ll have
a chat with her and see if she’ll open up with me.” Michela nodded her
thanks. “But for now I better get this to the workers outside.”

SARAH
CALLED DOWN from the edge of the trench. “Hey, you guys are going great
guns.”

“G’day,
mate,” Rob called from the nine foot high trench around the hut.

Sarah
waved a green metal thermos. “How’d you feel about a break and a nice cup
of hot chocolate?”

Rob
moaned in delight. “Sarah, if things were different I’d kiss you.”
Sarah screwed up her face. “All right, all right. I get the picture. Do
you think you could bring it down here? Out of the wind?”

Sarah
nodded and walked to the cut steps at the other end of the hut. Preoccupied with
looking toward where the hut was being uncovered, her foot hit a slick spot.
Her arms windmilled and she struggled to steady herself. As she teetered on the
edge of the step, her hands found no purchase on the smooth walls of ice and
she fell into the trench, landing flat on her back.

Rob
ran to Sarah’s side, knelt down, and searched for any obvious signs of injury.
“Are you okay?”

Sarah
tuned her mind to her body.
Legs and arms still pointing in the right
direction. A bit woozy in the head, possibly a small concussion, but ribs seem
okay. Shit that was lucky.
“I’ve felt better and I do feel like a bit
of an idiot but other than that, oh, crap.” As she raised herself into a
seated position, the familiar pain of an old back injury made itself known.

“What
is it?” Ewan asked.

“I
think I’ve twinged an old war wound. Damn it.”

Ewan
helped Sarah up. “It’s not too bad is it?”

Rob
hooked his arm under Sarah’s armpit and they gingerly walked to the stairs.
“That depends on your definition of too bad, eh, Sarah?”

Sarah
cursed, part in frustration and part over the dull pain that had settled at the
base of her spine. “God give me strength that I have to be stuck with you
again when I do this.”

Ewan
frowned and looked at Rob for an explanation.

Rob
chuckled. “I’ve been stuck with Sarah before when this has happened.
Usually she’s laid up for at least a couple of days. If there’s one thing she
hates, it’s being a patient. She’s like a bear with a sore head.”

She
winced at the discomfort in her lower back. “I bloody-well am not.”

“You
are, so shut up or I
will
give you something to whine about.” Rob
took Sarah’s full weight from Ewan. “Mate, both of us aren’t going to be
able to get her up those steps. Can you go and find Michela and let her know
what’s happened. I’ll get lady muck here to her sleeping quarters.”

ROB
HAD BARELY gotten Sarah into her bed when there was a knock on the door.
“Come in,” he called as he placed a folded blanket under Sarah’s
knees, to elevate her legs and take the weight off the base of her back.

Michela
walked in, knelt beside Sarah, and put her hand on her arm to prevent her from
moving too much. “How did you manage this?”

“Let’s
say, it’s the last time I decide to play the Good Samaritan to someone at the
bottom of a trench.”

Michela
softly rubbed Sarah’s arm. “Do you want me to call Wills Station?”

Sarah
shook her head. “Please don’t. I’d never hear the end of it from Maddi and
besides, this isn’t the first time this has happened. The best thing is a
couple of days bed rest. From there I’ll have to take it easy when I move
around camp, that’s all.”

“Do
you need anything for the pain?”

“Yes,
although I’m going to have to self administer it. Rob, can you get my bag
please?”

Rob
fetched the bag from one of the small cupboards and handed it to Michela.

“There’s
a vial with the label benzodiazepine on it. It’s more commonly known as Valium.
It’ll almost immediately start to alleviate the spasm.”

Michela
handed her the vial and searched for a needle. “Can you administer this
yourself?”

“I
don’t know I’ve got any choice. At least I can administer the first shot. After
that I’ll take the pills for the first twenty-four hours or so. Do you think
you can possibly stop people from not getting hurt while I’m in la-la
land?”

Michela
smiled and pulled an alcohol swab from the bag. “If I can keep Alli away
from Rick, that should limit any degree of physical damage. As for the rest of
us, we’re just going to have to be a little careful. Where do you want me to
swab you?”

“My
right shoulder, on the meaty bit of the deltoid. That’ll give me plenty to aim
at. This is going to work pretty quickly. Is there anything you want to ask me
before I’m off-line for a while?”

“No,
hang on, yes. Who’s going to look after you for bathroom visits and the
like?”

“Don’t
worry, Rob’s an old hand at helping me with that, aren’t you, mate? He knows
what needs to be done.”

Michela
smiled at Rob and patted Sarah’s knee. “In that case, pleasant dreams.
We’ll just have to celebrate New Year’s day without you. If you need anything
just let me know, via Rob that is.”

“That’d
be right, hold a party while I’m out to it.” Michela winced as Sarah
injected herself and watched as Sarah’s features glazed over. She took the
syringe from Sarah’s hands and gave it to Rob.

“Don’t
worry. She’ll be all right,” Rob said.

Michela
nodded and prayed that everyone else stayed that way, at least until Sarah
recovered.

ALLISON
SWITCHED OFF the blade and turned to her co-workers. “This ice has done a
great job of acting as packing material around the building.”

Ewan
rubbed his hand over the bleached wood. “Sure has. The ice has worn the
wood a bit, but all in all, it looks pretty good for something over a hundred
years old.”

Allison
nodded and turned to Rob. “How are those joists going?”

Rob
patted a joist, supporting the hut’s frame. “They’re good to go. If you
pass me one of the blades, I’ll cut away at some of this ice. That should give
you a better look inside.”

Rob
carefully cleared away the excess ice. The team moved closer and stared at the
foyer in childlike amazement.

Rick
looked around the small entrance. “This looks like an old
photograph.”

Dianne
carefully stroked one of the four frozen wet weather jackets hanging from a
wooden peg on the wall. “Look at these. They look as if they’re part of a
museum exhibit instead of history itself.”

Allison
carefully picked up a pair of stiff leather boots. “Look at these snow
boots and the shoes down there. They’re in fantastic shape, as if they were
only put here yesterday.”

Rick
nodded. “Just think what waits us inside. Why don’t we increase the heat
and speed of the blades so we can get to what’s in there?”

“Mate,
the walls may be solid but we don’t know what the weight of snow and ice has
done to the building’s ceiling,” Rob said. “We need to take it slow
and set up joists as we go. That’ll give you a safer environment to work
in.”

“Suit
yourself,” Rick said. “But don’t come crying to me when you get to
the good bits and you find it’s time to pack up and go home.”

Allison,
barely acknowledging Rick’s comments, pulled her notebook from her jacket.
“Let’s get some of this catalogued. Dianne, have you got your camera
handy?”

Dianne
pulled the camera from its waterproof pack and the two spent the rest of the
day cataloguing the antique cache. They then sealed some of the artifacts in
specially designed bags for the long journey back to Australia.

FRUSTRATED
BY THE speed of the dig, Rick argued almost daily with Dianne and Allison. On
the fifth day, he finally threw his hands up in disgust, and went to the mess
hut for a cup of coffee.
What’s old man Peterson going to say when we arrive
home with some bloody old clothes to show for our troubles? These guys would
have all kept diaries. That’s what we’ve got to find. Plus there’s bound to be
other caches around here. We’ll never have time to find any of those if we
continue to dig at this pace.
He yanked a coffee cup from the wall and
slammed it down on the bench.

“What’s
the matter, mate?” Ewan asked from his seat at the dining table.

Rick
rubbed his hands through his dark hair. “It’s these bloody women. They’re
taking too much time—time we can’t afford to waste.”

Ewan
scratched at his three-day growth of beard. “I thought that was to make
sure everything was safe.”

“If
it was any safer we wouldn’t be doing anything at all. Trust me, I know about
this sort of stuff and we’re going far too slow.”

“Women
do tend to fuss over everything don’t they?”

Rick
vigorously nodded. “Herr DeGrasse runs this place like a Army camp. I
don’t know why but she watches me like a bloody hawk. Damn, there’s so much
more that we could find if we just took the time to do so.” He poured
water into his cup.

“Maybe
we should be a bit riskier,” Ewan said.

Rick
sat down and surreptitiously gazed over his coffee at Ewan’s eager face.
“You know the best thing about finding things down here in
Antarctica?”

Ewan
tilted his head. “No, what?”

“It
usually means it’s never been discovered before and so you have naming
rights.” Rick knew he couldn’t be further from the truth, but he now had
Ewan’s full attention. “Come to think of it, I can’t really see why
Finlayson would build one hut if they were looking at exploring other parts of
the continent. Why I bet there’re dumps and caches all around here.”

Ewan
again scratched his stubble, his face a picture of concentration. “What
you’re saying is if someone like me found such a dump then I’d have first
naming rights?”

Rick
smiled. “You’ve got it in one.” He went to the kitchen and rinsed his
cup before returning it to its place on the wall. “I’ll see you
around.”

Later
that afternoon, Rick wasn’t at all surprised at the knock on his door.
“Come in.”

Ewan,
juggling a map and one of the emergency kits, stumbled through the door. Rick
stood and took the emergency kit from Ewan, before it could fall out of Ewan’s
arms. “What are you up to?”

Ewan
laid the map on the small table. “I’ve been thinking about what you said
and you’re right, this is taking too long. I was looking at going on a bit of a
quick trip, no more than about six miles or so, to see what’s out there.”

Rick
slapped Ewan on the back. “That’s great news. We’ll make a fully-fledged
archaeologist out of you yet. Where are you going to go?”

“I
think I’ll head this way. It’s slightly inland, but if they were going to the
South Pole that’s the way they would’ve headed. It shouldn’t take me that long
to cover six miles, should it?”

Rick
put the emergency kit on the table. “I don’t think so. You’ll most likely
be back for supper with news of your discovery.” Rick picked up a pen and
scribbled on a piece of paper. “Here, let me jot down that bearing, just
in case. What else are you taking with you?”

Ewan
checked the power on the short-range radio. “I’m taking this and a small
medical kit. Do you think the radio will cover that distance?”

“No
worries, mate. They have a range of at least twelve miles.”

Ewan
pulled a small orange rectangle from his emergency pack. “I’ve got this
EPIRB thing, as well as some food just in case.”

Rick
took the cold conditions Emergency Personal Individual Rescue Beacon, or EPIRB,
from him and ensured it was set to the correct frequency. “I’ll switch
this thing on now. That way you can be tracked from camp.”