Colder Than Ice (35 page)

Michela
shook her head.
I should have known. On the trip back to base I should have
known where this was heading. She’s changed her mind.

“Alli,
honey, I can’t be in a relationship like this where there seems to be so little
trust. I’d never dream of hurting you but you’re hurting me now with your
silence, can’t you see that? Either you trust me or you don’t.” She put
her hand on Allison’s shoulder. Allison shrugged it off.

“Please
don’t,” Allison whispered.

“What
is it? Speak to me,” Michela pleaded.

Allison
shook her head. “I can’t.”

Michela
stared at Allison, who continued to focus on the window. “I’m only going
to say this once. If I walk out that door, that’s it. I’ll know that whatever
we started out there will have meant so little to you and that I was no more
than an experiment.” She waited in the silence and then hung her head in
resignation. “I suppose it’s goodbye.” Michela walked out of the
room and quietly closed the door.

Allison
turned around, tears staining her cheeks. She started for the door and then
stopped. She slumped her shoulders, collapsed onto her bed, and wept at how
quickly her life had slipped from ideal into a living nightmare.

SARAH
CHUCKLED AT the raucous noise emanating from the Wills Station bar.
Is that
Michela? It sounds like she and Alli managed to square things away.
She entered
the bar and was surprised to find Michela alone, drunkenly crooning to the
jukebox for all she was worth.

Michela
swayed with the music and looked at Sarah with glazed eyes. “Sarah! Glad
you could make it,” she slurred and drank from the mug in her unsteady
hand. “These people are all party peep, party pop, party poopers. I tried
to start a sing along, but they all left me.”

Sarah
went to Michela’s side and stepped back from the reek of alcohol that wafted
off her. “Whoa, I think you’ve had more than your fair share tonight,
sailor.” She eased Michela into a chair. “Where’s Allison?”

Michela
flopped into her chair, dropped her mug, and put her head in her hands.
“It’s over. Over before it even started. She hates me. Won’t talk to
me,” she slurred.

Sarah
stared at the change in Michela. “I think you’re probably reading it
wrong.” She pulled Michela from the chair and slung Michela’s arm around
her shoulder. “Come on, how about we get you to bed and resolve everything
in the morning.”

Michela
staggered as Sarah tried to walk her to the door. “No, she hates me, trust
me, she doesn’t—” She hiccoughed and collapsed in a drunken stupor.

Sarah
cursed as she pulled Michela over her shoulder. “That’s just bloody great,
where’s Rob when you need him?”

MICHELA
WOKE TO a knocking that reverberated around the insides of her skull before
seeping out through her eye sockets. She sat up and the room seemed to tilt.

Instinctively
she closed her eyes and lay back down.

“Come
in.”

Sarah
entered and closed the door. “I think I’ll say morning, because you
certainly don’t look so good.” She sat on the bed and touched the back of
her hand to Michela’s forehead. “No temperature. Must have been something
in the ice cubes last night.” She wryly smiled and pulled a bottle of
pills from the medicine bag.

Michela
opened her eyes and attempted to swallow. She looked around, saw a glass of
water on her bedside table, and greedily drank it. “Just what I need this
morning—a bloody glaciologist with attitude.”

Sarah
unscrewed the top of a water bottle she’d brought with her. “I’ve no doubt
that’s just what you need. Especially when the glaciologist,
who’s also a
physician,
comes bearing gifts. Here, take these.” She gave the water
and two pills to Michela.

Michela
tried to focus on the pills in her hand. “What are they?”

“They’re
hangover tablets. While they won’t take away the pain completely, they’ll bring
your system back on an even keel. That, coupled with this,” Sarah held up
a clear fluid bag, “is going to get you back on track.”

Michela
frowned. “How do you expect me to drink that?”

Sarah
laughed. “I don’t. I’m going to cannulate you to replace some of the
fluids you’ve managed to lose over the past twelve hours.”

Michela
attempted to sit up. “Don’t you use big words on me, you damned quack.
You’re going to stick a big needle into me.”

“That’s
the general idea. Trust me, this’ll work wonders. I should know. When I was an
intern, I used it after more parties than I care to count. That coupled with
the pills should see you good to go in about an hour or so.”

Michela
winced at the thought of having to tolerate her headache another hour. Watching
Sarah, she yelped as the needle penetrated her skin.

Sarah
checked the flow of the bag. “Stay there and I’ll be back in about five
minutes.”

True
to her word, Sarah strolled through the door a few minutes later with breakfast
in hand.

Michela
just managed to swallow the bile caused by the smell of food. “What is
that?” she asked through gritted teeth.

Sarah
put the tray on the bedside table. “It’s all part of the cure. It starts
with some Vegemite toast. This stuff’s chock full of vitamin B and believe me
when I say you need all the help you can get with vitamin B. Next, we’ll move
on to some bacon and baked beans.” Michela scrunched her pale face.
“The baked beans are another dose of vitamin B and the fat on the bacon
will do a great job of lining your stomach.”

Michela
held her up hand. “Stop. Has anyone ever told you your bedside manner is
woeful? Give me the food and let me get this over and done with.”

Sarah
stood and watched as Michela fought her way through the meal. Michela put the
tray on the bedside table, grabbed her cup, and took a sip of black coffee.
When Michela was finished, Sarah sat on the bed. “So, do you want to tell
me why you got yourself into such a state last night?”

Michela
leant back on her pillow. Closing her eyes, she recalled the night before.
After leaving Allison, she’d paced the halls in an attempt to vent her
frustration and found herself outside the station bar. She opened her eyes and
gazed at Sarah. “I’d rather not talk about it.”

“I
know this must seem like a kind of a role reversal to you, but don’t you think
it would be better if you did?”

Michela
vigorously shook her head and winced. “There’s been enough of that already.
All I want to do is get on with my life. I want to finish what has to be done
here, get on a boat, sail to Hobart, hop on a plane, and head back to the
States.”

Sarah
tilted her head. “Just like that?”

“Just
like that.”

Sarah
folded her arms. “You know, you’re so full of crap it’s a wonder it’s not
coming out of your eyes. If you think I believe you can switch off your
emotions that easily then you’re sorely mistaken. I don’t know what went on
last night and I can’t find Allison to ask her. I’ve no doubt she’d be singing
the same tune as you. You
need
to talk about this. We can do it now or
later, but you need to get it off your chest.”

Michela
gently put her head in her hands to halt the hockey game inside her skull. She
patted Sarah’s hand. “Not now. It’s too soon and there’s too much to do.
Maybe once we’re under way.”

Sarah
shook her head. “There’s no maybe about it. We’ll be talking, even if I
have to beat it out of you.” Sarah rose and checked the drip. “You’ve
got another hour before that runs through. Why don’t you sit here and work out
the flight schedule for the trip to the ship.”

Frustrated,
Michela raised her face to the ceiling and sighed heavily, and then gazed at
Sarah. “That’s today, isn’t it?”

“Yep,
but fortunately for you the helo’s been delayed. We’re not expected to see it
before midday. Time enough for you to be back on your feet.”

Michela
smiled that at least something was going right for her. “I guess Alli will
need your help for the flight. Can you speak with her and see if she wants you
to administer a small relaxant for the helo flight?”

“No
problem. Will you be flying with her to the ship?”

Although
she wanted to, Michela was fairly certain that Allison didn’t want to be around
her. “No, I think it’d be for the better if you were to accompany her.
I’ll make sure everything is good to go here and then catch the last
flight.”

Sarah
nodded and went to the door. “We should be under steam by the end of the
day. I’ll be back in an hour to take that needle out of you. If you give me the
crew manifest then, I’ll ensure everyone’s made aware of when they’re
flying.”

Michela
watched as Sarah closed the door behind her. Despite the combination of the
pills and the drip working its magic, Michela felt miserable. What was worse
was the knowledge that the misery would be with her for a long time.

SARAH
LED A lightly sedated Allison to the helicopter, secured her in her seat, and
climbed in the other side. After securing her own safety harness, Sarah turned
to Allison, whose attention was focused on something outside. Sarah leant as
far forward as the harness would allow and looked across to the edge of the LZ
to where Michela was standing, hands shoved into the pockets of her cold
weather jacket.

Unable
to see Allison’s face, Sarah lightly touched her shoulder and Allison turned,
her eyes filled with tears. Taking Allison’s hand, Sarah leant to her ear to be
heard over the engine. “It’s okay. It won’t be a long flight. We’ll be on
the ship in no time.”

Allison
shook her head, her senses dulled by the drugs. “She’s leaving me. I
thought she’d always be there for me and instead she’s leaving me.”

Sarah
once again stared out the window at Michela on the side of the tarmac. She
gripped Allison’s hands. “She’s not doing that, sweetie. She’s going to
join us on the boat, you’ll see.”

Allison
shook her head as she wept. “No, she’s leaving me, and I don’t blame
her.”

Michela,
on the side of the landing pad, patted the pockets of her jacket for her
sunglasses to combat the glare of the helicopter’s reflective windows. She
watched the helicopter rise from the LZ, turn one hundred and eighty degrees
and head toward the horizon. She was thankful that Allison was finally safe and
on her way.

Maddi
waved and crossed the small tarmac to her.

“How
are you feeling this morning?” Michela asked.

Maddi
sadly smiled. “It’s going to take some time before I work through this. I
wish you were staying a bit longer so I could talk to you about it.”

Michela
removed a pen and a small notepad from her jacket. “I think it’s about time
for me to go. But if you want to talk about it, here’s my e-mail address and
phone number. Contact me at any time. I’ll be happy to help.” She tore the
page from the notepad and handed it to Maddi.

“Do
you have time for a coffee before you go?” Maddi asked.

Michela
watched the helicopter that was now a speck on the horizon. “Possibly a
quick one. This guy’s turn around time is pretty swift.”

After
a cup of coffee, they returned to the LZ and the waiting helicopter. Michela
hugged Maddi and took a final look at the continent that had been her home for
about the past eight weeks. After resolutely nodding, she hopped into the
helicopter and strapped herself in. At least the first part of her homeward
journey would soon be over.

MICHELA
SPENT THE sea journey finalizing her report. She avoided most of the team by
eating outside the standard meal breaks, and usually in her room. When she
ventured onto the decks, she often saw a windswept Allison staring at the
ocean. Although she wanted to speak with Allison, she always hesitated. For
when Allison saw her, she would return her attention to the ocean. Michela
finally stopped going to the deck and kept to her room, seeking solace in her
own company.

Michela
sighed at the sharp rap on her door after six days of peaceful solitude. She
opened the door and found Sarah standing there, an exasperated look on her
face. Before she could say anything, Sarah strode into the small room.

Michela
closed the door, folded her arms, and leant against the frame. “You know,
I’m beginning to wonder whether it’s got something to do with me. No one seems
to wait to be invited in these days.”

Sarah
shook her finger at Michela. “Don’t you start. I’ve been checking around
and no one’s seen you for days.” She squinted at Michela’s face and lightly
pinched her stomach. “When was the last time you had a decent meal?”

Michela
blushed. “I had a sandwich this morning, I think.” She scratched her
head. “What day is it again?”

Sarah
lightly slapped her. “It’s too long since you ate last, that’s what day it
is. Now, we’re going to have something to eat and you’re going to explain
exactly what happened at the station. And don’t give me that look. That’s not
going to work. Either we discuss this or I’m not leaving until you do.”