The Antarcticans (12 page)

One early morning, before the sun was up, someone was banging on each of the doors to the sleeping quarters. Noila quickly pulled the curtain closed on the upper bunk she was sleeping in, afraid the person banging might barge in and see her nude. She wiggled into her nightgown in bed then pushed the curtain aside and opened the door. Captain Clark was standing at the end of the hall. She was the last one to poke her head out of her door.

“Come to the cargo bay, everyone,” he barked, “and get your gear on. We’re arriving in an hour, and I don’t want to wait for anyone to get dressed once we’re docked. No one will board this ship while you’re gone. You can leave your things in your room; you’ll come back when your mission is over.”

“What about our labs? They’ve all been prepped,” one of the scientists said.

“Your individual labs will be removed from the ship and set up in the permanent facility on land. There’s nothing for you to do.” He didn’t ask for other questions before heading to his quarters.

After Noila packed up the few items she had placed in drawers for the trip, she called Gavin. She didn’t want to miss him if there wasn’t communication on land. He was wide-awake when he picked up the phone.

“We’re here…well, almost…another hour. What time is it there?” Her voice sounded excited and nervous.

Gavin sighed. “I have no idea. I tend to lose track of time here, but since you left, everyone’s been avoiding me. I can’t get access to Lucifer. Leo sees me in the halls and scurries away. Dr. Cristofari always tells me Joshua is in some state or under observation and can’t be bothered. It’s been five days since I last saw him.”

“Why are they avoiding you? Did something happen?”

“No, nothing. I had a strange conversation with Arkita, though. I think she was hitting on me—I definitely blew her off. She wanted me to have dinner with her in her private quarters, and I canceled at the last minute. I must have offended her. I don’t know.”

“She probably was just attracted to the challenge.” Noila laughed. “But seriously, nothing else? I can’t imagine Lucifer would even care about that.”

“I’ll keep trying to get to Joshua, but I just feel out of options. I guess I got us into all of this. How have the last few days been?”

“I finished the prep for my lab—really interesting research they’ve started here. It’s been going on for a couple of years. Apparently there’s a researcher who’s on base permanently. I’ll be working with him.” She paused for a moment. “Don’t you think it’s strange that we’ve never heard of these teams doing this work? This is ground-smashing research, on the verge of changing how we understand this part of the world.”

“More like
a lot
of the world,” Gavin said. “There are changes happening around us all the time, but we don’t notice because we aren’t interested in knowing. Hey, one question before you go. Did anyone mention to you that we might need to leave the ship for a few days? A holographic messenger told me I should prepare to leave my room here and the ship, should the need arise.”

“No, and I was with you practically the whole time,” she answered.

Someone was banging on her door again.

“I have to go. I think we’ve arrived. I’ll call you or text you when I can. I don’t know what the communications situation is down here, but don’t worry if you don’t hear from me. Love you. Give Joshua my love too.” She pressed “End” and swung her tote bag over her shoulder. When she walked out of her room, the air had changed in the hallway; it felt crisper, and the temperature had dropped. She saw the last two people waiting at the lift to take the next ride down to the cargo bay and ran to the end of the hallway to make sure she would make it. When the doors opened in the bay, she saw the group in the area of the bay that had lockers and storage bins. Many of her colleagues were sitting on the floor, slipping into full-body puffy suits with fur-insulated hoods. Captain Clark was waiting impatiently for Noila and the two people she was with to get to him. He was holding three suits in his hands. When Noila reached him, he dropped her suit on the floor.

“Next time you’re late, you might find yourself alone in an icy land, facing your mortality by freezing.” He dropped the other two suits for the last two scientists and walked to the front of the group. “When everyone has their suits and goggles on, we’ll open the door and connect the jetty to land. This is where my journey with you ends. Work hard and do Lucifer proud.”

As the cargo door opened and the crew worked to get the jetty into place, the dry, bitterly cold air filled the cargo bay. Noila caught her breath as frigid air invaded her lungs. When the door was fully open, they faced a wall of bluish-white ice. Water was cascading from above into the crystal water they were floating on. Embedded in the wall of ice and snow was a square metal opening. The crew was extending the jetty to link with the opening. Noila moved closer to the door so she could get a better view of the landscape. The ice shelf soared hundreds of feet into the air. Sunlight glowed on the top, and water misted over the edge, tiny water drops reflecting the sun through them. The atmosphere above looked like it was on fire. As it fell toward their shaded depths, the light went out of it, and the droplets froze, making a rapid
tink tink
as it hit the hull of the ship. Noila couldn’t see around the ship out to sea, as the makeshift port was recessed into the wall of the ice. The jetty connected with the dock, and the crew ushered the scientists off the
Viking
. Noila stepped off the jetty onto the steel grates, which were lit from beneath and illuminated the rectangular steel passageway that extended into the side of the ice shelf. She was the first off, and she heard the crew yell to her, “Just keep walking.”

As Noila walked, her boots clanged on the metal grates below. The lights beneath the transparent floor came on a few feet in front of her. She was beginning to make out something ahead of her. A smooth metal door. One of the other scientists, who was less than a foot from Noila’s heels, was talking to herself about what could be behind it. There were two glass screens on one side of the steel doors. Noila reached for them and dragged her fingertips over the glass. One of the panels came to life. It displayed her name and “DNA,” after which came a long list of letter pairs. The doors opened, and a voice cut through the icy air, instructing her to enter. On the other side of the door was a cylindrical transparent tube that ascended vertically. Noila stood on a transparent disk that fit perfectly inside the cylinder. She looked below her to see a long tunnel of ice dropping into a horizon that appeared to go on forever. The doors she had come through opened again, and the woman who’d been following close behind her entered along with the two female chemists before the disk ascended.

“Talk about walking into darkness, eh?” Noila said.

“I’m as amazed by this whole process as you are,” one of the scientists replied.

They passed several sets of doors before reaching the surface. As the disk leveled with the ground, its perimeter turned green. A tall woman stood waiting for them. Her face resembled that of a sleek white snow lion, her nose a flat black snout. Her eyes were slanted and clear blue, and her thick, white downy hair was pulled back and blended with the thin layer of hair that covered her body. Her long black dress fell to the ground, collecting at her feet.

The crowd of scientists mumbled among themselves about her appearance. Astounded, Noila leaned to one of the female chemists beside her, “What is she?”

The woman just shrugged. The group of scientists looked at each other for answers.

“Hello, ladies. I’m Vinettea, a native resident here.” She motioned to the area they were standing in. “I personally welcome you to my home country. The others will be arriving to greet you soon, and I would like to extend a wholesome welcome to everyone.” Her fingers were webbed, thick, and long, with nails that were manicured talons, painted with different colors and hues.

A soft green circular light flashed on the floor about ten feet away from them, a barely audible tone accompanying it. The rest of the scientists who hadn’t come up on Noila’s disk slowly ascended to the floor. Their heads swiveled in all directions, taking in the space around them. The light from the sun came through, revealing clumps of snow that hung above them against an unseen barrier between them and the outside world.

“I’m so pleased all of you decided to come to Antarctica,” Vinettea continued. “I hope you find your stay here meaningful. I’m mindful my appearance may come as a surprise. Let me explain so it won’t be a distraction while you’re here. Please follow me.” She turned and glided ahead. The trail of her dress displaced a light cover of delicate snow on the ground.

“You might have noticed the air isn’t nearly as hostile as when you initially stepped off the
Viking
. That’s because a great dome encloses the area we’re standing in as well as the village. The dome is perfectly safe to touch, and if you find yourself lost and run into it, no harm will come to you. Now you might be wondering who I am. In your language, I’m called an Antarctican, a native of Antarctica. We’ve inhabited the continent for approximately sixty thousand years, after slowly being forced from the rest of the world, as the end of earth’s last ice age took hold and the planet warmed. Our species evolved when the Srechritoris made a conscious decision to mate with the Homo Rapidus, as we call them. Really just a small branch of evolutionary history beyond the Neanderthals that hasn’t received much attention in your scientific community. Mostly because all the remains are here with us, buried under miles of ice. Our traditions compel us to carry each of our dead with us to wherever on earth we reside. The Srechritoris appeared as this in their prime…” She extended an arm into air, flayed her webbed fingers, and slowly extended her arm down, leaving the image of a massive creature with coarse white hair covering its body. A golden mane extended from the top of its head to the outer side of its two front legs and covered its six-toed paws in silky honey-colored hair. The head was large and aerodynamic and resembled the head of a polar bear; it was covered with a frozen mask of ice, crystallized in long strands that bled down from its blue eyes. The beast roared, its double sets of long fanged white teeth matching the color of the snow. The creature galloped through a landscape of falling snow, massive pines, and jagged mountains, set against a cloudless deep-navy sky. The Srechritoris leapt, its blue claws flashing out like a switchblade from its golden paws, and fell through the air, slashing into a reindeer that was coming into view. The talons shredded through the deer’s flesh, and it dropped to the ground, surrendering to the inevitability of death. The image fell apart slowly, peeling from the air like ash from a fire.

“Our ancestors were powerful, vicious, and ruled the land in which they lived,” Vinettea went on, “but they also knew their time was coming to an end, and the world they had ruled for thousands of years wouldn’t be able to continue to support them if they didn’t change form. So they emerged from their dens and searched for a suitable species with which to share their DNA. The story of the first Homo Rapidus and mating is not known.”

The group had crossed out of the area where there tube transport system came to the surface. They approached a structure with tall columns sculpted from ice and carved with various animals and scenes that weren’t familiar to anyone in the group. Light poured from behind them, breaking through wherever there were spaces.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Please stand still. A crossing is about to occur.” Vinettea held out a hand to stop the group from advancing. “Please don’t make eye contact with the animals you’re about to see.”

The ground, which had felt solid as bedrock, rumbled then shook. Noila instinctively reached for the shoulder of the man standing next to her. The dusting of snow on the ground sifted into the air from the shaking. Noila heard grinding chimes coming from the columned building. She was looking at Vinettea for any further explanation of what was happening, but Vinettea was staring straight ahead. The sun came into view over the dome. The first ray struck the open space in front of the stairs of the building, a few paces in front of Vinettea. It produced a small ring of dancing sparks; the ring expanded slowly until the group was standing on its edge. Srechritoris charged from between the columns of the building, emerging in neat lines, then joined into a massive stampeding herd. Their roars assaulted the scientists’ eardrums, making everyone in the group cover their ears in pain. The massive herd narrowed as they ran in the group’s direction, toward the open circle, then flashed one by one over the dancing sparks. When the last Srechritoris vanished, the ring of sparks expanded and dispersed into the sunlight, illuminating the ice and snow beneath the dome.

“What the hell was that?” the scientist who had worn the yellow parka and endlessly questioned Captain Clark on the
Viking
asked.

“Nothing to worry about,” Vinettea said, then beckoned them on.

There was a small village ahead, with one-story houses with dark wood and white stucco filling all the spaces in between. The homes had small windows with boxes hanging from them, overflowing with evergreens and holly ripe with red berries. Plumes of white smoke emerged from the chimneys. The houses wound along the streets, which were just wide enough to fit a car or a horse and carriage, Noila thought. The streets were filled with people bundled in fur coats and heavy wool shawls, along with Antarcticans and huskies. The gates to the village extended high above the entrance and in tall curly letters spelled out the word CHIMERUTH. Vinettea pushed open the wooden gates and locked them in place for the rest of the scientists to enter behind her.