Bear stabs his feet at the steel grate in the entranceway, clearing ice from his boots. Snow swirls around him. For whatever reason, he wasn’t wearing goggles. Ice has formed on his eyebrows. He grins.
“Feels good, huh?”
Nick shakes his head in disbelief. He chews on a thick peanut butter bar, trying to reclaim some of the energy he lost to the storm. Sesame seeds get stuck between his teeth.
Jazz helps Adrianna into the ready room, closing the door behind her.
“Everyone good?”
Nick offers a thumbs up. He can’t muster actual words. His cheeks are too numb, and his mouth is full. Adrianna drops down next to him. She collapses on the bench seat, lying on her backpack.
“Do we really need all this stuff?”
Jazz says, “You’re the one that wanted to come.”
“I know, I know,” Adrianna says, rolling over and almost falling on the icy floor as she gets back to her feet. “It gets easier from here, right?”
Jazz laughs, pushing through the inner door to the maintenance area. “You really have no idea, do you?”
Unlike the other buildings within the base, the maintenance area is four walls and a roof set on the bare ice. A raised walkway leads them between generators. Ducting hangs from the ceiling, disappearing into the ice.
“This is the site of the original drill hole,” Jazz says. “The team widened it for utility access. Air is scrubbed and recirculated. Water is pumped down through insulated pipes. Sewage is pumped back. We’re going to follow the conduits down through the ice. That will lead us to the maintenance bay on L2. From there, we’ll restart the pumps.”
It’s only on reaching the duct that Nick realizes Bear and Jazz have been ferrying supplies between the huts for a while. Climbing ropes lie coiled on the ice, reaching back to anchor points on heavy machinery. Several sets of rope sit neatly on the casing of an idle backup generator. Climbing harnesses and crampons have been laid out on a metal walkway.
Jazz takes Nick’s backpack, stacking it next to the other equipment. Bear helps Adrianna with her pack.
“Grab a helmet and leather gloves.”
Nick folds back his jacket hood and dons a hardhat. He adjusts the straps, fixing the chin strap, and turns on the headlamp. His gloves are lined with wool, which makes them pleasant to wear.
“Now, slip on a pair of crampons,” Jazz says, handing a pair of steel frames to each of them. She adds, “Kick hard enough into the ice, and these things will hold your weight on a vertical surface.”
Nick turns the crampon over in his gloved hand, looking at the jagged metal spikes protruding from the frame. They’re football cleats for a game played against zombies. He copies Jazz, fixing them over his boots and tightening the straps.
“Let’s get you in your kit,” she says.
Bear holds out a climbing harness. Nick steps into it. “Gotta get this fitted just right or you’ll never have kids.”
Nick lets out a nervous laugh as Bear tightens the waist belt. He cinches the straps around Nick’s thighs, double-checking the clips.
Jazz leads them to a couple of climbing ropes dangling from an overhead walkway.
“This is our test rig. Once we get down in the hole, we’re not going to be able to change much. It’s important we get things right up here. Once we’re hooked up, we’ll transfer these carabiners to the climb-anchor, and we’re away.”
Jazz works with Adrianna while Bear follows her lead, helping Nick.
“We’re going to descend on two lines, each of which uses double ropes. Nick, you’ll be with Bear. Adrianna will descend with me.”
Jazz fiddles with a thin length of cord, wrapping it around a leather loop in Adrianna’s harness. Nick watches as Bear does the same for him, aware he may need to do this himself at some point.
“I’m making a French prusik with a little bit of paracord,” Jazz says to Adrianna.
“Looks flimsy.”
“Oh, it’s a lifesaver,” Jazz assures her.
At first, Nick assumes Jazz is providing them with instructions, but the quiver in her voice reveals she’s speaking for her own benefit. Jazz is ensuring she’s gone through all the proper safety checks. She winds the cord around the double ropes and leads it back to Adrianna’s harness. Bear mirrors her motion on Nick’s setup.
“I’m feeding this through the belay loop on your harness, but it’s going to be set well below the belay device on the ropes. The prusik is a backup. It’ll slow your descent if you get in trouble. We’re going to descend using military-grade belay plates and prusiks for safety. Keep one hand above the belay plate, the other above the prusik to keep it moving on the ropes. It won’t do anything other than trail along. If you start to fall, the increase in load is going to cause your prusik to bunch up. It’ll tighten and you’ll come to a stop. Okay? You won’t fall. You’re going to be safe. Okay?”
Jazz is saying okay a lot, which elicits a nervous, “Okay,” from Adrianna.
“Okay. There’s a reason you’ve got a bunch of spare carabiners and slings attached to your harness. At no point do you ever release yourself from one without first hooking up to another rope or latching on to an anchor point. Understood?”
Adrianna nods.
Nick says, “Got it.”
“If you need both hands free for whatever reason, raise your thigh and loop the main rope around your leg three times like this.” Jazz demonstrates. “In essence, your leg then becomes a prusik. The friction will hold your weight. You’ll find you can work away quite merrily with both hands without sliding down. Nothing fancy. Nice and simple. It works really well. When you’re ready to move on, simply uncoil the rope. Okay?”
Jazz is doing all she can to reassure them they’re going to be all right. Her reassurance, though, makes Nick as nervous as hell. He’s standing on the ground, or at least he thinks he is. In reality, he’s standing on a mile-high plateau of ice. In a few minutes, he’s going to drop into a deep, dark hole within an ancient glacier. Yeah, that gets his heart beating a little faster.
Jazz says, “We’re going to be making a multi-point descent. That means we’ve got one set of ropes we’re going to use multiple times.”
Yet again, Nick’s heart beats faster.
“How many times?”
“Well, it’s the best part of a mile down there, and we’re on fifty-meter ropes, which equates to about a hundred and sixty feet, so…”
“So that’s?”
“I dunno,” Jazz says. “As many times as we need to reach the hatch.”
Bear chimes in with, “Twenty points.”
Back in the conference room, when Jazz asked if they’d rappelled before, Nick was naive. He imagined a single drop, not twenty consecutive drops.
“Umm, this might be a dumb question, but how do we use the same ropes over and over again?” Nick asks. “I mean, once you’re at the bottom of the rope, how do you get the rope down to reuse it?”
“Good question,” Jazz says, smiling with glee. “We come off the rope and hook up to a maintenance anchor point. We’re using double ropes knotted on one side. That means we can feed the rope into the new anchor point, pulling it down on that side.”
“And?”
“And at some point around halfway through, the rest of the rope will fall.”
“Fall?”
Adrianna says, “Ouch.”
“Yeah,” Bear says, “You don’t want your head sticking out when the rope comes down.”
“It’s perfectly safe,” Jazz says.
“But it will hurt,” Bear says. “It’s like getting whipped by a cattle rustler.”
“Wonderful,” Nick says.
“Okay, sit back. Let your harness take your weight, and we’ll check everything’s in place.”
Nick and Adrianna do as they’re told, lifting their feet and dangling from the overhead walkway as Jazz and Bear fuss over their setup. To Nick’s delight, his harness is comfortable. The weight is carried by his waist and t
highs without crushing his groin.
“Good. Good,” Jazz says.
Bear and Jazz hook onto the double ropes about twenty feet further down. They pull the coiled rope up, tie a prusik and hook in their own belay plates. They clip the packs onto carabiners attached to each climber’s waist and unhook the test rig. Bear drags the ropes over to the anchor assembly beside the hole.
“Um, I don’t mean to sound alarmist,” Nick says, asking yet another question, “but shouldn’t those ropes have knots in the end? You know, so we don’t slide off?”
Jazz laughs. “Oh, you won’t slide off. We’re in front of you, remember.”
“Yeah,” Bear says, pointing a thumb at himself and saying, “We’ll slide off.”
“That doesn’t seem safe,” Adrianna says, picking up on Nick’s concern.
“None of this is safe,” Jazz says. “We’re abseiling a mile deep through a glacier in complete darkness. Nothing about this is normal.”
Adrianna says, “So we go fifty meters at a time and no more?”
“Fifty meters and no more, or it’s nothing but air,” Bear replies.
“Leaving the end without a knot sounds dangerous,” Jazz says, “But it’s not as dangerous as forgetting to remove a temporary knot when retrieving the rope for the next drop, so it’s a risk we’re going to have to take. If the rope gets jammed or stuck fifty meters above us, we’re going to be in a world of pain, so this is the best approach.”
Bear pats Nick on the shoulder, saying, “Don’t go too far, and you’ll be fine.”
“This is going to be exhausting, huh?” Nick says.
“You’d better hope we don’t have to climb out,” Bear replies, grinning.
“Wait—” Nick says. “That’s a possibility? I thought we were going to use the elevator?”
“If we can get it working. If not, Plan B is to climb out.”
“How long will that take?” Nick asks.
“I dunno. A couple of days.”
“Jesus.”
“Oh, Jesus ain’t gonna help you climb,” Jazz says, laughing.
Bear tosses the ropes into the dark hole. He drags his pack across the ice, positioning it in front of the opening.
“ABC,” Bear says, talking himself through his own safety checks as he looks at his harness setup. “Anchor, belay, climber—check. I’m good to go.”
Jazz hooks onto a second line, saying, “We’re going to use short ropes to enter the shaft so we don’t drag you in behind us. Once we’re down, you follow. Then we’ll release from those and continue on the main lines. Remember, hold on tight to your belay plate. You’re going to feel a tug once your pack goes over the edge. That’s perfectly normal. Walk backward over the lip. When the line goes taut, release yourself from the short rope, and we’ll get underway.”
Jazz follows Bear, descending into the shaft. She steps beside the conduits and cables disappearing into the darkness. Nick and Adrianna look at each other, regretting their bravado in the boardroom. They clip onto the short rope, take up the slack and drag their packs over the edge. Immediately, the weight of the packs pulls the short rope taut. Nick staggers backward, edging into the shadows.
“That’s it,” Jazz says, looking up at them. “You’re doing great. This is the hardest part.”
“Really?” Nick replies, leaning back and working with his crampons to enter the hole.
“Not really,” Jazz says, “but you’re doing it. You’re on belay. You’re going to be fine.”
Under his breath, Nick whispers, “Liar.”
Descent into Darkness
For almost ten minutes, they hang barely fifteen feet from the opening. Overhead lights illuminate the ice. Jazz is fastidious. She anchors her pack and uses her spare rope to clamber up and inspect them yet again. Once she’s satisfied, they begin their descent.
“Bear and I will rappel to the fifty-meter mark and tie off down there. Once we’re set, you’ll follow. Understood?”
“Yep,” Adrianna says on behalf of both of them.
Neither Jazz nor Bear is in a hurry. It’s the darkness. It’s intimidating. Humans have always been afraid of the unknown. The irony isn’t lost on Nick. They’re cautious at the least likely part of the climb to be problematic. If there is an alien down there waiting for them in the shadows, it’s a mile beneath their boots.
Jazz continues talking to Nick and Adrianna as her lamplight recedes beneath them. The acoustics within the shaft are such that her voice carries. Although she’s already a couple of stories below them, it sounds as though she’s still up beside them.
“Friction is both your friend and your enemy. Friction slows your descent. It also heats the rope. Over time, it’ll weaken it. This is why we’re descending in pairs with a gap between us. That gives the rope time to cool. Okay, we’re at the first anchor point. You’re good to follow.”
Nick eases up on his belay plate. The double ropes slide effortlessly through the metal rings. Adrianna keeps pace with him on the other side of the conduits. The weight of their packs drags them down. The descent is easy—too damn easy.
Over the next few minutes, the ambient light around them fades. The ice goes from white to neon blue and then dark blue in the distance. Whereas his headlamp seemed robust near the surface, fifty meters down it barely illuminates the smooth curve of the ice.
Nick feels the weight beneath him lift as he approaches the end of the rope.
“And I’ve got your pack,” Bear says, clipping it onto an anchor point beside the pipes. As Nick gets close, Bear grabs his legs, guiding him in against the conduits. Bear takes a carabiner from Nick’s waist and tugs on the sling, clipping him into the wall. “And you’re good to come off belay.”
Once the anchor point has taken his weight, Nick releases his prusik along with his belay plate.
Bear is positioned slightly above Nick on a different anchor point. Nick’s helmet collides with Bear’s equipment belt. An ice ax rattles against the reinforced plastic on his hardhat, making it difficult to hear anything that’s being said. Nick looks across. Adrianna swings below Jazz, colliding with her waist as well.
Nick’s about to point out how impractical their position is when Jazz says, “Ready on the blue rope?”
“Feeding it through the next anchor,” Bear replies.
“And go,” Jazz says, followed quickly by, “Warning! Rope falling!”
Bear swings his leg out over Nick. He wraps his groin over Nick’s helmet and turns to face the ice wall. Before Nick can react, he hears a sound that terrifies him. At first, it’s a whoosh like that of the wind racing through an open window in a storm. Within a fraction of a second, there’s an echoing, metallic sound—a hollow ring reverberating through the shaft. It’s as though a steel spring has been struck with a hammer. Then comes the crack! Thunder breaks around them as the end of the rope whips past. Bear rocks in his harness as the loose rope thrashes around fifty meters below them. Ice cracks and breaks as the end of the rope collides with the walls. Broken ice fragments bounce off the conduits, ricocheting as they plunge to the bottom of the shaft a mile below them.
Ting! Ping! Bam! Boom! Zing!
For a moment, it’s as though the shaft is collapsing, but the sound subsides as the ice falls away.
“Are we good?” Jazz asks.
“We’re good,” Bear replies. “Resetting the ropes.”
“What the hell?” Nick says.
Bear swings away and descends slightly below him on the reset ropes. “Cool, huh?”
“So much for coming in quiet,” Adrianna says. “If they didn’t know we’re here, they do now.”
Jazz laughs.
“Remember,” Bear says, tying a new prusik for Nick. “Set your prusik then your belay on the main rope. Only then do we transfer your pack from the anchor. But not you. You stay hooked into the maintenance anchor. Once we call out ready from below, release yourself from the anchor, and you’re good to go. Got it?”
“Got it,” Nick s
ays, feeling a long way from the opening of the shaft already.
“Only thirty more to go.”
“Wait. What?” Nick says. “You told us twenty.”
“Twenty. Thirty. What’s the difference?” Bear asks.
“How long are we going to be in here?” Adrianna asks.
Reluctantly, Jazz says, “Four or five hours.”
“Fuck,” Nick says. Bear releases his pack, and it once again swings below him, dragging him down. Even though he’s anchored, it takes considerable effort to hold his belay plate in place.
After an hour, they’ve descended so far the maintenance room above them appears like a distant streetlight.
They continue their descent in pairs. First, Jazz and Bear. Then, Adrianna and Nick follow down the double ropes. Although it’s efficient, Nick can’t help feeling abandoned each time the two soldiers disappear into the darkness beneath them.
Jazz has them turn off their lights while they’re waiting to descend to conserve electricity. Being trapped in the dark is terrifying. Nick watches as headlights recede below them.
It’s the noises that are unsettling. Nothing sounds right. Bump against a metal conduit, and the resounding echo is utterly alien. Deep, throaty clinks reverberate along the steel. The sound races away from them, moving both up and down the shaft.
Each rappel takes ten to fifteen minutes to complete. The comfort found in repetition wears thin. Nick can’t shake the feeling they’re descending into a bottomless pit. With each crack of the rope rushing past, he feels as though the narrow shaft is going to collapse. Sweat breaks out on his brow in the cold. He’s fighting a panic attack. Being crushed by millions of tons of ice is not how he thought he’d die.
“I can’t do this,” Adrianna whispers as Bear and Jazz disappear below them yet again, working deeper into the glacier. “I—I can’t breathe.”
“Hey,” Nick replies softly. He reaches out a gloved hand, feeling for her in the dark. “I know. I feel the same. The air. It’s—”
“There’s no air,” Adrianna says, gasping.
Their thick gloved fingers touch. Nick can’t bring himself to say it’s going to be okay. It’s not. Dozens of people have died. What seemed simple up top is hideously more complex and dangerous now they’re beneath the ice. Nick hasn’t seen the sun in weeks. He wonders if he’ll ever see it again.
Jury Duty (First Contact) Page 21