Going Back Cold

by Kelley Rose Waller

  Jane made a face. “You saw that, too?”

  “Yeah, it was hard to miss,” Trevor replied. “I think Hal and Simeon are used to transporting veteran south polers. The wind today didn’t exactly cooperate to make a smooth flight.”

  “So what are you working on?” Jane asked, putting her attention on his tablet.

  “Just testing an idea for the deceleration crystals.”

  Jane's face lit up. “Awesome! Can I help?”

  “Aren't you tired from our day?” he parroted.

  “Not if we can get back on schedule,” she replied as she sat down.

  Fifty minutes later, Trevor was barely looking at the screen anymore. Jane's mind had grasped his concept for the deceleration crystals after the simplest explanation and was off and running with it. Improving it. Reinventing it, even. He watched in awe as designs that would have taken him weeks to construct seemed to fall out of her hands and into the computer model.

  When she finally leaned back and stretched, she said, “All right, Trevor, I'm going to bed, but I'm so impressed with what you've done here.”

  He was speechless. From anyone else, it would have felt like sarcasm. That's like 99% your work, he thought, staring at the all-but-completed blueprint. In less than an hour. What kind of genius are you?

  “Don't stay up all night, please,” Jane said, patting him on the back as she stood up and walk out. “You're gonna be the hero tomorrow, Mr. Fox.”

  His mouth curved into a smile at the thought.

  Chapter 12

  MILO Personal Dictation: Candace Hartwell

  Well, McMurdo sucked. I guess I built it up too much in my head, but what a waste of a day. At least Sebbie enjoyed himself. He's my own little bodyguard although he has no idea. He kept the animals away. I'm glad Jane and Lucas were cool about it.

  At least I was able to buy some beer. Although, now I'll be waiting for just the right moment to open it and probably never will.

  Teaching makes this all worthwhile. I know I’m a good nurse, but, man, I love teaching. I cannot imagine a better circumstance than I’m in right now. The best kids, the best parents. How did they get so lucky?

  Dad emailed me yesterday to ask how things were going. I can't tell if he is asking his daughter or just trying to get an insider’s report on Split Horizon and The Dome. But I'm too busy with the kids all day to bother with trying to understand Jane’s physics.

  MILO, take a letter.

  Dear Dad, I don't know what they're doing in the labs, but it sure is cold and dry down here! I've been taking copious notes for my thesis and will be a nurse practitioner soon. I will make you proud with a unique work on the health hazards of being lonely and beautiful in balls-freezing, close-quarters environments. Love, Candace

  Don't send that MILO. Set a reminder for me to email him tomorrow. Good night.

  MILO?

  Show me Facebook. Search for... no, no, wait, don't. Good night.

  MILO?

  Please block Facebook on my devices. In fact, set an admin lock-out so I can't open it anymore.

  Confirmed.

  Good night.

  Chapter 13

  With two weeks left at Semotus, Jane felt cramping in her belly as she tried to do devotions. She used her palms to try and rearrange the little parts inside her that she couldn't reach. Can I ever get a break? she thought, feeling weary. Her pants were so tight and irritating that she’d started wearing Lucas’ loose outerwear around the base and just hoping no one would notice. You are 24 weeks gestation, the secret calendar on her tablet revealed. This week, your baby is a foot long and the size of an ear of corn, weighing approximately 1.3 pounds.

  Cheyenne poked her head in as Jane closed her Bible with a sigh, wondering why they always compared baby's size to foods. “Can you come by when you’re finished eating and stuff? We need to review the weather protocol. The storm they're predicting is gonna be pretty nasty.”

  “Yes, good idea, give me a few minutes,” Jane said.

  Cheyenne nodded. “Me and the boys are headed on rounds later today to check emergency supplies and all the outdoor facades. After we make it through this blitz, we’re going to have an open window for your trial run if you can make it happen before they ship us out.”

  “Wow, blitz sounds serious,” Jane said, stopping in the doorway. “Should I be worried?”

  “No, because worrying won’t change anything,” Cheyenne said. “We’re fine, and we’ll be fine. But this small base isn’t the same as a mini-city like McMurdo. We can’t afford to have a single item out of place if we need it, and I don’t take anything for granted. That’s why I’m good at my job. I’ll see you in fifteen?”

  Jane nodded, and Cheyenne disappeared down the curved hallway. After some stretches, Jane walked after her. The day’s to-do list on her tablet showed so many green checkmarks, indicating items that were ready for a test launch.

  What if it actually works? Jane thought in a mix of excitement and worry for the thousandth time. She prayed in her mind as she walked down the hall. God, bring our team guidance as we work. May we do Your will down here.

  Lost in her thoughts, Jane almost ran into Riddhi.

  “Whoa, what do you have there?” Jane asked, pointing at the long metal rod the metallurgist was carrying. Jane tried not to double-take at the black leather vest Riddhi wore buttoned tightly over medical scrubs. Fashion isn’t a high priority in Antarctica, Jane thought, considering her own attire.

  “What?” Riddhi said. “Sorry, I was measuring some stuff and needed to get supplies from my room.”

  “You keep that thing in your room?”

  Riddhi looked slightly exasperated, so Jane shrugged and walked on.

  “Oh, hey, Riddhi?” she said, turning back around.

  “Yes?”

  “Trevor has a new idea for the decel that will impact the shape of the capsule, so I need to know how much of what you might need if we had to start from scratch on a few pieces of the prototype,” Jane said. “Can you email me a list?”

  “From scratch? Down here? Now?”

  “Maybe. Could you do it?”

  Riddhi sighed and thought for a moment. “Hmm... I think… No, I’m good, actually. As long as it’s not the outer casing or anything large.”

  “Really?”

  “McMurdo had the last thing I needed, so I borrowed it.”

  Jane raised her eyebrows. “Borrowed?”

  “Yes, borrowed.”

  “Um,” Jane continued. “Do they know you ‘borrowed’ something?”

  “Probably by now, yes.”

  “Riddhi! Are you serious?”

  “Come on, it can’t count as theft if it’s less than a gram,” Riddhi argued with sneaky smile.

  “Riddhi, men have died for one gram of like diamonds or drugs or—”

  “Calm down, Jane,” the metallurgist said with a wave of her hand. “I just borrowed a little erbium from a laser. It’s like a little science prank.”

  “I don’t even know what to say!”

  “Well, they won’t either because we’re gone,” Riddhi said, walking away.

  “I have to report this,” Jane called.

  “Please do. You can’t call McMurdo directly, so tell Edwards, and he’ll laugh. But at least it will be off your conscience.”

  Chapter 14

  The predicted storm a few days later wasn’t what Lucas was imagining. Naively, he was imagining a couple hours of things carrying on pretty much as usual within The Dome but with a sketchy communications connection to home.

  What he got was two days of screaming winds, infrequent power, no connection to home whatsoever, little sleep, and a terrified wife and son.

  As he held them each under an arm on the second night of the ceaseless noise, he lay wide awake. Just make it 'til the end, he thought, shuddering. Twelve more days on Mars.

  In just her nightgown, he could see the expanding bulge on his wife’s abdomen. Her brow furrowed as she slept. Lucas hope
d she wasn’t having a bad dream again. Her fist clenched, and he thought about waking her to save her from a nightmare.

  Lord, bring peace and calm to my wife, he prayed.

  Sebastian was asleep with his flashlight on, his reusable pull-up occasionally making a wrinkling sound that irritated Lucas tonight. The poor kid guzzled water like the rest of the team in an effort to counteract the ever-present dryness, but he just couldn't wake up enough to get to the potty in the dark yet.

  For Lucas, sleep had been elusive these last two nights, and if the weather cleared as expected, the most important days of the season were still ahead. Nothing like laying here wide awake, thinking about how badly you need to sleep, he complained to himself.

  At least the science team had made a good final push here at the end. Despite a careful dissection from all angles, Jane’s development of Trevor’s idea for the capsule deceleration had held up brilliantly. Lucas and Riddhi had altered the capsule design, received NASA’s stamp of approval, and brought the new pieces into existence with their own hands. Everybody else did math and worked on computers, but Riddhi was a craftsman.

  The vacuum chambers were purged of the new baby crystals which had attained perfect symmetry. The robot had loaded the bulk of the central discs whenever it had enough power in the unpredictable weather. It would be finished when he woke up... or at least got up. They were to run the first flight test as soon as each department confirmed they were prepared.

  A particularly loud burst outside shook him. Jane and Sebastian both pressed into him in their sleep, but he felt helpless, small. Not like a daddy and husband was supposed to be: the protector.

  Lord, was I foolish to bring my family here? He used his hand to cover Jane’s exposed shoulder, pulling her closer to warm her chilly skin.

  She stirred and rolled over, pressing the baby bump against his side. His mind flooded with memories of Seb as a baby.

  He exhaled and closed his eyes. Sebastian curled into a tiny ball and smashed his forehead hard into Lucas’ armpit.

  “Aw, Dada,” he mumbled in his sleep. Lucas kissed his forehead and spread his other palm against his tiny, unborn child, cradling his whole family as the storm's frenzy pressed on outside.

  Chapter 15

  The next morning, with the weather clearing outside, Sebastian had breakfast with Lucas, Ana, and Candace. He said a rote “God is Great” prayer over his oatmeal before diving in. Lucas squeezed his son’s hand as he added a brief prayer of his own.

  Candace sat awkwardly, never sure if the two families expected her to lower her head and fold her hands, too, when they did. But bow to what? she wondered.

  “When will Mommy be back?” Sebbie asked for the sixth time as he scooped.

  “What did I say the last time?” Lucas replied with less patience than he'd had a few minutes ago.

  “After Mr. Hal shows her our outside,” Sebastian replied.

  “Right.”

  The storm had worn itself out, leaving them with their golden opportunity. They had all feared and hoped for this moment. If Cheyenne and Jane gave the go-ahead, Colonel Edwards had already approved for Hal to take Rich and Bonnie to the catch site several hundred miles away. They wouldn’t be setting up a camp as much as unpacking a crate. The unit had been built stateside, so once the trajectory from their base was input, the catch mobile lab would do the rest.

  ‘The catch’ itself wasn’t really an impressive-looking piece of machinery. Small enough to fit in an SUV, it was a series of metal circles suspended on rods anchored in a rectangular cube of thick, transparent plastic. From the view of the capsule’s entry, it looked a bit like the shiny silver ducting used to vent a clothes dryer.

  Each circle in the sequence would be heated to a precise temperature to ensure the pressure on the crystals was entirely relieved upon the capsule’s landing. Angled upward to receive the descending capsule, it stood on three sturdy legs that drove several feet into the ice for stability.

  Due to the unknowns and the risk of failure, despite their precautions, Rich, Bonnie, and Hal would retreat to a safe distance before the launch. The team at Semotus and their stateside overseers would watch it on a video feed, hoping for the best.

  Jane entered the cafeteria, gave Seb a quick kiss, and tucked her evidently frigid fingers into the neck of his shirt. As he giggled and struggled to get them out, Dámaris appeared.

  “Gotta go, Mommy! Lemme go!” he announced. After giving each parent a hug, he skipped out with his friend.

  “That’s my cue,” their teacher said, rising to follow with a bright smile.

  “Thanks, Candace,” Jane called after them.

  “So what’s the scoop, coach?” Lucas asked as Cheyenne and Hal joined them at the table.

  “It was a doozy out there, but we’re ok,” Hal said. “Everything’s working, so the power outages didn’t do any real damage. If we get the expansion for next year, we’ll really be set.”

  “Expansion?” Lucas asked.

  “Yes, if we show 'continued promise', they’re expanding Semotus for next year,” Jane said.

  Cheyenne added, “Apparently, Split Horizon’s been fast-tracked, and they’re expecting to expand the team and the facility space next year.”

  “As long as your bullet train arrives in one piece,” Hal noted, raising his coffee cup in salute to the capsule’s safe arrival.

  “Wow,” Ana said. “Impressive. So, what's the call on the flight test?”

  “We're a go!” Jane said. “Hal's going to take Bonnie and Rich in about an hour.”

  “I might leave 'em there,” Hal interjected. Jane shushed him out of politeness, but the others chuckled.

  Riddhi walked into the cafeteria and sat down. “Heard you were back in. So are we doing this or what?”

  “Oh, it's happening,” Cheyenne replied.

  Riddhi clapped her hands once loudly in delight. “Let's make history, then. Can I tell everyone else?”

  “Sure,” Jane said.

  Riddhi jogged over to the comm panel and pressed the emergency button to page every room on the base simultaneously.

  “Whether you’re sleeping, peeing, or eating, listen up,” she said. “Cheyenne and Jane are back in, and we're doing the test today! Split Horizon is a go for alpha test this afternoon!” She finished with a Hindi cheer that no one else understood.

  The group in the cafeteria laughed at her out-of-character gusto. The cheers grew as personnel wandered in. Bonnie and Rich arrived last, bags in hand.

  “All right, pilot, let's roll,” Rich said. “Everybody's panties are in a bunch.”

  “Let's get going,” Hal said before Bonnie could respond.

  Simeon followed him out to prep the helicopter. Lucas and Ana stared over Cheyenne’s shoulder at the weather predictor she was analyzing on her tablet.

  “It's amazing, the weather,” Ana said. “One minute, it's a storm, the next it's all clear.”

  “Indeed,” Lucas said. “I guess we just have to hope it doesn't all go from happy to hopeless.”

  Jane rubbed her abdomen as she and Trevor went over checklists with Bonnie and Rich, respectively, ensuring that nothing was forgotten to stage the reception point. When everyone was satisfied, the Chapmans self-importantly took their leave.

  Alone for the first time that morning, the Whyse family watched the helicopter take off on the base security cameras fed into the console room. Seb cheered as Hal expertly lifted off.

  Jane’s stomach lurched just slightly, and she mumbled, “So glad I’m not flying again.”

  Lord, can I be grounded for the rest of the season? she thought.

  Cheyenne stuck her head in. “Dr. Whyse?”

  “Yes?” Jane and Lucas answered at the same time.

  Cheyenne cracked up. “That never gets old! You guys do it every time. Jane, Ana said she’d like you to verify her choices on the trajectory with the latest weather data. Lucas, shouldn’t you be making sure your robot’s done? We only have a short windo
w to go with once Rich and Bonnie get to the catch zone and set up. Otherwise, we’re playing cards with the weather.”

  Chapter 16

  “Did you like watching the helicopter take off, Sebbie?” Dámaris asked once Sebbie had settled on the rug in the school room with a puzzle.

  The once-bare walls were now hidden behind every coloring page, math assignment, and handwriting exercise the children had done: Candace's effort to make the place more friendly.

  “Yep,” the three-year-old answered.

  “Did Mr. Hal wave?”

  “Yep.”

  “Was there a purple elephant on board?”

  “Yep.”

  “Ok, Dám,” Candace interrupted, “Let’s get that math done.”

  “He’s not much for conversation, is he?” Dámaris sighed in an overly mature tone.

  “You just want something to distract you from your work,” Candace replied. Me, too, she thought as she stared at the same page of her thesis project that she’d been looking at for days.

  “Everybody’s so excited today,” Dám said. “I think I should get a day off school since they’re finally doing the test.”

  “Well,” Candace reminded her, “Your moms both said you can go watch with them in the console room when they’re ready to initiate it, so you’d better have your math done by then.”

  Dámaris seemed inspired enough at this idea to get working, and Sebbie was already halfway done with his puzzle. He mouthed, but didn’t voice, the animal sounds as he twisted each wooden piece until it slipped into place.

  Lucas appeared in the doorway. “Candace, can I borrow Seb?”

  “Of course!”

  Dámaris sulked for a moment, but hid her sour face behind her textbook.

  “And do you think Ana would mind if I stole Dám away for a few minutes, too?”

  Two pleading eyes appeared over the top of Algebra 1.

  “You’re all conspiring to avoid math today!” Candace replied in mock exasperation. “Of course. I’ll tell your moms who to blame if they come hunt me down for your slacking off.”

  “Where are we going, Dr. Lucas?” Dámaris asked.