She said it with such a straight face that he wasn’t sure if she meant it or not. Only when she broke into a big grin did his heartbeat drop back down again. What an idiot he was. His only consolation was that he probably had the rest of the day to get himself back together. Most of the rest of the staff would be off station taking advantage of the fine weather. He turned on his computer.
The first email was from Jessica. Unbelievable. It was like she had a sixth sense that told her when he was at his most vulnerable. Apparently she’d put the flat on the market and put his stuff into storage – ‘how out of character for bothering to put my stuff in storage as opposed to binning it’ he thought. This feeling that he’d misjudged her faded as he read on to be told she’d charged the costs of the move and the storage to his credit card; the details of which she still had. He was pretty sure those wouldn’t be the only unexpected charges on that card.
The next email was from Gerry. He sat up a bit. Gerry had spoken with Bobby Sanderson and apparently the Americans and the Brits back in London were somewhat mystified by the lack of contact with the central stations. To top it all the satellite that had taken the image yesterday was now experiencing ‘technical difficulties’ - techy shorthand for ‘nobody knows why it isn’t working’. Gerry went on to tell him that the resupply ship would be docking at the Halley berth later that day. On the ship there was a platoon of Royal Marines who had originally been due to join the training exercises on the Peninsula but had now been tasked to proceed overland to Amundsen-Scott station. Major Sanderson had asked Gerry whether Joe would act as a guide. This seemed strange to Joe - Halley was several hundred miles from the South Pole station. It would make much more sense to send a plane from McMurdo or Rothera rather than trekking overland from Halley. He could see there was more than met the eye here.
He called Wendy over. “Hey Wendy come and have a look at this. Looks like the level of excitement around here just went from sleepy to adrenaline junkie overnight”.
Wendy came round to read the email from Gerry. She whistled slowly. “Wow wee Joe this is heating up a bit. You’re going to need to sober up pretty quick. I can smell a conversation with your l’amour coming sooner than you might have hoped”.
He stood up. His head reeled and he had to sit back down again. “She’s not my ‘l’amour’ Wendy, but yes I think I do need to sober up….” “Coffee I need coffee. Let’s head over to the dining room”.
He just about made it to the dining area in one piece with Wendy kindly lending an arm at key moments. She even offered to talk to Carole when they got there to see whether she could get him some food as well as a cup of real, as opposed to machine produced, coffee. Shortly after Wendy had gone into the kitchen Carole popped out for a quick look and then went back in again with a frown on her face. Nevertheless a few minutes later a steaming cup of coffee and two slices of toast were placed in front of him by Wendy.
Carole called from the kitchen hatch. “I knew you’d had too much to drink last night when I saw you smooching with Susie. Are you crazy Joe, you know she’s looking for a husband right?”
He raised his hand half-heartedly in thanks. “I know it Carole. I think I might have to emigrate”. She laughed and went back into the kitchen.
Wendy put her hand on his shoulder. “Well you better get that down you Dr Harper. I’m leaving you to face Professor Chapman alone. I don’t want to get in the way of your lover’s quarrel and all that. Plus I need to get back to work - you may have heard of it?”
Wendy left him and he managed to get one of the slices of toast down him and half the coffee before the chair next to him was pulled out and Florence sat down. “Dr Harper I presume? So good to see you.” Her face said otherwise. “I must have missed you at breakfast. Did you get an early start on retrieving those drilling samples? I’m amazed that you managed to get up so early considering the state you were in last night….”.
He had the decency to look sheepish. “Err morning Florence, no I needed to catch up with my email and some colleagues….”.
Florence put up her hand. “Joe please, if I wanted bullshit I’d have flown back to the UK and gone for a walk in the countryside. You were absolutely hammered last night and when you woke up this morning with a massive hangover you turned over and went back to sleep. Am I right or am I wrong?”
He turned, somewhat slowly, so he could face Florence. “Ok you’re right I may be a touch hung over but I have actually been talking with Gerry Dyer over at Rothera about a strange satellite image. Have you checked your emails since you got back in?”
Florence sighed. “Yes I have and yes I have received a ‘station head eyes only’ communiqué this morning. Despite this supposedly being a ‘secret’ communique I note the information within it seems to have been disseminated around the station. Keeping a secret in this place is almost impossible. If we were at war most of the staff would have been shot at dawn….. First against the wall of course would be your good ‘friend’ Susie. Who has no doubt been adding the contents of the communiqué to the gossip she’s been spreading about how you seduced her last night….please tell me you didn’t sleep with her”.
He spluttered into his coffee “I certainly did not, is that what she’s saying?” He was horrified at the thought.
“Mmmmhhh well anyway it appears the resupply ship has docked and while that’s normally a time of celebration I understand from my ‘top secret’ message that as well as work shy geologists I now have the pleasure of looking after a full platoon of Royal Marines. What the hell happened to the ‘no build-up of military forces on Antarctica doctrine?’ ’’ She looked at him carefully for the first time. “Are you going to be in a fit state to lead them on this wild goose chase tomorrow morning Joe?”
He took another sip of his coffee. “An hour ago I’d have said not but I appear to be perking up a bit again. It must be your presence”. Florence pursed her lips. “Joe Harper you must think I was born yesterday. Flattery is not going to get you off the hook that easily. When you return from accompanying this madcap mission into nowhere’s ville you’re on waste disposal duties for at least a month.”
He twisted his head round towards Florence, causing a sudden pain between his eyes. “Oh come on Florence you can’t assign an academic to those duties. That’s why we’ve got Greg Jones and his boys here”.
Florence looked at him in all seriousness and said sarcastically “Oh can’t I Mr one drink and I’m anybody’s….Mr one drink and I can’t get out of bed until 11.00 am?...”.
He realised she meant it. “Fine if that’s the punishment you want to inflict I’ll take it on the chin. But anyway I think you might be wrong about this being a madcap mission. I’m guessing you haven’t seen the satellite picture I’ve seen.”
Florence looked back at him sceptically. “And I guess you were one of the believers when the Daily Star published a photo of a World War II bomber on the moon? Go on get out of my sight but when you get back from your babysitting trip you’re mine…. and I don’t mean that in an ‘equipment shed’ type of way.” She paused. “Though come to think of it maybe I’ll have thought up some ‘other suitable punishments’ for you by the time you get back.” She smiled at him as she said this and he knew he was forgiven. He’d still have to do the waste duties but he was pretty sure this would be interspersed with other more enjoyable activities. Florence got up and went to meet the resupply team.
He slowly finished his toast thinking about the satellite image and whether Florence might be right - just some weather balloon or exposed crevice or something equally unexciting. Finally he got up and went back to the lab to tidy up a few odds and ends. If he was going to be accompanying the Marines onto the central plateaux he would be gone a good few days.
__________________________________
Later that evening he was quietly dozing on his bed with a wet cloth over his face when Florence’s voice came over the tannoy announcing there would be a station meeting for all staff in half an hour
. He raised his head gingerly off the pillow. He still had a headache but the feeling that he was about to die had retreated somewhat. He drank down the glass of water he’d placed on the bedside table. Rehydration he told himself was the trick to recovering swiftly from the sort of hangover he’d had this morning. Feeling a bit livelier he decided to get to the dining area, where all the staff meetings were held. He knew if he didn’t get there soonish there’d be nowhere to sit. Even though the base wasn’t fully staffed there were still about 60 people stationed here - and there were only spaces for 50 people sitting in the dining room at any one time. Normally this was fine as staggered meal times and overnight trips on the ice meant there were very few times when everyone was present at the same time. This evening however the 60 or so scientists and support staff along with a Royal Marine contingent would mean space would be at a premium.
He entered the dining area to find that most of the rest of the base had realised the same thing and turned up early. He considered turning round and going back to his bed. Although he was feeling better he didn’t think he had the stamina to stand while the senior managers gave their various presentations. “Joe over here”. Wendy was calling his name from somewhere towards the back of the room. “Joey we’ve saved you a space”. He couldn’t see her for all the scientists and soldiers standing around without seats but he following the sound of her voice. The dining room tables had been cleared away and the chairs placed theatre style facing the raised platform on one side of the kitchen hatch. When he got to where Wendy and Ben were sitting he could see they hadn’t just saved him a seat out of the kindest of their hearts – on the other side of the empty seat was Susie Callaghan. He’d managed to keep out of her way up until this point. He sighed. Well he’d better get this over with.
“Hi Wendy, Hi Ben, Hello Susie, that was kind of you to save me a seat”. He scowled at Wendy and Ben as he shuffled past them.
Susie gave him a broad smile and patted the empty chair. “Oh we couldn’t have our favourite geologist standing now could we guys?” Wendy and Ben shook their heads in mock seriousness.
As he sat down Susie patted his thigh, much to the amusement of Ben and Wendy next to him. “Err Susie I understand I might owe you a bit of an apology for last night”.
Susie flicked her tightly permed hair to one side. “Apology Dr Harper? There’s no need to apologise. After all you’re a single man and I’m a single lady, it’s just the birds and the bees as far as I’m concerned”.
He had to look up to check that she was being serious. Apparently she was. “I know Susie but in this particular instance I worry that maybe my intake of Michael’s homebrew might have caused me to overstep the mark a bit and I just wanted to apologise for my behaviour…..the last thing I wanted to do was to cause any offence…..or give you the wrong impression and I’m afraid that I may have done this”.
Susie looked at him slightly confused. He was going to need to come up with something better than this. “If I’m honest Susie I think if last night has shown me anything it’s that maybe I’m still not really over Jessica”. Barely concealed spluttering could be heard from beside him, but it appeared to be working with Susie. “Oh Joey honey I know I know. Now you listen to me, you take as long as you need and when you’re ready you come and take a taste of this yummy Callaghan pie” she finishing the sentence with a coquettish look. He tried not to look too worried and gave her his best thanks for understanding look. She smiled and rested her hand again on his upper thigh, just a touch too high to be entirely comfortable. He was saved from any further discussion by Florence opening the proceeding down at the front of the room. He pretended to shift forwards on his seat to get a better view and managed to get his thigh out from under Susie’s hand. My God he certainly knew how to get himself into trouble.
Florence started by letting everyone know that the resupply ship had docked, which meant a number of planned experiments could now be started and the base would have enough fuel and food to last till the end of the summer season. She then waved a hand towards a youngish but rugged looking Royal Marine with short blonde hair introducing him as Lieutenant Dominic Taylor. Joe heard Wendy whispering to Ben “Shame he’s not posted here permanently”. Florence went on to explain that Lieutenant Taylor would be leading his men on a flight to the central plateaux as part of an extended training exercise. Florence also mentioned that as flights into the centre weren’t that frequent Dr Harper would be taking advantage of this and accompanying the Marines to follow up on his ice depth study. It all sounded eminently plausible. Most of the rest of the staff accepted the explanation carte blanche, though Wendy glanced his way and raised her eyebrows slightly. There were also one or two mumbled comments from the floor about “military on a research facility” but the meeting soon moved on to the normal presentations from each of the section Heads. At this point he zoned out and started thinking about whether or not he really wanted to go trooping off to the South Pole with a bunch of Marines.
Once the meeting had finished he expertly extracted himself from Susie with a promise to have lunch with her on his return and then went to introduce himself to Lieutenant Taylor.
“Lieutenant Taylor. Joe Harper, many thanks for letting me accompany you on your trip” he said mildly sarcastically.
Lieutenant Taylor shook Joe’s outstretched hand. “Captain Harper good to meet you, I’ve only heard good things”.
Joe glanced at Florence with whom Lieutenant Taylor had been talking. “You’ve obviously been talking to the wrong people and its Dr Harper now. I haven’t been a Captain for almost 10 years”.
Lieutenant Taylor nodded and then glancing around the crowded room, went on to say. “Listen Dr Harper if you’re not too busy I’d like to go over a few things with you before we set off tomorrow morning – health and safety procedures etc.” “Professor Chapman has kindly let me take over her office for a few hours – do you have a few minutes?”
Joe glanced up at Florence “Sure would you excuse us Professor Chapman?”
Florence forced a smile “Of course try not to make too much mess though – some of us will be working while you’re trekking in the wilderness ‘Captain’ Harper”. She looked at him as if to say ‘you kept that quiet, I wonder what else I don’t know about you’. “Oh and Lieutenant Taylor what time did you say the transport plane will be landing? I need to let Greg Jones our operations manager know when to get the landing strip swept.”
Lieutenant Taylor answered. “We’re expecting it about O eight hundred hours and we’ll simply load up our equipment and be on our way”. He shook hands with Florence. “Hope to see you in a few days”.
Lieutenant Taylor led the way into Florence’s office and shut the door. “So Captain err I mean Dr Harper how much do you know?”
He answered “Well not that much if I’m honest but enough to know that sending a group of marines to the South Pole starting from Halley sounds distinctly unlikely unless there’s a good reason for it”. Lieutenant Taylor passed him an official looking telegram. He scanned it quickly his brow becoming increasingly furrowed. “Exactly what is this Lieutenant Taylor? This ends by saying ‘proceed with caution’ I’m wondering if you’ve got the wrong man here – you do know I left the Army some time ago don’t you?”
Lieutenant Taylor replied. “Listen Dr Harper if you think my platoon and I are normally the first port of call on this sort of thing you’d be dead wrong. We’re almost as much in the dark as you are. All we know is that nobody can get in touch with the central stations and that image you saw of a circular shaped structure in the centre of the continent is the last picture people have been able to get hold of. The Americans and ourselves have tried to fly a couple of planes up from McMurdo and Rothera but they seem to go off the radar about 500 miles from where that black spot appeared on the satellite image.” He paused for a moment. “In addition because the Americans aren’t convinced by the answers the Russians have been giving; and as we’re the closest military presence any
where near the bases we've been asked to fly in to just outside where contact was lost with the other planes and then see if we can trek into the nearest station on foot - which as I understand is Amundsen-Scott?”
His face darkened as Lieutenant Taylor spoke and the headache he thought he’d got rid of seemed to come back with a vengeance. “Excuse my French Lieutenant Taylor and not to put too fine a point on it but what the fuck is my role in all this?”
Lieutenant Taylor looked slightly out of sorts for the first time. “Well unfortunately Dr Harper neither I nor anyone in my platoon has any extreme cold weather training – we need someone who knows what’s going on, knows what to look for in terms of potential hazards and risks. Also you know the area. According to Professor Chapman you’ve been conducting an ice depth study of the central region for the last two years......err and Major Sanderson also mentioned you served in the Special Forces?”
He sat down. “Yes I served in the Special Forces but mostly in the bloody Iraqi desert a decade ago. As for the central plateaux I’ve only been out in person a couple of times.” Lieutenant Taylor interrupted “two more times than we have”. Joe gave him a look that shut him up. “Shit shit and double shit. What if I say no?”
O-Negative: Extinction Page 7