The Legend of Ataneq Nanuq

by Jack Dey

  “Uh-uh, you can’t afford to be choosy out here; the seal blubber and meat may save your life and you have to know how to hunt him.”

  Anunya swallowed. She had come a long way in her wilderness education and this was just another step in the survival chain. She gave a small, defeated nod of consent and glanced over to the sled parked in front of her fishing hole.

  “We need more salmon too; the seal hunting may take some time and I will call you back when I have harpooned one,” Bjarni conceded.

  Bjarni and Anunya walked back over to the sled and gathered their equipment. Bjarni reached under the pelt and drew his rifle to the surface, checked the breech and leaned it cautiously against the cargo well’s wooden frame.

  Anunya gathered her fishing gear and headed for the fishing hole and was soon busy hauling in salmon after salmon.

  The old man set himself up at the seal breathing hole some fifty metres from the sled and waited patiently, bent over, motionless, preparing for a seal to breach, his harpoon at the ready, anxious to strike as soon as he recognised the tell tale signs.

  *~*~*~*

  The long moments standing motionless over the seal breathing hole caused Bjarni’s limbs to stiffen, and the cold was beginning to steal into his feet through his thick bearskin boots from lack of movement. It was a calculating game of cat and mouse, with high stakes for the seal.

  Bjarni heard a huff, like the sound of a seal breaching and readied the harpoon, but there didn’t appear to be any movement from the air hole.

  The sound of Akiak’s warning growl echoed across the distance and then she bolted towards him at high speed, adding to the old man’s confusion.

  The old man’s thinking came slowly. He recognised Akiak’s familiar alarm at the presence of danger, and her actions indicated that danger was very close. He followed her swift movements until she was airborne, lunging at something directly behind him.

  Unable to immediately comprehend the gravity of the situation, he turned to face the cause of Akiak’s alarm and was met with the powerful presence of a large, 2.7 metre tall nanuq, standing, ready to pounce.

  Akiak’s attack caused the big bear to flail desperately, trying to swat off the dog’s powerful grip from tearing into his face. The huge 600 kilogram frame dwarfed Bjarni and without his gun, he was helpless.

  In a moment, Bjarni felt his heart tighten and ripples of pain shot down his arm, dropping the old man to his knees, gripping at his chest.

  Akiak’s attack was a desperate attempt to save her master and she had to hang on, or at least inflict a big enough deterrent for the hungry predator to turn tail and give up his hunt. Her body hung from the creature’s face, locked onto his snout with her powerful, sharp jaws, causing the big bear to howl in pain and swat at the dog with his big paws.

  With one powerful blow, the bear shook her off and she lost her grip, falling heavily to the ice some distance away.

  The large nanuq bounded over to Akiak, intent on trampling the dog before turning his hunger onto the old man, and just as the bear was about to crush Akiak with a bounding blow, a growling flash shot past Bjarni and the big Siberian tore into the bear’s head, throwing him off balance and narrowly missing Akiak.

  Shtiya bit down hard, drawing the bear’s blood, growling and fighting with all of his strength as the bear shuddered and shook, trying to break the big dog’s painful grip.

  Shtiya released his grip momentarily, dodging powerful swipes from the bear’s flailing paws and then attacked again, driving the bear away from Akiak’s stunned body.

  The nanuq stood high over Shtiya on his back legs trying to fight off the big dog’s attack, looking for an opportunity to destroy the painful foe.

  Then, from out of nowhere, an ear piercing crack echoed through the commotion and the large nanuq stumbled backwards... dead.

  The two dogs gathered their strength, standing over the hulking carcass, growling, baring their teeth and daring the predator to fight, but the nanuq was no longer of this world.

  Bjarni stared, petrified at the big predator’s lifeless form only metres away, trying to come to terms with what had just happened and how close he came to dying. The pain in his chest subsided and he peered around the scene until his eyes locked on Anunya’s body, still aiming the rifle and still in a shooting position, preparing to unload another shot.

  Bjarni’s quavering voice called the dogs off and they ran together to his side, wagging their tails and licking his face. Neither dog was any the worse for their experience. He rubbed their fur and lavished praise gregariously on his defenders, checking for wounds at the same time.

  Anunya’s knees were shaking when she finally lowered the gun. Meticulously, she emptied the breech as her mentor had shown her, but her hands were shaking so badly that she knocked the clip from the barrel, spilling bullets onto the ice.

  Finally she regained some of her composure and ran to check on Bjarni and as she reached the old man, he grabbed her and drew her into a tight embrace.

  Anunya’s facade broke at the shock of the massive bear and how close she had come to losing her father figure. She pressed into his embrace and sobbed uncontrollably, badly shaken by her experience.

  Bjarni pulled her away from his embrace and wiped the tears from her face. “You did really well, Anunya; I am so proud of you. Your quick thinking and capacity to learn has saved my life and the dogs as well. That shot was incredible! Do you know how difficult it is to down a nanuq of that size with one bullet?!”

  But Anunya didn’t care. She was still in shock and only wanted to be held. She pushed back into Bjarni’s embrace and began to cry again.

  *~*~*~*

  Chapter 48

  The bitter cold of Greenland’s Summit Camp gnawed at the unprotected flesh on the face of solar scientist, Dale Koenig, PhD. The minus fifty Celsius environment made outdoor activity difficult in any form, and just being outside, improperly protected, constituted a high risk that could quickly spiral into hypothermia and death.

  Against the endless frozen plain and the flat barren horizon, Koenig’s 1.7 metre tall outline was the tallest peak around, making him easily observed from a distance. As he set up the array of solar measuring instruments on the edge of the camp periphery, his thoughts were so consumed with the solar thunderstorm that he and the crew had witnessed the previous night, he hardly noticed the cold creeping into his body and the ever-increasing shivering, rattling his teeth together.

  The thoughts of a high impulse solar storm–or something even bigger–diverted his attention away from his body’s warning signs, concentrating instead on the successful deployment of the latest in scientific experimental solar instruments. These instruments were extremely sensitive to the slightest change in atmospheric radiation and magnetism, recording the minutest anomalies: science on the cutting edge and he wanted to be the one wielding the knife.

  Critical to the success of the experiments the instruments had to be set up and aimed, close enough to the facility to be maintained, but far enough away from the summit camp so that the base’s electrical equipment wouldn’t interfere with his readings.

  The aurora borealis (or the northern lights) is a light show created by the sun’s solar winds or plasma pulses released from the sun in a super-magnetic storm of charged particles ionising in the earth’s atmosphere. Koenig was sceptical at first at the description of the disturbance given by Jantz and his team, but then actually witnessing it for himself the previous night, he described it in his scientific diary as an incredible solar thunderstorm accompanied by some kind of audible, ultra-high frequency, magnetic interference. He further described the incident and drew a phenomena hypothesis, believing the induced voltages created by the magnetic storm had subjugated every piece of electrical equipment’s safety overload mechanisms located on the experimental facility, and forcefully shut them down. This fact alone convinced Koenig that what he was dealing with was an atmospheric disturbance of a unique calibre and he was right
in the midst of it. If last night’s activity was any indication, maybe they were about to witness a forming solar hurricane, the effects of which could be catastrophic for the modern earth, dependant on electronics and electricity for its survival.

  Koenig theorised, the sun was in some kind of transition stage and this was just the warning signs. His suspicions were mounting that the sun was sending out intermittent high frequency solar waves in a band that hadn’t been recorded before and possibly, he was on the verge of some major solar event, never before seen. In any case, he was in the right place and had the right equipment to record whatever the sun was planning.

  The excitement of hanging over the cliff of a new discovery dulled Koenig’s survival instinct and he hadn’t noticed the distinct signs of hypothermia creeping into his body. The shivering had intensified and his mind started to drift, incapable of remembering how to do simple tasks he had done a hundred times before.

  It wasn’t until Willy Jantz, the station manager, arrived on a snowmobile to check on Koenig’s progress, that he noticed Koenig’s dazed appearance and his uncontrolled shivering. Fearing the worst and overriding Koenig’s protests, he quickly acted, removing Koenig from the cold and assisting him back to the warmth and protection of the green house. Jantz and a crew member had to wrestle Koenig into bed, forcing his delirious mind to see reason before he collapsed and incited an unwelcome medical emergency with no possibility of an airlift to a civilised hospital, many hours away.

  The time passed slowly as Jantz monitored the unconscious scientist, annoyed that he had to babysit the man and ignore his own station duties. Somewhere in the quiet, Jantz’ musings were interrupted by a pitiful moan as Koenig stirred and tried to force his mind to focus. He was lucid enough to ramble on about his unfinished experiments and the instruments that still needed his attention.

  “I don’t know why you thought it appropriate to intelrrlupt... interrupt me setting up my experiments, Mr Jantz. I had nearly finished,” Koenig complained, slurring slightly as he spoke.

  “If I hadn’t, Mr Koenig, you would have died. I have seen hypothermia at this camp many times and intervention is always necessary at these extreme temperatures.”

  Koenig threw back the thermal blankets and tried to rise from his bunk, but a dizzy spell sent him crashing back to the mattress.

  “Maybe I was just a little too anxious to get a fix on this phenomena we witnessed last night.” Koenig hoped his statement would pique Jantz’ interest and free him from his prison and his jailer.

  “What experiments were you hoping to conduct? Maybe I can finish off the setup,” Jantz offered.

  Koenig stared at Jantz as if he was a moron who knew nothing about solar science but Jantz read the mockery in his eyes.

  “We set up WAVES, EPACT, SWE, SMS, MFI, 3-D Plasma, TGRS and KONUS for the Swiss team last year and they took back some impressive solar wind data.” Jantz drove his point home with a steely stare.

  Koenig’s mouth hung open at Jantz’s knowledge and he decided he may be able to assist him after all.

  ”I will need WAVES, SWE, SMS, MFI and 3-D Plasma. With the 3-D Plasma you will have to aim the experiment correctly, otherwise there will be a gap between SWE and WAVES.”

  The look on Jantz’s face told Koenig he had just stated the obvious, but he continued, unperturbed.

  “TGRS, EPACT and KONUS will not be necessary; gamma radiation will have no effect on this phenomena,” Koenig finally conceded as he lay back down again, feeling a nasty headache creeping across his brow.

  Jantz nodded his understanding and turned to leave the heated interior of the green house, when a sickly voice interrupted his escape.

  “You will test each instrument, Mr Jantz, won’t you and let me know of your success?”

  “Consider it done, Mr Koenig. Now get some rest. I have left you some medication to combat the pain from your frostbitten face. Good thing you aren’t reliant on your good looks to make a living,” Jantz smirked. He could still manage humour even after the callous interruption to his day and the extra workload dropped on him by the ignoble scientist.

  He was just as curious about the causes of the early morning disturbance as Koenig, and he was keen to answer his own questions. Completing Koenig’s experimental set up was just a small price to pay, even though his station duties still required his attention.

  *~*~*~*

  The painkillers had worked a treat and Koenig slept off his ordeal throughout the rest of the day and into the night. His sleep was so intense that a repeat of the solar thunderstorm in the early hours and the resultant activity from the crew didn’t disturb him.

  Koenig felt refreshed, but he was annoyed that no one had woken him to monitor his instruments and observe the phenomena firsthand. Now all he had to go on was the records gathered by his instruments, if Jantz had been successful in the promised set up.

  He threw off the thermal blankets from his bunk and sat up awkwardly, feeling several large ridges running across his face that stung at the touch of his hand. The painful welts made it difficult to speak or smile, and just breathing left his nose burning with every small movement and dreading the thought of a sneeze. He felt like his face had been through a severe fire.

  With a quick scour of the surroundings, his gaze rested on his laptop computer open on a nearby desk and a series of communication cables running into it. He tried to smile, but quickly abandoned the idea when his face refused to stretch and a painful reminder of the unbending frostbite tore along his skin instead.

  Climbing stiffly from his bed, he wrapped himself in a fur lined coat and impatiently began the process of initialising the computer, eager to see the results of the data gathered by his experiments.

  Moments went by as the machine initialised, gathering data and processing it from the instruments set up on the periphery of the summit camp. He hoped the radio transmitters attached to each device hadn’t been damaged by the solar activity, or the intense cold overnight.

  Eventually, a long list of black figures speedily etched across the white background of his computer screen until five groups of figures subheaded under each instrument name, began to paint an awkward picture. The incredulous frown on Koenig’s brow brought a painful reminder of his dismal attempts to set up his field instruments, trying to remain stone faced and prevent any further escalation in pain, but the further he read, the less this was making sense.

  Concentrating hard on the computer screen and trying to interpret the results, Koenig’s focus was disturbed by the door to the green house as it burst open and a stiff blast from the outside freezer assaulted the warm inside atmosphere and stole his breath, in a chilly gasp.

  “Well, do you have any idea what’s happening, Koenig?” Jantz’ voice bellowed across the green house while he struggled to close the door and lock the cold out. Jantz couldn’t tell whether the strained appearance of Koenig’s face was due to the frostbite or the results of the tests he had downloaded from his instruments.

  “Did the phenomena happen last night?” Koenig demanded, questioning Jantz and shivering a little.

  “Sure did; nearly drove us nuts with the noise,” Jantz answered, peering at the frostbitten scientist’s face.

  “Did all the electrical equipment go offline?”

  Jantz nodded, baffled by Koenig’s line of questioning. “Yeah, we spent a couple of hours re-establishing everything. What’s going on?”Jantz prodded, not understanding the stalling tactics of the scientist.

  Koenig’s staring eyes locked onto Jantz. “The data is telling me nothing unusual happened last night.”

  *~*~*~*

  Chapter 49

  A crowd of students gathered around Jaimon and Monette, curious to see whether Monette was serious about hanging out with the quirky freak. The gossip was that Jaimon had given Rositer a beating and now Monette’s allegiance had shifted from Rositer to the smaller and younger Jaimon.

  After witnessing Rositer’s defeat, she gave him t
he brush off as he ran from the embarrassing scene. If she hadn’t observed the whole fiasco herself then she wouldn’t have believed it, but now she was curious to see what Jaimon was made of and the fact he was smaller and more powerful just made him more attractive. She liked dangerous and unpredictable males.

  Jaimon’s incredulous stare was interrupted by the warbling war siren calling students to their next round of classes and in obedience to the authoritarian device, students began to murmur among themselves and drift off to their next lessons.

  Before turning to leave for her next class, Monette gave Jaimon a smile that stole his breath away and then assured him she would be seeing him again... soon.

  He didn’t know which way to look or what to make of the situation but this was a whole lot more pleasant than the usual round of bullying. He had no idea what Monette was trying to achieve but he was sure that Rositer wouldn’t be happy and Jaimon’s short reprieve wouldn’t last long. He did like the attention from Monette though, and having someone like her even talking to someone like him, made his heart hammer. He watched her walking away, closely followed by a crowd of adoring friends, occasionally turning back and glancing to where he was standing and giggling to each other. As the crowd began to disperse and Monette disappeared from view, he willed his feet to move, breaking his gaze from the direction she had gone and made haste towards his next class.

  Still dazed by the whole situation with Monette, Jaimon quickly disappeared from the quadrangle and headed into the west wing while a well concealed, tiny statured girl with a pair of cloudy eyes partially hidden by a thick fringe of red hair, peered at Jaimon’s small frame as he hurried away. A thin smile broke out across her face, displaying a set of decaying teeth.

  He was ready for the next stage of his education.

  *~*~*~*