"Do you know where we're heading?" I asked hopefully.
"This architecture looks familiar," Alex remarked as he patted the vent housing, "so it's my guess that this network of vents leads back to the lava chambers which feed into the giant forge," he granted while supporting that hypothesis by the heated air coming from the direction ahead of us.
His immediate worry was that if the level of the cool ice water raised high enough to back flush through these vents, then we could end up either drowned or the volatile reaction if the ice water hitting the exposed lava tubes would likely cause a steam pressure reaction which would likely cause the whole area to blow. Unfortunately, that was the very direction in we were heading; and Alex also pointed out that I didn't have a protective thermal suit to protect me. These were all possibilities I had not considered; and none of them were very pretty.
"Alex, we might die down here," I blurted with weariness.
"Yes, that's a high probability, but we might make it out ...if we're lucky," he added.
"But if the world gets destroyed and we all end up trapped on this ice rock, why should we even bother trying? I mean, what exactly was it they we would be surviving for?" I asked innocently. It was a fundamental question for anyone facing similar scenarios across the world at that very moment. There were so many people clawing hand and foot struggling to survive; what were they so desperately fighting for when nothing familiar would be left but a life of hardship?
"Allen, there are small number, if not but a few people who view life itself in a far different context than most of our society," Alex started with a solemn note, "instead of seeing the world as to what affects only them, there are those of us who find a greater calling and question instead how they can contribute towards everyone. I, for one, fell into this field because I was infatuated with the history of all those people who came before me and what they had to offer which I could add upon; and I thought it would be a terrible loss if their memory or tribute to humanity, no matter how small, was forgotten," Alex granted, "so when you ask why even bother trying? I must answer ...why not? If you can understand my perspective that owing the effort to survive for yourself alone would be measurably selfish on any level; but owing it to our ancestors and those we share this world with right here, right now, would be the right thing to do. With all due respect, I would say to choose life."
Alexander's words caught me off guard as to how deeply philosophical he actually was; having not seem him in that color of light before. It made me wonder how many people knee-deep within the catastrophe were either committing suicide because they could not stand the change or face the suffering; or were running away mindless looking for any kind of escape without any consideration for others. Those who were living just to survive another day now seemed like a waste. I could see now that Alexander, Mica and Logan and their lot were trying to make the world a better place; it was what they believed in.
At the moment I didn't feel a sense of guilt for my heartless question or depressing demeanor as I once would have, for I could now see the angle Alexander was presenting. We were trapped in an epic situation with the world falling apart around us, which would make anyone lose their mind; but he and the others remained focused. His was a desire to make the world a better place; not for what once was, but for what will be to come. I could recognize why he and Logan had become good friends.
After our brief rest we pushed our way through the ventilation corridors and found ourselves on the edge of a track. It appeared to be a footpath, besides the one single rail we found attached to the side wall; though neither of us had any idea what it was for. Advancing for nearly an hour, the corridor dipped into a funnel that was encrusted with dark volcanic glass. I didn't like the idea of being in here without a suit, but Alex noted hadn't actually seen any more since he left the mineral farm near the crypts.
"Hold on ...do you hear that?" I stopped Alex in his tracks so that we could get a bearing of our surroundings. Listening intently, he stated he couldn't.
"Why ...what is it?" he whispered.
"I swore I could hear something like a..." I began to answer as I perked my ears; realizing I there was some ambient noise in the background growing louder.
Suddenly a gushing wave of glacier water spewed into the funnel from the path above where we had been standing just moments before; making us fight for our footing. Falling here would be a deadly mistake as the sharp volcanic glass would tear us to shreds at the mercy of the raging water. To make things worse, the glass began to shatter and break under the weight of the water pouring in and pockets of the black shards began to give way beneath us; revealing a void below our feet.
Alex and I turned toward one another with a glaze of panic brushed in our eyes when the entire flooring gave way and we fell into the chasm below. We came to rest on a shallow ledge several meters down while being drenched from water pouring in from the chute above. Both of us looked below and could see that we were sitting on the edge of an active lava tube which had encrusted the upper chute over eons.
"Well, I think we found where all the hot air was coming from," Alex said nervously as he scooted away from the edge.
The chasm was alive with flowing red rivers, glowing from the heat of the molten rock. Within minutes the pressure of the water went from a meager downpour to a waterfall surging over our heads. Alexander and I were expecting the explosive reaction that resulted, which began filling the chamber with burning steam. Alex's suit protection him from it, but I was sweltering in my arctic gear.
The deafening hiss of steam rose through the cavern as the molten rock began to harden from the sudden cooling. Expecting the worse, Alex and I nearly embraced in a hug. We glanced at each other awkwardly as the stream of gushing water subsided and a deluge suddenly washed us from our perch and down onto the hardening lava tubes below. The torrent swept us out along the steaming crust as we slid across the surface and fell into a hollow lava tube; all the while I could feel the boiling water begin to burn through my thick overcoat.
It was an unpleasant ride as we were swept through tight hissing chambers like a hellish waterslide. My backside felt cooked as did the rest of my body as we were propelled through the heated funnel. Flung as we were at the mercy of the torrential waters, I felt a gust of cold air wash over me, then another as we shot through the underground current. Finally, we toppled down onto a sandy shore where as I was disoriented at first by the sudden blinding light.
Stumbling out of the steaming soup pouring upon my back I called out to Alex, and eventually found him several meters away trying, but unable to stand up as he was weighted down by his drenched metallic suit.
"How are you feeling, any broken bones?" I asked, though feeling a little bruised and beaten myself.
"Oh, my," he stalled as he looked around, "...no, no, I think my outfit took the brunt of it," Alexander bubbled as he spat out water he had swallowed, "oh that's got a nasty sulphur taste to it. Oh, where are my glasses!" he felt at his face in a sudden panic.
Looking around in haste, I found his spectacles half buried in a spot of snow, which were now in far worse condition. I handed them to him as he put them on, only to realize one of the lenses was missing the frame was bent out of shape. He didn't seem to mind as much about the damage; for he was just thankful to be alive. We stepped farther away from the geyser spout where we had been ejected as more steam and water game gushing out.
Looking around to get our bearings, we found we were in the presence of a looming cliff reaching far above us towards the stormy sky. Peering out towards a vast ice shelf, Alex made a guess as to where we were.
"I do say, I believe we're at the rim of the transatlantic mountain range, which would explain this geothermal activity," Alexander exclaimed.
Apparently we had been dumped somewhere on the lower range of west Antarctica. This left us in a bind as to being stuck in the middle of nowhere in water drenched clothes. I was expecting symptoms of hypothermia to set in at any moment, but the hot steam from the ge
yser kept the temperature fairly tolerant. The area around us had melted away the ice and the black sand of the beach stretched out towards an enormous ice plain as far as we could see.
Pointing out an odd feature rising above the white plain, Alexander and I marched our way to what turned out to be an old abandoned drilling station. The battered sign on the edge of the building read 1978. We let ourselves in as there was no lock on the door, and I was elated to see that it had been recently used and left restocked with supplies. Alexander was merely glad to get his hands on some real food.
We scoured the place for emergency equipment and found a radio. Since the solar panel outside the building had been covered in snow, I had to gas up the generator which took some effort to get it running. Once we had some power pumping through the station, Alexander jumped on the radio to contact the ship. Bearing on our frequency channel, we picked up an enormous amount of static; which was likely due to the storm cluster generated by the active core at the center of an immense cyclone spanning the entire skyline.
"Anyone on board, do you read?" Alex chattered on the line while feeding himself with his fingers on a freshly opened can of tuna fish.
"Please identify yourself," a voice cut over the radio, barely breaking through the static.
"This is Alexander and Allen from the Logan expedition, trying to reach our ship. Is that you Walter?" Alex asked, trying to listen over the noise.
"Yes, Alexander! I thought you were lost; and you found Allen, that's amazing. I will have to inform the others," Walter chimed, though most of his speech was broken because of the erratic interference, "what are your coordinates ...are you two safe at the moment?"
Both Alex and I quickly rifled through the station to find a chart and found our location upon a map and provided it to Water so that he could send out a recovery party; though he confessed that it would take some time to reach us. After we went off air, Alex and I spent a greater part of the evening sitting next to a heater drying out our clothes, and with a little hunting we found an extra thermal coat for Alexander to wear stuffed in the meager storage bins left at the camp. Outside the night sky was ablaze with shimmering curtains of an immense aurora which stretched across the evening horizon; alive with dancing colors rarely ever seen while dark storm clouds orbited the hovering sphere beneath their flickering glow. The rainbows of glittering lights made the Antarctic appear as though we were standing upon an alien world.
The next day we woke to the drum of constant thunder which disturbed the peaceful serenity of the icy plains. As dawn lit up the sky we could see that a large portion of the colossal storm front had dissipated; now replaced by a swirling mass of rock and ice like a giant ring surrounding a tiny black planet. We were desperate for information on the others and what had been happening, but the radio static was raging at points that nearly deafened as relentless feedback screeched through the speakers. It wasn't until several days had passed that we finally received a response to our hails.
"This is Walter calling Alex or Allen, over," Walter called in. Jumping to the radio, we tried to tune in the frequency.
"This is Alexander, we read you. What is the situation?"
"Take a look out your six, old friend..." Walter answered as Alexander gave me a dumfounded look while I rushed to the door.
Stepping outside in nothing but my thermal underwear, I squinted my eyes against the morning sunlight breaking horizon to glimpse several snowmobiles approaching us over the ice shelf. I was so shocked that I stood there like an idiot, forgetting that I wasn't dressed. Alex came outside to join me and we waved as Walter arrived as a passenger sitting on back of one of the sleds. Several members of the crew had ridden out to pick us up from where they had moored the ship the night before.
"Ah, it's good to see you two!" Walter remarked as he raised one arm to give us a hug; still tendering his healing arm in its sling, "Let's get you back to the ship. We already sent out a transport helicopter to pick up the Professor and his assistant."
"What, already?" I blurted, "I thought that they were going to stay at the control tower at the fortress until the danger was over?" I asked in dismay, as the black orb could still be seen poised above the horizon with its haunting ring of ice and rock orbiting around it.
"Ah, about that; there's quite a lot I need to catch you both up on," Walter granted as he ushered us to grab our gear. Retrieving my clothes and packing Alexander's extraordinary metal suit, we hopped on the backs of the sleds and made our way across the ice field back towards the ship. It was a long time since I had a cup of warm coffee, but found the strength not to add a spot of Gin from the bottle sitting at the table for us to share. I was worried about Mica, and had far too much on my mind to be left distracted.
We ran outside in expectation when the helicopter arrived back at the ship later that day; but discovered that neither Mica nor Logan were aboard. The pilot stated that they had requested to be dropped off back at the original rally site at the iron tree, for reasons they didn't disclose. However, he admitted, they relayed a message, asking us to join them. Within the hour we had prepped ourselves as the aircraft was refueled, and Walter, Alex and I boarded for our departure.
The flight back inland was an incredible sight to say the least; having a birds eye view of the gravitational storm lingering above the plateau. The pilot himself remarked 'That's something you don't see everyday,' and he was certainly right. The mega-structure of spinning stones around the black nucleus cast strange shadows in the fading light. It was a tense ride the entire time it took to get there, until we finally came within sight of the old camp at the base of the colossal tree.
Setting us down in the open field, the men pulled out a few supply crates and helped set up monitoring equipment around the encampment were several tents had been set up. The sun was falling fast so we tromped our way through the thawing snow towards the clearing around the tree; while noticing that the area to the ice and debris that once blocked the stone doorway had melted away. The scene was illuminated by several lamps posted around its exposed roots winding through the bedrock. Though Logan stood up first upon seeing our arrival, it was Mica who came running to greet us and jumped into my arms; smiling.
"I'm glad you're alright," she whispered as we walked into the camp and took a seat next to Logan.
"Ah, Alexander, so pleased you could join us," the professor offered with a kind grin towards his friend; happy to see him alive and well. Alexander shook his hand gently, in his own quant forgiveness for having been left abandoned during the expedition; for which he held no blame.
"I though you were going to stay within the fortress to oversee the transition of the magnetic shift," I asked with curiosity.
"After the core activated, we attempted to harmonize the magnetic emissions connected through spheres, but during our effort to tune them, we discovered that the frequencies had balanced themselves," Logan answered.
"Uh, yeah; how about repeating that in layman's terms, Doc," I responded with a foolish smile.
"Somehow, the energy spheres aligned themselves," Mica offered as an explanation.
"But I thought that would destroy this entire continents, or something just as spectacular," I barked, "has everything back on the mainland gone back to normal?"
"Ah, well that's an interesting question," Logan answered, "It appears nothing will truly be the same again. But then, I guess we can place that burden on this ancient weapon," he added as he pointed up towards the dark mass of swirling ice and rock glinting in the emerging aurora of the falling sunset.
We sat together in the lamplight catching up on recent events, Logan was startled upon hearing my story at first, but gave a nod of understanding when I told him what it was I had learned from the sentinel interface; that the great weapon the Kish so feared wasn't a device forged towards their destruction, but had been designed for their salvation. The Professor had a surprising confession of his own, while Walter confirmed his shocking words as he monitored incoming radio chatter
from across the globe.
Logan had ultimately achieved his goal to ease the polar shift, if either by accident or design. In coordination with his fellow scientists of the Atlas, whose expertise were relied upon to advise the entrenched militaries and governments worldwide; by slight of hand they had devised a fake apocalypse. Needless to say, the devastating precursor of the polar shift was real enough, and only served to stoke the fears of the world leaders. In their craven eagerness to save themselves, nearly every branch of authority across the earth had retreated into deep underground bunkers and fortifications as they abandoned the very people who relied upon them for direction; leaving them to perish in the approaching cataclysm. These forsaken victims found kinship with the rising fellowship of the Atlas.
As the elite, who valued their own lives above others, hid deep within their secured vaults; the people themselves revolted and sealed them shut. Over the past several days a massive undertaking of citizens from around the globe rose up and arrived with tractors and bulldozers and machinery of every type, welding shut and buried those cowardly and corrupted authorities who abused their positions within the very bunkers where they sought shelter. All the politicians and their military regimes who wore a badge of power were covered with meters of cement and boulders wherever they could be found; and these elitists now found themselves entombed. They had gathered in sealed fortifications to preserve themselves and protect their positions of power. In the end, they got their new world order; it was just one that didn't include them.
The act of burying the crippled minds who so eagerly suppressed human expression and freedoms had in turn unified people from around the globe regardless of creed or language. There were now only those scattered few who fought against this ushering of change into a new era where everyone could begin anew. Being so close to utter annihilation, the survivors who had helped one another saw that the struggle for wealth and power they had been so groomed to pursue was a misdirection of mankind's true path. So they buried the worse of humanity in the darkness, and chose to find a brighter future for the generations to come.
Islands in the Sky Page 27