Astrid Maxxim and the Antarctic Expedition

by Allison, Wesley

  Astrid Maxxim and the Antarctic Expedition

  By Wesley Allison

  Astrid Maxxim and the Antarctic Expedition

  Copyright © 2014 by Wesley M. Allison

  Smashwords Edition

  Revision 12-4-16

  All Rights Reserved. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Cover art by: Shaed Studios, shaedstudios.com

  ISBN: 9781311736079

  To my students 2013-2014

  Astrid Maxxim and the Antarctic Expedition

  By Wesley Allison

  Chapter One: The Thing

  “Maybe we shouldn't even be down here,” said Austin Tretower, as he looked around the gloomy basement. “Are you sure it's okay with your parents?”

  “Of course it's okay with them,” replied girl inventor Astrid Maxxim. “We just need to carry this crate upstairs. That’s why I called the three of you.”

  Austin looked at the dusty wooden container labeled Antarctic Expedition 1928.

  “This is just about the point in the conversation when The Thing explodes from the box and eats our faces.”

  “There’s rope handle on each side,” Astrid pointed out. “You and I will take the sides. Toby can take the top end and Valerie the bottom. Then we’ll just carry it right up the stairs.”

  The four teenagers looked at one another, nodded in agreement, and then each took their respective handle and lifted. Five minutes later, they were at the top of the stairs and set the crate down on the floor of the Maxxim family room.

  Astrid Maxxim was five foot five and startlingly cute. Her strawberry blond hair was cut to shoulder length, setting off her very large blue eyes. Astrid’s friend Austin was a sandy-haired boy who seemed thoroughly average in just about every way. He had only recently moved to Maxxim City, but was already a part of Astrid’s close circle of friends. The third member of the group was Toby Bundersmith. Toby had lived next door to Astrid since she was born and embodied, at least in Astrid’s opinion, everything good about a boy. He was tall and handsome, with brown bangs cut just above his hazel eyes. Finally there was Valerie. Valerie was a robot copy of a fourteen year old girl, built by Astrid earlier that year and programmed with the memories of Astrid’s long-time friend Valerie Diaz. Robot Valerie originally had bright silver skin, but after returning from Hawaii, Astrid had covered it with a bluish metallic polycarbonate so that she would be more water resistant. Thanks to another recent upgrade, she also had bright blue shoulder length hair. She was just a bit shorter than Astrid.

  “What’s in that dusty old thing anyway?” asked Valerie’s flesh-and-blood twin from where she sat on the couch, with her feet curled up under her. Though she shared the robot’s features, her raven hair and flashing brown eyes made it only too clear that she was entirely human. “It’s not The Thing, is it?”

  “See, I’m not the only one,” said Austin.

  “You know Valerie could have carried that upstairs all by herself. She’s very strong.”

  “I don’t want to go down in that basement by myself,” said Robot Valerie. “It’s spooky.”

  “All three of you are just being silly,” said Astrid. “Now, let’s get this open and you’ll see that there’s nothing in there. Well, there will be something, but not The Thing.”

  A rusty hasp, with an ancient padlock in it, held down the lid of the box. The wood was so old however that the hasp and the hinges on the opposite side all pulled loose. Toby helped Astrid lift the lid and set it to the side. Nestled neatly within the box were four stacks of manilla file folders.

  “Oh great,” said Austin. “It’s worse than The Thing. It’s homework.”

  “I kind of miss homework,” said Astrid, lifting one of the folders and opening it to find faded topographical maps. She didn’t comment when Valerie snorted.

  “Do you think any of this will be useful on your trip?” asked Toby.

  “I don’t know,” replied Astrid. “This is all from my great-grandfather’s expedition, and I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t even know what part of Antarctica he explored, or even why he went. But since school is out, I’ll have time to read through all this. I’m not leaving until the Monday after Father’s Day.”

  “I’m going to miss you,” said Austin, and then looked quickly at Toby and Robot Valerie. “I mean we’re all going to miss you.”

  “Yes, we will,” said Toby.

  “I’ll only be gone a month.”

  “That’s not much of a Father’s Day present,” said a voice from the doorway.

  The kids all turned to see Astrid’s dad. Dr. Roger Maxxim was a tall man whose brown hair was only just beginning to show a touch of grey at his temples. He wore a pair of sturdy glasses; behind which were creases that could more honestly be called laugh lines than wrinkles. Having just arrived home from work, he still wore his lab coat over slacks, white shirt, and red tie.

  “Don’t worry, Dad,” said Astrid. “I’ve got something for you that you’ll like.”

  “Do I look worried? Now, I’m going to put the charcoal on before I go change. Is this it for dinner, or can we expect the usual suspects?”

  “Christopher and Denise should be here any minute,” said Toby.

  “Great. Why don’t you all get the salad ready and set the table.”

  The crate from the basement was forgotten as Austin and the two Valeries set the table. Toby helped Astrid assemble the salad, the components of which, including pasta and hard-boiled egg she had cooked and chopped earlier. Then they tossed the dinner rolls, also readied that afternoon, into the oven. Everything was just about ready as Dr. Maxxim carefully placed two rows of juicy steaks across the grate of the backyard grill. Just as he was taking them back off again, the last two members of the group arrived. Denise Brown had long blond hair and green eyes, and was a little on the skinny side. She had been friends with Astrid just as long as Valerie had. Christopher Harris was Toby’s best friend. He was tall, with chocolate brown skin and black hair. A quiet boy, he had the highest grades of anyone at Rachel Carson High School, with the exception of Astrid.

  They enjoyed the delicious meal and talked, mostly about plans to visit Joyland, the local amusement park, the next Saturday. After dinner, Dr. Maxxim excused himself and the kids all helped clean up. Afterwards they changed into their swimsuits and splashed around the Maxxim’s large backyard pool. By the time all of Astrid’s guests left for home, everyone was tired but happy.

  After a bubble bath and an hour practicing her oboe, Astrid climbed into bed with a three-inch stack of file folders that she had taken from the mysterious crate. Most of them contained maps, with faded ink and deep creases from having been folded for the better part of a century. Finally she opened the last folder to find that it contained a slim, leather-bound notebook. She opened it to the last page and read.

  “Our entire expedition had been doomed by the thing in the ice…” Astrid stopped and blinked. “Oh my gosh! The Thing!”

  Chapter Two: The Malt Shop

  The following morning found Astrid walking in the front door of the Maxxim R&D building. The half-mile wide, fourteen-story structure dominated the northwest corner of the Maxxim Indu
stries campus. The campus, sprawling across 180,000 acres of the American southwest, featured machine shops, office buildings, factories, power plants, and its own airport. It was here, where for the past forty-two years, thousands of Maxxim products had been developed and produced, making the Maxxim family very wealthy and making the world a better place in which to live.

  Astrid took the glass elevator up to her lab on the fourteenth floor. As she stepped out, she saw Mrs. Purcell, the office manager, at her desk surrounded by several Maxxim employees. As she approached, they glanced nervously in her direction and then hurried away.

  “What’s up, Mrs. Purcell?”

  “It’s nothing really, Astrid. Some people are just worried about their jobs.”

  “Why? Did they do something that might get them fired… no, never mind, don’t tell me.”

  “It’s nothing like that,” Mrs. Purcell assured her. “It’s everything that’s happening in the stock market.”

  Astrid gave her a blank look.

  “You should pay more attention to what’s going on, Astrid.”

  “Wall Street just seems so far away,” said the girl inventor. “I’ve never been that interested in finance.”

  “I dare say you can afford not to be. No matter what happens to Maxxim Industries, your family will be one of the richest in the country.”

  “What do you mean ‘no matter what happens?’ What could happen? Maxxim Industries is the largest, richest company in the world.”

  “Actually as of last week, it was number six. As of this morning, it’s number fifteen.”

  “Thanks, Mrs. Purcell,” said Astrid, before walking to her lab. Once there, she picked up her Maxxim tablet and plopped into an overstuffed easy chair. She called up the recent financial news and read through the headlines. Maxxim Investors Worry Over R&D Costs. Maxxim Shares at a Six Year Low. Maxxim CEO Under Fire. Maxxim Earnings Call Larger Than Expected, Investors Not Appeased. Maxxim Needs Products, Not Financial Gimmicks. Maxxim Launches Stock Buyback. It didn’t make much sense to Astrid. As long as she could remember, her grandfather’s company had been the bedrock of her existence. Maxxim Industries was the main employer for adjacent Maxxim City and the nearby Indian reservation. It funded Rachel Carson High School that Astrid attended. And it allowed her to be a girl inventor, without worrying too much about money. She guiltily glanced back at the headline that mentioned R&D costs. She had probably had a hand in that.

  “Mrs. Purcell?” called Astrid over the intercom. “Can you get me an appointment with the CEO?”

  “I’ll see what I can do, Astrid.”

  Finally Astrid was able to turn her attention to the thing that had drawn her to the lab in the first place. A scale model of a space plane sat on one of the steel tabletops. Almost three feet long, it was a perfect reproduction of the drawings that Astrid had made over the past three weeks.

  Deep within the Maxxim Campus was a secret spaceport, constructed as the base for a private space initiative. Dr. Maxxim hoped to follow a few other companies in receiving contracts from NASA to resupply the International Space Station and even ferry astronauts into orbit. A Maxxim Quasar IV rocket was even now being readied with a Nova spacecraft to be test-launched into space. Astrid had even larger designs though. She planned to build a space plane that could both launch and land on a horizontal runway like a regular airplane. A big fan of spaceflight, the girl inventor had been saddened by the fall of the American manned space program, and especially with the loss of the now long-retired space shuttles.

  “Astrid,” came Mrs. Purcell’s voice over the intercom. “If you can get over to the corporate offices in twenty minutes, she can just fit you in.”

  “Thanks. I’ll head right over.”

  The Maxxim Business Offices Complex was just over twenty miles south of R&D. Fortunately they were connected, as were all the complexes on the Maxxim campus, by the sleek and ultra-futuristic Maxxim monorail system. Astrid stepped off the train, walked through the Corporate Office and into the CEO’s reception area exactly nineteen and a half minutes after leaving her lab.

  “You can go right in,” said Miss Carne, the pretty, dark-haired receptionist.

  “Thanks,” said Astrid walking past her and through the doorway. “Hi Mom.”

  Chief Executive Officer Kate Maxxim stood up and walked around her desk. A tall blond woman, Mrs. Maxxim was as brilliant as she was beautiful, and headed Maxxim Industries as its CEO and Chairman of the Board. She wore a sharp blue business suit and heels that made her tower over her daughter even more than usual.

  “To what do I owe this visit?”

  “Can’t I visit my mother at work without an ulterior motive?”

  “Past history would indicate a no.”

  “Well, I’m a little concerned about our stock news,” said Astrid.

  “Since when do you read the financials?”

  “Um… since this morning.”

  “It’s nothing for you to worry about. Some of the stockholders are a little worried about the amount of money we’ve invested in your father’s space program, all the more because it’s so secret and we haven’t been able to explain it all. Things will change as soon as our new products hit the market.”

  “But my hoverbike is already for sale.” Astrid pointed out.

  The hoverbike was a flying scooter that Astrid had designed earlier that year. It had already been shipped to buyers around the world and was the subject of a large and diverse advertising campaign.

  “Yes, but our initial run was only 10,000 units, and they’ve already sold.”

  “I could have told you the run should have been much larger.”

  “Hindsight is always 20/20,” said Mrs. Maxxim. “The next 100,000 units are in production now. When they are available and the Maxxim Phone comes out later this year, and of course the new batteries you invented, everything will turn around.”

  “I think we need more production than we can do here on the Maxxim campus,” said Astrid.

  “Do you want me to outsource production to China, like Aunt Lauren and Uncle Carl want?”

  “No, I think…”

  “I know what I’m doing,” said Mrs. Maxxim. “Don’t worry. It’s all under control. It will be fine.”

  Astrid felt a bit better about the well being of the company after talking to her mother, though she would have liked to discuss it a little more. Instead, she returned to her lab to work on her space plane. Though not usually distracted, Astrid was twice sidetracked with new ideas, and she stopped to sketch them out. The first was a design for an electric racecar powered by her new batteries. The second was an offshoot of her Project RG-7. That invention, which had resulted in the creation of Robot Valerie, had been a little too much of a success. Now Astrid thought she had a way to make use of the technology she had created for it.

  That night she had a quiet dinner with her parents. It was the first time that her mother had been home in time for dinner since the groundbreaking of the new Maxxim Battery Facility three weeks earlier. That night, she read the rest of the leather-bound journal and searched through the mysterious crate from the basement for any sign of what “the thing in the ice” might have been or how it had “doomed the expedition,” but she could find no other references to the subject. She did however determine that her great-grandfather had been examining the geology of the southern continent, and she did find a folder with two dozen black and white photographs obviously taken in the Antarctic. They showed men wrapped up in parkas with so little of their faces visible it was almost impossible to tell them apart. They were riding dogsleds in snowstorms and posing in front of primitive ice shelters. It was all enough to make her shiver.

  The next morning, Astrid stayed home reading through the rest of the papers in the crate. She found no other journals, but she did find a list of individuals on the expedition, including James Robert Maxxim. She was also able to determine where in Antarctica the expedition had been exploring. They had journeyed from King Edward
Land near the Ross Ice Shelf to the easternmost reaches of the Dominion Range, just beyond where Shackleton had made his attempt at the pole.

  Just before noon, Astrid hopped on her hoverbike and flew to Main Street. Her sturdy little orange aircraft had been the prototype and was much more retro looking, far less sleek than the production models. It was speedy though, and she set down next to the Maxxim City Malt Shop in almost no time at all. Though vehicle theft was very uncommon in Maxxim City, Astrid nevertheless locked the little scooter to the end of the bike rack with a cable and padlock.

  Inside, she sat down on one of the round bar stools next to Toby.

  “I ordered us a couple of chocolate sodas,” he said.

  The Maxxim City Malt Shop was justly famous for its traditional chocolate sodas, made with soda water mixed with chocolate syrup, containing two scoops of chocolate ice cream, and topped with whipped cream and a cherry. No sooner had Toby spoken, than soda jerk Irving Witzel set the two frosty treats on the counter.

  “Anything else?”

  “Do you want to share an order of fries?”

  “Sure,” said Astrid, and Toby held up a finger to Irving.

  “One order of special fries,” he confirmed, dutifully heading for the kitchen.

  Special fries were another item unique to the Malt Shop— double dipped fries served with piccalilli relish.

  “Looking forward to Joyland Saturday?” asked Astrid.

  “Of course,” said Toby. “It’s been weeks since I rode the Screaming Pterodactyl.”

  Astrid laughed, remembering the excitement of riding the giant roller coaster that was the best ride at Maxxim City’s local amusement park.

  “You know what I’m not looking forward to?” he asked.

  “What?”

  “I’m not looking forward to an entire month of not seeing you.”