by JC Ryan
Chapter 7 – Meet the parents
The rest of the preparations went smoothly and quickly, with the previous expedition’s plans to draw from. JR was to be sent ahead with the base camp construction crew to prepare for the arrival of the road construction crew and the scientists by leveling and packing the snow that covered the ice sheet and setting up the numerous tents that would shelter them until dormitories could be built. By the time the others arrived, the base camp crew would be finishing out the mess building, which would be delivered on October fourth, weather permitting.
Accordingly, the advance group was to leave Boulder on the twenty-eighth of September for an October first arrival at McMurdo. This time they wouldn’t travel by ground, but would be dropped, along with the materials they’d need for the first week, by helicopter. If JR felt any apprehension at returning to the place where he and the others had almost lost their lives earlier in the year, he chose to say nothing about it.
Despite being fully involved in the planning and logistics, JR had other things on his mind. Now and then, he had to pinch himself to make sure he wasn’t living in a dream with Rebecca. When he was tired, as he often was, JR could still doubt himself and worry that he could never be worthy of someone like Rebecca. She was beautiful, confident, obviously smart and on top of it all. He was a screw-up. And yet, he loved her with all his heart and knew that if he lost her, he’d never recover. Once was bad enough. Twice would be fatal.
One evening, he went to Daniel and Sarah in despair.
“Bro, I want to ask Rebecca to marry me, but I’m afraid,” he confessed.
Daniel and Sarah looked at each other fondly. “No more than I was,” Daniel responded.
“You? No way! You guys were made for each other.”
“We had our moments, though. Remember that Sarah lost her memory temporarily. She didn’t even know who I was, and there I was hopelessly in love with her.”
“Hopeless is right,” Sarah laughed. “I thought I was going to have to pop the question myself.” She nudged Daniel. “Just like Rebecca said…” Her hand flew up to her mouth to stop the words, but it was too late. JR latched on to the comment.
“What did Rebecca say?” he demanded.
“That she wonders when you’re going to get your act together and propose,” Sarah blurted, now that she’d slipped up.
JR was stunned for a moment, and then a slow grin crept over his face. “She does, does she?” Daniel and Sarah could get no more from him that night.
JR kept to himself the secret plans he had for the farewell at the airport. Unbeknownst to Rebecca, he had visited with her parents in Boulder to ask a very important question.
At first, the Mendenhalls had been less than pleased with their daughter’s decision to take up with the handsome but, to their knowledge, mentally unstable JR Rossler. In the weeks since the pair had moved in together, though, her parents had come to respect JR’s efforts to become a responsible man. Through Rebecca’s eyes, they learned that he had been brought up well, was intelligent and resourceful as well as kind and fun-loving. Now he was seeking their permission to ask for her hand in marriage, which both greatly improved Mr. Mendenhall’s opinion of their housekeeping arrangement and thrilled her mother with the prospect of a wedding in the family.
JR began by telling the Mendenhalls that he knew he had problems, and that he could understand if they weren’t sure of him. He went on to say that with Rebecca’s help, he’d been working on his behavior, and that someday he hoped to be cured of the PTSD. With obvious sincerity, he told them he’d die before he’d hurt her, and that if they would entrust her to him, he’d prove that he could someday be worthy of her love.
Their permission obtained, JR went ring-shopping, with Sarah as his co-conspirator.
Rebecca was at the airport to see him off, along with JR’s family and Sinclair, who had developed a soft spot for the troubled young man since his return in March. Sarah and Daniel, who were in on the secret, could barely contain their glee as the group gathered outside the secure area for final goodbyes. JR turned to hug Rebecca close and whisper that he’d miss her until she joined him in a couple of weeks.
“Be careful, love,” she whispered back. Then she laid a kiss on him that had the others hooting and calling out ‘get a room’. Suddenly, to her confusion, JR dropped to his knees, and, in front of both his family and the strangers who stopped to stare, along with Rebecca’s parents and sister who came out of hiding at the prompt, declared his love for her. Rebecca’s eyes sparkled with unshed tears, though her brilliant smile signaled to all and sundry that they were tears of happiness.
“Rebecca, please tell me you’ll be mine forever. Will you marry me?” he asked in conclusion.
Everyone burst into cheers and applause, even the strangers, when she nodded. “Of course I will, Joshie,” she answered, using her private endearment for him. He produced a solitaire that, thanks to Sarah’s advice, was perfect on Rebecca’s slender finger.
“Oh, honey, I love it!” she exclaimed, momentarily becoming just a young woman in love rather than a cool, calm and collected MD.
All too soon, JR was forced to leave the rest of the party and make his way through security to join the construction crew, who had gone ahead. JR’s insouciant grin was the last the family saw of him before he disappeared into the secure area. Rebecca couldn’t help worrying about JR when he was away from her, whether it was for a few hours or a few days. This would be the longest separation since their friendship had blossomed into love last spring.
It didn’t matter to her whether they were married or not. She had been committed to JR in her heart since he saved her and the rest of the expedition members on the previous trip. If she were honest with herself, she’d have to admit she had feelings for him before that, but he’d just made it impossible to get close to him then. Rebecca had no doubt that he was committed to her when he moved in with her. She had faith in his love for her. He might have been a player before, but she was certain he was faithful to her now. Besides, she was a believer in the concept that people lived up, or down, to the expectations of their loved ones.
As long as she had faith in him, he would live up to it. In JR’s case, though, his sense of integrity had been so damaged by what happened during his hitch in the Marines that she worried about his state of mind when she wasn’t there to monitor. If someone expressed doubt about him, he would begin to doubt himself. Someday, maybe he’d heal. Until then, she intended to be at his side, his rock in a stormy sea, and his vocal advocate in a crisis. Rebecca had worked herself into tears by the time she got back to Boulder, but packing for her own departure was a good exercise to dry them again.
The trip from Denver International to Boulder was easily an hour and a half, longer at rush hour. By the time the send-off party was home, JR, and the construction crew were half-way to Dallas, where they would board a connecting flight to Miami, thence to Chile, Christchurch, New Zealand and finally to McMurdo. It was a grueling trip, but thankfully some of the flights were short enough to stretch the kinks out of their legs before the next one. JR in particular had a difficult time on planes, especially if there were no first-class accommodations. His legs were longer than ninety percent of the American male population, and he figured he would be in the top one percent in height if the population of the whole world were ranked. At six feet, ten inches, he’d almost been good enough for the NBA, if his college girlfriend hadn’t sent him into a tailspin.
The long flight gave all of them a chance to rest up from the going away parties. JR reckoned that he would sleep away a good portion of each flight. None of the construction crew had been to Antarctica, so between flights he gathered them into a tight circle and regaled them with tales of near darkness, unremitting daylight and howling winds. The last part was serious, even though he told his tales as if they were scary stories from around a campfire. On the previous expedition, one member had presumably been swept away by the wind when he failed to latch on
to the guide rope. His body was never found. Fortunately, the winds weren’t expected to be quite so fierce where they were going, but it was still fun to spook the men a little, now that they were committed to the journey.
When they reached Christchurch, JR recommended that everyone have a hearty and tasty meal, as it would be their last other than trail food until the mess building was up and the cook got to the camp. On the next day, they’d fly to McMurdo base, a facility that couldn’t be described adequately to anyone who hadn’t been there. None of these guys had even been in jail, that is, if their background checks had been accurate. That was the closest JR could come to describing an Antarctica base, having spent a few nights in jail on a disorderly charge for assaulting a cop before the last expedition.
~~~
Since they had to have a way to refer to the canyon where the base camp would be set up, JR had proposed Purgatory Canyon, as a contrast to Paradise Valley, the name the previous expedition had given to the hidden valley accessed through a system of caves. Though it wasn’t official, the name had caught on. The construction workers got their first taste of Antarctica there, since their arrival at McMurdo was followed only a day later by their helicopter trip to the canyon. JR got a kick out of the comments he heard, all good-natured griping about the weather conditions.
“I thought it was summer? Where’s the sun?”
“It’s bleedin’ minus sixty out here! What was I thinking?”
On the first day, JR and his assistant construction boss accompanied the heavy equipment transport and began surveying and laying out the camp as they waited the hour for the rest to arrive on the second helicopter. As soon as everyone was in place, JR called them together and set tasks. These two, including his assistant, would spray red lines on the snow to guide the equipment, those two would run the bulldozers to flatten the entire area, and two would begin setting up tents as soon as that section of the camp was leveled. They would first set up the two-man tents that would shelter everyone who was already here. The other five would take the first sleep shift as soon as their tents were set up. JR would be the sixth on the second-shift crew, but he would forego sleep until the first sixteen hours safely established the routines. During the sixteen hours of downtime while each man rested and his equipment was returned to readiness, he could sleep for any or all of them, and choose when to sleep and when to wake. All that was required was that they sort it out with their tent mates.
Every couple of hours, everyone on-shift would switch jobs after a break for a hot beverage and some food. The cold temperatures were debilitating, especially to humans who were working hard and burning the precious calories that they would have to replenish frequently. JR had already decided to use the cave as an informal shelter for the breaks. At minus thirteen Fahrenheit, it was almost warm inside compared to out in the open. He knew now that it was because of the heat leaking out of the hidden valley beyond the cave, and that was because of the volcano underneath it, a fact that still gave JR the hebejebes and had been suppressed in the media.
Until Robert arrived and had a better chance to study and evaluate the thermal wells within, it was assumed the volcano was asleep, if not extinct. Robert said if it were extinct there would be no heat, but JR didn’t know that much about geology. As far as he was concerned, if it was hot down there, it could erupt at any minute, despite Robert’s assurances that it wasn’t likely. Still, there was no sense in spooking the construction crews, who were assumed to be ignorant of the finer points of volcanism as well. So, they just didn’t tell them. If it all did blow up, they’d be dead and couldn’t sue them anyway, JR reasoned with graveyard humor. Because of the dangers that were well-known, most candidates for the position weren’t family men, either.
The first break came none too soon for any of the men, who filed into the cave with various exclamations of wonder and gratitude that they actually felt warm. Their cold-weather gear was state-of-the-art, or they wouldn’t have been able to complete their assigned tasks at all, nor stay outside for more than a few minutes, without encountering severe hypothermia. Layers of insulating fabrics inside coveralls that looked suspiciously like moon suits, as one of the workers dubbed them, retained the heat that the suits manufactured using an array of small rechargeable batteries. Generators were scattered among the tents, with cables snaking into each tent, both to power heaters for warmth when the occupants were inside and to recharge the suits’ batteries when they were off-shift.
Because from this day forward, the daylight would grow until there would be a couple of months when it was high all the time, no darkness to cue sleep, everyone had been issued a supply of melatonin and was encouraged but not required to take it. Each of the two teams would experience different ‘days’. JR expected the entire construction project to take a month or less. He had planned for every eventuality, including generator failure, damage to the environmental suits and potential trouble among the men. If worst came to worst and everything failed at once, they could all retreat to the valley and wait for rescue, but he was determined to show Daniel and everyone else that he was on top of this. As the work commenced, he observed his crew with pride.
~~~
Five days after work commenced on the base camp, the second wave arrived. These ten workers, plus a couple of explosives experts, a mining engineer and Robert Cartwright to consult and supervise, would begin construction of the rail line through the cave system and into the valley. Their tents were ready, and the mess building had been delivered although it wasn’t yet in operative condition. The next day would bring more material and supplies for the construction projects, along with the much anticipated arrival of the cook. Finally, they would have some decent food and a warm place to eat it.
JR and Robert greeted each other heartily. It had been months since they’d last been in each other’s presence, but they had developed a bond in the shared dangers of the previous expedition and a warm friendship followed. Keeping in touch by Skype, they knew each other as well now as if they had been friends for years. An awkward hug in the bulky environmental suits and a on each other’s back marked their reunion.
“G‘day, Cobber. Ow-yar-goin’?” was Robert’s greeting.
“Speak English, will you?” retorted JR, who had understood the greeting better than he let on.
Robert would share JR’s tent until the scientists arrived, but of course would move into his own when Rebecca got there. He made a bawdy remark, then immediately apologized as he saw JR’s serious face.
“Hey, mate, you know I was just arsing about. I’m sorry, didn’t think. The last time I saw you, you were on the rebound from your latest plaything.”
“True. I forgive you, but you need to know, I’m serious about Becca. She’s promised to marry me.”
“Congratulations, mate! And enough said. In fact, I’m looking forward to finding out if Cyndi is a goer to take up our fling again. We’ve emailed a few times, but I can’t read her.”
“She’s been busy learning a couple of new technologies for her stint here. She’s still responsible for the electronics, but now she’s doubling as our IT and communications person. Raj, our IT director, has really been putting her through her paces.”
“That’s good then. Anything between them?”
“No, Raj is married to a knockout. Cyndi couldn’t compete.”
“Hey! Don’t you slag off my girl, mate.”
“Dude, I have no idea what you just said, but I stand by my opinion. We’ll just have to agree to disagree, until you can get a look at Raj’s wife. Then you’ll agree with me.”
“We’ll see. Hey, when’s lunchtime around here? I’m starving.”
JR looked at his watch, which thankfully behaved itself outside the cave. “Coming up on first shift break time right now. Let’s go.”
On the way, JR asked Robert how long it would take him to understand the valley, which Robert was now calling a caldera.
“Not long. I’ve had some luck with a new technology
for seeing what’s underground, and I got some time with one of your government’s satellites for imaging. I can pretty much tell you what it’s all about right now. I’m mostly going to be confirming my conclusions with some deep-core sampling, if I can figure out how to get a drill rig in there. If not, I’ll probably be exploring the rest of the cave system to see how it all connects. I’m sure the thermal wells extend into the caves somewhere.”
Oh great, thought JR. So it’s under where we take our breaks, too. He forgot to guard his expression, drawing a laugh from Robert.
“Have you ever been to your Yellowstone Park?” he asked.
“Sure. Rite of passage for an American. I’ve been to a lot of the National Parks. Why do you ask?”
“Did you walk around wondering if there would be an eruption any minute?”
“No, of course not.”
“Well, I’d say that’s more likely than this one blowing. When you’ve got time, I’ll take you through the geology. It’s really pretty fascinating.”
“Wait, are you saying there’s an active volcano under Yellowstone?”
“I’m saying there’s a string of them. If they ever let go at the same time, the US will be done for, and it may usher in a new Ice Age.”
“Why did you tell me that, man? How am I going to get the nerve to go home?”
Robert laughed again at JR’s rueful face, certain that there was more truth in his question than he’d want anyone to know. He was going to have to set the guy at ease and figure out when this one had last erupted. More likely, it was a long stretch of mountain-building through less violent lava flows. The depth of the dome from the top of the cone was one clue that the molten rock underneath had sunk substantially since then. He’d venture a guess that the last flow was at least tens of thousands of years ago, maybe longer. Maybe it had all ceased when the bit of Australia that crashed into East Antarctica had come to its final resting place.