The Immortal Harvest

by L. J. Wallace

  Matt could feel his blood pressure begin to rise as his heart started to beat quicker. His thoughts raced to find logical reasons for Bob’s lack of response. He began to doubt himself.

  Did I check the batteries in Bob’s radio?

  He went over his checklist in his mind. Satisfied that he had checked the radio batteries he turned back towards the camp. He needed a new plan.

  He decided the best course of action would be to go back to the camp and follow Bob’s track in the snow and hope that any fresh snow flurries had not already erased them. He was cognisant of the fact that the weather was about to close in again. Huge black clouds were piling up, threatening to unleash more of nature’s fury. He picked up his pace as a flush of anger surged through him.

  Damn it Bob! You better not be messing with me

  It took twenty minutes for him to make it back to their camp. He surveyed the scene; there were no signs of disturbance. He left to follow Bob’s tracks which had led away from the camp in the opposite direction. He tried the radio again.

  “Bob, this is Matt. Please respond, over.”

  He left his finger off the button and listened intently for the slightest trace of a response. The radio was silent. He quickly flicked through the emergency frequencies and heard nothing but the background noise of the Universe. He angrily thrust the radio into his jacket pocket and stomped off across the bleak expanse.

  After following the trail for a couple of kilometres Matt approached a cluster of boulders. The tracks were confusing. They appeared to be smeared. There was no distinction in the tracks as if they had been swept or rubbed out by something. It was then that he noticed the blood. An involuntary shudder raced up his spine.

  What the hell has happened here?

  His blood ran cold. There was lump in the pit of his stomach. He knew that something horrible had happened. He took a closer look at the ground around where he stood.

  The ice was covered in a slick red stain. There was a definite trail leading away from the rock cluster that looked as if something had been dragged. He followed the trail.

  Within fifty meters there was another cluster of rocks. He stopped. He could hear moaning coming from behind one of the boulders. He ran towards the noise. He could feel his pulse pounding in his ears.

  As he rounded the boulder, he was terrified to be confronted by a massive leopard seal. It appeared to be gnawing on a bloodied mass of flesh and fabric. Matt’s confusion was overshadowed by a surge of adrenalin when he realised that it was one of Bob’s legs, the rest of his body obscured by the beast.

  Running on pure instinct, Matt moved quickly, circling around the beast as he released the clip on the flap of the scabbard of his hunting knife and swiftly extracted the blade.

  What I really need is a bloody elephant gun, he thought as he finally had Bob in full view and he could see that he was writhing on the ground swearing, and trying desperately to kick the huge animal with his free leg.

  “Get the fuck off me ya oversized tub of lard,” Bob screamed as he struggled to free himself from the growling giant.

  The massive seal threw back its head. The movement tore further into Bob’s flesh and he screamed in agony. Blood spurted and splattered across the rocks and snow.

  The adrenalin associated with Matt’s fear motivated him to action. He raised his knife and lunged at the animal, landing awkwardly on the beast’s blubbery back, using his momentum to plunge the knife into its bulbous shoulder.

  The giant seal roared, instantly letting go of Bob’s leg as it threw its enormous body upwards in an attempt to dislodge his assailant.

  He jumped sideways off the seal’s back, pulling the knife from the beast’s shoulder and then in one swift movement he plunged the knife into the beast’s side.

  The seal roared again and swung its giant head around in an attempt to latch on to Matt’s arm. Luckily for Matt, the knife wound had proven fatal as the beast expelled one last breath of agony and despair as it collapsed on the ground. Blood spurted from its gaping wound. Miraculously he had punctured through layers of blubber and had lacerated the beasts liver. Within seconds the animal was dead.

  Just to be sure, Matt grabbed the knife and slashed the animal across its massive throat.

  “Die you bastard!” he screamed, as the blade sliced through the layers of blubber around its thick bulbous neck, causing a torrent of gore to discharge on the ice.

  The adrenalin continued to course through Matt’s body. He gasped for breath as he tried to control his breathing. After several moments had passed, he had regained control sufficiently to render Bob assistance.

  He grabbed his emergency medical kit out of his back pack and rushed in behind the boulder to where Bob was lying. He was covered in blood. Matt suppressed the urge to vomit as he tried to assess his injuries.

  During Matt’s life or death struggle, Bob had passed out from the pain and by the time he had regained consciousness, Matt had managed to stitch up the jagged wounds on his leg.

  He had melted ice using an instant heat pack and used the water to clean up the blood. He had to move quickly to cover the leg with a thick layer of bandages to prevent the wound from freezing.

  In his struggle with the seal, Bob had had his balaclava torn off. Matt saw the familiar black headwear on the bloodied snow and as he went to retrieve it, he heard Bob moan. He turned and smiled as he witnessed the confused look on Bob’s face be superseded by contortion, as the pain from his injury invaded his consciousness.

  He strode quickly back and pulled the balaclava back over Bob’s head. He placed his hand on Bob’s shoulder and held out his hand.

  “You were lucky. I managed to patch you up. You don’t appear to have any broken bones.

  “Here, take these codeine tablets, they will help with the pain,” Matt said as he handed Bob a cup of the melted ice water and poked the tablet under Bob’s balaclava.

  “Thanks mate, I owe you one,” Bob said as he hurried to slurp the water before it resumed its solid state.

  “I have been trying to contact you on your radio. What happened to it?’ Matt said as he looked around at the aftermath of the attack.

  “I threw the radio at that nasty son of a bitch. It caught the bloody thing in its mouth and crushed it.

  “The ugly prick caught me by surprise while I was taking that piss. Lucky you found me when you did. I thought I was a goner.”

  Matt couldn’t help but laugh at the comical image.

  “Come on we had better get you back to the camp. The weather is closing in again,” he said as he helped Bob to his feet. “Here, lean on me, I’ll help you walk.”

  “Fuck off, I’m not an invalid. I can walk by myself,” Bob said angrily as he gingerly stood and placed weight on his injured leg.

  “Ok suit yourself but you had better hurry up or we’ll lose our tracks back to the camp.” Matt said as he turned to leave.

  “Yeah, yeah I’ll get there,” Bob said as he began hobbling in pursuit of Matt.

  By the time the two geologists had returned to the camp, the first blasts of icy wind were beginning to increase in intensity. They had to shout at each other to be heard.

  “I think it might be best to hunker down and ride this one out, we’ll head off again in the morning. Your leg should be a bit stronger by then,” Matt yelled as he made exaggerated arm movements and hand signals to make his point.

  “Good idea. I could use the rest to recuperate. By the way, I’m starving; do you have any of those fancy rations on your sled?”

  Matt struggled against the wind to retrieve the pack containing the instant heat meals or fancy rations as Bob called them. The large waterproof sack which contained the meals had been opened. The meals were gone. He turned towards Bob and shrugged and then began rifling through every pack on the sled. His search proved fruitless.

  “They’re gone.”

  “What do you mean? How could they be gone? I haven’t eaten them. Have you?”

  “No of cou
rse I haven’t eaten them. Check your sled. They can’t just disappear.”

  “First the snowmobiles disappear and now the food. There’s something strange going on. Maybe we should contact Byrd station and alert them to our situation,” Bob said as he opened each of the packs in his sled and scrutinised the contents His search also proved fruitless.

  “I’ve already tried to contact them. I think the storm is interfering with the signal. I’ll try again in the morning. Have you found anything in your gear?”

  Bob shook his head and yelled to be heard over the roar of the wind.

  “We had better sleep in shifts. I think one of us should stay awake to keep an eye on our stuff.”

  “That’s a good idea. You need to rest up and let that wound heal a bit Bob. I’ll take the first watch and I will wake you in four hours,” Matt said as he sat down on his sled.

  “I’m not sure if I’ll be able to sleep. I am still hungry,” Bob said as he patted his gut.

  Matt reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a muesli bar and handed it to Bob. “Here, eat this, it should be enough to help you sleep.”

  Bob grabbed the muesli bar and tore open the wrapper. Matt could tell by his moans of pleasure that Bob relished the crunch of the muesli in his mouth.

  “I don’t suppose you’d have an unfrozen beer in that pocket of yours would you mate?” Bob asked in a hopeful tone.

  “Sorry Bob. You’ll have to wait until we get back to Byrd. Now get some sleep, we’ve got a long trek tomorrow. We are going to have to get that sample and get back to Byrd station as soon as possible. We’ll perish quickly without a sufficient calorie intake. We may have to eat that seal.”

  “Yeah, why not, the bastard tried to eat me.” Bob said and then laughed briefly before wincing as the pain of his injury bypassed the numbing effects of the Codeine.

  “Anyway I am feeling a bit tired, make sure you stay awake and give me a shove when you want me to take a turn at watch.”

  Matt nodded knowingly as he watched Bob crawl into his tent and secure the zip.

  * * *

  A few hours had passed slowly as Matt sat on his sled and huddled against the biting wind. Unfortunately, as relatively comfortable as he felt, he knew that he needed to be moving to guard against giving in to the urge to sleep.

  He stood up and started pacing. He shook each leg as he took a step to ensure proper blood flow.

  He windmilled his arms to keep the blood flowing to his fingers. As he walked, he munched on a muesli bar and peered intently into the gloom of the blizzard.

  The never ending pale Antarctic summer sky was punctuated intermittently by the clouds that raced along, dumping their payload of snow onto the stark bleak monotonous terrain. Gradually the howling wind began to abate.

  Matt checked his watched. Over three hours had elapsed. Even though he knew he was beginning to succumb to the somnambulant affect of the cold, he decided that they needed to get going. He had a disturbing sense of dread that he just couldn’t shake.

  I’m going to have to wake Bob early, he thought as he strode towards Bob’s tent. He opened the tent zip and shook his leg. Bob moaned.

  “What the fuck do you want?” he slurred in a post slumber voice. “I was dreaming I was lying on a tropical Island with two beautiful women.”

  “Come on Bob, get up. The blizzard has abated. We should get to Vinson Massif Mountain before the next blizzard gets here.”

  “Don’t you want to get some shuteye?” Bob asked as he struggled to extricate himself from the tent.

  “As nice as that sounds, I think it best if we get moving, we have no snowmobiles or rations. The longer we stay out in this weather, the greater the risk that we won’t get back” Matt said as he began packing his tent away “In other words, the quicker we get there, the quicker we can get back to Byrd Station for some food.”

  “Yeah mate, and don’t forget the beer,” Bob said as he finally shuffled out of his tent and began to pack it away. Matt laughed at the comment.

  After checking the GPS co-ordinates, the two men continued the trek to Vinson Massif Mountain. They walked for quite some time before Bob broke the silence.

  “So what do you think we’ll find when we get there?”

  Matt paused for a moment before answering Bob’s question.

  “I’m hoping that there are a number of mineral veins contained within the mountain. I still don’t believe that there is a naturally occurring Beryllium, Iridium, Cobalt and titanium compound.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that. Those minerals are pretty rare on Earth but they are fairly common in space.”

  Matt stopped and looked at his friend. “Do you think that there is a meteorite buried beneath that mountain?”

  “Well I’m not big on my knowledge of space stuff but that would explain a lot.”

  “Yes that’s true. But I have not seen any record of such a large meteor hitting the Earth near one of its poles. Surely a meteorite of that size would have been discovered long before this.”

  “That’s not entirely correct. This area we are in is not under any particular nations’ jurisdiction. The rock could have remained undetected for quite awhile. We could be on the verge of making a monumental discovery.”

  “If you are correct we will call it the Rojerson – Webb meteorite.”

  “Is that right? Why is my name last? It’s my idea.”

  “Ok if there is a meteorite in Vinson Massif Mountain we’ll call it the Bob Webb meteor. How does that sound?’

  “I like it. Hey speak of the devil, there it is,” Bob pointed out towards the range of mountains that loomed ahead of them.

  “That looks like the Sentinel Mountain range. Vinson Massif Mountain is the highest and most southern mountain. That sucker is over sixteen thousand feet high.” Matt said and he frowned when he noticed how stiffly Bob was walking. He smiled and said as cheerfully as he could. “I hope you’re feeling strong.”

  “You’re forgetting that I’m an Aussie mate. I’m up for the challenge, let’s do it – oh and by the way, when are you yanks going metric like the rest of the world?” Bob said as he laughed and then pushed on towards the mountain.

  Matt smiled but refrained from commenting as he noticed by the way Bob limped, his leg must have been aching from the wound caused by the leopard seal.

  He frowned as he realised that it was going to be hard for him to climb. It would be much more difficult for Bob. He pushed the thought out of his mind and focussed on getting to the base of the mountain.

  Despite the arduousness of the task, within an hour they had reached the base of the mountain. They looked upwards in awe of the spectacle of the mountain that towered into the Antarctic sky. Its slopes covered in snow, huge blocks of ice and giant black boulders. Thin wispy streaks of cloud caressed the slopes like lovers reluctant to leave their earthly embrace.

  Matt gestured to Bob.

  “We’ll set up a base camp here. You can start unpacking the sled while I try to contact Byrd.”

  Matt grabbed the radio and moved away from the sled and stared out over the expanse between them and the start of the base of the imposing mountain. He could see the streaks of blue and green smear the sky as the cosmic cloud of ions fought their timeless battle against the magnetic lines of flux above the Earth’s poles.

  He attempted to contact Byrd station from several different vantage points. His frustration was evident when he finally trudged back towards the flimsy structures that Bob had erected. He reached the sled and jammed the radio back into its container and then turned to his friend who was stuffing the sleeping bags into the tents.

  “I don’t get it. The storm has passed, the sky is clear and I still can’t reach them,” he said with disappointment in his voice.

  “Don’t worry about it mate. It’s probably just interference from old Aurora Australis. How about we try again when we’re higher up that bloody mountain, maybe the reception will be better.”

  “You
’re probably right. Besides, Byrd station will be monitoring how long we’ve been away. They’ll try to contact us and if they fail they’ll send out a rescue team. We’ll stick to our plan and make the climb in the morning. Any luck we’ll be back in nice warm beds before they even miss us.” Matt said as he began clambering into the tiny tent.

  He suddenly felt the effects of the adrenalin wearing off. His energy levels were dropping. He needed sleep.

  “Listen Bob, I really need a rest. Would you mind taking the first watch?”

  “Sure, no worries mate. Have a kip and I’ll give you a nudge in a couple of hours. I’ll just sit here and enjoy the light show.”

  * * *

  The low growling rumbling noise was the first thing to filter through Matts mind as it struggled against the sleep toxins that were attempting to pull him back into unconsciousness. Suddenly his whole body rose up from the solid sheet of ice below him.

  Sensing the danger, he quickly left the tent and rushed to the sled. His vision was blurry from the effects of the shaking. He knew that they were somehow being affected by a subterranean event, an earthquake, or to be more precise, an Ice quake.

  Impossible!

  The rational Geologist in his mind knew that apart from the area around Mount Erebus, the Antarctic region was the most geologically stable region on the planet with millions of tons of ice helping to subdue the ground below them.

  Nevertheless, He rushed over towards the slumped, sleeping form of his friend.

  “Quick Bob, help me! We need to get ourselves off this ice sheet and get onto solid ground as quick as we can.”

  Matt lashed the reins of his sled around his waist and began heaving the sled in the direction of the mountain. He froze when he heard the deafening crack as the sheet of ice on which they were standing began to split apart.

  He heard Bob’s sudden yelp as the crack appeared suddenly below his feet and widened a split second later to a yawning chasm. Bob’s feet disappeared from under him as he dropped into the chasm, his sled plummeting after him.

  Matt looked on in anguish as his friend disappeared. He was unaware that Bob’s split second thinking had enabled him dodge the sled and grasp an outcrop of ice.