Ninth Cycle Antarctica: A Thriller (A Rossler Foundation Mystery Book 2)

by JC Ryan

  In the end, the objections were overcome through Daniel’s famous powers of persuasion, and even the question of whether the parties involved in the Antarctica Treaty would agree was put to rest. After all, the overlap between the countries signing that treaty and the one governing the use of the Pyramid Code was almost total. It only remained to complete the budget proposal, arrange funding, and of course put the plans in motion.

  The U.S, Great Britain, Australia and, surprisingly, Chile, responded with generous funding offers and the expedition was set to go. Dr. Summers was elated, but he also knew that the approval was the easy part. Now would come extensive planning, recruiting and training, all to be accomplished before the short Antarctic summer began in October. It didn't escape his notice that it was already the end of March.

  ~~~

  The first order of business was to develop a more detailed budget to replace the estimate he’d presented to the Board. While that was taking place, formal applications to use scientific facilities of the Antarctica Treaty countries were being filled out and sent for approval. JR was proving quite cooperative in the repetitive task of filling out the pesky applications. Meanwhile Charles Summers was up to his ears in specifications for ground transportation, polar gear, and calculations regarding how much food a team the size of theirs would need during the planned five-month expedition.

  Included in the budget, was payroll for the team, transport to and from McMurdo Station in Antarctica, communications costs and all supplies. The final figure was staggering. Summers debated whether to forgo a salary, but in the end decided he deserved one, and wrote it in. He had applied for a sabbatical year to plan for and lead this expedition, which the school had granted readily, expecting the prestige of their faculty member to carry over to the University.

  Summers estimated that he would have to provide transportation, food and sometimes overnight lodging in state-of-the art polar tents for his team of approximately fifteen people. Two Tucker Sno-Cats, each capable of carrying up to eight people, alone cost over a quarter million dollars, not to mention the cost of transporting them to Antarctica. In addition each would need to tow a sled capable of carrying at least twenty tons of equipment and food. The research required to determine all of the equipment needed, along with food that would be appropriate for the conditions, took more than a week. When at last the budget was done, Summers submitted it to Daniel, who submitted it to the countries that had subscribed to the funding for the expedition. A committee of representatives from each of those countries met to go over and approve the budget, after which Summers was given the go-ahead to carry out the rest of the planning.

  A wrinkle had developed in his plans when representatives from each of the countries that were funding the expedition made a formal demand of Daniel that their own personnel be among the expedition members. Therefore, rather than simply recruiting the best that could be had of each specialty, careful selection had to be made among the available pool put forth by the countries involved. It was thanks to Daniel, whose legendary powers of persuasion served the Rossler Foundation well in cases like this, that Summers wasn't stuck with a hodgepodge of members that represented a strict division of personnel from each of the countries in question. How Daniel had managed to sort that out, Summers couldn't imagine. But the outcome was fortunate for the expedition. At least he now had a fighting chance to recruit competent team members.

  Summers had a bit of natural bean-counter in him, so each day he went home with a sense of accomplishment as his planning moved forward. By mid-April, he had finished the preliminary planning and was ready to begin recruitment of those members of the expedition whose expertise would contribute toward the more detailed planning that would be required before he could begin ordering supplies.

  Summers recalled that one of his original questions had been how early explorers, not only from the current cycle that was believed to be the 11th, but also from the 10th, managed to make their way to distant lands before maps had been drawn, and then home again. To his list of team specialties, he added ‘cartographer’. Antarctica was mapped already, but nothing had ever indicated that a city or cities might be hidden under the ice. A cartographer was essential to map any ruins that they found.

  His original research had been subsumed in the larger discovery that Antarctica had been populated. How was it possible, he thought, for such a forbidding climate to support a large city, or cities? Could it be that the climate had not always been so forbidding? What had changed to make it so? As an archaeologist, he was mainly interested in the ruins he hoped to find, and the civilization that had created them. But he was almost as curious about the geologic questions. Opening the appropriate window on his project management software, Summers again added a specialty, geologist, to his list.

  By now, the new map that Summers had requested prior to his momentous discovery had been delivered. Surprisingly, what Summers thought of as the 'tail' of South America was missing from the map, as well as Australia and the Antarctic Peninsula. On the other hand, the African and South American continents as they were arranged during the 10th Cycle bore a strong resemblance to maps of Gondwanaland that Summers recalled. He couldn’t remember exactly how long ago the supercontinents were said to have broken up, but he thought it was millions rather than thousands of years. Summers made a note to discuss it with the geologist he recruited, which would be one of the first team members he’d need. Maybe the answers to his questions would hold clues to the nature of the calamity that had destroyed the 10th Cycle.

  Chapter 7 – The Recruits

  Summers had plenty of experience of his own in recruiting archaeological teams, but deemed it a privilege to work with Nicholas Rossler, who was legendary in the field. Nicholas turned his own work over to his assistant for the time he needed to be able to help Summers. Together they created a list of characteristics that each member of their expedition must possess to be eligible for selection.

  First and foremost, the ability to work within a team. Both men had seen disastrous results from archaeological expeditions in which prima donnas were secretive about their finds, or argumentative with their fellow expedition members. Second, not only because it was good practice, but also because the harsh conditions required it, each member had to have a high level of intelligence and self-sufficiency. Even in summer, Antarctica could be fatal to someone who found himself alone on the ice without support. Summers was determined to bring home his expedition intact. A few would be required to have leadership skills, and Summers had his own ideas about which specialties should be represented by a natural leader.

  A study of any failed exploratory project, in fact, any failed human endeavor, would likely identify too many leaders and not enough followers as the reason. The opposite problem, that of few leaders and all followers wasn’t so likely to happen. Leaders almost always emerged in times of necessity, but the old phrase ‘too many chiefs and not enough Indians’ was descriptive of what happened when everyone was a born leader.

  There was even a name for the syndrome, Apollo, based on the findings of Dr. Meredith Belbin. Dr. Belbin had been one of the original gurus of teambuilding. During his tests, he selected teams of highly analytical individuals and then tested them against teams that were selected in traditional ways. It was expected that the Apollo teams, as he called them, would perform at a higher level than the others. However, that was not always the case. In analyzing what had gone wrong, Belbin determined that those of his teams made up of highly dominant individuals were ineffective at the tasks because those individuals were less likely to yield to the suggestions of others. When his Apollo teams did do well, it was because those teams lacked dominant individuals or had only one or two. As interesting as that study had been, making a mistake of that nature could be fatal to some or all in the case of an Antarctic expedition.

  In addition to those qualifications as well as expertise in the relevant specialty, Nicholas and Charles determined that each member of the team must speak fl
uent English, no matter what their native language was. Charles jokingly asked Nicholas if his scientists had not yet found records in the 10th Cycle library to make a Universal Translator such as the Star Trek crew had utilized.

  "You'd be amazed at what the translators have found," Nicholas responded. "I wouldn't be surprised if they did find specifications for such a device before they finish translating everything. If they find the specs, my researchers should be able to develop it."

  "Will either of us live to see the day when the entire library has been translated?” asked Charles.

  "I've heard it said that some people believe the secret to lives as long as Methuselah's could be contained somewhere in the library. If that's the case, maybe you will live to see that day. I'm not sure I want to preserve this old body for that many years," he joked. "Now, if all this had come about when I was young and full of vinegar, it might be a different story."

  Charles sensed that Nicholas had given this very idea some thought, however, he did not want to pry into the other man's personal philosophy.

  That brought up another question, though.

  "Shouldn't everyone be in peak physical condition?" asked Summers.

  “Oh, I would think so," Nicholas responded. "You don't want people getting sick or otherwise dragging the team down. How's your own conditioning, Summers?"

  "I'm sure I can hold my own, I hike, snowshoe and ski as often as I can."

  "No wonder you and Daniel get along so well. I know he's in his element now that he's moved to Colorado. It sounds to me like you'll do fine."

  "I suppose we should have some sort of physical and psychological testing, and it probably wouldn't be a bad idea for me to undergo it as well. Not that I would stay behind," he laughed.

  Nicholas gave him a serious look. "All joking aside, Antarctica can easily kill you. Be sure you really are in peak condition. You have several months to train for it; I'd recommend you start immediately."

  "Not a bad idea," Summers agreed.

  The last thing the two men specified was a background check. Nicholas was all too aware of international criminal organizations, that devil’s spawn Orion Society among them, that would love to either steal the research or sabotage the expedition altogether. Summers agreed that anyone whose background included gaps or questionable associations should be eliminated immediately. In that way, they wouldn't waste time and money further testing them for inclusion. If they had consulted Luke, he would have warned them that background checks could be fooled. However, they naively assumed that all background checks are created equal and would always provide a reliable and flawless result.

  As with the budget, Summers presented the final list of membership requirements to Daniel for approval. However, Daniel indicated that as long as Nicholas was satisfied, so was he. Summers insisted he read it over, anyway. Afterward, Daniel commented that it seemed to be very complete and was satisfactory to him.

  Summers made arrangements to put out the call for applicants in the newsletter of the Rossler Foundation, as well as several other respected scientific communiqués and on the website of the Rossler Foundation. The application page had barely gone active when applications from all over the world began pouring in. Raj was enlisted to program a way to eliminate unsuitable applicants without human intervention. In short order, he had linked the application database to a query that automatically eliminated those who didn't speak English, could not present credentials in the specialty for which they were applying, or answered 'no' to certain of the physical condition or health questions. Of course, that would not eliminate the liars who thought they could game the system, but it did cut down the applicants by nearly half.

  His task of sending out applications to the Antarctica Treaty nations for permission to use their bases had been completed for quite some time, so JR needed a new job. Summers gave him the job of responding to email after an auto responder had notified each applicant whether they were eligible for further consideration or not. Naturally, there were many who answered angrily when they received the email that they were not eligible. A second auto responder sent out a generic letter stating that one of the three considerations, language, credentials or physical inability, had been the reason for their elimination, a courtesy that was not appreciated by some. It was JR's job to personally answer those who persisted. The rest received emails directing them to various agencies within their respective countries where they would be fingerprinted, and told to wait for further communication.

  The next step was the background check, which eliminated perhaps a quarter of the remaining applicants. At this point there were still several thousand applicants for the fifteen or so spots on the team. These applicants were directed to a secure website where they took the first batch of several psychological tests, including the latest version of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, and several others that could be administered without personal interviews. Once again the pool of applicants was reduced by at least a quarter, based on acceptable ranges that were determined by psychologists contracted for the purpose. Those same psychologists would personally interview those applicants who passed the physical tests.

  The task of helping Summers develop a battery of physical tasks fell to Daniel and Sarah's personal physician, who turned out to be a Renaissance person in an attractive female body, with degrees in general and sports medicine as well as a psychology concentration in her undergraduate background. It was Dr. Rebecca Mendenhall who assisted Summers in determining what psychology tests could be administered online, as well as the tests for physical conditioning.

  Rebecca was the younger sister of Sarah’s best friend Cindy, but had become a good friend in her own right when Daniel and Sarah moved to Boulder. In an ironic twist, Rebecca more strongly resembled the tall, brunette Sarah more than she did her own much shorter blonde sister. The three often joked that the stork had brought Rebecca to the wrong house. When they were kids, Rebecca was an annoying little tag-along, but now she formed the third leg of a solid triad who did what Daniel called ‘girly’ things together; shopping, for example. When Sarah tapped her for the expedition planning role, she was happy to help.

  At this point, with still far too many applicants, it was decided that physical testing would begin in countries that had funded the expedition. Only if suitable applicants could not be found in these countries would teams be sent to physically test applicants elsewhere. This not only reduced the expense of testing everyone who had passed the initial psychological testing for their physical condition, but would satisfy the demands of those countries to have representatives on the expedition. Consequently, three teams of two personal trainers each would be sent to London, Melbourne and Santiago, to administer the physical conditioning test. American applicants were required to travel to one of four regional testing facilities.

  Surprisingly, another quarter of the remaining applicants were eliminated simply because they declined to make the trip for testing. Summers was philosophical about that, saying that anyone who wasn't willing to move heaven and earth to get to a testing center was likely not to be suited for the expedition anyway. When the physical testing was complete a manageable one-hundred and eighty-seven applicants remained, spread almost equally between the three largest countries, with about twenty living in Chile. These applicants were invited to travel to Boulder for a week of more in-depth psychological testing, with their expenses subsidized upon request.

  Summers had been exhausted by the pace of the testing, being involved at every step in numerous decisions, some of which he had not anticipated. Fortunately, each time he had required a consultant to assist him in making those decisions, Daniel's network had supplied one that was eager to be a part of this endeavor.

  As he watched the lithe young woman putting the testers through their paces and correctly performing the physical tests herself, Summers wondered if he could recruit her as the team doctor. As soon as she returned to his side, he asked her as if casually whether she spoke
a second language. As a man, he couldn’t help but admire her beauty and pleasing figure, noting that she bore a strong resemblance to Sarah Rossler, though she denied being related.

  Rebecca’s warm brown eyes sparkled with health and enthusiasm for life, and Summers thought she would make a great addition to the team if she would go. Since they expected to have some expedition members whose first language was Spanish, it would be helpful if the expedition doctor spoke it, even though those members also spoke English. That way, any lack on either side could be filled in by either the patient or the doctor.

  "Spanish," she answered. "You can't practice medicine in the Western US without having a passing knowledge of Spanish. I chose to learn it well, so that I could volunteer in free clinics in my spare time."

  "That's very commendable, Dr. Mendenhall. Do you actually have any spare time?"

  She laughed as she answered, "Not much."

  "I had a crazy thought," Summers said, speaking slowly to feel his way toward the answer he wanted. "Would you consider, maybe, applying for the spot of team doctor?"

  "I thought you'd never ask!" Rebecca cried, throwing her arms around the surprised Charles. "I just have to get one patient's approval."

  "Oh? Who would that be?"

  "I'm afraid that's confidential, Dr. Summers," she twinkled. "But, I'll ask her to tell you herself."

  Mystified, Charles just smiled. "I hope you receive her approval, or if not, that she will allow me to persuade her. I think you would be a great asset to our team. Assuming you can pass the psychological tests," he grinned, winking.

  Rebecca excused herself and left Dr. Summers watching the personal trainers perform the tests that they would administer the following week. Looking behind her, to see she was not followed, she found her way to Sarah Rossler's office.