The Adventures of C.E.L.E.

A Vacation in Antarctica

After returning from their vacation in Hawaii, the C.E.L.E team decided that since there still weren't any cases to solve, they began to plan their next trip. They were considering either South Africa, Morocco, or Antarctica and finally decided to take a cruise to Antarctica!

After taking a few days to pack their bags, the young detectives flew to New Zealand and then boarded their cruise ship, the "Ocean Diamond," from there. The Ocean Diamond held 189 excited passengers (and two dogs) in many luxurious cabins. The team had two cabins reserved with a connecting door. Chary and Lila (and both dogs) shared one cabin, and Elliott and his sister Elina shared another.

Their final destination was continental Antarctica to view wildlife and go kayaking. A snowshoeing excursion was in the works too! But the main attraction and the reason many guests were on this cruise was the three-day trip to the South Pole via high-speed multi-passenger snow machines.

"Wow," Elliott exclaimed, "we have been to many exotic places, but I think going to the South Pole will be the coolest trip ever!"

"Cool in more than one way," chimed in the smiling Elina.

After five days of cruising on the water, the Ocean Diamond arrived near the shoreline of continental Antarctica, where the more adventurous passengers, about 80 of them, loaded into several smaller transport boats and sailed to a series of small docks along the shore. From there, the more significant group split up into ten groups of eight people, with each group boarding a high-speed snow machine for the polar trip.

On their third day traveling via snow machine, the caravan was finally closing in on the South Pole!

"I heard somewhere that there is actually a real pole at the South Pole," Elina said to Lila.

"Yes," said Lila, "And don't stick your tongue on it!" All eight passengers laughed because of that comment.

"There is not an actual pole at the South Pole," countered an annoyed Chary.

"There is too," said an eerie sounding voice coming from the bundled up man driving the snow machine, which were the first words he had spoken on the trip. "It's made of solid gold too," said the driver. The statement set off a wild debate among the passengers about the existence of the real pole and what made it up. All the while, the two dogs, Connie and Patch, growled somewhat quietly at the driver ever since he spoke those words learning a dark fact about him.

When the snow machine finally came to a stop, the passengers exited and could see a golden glowing pole in the distance.

"The South Pole!" exclaimed several passengers.

"I told you that there was a real pole in the middle of the South Pole," Elina said to an irritated and defeated-looking Chary.

"Take a good look at it..." mumbled the eerie voice of the driver who was sitting on an ice block taking a rest. "And tell these two very disgusting little mutts of yours to stop growling at me." After the driver spoke those words, the two dogs jumped up and pulled the face scarf off of the driver. The C.E.L.E team stood motionless in shock, staring at the one and only, the very evil Dr. Armando!

"But we thought you blew up in your lair!" Chary said.

"Muah ha ha ha... I just slipped into my bombproof panic room just before my lair blew up. I survived and have been planning the biggest heist of all time... stealing the South Pole!" And just like that, as the C.E.L.E. team stood in disbelief, they were quickly and quietly tied up by the Spermatos who were driving the other snow machines. The other passengers just stood frozen, not grasping what was happening.

Dr. Armando and the Spermatos then linked all ten of the snow machines together. Then, just by touching a few icons on his iPhone 7's evil rocket app, the chain of snow machines transformed into a long missile-shaped rocket ship. They then tied a titanium cable from the end of the rocket to the top of the golden South Pole. Once that chore was complete, Dr. Armando and the Spermatos entered the missile and started their sixty-second countdown. All the while, the dogs had been gnawing at the ropes that were holding the C.E.L.E team, finally setting them free. The youngsters quickly sprang into action, untying the titanium cable from the South Pole and tying it around a nearby large chunk of ice and rock.

As the countdown ticked off... ten, nine, eight... the rocket engines began to roar while the rocket moved into a vertical position. Three, two, one... blast off! Dr. Armando and the Spermatos took off with such a dominant force that the titanium cable snapped when trying to lift the large chunk of ice and rock. The evil doctor, seeing what had happened through the tiny cockpit window, yelled through the rocket PA speakers to the crowd below,

"You may have pulled a quick one on me this time, but I will be back to steal the South Pole, and when I do, you all will be nothing more than frozen mummies because you have no way to get back to your cruise ship... Muah ha ha ha ha!'

After a few minutes, the rocket was out of sight. After five minutes, everyone in the party could not hear the missile. Eighty, very cold passengers stood stranded at the South Pole as the sun started to set and the air was getting colder.

"Now what?" asked Chary.

"Hopefully, the cruise ship captain could see the rocket take off. He would know something was terribly wrong and should send help," replied Elliott.

"In the meantime," said Elina, "good thing we all have emergency rations and inflatable igloos in our backpacks. This should hold us over until help comes."

Sure enough, the ship's crew saw the rocket plume in the distance and knew something was wrong. They summoned the New Zealand Air Force, which sent several large rescue helicopters to bring the 80 passengers back to the cruise ship. After all that excitement, the Ocean Diamond quickly returned to New Zealand, where the C.E.L.E team boarded a plane to return to the US. On the long flight back, they contemplated the difficult tasks that may lay ahead now that the evil Dr. Armando was back in action.

The End