The Journal

Chapter Seven

After discussing the plan, the trio headed to start packing up the materials for the day in the sled that Adam would tow behind him. They gathered all the necessities that would prove vital to their day's mission in the Antarctic tundra. By the time they had everything loaded up and strapped down, the coastline of the peninsula was in sight. The group donned their arctic apparel, topping everything off with large, fluffy coats, and headed out to the deck. The crew helped them load the packed sled into the small Zodiac style boat that the college research team used to take between the Serenidad and the shore.

The three climbed in the Zodiac and were lowered into the dark, frigid waters of the bay. A short boat ride brought them to the shore just as the sun's golden disk appeared over the Antarctic horizon. Adam heaved the sled onto the snow-covered beach and struggled to wrap the sled's harness around his massive coat, which gave him the circumference that rivaled a yeti. They followed their old footprints along the trail toward the site where they had collected the previous samples.

Once they arrived, Grace wasted no time beginning to break down the equipment to transport west toward her desired site. Collins confirmed which way Grace had planned to go and urged her to be cautious.

"Don't worry, Professor. I'll be fine! I can literally see the spot I want to go to from here!" Grace reassured him, pointing off in the distance where she planned to go less than five hundred yards down a gently sloping hill. "I've got the walkie-talkie. If I need anything, I'll contact you." She finished returning to disassembling the small, manual drill assembly they used to retrieve the cores.

"Yeah, be on the lookout for any killer penguins!" Adam joked as his teeth chattered wildly.

The two-man crew made the short walk to the igloo-like ice cave they had constructed the first day they spent on the island before any cores had even been collected. Without discussion, they set up a method of preparing the samples. Adam would climb in the igloo to retrieve each categorized and sealed cylinder, while Collins organized them on a different sled in preparation for transport to the mock airfield. In under an hour, the two were making tracks toward the landing site just north of them. Once they reached the perfectly flat landing strip, there was no time for rest.

Collins's radio crackled to life with news from the boat Captain.

"The plane is making its final descent. ETA is four minutes. Shake a leg, Professor." The Captain relayed over the device.

Adam wrestled the harness off of his torso. The ice cores in his sled would make the aerial return trip with the collected, frozen tubes. Before Adam returned to Grace, his teacher gave one demand as he yanked the cap off a road flare, meant to signal the incoming plane.

"Adam, make haste, but with caution. We don't need any accidents out here."

Adam responded only with a curt nod of understanding as he spun around, heading back in Grace's direction. Just as he left, Adam could hear the roar of engines from the prop-driven plane in audible bursts in between swift Antarctic gusts. Without the drag of the heavy sled, Adam made the hike back to Grace in record time, pushed along from the breeze at his back.

"Perfect timing!" Grace yelled over a powerful gust of wind. "I've got everything set up, the drill sections are all laid out, and I'm ready to go."

The two young college students began the arduous task of manually drilling each ice core section by section, delving deeper and deeper into Earth's frozen climatic history. They took turns drilling until their arms grew tired, and they had to switch spots. Despite Grace's previous injury, she pushed through the pain, easily pulling her weight in the drilling task. Adam admired her determination to complete a task once she set her mind to it.