Beyond South Pole (ON INDEFINITE HIATUS)

Chapter 9: Antarctica

"We're here!" Kekoa was shouting in the corridor. "Everyone! Wake up! Feel the excitement! Get up, get up!"

Jacques could barely open his eyes. He felt like he had slept for only five minutes. When he finally was able to see something, he saw Talon. He was lying on his stomach looking tired, if not half dead.

"What is he yelling about?" Talon murmured.

Jacques made an "I don't know" sound. He was about to close his eyes when it finally sank in. He gasped, pushed his blanket away, and got up. He rushed to open the door and looked into the corridor. Kekoa was still marching around, telling everyone to wake up.

"Kekoa?" Jacques asked.

Kekoa looked at Jacques.

"Are we... there?" Jacques asked.

"Soon, In less than an hour. We'll go to the surface as soon as possible and then..." Kekoa smiled a little. "Then we're there."

Jacques went back into the cabin. He started poking Talon. "Talon, did you hear that?" he asked. "We're here! We're finally here!"

Talon just pulled the blanket over his head and didn't reply.

Jacques tried to add up all the days in his head. It had been a little over a week since the kitchen incident... They had been travelling for about 16 days. That felt almost too little. He hadn't realised how fast the submarine was. Or perhaps the distance from Southampton to Antarctica wasn't as long as he had expected.

He got dressed as quickly as possible and ran to the control room. Annalise was behind the control panel pushing some buttons. Kekoa was looking at the sea and seemed almost too calm. Did he not know what was happening? Or had he already freaked out before waking everyone up.

Kekoa glanced at Jacques once he heard his footsteps. "Oh, you're the first one here," he said.

"Can we see it already?" Jacques asked. He rushed over to Kekoa and pressed his nose against the window. The view was nothing but blue water, but he desperately wanted to see something.

"We're still in the sea, Jacques, so no," Kekoa said and laughed.

"Jacques, did you do something to your hair?" Annalise asked.

Jacques looked at her and frowned. "What do you...?" He touched the spot where he usually had his hair on a bun. "Oh," he said. He had been so excited he had forgotten to put his hair up.

"You look much more fun with your hair down," Annalise said.

Jacques narrowed his eyes. "Fun or funny?"

Annalise shrugged.

"I'll be right back," Jacques said and walked back to the cabin.

He didn't like keeping his hair down, because it had gotten pretty long in London. Being in the ship didn't help. No one here had even suggested cutting his hair, so it was growing and growing. Jacques didn't mind the length of it. He just wanted to keep it up so it looked like it was at least at manageable length.

Back at the cabin, Talon was getting dressed. He still seemed grumpy and half-asleep. Jacques looked at Talon's hair. It was also quite long, and Talon usually wore it on a low ponytail. Jacques wondered if he could wear a ponytail as well, but maybe his hair wasn't long enough for it to look as good. And was his face good for it? He had a much rounder face than Talon. They probably wouldn't be able to wear the same hairstyle and look as good as each other.

Talon was tying up his hair and frowned as he noticed Jacques' stare. "What?" he asked.

"Nothing," Jacques said and shook his head.