Colder Than Ice (10 page)

“I’m
not saying you have to like her, but you do have to work as part of a team.
That’s what I want to see: professional courtesy and teamwork.”

Allison
nodded and left the room. His revelations were like a shock of cold water to
her ego, forcing her to prove to him that she could rise above personal dislike
to secure her place on the expedition.

MICHELA
PULLED HER pack onto her shoulder. “Well, team, another task bites the
dust. At this rate we’ll be home in no time.”

“I
think that leaves the final navigation leg from here to the small peak over there.”
Allison indicated the way. “I’ll plot the next leg if you like.”

“Thanks,
Allison.” Michela looked at the tired faces of the people around her.
“If the rest of you can take a quick break, I’ll check in with John.”
She walked away from the group to the team supervisor.

“Why
the confused expression?” John asked.

“I
hope you don’t mind me saying but I feel as if someone’s stolen Alli and
replaced her with someone a hell of a lot nicer and much more
accommodating.”

John
chuckled. “Let’s just say we had a talk the night before we started this
final activity and there was a tiny bit of attitude adjustment involved.”

She
looked at Allison and shrugged. “Hell, I don’t care what you did, she’s a
different person. A heck of a lot more polite and very easy to work with.
Thanks for your help.”

“No
problem. I just think she needed to be set straight on a few matters.”

Michela
checked the position of the sun. “By my estimation this is the final leg.
Allison’s plotting the bound and we should be okay to go. Are you happy for us
to leave, or would you rather we camped here tonight?”

“No,
carry on. There’s enough daylight left, especially if Allison’s navigation is
as good as it has been. If not, then I suppose it will be tents again.”

Michela
groaned. “Camping is highly overrated. I think I’ll go and ensure the
navigation’s on the mark.”

Michela
walked to where Allison was briefing the group and waited until there was a
pause in the conversation. “What’s the plan?”

“Rather
than go up and down these mountains, I’ve decided that contouring around these
peaks might be the way to go. We’ll start here and then move to that
point.” Allison motioned toward a re-entrant three hundred yards in the
distance. “We’ll cross that and then make a steady climb toward Berester
peak. What do you reckon?”

Michela
checked her map and nodded. “Sounds fine. Lead on.”

John
interrupted before the team went any further. “Remember what I said about
things you can’t see. I’ve allowed you to walk without you being belayed
together mainly because I was familiar with the ground we were traversing. But
this area’s had a lot of new snow and I haven’t been out here for at least a
few weeks. I suggest we tie a belay rope between each member of the
group.”

Michela
supervised the activity, ensuring there was the required thirty yards between
each person. Allison stepped off, with Michela directly behind her. She watched
as Allison infrequently disappeared up to her waist in the snowdrifts, and then
continued ankle-deep in the snow.

Michela
turned to answer a question from Ewan. Almost simultaneously her feet were
swept from beneath her, and she slid uncontrollably along the snowy slope to
where Allison had just been standing. Michela vigorously hacked into the snow
with her snow axe to find purchase and halt her progress.

With
desperate effort, she finally managed to stop. She quickly rigged a makeshift
anchor point and ensured the rope was secure and under the control of two other
team members. Hearing Allison’s screams, she cut herself out of her belay rope above
the anchor point, and carefully edged forward.

Seeing
a break in the white, Michela lay on her stomach and slowly crawled to the lip
of the hole. She watched as Allison swung precariously by the rope attached to
her waist. “Whatever you do, try not to move around too much.”

Despite
Michela’s calming words, Allison continued to struggle as she attempted to gain
a foothold on the icy walls. “Don’t let me go. Get me out of here!”

“Alli,
stop moving around, honey. Alli, look at me.” Michela waited until she had
Allison’s attention. “Honey, I’m not going to let you fall, but you must
remain still. John’s anchoring off and he’ll be down there in a second, but you
must remain still.”

Allison
nodded, the look of panic barely masked on her face.

Michela
looked up in time to see John step off the edge of the crevasse. He slowly
maneuvered himself into a position that would allow him to attach a safety
harness to Allison, and it was a measured crawl back up the icy face before
John finally delivered Allison to the safety of the snow above.

Allison’s
shaky hands fought to release the clips of her makeshift safety harness.
Michela placed a reassuring hand over Allison’s. “Here, let me help,”
she said softly.

Michela
removed the harness and placed it to the side before turning back to Allison.
“It’s okay, you’re all right now.”

Allison
wrapped her arms around a surprised Michela. “Thank you for saving me. I
don’t know what would have happened if you didn’t stop my fall.”

Michela
gently stroked Allison’s back, strangely comfortable in her embrace. “It’s
okay. We all worked together and that’s what being a team’s about. You’d have
done the same for me had the tables been turned.”

Allison
looked up at Michela, the realization reflected in her face. “Yes I
would.”

John
lightly touched Allison’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”

Allison
stepped out of Michela’s arms. “Yes I am. I’m sorry about that. I guess I
didn’t look where I was going.”

John
shrugged, as if the near disaster was an everyday incident. “No harm done
as long as you learn the lesson. Never be distracted so easily and always check
the ground in front of you.”

Shoulders
slumped, Allison looked down at the snow, avoiding John’s gaze. “I suppose
that seals my fate then, doesn’t it? No going to Antarctica for me.”

John
gently tugged on Allison’s jacket and waited as she raised her head. “On
the contrary, as far as I’m concerned you’re going. You proved over the last
two days that you can rise above personal issues and get the job done. And this
incident, despite you being on the receiving end, you worked as part of a team,
listening to your team leader and doing as you were told. I’d say you’ve more
than passed the test.” He picked up the coil of rope used in the rescue.
“In fact I think you all have. I don’t know about you lot but I could do
with a good bath. Let’s head back.”

With
a small cheer, the team collected their belongings, tied off, and headed for
the lodge.

My
Darling Charlotte,

Despite
our most fervent prayers, we again encountered rough seas past Macquarie
Island. I had often heard it said the waters of the southern ocean were among
the most foreboding in the world and it is true. Fortunately this time half the
group managed to master their horrible bouts of seasickness. You can imagine
the relief of the men when the seas finally abated. That is, everyone except
cook, who is back to having to provide three meals a day for the lads.

After
so many days of rough seas, we finally found ourselves on what could only be
the Antarctic fringe. Chunks of ice abound, and every so often a small iceberg
sedately floats by the ship. While I understand some of these to be of mammoth
size, we are yet to see such a monster. However, the ones we have observed are
still of decent quantity, one such being approximately half the size of our
ship.

The
days grow longer here as we approach the continent, with little darkness to
speak of. This hasn’t been without its difficulties, as men struggle to sleep,
while their body perceives it to be the middle of the day. It will only be a
matter of time before we reach the pack ice and commence our steady traverse,
for a break that will lead us to the continent. All my love,

ERF

Hobart—2009

RICK
PEERED TOWARD the harbor through the hotel window that offered the smallest
glimpse of the orange-colored ship that would transport them to Antarctica.
“Are you sure that ship’s going to be okay to sail in? It hardly looks big
enough for the trip.”

Allison
looked up from her work and smiled. “Of course it will be. It’s one of the
newest icebreakers the Norwegians have. We’re fortunate the Southern Hemisphere
Antarctic Division is chartering it. If we’d ended up on a smaller ship we most
likely wouldn’t have had secure storage space for our equipment and
provisions.”

Rick
scratched his head. “If she’s one of the most modern there is, why
couldn’t we have gone sooner?”

Seeing
she was unlikely to get any work done, Allison put her pen and notepad on the
bed and sighed. “During the late autumn and winter, Antarctica almost
doubles in size. This makes it almost impossible for the icebreakers to get
near the bases they support. The first couple of weeks in October are when the
first ships start their journey. Hopefully by then the ice has begun to break
up. And the third week of November was the earliest we could get on the ship.
This is all in your information pack. Didn’t you read any of it?”

Rick
shrugged and snatched one of the complimentary biscuits from the top of the bar
fridge. “I would have if I’d more time. We’ve been flat out since
May.” He opened the fridge door and was disappointed to find it empty.
“I’m going to head up to the bar for a quick drink. You coming?”

Allison
shook her head. “No. There’s still a lot more stuff to go through here.
You go on and I’ll meet you there later. I think we’re all supposed to be there
by five anyway.”

Rick
was out the door before she finished her sentence. She rolled her eyes before
returning to the mess on the bed. The non-stop roller coaster of preparation
for the dig hadn’t been made any easier through the planning that had been
conducted from opposite ends of the world. Coupled with the basic logistic
requirements of the expedition, Allison had needed to ensure that the equipment
to be used at the site was environmentally friendly. This had been a challenge
she’d struggled with.

She
mentioned one such problem to Michela, who had included it in her regular brief
to Charlotte Finlayson. Charlotte’s resourcefulness and business contacts
solved the issue almost immediately. One of the U.S. bases was in the process
of testing a portable means of providing solar powered energy to remote
expeditions. They’d developed a unit robust enough to face the rigors of
extreme climate but were yet to test the equipment. A word from Charlotte had
secured the unit, as well as its delivery to the site. Allison couldn’t help
but think how fortunate it was that Michela had been providing regular updates
to her patron, or they may have never solved the problem.

Allison
reflected over the months since Mount Cook. While there’d been disagreements,
she begrudgingly admitted the two of them made a good team when they worked
together.
Still, she can be bloody stubborn at times
—
it’s a wonder
anyone puts up with her at all. She’s not bad for a Yank I suppose.
Allison
smiled and returned to her work.

MICHELA
WALKED TO the hotel reception desk and waited for service.

“Hey,
stranger, long time no see.”

Michela
turned around. “Hey, Sarah. It seems you’re always my welcoming
committee.”

“I
often lurk in hotel foyers, waiting to pounce on unsuspecting women.”

“Pounce
away but after the last six months I’m about dead on my feet. I tried your
suggestion and spent a couple of days in Melbourne before coming here, but I
still feel as if I could do with a week’s sleep.”

Sarah
sympathetically patted Michela’s back. “Alli didn’t give you too much
trouble did she?”

Michela
chuckled. “I’ll be honest, there were some days when I felt I was dealing
with more than one woman. There was one disagreement where I nearly had to
utter those awful words ‘I’m the leader and that’s the way we’re going to do
it.’ But most of the time we seemed to work well together.” Sarah picked
up one of Michela’s suitcases. Do you want a job as my valet or
something?”

“Very
funny. Hey, how’re things on the personal side?”

Michela
shrugged. “Not too bad. At least having to work long hours has meant
little time for a personal life. I never did thank you for your sympathetic ear
in the flight lounge in Christchurch.”

Sarah
waved away the thanks. “No worries. It was obvious you needed to talk
about Natalie. I didn’t think you could drink so much.”

“I
usually don’t.” Michela said. “Seriously though, it was good to get it off
my chest. And thanks for the motivational e-mails since then. Some days they
were just what I needed.” Michela smiled as she recalled Sarah’s regular
correspondence, and the many hints that Sarah was more than willing to take
their friendship to the next level. Michela knew that Sarah would only ever be
a close friend—a friendship Michela wouldn’t jeopardize with a night of what
would most likely be passionate sex.