Something From Below

Snowfall

The days seemed longer and longer all the time. I guess Winter was right around the corner, with pale frost covering the ground most nights, and the cool autumn wind becoming decisively sharp. Long cold days, becoming longer still.

I felt weary.

Staying inside most of the time, I felt a shut in at the Arctic research station just south of the Arctic Circle, Camp Davis. Truth be told I felt more like a siberian prisoner, taken far from civilization. The only difference is I signed up for this.

Why did I sign up for this? I was starting to regret the decision I'd made... but I'd only a few months left in this gig and then I would soon be back state side, enjoying a margarita and basking in the sun. Ahhh, how that'd feel. I imagined myself in the glimmering heat, feeling at ease, a cool refreshment in my hand.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

The radio blared at me. I picked up the receiver and pushed talk.

"Hello, this is Guy, how are you?"

"Guy, hey, doing good bud, it's Pike, I need you to come down to the Main Station for a second, is that alright?"

"Yeah, sure, just let me finish up some notes and I'll be over there in 15 minutes or so, over".

I placed the receiver down.

The Research building I was in was only one building of a larger complex of structures spread out in a small area. This Station was a little further away from the rest but was cozy, large enough for a few people and allowed some lab analysis with the tools stocked.

I began to put on my coat and winter gear, before opening the hatch and stepping out into the cool arctic weather.

The cold began to bite almost instantly, nipping at my face. I pulled the drawstring of my fur lined hood a little closer before continuing to the Main building. The banks of snow were deep and my foot prints were like large craters. I kept trekking towards the building, feeling the wind pushing at my back like a sail. I hobbled, moving rather quickly, and was about 75 percent to the station.

A little further I thought

I kept plowing through, leaving behind craters of packed snow. The winter landscape around me seemed barren and endless, a vast tundra, giving way to a vaster ocean of arctic water and sea ice beyond.

I finally reached the building door, my face feeling like a block of ice. Temps must be atleast 30 celsius right now, I thought, shivering a little.

Retching the door open, I made my way into the larger Main Station building, through the entrance foyer, and into the Commons. Pike was sitting at the table, reading through a report.

I walked over to the table, looking at him as a I approached. He continued to read intently. I cleared my throat. Pike looked up.

"Guy"

"Pike, Good day".

"You as well, sit"

I sat down at the round table, across from Pike.

"I need you to go back over a report from last week, from Collection Site Epsilon."

"Sure. Well... I don't really have much else to say, it's all in the report. Really. It's weird, I think you should re-read the report as I've never seen anything like this. You've been here longer than I have, I'm getting this right aren't I?" I said.

"That's what I wanted to discuss. I need you to rerun those core samples from the ice, I think some of the readings you are getting are way off. According to your data, some of the top layers are a few years old, but there's ice underneath that's been there for millennia. Hundreds of thousands of years. That can't be right, the areas seen too much variation to be that frozen." Pike glanced away after finishing, uncertainty on his face.