| |
CHARS HELICOPTER. POLAR ICE SHEET:
“This is ridiculous, Sonja. I can’t stand just sitting here waiting to freeze to death.”
“I’m sorry this happened, Tom.”
“If we had a deck of cards, we’d have something to do.”
Brilliant blue light suddenly flashes inside the ice, and the air is ripped open by a bolt of blue lightning shooting up from behind the helicopter.
Tom feels the helicopter slide on the surface and shoves the throttle forward as he pulls up on the collective. The blue light suddenly blinks off as the helicopter climbs into the air, and they both stare out the window as he swings the aircraft away from the ice.
He looks at Sonja and smiles, grateful they’re free, then he turns the helicopter around to see what’s going on. They stare out the front window, trying to comprehend what is happening to the ocean.
The water below the wall freezes and the ice spreads across the water at eighteen-meters per second. The northern end of the elevated ice sheet moves south across the ocean as the water freezes and shoves against the original polar ice sheet. Tom gains altitude to watch the expanding ice sheet and notices most of the freezing is extending south. He continually increases their altitude to see the far southern edge as it continues to expand for nearly one-hundred and fifty-kilometers before abruptly stopping.
The new sheet of ice rises out of the ocean, shoving the old, smaller ice sheet higher into the air, creating a pyramid of transparent ice. When the new ice sheet stops rising, Tom rotates the helicopter three-hundred and sixty-degrees to see the extent of the freezing. The southern end of the Polar Ice Sheet is now one-thousand square kilometers larger, extending south, deeper into the Beaufort and East Siberian seas.
Tom looks over at Sonja. “Can you believe that just happened?”
“That is the problem, Tom. Nothing can freeze that volume of ocean so fast.”
“I don’t mean to argue, but something just did.”
“It is not a natural occurrence, Tom. Did you notice the perfect ninety-degree angle of the top edge of the ice? Nothing in nature is that precise.”
Tom notices the small silhouette of something red and white near the eastern edge of the ice sheet. “I think that’s a ship. We’d better go see if they’re okay.”
Tom applies full power to the engine and the nose of the helicopter dips down as their speed increases. As they close the distance, they see it’s a large cargo ship trapped in the surface of the new ice sheet.
Sonja sees small dark outlines moving around on the deck of the freighter and leans forward in her seat. “They are climbing off the ship! Call them on the radio, Tom! Hurry. Let them know not to get out of the ship or they will freeze to the ice!”
“The radio doesn’t work, remember?”
“We are a long distance from the GPS unit now, so maybe it will work this time.”
Tom reaches down and changes the radio frequency. “This is the CHARS research helicopter, calling the red and white ship trapped in the ice. Come in, please.” No one answers. “I say again, this is the CHARS helicopter calling the red and white ship trapped in the ice. Please come in.” He looks over at Sonja. “The radio signal must still be jammed. It isn’t working.”
“Can we go faster?”
“We’re already at full speed. Let’s hope they realize what’s happening.”
As they draw near, Sonja and Tom can distinguish several people standing at the ships railing. “We might be too late, Tom.”
Tom presses the button on his headset. “Calling the ship stranded on the ice. This is CHARS research helicopter approaching your vessel. Please come in.”
“I see you, CHARS. What the hell just happened?”
“Do not step onto the ice. Your feet will freeze to the surface.” Tom waits for a response. “Did you hear me?”
“Yes, but it’s too late. One of my men stepped onto the ice just after it froze around the ship. His boots froze to the surface, and an instant later, he was frozen solid. The strange part is once the ice stopped rising into the air, his boots came free and his body toppled over onto the ice sheet and shattered into pieces. My men are bringing his body parts back onboard right now, and they are starting to thaw. My men don’t seem to be having any problems walking around. I guess once it stops rising, the surface isn’t as cold as when it freezes the water.
“I’m sorry we weren’t able to call you sooner. Can you call for help?”
“We just did, and they’re sending a helicopter to pick us up.”
“Good luck.” He looks over at Sonja. “What’s next?”
“We go back and tell Peter what happened. It will not sound believable over the radio.”
“I sure as hell wouldn’t believe what just happened if I hadn’t seen it.”
“I cannot understand how something like this can be possible.”
Tom swings the helicopter around on a southeast heading, back to Cambridge Bay.
***
CHARS. CAMBRIDGE BAY, NUNAVUT:
Sonja sits across the desk from Peter Hendrix and explains what happened. “Do you know anyone who could explain this, Peter?”
He lightly shakes his head no. “It’s hard enough just to describe what happened, much less put a label on it. Whom would we contact? You’re the leading glaciologist, Sonja.”
She stares across the desk and nods agreement. “Perhaps, but I do not know how sea water can possibly freeze that fast. That question is for physicists, not glaciologists. Whatever caused this did it twice.”
“I wonder what effect this will have on the atmosphere? Maybe the planet will cool down again.”
Sonja stands and looks down at Hendrix. “It happened too quickly. Nothing good can come from this, Peter. I have a friend in the United States who is well connected to the scientific community. I will explain it to him and see what he says. He will know who to contact. I will call you when I have answers.”
Sonja walks out of the administrative building and across the compound to the research facilities. They include laboratories and living quarters for the research scientists from all parts of the world, now stationed at CHARS. The structures were originally built to study the ice cap, and the accommodations were designed against the cold, but now, because of the global warming and the reduction in the size of the ice sheet, it’s been very comfortable with the windows open.
Now, the new ice sheet is beginning to have an effect on the temperature, and Sonja zips up her lightweight jacket against the sudden chill in the air. Perhaps Peter is right, but it is happening too quickly. She knows the planet is a living entity and has always reacted violently to sudden changes.
***
BOZEMAN MONTANA:
Alex’s cellphone rings, and he recognizes the ID as Sonja Hanspevin, from the CHARS station in Northeast Canada. He met the attractive blond Icelander at the same conference three months ago, and they enjoyed drinks at the hotel bar before he flew home the next morning.
“Hi, Sonja. This is a coincidence.”
“Hallo, Alex. Good of you to take my call,” Sonja replies, then gets right down to business. “It seems we have a serious problem with the Polar Ice Sheet.”
He loves her accent. “What kind of problem?”
“The elevation and size of the ice sheet has increased dramatically, and the new ice is made from purified water. It is completely transparent.”
Alex stares at the world map on the wall. What the hell is going on? Two significant events in the same day? “How long ago?”
“It happened twice today. One this morning, and the other two hours later. It is difficult to describe, and I wish I had a recording to show you. It froze one-thousand-kilometers of ocean to a depth of one-hundred-meters in only three minutes.”
How can that be possible? Alex remembers David seeing clear ice in the Arctic Ocean. He stands and paces in front of the map, staring at the polar region north of Canada. “Who have you contacted about this?”
“That is the problem, Alex. I do not know whom to contact. I was hoping you would know someone.”
Alex thinks about it. “I don’t know anyone, either, but I’ll do what I can. I was trying to remember that man we met at the conference. The one that looked like a hermit.”
“I remember him. He had strange looking hair and beard. I saved his information on one of my cards because he was such an interesting character. Here it is. His name is Wesley Patterson and here is his number.”
“Thanks, Sonja. I’ll keep you informed on what I discover.”
“Thank you, Alex. Bye, love.”
Alex enters Patterson’s number and leaves a message. “Hello, Mr. Patterson. This is Alex Cave. I would appreciate it if you called me.”
He turns off the phone, and a few seconds later, it rings and he recognizes Patterson’s number. “Hello, Mister Patterson. Thanks for calling me back so soon.”
“Hi, Alex. I remember you from the convention in Iceland, but I didn’t know you were Robert’s son until I got home. I live up the mountain from your Ranch. Don’t you work for the government?”
Interesting question. “No, I don’t. I’m an instructor at a college in Bozeman, Montana.”
“Good. I don’t work with the government anymore. What can I do for you?”
“I’m calling about that seismic event in Victoria. I was told it was not an earthquake and I’ve been asked to find out what happened. I wanted to get your opinion about what might have caused it.”
“Any chance you can fly out here to Washington, Alex? There’s something you need to see.”
Alex looks at his desk calendar. His students are leaving to study the Yellowstone volcano with his friend Jerry Mercer for the rest of the week, and with the state holiday next Monday, he has seven days until he’s due back at the College. “I’ll fly out today and give you a call when I reach Sparrow Valley.”
“Good. I look forward to it.”
Alex makes a quick call to the dean of the college to let her know where he is headed, then arranges to fly to Seattle, Washington.