Friday’s hands were zip-tied, there was gaffer tape covering her mouth and she was lying face down across the back of a snowmobile. And, if that wasn’t deeply unpleasant enough, as the snowmobile raced across the arctic tundra it threw up snow spray into her face. It was horrible – cold, wet and incredibly hard to breathe with her mouth covered. She fought to suck in air through her nose, but there was as much snow going in as oxygen. Friday started to panic. Not breathing was not good. She didn’t want to die, but she particularly didn’t want to die because an idiot had not realised that if you put someone face-down on a moving snowmobile, you’re going to blast snow in their face. After all she’d been through, she didn’t want to meet her end because of a stuff-up.

Friday had to move, but it was really hard with her hands tied behind her back. She tried to brace her foot against the side of the snowmobile, but her boot dipped into the snow and the forward momentum almost ripped her foot off.

Friday tried something else. She pulled her knees in close to keep her feet up and rolled onto her side. Her back was to the back of the rider. Any snow spray was now hitting her in the back of the head. Finally, she could breathe. She dragged in desperate lungfuls. It was physically painful because the air was so cold, but it felt good to get oxygen back to her brain.

When she started to feel more in control of herself, Friday finally opened her eyes. What she saw was shocking. They were on the uninhabited side of the mountain, travelling away from the town and the Seed Vault. It should have been dark, but it wasn’t. The sky was lit up by an eerie green glow – like someone had swooped a paintbrush full of light in big, dramatic gestures across the sky. It was unearthly.

Friday’s first thought was – it’s an alien invasion! Then her rational mind took over. She was in the Arctic Circle in autumn. This must be the aurora borealis – the northern lights. The snow looked black compared to the spectacular show as solar radiation shot down through the earth’s atmosphere and danced like curtains rippling in a breeze. It was beautiful. It crossed Friday’s mind that if she was going to die, at least she’d seen this first.

They were far from the Seed Vault now. Even if she got away from her captors, there was no way she would be able to make it back in the brutal conditions. Friday squinted into the darkness, trying to gauge how far they had travelled. It must be at least five kilometres already. It might as well be five thousand. It would be impossible to navigate that far on foot in the deep snow.

That was when she noticed that the landscape wasn’t just a blanket of snow. There was something. At first she thought it was a rock. But the rock was growing bigger, or rather, whatever it was, it was moving towards her. It was hard to make it out in the glow of the aurora borealis. Then she realised – it was another snowmobile. Who would be foolhardy enough to chase after them in such dangerous conditions? Ian!

If someone was going to launch a desperately futile rescue attempt, it had to be him. But he might never catch up and he could easily lose sight of them in the dim light. If Ian was going to save her, she first had to rescue herself. Friday pulled one knee up onto the back of the snowmobile, braced herself – then leapt off.

This did not go well. Friday had assumed she would land in the snow, get up and start running towards Ian. She hadn’t realised how deep the snow was. Friday was not a skier. She wasn’t experienced with how snow worked in large quantities. Certainly not arctic quantities. She found herself in a deep hole pressed into the snow. It was very hard turning herself around and getting up with her hands tied behind her back. When she finally got to her feet, it was to discover that the snow was chest deep. She tried to push through it, but she couldn’t.

Friday wanted to call out to Ian, but she still had tape over her mouth. Besides, he’d never be able to hear her over the roar of his snowmobile.

Friday turned to check on her captors. There were six snowmobiles speeding away, but one was turning back in a big arc. She had to get to Ian – now!

Friday desperately tried to get out of the hole, but with no luck. Having her hands tied behind her back made it impossible. She tried to focus and think. Friday had seen someone in a movie solve this problem. They’d transferred handcuffs from the back of their body to their front by tucking up in a ball and wriggling their feet backwards over their wrists. She would do that.

Friday gave it a go, but soon realised this was going to be very hard. The person in the movie had not been wearing full snow gear, and the props department had probably rigged the handcuffs to make it easier. She could hear the snowmobile bearing down on her. Friday grew increasingly desperate. The plastic ties were cutting into her wrists as she strained to push her feet through. Finally she made it. She grabbed the corner of the gaffer tape and ripped it off.

The thief was getting closer. Friday pushed up and stood as tall as she could, holding her hands above her head and calling out, ‘Ian!’

Ian spotted her and he saw the other snowmobile bearing down. He pushed harder on the throttle, racing to get to Friday first. He held out his hand, yelling, ‘Grab hold!’

Friday did. She latched onto Ian. He was pulled sideways by her weight. The snowmobile veered off course, but Ian was able to pull Friday up and rebalance.

‘Are you okay?’ asked Ian.

‘Not really,’ said Friday.

‘I’ll get you back,’ said Ian, turning to head back to the vault. He hit the throttle and WHACK! They slammed into something in the snow, the snowmobile flipped over and they were thrown in the air.