In the icy field below the slope were yellow, brown, and green buildings; telephone poles; metal pipes; and storage tanks. Tractors and bulldozers moved along gravel roads. It looked like a small town.
HONK! The sound came from a red bus with gigantic wheels that was parked nearby.
“What is this place?” asked Annie.
Jack looked in their book and found a photo that looked like the scene below. The caption read: McMurdo Station. Jack read the paragraph under the photo:
Antarctica has many scientific research stations, representing countries from all over the world. The largest is named McMurdo Station. Researchers live there for weeks or even months at a time.
HONK!
Jack looked up. He saw four people come out of a yellow building and start toward the bus. They were all bundled in red parkas with hoods, goggles, and masks. They carried backpacks and camera bags.
“They must be researchers,” said Jack.
“Let’s go talk to them,” said Annie.
“We can’t,” said Jack. “They’ll ask why two kids are traveling alone in Antarctica.”
“Maybe they won’t know we’re kids,” said Annie. “If we put our goggles and masks back on, we’ll look just like them, only shorter. They’ll think we’re short grown-ups.”
“Uh … I don’t think so,” said Jack.
Just then someone jumped off the bus. “Hi, folks!” a woman shouted to the four researchers. “I’m Nancy—your bus driver and guide today!”
Nancy caught sight of Jack and Annie. She waved her arms at them. “Hello!” she called. “Are you two part of the group going up to the volcano?” She pointed toward a mountain looming in the distance.
“Did you hear that?” Jack said to Annie. “A volcano!” He cupped his gloved hands around his mouth. “Yes!” he shouted back in his deepest voice. “We’re coming!”
“We are?” Annie asked with surprise.
“A volcano—get it?” said Jack. “A volcano is ‘a burning mountain’!”
“Oh, right!” said Annie. “Like in the rhyme—the burning mountain! Got it!”
“Quick, cover up your face!” said Jack.
Jack and Annie covered their eyes with their goggles and pulled up their face masks. Then they started walking toward the bus.
“Try not to talk to anyone unless we have to,” Jack said quickly. “And if we do, talk in a really deep voice.”
“No problem,” Annie croaked in a really deep voice.
“Um … maybe you shouldn’t talk at all,” said Jack.
“Hurry!” Nancy called to them.
“Coming!” Jack shouted in his deepest voice, and they started running across the snow.
By the time Jack and Annie arrived at the bus, everyone but Nancy had climbed aboard. “Good. You made it just in time!” Nancy said. “Follow me!” She bounded up the steep steps of the red bus and sat in the driver’s seat.
Without a word, Jack and Annie climbed on after Nancy. Walking down the aisle, Jack glanced at the others in the group. A couple of them nodded and he nodded back. Everyone was hidden behind goggles, ski masks, and bulky parkas. Jack couldn’t tell anyone’s age, or even whether they were male or female.
Jack and Annie sat a few rows behind the others. Jack took off his backpack and put it at his feet.
“All set?” Nancy asked, looking in the bus mirror.
Jack and Annie nodded.
Nancy closed the door and started the engine. As the bus’s giant wheels moved slowly over the gravel road, Jack looked out the window.
The sun shone brightly on the wide, snowy fields. Glittering ice crystals blew in the wind. All the world around them seemed to be sparkling.
“How’s everyone doing?” Nancy called over her shoulder. “Are you all happy campers?”
Everyone, including Jack and Annie, nodded.
“Good. I like travelers who don’t complain!” Nancy joked.
So far, so good, Jack thought. No one seemed to suspect they were kids.
“We have a short ride,” said Nancy. “But enough time for you all to introduce yourselves to me. I’m Nancy Tyler, and I work here in Antarctica as a guide, a bus driver, and a flight mechanic.”
“Cool,” whispered Annie.
“I know you all come from different countries as researchers and journalists,” said Nancy. “Start from the front and tell me who you are.”
The woman in front pulled down her face mask. “I’m Lucy Banks,” she said. “I’m an American, and I’m a space scientist. I’m writing a paper on the use of robots on the crater of Mount Erebus. Hopefully this will help our work on Mars someday.”
Oh, brother, thought Jack. What can we say? That we’re Jack and Annie from Frog Creek and we’ve come to Antarctica to find the fourth secret of happiness to save Merlin the magician in Camelot?
“Wonderful, Lucy!” Nancy said. “Antarctica is as similar to Mars as any place you can find on earth. Next?”
“Ali Khan, biologist from Turkey,” said the man sitting behind Lucy Banks. “I’m researching heat-resistant bacteria in the crater of Mount Erebus.”
Quick, think! thought Jack.
“Very good!” said Nancy. “Next?”
“Tony Sars from Sydney, Australia,” another man said. “I’m a travel writer for the Sydney Morning Herald.” He held up a notebook.
“Good!” said Nancy.
Yes! thought Jack. He yanked off a glove and pulled his notebook and a pencil out of his backpack.
“Kim Lee,” said the woman sitting behind Tony. “I’m a photographer for a Korean magazine.”
“Great,” said Nancy. “And my friends in the back?”
Without taking off his mask, Jack shouted in a deep voice, “Frog Creek Times, USA!” He held up his notebook. “Story about Antarctica. She’s … uh …”
Annie held up her camera. “His photographer!” she called in a deep voice.
“Excellent!” said Nancy. “A great group! We’ll hear more introductions later. Now, I know you’ve all heard this before, but I have to tell you again. It is very important to remember the rules here in Antarctica.”
Jack opened his notebook and got ready to write down the rules.
“Never rush,” said Nancy. “You should always think about where you’re going and what you’re doing.”
Jack scribbled:
“Never walk on snow and ice fields alone,” said Nancy. “In many places beneath the snow, there are deep, hidden cracks in the ice.”
Jack wrote:
“And remember, all of Antarctica is a nature preserve,” said Nancy. “Never, ever touch or disturb the wildlife.”
“Oops,” said Annie.
Jack frowned. “We really broke the rules with those penguins,” he whispered.
“I know, but we won’t do it again,” Annie whispered back.
“Right,” said Jack. He wrote down:
“Got all that?” Nancy asked the group.
Everyone nodded.
“Good,” said Nancy. “I look forward to sharing Antarctica with you today. I know you’ll all find some great information and stories!”
As the bus rolled along, no one gave Jack and Annie a second look. “Nancy called us ‘friends,’ ” Jack whispered to Annie. “The others must think she knows us.”
“Yeah, and she thinks we’re friends with them,” said Annie.
“We’re getting away with this,” said Jack. He could hardly believe it.
“It reminds me of our last mission,” Annie whispered, “on the ship with the ocean scientists.”
“This is better,” said Jack. “Here everyone’s treating us like grown-ups, and I don’t feel like throwing up.”
“And nowadays women get to do really cool stuff, too, like men do,” said Annie.
“Good point,” said Jack. “But there’s still stuff about our rhyme I don’t get.” He pulled the rhyme out of his pocket, and he and Annie read it silently:
For the final secret, you must go
To a burning mountain of ice and snow
On wheels, by air, then all fall down,
Till you come to the Cave of the Ancient Crown.
Then speed to Camelot by close of day,
Lest grief take Merlin forever away.
“See, it sounds like it’s talking about a magical world,” said Jack. “But Antarctica is a hundred percent real. It’s filled with scientists!”
“I know, but some of the rhyme fits,” said Annie. “Like you said, the ‘burning mountain of ice and snow’ is the volcano, Mount Erebus.” She pointed out the window of the bus. “And there it is.”
A white mountain loomed in the distance. Ice and snow covered its slopes, and puffs of smoke rose from its peak, drifting into the blue sky.
“It’s burning, all right,” said Jack.
“And we’re on wheels,” said Annie.
“Yep,” said Jack. He looked at the rhyme again. “Okay, ‘burning mountain of ice and snow,’ ‘on wheels’—but then what about ‘by air’? What’s—”
“Oh, my gosh!” said Annie, craning her neck.
“What?” said Jack.
“Look over there!” said Annie.
