The little white bundle of fur lay curled up in the snow.
“The poor little thing,” gasped Zoe. “It must be one of our orphans. It’s left the den looking for its mum.”
“Is it still alive?” asked Ben anxiously.
Zoe peered closely. “I can see its chest moving,” she said with relief.
She quickly pulled the fleecy sling out of her backpack. “Help me get it in, Ben.” She bent over the cub. “We’ve got to warm you up, haven’t we,” she told it in a gooey voice.
“You’d be better off growling at it,” said Ben, unfolding the sling. “We’ve got to be like its mum, remember.”
Zoe lifted the little cub up. As Uncle Stephen had said, it was about the size of a large cat, with dark eyes that blinked at Zoe. “It’s a girl,” she said. She laid the cub on to the fleece and gently wrapped it around her. The cub gave a small mewing sound and nuzzled into the fur.
Ben helped Zoe fix the sling on so that the bear was secure against her chest.
All of a sudden, Zoe felt something tug at her glove.
The little cub was sucking noisily at the end of one of the fingers.
“We’ll get you some food as soon as we can,” she said. “But first we’re going to check your den to see if you’ve got any brothers or sisters.”
“Pass me your BUG,” said Ben. “I’ll set it to give off a female polar bear scent so that Junior here thinks you’re her mum.”
Zoe handed it over and as she did so, she caught sight of something in the snow. Tiny prints with five claws were clearly visible, leading away across the snow towards the far end of the bank. “Look, here are her tracks,” she said. “The long ones are the front paws. Five pads and claws on each.
She must have come out after the storm.”
They started to follow the trail. The prints led towards the ridge in a wobbly line.
The little cub began to wriggle and grunt. “I think she’s warming up,” said Zoe. “And that’s made her realise she’s hungry. We’ll have to feed her soon.”
After a few minutes they came across a dip in the bank. Looking through the thermal part of their goggles, they could see a faint orangey-purple glow, deep inside the snow.
“I think we’ve found another one!” exclaimed Zoe.
“There’s a tunnel here,” said Ben, brushing away the snow. “I’m going to explore.”
“Don’t get stuck,” said Zoe.
“No chance,” grinned Ben. “It must be wide enough for a polar bear, remember. They’re a lot fatter than me.”
He got down on his belly and shuffled into the hole until Zoe could only see the soles of his boots. Then his feet disappeared inside. Zoe watched anxiously at the entrance. Eventually, Ben’s beaming face appeared.
“Got it,” he cried. “It’s very weak, but it still tried to bite me just like the fox.” He examined his glove. “Good old Uncle Stephen. Not only are these gloves ultra-thin, they’re fang-proof as well.”
He began to go back down the tunnel, feet first. “It’s warmer in here than out there,” he called. “Just the place for feeding time.”
Zoe crawled quickly after him. There was room for her to go on her hands and knees so she didn’t have to undo the sling. The tunnel gave way to a small chamber. Ben was putting the new cub into its fleece.
“It’s another girl,” he told Zoe. “She’s smaller than her sister and not as strong.”
“But we’ve got them!” squealed Zoe in delight. “I was beginning to think this was one Wild mission that was going to be impossible.”
“It’s not over till we’ve got them back,” replied Ben.
“And they’ll need food before we set off,” said his sister. She unpacked the bottles and dried milk. Stuffing snow into a bottle, she melted it with a small battery-operated element.
When it was warm, she added a portion of dried milk. The cubs got the scent and began to squeal and wriggle. Zoe quickly attached teats and handed one of the bottles to Ben.
“Better give it to them slowly,” she warned, as her cub sucked frantically.
“It will be a shock to their empty tummies.”
“I’m going to call this one Guzzle,” said Ben, as he tried to release the teat from his cub’s mouth. “She slurps every time she sucks. She may be small and weak, but she’s determined to survive.”
“My one won’t stop poking its nose into everything I do,” said Zoe, scratching her furry head. “Nosy is the name for you.”
She looked around the den. The walls were smooth with a claw mark here and there where the mother had dug. “This is quite roomy,” said Zoe.
“Luxury accommodation,” grinned Ben, “compared to our little snow hole anyway.”
As soon as the cubs had finished, Zoe crawled along the tunnel, shivering as the freezing outside air hit her face. “Time for the homeward journey,” she said.
Standing outside the den, she checked the satellite function on her BUG. “Hey!” she called to Ben as he emerged. “It’s working properly now. We’ll be able to find our way back to the kayaks using the trackers.”
“I reckon your theory about the interference was right,” said Ben. “Now the northern lights have gone everything’s fine.”
Zoe stepped on to her RAT. “Shame in a way,” she sighed. “It was such a fantastic show.”
Checking that their charges were comfortable, the children set off on their snowboards back along the spur of ice towards the main floe.
“It’s a lot harder to balance with a polar bear cub on board!” Zoe shouted to her brother, as she sped along in front of him.
Ben didn’t reply. She turned to see what the matter was. Her brother had stopped way back and was looking around.
“I can hear a boat,” he called.
Zoe could hear it too. The deep throbbing hum of an engine. Then she saw it in the distance. It was a cruise ship, casting out a glow of golden light from every window, and it seemed to be heading very close to the floe. Behind thick glass windows, they could see people dancing at a late night party.
“Hide!” she yelled, ducking down behind the ridge. “We mustn’t be seen.” She quickly turned off her headlamp. Ben found a jagged ice formation and squatted in its shadow.
The throbbing noise grew louder and the ice beneath them began to vibrate.
Just how close is this ship going to come? thought Ben. If it ploughs through the ice we don’t stand a chance.
Now the ship towered above them, gliding slowly past the ice floe. The rumbling of its engines was deafening and the children could feel it shaking their bodies. The cubs whimpered in fear. There was a terrible crash and a fierce judder ran along the ice!
“It’s hit the end of the spur,” yelled Zoe.
A dark jagged line zigzagged over the snow in front of Ben. The spur of ice was breaking away from the main floe, leaving Zoe on one side and him on the other.
Ben was stranded.