I was happily absorbed in Ghost’s writings till Nadia flounced in and ruined an otherwise peaceful moment. “We’re going to have another party!” she announces.
“This hardly seems the time for a party,” my mother deadpans. I don’t think she’s fooled by Nadia’s cuteness anymore.
“No, I’m serious! I had a word with our resident psychologist and she agreed that we should have one big blowout party before we leave this place. We’re leaving and never coming back, so we can do whatever we want!”
“Kind of like an eviction party,” Mom says to herself. “We used to have those at Beach Week when I was your age…” She suddenly remembers she’s not alone and snaps to attention. “…so I’ve heard.”
Nadia rarely hears anything unless it’s something about her so she ploughs ahead. “The General agreed we could use food that’s about to go off or takes up too much space, whatever that means.” She starts spinning in little circles like a puppy anticipating a treat. “I can’t wait! I’m totally going to dress up and I’m going to find some spray paint and paint the walls with my name so everyone knows I was here and I’m going to…” She’s tripping out of the room as she talks and her voice is soon thankfully out of ears’ reach.
I turn to my mother and ask, “Do I have to go to this one?”
“No, of course not. Just don’t be surprised if we’re forced to go.”
Nemesis sits up on her cot and interrupts. “You might want to go this time, KC. You’ll probably get a chance to hear the song Ghost dedicated to you.”
“I liked the other one just fine.”
“Are you crazy? That was a breakup song! Didn’t you notice?”
“Um, no, not really. I guess I only heard the good bits.”
“Wow, you really did have it bad.”
“I still do.”
The three of us sit around in silence for a bit, and then Mom and Nemesis leave to give me some privacy. I really do appreciate it; it lets me get back to reading more on Ghost’s theory.
Lake Vostok. Found in East Antarctica. Fresh water, 1,444 feet above sea level. Average depth: 1129 feet. Similar in area to Lake Ontario but with three times the volume.
Coldest temperature ever observed on earth recorded at Vostok Station 21 July 1983: -89C/-128F.
Bloody hell, how could anything survive at those extremes? I wonder where Ghost got his facts and ideas—the pirate radio shows he used to listen to or the Internet? I remember the rows and rows of books I used to see at old man Eric’s. Maybe he found something in one of them. I can totally see Ghost reading Eric’s entire library. I know I would if given the chance.
Unusual life forms may be found in an ecosystem that has been sealed off from the rest of the earth for millions of years. Arguments against the possibility of life forms: The weight and pressure of the continental ice cap (350 atmosphere/5143psi) can result in a supersaturation of nitrogen and oxygen—50 times more than found in ordinary fresh-water—which leads to an oligotrophic extreme environment.”
I start adding my own notes to Ghost’s, and I try really hard to sound just as smart as he did: “Any organisms present would not have a chance to evolve due to high pressure, constant cold, low nutrient input, high oxygen concentration, and complete absence of light.” I think that’s enough from me, I’ll let Ghost’s chickenscratch do the rest of the lecturing.
However, extremophile microbes have been discovered in unique habitats before. There is a greater chance for ancient bacteria to exist in an isolated microbial gene pool containing characteristics developed as much as 500,000 years ago.
What chance have we got against something that’s survived for half a million years?