Kira walked from the snowmobile to the makeshift tent set up outside the crater. The arctic winds were blowing heavy as she knew the storm was approaching as was the end of her expedition. Her expedition in Antarctica was coming to a close and she needed to wrap it up before everyone went home for the winter.
The whole station knew that the approaching storm was going to shut down operations for the station and all expeditions that were currently going on. Even the winter crew was told that they would not be allowed to stay as the storm was expected to be deadly enough to warrant the cancelation. Kira just hoped that she could get her artifacts from the frozen ground before the storm shut them down.
She felt a sense of vindication that was mixed with the thrill of a victory. At thirty, she was still waiting for the moment that would define her career as a scientist. The idea that she was hours away from realizing her discovery and it was like waiting for the moment Christmas happened for a child. All the setbacks she endured would now be erased with this discovery and her standing in the academic world would be solidified.
She looked at the base camp tent at the top of the rift that separated two large glacier ice sheets. The bottom was accessible and deeper than anything else researchers have seen or have had access to. The tent covered where the pulley system was that lowered materials and people to the almost a half mile down bottom.
Kira lowered herself down seeing that they were past the ice and into the bedrock of the ground. She had no idea how long this was here or if the shifting ground would reclaim this and push the split ground back together again.
She walked over and saw the excavation site and could see the bones that needed to be thawed out so they could be analyzed and catalogued before studied. The amount of bones were breathtaking and was far beyond her wildest dreams. It was just a matter of getting them out of the ground now.
Her heartbeat was beating faster with the excitement of knowing that these bones will be the paramount of her expedition and it was now within reach. All the money put in and training she had endured was now a few hours away from being paid for. There was no doubt in her mind that she would be getting millions in research grants and possible awards from the bones she would be collecting.
"Put the heat right here and then let's see what we can get today," Kira quickly spoke as she looked at George.
George was the chief engineer in charge of the tools and equipment. He was an old man that she assumed was in his late fifties or even sixties. He was also in charge of the maintenance at the facility and at the dig site. He ran a crew of three specialists and mechanics who were in charge of keeping the building and snowcats up and running. She hated him sometimes as he acted like she was a bother to him, and her work was less than compared to the other scientists at the station.
As George and his helper Henry began to put the heating machine on the ice, Kira heard her associate Norman call for her on the walkie talkie she had. She strapped herself into the harness and began the trek back up to the surface where the howling arctic winds picked up.
As her assistant Greg handed her the portable phone that was in contact with the main research facility. She listened to her boss Dr. Franks explain the situation. She felt her heart drop as she listened to how he was pulling the plug today.
She called down to George on the walkie talkie. "Can you get the machine to a hotter temperature?"
"I already cranked it up. Anything else it might short out though," his reply crackled back on the walkie talkie.
"Dr. Franks is on the line again," Norman called out.
Kira picked up the phone and then listened in horror. She listened how her boss repeated the weather warning and how they were starting the evacuations early. She thought she had another week, but now it was just a matter of hours before the entire research staff would be pulled.
She tried to interject and question him, but his firm answer of no was now definite. There was to be no next day, not even another hour. She listened to how she was to leave everything there and go back to the main facility for immediate evacuation as the winds increased the arrival of the storm.
The feeling of dread was upon her now. Her heart felt sick and weak as she knew that her discovery was not going to happen. She looked over and saw Norman already calling up the crew, telling them that they were going to do an emergency evacuation.
The winds were now cutting visibility down and the already freezing temperature was now at an almost dangerous level. The idea of going on was a fight she could not win as they were already preparing to leave and her just asking was not going to change anything.
The snowcat was heading back to the outpost station and from there they heard they would then be evacuated to the main headquarters. Kira listened in on the weather developments and it sounded almost like an apocalyptic storm. The temperatures would be so cold that it would freeze almost anything and being outdoors meant almost sudden death.
By the time they reached the outpost she had her boss on the phone and he said that the main research facility was going to be evacuated as well. They had only eight hours to pack everything before the storm would hit. The idea that the main facility was going to be evacuated made her cringe as it was always manned and never left unattended.
Kira took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down knowing that the grant she had was only for one year. The bones she found were a fluke find and only because of the strange weather that happened last year. She knew the unstable ground was not going to last either and she was lucky enough to get as far down as she did. She felt that her groundbreaking discovery was going to be lost even though it was still within reaching distance right now.
It was when George said something to her assistant that she felt her life coming to an end. She quickly jumped into the conversation and asked what George saw when he left the site. She let George explain that two of the main bones were freed and then third bone just needed to be pulled free. The fear really came when she listened to George explain that the site was unstable and was already showing signs of collapsing.
Kira quickly got back on the phone and poured her heart out to her superior asking to go back and just retrieve the bones that were there. She begged and begged telling him that she could still be back in time to meet the deadline for evacuation. She felt that she could take the snow-cat back and get the bones and quickly head back.
She almost snarled at George and Henry for not telling her, and not grabbing the bones knowing that they were going to leave. His response was to curse back and all she felt was her assistant holding her back as she knew her emotions got the best of her. All the rage of having her dream torn from her was now trying to get at the old man for not doing something.
As she left, she saw Greg and knew he was going to stop her. Even though Greg was an imposing man of strength, she found that her small framed body was able to wiggle from his grasp. The rage inside of her was not dead nor was the notion that her greatest crowning achievement lay a few miles away in the ice.
She didn't have the keys to the snowcat, but she did have the keys to the smaller and faster snowmobile. It was not the ideal mode of transport in this weather, nor was it used for anything other than quick small trips around the base.
She felt her hot-blooded temper being cooled as the wind blew against her while riding the small craft to the site. She knew that it would be just a quick trip and she could be back in time to catch the snowcat back to the main base and get evacuated. Her mind was only focused on the goal of getting the three sets of bones that were down there.
