Russian Outpost "Vostok Station" Antarctica 2014
A cold wind blew off the Antarctic plateau, His ears burned from the bitter cold as they stood around a hole in the ice. Cracked ice fell off the cable as they reeled the last few feet of cable out of the hole.
Three workers in sterile suits leaned over to grab the object, a Stainless Steel cylinder the length of about 40 inches, hanging at the end of the cable.
Using a hammer to knock away the ice and a heat gun to thaw parts of the assembly Sam, was able to get a better look at it.
“Did it work?” the winch operator asked.
As Sam wiped the frost from his goggles he said “Yea, Winger it looks like it closed like It was supposed too it”
The bitter cold took his breath away as he spoke.
Losing his Dad when he was ten years old, does something to a boy; he had to grow up fast.
For some it meant disaster, but for Sam, it was something different, it brought a desire to excel to prove himself.
He wanted to prove something to a Man that was no longer there and wasn't there much before his death but Sam remembered him well, he was the type of man that turned heads when he entered a room, he commanded the rooms attention and usually got it.
Just like Sam's Dad his Dad before him was an explorer, a Man who would hear of something exciting and be on the next plane or boat.
Antarctica pulled at Sam's Dad just as it did his father, he had already climbed Everest, Pikes Peak, and half a dozen other places.
Sam's Dad was an explorer, a Man who would hear of something exciting and be on the next plane.
Antarctica pulled at Sam's Dad, he had already climbed Everest, Pikes Peak, and half a dozen other places.
But in his eyes, everyone had done that, he needed more.
Antarctica was that something more.
He needed to best Sam’s grandfather with more.
It was this drive that tore his family apart, and finally, Sam's mom had enough.
She packed up their stuff and moved them back to Idaho where her family lived.
It was several years later when he heard his Dad had gone missing in Antarctica and several more before they buried him in an empty grave.
That was a long time ago and by the time he was in high school, it was faded memory.
Sam had met Cathy in High School, well that's when he noticed her for the first time, they had actually been in the same classes in grade school but she hadn't blossomed yet and he wasn't looking yet.
Once they found each other, there wasn't any letting go.
They stayed that way throughout High School and into college.
Finally finishing College they married.
Just getting out of College as a Micro Biologist Sam found out there was Not much call for one in Idaho so he joined the Navy to further his career.
Cathy was reluctant at first but Sam convinced her it would be a good way to see the world as he built up his resume.
He probably inherited this need to see the world from his father.
One thing leads to another and he moves on to the Navy Seals in a role that kept him close to the Ocean and on the front line of Terrorist Microbiology.
The days of door to door fighting were over the Terrorist were becoming smarter and smarter, 9/11 was Proof of that.
After 15 years of roaming the world in the Navy Seals/Spec Ops, it was nice to be a civilian again and putting his degree to better use.
He couldn't forget the look on her face when he told her he was thinking about taking this job and that he would be gone at least 6 months.
And then they had fought and finally, Sam was able to convince her this was a perfect way to jump-start his civilian microbial ecologist career again.
And Sam had another reason… Is desire to feel what his father felt, to be where his father had been and maybe find out what happened to him.
Sam had done that, pull every favor he had to find out everything about his father's exploration, what it was for? where? and the big old Why?
What sam got back was a bunch of papers that read Top Secret on top and a bunch of blacked out paragraphs.
The only thing that stood out was Vostok Station, Magnetic interference centering around due west from there.
Sam did what he could in the little time he could get off but nothing stood out and he just stopped looking.. Life started getting in the way.
Six months on the Ice did a lot to relationships and Sam's didn't make it.
He should have known, after all the years in the Navy, things weren’t the same but the desire for adventure was too strong.
The news came in a Dear John email (chinged like in cha-ching ) one afternoon after a long day of drilling holes in the ice, just trying to solve the mysteries of Antarctica's frozen lakes A Day On The Lake as he liked to look at it.
The Dear John letter was enough to send Sam into a spiraling mess which only brought a frustrated downtime that left him exhausted with nerve's as raw as an open wound.
So for months, he had a monk-on an Antarctica Slang word for being in a pissed off mood.
Even if he had known it in the back of his mind, that it was over before he had left the last time, its just something you still can't get used to “Rejection”.
Her emails kept coming slower and slower until the day came that Sam got that email
I've met someone else and we are in love… Your stuff is in a storage unit
Your Mom has the key to your Camaro
Goodbye
Ouch!
Shit! Sam was now a member of the Chinged Club and Dog-less.. Yea naming their dog Little Sammy was her way of telling Sam he was always in the dog house
He was just getting over a loss of extra baggage as he liked to call it, trying hard to hide the hurt from everyone.
Cathy the only thing in life that had kept him from going insane during all those spec-op missions he had been involved in, She had been his anchor and now she was gone .
“I guess I wasn’t her Anchor,” He said out loud
Holding the cylinder, Sam could feel the slushing of the water- ice mix inside, it was evident that it had filled and closed as it was designed to do before its long journey to the surface.
In the science community what lay inside the cylinder was like pure gold.
The water and ice came from one of the most isolated bodies of water on Earth, Lake Vostok which laid 1200 meters at the shallowest depth which laid directly under The Russian sub station Vostok Station.
At first, Lake Vostok was thought to have been deeper and maybe it was at its deepest but not at its edge which was only recently found by a Government research satellites that TETON QM.
Somehow they had got OK’d to use it for this project.
With the ice melting from climate cycling it had made it more and more accessible than in the past.
Vostok Station mysteriously opened up to the western world with an invitation to work together to explore Vostok Lake which was a miracle in its self.
The largest sub-glacial Lake known and bigger than Lake Mead
With the way, the Russians ran a tight security perimeter it only fueled more of the conspiracy theories.
It was like Russia’s own Area 51.
So for the time being, Sam was grateful that he didn't have to deal with the News Crews or paper punchers.
After reading up on the Russian Scientist problems with contamination and equipment failure with the first samples from Vostok Lake its no wonder they have open the doors to the west, they should of done it a lot sooner he thought.
They were under the direction of Washington DC and Dr. Jordan Era, who worked for Teton QM
Dr. Jordan Era had spent 15 years figuring out how to devise ways for safe sampling procedures so that they would not contaminate the fragile ecosystem of the sub-glacial lake and/or contaminate ours.
Dr. Era had been on several failed Antarctica Lake drilling's and had been sure this was the lucky one.
Crossing the ice Sam felt like a man who carried the weight of this whole project in his hands.
“Sam, is this the one?”
“Dr. only you will know, I'm only the mailman”
“Dr. Era Laughed, No Sam you're much more”
“Well let me take that from you, I'm sure you'd like to get this all wrapped up today and get out of the cold”
“Your right about that Doc”.
After handing him the cylinder Sam thought, we will soon know whether he was right or not .
Dr. Era held the cylinder gently in his gloved hands like he was holding a baby. He looked at it for a moment before hefting it to his shoulder and headed back to the makeshift portable Bio-Lab they had built so it could be kept close to the drilling site.
Hopefully, this would be the last sample, they were running out of time as in Antarctica Winter that was set to start in a couple of weeks with the vernal equinox because no one wants to be out on the Ice in minus seventy degrees Fahrenheit…
Touching my throat Mic Sam said, “Let's call it a day, wrap it up”
John Billings aka Bull started bellowing orders to the team, not that he needed too, every man on the team knew his job inside out but John was always able to pry just a little more out of them .
John had served with Sam through Afghanistan and more and that is why Sam wanted him on his team, Sam trusted him.
He did his job, never complained and could lighten a mood with a joke or two.
Now with other men, it was a different story.. they had a name for John, Bullshit you never knew what they would call him next.. But in the end, they all knew he was the one to stand behind in case of trouble and the respect showed.
Entering the mudroom they shook off the crawlies as the locals called frozen snow that blew harder across Antarctica then down.
Dr. Francis James handing them hot cups of coffee after getting their Parkas off and had knocked off the last of the snow that was buried in every crease.
“How was the fishing?” she asked
Sam liked how she called freezing your balls off standing around a hole in the ice all day fishing.
Like we were going to pull up a prehistoric Salmon or something.
“Yea I think we finally got a good sample,” Sam said,
“Didn't the Doc tell you?”
“Sam you know better than that, he has locked himself up in that Bio-Lab and won't answer his phone”
“Ahh the old keep you in the dark routine,” Sam said,
“No, I think it's like he doesn 't like to face people with bad news”
“Francis I think this is different this time, it's a good sample”
“Dr. James face turned red when she noticed Bull staring at them both”
“Bull what are you staring at?” Sam asked
Realizing his mistake, Sam felt his face flush.
“Bull it's not how it looks,” He said
“It never is” Bull turned and headed down the hall laughing.
“Funny guy,” Sam said,
Dr. James turned giving him that big beautiful smile, “Sam it's OK we didn't break any rules, we are grown-ups”
Breaking into a smile “Yea your right, why hide it?” Sam said
Taking a sip of his coffee Sam tried to hide a smile as her mouth dropped open "Well I didn't mean that we should just blurt it out over the intercom"
Sam's phone rang saving him from losing his mouth full of coffee.
Holding up his hand, Sam listen intently for a moment, finally saying, "Yea we'll be right there"
"Dr. Era has just called a meeting, and it sounds urgent".
"Oh here we go, Mister, bad news will try to break it to us easy, there goes another Christmas in warm Florida"
"You're not from Florida, Francis"
"Can't you let a girl dream"
Walking into the conference room, Sam was awestruck at who all was there.
Francis said “Florida here I come”
Searching for a couple of chairs, Sam noticed even the Russian Crew was here and everyone down to the mess hall cooks.
Yea this must be good news
Finding a couple of chairs in the back next to Bull, they sat down.
Bull leaned over and asked, “Does this mean what I think it means?”
“I'm guessing it does, no other reason to call this big of a meeting with bad news”
Bull sighed with relief “Good I'm starting to run out of available women”
Sam shook his head “I bet, you slut”
Bull grinned at him “I am what I am”
Sam's cell vibrated in his pocket again, stopping his come back.
Reading the text Sam leaned into Francis We have a private meeting with Dr. Era after this horse and pony show.
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