Ben Hammott - Ice Rift

“So… what do we do? We’ll freeze to death sitting in this tin box.”

It was the first time since he’d had his pilot’s license that Jack wouldn’t have minded if one of his passengers had died. “Be quiet, I’m thinking.”

“Well, think a little faster, my feet are getting cold.”

Jack was just about to remind him whose fault it was they’d ended up here, when the plane trembled.

The passenger’s fear quickly returned. “Shit, we’re falling!”

Footsteps moved along the plane, buckling its metal skin where weight was placed on it. The handle turned when someone tried to open the door. Failing to do so, a gloved hand cleared away a patch of ice to allow a face to peer in. The man’s eyes flicked to the two men staring back at him. “Hi. Landing a bit rough, was it?”

Jack recognized the voice. “Hi, Eli, is the plane secure?”

“Secure? I should say. You’ll need heavy equipment to move this the way it’s wedged in.”

Jack released his harness, dropped to the side of the plane and moved over to the door.

“The door’s jammed,” Eli told him. “I’ll try and free it with my ice axe.”

Jack nodded. “Okay.”

Loud booms filled the plane when Eli tried to force the tip of the axe blade between the door and its frame. On his third try he succeeded. Snow drifted through the small gap that appeared at the side of the door.

“Try pushing it from your side, Jack.” Eli shouted.

Jack put his shoulder to the door and pushed.

While the men battled to open the door, the passenger supported himself against the side of the plane, released his seat buckle and slid from the seat. Instead of helping the men with the door, he crawled to the rear of the plane and dragged a large blue bag forward. He then crouched and waited.

Jack slammed his shoulder against the door, moving it slightly. The door burst open on his second try. The wind brought snow and ice swirling into the plane. Jack shivered as he held out a hand. “Thanks, Eli.”

Eli shook the offered hand. “No problem. I was passing by and thought I’d drop in.” He glanced into the plane and nodded to the man inside. “Only the one passenger?”

“Yes, just him !” Jack glared at his passenger. “Leave the bag. We can collect it after the blizzard passes.”

“The bag’s coming with me,” he insisted.

Jack shook his head. “Okay, but you’re carrying it.”

“You think I’d trust it to your care after a flight like that?”

“Errrgh. I’ve never felt like murdering someone until I met you.”

The man smiled. “You’re not the first to say that.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Jack opened a cupboard, pulled out a thermal Parka jacket and some gloves and slipped them on. “I’ll go first and you pass your bag out, that is, if it’s okay if I touch it?”

“There’s no need for sarcasm.”

Jack glared at him again. “Believe me, pal, there is.” Eli helped Jack climb out.

“Difficult passenger?”

“You don’t know the half of it.” Jack grabbed the blue bag, glanced at the ground a couple of yards below and threw the bag down. He smiled at Eli.

“You’re hoping there’s something breakable inside.”

Jack grinned. “Hoping—I’m praying there is.”

“I could do with some help here.”

Jack rolled his eyes and helped his passenger out of the plane.

The man noticed his bag lying on the ice below and glared at Jack’s smirking face.

“It slipped,” Jack said.

“You lie as good as you fly, very badly.” The man slid down the ice and retrieved his bag.

“See what I’ve had to put up with?” Jack slammed the door shut to prevent the plane from filling with snow and ice.

Eli laughed.

Jack glanced up. Snow and ice whizzed over the top of the rift. “How do we get out of here?”

“We don’t. Not until the blizzard passes.”

“Okay…” Jack sensed the man had an alternative option. “…where do we go?”

“We go down. Follow me and all will be revealed.” Eli slid to the bottom.

Jack wondered why Eli was being so cryptic and followed him down.

“This way, gentlemen.” Eli, walked off.

Jack watched his irritating passenger hoist the large bag onto his shoulder and follow Eli. Before Jack joined them, he took a last look at his plane and sighed. Even though it was a write off, he was obliged to remove it. The Antarctic Treaty decreed no litter or contamination of any kind was to be left on the ice. It would be an awkward and expensive undertaking. He prayed his insurance would cover the cost.

During their journey they passed pieces of Jack’s wrecked airplane littering the rift, all of which would have to be retrieved.

Jack stopped when he saw the Sno-Cat wedged on its side between the two sloping ice walls. “So that’s what hit me?”

Eli looked at Jack. “Sorry. The wind blew it into the rift before I had chance to anchor it.”

“See, it wasn’t my fault you crashed,” said his passenger, smugly. He nodded his head at Eli. “Get him to pay for it.”

Jack ignored the man. His teeth were beginning to chatter. He wasn’t dressed for prolonged exposure to the Antarctic weather like the other two. He stamped his feet and clapped his hands together to force the blood to circulate and hold off frostbite. “Is it much farther, Eli?”

“I don’t think so. It should be around here somewhere.” Eli led them a few steps further along the rift.

Each of them looked at the Sno-Cat perched precariously above them when they passed beneath.

Ropes leading down the side of the rift flapped in the wind. Two ropes fastened to spikes anchored into the ice stretched a few yards before disappearing into a small hole.

Eli turned to face the two men. “We’re here.”

The three men peered into the hole.

“It’s an underground cavern,” Eli explained. “The others are down there exploring.”

“I’ll go down first,” said Jack’s passenger, bumping Jack with his blue bag when he turned to choose a rope.

Jack teetered forward, almost falling into the hole before he regained his balance.

“We could throw him in,” suggested Eli. “Say he slipped.”

Jack glared at the man who pulled on a climbing harness and attached it to one of the ropes, oblivious or unconcerned with what he’d just done. “I’m tempted, Eli, soooo tempted.”

The man moved to the hole and sat with his legs dangling into the void. “Once I’m down, pull up the rope and send down my bag. I’ll leave the harness attached so you two can use it.” Without waiting for a reply the man slipped into the hole.

Max opened the storage container holding the flashlights and handed them out until they all had one. Henry had suggested they all switch them on at the same time so they could all share in what the brighter lights revealed.

“Okay,” said Henry. “I suggest we all face in the same direction before we switch them on.”

“Let’s point them at the lake first,” said Lucy. “I want to see how big it is.”

Henry counted down. “Three, two, one, on!”

Five light beams banished the darkness previously shrouding the expanse of water. The moment was too astonishing to spoil with words. Their eyes took in all the newly revealed details. The lake stretched out for about fifty yards until it reached an ice wall about ten yards high that sloped up to the cavern roof. Stalagmites formed of ice grew out of the far shore and reached for the stalactites directly above them. Some had already met to form a forest of thick ice columns. Their wet gleaming surfaces glinted in the lights moving over them. Two drips of water splashed into the pool, sending out twin ripples of luminous blue light that reflected off the ice formations and the faces of those staring at the wondrous event.