Alex Archer - Sacred Ground

“Yeah.”

“About thirty below.”

Annja sighed. Back in the deep freeze. She had visions of her expedition to Antarctica. But that had been to dispute the existence of an alien race. This was far simpler. Her job was to get in and help the local tribe relocate their sacred relics out of the mining company’s drill site.

There couldn’t be much danger in that, could there?

She grinned in spite of the cold, feeling her skin almost crack as she did so.

Derek noticed the expression on her face and nodded. “Maybe we should get inside.”

“Good idea.” She glanced back at their driver, who seemed to be paying more attention to the vehicle than to them. She turned and followed Derek inside the welcome center.

She passed a display showing a map of the area. She stopped Derek. “Will we be working out of the town here?”

He shook his head. “Nope. This is just our waypoint. We’ve got a temporary camp set up closer to the drill site. I mean the future drill site.”

“Right now, it’s still sacred Inuit land.”

“Araktak, to be accurate. They’ve been around these parts for—”

“A thousand years, you told me.” Annja nodded. “I’m sure they’ve got an incredible history.”

Derek frowned. “I wouldn’t know. They’re not one of the larger tribes in the area. They’ve remained incredibly independent despite the efforts to unify the smaller tribes into a larger one for the purposes of government help and education. I don’t think there’s a lot known about them.”

“Interesting.”

“It might be another coup for you.”

Annja frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Derek smiled. “I know you’ve had a number of interesting discoveries in your time. Things you’ve had the good fortune to stumble across before anyone else. Perhaps the Araktak can be another jewel in your crown of accomplishments.”

“Maybe,” Annja said. “I wouldn’t be looking at it as a way of one-upping my peers, though.”

“Of course not,” Derek said. “It would just be another one of those nice things that some people have happen.”

Annja frowned as she watched him walk away. What was his deal? She’d noticed he didn’t wear a wedding ring and although he seemed young, she could see the first streaks of gray hair marking their invasion at his temple. She estimated he was probably around forty. He seemed in good shape, and despite his avowed hatred of the cold, it hadn’t seemed to bother him too much when they’d been outside.

Maybe he’s used to it by now, she thought.

The display told Annja that Inuvik was small, only about three thousand people in total. It hadn’t been much of anything before 1979, but now it functioned as something of a gateway to the Mackenzie River and beyond into the Beaufort Delta, which bordered the Arctic Ocean.

Derek reappeared behind her. “The main function of the town is to act as a staging area for truckers to haul loads up to the refinery projects on the delta. Once the river freezes, they actually drive across the frozen water to reach their destinations.”

Annja frowned. “You’re not serious.”

“I absolutely am.”

Annja shook her head. “You’d never get me driving over ice like that. One wrong move, if it’s not thick enough and you could go right through and never be seen again.”

“Very true. Many truckers have lost their lives to it, but then again, up here, it’s the only way to get things done.”

“I hope you’re not going to tell me that the drill site is located anywhere near this frozen river.”

Derek smiled. “Would you want to back out if it was?”

“Very possibly.”

“And what about all that money?”

“Money’s nice. Living is nicer.”

Derek grinned. “Well, don’t worry about it too much. The drill site lies inland, lucky for you.”

Annja heaved a sigh of relief. “Thank God for small favors.”

Derek eyed her. “You don’t strike me as someone afraid of much, especially a little frozen river.”

“The frozen river doesn’t scare me,” Annja said. “But falling through the ice and drowning does.”

Derek waved his hand. “I wouldn’t worry about drowning. The moment you hit the ice water, you’d probably go into cardiac arrest anyway.”

“Lovely. Thanks for making me feel better.”

“My pleasure.” He gestured to the room. “Anything else you want to see here?”

“You’re finished with whatever we came in for?”

“I simply wanted to introduce you to the town. Figured it would be a nice way to ease you into things.”

“Ease me into things.” Annja pursed her lips. “You’re just full of contradictions, aren’t you?”

“How do you figure that?”

“Because you basically kidnapped me earlier at our meeting. And now you’re talking about slowing down.”

“Well,” Derek said. “I was sort of under orders not to let you back out of the arrangement. Not to give you an opportunity to say no. That kind of thing.”

“I see.”

“But now that you’re here in town, well, it’s different, isn’t it?”

“If you say so.”

Derek checked his watch. “We’re not going any farther today anyway.”

“So, we’ll stay here tonight?”

“Yup. Got us set up with reservations at the town inn. It’s just down the street.”

“And what time will we be on the road tomorrow.”

“Early as we can.”

Annja nodded. “All right. Let’s go.”

Outside the welcome center, the wind had picked up, making Annja’s face instantly feel as if it was baked leather. “I’m going to make a moisturizer company rich off of me,” she muttered.

Derek smiled. “Believe it or not, you do get used to it.”

“If you say so.”

They slid back into the vehicle and the driver gunned the engine before shooting down the road. As they drove through the town, Annja spotted a number of kids out walking with their parents.

“It amazes me what human beings can put up with,” she said.

“It’s just one of those things, right?” Derek said. “If you don’t have the option to move elsewhere, you simply adapt. I think it’s our greatest strength. It’s what will someday enable us to colonize another planet.”

“And hopefully treat it better than we’ve done with this one.”

“Ouch.”

Annja glanced at him. “Don’t worry, I won’t get preachy with you.”

“Thanks.” He shrugged. “It’s not like I don’t care for the planet. It’s just that I’ve had to reconcile my work with my beliefs.”

“And the bank account won, huh?”

“Sure did.”

“I’m sure you must sleep easy at night.”

“I sleep well knowing I’ve taken care of my children.”

Annja looked back from the window. “You have kids?”

“Two of them. A boy and a girl. Eight and ten. Great kids. They live in California with their mother.” He shrugged again. “We’re divorced. She didn’t approve of my line of work.”

“What does she do?”

“She’s an advocate for Greenpeace,” he said, laughing.

“Wow, how the hell did you two even get together in the first place?”

Derek smiled. “I wasn’t always a corporate lackey. Before I sold my soul I was a lobbyist for the environment on Capitol Hill. We met at a luncheon or a dinner or something in Washington. We were young. Idealistic. We had plans at one point to start a utopian community in the Canadian wilderness.”

“So, what happened?”

“I came north to scout a location and somehow fell in with the mining corporation. They appreciated my zeal for causes near and dear to my heart. I thought Canada would be the best place to raise our children. The government at the time in the U.S. was something of a joke.”