The Pole of Inaccessibility

  Chapter 20

  McMurdo Station

  The Captain was preparing to bound up the steps to the Chalet where Susan and Lieutenant Richards were waiting to distract him when the boom of an exploding fuel drum sent them diving for the deck. The Captain was first to recover, and he looked up to see a mushroom cloud rising over the yard where the vehicles not in service were parked, and where the fuel for them was stored. It was up the hill from where they looked, and the Captain was sure that he saw a figure scurrying away that he recognized. It was Thumper.

  “What the hell?” the Captain asked before answering himself, “They’re here, dammit.”

  “Who’s here?” Susan asked.

  “Your friends.”

  “My friends? How do you figure that?” she asked.

  The Captain began to answer, but Lt. Richards interrupted.

  “It looks like he’s got flares, and is using them as fuses. We need to get someone up there.”

  Another drum went off, then another.

  “We will,” the Captain agreed, but then added, “That means the Russian is here too. Good.”

  They followed him into the Chalet, where the Captain made straight for the office where the scientists and the Russians waited for him. Connie looked at Susan with a frightened look on her face. Walt looked like a Border Collie, afraid he would be left behind while there was something fun to do. She shook her head at them, in a ‘not now’ manner, and followed the Captain into the office.

  “Okay,” he said to the room at large. “They’re here. We’ll get them; you can get your guy (he said to the Russians), and we will get ours (he nodding menacingly towards Susan).”

  “But what is that going on up the hill?” Director Fredricks asked.

  “They’re picking up where they left off at Beardmore. I’m going to put a stop to that right now. Wait for me here.”