Chapter 2 - New Acquaintances
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I awoke in a dark room on a bed that felt like stone. ‘What the hell? Where am I?’ I got up and hobbled toward a crack of light on the floor, then felt along the wall trying to find a light switch. Finding only a doorknob, I turned the cold metal and stepped out into a brightly lit hall.
It took a minute for my dilated eyes to adjust to the light, but there were several 100-Watt light bulbs lining the seven foot high ceiling. The walls, the floor, and the ceiling were all crafted from pure ice with only a plain oaken door on the right wall. That's right about when I realized what I was standing on. "Holy Jesus!" I hopped straight toward the door.
I tried the knob, but it was locked. I put a little more pressure on the stiff knob and it gave in.
Huh. Guess it wasn't locked.
After pushing the heavy door open, I found myself in a room very alien compared to the rest of this place I'd seen. The floor was covered in luxurious carpets and the walls adorned with tapestries. In the new room, instead of ice, the walls and ceiling were made of wood. At the far end of the room, a roaring fire in a brick hearth warmed the entire room.
As I began to walk in, however, I noticed the occupants of the room. In front of me was Tom on his iPhone. Probably looking at porn, knowing Tom. There were two more people chatting at the far end of the room next to the fireplace, holding what seemed to be champagne glasses. I recognized the man as Frank, but the redhead he was talking to, a very beautiful woman wearing glasses and a white lab coat, was unfamiliar to me. They were in a pretty heated conversation, so I decided to bother Tom first.
"Yo Tom!" His face turned white and looked up in surprise, and quickly turned off his phone. Porn it was, then.
"H-hey, buddy! A-about time you woke up!" He had a very bad poker face.
"What kind was it this time?" He looked as if his heart had stopped when he whispered,
"Dude! Not here man, we'll talk about this later!" I kinda knew he just meant 'shut up'.
"So, who's the chick over there?" I pointed to the red headed woman talking to Frank.
"Oh, taken an interest in Mrs. Core, have we?" His eyes twinkled, and I knew that if I let him, he'd get his payback very, very soon. I intended to not let that happen.
"And I assume this is the station?"
"No. You're on Mars, you derp. Of course this is the station." I deadpanned. What? He deserved it.
"So, what is our assignment exactly?" You'd think that our employers would be kind enough to tell us what kind of work we'd be doing on a continent several days travel from our homes. You'd think.
"We're here to examine the latest scientific phenomenon of the twenty-first century. You see, about a week ago, strange rocks fell from the sky, and punched through an ice shelf. What happened next, no one knows. Its why we were sent here.
“After they went through the ice, they went into a hexagonal - seemingly carved out - ice cave. After that, they'd punch into the floor, but then, that's what makes it a scientific miracle. They bounced up, trailing a black substance, which hardened in a few milliseconds after contact with the floor, making the stones the tops of three foot tall stalagmites." He looked at me to see if I understood, which I didn't, because none of this made any sense whatsoever.
He gestured to the tapestries on the wall. They were depictions of the ice cave, but... something just seemed wrong about them. They didn't have the stalagmites Tom spoke of; it was just a hexagonal, cleanly hewn cave.
"So, what exactly are we doing here? It sounds extremely important, and, erhm, we aren't exactly the top scientists of our field, if you know what I mean.." Tom knew exactly what I meant. You see, no one believed our employers. No one was willing to come to Antarctica, of all places, on a wild goose chase! We were the best scientists they had for the job! Meaning, they rank us at the bottom, but hey, if this gets us promoted, I'm game!
Our conversation had drawn Frank and his new acquaintance's attentions. Frank walked over and, leading his lady friend by the arm, introduced her to me.
"Gin, this is Felicia Core. Felicia, Gin." She looked at me, and immediately I was stricken silent by her insane beauty. She had light freckles all over her face, but was surprisingly plain. This intrigued me, but first things first.
"Hello, Mrs. Felicia. My name is Professor Gin, and it is my pleasure to make thine acquaintance." I gave a deep bow, and Tom rolled his eyes.
"Oh, I have heard a lot about you, Professor Gin. Those closest to you can be very... insightful." Shit. That meant she knew about the times I'd been caught doing stupid things in college and high school. Well, might as well take the bull by the horns. "So. Where is this oh-so-legendary cave at, anyway?" My stomach growled, betraying my interests at heart. Felicia spoke up for me. "Hold on there, speed racer. We're not going anywhere until we fix you up some some breakfast."