Seeds

Chapter 1:- Off we go into the wild white powder.

Walking in the all white powder snow that was flying all over the place, Bob Beamer thought to himself. Cold, so extremely cold, cold when you wake, cold all day, cold when you sleep. Nothing but cold all the time. I’ve been in cold before but never like this. I remember working in it for a while in the Alaskan North Slope, but that wasn’t as cold as this. You get tired of this shit really quick, so tired of it.

Bob remembered back to last year, the life in the heat and humidity of the Congo. Sitting on a pipe in the refinery.

Bob you have to take two days off. The national union is demanding it. So get out of here and back to the Pointe Noire hotel. I can’t fight those union guys. Bob’s supervisor pounded the big wrench next to Bob. The band rang in the pipe for two minutes.

Bob got up into the supervisor's face, Fuckin union. They say shit in your pants and you crap on everyone. There ain’t shit to do in town.

I don’t care. I just don’t care that there is nothing to do. I ain’t your activities director. Go sit in front of a fan and twiddle you dick all day. Find a whore. Just get out of this refinery. he pushed Bob.

Alright, alright I’m goin. But I am checking my bank account. You bastards better pay me for the days off. Bob yelled as he picked up his tool bag and again yelled back, I ain't just another dog in the dirt.

The ride back to the hotel in the company truck was long and very hot. As soon as he got into his hotel room he striped naked and stood in front of his fan. He next turned on the shower and took a cold shower, only to return and to stand naked in front of the fan. It was no use in turning on the TV or radio, he couldn’t understand what they were saying and the dam thing seldom worked. After roaming around the small room for a few minutes. Bob just couldn't stand having nothing to do. He knew if this continued he would blow his head off. So, the decision was made to get dressed, eat down stairs and drink himself to sleep. It was too dangerous to be out in the streets with all the rebel raids and all the looting going on. As he finished off his meal, the thought occurred to him that he could have just eaten monkey meat. Quickly he began his drinking, but this didn’t help. He couldn’t sit any longer. He was a person who was always doing something. Sitting was very difficult. Even now his leg was shaking up and down like a jackhammer. He quickly got up and went to the entrance of the hotel. Standing there was a security guard that Bob had met a month before. Bob was told to talk to this guy and make friends with him because he could get you things. Getting anything here was difficult at best.

The noise from the street was increasing. Hi! Bob Beamer. I don’t know if you remember me?

The guy looked up and down the street, and not at Bob. Yes. was all the guy said.

Just then they both heard screaming from up the street. The screaming down the street was coming closer and closer. The screaming turned into a young girl who was running away from a guy wielding a machete. Immediately, bob yelled at the guard, Do something! Do something!

Not my job. I am hotel security. The guard clenched his teeth as he said it.

Bob didn’t know if it was the drinks, the heat, the boredom, or the combination of all three that made him do something stupid. Either way, it was not in his nature to do nothing. Bob pointed to the right of the guard and at the other entrance of the hotel. Bob yelled, Look, Look someone is trying to loot the hotel! he pushed the guys shoulder so that the guy's back was to Bob. Quickly Bob unsnapped the guards side arm holster and pulled out the handgun. Off Bob ran from the stairs of the hotel and after the guy with the machete.

Stop, Stop, I can not protect you out there! the guard yelled to Bob. It appeared the guard didn’t even know his side arm was missing as he held up his AK and pointed it in Bob’s direction. Bob glanced back and saw that the guard really didn't want to shoot Bob. So he ran faster.

Bob’s adrenaline was to high at that point to stop anyway. Action was what he needed. However, action in this humidity brought about sever sweating and Bob had to repeatedly stop and wipe his forehead so he could see. He finally took off his shirt and made a bandana with it. While he did this, he listened for the sounds of the night. The screams were still coming from in front of him but the sound of gunfire could also be heard. Bob began running again in between the alleys of the run down buildings. Past the garbage and crap people had dumped during the day out from the windows above. As he turned the next corner he saw what he didn’t want to see. The guy had caught up to the girl and had swung his machete down on her neck. Down she went to the pavement. The machete guy hit her again and again with the knife. Blood was raining all over the place.

Bob’s rage went to the limit. Not only was he mad at the guy, he was also mad at himself for not getting there earlier to stop the slaughter. He sprinted to within five feet of the guy and didn’t even hesitate for one second. Bang, the guy's head blew up. The machete man fell on the ground and rolled over face up. Bob didn’t say a word he just shot the man two more times right in the face from left to right. Bob froze right there with the gun pointed at the guy.

Minutes went by before Bob came back to reality. He looked around and knew he was lost and had no idea how to get back. Gun fire and screaming was coming from his left. The rage was coming back to him. Bob slowly walked off in the direction of the gunfire and screaming. He would not let this happen again. He was soon trotting towards the sounds.

It was dawn and Bob was out off ammunition. Some thankful people pointed him in the direction of the hotel. He never before felt so drained. The guard of last night was gone and a new guy was on duty. Bob hoped he hadn’t gotten the night guard in trouble because he felt the guard wanted to do something but couldn't. Bob hid the gun and went to his room to shower and sleep.

He slept until four o’clock in the afternoon. As he lay there in bed he figured out a way to get the gun back to the night guard. He also knew he needed to get out of the country as soon as possible. Someone or many a someone will be telling the authorities, such as there are, of a crazy white guy with a shirt tied around his head who went on to kill many of the rebels. He wondered if there was a union for that.

So he spent the rest of the day calling his contacts and friends looking for another job.

Some guy told him that he heard of a guy, who heard there was an organization looking for workers to help with an Antarctic expedition. He had to call ten more people before he got the Internet address and applied for a job. He got an invitation for an interview with the people of the expedition. That day he quit and quickly called for a plane ride out of the Congo to Spain. Bob was lucky, that afternoon a supply plane was scheduled to leave. From Spain he purchased airfare to Rio.

In Rio, someone who gave him a quick interview. The guy talked to him about the cold and dark of Antarctica. He said it’s more severe than his experience in Alaska. Bob knew that but didn’t care, he needed to have this job so no one could find him. The guy then gave him airfare and directions to get a lift for the US base in Antarctica.

As he now walked he wondered if it was going to be worth it. This was cold to the maximum. Here, there is the cold of pain, no matter what you wear. There was always the pain of the cold. It bit your extremities all the time. Joints always acing, you're nose froze up with the ice of your breathing. The constant threats of you're cheeks going white with frostbite. Bob thought, I hate it when the ice in your nose thaws and then the water runs from your nose like a faucet. Although Bob was in Antarctic, he hadn’t officially sighed onto the project but he let it be known that he wouldn’t cancel out of it no matter what it turned out to be. So now he was rethinking it. Why the hell sign up for this? So there was plenty of money financing this expedition and the pay was fantastic. So no one would ever look for him here. Would they have found me anyway?

Now Bob’s worry was how the hell will he be able to work and help these people. He thought, You can’t handle tools, everything is always frozen. Why did they need to go there? Just a stupid rock or hole in the ground. So what? There must be more to it! I’ll have plenty of time to quiz the eggheads about it later. If I find out it is this stupid global warming crap. Well, cross your fingers.

He pulled the fingers of his left-gloved hand with his right-gloved hand. So he could have his fingers crossed. He continued thinking, If everything goes well I will have nothing to do but watch over the equipment. This storm better not continue. They say it will be over tomorrow. Never believe a weather man they are always guessing.

Chapter 2: - Knowing nothing is knowing everything.

In the meeting hall of the United States Antarctic base, Doctor Willy Nigel in his usual proper English accent with a hint of lisp was about to speak. He paused to put on his usual body gesture. Taking a big breath and pushing out his chest, he began with, I wish to welcome all of you here to this icy home. He moved to point his finger in a sweeping motion around the entire room. Nigel continued with, This will be your last chance to back out. I repeat that this will be your last chance to leave without sighing yourself to the expedition. Many of you are extremely glad to have the chance to be doing work in the Antarctic. Willy put his hands on his hips and then pouted his lips to say, Many of you who are here are not so glad. He then opened up his arms as if to receive all of them saying, Some of you are needed to keep the rest of us safe and sound and are here by order of the dollar. Willy puts his arms and hands down to his side and stood like he was in the military and at attention stance. He continued with, Still others are here for the curiosity of what may be found. Lifting his right hand and pointing to particular people in the crowd, he said, To these people I say. Be sure your that curiosity can take you threw the long bloody winter night of the Antarctic. What you are now experiencing outside is nothing compared to what is to come. We will be completely cut off from the rest of the world, if for some reason, we need to stay the deep winter, no one in and no one out. We might get a message or two out at times and then there will be times when we will get no messages at all.

He stopped and walked around with his hands held at his back. After a minute, he went on, "Listen to this and listen well. We will be traveling over crevasse laden glaciers just waiting to swallow you up. Should this happen we can not stop the main expedition to rescue you. We will only be able to leave a few people and supplies behind for a short time to try, and I mean try, to rescue you. The decision might have to be made to leave you in the crevasse. God rest your soul, we must at all cost get to the location indicated in the mountains.

The exact location is up hill from the main glacier. Once there, we will be boring down the ice of the secondary glacier to reach the rock of the mountain."

A gasp came from the people around. Then some murmuring started among them. One person, it was hard to tell if it was a man or a woman before they spoke. For some of the woman it was hard to tell even after they spoke. The group included people who had many years' experience in the harsh Antarctic air. It is air that can rip vocal chords.

The person in a blue parka said, What the fuck is so important about this spot that you think you can sacrifice people in getting there?

Madam, it is not so much that the spot is important, though we believe it to be very important. We only have a short time to get there. If we do not get there in time, then we will be forced to wait another year. The weather being what it is. In that time the entrance could be sealed off with more ice or a rock slide, making the work all the more difficult. We are fortunate that the conditions have changed enough in the area that we spotted the spot at all. Willy replied to her with his hands on his hips.

You haven’t said what is so important about this spot as you call it. she growled back to him.

He put his hands together in back of his body again and cleared his throat, And I do say Madam that I will not divulge any other information until you sign away your right to disclose anything and we are on our way. I do not like speculation and journalistic misstatements about any work that I am involved with. When the time is correct, a proper scientific paper will be published in the proper journals for pier review. Not glamorous, half-truthful headlines. However, I will say this for you speculators, the spot from remote sensors appears to be extremely interesting to all of the scientific community and treasure hunters are gathering large sums of money to try and beat us to it.

The blue parka person turned to the rest of the crowed and said, So, everybody get this straight. Bloody, stuff up here wants you to put your life on the line. Get in trouble and no one will help. Travel to a remote spot, and set up a camp to last the full winter. Support him and the other geeks for the winter. He is not going to tell you what you are gambling your life on. Some of you are stupid enough to sign on to this but I say it is way too risky. I am out. Anyone with me? The blue parka started to leave the assembly area. Only three other people joined with the blue parka.

Willy waited until they left and said, Very well, adventuring is not for everyone. Now that we have the team and the team is on board we can begin to assign duties. Everyone will take turns meeting with Doctor Jackson and Ms. Lock over at the far side to sign the proper paperwork. They will then make a list, hopefully with your name on it and you expected duties during this expedition. he pointed to the far side of the room.

Chapter 3 – There is no I in Team.

Margaret Lock wrote each name and what their responsibilities were. So far the team consisted of :

Doctor Willy P. Nigel (Willy) – Lead antiquities scientist, First head of all the other scientists, head of the project and financier of the expedition.

Doctor Grant L. Jackson (GL) – Scientists of in charge of the biological aspects of the expedition.

Doctor James McCoy (Jimmy) - NASA scientist, navigation and second in command of the scientific team.

Margaret Lock (Maggie) – Manager of all legal records, reports and personnel. She would be staying at the base.

Harry Gustoff (Harry) – Communications specialist, video documentation, radio and TV communications to the outside world.

Carlos Sanchez (Carlos) – Antarctic equipment procurement manager and lead equipment engineer.

Professor Mohamed Nazr (Mo) - geologist in charge of ice core samples and rock samples.

Bob Beamer (Bob) – Second engineer and general fix it guy and roustabout.

Greg Walch (Walch) – Adventurer, Antarctic traveler. Experienced in surviving one year in isolation. Lead man on the trek to and from the destination.

Claymore G. Jackson (Clay) – Third engineer and equipment man.

Nancy Quang (Nancy) – Nurse in charge of frostbite and other medical emergencies.

When everyone had signed all of the papers that were holding them all to secrecy and absolving anyone for what may or may not happen to them, and all the assignments were handed out. Then and only then were all of the explorers were called into a different room. This one was a smaller room with a TV sitting on a rolling cart at the end to the room. They were told to sit down and the briefing would commence. Once again Doctor Willy Nigel took the lead. However, standing with him were, Grant Jackson and James McCoy. Nigel began with, Well, Well, Well and now that we are all settled in I want to go over the why we are here, our goals and how we will be achieving those goals. We will begin with Doctor McCoy explaining how the find was, err found. Doctor McCoy if you please. He held out his hand to usher McCoy to the front.

Bob turned to Clay and whispered, Beamed down from space did he? Clay snickered.

Doctor McCoy explained that he was a NASA scientist who was part of a seven-man team that produced the map of the Gamburtsev mountain range. A mountain range bigger than the European Alps hidden under 2.5 miles of ice in the east of Antarctica. The sub-glacial mountains were first detected by Russian researchers more than 50 years ago and are named after a Soviet geophysicist, Grigoriy Gamburtsev. But, despite a small survey carried out in the 1970s, the size and shape of the Gamburtsev mountain range has remained a mystery. To examine the buried mountains, they flew special planes fitted with radar, magnetic and gravity sensors over the ice, with the measurements allowing them to see the ice and rock beneath. The range includes peaks up to 3,000m above sea level and raises many questions. Why does it have all these fresh-looking peaks and valleys with very little erosion. Such high mountains, which are normally the result of collisions between tectonic plates, should not exist in the center of an ancient continent. He got very excited, and raised his hand in the air, as he said, We shouldn’t have mountains at all! Then he shouted, "And, if you are thinking in terms of volcanic activity then we would find a ‘geochemical fingerprint’ in the pre-glacial to present-day sediments. People, we can not find this fingerprint!"

He let that sink in for a few seconds. Most of the science types looked interested. The rest of the crew fumbled around for something to keep their interest. So he started in again. Now people you know temperatures where we will camp hovered around -53C, but three kilometers beneath the main glacier at the bottom of the ice sheet there is liquid water in the valleys. The radar [data] let everyone know that it was much warmer at the base of the ice sheet. I was reviewing that data and I got curious to see what the temperatures were farther up the mountains. The heat had to be coming from somewhere. So I took the radar plane out on an unscheduled flyby of the area, that I thought was most intriguing. When I reviewed my radar [data] later I found something exceptionally strange. One spot under the ice and on the side of a mountain that was a lot warmer, yet not to warm to indicate lava activity. There it was, unbelievable.

There was what? someone in the audience shouted out.

Sorry, I am so excited about this find! There was a spot with a temperature in the range of the temperate zones of the earth! It was just one spot! Just one spot! Plus the magnetic readings are off the chart in this one spot! he was out of breath.

Nigel jumped in and took over, Ladies and gentlemen need we say more. Really, one spot remotely located that shows such unusual qualities has got to indicate something very important.

Doctor Jackson excitedly ran in front of Nigel to say, Hello, I wish to inject here that the area may have very important species of bacteria that have to be carefully taken care of so that there is no contamination of the area from the outside and no contamination from the inside to the outside.

Carlos Sanchez stood up to say, OK, enough with the scientific excitement about this. How the hell are we going to get a big hole dug in the ice and how are we going to get the other heavy equipment to this spot. No, equipment, no go.

The real planning began.

Chapter 4 – Getting to know all about you.

Bob had worked for a brief time, with both Clay and Carlos when he was in Alaska. Carlos and Bob hit it off right away. Clay was a little more standoffish with Bob. Bob always put it off as Clay was to worried about his wife and family back in the lower forty eight. Bob was convinced that Clay worried about his wife cheating on him. Clay however would never approach the subject with anyone. It led Clay to take shortcuts to get the job done quickly so he could be done and back to his wife.

Carlos however, thought too much of himself to care if his wife was fooling around. He had no problem in attracting women. In fact, it sometimes was a problem as some of them tried to follow him everywhere. So he put up with his curse of being hansom, charming and a chick magnet. As long as he was on at he job site everything was fine. It was when they went into a town that the problems started. Bob didn’t mind most of the problems at all, he would take the leftovers.

Wouldn’t you know just two days ago one of the Carlos followers showed up here. How she got to Antarctica would be a matter of discussion between Carlos and Bob for years. Bob was betting on the ‘she slept her way here with the penguins’ theory. Her name was Gwen and Carlos knew her as a friend's daughter. She generally got what she wanted but she couldn’t get Carlos. It would have ruined a long time family friendship and Carlos could get sex anytime he wanted it. Bob had never met her but Carlos had repeated plenty of stories of this spoiled brat. So he and Carlos planned a switch.

It was dark and cold in the room. Bob very quickly entered the room so no light could betray who came through the door. He then inched his way to Carlos’s bed. It took him five minutes to shed all his clothing in the pitch-blackness. Those five minutes were hell. Gwen started talking and Bob would be given away if he answered. So he mumbled and grunted and just didn’t answer her. He quickly slid into the bed and found that Gwen was already naked under the heavy sleeping bag. The spider waiting for the fly to disturb the web before she pounces. Two more sleeping bags were piled on the first. He could feel her smooth naked skin as he slide into the bottom bag and up against her. What was her body like, he wondered? You can’t have much of an idea when all you see of anyone is the multi layers and heavy parkas everyone has to wear. Bob was lying on his right side, he ran his hand down her left side and could feel her ribs. He thought, good start. She got up on one arm and kissed him. Warm lips, she must have such a lovely face, he thought. He mused, could he stare at her face for hours. In the dark he didn’t know. He ran his hand gently over her temple and down her cheek as he kissed her. Bob dropped his hand to her shoulder as he kissed her cheek and then her neck and then her shoulder. Instantly, Bob felt more excited. He kissed his way to her chest and was rewarded with two pleasant mounds. Was it him or the cold that had brought on this erect response? He hoped the response was because of him but either way he was enjoying them now. As he kissed he slid his hands over her body. Holly shit, her skin is as soft and smooth as a baby. ‘Slow down’, he told himself your getting way to excited. Women take a lot longer to get to where they want to go. You definitely want to impress her so you have another shot at this, and another and another.

God how he wished it was daylight and he could see what she looked like naked. He was imagining the perfect body shape. Does she have the magic proportions of a woman’s shape? The proportions that are built right into every male. Right there genetically encoded, so that no matter what a guy was thinking or trying to think of, his brain would be turned off. All of the mans attention would be diverted to sex. It was impossible to know for sure if she had it, but in the dark he could feel that all indications were that she did have it. Again he had to tell himself, ‘Slow Down’, concentrate on her pleasure. He slowly ran his hand over her. She moaned and arched her back, a good sign. Then it happened, she reached down and stroked him. Excitement shot through him like a lightening strike. ‘Fuck it’, he thought, this is too good. Bob lost his ability to reason and nature took him over.

He slid down her body. Kissing her chest, her belly and then he arrived at his destination. The more she moaned the more exited he got.

Gwen pulled his hair to tell him it was time to get onto the main event. He moved up her body and kissed as he went. He was much taller than she was so when they got into position her face was at his neck. She kissed his neck and started to give him a hickey. Again, he had to remind himself to take it slowly. Then the awful thought, what if she got pregnant? Again nature took over his mind and he said, ‘fuck it’. Then it happened, she moaned again and lightly her body gave off spasms. Touch down, he scored, now for the point after. That was it, he raced to the end, spasms after spasms took control of his body, the entire world went away. He was in a land of nothing but pleasure. No other feeling but pleasure was in the world at that minute. It took over every part of his body.

Slowly he came back to the real world but not without what he called the after shocks, more involuntary spasms.

Bob started to move to get off of her and she stopped him and said, No, stay with me it feels so good to have you. He had to admit she was right. Already he was wondering how he could get her to do this again and again and again. ‘Stop’, come back to reality, he thought. As soon as she catches on that he is not Carlos, off she goes forever. He moved to her left side and lay next to her. Bob caressed her and kissed her. I can not let her get away, I love being next to her. I must have her forever. So powerful is sex.

‘I will remember this the rest of my life.’ was Bob’s thought and he was sure of it.

Chapter 5 – Getting up to go.

Bob cursed the alarm clock. He quickly turned to reach out to shut it off. He then remembered that Gwen was in the bed. He stopped with his arm in mid air, opened his eyes and saw that Gwen wasn’t in the bed and it wasn’t his bed or his alarm clock.

Gwen came across the room fully dressed and with parka on. She shut off the alarm clock. "Get up and dressed or you will be late. Have a great day, I have to be