Location: Ecopoint: Antarctica
Mei, Praveen, Veronika, and Logan were playing a hand of Bridge - an ancient card game - as Gael burst through the door:
"There's a storm on the radar. Get in here, now!"
Mei was the first to her feet, "I was outside earlier. That can't be right," she said in a voice as if she was trying to convince herself.
The five scientists shuffled into their tiny control room. Praveen grabbed a holoscreen, tapped and swiped on it a couple times, and peered at a satellite-map of their location. "How did we miss this? The winds... they're off the charts!"
Gael looked at Logan:
"Get on the communications and let 'em know what's happening."
Logan sat down at his computer that looked like it was decades old. Technology out of its time.
Veronika turned towards Praveen, "How much time do we have?"
"Twenty minutes. Thirty," Praveen replied. "I don't know. We should be feeling the effects of the storm already based on these readings."
"It will be fine like last time," Veronika said.
"There's something different about this," Praveen interrupted. "Its formation is tiny – but cyclonic. There's severe baroclinic instability. And it's happening at an accelerated rate. Much faster than it should be."
Mei looked up from the holoscreen she had in her hands and said bluntly: "There's going to be rapid explosive cyclogenesis."
"No response from Overwatch," Logan said from the other side of the room. "I'm not getting anything from McMurdo Station, either."
Gael said authoritatively: "Get the generators ready. Veronika, get a count on the MRE's and any medical equipment you need into the bunker. Logan, keep on the comms. I'm going to make sure the shutters are secure."
Veronika headed toward a big, steel door. She turned the lever and went out into the subzero weather. It was 9 PM but still bright as high noon – something that, just hours prior, had annoyed her to no end. She had wished that, just for tonight, she could look up and see a night sky full of stars. It was a sight she hadn't seen for months. But now with a storm in their sights, nothing would please her more than to have a normal, eternally sunlit boring-old-night in Antarctica.
About 30 minutes passed before Veronika got her supplies in order and was heading back. She felt a noticeable increase in wind and began to worry. As she opened the steel door to get back into the control room she heard:
"That doesn't make any sense, Praveen!" Gael said.
"I've never seen anything like this before. Look at this – the system is forming on top of us. I thought it was moving very slowly, but it isn't moving at all. It's just getting larger."
"Mei?"
Mei hesitated for a second. "It's possible. It's very rare but it can happen naturally. Usually when severe katabatic winds are present. I need to go outside and do some tests to get a better reading. The tower stopped sending information 15 minutes ago because the sensors probably got frozen. That would also explain why we didn't receive any warning signals to alert us about the possible blizzard."
"The weather is deteriorating outside. I do not think it is wise to go out," Veronika replied, who was still patting off some snow from her jacket.
"Especially now that we can't monitor the storm anymore. We have no idea what's happening out there," Praveen added.
"My equipment is too valuable," Mei said. "The data is too valuable. If we leave it out there we may never find it after the storm. I can set up my drone to gather data on the weather system while I get my equipment and find out more about what's happening. It won't take long."
No one said a word as Mei put on her insulator and arctic parka, strapped on her goggles, and headed for the door.
Logan noticed the expression on her face – almost of regret – as she looked down at the floor while her hand was on the steel door lever.
"Mei, everything will be okay," he said.
"I hope so," she said as she pulled the lever down with a loud clunk. "I've got my radio."
Outside, Mei left the bunker and started walking towards a big four-track snow truck. She climbed into the driver's seat, started it up, and drove through their base towards a big opening that led to what looked like an endless field of snow.
The Overwatch Ecopoint: Antarctica base was nothing more than a bunch of trailers and retrofitted shipping containers parked head-to-tail to create a border, with a couple bunkers, satellites, and observatories thrown in. But it was their home for the last few months, and each scientist loved it in their own unique way.
As Mei made her way outside the protection of their makeshift wall, the breeze picked up immensely. Gusts of wind hurled snow through the air. Mei couldn't see 50 feet in front of her, but knew what direction she needed to go in.
"She's going east," Logan said to the rest of the scientists back in the bunker, as he kept track of Mei's position on a holoscreen. A flashing little blue circle indicated her position, slowly edging its way out of the base.
Gael said: "We didn't have any data operations going out there."
Praveen got up and looked out of one of the thick, protective windows nervously, "You know Mei. She couldn't sit still even if she was surrounded by a block of ice. Always has some experiment going on…" He shook his head slightly.
Mei's technology was already helping millions of people across the world to access cleaner air, cooler weather, and valuable precipitation. She thought of her data and technology as if it were her own child.
After five minutes of wading through the lesser effects of the snowstorm, Mei's truck started slowing down as the wind got more severe. Visibility was now limited to 20 feet.
"I think we've got everything we need," Gael said. "Enough supplies for the week at the very least. Logan, get the generators down to the cryo-chambers and get a count on the liquid nitrog-"
Suddenly two holoscreens started flashing charts, numbers, graphics, and projections. Praveen looked at them. "It's Mei! Her drone is operational."
Mei – now outside of her snowtruck, which was quickly being bombarded with snow – looked up at her drone, no larger than a common wastebasket. It was levitating in the wind, extending rods outward, beeping and booping loudly as it gathered data and measured the storm system. It was a very rudimentary drone that could only collect data, though Mei had many more ideas and visions of what her drone could be capable of one day.
Back at the bunker Praveen fervently looked at the valuable data Mei's drone was relaying. "Wind speed has increased exponentially," Praveen said. "This is much worse than we thought. She has to turn back."
The four scientists' eyes were locked onto Mei's little flashing dot as it kept moving steadily eastward on the holoscreen, towards the weather system the team was worried about.
Now on foot, she kept walking deeper into the storm. She huddled down and took one small step at a time – barely keeping herself on her two feet against the harsh winds assaulting her body. She looked back at where she deployed her drone but couldn't see it through the low visibility anymore.
Mei kept going.
"I have to go and get her," Logan said as he got up and went towards his snow jacket hanging on the wall. "I'm gonna take the Fox."
Gael grabbed a radio and chucked it towards Logan. "I'll guide y-." Abruptly, the power went out. The computers and holoscreens shut down.
"Generators will start up," Veronika said.
After 30 seconds, the holoscreens rebooted. The map came back up – but there was no indication of Mei's location. Her little blue blinking dot had vanished.
"Wh-where is she?" Logan asked.
"GPS and triangulation services are down. Cryogenic ASU's are showing red, too," Praveen stated as he read through a list of indicators on a screen.
Logan, still with his jacket in hand, looked at the screen and said a silent prayer.
The wind, snow, and flurries striking Mei's body were overwhelming, but she kept pressing ahead. She pulled her hood down over her face and leaned forward, one step at a time.
And then, all of a sudden - the winds stopped. There was peace.
Mei looked up to find a placid sky, and saw that she had reached the center of the cyclone. A circle of immense wind was tunneling around. She was in the eye of the storm.
Back at the base the scientists became more worried not only for their friend, but for their own safety.
"We can't stay in the control room. Get down to the cryo-bunker," Gael said regrettably.
The four went down a stairway into a small hatch. There were cryogenic chambers – pods that opened up like a casket with a layer of glass on top. Eight of them.
Mei – back in the eye of the snowstorm - looked ahead at the peaceful winter paradise she found herself in. And there, lying in front of her, was her equipment. Pristine as she had left it. No snow covering any of it. It's like the storm had never existed for this machine.
Back at the bunker, "Check the liquid nitrogen levels," Gael said.
Veronika was already ahead of him, accessing a screen near the cryo-chambers: "What? Why are they at 20%?"
Praveen said: "ASU operations were running 'round the clock. Cryogenic distillation was operational up until 20 minutes ago. It should be at maximum capacity. Don't tell me that."
"I triple checked. 20%... that's… it's…" Veronika did a calculation in her head.
Gael didn't want her to finish the sentence, "...We won't need it. This storm is going to blow over."
Mei walked up to her equipment - a huge machine. It looked like an oversized version of her waste-basket looking drone she had deployed earlier. Five times, maybe 10 times bigger. It was making the same beeping and booping noises.
Mei accessed a holoscreen on the side of it and did some tapping.
Veronika, back in the bunker, was perplexed at the missing liquid nitrogen and went to physically check the tanks.
Mei stood in front of her oversized drone as it opened up. Freezing CO2 gas sprayed as the icy core opened. A hinge lifted from the side, revealing the inner workings of this machine.
And there, in this huge drone, were countless tanks with a label on each one: "LN2"
Mei stared at them for a few seconds, thinking to herself. The look of regret came over her face again. She looked back behind her, searching for any sign of her snow truck that she was forced to abandon. It was nowhere in sight. Nothing could be seen through the hurricane-force winds that was circling the eye.
She got her radio out, "Logan?"
Nothing. No static – just silence.
She tried again. Nothing.
Mei lifted her left wrist up and looked at it. She tapped a button on her wristband, and her miniature drone quickly descended from the sky towards her. Mei hooked up her miniature drone to the oversized one and it beeped and booped as it downloaded the information the large machine had gathered for her from its experiments.
Mei looked at the data, part fascinated, but also knowing that her friends and she were in serious danger. When the downloading was complete, she headed back towards the eye-wall.
She pushed through and slowly made her way back into the chaos. Mounds of snow had gathered all over the place. Soon she found her snow truck, now mostly covered in snow. In the distance she could see Ecopoint: Antarctica, barely visible through the stormy winds.
Back inside, thirty minutes later, the four friends were having a lively conversation.
"It doesn't make sense to consume the MRE's if we're going to be stuck here for a week, anyway. Let's use what little LN2 we have remaining and get passed this storm, then work on getting communications up and running. Plus, Overwatch will check in when they haven't heard from us." Gael said to
the rest of them.
Veronika thought to herself before saying, "20% LN2 is... That's 35 years between all of us. 7 years each. Much more than enough. No need to worry."
Gael said: "Overwatch will be here in a couple days. Logan?"
"Distress signal has been going out for the last half hour. It'll keep going out even if we sleep."
"What is that?" Veronika said. "Quiet!" as she strained to listen.
There was a banging in the control room.
"Mei!" Logan exclaimed.
He flew up the stairs and tried to get the door open, but it was blocked by ice. The knocking was coming from the ceiling – the roof above him.
"She's up there!"
Gael looked out of the window – but there was only snow. The sounds of howling winds whisked outside, if it was even possible for the storm to continue getting worse.
"Help me get the door open!" Logan yelled.
The four scientists all pushed. The door jolted open a crack, and snow started cascading inside through the opening. They kept pushing and soon saw the familiar legs of their lovable Chinese counterpart.
They pulled her down to get her inside and tried to shut the door, but the snow kept cascading inside until the door was no longer visible.
"Get down to the bunker." Veronika said.
The control room started shaking, being pushed and pulled and pummeled by the mighty storm's winds. The five reunited friends got down into the bunker.
Mei started removing her arctic parka and pulled off her goggles. "Still no contact from Overwatch? Anyone?" she asked.
"Nothing." Praveen said.
Veronika tapped on a holoscreen, and five cryogenic pods opened in unison. They had all agreed to use the pods to survive the storm until a rescue team could be sent in.
A robotic female voice came from the controls. "Default timetable: Five years."
Veronika tapped some more.
The voice said, "Manual override activated. Timetable set: Seven years."
The five friends hugged and embraced each other and lowered themselves down in the pods.
Inside each pod was a switch for "ACTIVATE." Next to it was a white, glowing analogue reading: "-2555 days."
Praveen was the first to hit his activate button. A cold liquid and gas filled the chamber as his eyes closed.
Veronika was the second.
Logan was the third.
Gael was the fourth.
Mei peered at her activate button. But didn't press it.
The glass on her pod opened and she got out. She went over to where her belongings were and picked up her miniature drone. She looked at the holoscreen and saw all the data and experimental results that she had been working on. Her eyes dazzled as she thought of the possibilities. Of all the good she could do with her technology.
She went to the terminal that controlled the cryo-pods.
The robotic voice soon said, "Timetable set: Five years."
Mei got back in her pod and went to sleep.
...
Mei's eyes blinked open. She squinted. She looked up and down and saw the glass of the pod above her.
After pressing a button, it swung open on its hinge. The robotic voice said, "Resuscitation process complete."
Mei pulled herself up and looked around. Everything was as it was left.
On the wall there was a date stamp. Five years had passed.
"How could this be?" She thought. "Nobody misses us?"
Mei tried to go upstairs into the control room but the hatch was blocked. She couldn't lift it up. The control room must've been entirely filled up with snow. Maybe it wasn't even there anymore.
She went back down the stairs and sat down, and started to weep.
As she was wiping tears from her eyes, she looked and saw her little drone.
A feeling of grief overtook her. All of this knowledge, all of this power – she could help so many people. But she couldn't shake the feeling that she was going to die here.
Mei walked over to the other pods with her friends in it. She looked inside Veronika's pod. So peaceful. She'd be waking up in 2 years with the rest of the crew.
A tear dripped from Mei's eye as she put her hand on a lever on the pod.
Next to the lever: "Power Override"
Mei looked down for 30 seconds. Then pulled the lever.
...
As she made her way to the next pod… she thought to herself.
"…Millions of people will survive because of this data."
She pulled the next lever down.
And the next.
And the final one.
Mei stood still for a minute before slowly getting into her pod after readjusting its settings. The robotic voice spoke once again, "Maximum Timetable set: 10 years."
As the glass door hinged closed on Mei's pod, she looked up at the ceiling.
"I can't stand by and let the world suffer…" she thought to herself.
She closed her tear-filled eyes as the cool, liquid nitrogen shocked her system.
Her final thought dissolved from her mind: "This data… and this world… is worth fighting for."
END