Lex's POV
This whole thing started off with an offer for funding and I imagine that it was quite the same for a few of the expert that Mr. Weyland brought aboard the Piper Maru.
Truthfully, it wasn't unusual for a scientist to ask for a guide of the ice, actually it's very common, that's why perhaps that I didn't see anything wrong with it, that and a full yeaｒs funding just to meet with him.
But there was a catch, there's always a catch with these big businessmen, I just didn't realize how big of a one till he started to present this... 'mission'.
He wanted to leave right away, with a team with no training, on Bouvetoya Island, one of the most isolated places in the world. I shook my head, it was insane, asinine even. A thousand miles away from help if there was trouble and even with a trained crew there's always some kind of trouble.
They just blew off the dangers of the ice and this thing, this pyramid they were after was 2,000 feet below it, that in itself makes it all the more dangerous, but I guess to them it's more appealing. Men, why do they always have to prove something?
They came to me, Alexa Woods, environmental technician and guide, cause, well I was the best, seven season on the ice, I had one of the highest level of experience. I said 'no' like any good guide would, Bouvetoya was a no man's land and nearly as torturous as death himself. It just wasn't safe and nothing they could do would make it by the book. I was... disappointed in Mr. Weyland to say the least, the best equipment and technology money can buy can't prepare you for what you may deal with on the ice.
I asked who they had gotten, to replace me, 'Gerald Murdock' they say, I know him- he's got two seasons under his belt and he's cocky, even if he had the experience, he's attitude would place them all into danger.
I asked them about Andrew Keller or Paul Woodman, but they were like me, they refused.
My stomach dropped, they wouldn't listen and it made me fell sick.
I went outside the shit, leaned on the railing, watching the Northern Lights dance in the sky. Miller and Sebastian leaned on either of my sides.
"Shakelton called Antarctica 'the last great journey left to man'. It's the one place left that no one owns, it's completely free." I chuckled slightly as I told them that I was parｓｈal to the penguins.
Sebastian and Miller told me that they wished I was coming along. They ask if they would be better with a number two choice rather then me. The truth is, no they wouldn't, and I felt... guilty.
Gerald Murdock isn't someone they'd want their lives in the hands of. I ask them if they wanted my advice, they avidly nodded, I tell them to stay on the boat.
-It's not until later that I wished I would've followed my own advice-
I laid down three rules for everyone before we headed out onto the ice. Yes, my guilt had gotten the best out of me. I couldn't in good conscious leave innocent people to face the dangers of the ice, especially after I've net them... and gotten along with them.
Here where the three simple rules I laid down for them:
"One, no one goes anywhere alone- ever. Two, everyone must maintain constant communication. Three, unexpected things are going to happen. When they do, no one tried to be a hero." I asked if they all understood, they said 'yes' and I really hope they do.
I watched as Rousseau packed a gun. "Seven seasons on the ice and I've never seen a gun save anyone's life."
She smiled at me, "Well I don't plan on using it." I raised my brow, she continued. "It's the same principal as a condom," I listened to her analogy and didn't say anything. "I'd rather have one and not need it... then need it and not have one. "
I mentally sighed and started to wonder just what kind of people I was going to lead on the ice. People who obviously thought sex was a lot like a gun, quick, easy to handle, and dangerous with the wrong person. I rolled my eyes this was going to be a long trip.
As we rode to the site, the tension was think in the air. Sebastian commented about Italy, "La Luna Del Cacciatore," Hunter's Moon. We laughed, but out of slight nervousness, at least for me anyway- that phase hit me in the gut, telling me that this would not be a normal day on the ice for me.
-How right I was-
We reached Razorback Point an abandoned whaling station since 1904. I tell Sebastian about how a hundred years ago, it was a big mystery, how everyone disappeared overnight, this place held it's own eeriness, the chilled wind whipped around, rattling the deserted buildings, and how everything seemed untouched. It left a cold, empty feeling in your stomach.
Miller had wondered off, I rolled my eyes, so much for following my rules. I held back a smirk, Miller was such a tough guy, he got spooked my a penguin. I was hard pressed not to snicker as I told him that they bite. I did lay out the rules for their safety after all, but they wouldn't do any good if they didn't listen to them.
Miller and I went over towards the loud commotion towards the end of the whaling station. Sebastian seemed to have found a tunnel, it was perfectly round, all the way down to the pyramid at a 30 degree angle.
We broke camp, I found Weyland in one of the caterpillars with an inhaler, he was hacking and coughing, I told him that, "We have no room for a sick man of this expedition." Mr. Weyland said he needed this, that when he died it wouldn't be a big deal, an 11 drop in shares maybe 12. He wanted to do something to be remembered by.
I inwardly sighed, I told him that I've heard this all before. It hurt slightly to remember, "My dad had broken his leg 700ft from the summit of Mt. Reiner, he refused to quit, I had my first drink at 14,000 ft with my dad. On the way down he developed a blood clot in his leg that traveled to his lung, he suffered four hours before dieing 20 mins。 from the base." Mr. Weyland just gave me a small smile, he asked me if my dad remembered just the pain or drinking with his daughter at 14,000 ft in the air. I could help but give him a smile of my own, I guess I could see his point.
A group of us slowly made out way down the ice tunnel, some placed lights on the way. Something seem to have gone wrong for there were shouts and Mr. Weyland came sliding down the ice, consequently knocking some people over in the process.
I nearly sighed out loud this is way I was insistent on three weeks of training, I estimated hiｓ rate of speed, when he came to me I slammed my ice pick into the ground through his hood. Mr. Weyland looked severely shaken, I did my best not to give him an 'I told you so' look through my exasperated one.
When we reached the bottom, Mr. Weyland admitted to me that he just did not understand, there was no equipment or any other trace of another team, he was very unsure about the work of the tunnel.
The crew set up the lights, illuminating the ice cavern and the pyramid inside, it was one of those sights that just took your breath away. Mr. Weyland seemed please with himself. Soon we found ourselves all venturing onward into the pyramid.
Sebastian and his partner decoded some of the hieroglyphs at the entrance. The symbols were a mix of Egyptian, Aztecs, and Cambodian, supporting Sebastian's theory of this pyramid being the first one built by the first civilization.
"Only the chosen may enter"
Something tells me that this is not good, but I say nothing as we continue on in your exploration of the pyramid.