Chapter III
Lex turned back to what she could see in the dark she sighed mournfully and directed her eyes forward not looking up as her sight was sensitive, she then prepared a parachute flare gun and fired it sending a flare high into the sky, once it reached a certain height it exploded and illuminated the Whaling station in a glowing red light.
"It's an abandoned whaling station, according to your satellite imagery Mr. Weyland the pyramid is located directly beneath it." Lex said as she watched the red light die out.
It took them an hour to reach the whaling station, but once there they made their way down what used to be the Main Street, as they walked they illuminated the frozen ghost town with their flashlights, to the full humans it was creepy as hell, but for Lex it wasn't creepy at all, in fact she enjoyed the silence.
"Spread out." Max said as he glanced around the abandoned station. "We'll use this place as a base camp." He continued but paused when he saw that their guide was actually enjoying their stroll through the creepy frozen ghost town. "Mr. Quinn." He called once he got over the fact that Lex looked quite content in the creepy setting. "Begin drilling operations as soon as possible." He ordered.
"I'm on it." Quinn responded.
Lex and Sebastian had made it to the stations Harbour, they saw that a giant black cauldron dominated most of the harbour, Lex estimated that it was 15ft in height and 30ft across, they also saw that one of its four 'feet'had been knocked away causing the tank to tilt at crazy angle but that fact that it was frozen stopped it from falling into the icy Antarctic ocean.
"What are these?" Sebastian asked her as he gestured to the whale bones.
"Whale bones… This station was abandoned in 1904, everyone just disappeared over night. It was a big mystery back then." Lex explained.
"Witch's Cauldron?" Sebastian asked again but this time indicating the massive black cauldron.
"The 'Separator', throw whale blubber in, heat it and separate out the fat. Whale oil was big business back then." She said as she continued to walk through the station.
"How did they get ships in here?" Sebastian asked as he looked down at the frozen water.
"The station only operated in the summer, when the ice melted but as you know it was abandoned in 1904."
"How come?" Sebastian asked looking at Lex for the answer.
"Nothing left to hunt I guess." Lex replied.
Miller walked into the mess hall and see that all of the cutlery and furniture that was in the frozen building was frozen to where it had been left in 1904, he tried to pick up one of the cups but that handle broke off. He then set up his camera with the timer set..
"One for National Geographic." Miller muttered as he rushed to take up position but he was to slow and he almost blinded himself for the third time on the expedition. The flash from the camera disturbs something that had been taking refuge in the mess hall and causes it to move about.
"Hello?" Miller called out into the semi-darkness of the mess hall, but the movement stops after he called out but then continues.
"Come out of there or… you'll be wearing your ass for a hat." Miller said trying to do his best to imitate Verheiden, the movement stops again and Miller knew that he was easy prey, the noise starts up again but louder this time and moving closer to where he was standing.
"Jesus!" Miller yells when something grabs his shoulder, he turns quickly and saw that it was only Lex.
"No one goes anywhere alone." She reprimanded Miller, as he attempts to calm himself down, but fails.
"There's something in here." Miller said.
"I doubt it." Lex replied, as she looked around.
"Over there…" Miller said pointing in the direction that the noise had been coming from. Lex turned in the direction that Miller had pointed and dropped into a semi-feral crouch, ready for an attack. Better safe than sorry. Lex thought as she moved on silent feet with her flashlight raised to pierce the darkness even if she would rather turn it off and move closer in the dark to give her an advantage.
"Listen." Miller continued softly and that is when they both hear the sound of movement, from behind a table a penguin emerges.
"For God's sake…" Miller cursed.
"It's a penguin." Lex deadpanned as she looked at the earth bound bird.
"I thought it might be…" Miller said, Lex glanced at the chemical engineer and knew that he hadn't thought that all. Miller stared at the penguin and the bird stars back, inquisitive and unafraid.
"Careful…" Lex cautioned with a small smirk knowing that Miller was truly out of his depth. "…they do bite." She continued, she turned around when she heard shouting outside and rolls her eyes, as she walks out of the frozen mess hall Miller takes the penguin's picture, before he too left.
When Lex and Miller are outside they see Sebastian standing there flushed and exited.
"Over here! You're not going to believe this!" He said, before he lead them around the corner of the mess hall to reveal a large gaping hole in the snow and ice, itwas perfectly round about 10ft across, the rest of the team was gathering around the hole, but parted to let Lex through.
Lex saw that Quinn's drilling equipment is off to one side not even unpacked yet.
"It's drilled at a perfect 30 angle." Quinn said once Weyland and Lex were there at the front of the gathering.
"How far does it go down?" She asked to keep up appearances.
"All the way to the pyramid." Weyland said as Quinn nods to Sven, who lights a flare and then threw it down the shaft, the flare falls but soon it was swallowed by the darkness they never see it hit the bottom but Lex does.
"How was it done?" Miller asked as he looked at Quinn.
"Thermal equipment of some kind." Quinn responded after glancing at the scientist.
"Like yours?" Weyland asked with an eyebrow raised. Quinn shakes his head as he glanced at the closest building to the hole, whatever cut through the ice also cut clean through the building, vaporizing wooden beams and metal walls.
"More advanced." Quinn finally said. "And incredibly powerful, I've never seen anything like it." Quinn admits.
"I told you that I wasn't the only one with a satellite over the Antarctic." Weyland said to Lex who rolled her eyes. "Maybe it's the Chinese… or it could be the Russians. Whoever it is, they clearly have better equipment that we do." He said in disappointment.
"Listen, whoever cut this sliced through hard packed ice, the building, the beams and metal walls." Quinn said before pausing to look at the hole again. "We should find out what cut this before we proceed."
"I thought you were the best?" Max criticised, making Quinn bristle, he had worked hard to be considered the best.
"I am the best." Quinn stated with a slight glare.
"It doesn't make any sense." Lex muttered, and when she saw that the others were looking at her she continued. "Where is their base camp?" She asked.
Quinn looked around and saw that Lex was right there were no signs that any other human being had been there since 1904. "She's right." Quinn said.
"They must be already down there then." Max said as Lex re-examined the hole with critical eyes, but in reality she already knew what had caused this and she wasn't going to tell as the others would think her crazy.
"No look at the ice. There's no ridges, nobody's been down there." She said after a moment.
"The satellite passed over eleven minutes ago." Weyland said as he checked his watch. "Get me the data." He ordered Max, who moved away to do just that.
A couple of minutes later Weyland brought up the thermal image of the pyramid showing them the familiar interlocking square shapes, the red lines indicating the walls of the pyramid and a yellow line that lead straight to the pyramid.
"There it is. Clear as day." Weyland stated. "And this time yesterday…" Then he brought up another image, the one that was taken 24 hours earlier, the noticeable difference is that there was no yellow line leading down to the pyramid. "…nothing." Weyland continued.
"So whoever cut this, they did it in the last 24 hour." Sebastian said.
"That's just not possible." Quinn stated.
"It's here." Sebastian began in a matter of fact manner. "It's done." He finished.
"I'm telling you there's no team and no machine in the world that could cut to this depth in twenty-four hours." Quinn rebuked.
"The only way we're going to know for sure is to get down there and find out." Weyland said, and that was all it took to get everyone moving to get ready to go down to the pyramid.
A winch and pulley system was built over the mouth of the hole by Sven, Boris and Mikkel, Miller watches Quinn's team work he reaches up and scratches his head then he pulled the woollen hat off in annoyance.
"Put your hat back on." Lex said as she passed him.
"It itches." Miller replies, still not putting the hat back on.
"I saw a man lose both his ears with frostbite." Lex began in a reprimanding tone of voice. "With the ear canal exposed, you can see a full inch inside your head." Lex smiled sweetly, as Miller paled and hurriedly put his hat back on, she then walked away.
"Okay guys!" Quinn yelled. "What's taking so long? There's a storm coming!" He shouted.
Lex approached one of the Haaglunds that they had managed to bring down to the whaling station, she opened the door thinking it was empty as she hadn't checked where everyone was through her gifts, she saw Weyland sitting in the cag breathing in air from a portable oxygen tank when he lowers the mask he begins to cough a bit. To Lex his power and wealth meant nothing now that she saw him in such a vulnerable state.
Both stare at each other for a couple of minutes, before Lex said gently, her maternal instincts awakening and it didn't matter that Weyland was older than her. "There's no room for sick men on this expedition."
"My doctors tell me the worst is behind me." Weyland said confidently, but Lex could feel the deceit that was pouring of off him.
"You're not a very good liar Mr. Weyland." Lex said shaking her head a bit."Stay on the ship, we'll update you at the top of every hour." She continued, Weyland looks at her and wished again that she was a part of his family.
"You know when you get sick, you think about your life and how you're going to be remembered. You know what I realized would happen when I go?" He asked the strong woman, who shook her head. "A ten percent fall in share prices, maybe twelve. And that's it, I need this." He said in a pleading voice.
Lex looks at Weyland and considered what he had said before saying. "I've heard this speech before." She said with a sigh. "My step-dad broke his leg 700ft from the summit of Mt. Rainier, he was like you." She said fondly she would continue to wish that he was her biological father, until her biological father proved himself to her. "He wouldn't go back or let us stop. We reached the top and he opened a bottle of champagne." She continued with a sad smile. "Had my first drink with step-dad at 14.400ft."
It's a memory that she would always carry dear to her heart. "On the way down he developed a blood clot in his leg that travelled to his lung. He suffered for four hours before dying twenty minutes from the base."
"You think that's the last thing your step-dad remembers? The pain?" Weyland asked but Lex shakes her head she didn't know as she had sworn to herself that she wouldn't look into her family's minds unless they asked. "Or drinking champagne with his step-daughter at 14.000ft in the air?" he continued
She stared at him for a moment considering his words before nodding her acceptance and closed the door, after silently communicating that he could come.