Chapter I
As Lex pulled the ice pick out of the glacier that she was scaling her phone rang, making her freeze and hope to God and any other deity that she knew of that it wasn't them, as she amswered her phone using the bletooth head set.
"Who is this?" Lex asked cautiously.
"Miss Woods." A male voice said. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Maxwell Stafford." Here Max paused. "I represent Weyland Industries."
She almost sighed in relief. "Let me guess; your suing us again?" she asked a bit irritated, the only way that you could tell how she felt was that she swung the ice axe a bit harder than she needed too.
"You misunderstand... I speak for Mr. Weyland himself." Stafford replied, Lex was surprised at that.
"What does one of the biggest polluters want with us?" She questioned as she swung the opposite ice axe.
"Mr. Weyland's interest is in you personally. He's offering to fund the foundation with which you are associated for a full year… if you'll meet with him." Stafford replied.
Lex paused in the rhythmic swinging of her ice axes for a minute, hesitating, she felt that this was like meeting with the Devil.
"When?" She finally asked.
"Tomorrow." Stafford stated.
At hearing that her foot almost slipped on the ice. "I presume you know how bad we need the money…" she began "but tomorrow's going to be a bit of a problem." Lex continued then finished with. "It will take me a week to get back to the Civilized World."
"I told Mr. Weyland that." Stafford stated dryly.
"And what did he say?" Lex asked curiously as she pulled herself over the ridge, but the reply didn't come from her ear piece like she had expected instead it came from in front of her, making her look up.
"He said he didn't have a week." Stafford replied as he ended the call and put his phone away.
Lex sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll come but give me a minute." She said.
Max smiled a bit when she said that, Lex hauled herself up and onto the flat ground, she stayed still for a second to get used to having her feet fully on the ground instead of the tips of her toes, then she picked up her gear and packed it all away into her back pack, then she stood and made her way to the chopper that Stafford was in front of.
Lex fell asleep on the way to the ship with the 'Scientific American' magazine open on her chest, it was open on the page with the title 'Charles Bishop Weyland, Pioneer of Modern Robotics'
Across from her was a Chemical engineer by the name of Graham Miller, he was attempting to take pictures of himself on the chopper but he was failing spectacularly, on the first try he nearly blinded himself and on the second try he woke Lex up accidentally when the chopper shook due to turbulence .
"Sorry." Miller apologised, Lex nods to show that she accepts the apology. "But since your awake, would you mind?" he continued holding the camera out for Lex to take. She took the offered camera and took a picture.
"I'm documenting the trip for my boys so they know that their father wasn't always boring." Miller then said by way of explanation he then shows Lex a picture of him and two boys. "That's Jacob and that's Scotty." He said pointing at each in turn when he said their name.
"They're cute." Lex said. "Is that your wife?" she asked gesturing to the woman in the picture.
"Ex-wife." Miller stated with a bit of sadness. "Graham Miller, chemical engineer." He introduced himself and extended his hand.
"Alexandria Woods, Environmental Technician and Guide. But call me Lex." Lex introduced herself in kind taking the man's hand and shaking it.
"Do you work for Weyland?" Miller asked.
"No." Lex said. "I split my time between working for a small environmental group and taking scientists on expeditions on the ice. One pays for the other and neither pays very well." She explained.
"The ice?" Miller asked curiously.
"Antarctica." Lex said with a small smile.
"Lex!" the co-pilot called. "You and your friend buckle up. We're going to hit some turbulence"
"Friend of yours?" Miller asked.
Is he always asking questions? Lex thought with an imaginary raised eyebrow. "Of my dad's. He trained most of the pilots down here. During the summer, my sister and I would tag along." She said, it was exhausting to keep up the illusion that she had hidden her true self behind.
"Does she work with you?" Miller asked.
"No. She hates the cold, moved to Florida. If you see her skiing, she's being pulled by a boat." Lex said with fond amusement, but there was also a hint of sadness as her sister wasn't her full sister but her half-sister.
The Co-pilot turns and shouts. "JUST PASSED THE PSR!"
"Damn!" Miller cursed."I wanted a picture."
"Of what?" Lex asked thankful that the questions towards her had ended.
"The PSR. They should call it out before you pass it." Miller said in exasperation.
Lex laughed a bit then she explained when she saw the look on Millers face. "The PSR is the point of safe return. It means that we've used more than half our fuel so we can't turn back."
"But we could still land?" Miller asked then continued. "I mean if something went wrong?"
Before Lex could say anything the chopper was shaken by severe turbulence. "We could ditch..." Miller looked relieved at hearing that. "But the temperature of the water would kill us in three minutes." She continues.
Miller paled as the chopper continued to shake, then he looked out of the window. "Antarctica." He muttered.
Two hours later they were on-board the Piper Maru in the cargo bay of the large Ice breaker,Lex looked around and took note of the separation via their areas of expertise, she could see three teams: one was the scientists (Lex, Sebastian, Thomas and Miller) another was the muscle (Stafford, Weyland, Adele, Verheiden, Connors and Klaus) and lastly there was the drillers (Quinn, Sven, Boris and Mikkel).
Miller, Lex observed, was bouncing around excitedly doing his best to impersonate a pinball, he soon jumps into the cab of one of Quinn's large drilling machines and starts to press any button that he can.
"Having fun?" Verheiden asked with an eyebrow raised unimpressed.
"First real adventure. Can't wait to tell my kids about this." Miller replies.
"This might be fun for you 'dad' but for the rest of us, it's a job. Get off the equipment and go back to the suburbs before you walk us all of a cliff." Verheiden said scathingly, but Miller doesn't move as he sees that Lex is approaching but he moves when Verheiden says. "Get off or you'll be wearing your ass for a hat."
"Nice team spirit." Lex said sarcastically.
Verheiden looks at his men, silently asking them if Lex was for real, before he turned to Max and said. "Keep the beakers away from the gear."
"What's a beaker?" Miller asked looking at Lex, who sighed.
"It's what they call scientists out here. You know... beaker? Like in the Muppet Show." Lex explained.
"Beaker..." Miller mussed before he said "I kinda like that."
At that moment Max looked around the room to check that everyone was there.
"Welcome aboard everybody! Please. Your probably wondering why this elite team of experts was assembled here? Your host will give you the answer now." Stafford said before turning to his boss. "Mr. Weyland."
Mr. Weyland emerges from the shadows; he nods to Max who starts the projection after everyone is handed a tablet pc, the projection illuminates a section of the metal wall behind Weyland.
"Thank you all for coming. Seven days ago one of my satellites over Antarctica was hunting for mineral deposits when a sudden heat bloom beneath the earth outlined this..." Weyland paused as the screen changed to show the outlines of a building. "The red lines indicate solid walls. Through thermal imaging we've generated a rough three dimensional image of the structure. It's massive... Containing hundreds of rooms, all built around a central core. My experts tell me it's a pyramid. What they can't agree on is who built it and when." Weyland paused to survey the room.
"What caused the heat bloom?" Thomas asked.
"We don't know." Weyland replied, as Sebastian looked through all the photos that were on the database.
"One expert tells me that this feature is reminiscent of the Aztecs..." Weyland continues as he gestures to the screen. The screen changes. "Another tells me this is probably Cambodian." The slide changes again. "But everyone agrees that the smooth side is definitively Egyptian" Weyland finishes.
"Why would anyone build a pyramid out here?" Miller asks.
"Ancient maps show that Antarctica was once free of ice. It's likely that the continent was once habitable." Thomas answered Miller.
"Mr. DeRosa?" Max asked.
Sebastian moves closer to the wall examining the pictures as best as he could, whilst also comparing them to one on his tablet. "I think your experts are right." He declared after a while.
"Which one?" Weyland asked.
"All of them." Sebastian stated. "The Egyptians, the Cambodians and the Aztecs all built pyramids. Three separate cultures that lived thousands of miles apart..."
"With no communication between them." Thomas cut Sebastian off.
"Yet what they built was almost identical." Sebastian finished sending Thomas a look.
Lex observed the photo then the reaction of the scientist. "Meaning what exactly?" She asked.
"This might be the first pyramid ever built." He said excitedly after he had turned to Lex hoping to impress her.
"Built by whom?"Miller questions.
Sebastian made a considerable effort to contain his excitement. "The master culture from which all others are derived." He answers leaving the room as silent as a tomb.
"If it could be the first pyramid built, it could also be the last. An amalgam of the ones that came before it. There's no proof of any connection between the cultures." Weyland said.
"This photo is the proof." Sebastian replies looking at Weyland.
"Thank you." Weyland said dismissively.
"Um..." Miller began. "I can't tell you who built it but if I could take a sample from it, I could tell you how old it is."
"Within how many years, Professor?" Weyland asked.
"Actually it's Doctor. And I'll give you the exact year." Miller said also hoping to impress Lex, several other men glared at the two that were making moves on the dark beauty that they had for a guide they all felt extremely jealous that they hadn't made the first move.
"Well Dr. Miller, I'm offering to put you right next to it." Weyland replied.
"Where exactly on the ice is this?" Lex asked.
Weyland looked at the dark skinned female. "Bouvetoya Island. But it's not on the ice it's 2000ft under it." Weyland said as the next picture appeared. "Directly below this abandoned whaling station which will serve as our base camp."
"Mr. Quinn." Max prompted.
Quinn took a step forward and looked around the room. "Mr. Stafford, you are looking at the best drilling team in the world. We'll chew to that depth in seven days." Quinn retorted and his team nodded in agreement, Lex snorted mentally she could use one of her gifts and stand on the pyramids front steps in seconds.
"And add three weeks on top of that to train everyone here." Lex said.
Weyland looked at Lex and said. "We don't have that kind of time. I'm not the only with as satellite over Antarctica. Others will be here soon."
Lex stared at Weyland like he was crazy. "Maybe I wasn't clear." She began scornfully. "No one in this room is ready for this trip." The men that were forming small crushes on her backed away from her at her tone but also felt a little insulted.
"That is why I invited you here." Weyland replied curtly.
Lex glared slightly at Weyland. "Bouvetoya is one of the most isolated places in the world. The nearest land in a thousand miles away, there's no help if we run into trouble."
Silence greeted her statement.
"You're right, it's a no man's land. But the train has left the station, I think I speak for everyone aboard this ship, that this is worth the risk." He said, Lex looked at the gathered people at the chorus of excitement that showed that they had made up their minds about this, though some of the men agreed only so they could impress the dark beauty.
Lex stood and sighed. "Then find another guide." And she walked out of the room to her room.