I shivered as Arctic winds blew through my damp clothing. "You seriously want to go...there?"

"Elliott, we could go home! Plus it's so remote from America that nobody's going to mess with you!"

"You sure? What if it's just some part of Alaska?"

She shook her head. "This looks like pictures I've seen of Antarctica."

"Jamie, if we really needed to go home, we could get a Qulpari ship to fly us there. I can't go because of the government!"

"Elliott, if this is Antarctica, who's going to capture us? That's like a governmental neutral zone!"

"We're Americans. They'll want to send us back to our families, and that's when the government will get us. Plus it's freezing."

Gertie crept up behind us. "And what about Pete?"

"What about Pete?"

Jamie said that under her breath, but my sister's face still flushed red. "What did you say?"

"Nothing!"

"We can't leave Jufuceri without Pete! Plus you know a song that can help the Qulpari stop Warkinde's pollution!"

Roy stared at the wintery landscape. "You sure this thing is real?"

Jamie grabbed his hand, holding it in the air current. "Does that feel fake to you?"

"No, but it could still be a trick. Aliens have highly advanced technology. What if it's all just some sort of simulation and you two are arguing about nothing?"

"All the more reason to test it out."

"Yeah? What if it works and we can't go back?"

Jamie gave me a look that said she didn't want to go back.

Roy sighed and rubbed his face. "Okay, look. Even if it's real, you're going to get hypothermia running around a place like that in the cold."

"Not if we hurry to that building back there! They've got to have towels and blankets and stuff."

"That...really doesn't sound like a good idea."

I nodded. "Especially since I'll be carted off to a lab."

Roy leaned on an inactive pillar. "I think both of you are missing the elephant in the room. If this is Qulpari tech, and it actually takes you to earth, why do they still have spaceships?"

I furrowed my brow. "You're right. If ET had something like this, he would have used it to get home. He wouldn't have had to send a distress call to the mothership to pick him up."

Jamie didn't look convinced. "Your alien buddies could teleport."

Roy shook his head. "Yeah? Not from earth to here! I had to take a spaceship to get here!"

"Maybe they can do it, but they don't have the technology anymore. Or maybe this was made by other aliens."

"What, Abreyas like Norenio?" he scoffed. "No way. They're even more undeveloped."

"There's a lot we don't know about this planet. There could be other types of aliens, and even if it isn't from one of them, maybe it's something they outlawed a long time ago, like the atomic bomb. Maybe it's dangerous in the wrong hands, so they stopped using it." Jamie leaned toward the portal.

Roy pulled her back. "Or maybe it's because, similar to the atomic bomb, it kills everyone who tries to use it."

Jamie picked up a rock and threw it through the portal. It landed on snow, no ill effect. "I don't see any smoke or fire or anything."

"Forgive me if I'm not convinced by a non-conductive rock."

She tested it with her foot. It sunk in snow, but she pulled her foot back unharmed. "See? Nothing bad happened."

"Great. And just think if you had been wrong."

I watched, horrified, as Jamie jumped through the glowing portal, running across the frosty white tundra.

I clenched my fists, blood rushing to my face. "Jamie! What the hell are you doing!"

"Exactly what I want to know!" Roy growled.

Of course I had to follow. "I'll bring her back."

"This is like the setup to a horror story. How do we know anyone that goes into that thing will come out the same person?"

I swallowed. "I don't know, but I've got to do this."

"That's what I was afraid you'd say."

I jumped through the glowing portal.

Huge colorless expanse, no landmarks, save for mountainous walls of ice in the far distance, and the tiny cluster of prefab aluminum buildings...Which, incidentally, didn't seem any closer.

An icy wind blasted through my damp clothes like I wasn't wearing anything. "Jamie! Wait!"

I marched ahead in pursuit. Cold, sub-zero cold turned the liquid in my jumpsuit to ice, chilled me to the bone.

"Keep up!" she hollered back. "I don't want to freeze to death out here!"

Roy raced alongside, teeth chattering as he spoke. "Then why don't you go back to the cave? It's not nearly as cold!"

"Wait for me!" Gertie called.

"I thought I told you to stay back while we got Jamie!"

"What if you don't come back?"

Roy visibly shivered, due to cold or fear, I'm not sure.

Trudging through twelve inch snowdrifts with no boots or protective gear. Negative wind chill. Already my feet felt numb.

Jamie kept pushing on, eyes set on the nearest Quonset hut, with the snowmobiles and the waving American flag.

It seemed like miles away. I glanced back at the portal and saw ET and Spike just...kinda standing there, like...well, I guess I had the same expression on my face when he left earth in his spaceship. We were technically home...I suppose, maybe where he thought we belonged?

Gusts of wind blew snow between us and the portal, obscuring the view. From the vantage point of the hut, it probably looked like we'd somehow...blown in with the snow.

"There's supposed to be penguins!" Jamie complained. "Where's the penguins?"

"Probably in an igloo getting warm!" Roy rubbed his arms. "I wish we had that big blind one from that invisible building right now, or better yet, one of those kangaroo things from Star Wars. We could cut open its stomach and warm ourselves with its guts..."

Jamie marched faster. "They probably got a heater in the building. C'mon."

I could see the huts more clearly now, like cans of cranberry sauce without the label, half buried in snow. A person in a bright red parka bent over a drilling machine, jotting down readings about a core sample.

Jamie waved to this person of indeterminate sex, but they didn't respond, even with a touchdown wave. In between the howling wind and being in the middle of nowhere with nothing but penguins to talk to, I guess I wouldn't blame them.

"Hey! Hey you! With the...rock thing! It's freezing out here! A little help?"

The red bundled figure started, and practically fell over when they noticed us.

Out came a radio, and moments later, more figures in parkas came rushing out of the chrome buildings, armed with blankets, a pair of them with a stretcher.

The strangers, all bundled to where we could barely see faces, surrounded us, wrapping us in blankets as they muttered to each other, pestering us with questions. "How did you get here," "Did you fall through the ice," that kind of thing.

"Oh my God, they're children!" a woman cried.

They asked us how long we'd been out there in our damp condition, that we should have gotten frostbite or pneumonia or something by now.

Jamie, still in possession of her...musical power collar, decided it a good idea to stow said collar in her pocket the moment the people came flooding out.

Gertie got thrown on a stretcher, cocooned with blankets, a hot water bag tucked underneath for added warmth.

We all got dragged into the nearest hut, me and Jamie carried most the way, Roy urged to hurry along with, promising boots and hot water.

We entered a room about the size of a studio apartment. Still kinda cold, but anything out of that chill wind felt like a vast improvement. People busied themselves getting stuff for us, towels, coffee, hot cocoa.

Sparsely decorated, mostly a place for tools, boots, coats and supply crates. They had a model of a coelacanth and a map of the South Pole. Some heaters had been set up, but they didn't seem to be doing a great job of warming the place. I still felt a chill.

Someone said, by our condition, we couldn't have been out more than a couple minutes. They wanted to know if we got air dropped or lived in a building nearby. I didn't know how to safely respond to that.

A narrow bearded man examined my ear. "Are you injured?"

I shook my head. "It's nothing. Just a...birth defect."

He scowled like he didn't believe me.

A bald brown guy with glasses asked the man if he thought it a sign of abuse.

"Okay, there was an accident! It doesn't have anything to do with abuse!" I cupped my hand over my mouth when I realized I'd said the whole thing in Arabic...In response to their Arabic. The Jandaga was still doing its job.

The two stared at me for a moment, then muttered to each other about me being gifted.

The rock studying person turned out to be a little Asian woman with a birthmark covering most her face. She smiled as she handed me a pile of clothing. Blue jumpsuit, thermals, insulated socks, sweater and gloves. "I'm Ann Gosarski, United States Geological Survey. Who are you?"

I told her, frowning at the baggy jumpsuit.

"Elliott, my apologies, but we don't have any child sized outfits for you. Hope you don't mind, at least they're dry."

I nodded, grimacing once I noticed the boxer shorts.

"It's got a drawstring. You can wear your old clothing once we've got it dried for you. No offense, but what's with the clown outfits?"

My face flushed red. "Long story."

Jamie snickered. "You wouldn't believe us if we told you."

"Sorry we had to raid your closet," a fat, muskrat faced man said to Ann. "You're the smallest person on the base."

"Great, now what am I going to wear?"

A tall, freckle faced brunette rushed up to us. "Jamie! My God, what are you doing out here? They said you were swimming under the ice!"

My girlfriend's eyes bugged out. "Mom?"

The woman hugged her.

Tears rolled down Jamie's cheeks. "But...you were in California!"

"And you were gone. Honey, I was so worried!"

"So worried that you moved to Antarctica?"

Her mom frowned and shook her head. "I've always been out here. Why aren't you with your father and grandmother?"

"Mom. Grandma's dead."

She scowled. "And when did this happen?"

"They're in shock," said the bearded guy. "They've all been walking around unprotected...out there."

Jamie wiped her eyes. "Since when have you worked out here?"

"I haven't been away that long!...What is that outlandish outfit you're wearing?"

"Long story."

She grabbed Jamie's hand, frowning at the raised markings. "What's this? Some kind of ritual scarification?"

"That's...an even longer story." Jamie just left it at that.

The strangers handed me another towel and showed me to a little bathroom to change.

Pretty basic. Shower, toilet, sink. A horrible little room. Even with plastic covering the windows, it felt like I stood outside. I quickly dried off and changed, rushing back out to the semi-warmth of the main room.

Jamie laughed at my baggy outfit, then stopped when she received one just like it. "These clothes are cold."

"Sorry," said Ann. "It was in my room. At least it's better than the wet stuff you've got on now. Besides, it'll get warmer once you put it on."

While she changed, I sat on a bench, sipping cocoa while the skinny bearded guy radioed somebody.

"Three children and an adult. All Americans. No ID's. They appear to have fallen through the ice somehow. One's Erin Markwell's daughter..."

This alarmed me, but a crowd of people blocked my exit, and with those negative zero winds, I didn't relish slipping out anyway. I accepted a cup of chicken noodle soup.

Jamie's mom stared at my ear, sucked in her breath as she got a closer look. "How long has your ear been like that?"

Not wanting to get a surgical operation, I lied. "All my life. I was born this way. It's fine."

The look on her face said she didn't agree. "Let me know if you want it fixed. I can call some surgeons."

Despite the building and all my new coverings, cold air seeped around my feet. I had to sit on my feet to get them even remotely close to warm. I sipped soup, watching Jamie stroll out the bathroom in a matching, ill fitting blue jumpsuit.

"They just reported us to someone," I whispered to her when she sat down. "Maybe to the government."

She cast me an uncomfortable glance. "I still don't understand why mom's out here. And the look she gave me when I talked about Grandma! She died when I was a baby. How could she...?"

Before she could finish, her mom took a seat next to her on the bench. Mrs. Markwell put her arm around my girlfriend as she passed her a cup of soup. "Jamie, we all love you. Everyone's so worried. Why did you run away?"

"I'm sorry, mom. I got involved with Elliott. He was in trouble with the government and I ran away with him."

The woman stared at me. "What did he do?"

"Nothing. It's not his fault."

Nervous about what we could actually tell people here, I blurted, "We knew each other from school. There's a witness protection thing, so I had to move. I didn't expect Jamie to run away from home to find me."

Jamie rolled her eyes, like `That again?' "Yeah, guess I...got carried away."

"Why are you all wet? Why were you were wearing those outfits? What are you doing in Antarctica?"

I breathed a sigh of relief when my sister came up to her and blurted, "Is this the smallest one you got?"

Gertie, now changed, looked even more ridiculous than the rest of us, legs of her jumpsuit all bunched up, hands way up inside the sleeves.

Jamie's mom cast me a dirty look, but got up from the bench anyway. "We generally don't have children out here, but there's a chance someone might have something." With that, she stepped out.

"Great," Jamie muttered. "You just made me lie to mom."

"Your mom who suddenly lives in Antarctica and has a living mother," I pointed out.

"That's Dad's mother. What are you thinking, they're pod people or something? C'mon!"

I gave her a look and a shrug like that's exactly what I thought.

"I don't know what's going on, but there's got to be a logical, real explanation for all this."

I only frowned like I wasn't sure. "Where's the collar?"

She tapped the chest of her jumpsuit. "This thing has a lot of pockets."

"That bathroom is evil!" Roy cried when he stepped out. The only one of us that looked right in their outfits, by the way. "Felt like I was going to leave skin on the toilet lid. Why can't you put a heater in there?"

"Sorry," said Ann. "We don't have that many heaters, and it drains the generator too much. We try to make our showers quick. It saves water that way anyway."

"You get frostbite just trying to wash your hands."

"Try the shower water. It warms up faster, not so close to the wall."

"I guess that explains the tray full of ice cubes on the windowsill. Already I'm missing...the other place."

I rubbed my face. "Me too."

"What place."

We both just shook our heads.

Gertie drank some soup, leaned close to me and whispered. "What do you think ET is doing?"

I swallowed. "Dunno. Last time I checked, he was watching us through the gateway like he was saying goodbye."

"You think he closed the gate?"

"It'd make sense if he did. To keep scientists from coming over there and trying to lobotomize them or something..."

Gertie whimpered. "So we're stuck here?"

I put my arm around her. "Look. If ET can contact us telepathically from miles across space, I'm sure..." I sighed. "We can at least contact him, like we did before all this."

Jamie's mother actually did find some clothing for Gertie. Pajamas, long underwear, gloves, a hoodie. "From one of my friend's `Take Your Daughter to Work Day' type of thing. The girl has more clothing than she knows what to do with. Glad it's going to good use for once."

As Gertie walked off to get changed again, Mrs. Markwell resumed her place next to my girlfriend. "Jamie. How did you get to Antarctica?"

Jamie gave me a look that said `Sorry!' and immediately told her mother everything.

For a moment, I thought the woman would believe her. Her eyes did nervously dart back and forth a few times like she had something planned, but at last she said, "They're right. You are suffering from shock. What you need to do now is lie down under some blankets and warm up for awhile, maybe see if you're thinking more clearly tomorrow morning."

"Fine," Jamie scoffed. "It's drafty in here anyway."

Not the greatest setup. They hadn't expected guests, so they just gave us some army cots. For heat they just had some kerosene heaters, the feeble electric heaters powered by generator. Fairly good blankets and sleeping bags, though. And some of those space age aluminum-ish (mylar?) thermal blanket things, which worked pretty well.

Maddening, having no sunset. They said it was eight P.M., and still we had the sun shining through the windows. They covered up the glass, but you could still see light trickling through the black cloth.

"If you hate that," Muskrat Face remarked. "You should see this place after May. More or less complete darkness until August."

I rested a little, then had to go to the bathroom. Annoying how I couldn't tell if I were finished, or just tired of standing around in a freezing bathroom.

By then, most of the crowd had departed for the other buildings, many of them off to bed. They had the lights off in parts, down low in others, heaters switched off here and there. My borrowed sweater helped somewhat with the cold.

Got a little turned around looking for my bed, and, well...I figured if these people didn't have anything to hide, they wouldn't mind me exploring their buildings a little. I mean, why do people hang out in a frozen nowhere place like this anyway? Maybe I'd pick up something educational about geology, whales or the ozone layer.

I found a weather station in one room, a cafeteria in another. A low tunnel connected me to another Quonset hut.

A room with biohazard signs on the door, plants and test tubes beyond the glass. A whiteboard had stuff about viruses and molecular structures on it.

The one next door...also seemed like a virus or chemistry lab, but a peculiar scent gave me pause. You couldn't see anything through the window, piquing my curiosity.

I heard voices. Familiar ones. That, and the scent that kept wafting into my nostrils, kept prodding my subconscious.

I unthinkingly pressed my palm to the door lock.

A simple deadbolt.

Okay, not simple for a kid like me to pick, and, thanks to ET's friends, I didn't have the power I once had, but this was important. For some reason I felt I needed to go in there, and all you had to do is rotate the handle on the other side a little.

Click.

It shouldn't have worked, but when I turned the knob, it swung open.

A chemistry lab, yes, but with three dead Qulpari stretched out on the tables, one with its body still intact, the other two cut open for autopsy.

The scent I detected...Qulpari flesh. Small wonder, considering how I'd spent days up to my armpits with the creatures.

A man and a woman in labcoats and masks reached into the open body cavity of one, muttering about lateral incisions, clamping the arterial something, parietal pleura and duodena jejunal function.

The man stopped in the middle of something about a thoracic T-11, looking up at me. Even behind goggles, I could see his eyes bugging out.

He jumped up quickly. "Hey! You can't be in here!"

My jaw dropped. Even with all the protective gear, I knew that voice, and the shape of his face. "Dad?"

The woman straightened, removing her mask and goggles. "Elliott?"

"Mom?"

Mom stepped closer, but Dad held her back. "Catherine, that's not our son. Our son is dead. We both saw the body."

I paled. "What?"

Dad tore off his facial protection. "I know you look like our son, but it's impossible. Our son Elliott died in 1983. Our car rolled off a mountain in Colorado. Could you please go? You're upsetting her."

He looked completely serious when he said it. Not a joke. He sincerely believed I'd somehow...died in automobile accident.

...Had I? Was my strange adventure some horror movie scenario, where I'd actually died and didn't know I was dead?

When I didn't move, Dad added, "You shouldn't even be in this room looking at this. It's a restricted area."

"Dad, I don't understand—"

He marched up to me. "Kid, you're not my son. I don't know who you are, and why you look so much like him, but it's not fair for you to impersonate him like this. I strongly suggest you leave now, before I call for an MP."

I fled from that place, crying and trembling.