TransAntartic Expedition,

Privately funded by MagTECK Development Corp.

SnowCAT #318, 98 miles from U.S. Scientific Post 'Andrea'

Conducting Magnetic Survey, Grid 24

The heavy vehicle was effortlessly moving through the blinding snow, and inside of the heavily modified SnowCAT, the occupants were all glad that instead of being out in such weather, they could rather drive through it instead. Equipped with cameras and other various equipment, there was no need of the driver needing to use the windshield for seeing where they were going. Besides, in weather like this, the visor that protected the windshield was in place so that nothing could penetrate the inner cab.

Watching the driver's view monitors, Vanessa 'Vee' Roderick gripped the steering wheel and guided the massive vehicle to its next rendevous. Even though she normally worked in the motorpool, her experiences in driving were proving more than capable of handling this harsh environment. At this moment, Survey Team # 2 were on their way to meet Survey Team# 5, who had found an 'interesting search area', in the words of team leader Trey Moriano. Now, they were on their way to catalogue the current area where Team# 5 was. Silently, Vanessa glanced over at the sleeping figure seated beside her. All this bumping and lurching that the CAT was doing apparently wasn't enough to wake up this sleepyhead. She reached over and flipped the com switch that would connect her to the rear observation cab. A small, red light flicked on.

"Tony. What's the predictions this time?" She laughed.

She was calling Tony Meadows, a small, jittery guy who always talked a lot, and was also the team's map expert. When it came to finding locations, he was definitely one of the best. He adjusted his headset as he heard her voice.

"Big Vee! Bay-bee! Are you kidding? My predictions are the same as always we get the shitty assignments!" He burst out laughing and punched up the current topographical map and trajectory headings. He wasn't alone in the compartment, so his little 'outburst' bought out laughs from everyone else back there too. He activated the signal tracking system, which used satellite data to determine the location of the carrier signal. Team# 5 were already in this area somewhere, now they just had to find them.

Tony activated his headset and spoke into the mic.

"Vee SatTRAC is set and active. But it doesn't look like Team# 5 is anywhere out here. The system can't detect their carrier signal at all. Are you sure we're going in the right direction?" He adjusted the signal search parameters in the navcom.

Vanessa swerved the wheel, guiding the vehicle around a rather large patch of snow and ice. She glanced at the viewcam monitors, but still didn't see the SnowCAT that belonged to Team# 5. If they were anywhere in this vicinity, they'd have to show themselves.

"Tony, I'm heading exactly on the course you gave me... it's been about four hours since we last heard from Team# 5, wouldn't you say that puts them somewhere within ten to twenty miles of us?"

Back in the rear compartment, Tony nodded his head and agreed with Vanessa. He adjusted his glasses and typed new commands into the navcom. The computer started listing Team# 5's last known coordinates. The last log brought up was simply determined as ??. That meant that either the satellite couldn't locate their precise coordinates, or their vehicle's carrier signal was no longer active. But if the latter was true, why would they have cut it off? This was seriously starting not to make any sense.

Tony looked over at the petite girl who was sitting in the station next to his. She was busy inputting transmission logs back to main H.Q. He tapped her on the shoulder, and she looked over at him.

"Nadine, keep this off the wire, ok? We can't have them knowing that we've lost a team out here. If we haven't found them in two hours, then we'll let Harkins decide on how to break the news."

Nadine Watkins, team communications specialist, nodded her head and logged out of her station. She was only 24, but had spent seven years in the Navy as a communications technician. She had a rather impressive knowledge of most comm systems, and that was how she'd gotten picked for this expedition.

Meanwhile, Vanessa was busy shaking the sleeping guy next to her awake. He was still groggy, but he opened his eyes and looked at Vanessa drowsily. There was no mistaking the look on his face.

"Damn! What is it? What've we got? He started wiping his eyes. Vanessa looked over at him, then went back to watching the monitors. She wasn't really sure about how to tell him that there was a team missing, but she said it anyway.

"Rick, we can't find Team# 5. We're in their area, but can't locate a carrier signal from their CAT. What do you want us to do?"

Rick Harkins, team leader, leaned back in the chair and groaned. He picked up his headset and put it back on. He logged back into the comm system and looked over at Vanessa.

"You sure we can't find them? That they're actually lost for real?"

"What? You don't believe me? Alright then. Tony'll tell you. He's back there running full system parameter searches. If SatTRAC can't find them, then they're lost. That's a fact." She slowed the vehicle's speed and then brought the vehicle to a stop. She was looking at something on the viewcam monitor. She tapped Rick's shoulder. He looked over at her. She pointed at the viewscreen.

"This ice wall looks big. Think we should get a better look at it? No telling how wide the thing is."

Rick looked at her. "Fuck it. Get us as close to that wall as you can but keep out of the 'downrange' zone." He was referring to the safe distance clearance that all CAT drivers had to obey. That way, if any ice broke free and fell, it would hit the ground instead of falling on the vehicle. Even though the CAT's were some very tough vehicles, tougher with the modifications that had been made, a nice chunk of falling ice could still do damage to the satellite antennas and other expensive equipment that were secured to the roof of the vehicle.

Vanessa started the CAT's forward trek again. She was planning on getting within thirty feet of the wall.

What happened instead was not what she expected. As she was driving, all of the power to the CAT suddenly went out. The engine just shut down, almost as if someone had pressed a switch. Nothing inside of the vehicle was on. Rick spoke through the darkness from beside her.

"Shit...now what?" He was busy pressing switches on the command console. But it was entirely useless, even emergency power failed to activate. The CAT was completely dead. Rick unsnapped his seat harness an slid over to Vanessa. He gingerly reached out to her until his hand landed on her shoulder. Vanessa responded by putting her hand on his, so he knew she was ok.

"Looks like we walk from here." Rick said.

"In that freezer out there?" Vanessa's voice was tiny. She obviously didn't want to get out of the CAT. Rick reached out and unsnapped her seat harness too. Then he pulled open one of the smaller compartments and took out two flashlights. He flicked the power switches, but nothing happened. Neither light came on.

"Shit that settles it. Nothing electrical will work out here." He put the flashlights back.

Vanessa laughed nervously. "Well, boss? Next step?" She knew his answer already, though she wasn't really up for it.

"We get out. Make sure that your gear is fastened and zipped. Can't have you turning popsicle on me out here." He started zipping up his extreme cold gear, then fumbled around in the darkness of the cab until he could find the faceplates. He took two, keeping one for himself and the other he placed on Vanessa's lap. She finished securing her gear, and put the faceplate on. They were designed to release chemicals that would keep the skin warm at a certain temperature, and just like the rest of the gear, had been vigorously tested over and over before being approved for use in this expedition.

Rick secured his own faceplate and pulled the large hood over his head. Vanessa followed suit, and when they both were completely zipped up and ready, he clicked the handle and opened the passenger side door on the CAT. Bright sunlight enveloped them, but they weren't blinded due to the fact that the faceplates also had shaded eyepiece inserts. Rick slowly stepped down from the cab onto the snow, then he reached out and helped Vanessa down. As she stepped down, the rear compartment door of the CAT opened, and the other survey team members emerged into the sunlight. They all walked over to where Rick and Vanessa were standing. Rick slowly looked around at everyone, then announced: "Well, it beats the shit out of me, guys. Looks like somebody meant for us to walk from here on out." He glanced down at his watch, which was also not working.

Tony said, "Maybe this is the reason why we couldn't locate Team# 5. None of their equipment is probably working either."

Standing beside him, the team's analyst, Kat Steward murmured, "No shit." She was definitely pissed.

Rick looked around the group wearily. He was already tired of this newfound adventure. But it was already over 30 degrees below out here, and even with their cold gear in peak condition, if they didn't find some type of shelter, they'd be in trouble later. He pointed a gloved finger at Tony and Roy Fisk, the team's demolitions expert. "You two, are our advance scouts. Check out the ice wall. Me and everyone else will salvage as much equipment from the CAT that we can. I'd say keep in touch but since coms won't work, I'll say instead that you guys be careful. Find someplace where we can set up for the time being. Ok?"

Tony nodded his head, and Roy did also. Then they both turned and started for the base of the ice wall which was still a good distance away. As they walked off from the group, Rick turned and spoke to the remainder of the group.

"I'm not gonna sugarcoat the situation. We're fucked and shit outta luck. We'll get as much stuff from the CAT as we can carry, then we'll head on over to base camp. By the time we're through, those two should have a nice little patch picked out for us to settle into. Alright? So let's get to it."

And they all started stripping the CAT of critical components. It took them a while, but once they were finished, Rick ordered everyone to take a break, before they started the trip over to base camp. It was only a thirty minute break, but they all felt better by the time they went back to work, getting everything ready for the haul.

They left in single file, with Rick going first, and went off in the direction that they had saw Tony and Roy starting off on. The tracks those two had left behind were clearly visible in the snow, and they were able to follow them quite well. They trekked to the the ice wall, and saw that the tracks led around it, so they went around too. The caverns and crevices that surrounded them were not very ominous, but Rick told everyone to be on alert anyway, just in case. He stopped to evaluate the tracks, then stood up and pointed out the general direction that they would be taking. Then he started off, and everyone else followed him.

They were still passing through the wall when suddenly, out of nowhere, Tony and Roy stepped out from one of the caverns and met them. Rick and the others dropped the equipment that they all carrying and hustled over to where the two men were standing. Tony pulled off his faceplate and took a deep breath, while Roy pulled his hood back. As Rick and the others reached them, Tony looked at them. His face was very pale and he looked like he'd seen something that had caused him to throw up. Roy just stood against the wall and removed his faceplate as well.

Tony looked at Rick as the group approached them and said, "We found Moriano and his team."

Rick pulled off his faceplate and said, "You did? Where are they? Are they ok?"

Roy walked over and joined them. He jerked his thumb in the opposite direction, indicating the crevice that he and Tony had just emerged from. His face was drawn tight. "They're back there. That crevice."

Rick elaborated again. "OK, dammit! But are they ok?"

Tony and Roy looked at each other, then Tony broke the news.

"Yeah, they're ok. But you guys need to see what they've FOUND."

And with that, he and Roy turned and started back down into the crevice. Rick stood there for a brief moment and watched them go. Then he muttered bravely, "What the hell." And HE started down the path too.

Vanessa, Kat, and Nadine looked at each other. Kat smiled and said, "Girls, we might as well join the party. Let's go see what they discovered." And she started down the path, with Vanessa and Nadine cautiously following her.

But they had no idea of how this event would change the fate of every living thing on the planet...