Beneath the Ice Read Online Free PDF

this way. What really bothered
him, however, was the way they might respond when they heard the
rest of the story.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter 2
     
     
    Perry’s head pounded
as if a spiked ball were bouncing around
inside his skull. He stepped into the camp’s central building. Jack
had dubbed the place Dome Sweet Dome, but everyone else called it
the Dome. He paused long enough to peel back his parka hood and
remove the dark goggles that protected his eyes from the cold,
wind, and ultraviolet light. He bent forward, rested his hands on
his knees, and took several long, deep breaths.
    “I bet you thought you were in shape,” Jack
said. He sat with Gleason, three of the Sachs crew, and three of
the Seabees.
    “This working at altitude is killing me,”
Perry confessed. “I feel like a man with one lung running a
marathon—uphill.”
    “Should I tell you what you look like?” Jack
quipped.
    “No need,” Perry said, then took several
more deep inhalations. “I’ve seen you after your thirty-minute
shift.” He stripped off his parka then walked to an empty wood
chair and plopped down.
    Jack snickered.
    “Your team is up, chuckles,” Perry said.
“We’ll talk about pain when you get back.”
    Jack rose as did the others in the
commons.
    Perry watched Jack slip on
his cold weather gear. Jack paused, then
said, “Seriously, buddy, are you okay? Some people have
prob lems with elevation. One of the navy
boys is down with altitude sickness. Gwen ordered him to bed and
put him on O-two.”
    “I’m fine—just a headache and shortness of
breath. I’m adjusting. Another day and I’ll be playing soccer on
the ice.” Perry looked up at his friend and saw concerned eyes
studying him. “I’m fine, Jack. Just go out and see if you can match
what my team did.”
    “Match? We’re holding back so you boys will
have something to do. We wouldn’t want you to feel left out.
Gleason is sitting this shift out. He has some reading to do.”
    “No, I don’t,” Gleason shot back. “No one’s
going to accuse me of not carrying my own weight . . .” He trailed
off, catching Jack’s intent. “Of course, there is that report—”
    “Knock it off,” Perry ordered. “I don’t need
a nursemaid. Now, get out there and get to work. The sooner the
Chamber is up, the sooner we can get down to business.”
    Jack hesitated then nodded. A moment later,
he led Gleason and the others out into the icy wind.
    For a few moments, Perry was alone in the
wide, concave room. He leaned his head back and stared at the dome
overhead. The ribbing of the geodesic structure made Perry feel as
if he had been swallowed whole by a massive, ancient creature.
Light fixtures had been screwed into supports, their electrical
cords tied into place by nylon straps. The light in the room was
stark and uninviting. He reminded himself that this place was home
for the next few weeks.
    He had been many places in
the world, but this was by far the strangest. Outside, bits of ice
flew on a bed of rising wind—wind that bit the face and froze every
exhalation. Ice everywhere, yet, technically, Antarctica was the
driest place on earth. Very little precipitation fell at the bottom
of the world, but when it did, it remained as crystals of frozen
water. The image of the vast ice sheet filled his mind. He had seen
it in pictures, studied satellite photos .
. . The starkness was almost frightening; the white reflection almost painful. Cobalt blue sky bowed
overhead touching the ice softly on the horizon. It was beautiful
but ominous.
    “Are you drinking water?” a voice asked.
    Perry raised his aching
head and saw Gwen James seating herself on a nearby bench. The
modular bench, like all the furnishings, had been flown in when the
Dome and associated barracks were set up. Almost everything was
assembled on-site, everything but the building he was now in. It
had been airlifted by massive Sikorsky helicopters and set in place as a single