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hours' daylight
and it's minus fifty out there. Normal circumstances, I wouldn't consider
leaving the rig. Shit. The sea is so rough we couldn't even reach the island
right now.'
    'We
must do something,' said Jane. 'I'm not going to sit by that radio night after
night and listen to those poor sods freeze to death.'
    'Okay,'
said Ghost. 'Here's the deal. We'll meet them halfway. There's a log cabin at
Angakut. Built by whalers. Empty, but good wind shelter. If they can make it
that far, we'll fetch them home. I'll go out myself, when the storm breaks.'
    'Angakut?'
    'It's
at the base of a mountain. You can see it for miles.'
    'All
right.'
    'And
you better tell them to get going, because the weather is going to get worse
before it gets better.'
     
    Rawlins
summoned the crew to the canteen.
    Most
channels were dead. BBC News no longer chronicled carnage. They had lost
contact with their outside broadcast units. Instead they re-ran communion from
Canterbury Cathedral.
    'The
BBC has gone religious,' said Rawlins. 'Not a good sign, I think you'll agree.
We're doing everything we can to get off this platform. The girls are
broadcasting night and day. Sooner or later, someone will respond. But it's
time to admit we might be stuck here for winter. Maybe that's no bad thing.
Looks like all hell has broken loose back home. So if we are going to make it
through the next few months we need to get organised. I know you folks like
your privacy, but we can't heat and light the whole refinery. Everyone must
move into this block by tomorrow night. We'll live in these few rooms. The rest
of the rig can freeze.'
    'I
want a sea view,' said Nail.
    'Flip
a coin. Arm wrestle. I don't give a damn. Just get it done.'
     
    Jane
joined Ghost in the canteen. They sat by the window. They sipped coffee and
watched the storm.
    'I
didn't know we had snowmobiles,' said Jane.
    'Two
of them. Part of a cache of stuff on the island. There's an old bunker near the
shore. Not much in it. Couple of Yamahas. Some fuel.'
    'So
we must have a boat to get ashore.'
    Ghost
smiled. 'Clever. Trying to formulate an escape plan, yeah? Well, that's the big
question. What if nobody comes for us? Worst-case scenario: how do we make our
own way home?'
    Jane
liked Ghost. She wanted his approval. She knew full well she was emotionally immature,
prone to infatuation. She had to guard against it. Avoid making a fool of
herself.
    'You
seem like a practical guy. What are the options?'
    'We
have a rubber zodiac with a small outboard motor. Twenty- five horsepower. Room
for four men and no luggage. Wouldn't take us very far. We've got plenty of
hard-shell lifeboats, but no propulsion. The lifeboats are designed to drift
free of a burning rig. They float. That's all they do.'
    'We
could build a big raft and put up a sail,' said Jane. 'An option, come spring.'
    'Now
you're talking.'
    'We
could bolt on an engine. A motor, a drive shaft, some kind of propeller.'
    'Want
to hear my big plan?'
    'All
right.'
    'Any
attempt to sail our way out of here is going to involve weeks, maybe months at sea.
We would need to carry a shit-load of supplies. So I say we hitch a ride. Jump
a passing iceberg.'
    'Seriously?'
    'The
polar ice shelf breaks up each spring and bergs float south on the current.
They pass by, pretty much every hour. We could track incoming debris. Soon as a
decent-size berg is in range we use the zodiac to ferry men and supplies. Those
things move slow. Inertia. We would have twelve, maybe sixteen hours to make
the transfer.'
    'Then
what?'
    'Camp
on the berg. Put up tents. Eat. Sleep. We could tow a string of lifeboats
behind us. As soon as the berg hits warm water and starts to break up, we take
to the boats.'
    'What
does Rawlins say about it?'
    Ghost
shrugged. He poured coffee.
    'Everyone
is pretty snug at the moment. Plenty of heat, plenty of food. But six months
from now things will be very different. People will be cold and hungry. They'll
be ready to roll the dice.'
     
    Jane
joined