Colony by Benjamin Cross (ready player one ebook .TXT) 📗

been wondering was how on earth he was going to survey such a vast area in only two months, glacier or not. Out of politeness he replied, “It crossed my mind.”

“The answer is simple,” the man said, running a hand through his wiry moustache. “There is a high density of tectonic fault lines here, radiating from the Gakkel Ridge.”

“Gakkel Ridge?”

“The large oceanic fault line running to the north-west.”

“Of course,” Callum replied; he had never heard of it before in his life.

“This is why Franz Josef Land is divided up into so many islands,” the man continued, “and why there is such a high level of local geothermal activity. It is my belief that the northern end of this island sits on top of a hydrothermal circulating convection cell. There may be fissure swarms in the bedrock allowing the groundwater to penetrate and form vertical convection systems.” Looking pleased with himself, he added, “I will be interested to try and verify this.”

Before Callum could reply, Peterson said, “That’s Doctor Semyonov. Don’t worry, none of us understand what the hell he’s on about most of the time either. Isn’t that right, Nikolai?”

Doctor Semyonov did his best to ignore the remark and returned to prodding a fork disconsolately into his side salad.

“Now,” Peterson continued with a flourish, “this here’s the beautiful Doctor Ava Lee, our resident—”

“Yeah, okay, take a seat, would you, Dan, we’re all quite capable of introducing ourselves.” The lady seated to the left of Doctor Semyonov stood up and held out her hand. She looked to be in her forties, with dark eyes, thin lips and short brown hair. “My apologies,” she said. “Ava Lee, vertebrate palaeontologist,” she shot a glance at Peterson, “and resident Canadian. Nice to meet you.”

“And you,” Callum replied, noticing that Peterson seemed oddly invigorated by his dress-down. “I read through a couple of your papers on my way to Murmansk. I never thought dinosaurs would have lived at such high latitudes.”

She smiled. “Most people don’t. It’s because it doesn’t fit in with our notion of T-rex wandering around humid swamps full of tropical insects and ferns.”

“You suggested some of them may have survived the meteor strike as well.”

“This is, of course, complete nonsense,” Semyonov broke in. “There is not a single secure example of a non-avian dinosaur fossil known from a Tertiary context.”

“Well now, that’s not exactly true, is it, Nikolai?”

“Oh, boy, you’ve started something now!” said Peterson with undisguised glee. “Better have yourself a seat, those two’ll be at it for hours. Let me introduce you to Doctor Lebedev, ecologist with the Russian Academy.”

It was the first time since entering the room that Callum had really noticed the girl seated to the right of Doctor Semyonov. Evidently the youngest member of the group, there was a stillness about her that Callum found immediately calming. Her features were strong, and her eyes were green and searching. She smiled pleasantly and nodded acknowledgement.

“Nice to meet you, Doctor Lebedev,” he said.

By the time the meal arrived, Callum’s appetite had returned with a vengeance. As they ate, they discussed his journey and then his work as an archaeologist, before he brought the conversation back to the island itself. “So what sort of wildlife can we expect out here?”

“Oh, there’s nothing much living way out here, old buddy,” Peterson replied, the hint of mischief on his lips. “There’s the odd gull, maybe, but otherwise it’s a lot of barren rock—”

“Actually, there are over a hundred varieties of native flora alone,” Doctor Lebedev corrected him. “I would expect chickweed, buttercup, poppy, one or two saxifrages and many different species of moss.”

“What about animals?” Callum asked.

“Mainly birds. There may be as many as forty species, but the rock ptarmigan is the only year-round. Also Arctic fox, possibly Arctic squirrel, and of course polar bear, genetically distinct population.”

“Then there’s your marine mammals,” Peterson added. “You’ve got your pinnipeds, so bearded, ringed and harp seals, and your whales, beluga, killer and Greenland right. Then you’ve got walruses and narwhals.”

“I guess they come under your remit then,” Callum said, tucking into his dessert.

“Hell no! Those critters are far too big to do anything for me. No, I’m here for this little guy.” He sat up and stretched the sides of his T-shirt out to display the monstrous face emblazoned on the front. “This little fella’s an arrow worm, a form of microscopic carnivorous plankton.”

Callum cast a glance through the window and across the remains of the surrounding pack ice. Glistening and criss-crossed with deep fissures, it besieged the island off into the distance. “And they live at these temperatures?”

“They don’t just live here; they thrive. And they’re a doozy of a bio-indicator. Arrow worms are healthy, the ecosystem’s healthy. Period. Say, you’ll have to drop by the lab when I’ve collected a few samples. It’ll be love at first sight, guaranteed.”

“Labs are on Deck 3,” Doctor Lee said. “I’ll show you later if you like. Or if you’re beat already then there’s a tour after the director’s briefing tomorrow. You know about the briefing?”

Callum shook his head.

“Mr Volkov’s giving us a briefing first thing tomorrow. Then it’s pretty much a full day of safety inductions. You know the score.” She paused. “Have you met Mr Volkov yet?”

“Not yet,” Callum replied.

“Ha!” said Peterson. “Then you’re in for a real treat.” Without drawing breath he continued, “Say, when we’ve finished up here, do you wanna come check out my baby?”

“If it’s all the same, I’ll come and see the plankton another time.”

“Not the arrow worms,” Peterson replied with a snort. “This is something much prettier.”

2

The elevator stopped on Deck 1 and Callum followed Peterson along the corridor. They stopped at a door next to the main entrance and Peterson tapped a code into the security keypad. The door clicked open and they proceeded through to a narrow staircase leading below the main deck.

“We could’ve taken the scenic route,” Peterson said, his voice echoing in the close confines, “but I figured neither of us was dressed for