Free Beneath the Ice by Alton Gansky

“We
could name it after you. How does the Griffin Grappler sound?”
    “I think I’ll pass on that honor.” He turned
to leave.
    “You don’t want to see how it works?” Perry
called after him.
    “I’ll let you boys play with the toys; I’ve
got some real research to do.”
    He strode away. Even through his face
shield, Gwen could see the exasperation on Perry’s face.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter 6
     
     
    Perry was
exhausted, and his persistent headache was
tightening the vise on his brain again. His body protested each
movement. He was accustomed to physical labor. His father had made
him work various construction sites all through high school. He was
as happy driving a nail or operating heavy equipment as he was
sitting at a drafting board and, more recently, a computer. He
lived with the perpetual dissatisfaction that came with the sense
that he was missing something. When sitting in an air-conditioned
office, studying construction drawings for a large project, he felt
cheated that he could not be in the field making it happen. When he
was in the field doing hands-on work, he wondered if he couldn’t be
more use reworking plans. He was seldom bored.
    Ninety minutes before,
Gleason had adroitly controlled the crane, moving it through the
large space defined by the Chamber dome
until he felt sure enough to try a lift. Electronics was
Gleason’s forte, and Perry let him have
full rein.
    It was amazing to watch.
The flat vehicle scooted smoothly along
the ice, its treads leaving tracks in its wake. Perry had
watched Gleason raise and lower the mast
that would pick up Hairy and position it over the target area. The
crane was designed like a mobile derrick with a steel mast hinged
to the tractor base. The mast could be cantilevered over the front
end of the base. To keep it from tipping
while under load, a pair of hydraulic outriggers extended from the
center structure. The outriggers had wide metal plates that served
as feet and spread the load over a wide area.
    Perry knew every inch of
the design and the physics behind it, but he still stood in
amazement as the ten-foot-long mast bowed like a gentleman until it
was parallel with the ice-shrouded surface. Gleason had extended the boom over Hairy then activated a set
of iron pinchers that wrapped around the cryobot as gently as
a moth er hugging
her child.
    Perry and Jack crawled around on hands and
knees checking the boom’s grapples. Convinced the cryobot was not
in danger, Perry gave the thumbs-up to Gleason, who sent the
radio-control signal that would raise the boom. It rose at a
pedestrian speed, and Perry had to work to quiet his
impatience.
    The sound of powerful electronic winches
pulling steel cable through tackle at the end of the mast filled
the dome. The dome’s concave surface amplified the sounds more than
Perry expected. The noise of it reverberated in his bones. He could
also feel the vibration in the ice. Five minutes later, Hairy was
vertical, its nose pointed down. Gleason then guided the tractor to
a spot opposite the fixed tower the men had raised earlier. It took
several tries, but Gleason positioned it perfectly.
    A new noise caught Perry’s attention—a noise
he felt more than heard. The ice was vibrating in resonance to the
sound. Perry knew what it meant, and as if confirmation were
needed, Larimore’s voice came over the radio in Perry’s clean suit:
“If you want to say bye-bye to your babies, you better jump
to.”
    Perry acknowledged the message and hustled
to the air lock, where he changed into his outdoor gear. Five
minutes later he jogged across the white surface to the aircraft
that awaited him. He ran up the back ramp and wished each man on
his crew a safe journey, thanking them for the sacrifices they had
made to make the project a success so far. He then exited and
watched with the rest of the team as the loadmaster raised the
ramp.
    “Did any volunteer to stay?” Jack asked.
    Perry laughed.