Free Deep Ice by Karl Kofoed Page A

stores and supplies crashing to the floor; clothes, clocks, bacon, bandages. Everything that wasn’t nailed down was thrown around the rooms. Then began the screams, shouts, curses and, from the kennels, barking.
    Henry scrambled to his feet and tried to steady himself as he peered out the frosted window to see what was happening. Mount Erebus shot ash and fire into the morning sky, fulfilling the promise it had been making to the geologists for days: full eruption.
    Shep stood splay-legged at the base of Henry’s bunk, staring at him as though he was the one who’d caused the quake. Suddenly the bunk’s wooden frame fell apart. Books and papers fell from collapsing shelves and covered the floor.
    General Hayes had fallen asleep at his desk in his office waiting for an uplink from Washington that never came. When the quake hit, he wet himself. Kai Grimes came into the room holding his pants in one hand and a.45 automatic in the other. He took a quick look around the room and realized what was happening.
    “Welcome to California, sir,” he said.
    Hayes looked at his wet lap and swore softly.
    A distant rumble broke the eerie minute of silence that followed the earthquake. Suddenly the radio that the general had been unconsciously holding sprang to life.
    “ Glomar Explorer to McMurdo, over. We see you, over.”
    Hayes dropped the thing as if it were a bug, staring at it.
    Grimes hopped on one leg as he pulled on his trousers. He stared out the window at the bay. The sea ice had split up overnight. In the distance, barely moving as it forced its way through the ice towards the land, the orange hul of the massive icebreaker Glomar Explorer could easily be seen.
    “Evacuations ASAP, sir,” said Grimes.
    #
    Before the aircraft carrier Enterprise had come within a hundred miles of McMurdo it had gotten what it came for; it turned back north.
    Newly aboard: four weatherbeaten Cobra helicopters; General Anthony Hayes and his aide, Embry Hazelton; Lieutenant-Commander Kai Grimes Jake Smithson, one of the general’s other two aides Sarah French of the FBI; and Henry Scott Gibbs of the Antarctic with his wonder dog, Shep.
    They walked as a group across the carrier deck towards the conning tower as scores of deckhands wheeled the choppers quickly off the deck and onto massive elevators that lowered them into the bowels of the ship.
    Henry had never been on a ship this size before. Its enormity amazed him. As soon as they got below- decks, however, the carrier seemed smaller. Indeed, he thought the passageways seemed much too small for such a large ship; they made him feel claustrophobic. Before they’d come aboard the general had told him Shep wouldn’t be a problem on the carrier. Admiral Milborne Schumacher, acting on the orders of President Kerry, had given his personal decree that a section of the flight deck would be allocated for the purpose of walking Henry’s dog. The admiral had said they’d even put down astroturf if necessary.
    Grimes chuckled from behind Henry and Shep as they made their way to the main mess. “I don’t think any dog has ever had the run of this ship yet,” said the SEAL. “Told you, if he craps in the admiral’s shoes, they’ll know who to blame.” He laughed. “What is it with you, Henry? Col ectin’ ways to get yourself killed?”
    The ensign who’d shown them to their bunkrooms saluted and left. Sarah looked around her cramped room and groaned. A minute later she was in the corridor again, knocking on Henry’s door.
    “What’s up, Sarah?” said Henry, opening it. “You lonely already?”
    She stood in the doorway for a second, then said, “Oh never mind,” and turned towards her room in disgust.
    “I’m sorry,” said Henry. “Why not come in? What’s the problem?”
    She obeyed. Since she wasn’t holding her computer he suspected she wanted to talk.
    Sarah sat down on his bunk and looked at him. He searched around for a place to sit, and chose a straight- backed chair,