Chapter 1 When I saw the golden trees full of glowing corncobs, I realized that I was completely and totally lost. It was, to be clear, a mistake to go alone - the buddy system and all we Explorers have set in place. But still, I was lost and alone, with nobody knowing where I was. This was a problem, for obvious reasons, but more than that it was getting late and the sun was filtering its last couple of rays through the glittering corn. That’s when the panic really set in, and the reality that I was completely alone in a nonsensical corn forest hit me like a train, I started hyperventilating and my heart rate increased. I had only one all consuming thought, what am I going to do? Eventually, I got a grip of myself, sat down, and started to think things out. What AM I going to do? Well, for starters it’s getting dark very quickly, but it doesn't seem to be getting cold, that’s good. Second, what’s up with this corn? I was no agriculturalist, but I was pretty sure that corn grew on stalks, not trees. I picked one of the cobs to examine it and I noticed that the corn had a certain peculiarity I couldn't quite place, but I did know that it was incredibly soothing, and made all my fears melt away. Maybe it was its feel, or perhaps a smell, at any rate it made me realize how incredibly tired I was, and I suddenly drifted to sleep on the hard earth, that didn’t seem so hard anymore. When I awoke everything was gone, the corn, the trees, and the deceptive comfort that had encompassed me just moments before. “You failed, you failed yourself, you failed us, and you failed the test.”. The words were coming from nowhere it seemed, but they were everywhere, consuming me, devouring me, reminding me that I was just never going to be enough. Not enough for the admins, for the team, not enough to be of any use. This team was my dream, the only hope I had held onto for all of these long lonely years, my last hope to prove to myself that I was more than the orphan without a future everyone said I was. Every step I took dragged me further into all the memories I had tried to suppress for the last two years. At first it wasn't so bad, the memories of my family, my mother, my father, and my older sister. They sacrificed for each other constantly, but death took them anyway, one by one. My father went first, the entire community had worshiped him, and the children adored him for his stories of the outside world, of a life before we had to hide underground from the ice age outside. I often envied him, and the fact that he had a whole life before the great disaster happened, when the infamously crazed scientist Dr. Wilkes plunged the earth into an ice age, forcing everyone underground, never to see the sky again. Eventually, he passed away from unknown causes, likely old age, but he always said that not being able to see the sun was killing him. Next was mom, without dad she became very depressed, and I don’t blame her. They had known each other since they were children, and didn’t know how to live without one another. In the end they didn’t have to for very long. Finally there was Esther, my sister, in the last months of mom’s life she stepped forward. She already worked a part time job, but without any revenue from mom she started working two or three shifts a day while still attending online classes in her spare time. Despite her inability to attend much school now she always told me that education was important, and that she would never let me drop out to work even when we needed money the most. Esther was a genius, her professors always said that she would be the one to solve the climate crisis we had been living in for the last twenty five years. Honestly, I believed them, I believe that Esther could have done anything at all, but when mom died and my guardianship passed to her she was only seventeen. She was seventeen and worked three jobs, she was seventeen and was raising a child, she was seventeen and that was all she ever got to be. There was a cave-in that trapped a family in their home. It was Esther’s eighteenth birthday, and she was on her way back from a late shift when she saw what had happened. Witnesses reported that without hesitation she ran towards the disaster, and started ripping away stones to get to the family. On April 19, 2235 Esther sacrificed herself for a family she didn’t even know. Since it was her birthday I wanted her to feel special, I had saved up for months to get her a nice present and some decorations. When the door finally opened instead of Esther, it was a man with cold eyes telling me that my sister was in the hospital, probably never to come home. I ran to Esther faster than I had ever run in my life. Once I got there I could tell there wasn’t much time left, the doctors said that a large boulder had crushed her leg, and that it was a miracle she didn’t die on impact. She was hooked up to tons of machines futilely trying to keep her alive, her eyes were closed when I walked in, but when I grabbed her hand they opened. “Jesse”, she whispered, “My sister” She looked into my eyes with a fading light, “remember, that I love you more than you will ever know.”. Tears started streaming down my face, and she finally added, “Stay kind, stay wise, stay strong.”. With that she passed a piece of paper into my hand, and was gone, gone away to God’s kingdom, at peace, but she had left me behind. I continued down the terrible path of memory lane, the sharp pains of agony and despair stabbing me again and again. After Esther’s death, life lost its joy. What was there to look forward to if she wasn’t going to ask me about my day, I would never again watch her eyes light up like they did every time she got excited. I had gotten into a nice private school on a full ride scholarship, but after two months of not doing any homework, and flunking quiz after quiz, I got kicked out. I should have been more upset about my education, but all I could think about was how I put Esther’s memory to shame once again. Things got a bit better after that, I was moved to St. Marshall’s orphanage, and what originally seemed to be a turn for the worst became the biggest blessing I could have hoped for. On my first day a girl named Athena was assigned to show me around, and the first thing she said to me was, “Welcome to st. Marshall’s orphanage, ‘where the beds creak and the rats squeak’.”. After so many months of sorrow, I laughed, it wasn’t even that funny, but I laughed anyway. Athena was seventeen, she said that st. Marshalls was all she had ever known. “I’m supposed to be showing you around,” she said, “and I'm going to do that, but by the looks of it you need some friends you can trust more than anything ”. Athena then showed me around, told me where I was going to be sleeping, and then led me to a room that had once been a small library, but its shelves were now empty. Sitting In an old armchair was a boy scribbling away in a notebook. “This is Luke” said Athena, “He needs more friends, and you will be a perfect fit.”. Luke looked up for the first time since we had entered the room, “Hello Athena, who is this?” she sighed and responded, “This is Jesse, I think you guys will make good friends.” Luke looked up at me questioningly, “I’m off to find another friend for you guys” she added while walking away. Luke watched Athena leave and nervously looked at me, “uhh, hi Jesse.”he said while standing up “Hello, Luke right?” I replied while awkwardly shaking his hand.”How long have you been here for?” I asked, “Almost a month, not long, but time moves slowly in here” I wasn’t sure how to reply, and thankfully I didn’t have to because Athena was walking towards us with two more people, a girl and a boy that must have been siblings. Athena introduced them as fraternal twins that were fifteen years old, the same as me and Luke. The girl said that her name was Quinn and her brother was Spencer, then both me and Luke introduced ourselves. Quinn was very friendly, and told us that they had arrived just the night before. As she was saying that Spencer tapped on her shoulder and started signing to her in sign language. “He says that he thinks you both look like very nice people, and that he would really like to be friends”, neither me or Luke said anything, but apparently our faces expressed our confusion because Quinn then said,”Oh silly me! Spencer is deaf, so he can’t speak, but he can read lips.”. I gave a nod of understanding and replied, “You seem very nice as well Spencer, and I think this is a great start to a great friendship”. I had no Idea how right I was at the time, but for the next two years the four of us were basically inseparable.We all became increasingly dedicated to each other, to the point where we were more like family than friends. We understood one another better than any one else, especially once me and Luke became fluent in sign language.Together we found out about a team that went to the surface, and explored the world above, and how being plunged into a second ice age had affected the planet. We all trained for the team together, we trained for two years until we were seventeen, the year we would become eligible and test together. Now here I was on my way back to the abandoned library, which had been our official hangout ever since the first meeting of the four of us, just to tell them I had failed. When I got there I was shocked because everyone had downcast looks, and the whole room reeked with disappointment. I asked Spencer what was going on in sign, and he signed back that not just me, but everyone had failed. I sat down on the floor in absolute shock, “we’ve worked so hard for so long” “all for nothing”, Quinn finished. Everyone sat in silence for a moment, but then Luke said, “It’s not all for nothing, plenty of people don’t get in on the first try, no matter how long thay train.”. “and on top of that” Spencer signed, “What was even the right way to train for that weird test anyway!”. We all agreed that the only thing to do was wait until next year when we could apply and test a second time. None of us expected what would happen next, or how soon it would happen, but life is full of surprises, or at least our lives were.
Chapter 2 The next day started like any other day, we did everything we normally would, the cafeteria food was just as mediocre, the only difference so far was the crushing disappointment. At breakfast we were discussing the test, everybody’s story started the same. They brought all of us into a room, with nothing but a pill, a glass of water, and a piece of paper that said, ‘Take the pill to start the test’, from there the stories diverged. Everyone’s test was different, but they did have some similarities. All the tests included getting lost, noticing something strange about the world, identifying the strange thing, only to then have the said strange thing put us to sleep, just to wake up to hear that we had failed. We all got up to put up our dishes when the loud speaker suddenly announced “Will Jesse Miller, Luke Thorne, and Quinn and Spencer Lawrence, come to the front office”. We all looked at each other curiously, and started walking towards the office. No one knew why we were going, or even had any ideas which was a first for us, but no matter what we were thinking, none of us expected what was to come. When we got to the office instead of the orphanage director sitting in the chair, it was Athena. We hadn’t seen her since a few months after she introduced us to each other. When we asked about it we were just told that she had aged out of the orphanage’s care. “I know you must be confused right now, but I promise that all of your questions will be answered in a short amount of time,” said Athena. “What kinds of questions are we going to have?” retorted Luke. “You’ll see here in a moment” she replied, “Now let me speak, please”. She then started telling us about everything we hadn’t been told, “All of you have been training for, and dreaming of the Surface Exploration Expedition. Or S.E.E for short.” Quinn cut her off, “yes, but how did you know?”. “All in good time, now please listen, you will like what I have to hear” she started again, “Yesterday, each of you took the test to get into S.E.E, but you were each told that you failed. In truth, the four of you have been especially selected for this purpose. The last two years of your lives have been manipulated in ways you wouldn’t expect. Everything from your meeting, to your discovery of S.E.E, was all planned. ”.”Hold on,” signed Spencer ,”If we are meant to be a part of S.E.E, then why did we all fail the test?”. Athena looked to Quinn and she translated, “well i’m about to get there Spencer” Spencer then signed ‘Get on with it then’, but Quinn didn’t translate that part. Athena spoke again,” ‘failing’ the test is simply another part of the test itself. Even when you actually pass the test, which all of you did in record breaking time, you are still told that you failed to see what your reaction is, and how you handle disappointment.” I finally spoke up, “Well? Are we in or out, and what happens from here?”Athena looked at me and said,”Good questions, and believe me they have answers, but you need to know one more thing, my name is not Athena, it’s Valerie. Now for your questions, yes you are in, and what to do next, you need to contact everyone close to you that you will be gone.”. There was an uncomfortable silence, and finally Quinn spoke up,”None of us have anyone else to contact, we’re ready to go.”. Valarie got a sad look in her eyes, and said one last thing directed at me, “My partner Hazel is where we are about to go, and you might recognize her”. Valarie then informed us that we would have to be transported to the headquarters unconscious for security reasons. None of us were super comfortable with that, but what else was there to do? We each took a pill that looked similar to the one that we took in the test, and my only thought as I was falling asleep was how could I be excited for Valarie’s partner when everyone I loved was either here with me or dead.
When I awoke I was in a room on a bed more comfortable than any I had slept in for years, and there was an identical bed across the room from me. There was also an armchair in the corner, and each bed had a wardrobe near the foot of it. Quinn was looking through the wardrobe on the opposite side of the room from me. “How long have I been out?” I asked Quinn sleepily, “Only about ten minutes more than I was”, she replied, “This is our room until we get through basic training, and the boys have an identical room across the hall from us”. “What’s in the wardrobes?” I inquired, “I count seven outfits, all for cold or extremely cold weather, four pairs of shoes for the same circumstances, and at the bottom there are some clean sheets”. I sat up with a ton of effort and felt a stabbing pain in my head,”uugh, did you feel this miserable when you woke up?”. “No, Valarie said that the stuff they knocked us out with affects some people negatively.”, I sighed, “that's just my luck isn't it?”. “Hey” she said encouragingly, “if it makes you feel better, Luke is in the same boat you are.” “Ahh yes, others share my misery, that makes it so much better.” I replied sarcastically. “Stop your griping, Valerie left some painkillers in the wardrobe.”. I then peeled myself off of the bed and stumbled to the wardrobe. I threw the doors open and and found the painkillers, I bent down and picked them up, “Oh great, more pills” I mumbled to myself. “You better fix that attitude because Valarie is going to come show us around at one o’clock, and it’s noon right now,” then she gestured to a door on my side of the room, “ that door over there leads into a bathroom, just so you know”. Begrudgingly, I took the medicine, and opened the door to the bathroom so I could brush my teeth. I walked into the bathroom and saw that we had each been provided with a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a hairbrush, that I could see. There were also drawers that I would look through later when I had more brain power. I brushed my teeth, and left the bathroom, closing the door behind me. I was about to lay back down on my bed when there was a knock at the door, I walked over to it and pulled it open. It was Luke, and he looked as bad as I felt. “Hey Luke,” I said, “You look like you got run over by a train”, he chuckled and replied, “You don’t look so great yourself.”. I laughed as well, “I believe it. Come in” He walked in and sat down in the armchair. The three of us spoke about what was going on for a little bit, but the painkillers had made me and Luke drowsy, so we both fell back asleep after a few minutes, him in the chair, and me on my bed. I woke up to Quinn shaking me and saying that Valerie was here, so I needed to get up. When I sat up the second time my head didn’t hurt nearly as bad, but I was still a little bit out of it as I walked over to the group in the hall. Valarie looked at me pityingly, “I’m so sorry about the side effects, I should have thought more, your uhh.. Hazel, also had a similar reaction.” Then we started walking down the hall, and I couldn't help but wonder what Hazel had to do with me anyway. As we walked down the hall Valarie told us that we were currently the only one’s being trained, but that this hall could hold up to twenty people. At the end of the hall was a large elevator that we all got into. Valarie told us what floors the dining hall and training rooms were, and said that we were about to go to what was called the Hub. The Hub was the main meeting place, and where we would meet every morning to get instructions unless otherwise specified. The elevator doors opened on a room with a large screen on one end, and lots of chairs on the other side. There was an interesting combination of seating in the Hub, there were bean bag chairs, rolling office chairs, armchairs, stools, anything you could think of. Valarie told us to find a seat, and as we walked over to a patch of comfortable looking seating Spencer signed to us, “Our first mission at S.E.E is completed and we didn’t even have to try!” It wasn’t a very funny joke, but we were giggling anyway. Valarie looked over at us confused, but she let it go. Just as we sat down the elevator opened, and two men and an older woman walked out, Valarie then announced to us, “Kids, this is Dr. Megan Cooper the founder of S.E.E, and Dr. Nathan and Dr. William Rawlings”. All of us stood up out of the chairs we had just sat down in to introduce ourselves, we walked over and shook hands with each of the Doctors. Dr. Nathan was a man who appeared to be in his mid thirties, with brown hair and green eyes, his brother Dr. William was in his early forties, and had slightly darker hair, but the same green eyes as his brother. We then found out that they were some of the first employees of S.E.E. Dr. Cooper was a short, middle-aged woman with silver hair in a braid down her back, and chocolate brown eyes. “It’s an honor to meet you Dr. Cooper, and you too Dr. Rawlings and Dr. Rawlings” I said, still a little bit disoriented. “Oh, please.” said Dr. Cooper, “We’re on a first name basis, you can call me Megan, and them Nathan and William.”. I was shocked, and didn’t reply, but Spencer signed to them, “It’s still an honor to meet, whatever we call you.”. Just as Quinn was about to tell them what Spencer had signed, Megan surprised us by responding in perfect ASL. In response to our shocked faces she said with a smile, “I’ve done my homework on you four, and we wanted to make you feel at home here at S.E.E Spencer”. For the first time Luke piped up, “How much about us do you know?”Nathan then said, “well for starters, we know that Jesse was a Scout, and had to leave scouting because of her move to St. Marshalls”. I gasped, how on earth did they find that out? Then William added, “and Quinn, we know you won multiple first prizes in various archery tournaments”, she whispered,”what?”, before Megan started speaking again. “We know that Luke plays the violin wonderfully, if I do say so myself., and we are also aware that Spencer is quite the writer, and has written twenty six short stories about different topics.”. All four of us were shocked, and understood that this was just a taste of what we had gotten ourselves into. Most of our questions were asked and answered, but there was still one thing left that was bugging me. Finally, I asked “Who is Hazel, and why am I going to be excited to meet her?”. Megan looked up at me and smiled, “Hazel is one of the best minds a S.E.E, and she came here about two years ago. She can't do field work because of an injury from her past, but she has made discoveries pivotal to the progress of S.E.E.”. I was so confused, okay, Hazel was smart, but what does that have to do with me? I was about to ask, but before I could, a voice I thought I'd never hear again came from behind me.
Chapter 3 The voice came from the direction of the elevator, but I was too scared to turn around. The voice said my name, “Jesse,” I let out a sob, “You stayed, kind, and wise, and so strong”. I turned and ran to Esther while she was sinking to her knees. I fell into her arms and let out all of the tears I had kept myself from shedding those two long years. “Esther, Esther, Esther, Esther” I repeated her name over and over, and held onto her tight enough to never let her leave me again. We held each other and cried for I don’t know how long, but when I had recovered from the shock enough to ask questions, I did. Eventually, I found out that the day she was injured, and I thought she had died, she had been taken into S.E.E’s care and they saved her life. They might have saved her life, but the leg that was crushed by the stone retained permanent damage, and walking was now difficult for her, which is why she stayed underground as a scientist instead of going outside. “Why?” I asked, “Why didn’t you come back for me? Or even let me know you were alive?” Megan sighed, “By the time she was responsive enough to tell us about you, she had already been declared legally dead. If she were to go outside or try to contact you, she could get into serious legal trouble for ‘faking her death’, but she still tried to get out and contact you anyway.”. “Why couldn't she? Are you holding her prisoner, are WE all prisoners?” The question came from Luke who sat in a chair not far away. Megan Replied, calm as ever, “No, each time we would remind her that if she got out, chances were that she wouldn't even make it to her, but if she waited two years for her to come, no one could stop them from seeing each other”. Esther started crying again, “Please tell me it was worth it Jesse.”. How could I answer that question? How could I say whether the last two years were worth it? I looked at Esther, she symbolized the pain I had felt for so long, but then I looked at my friends, the people who I loved, and trusted with my whole heart. I finally responded “The last two years have been the hardest of my life”, I looked up to my friends, “But I met people who love and respect me, and I love and respect them, so yes. Yes Esther, it was worth it”, a large weight seemed to be lifted off her shoulders. Nathan asked if we had any more questions, and all of us said no, for now. Valarie started walking us through what we would learn during our training. The most important things we would learn were first aid and survival skills for very cold temperatures, but we would also be learning things about life underground that we had no idea about before. “First things first”, said Valarie, “The entire reason this program exists is to study the world during an ice age”. “an ice age caused by the mad scientist, Dr. Stephen Wilkes” added William, all of us nodded in agreement, “this isn’t anything we haven’t heard before” signed Spencer. “Yes”, replied Megan,”You have heard that story before, but what you haven’t heard before is the truth”. She went on to tell us that twenty six years ago, a group of scientists were selected by the Franco-Italian Government to research climate and how it could be altered. The higher ups told the scientists that the research would be used to help regulate temperatures during blizzards, they were told they had a noble cause. In reality, the information collected was being used to formulate an advantage over the country’s political enemies, and create a new form of combat, climatological warfare. After a few months the scientist caught wind of what their developments were really being used for, and there was absolute chaos. The group had just made an enormous discovery, and half of the group wanted to destroy the findings immediately. The other half were too proud to give up what they had achieved, and were adamantly against it. After a few minutes things had escalated rapidly, and everyone had run to the wing of the building responsible for creating the articles of war fueled by their research. In all the commotion somebody landed on the button that released a dangerous prototype from its compartment. The entire team stared in horror as the device fell to the ground and exploded. “We don’t know what the prototype was or why it caused such a disaster, because the explosion killed everyone who knew anything about it except for one person.” Valarie said as she looked towards Megan, “Our very own Dr. Megan Cooper was on the team of scientists, but she was not with the rest of the group that day”. Megan sighed and looked at us, “They were all very close to me, and I felt so much guilt about their deaths that I created S.E.E in an effort to help correct the mess I helped make.” I was incredibly overwhelmed. So much had gone on that day, so many secrets had been revealed, and I didn’t know what I was going to do or how I would move forward. Thankfully, I didn’t have to wonder alone, because Nathan told us that unless we had any more questions we could all go back to our rooms and talk things over until dinner at six. Everyone stood up to leave, but I didn’t want to leave Esther. I looked over to her and it seemed that she had read my mind because she said, “We can stay here if you want to, but I promise that I will be here when you come back”. I was still uneasy, but decided it would be best if I went with my friends. We all got in the elevator and pressed the button for our floor, Quinn sighed and said, “So that’s Esther.”. “Yeah”, I replied, “That was her,” I never talked about her much, she was too sensitive of a subject for me to even think about for a long time. She put her hand on my shoulder as if to say, “I’m here for you”. Her brother followed suit, and Luke joined them. I couldn't help but feel like I had the best friends in the world. The elevator door opened, and the four of us stepped out. We decided to all come to me and Quinn’s room to discuss what had happened since we had been here. After getting to the rooms we all flopped down on chairs and beds, mentally exhausted from all the information we had received. A moment of collective silence passed, and then we started to talk. After what seemed like no time at all had passed the alarm that had been set went off, so we all stood up and walked to the dining hall. The food was very good, all grown underground, in a hydroponic garden. The next morning, we met in the Hub, and had breakfast. They were testing a new chicken farm, and we all had omelets. The imitation cheese was not particularly amazing, in my opinion, but Luke enjoyed it. After breakfast, we moved on to classes - cold-weather survival, physics, chemistry, and everything else under the sun. We studied. And studied. And studied. Then we ate lunch. And studied and studied and studied some more. And then we ate dinner and went to bed, completely exhausted. Weeks sped by, in an endless blur.. Eat, study, eat, study, eat, sleep. Then there was an interruption. I was enduring an especially long lecture on the electron, when a little lightbulb I hadn’t noticed before lit up red on the teacher’s desk, and blinked out a message. The teacher stared at the light worriedly. “Class, please go to study hall. We will resume class later.” This we promptly did, and found ourselves under the never-wavering gaze of today’s study hall supervisor: Mr. Ponkel. He had a crew cut, and maintained absolute silence over the hall. This meant that I couldn’t discuss the significance of the mysterious lightbulb, and the sudden interruption. We went to bed with many unanswered questions. In the morning, after enduring (or enjoying) more imitation cheese, we checked our digi-pads for class schedules. To our surprise, we saw something we had never seen before. The first three classes were marked out, replaced with the large red letters “MEETING. RM 402.”
Chapter 4 We made our way to Room 402, where Dr. Megan Cooper was waiting at a podium. When everyone had arrived, she began to speak. “Hello everyone, and thank you for coming. We have some rather surprising news. One of the motion sensors outside has been tripped.” This was met with shocked gasps from the students. Luke raised his hand. “Yes, Luke.” “Dr. Cooper, what about the cameras posted outside?” “The temperature rating on the cameras was not measured correctly. A cold snap caused the electronics to fail. We hadn’t been able to change them before the temperature dropped. So, we will be choosing a team to go explore. There will be Luke Thorne, Quinn and Spencer Lawrence, and Jesse Miller.” We stared at each other in shock. The next morning, we noticed our schedules had changed. There were two weeks of training until our first official assignment at SEE began. If we thought that our training before was hard, the next fourteen days were a nightmare and a half. Every morning we woke up at five thirty AM and went to the dining area to have an ‘Expedition Breakfast’. Instead of the normal imitation cheese we started eating freeze dried foods to prepare us for what we would eat during our above ground stay. Directly after that we went to Fitness with the lovely Mr. Ponkel. All four of us were relatively fit, but in order to carry our gear with us in a sub-zero climate we needed to be more than just in shape. We were all prepared for the logistical side of SEE, but the physical side had been overlooked by all of us. After that was the same classes as before, but this time the material supposed to be taught in one week was crammed into a single day. Needless to say, it was a common occurrence for at least one person to fall asleep in the middle of dinner. After the longest and shortest two weeks of our lives, it was finally time to go out for the first time. I gave Esther a tight hug and promised to be careful, “Jesse, I’m so proud of you” she said with tears in her eyes, “No matter what happens, I will be here for you”. I hugged her again, and stepped towards my team. Dr.Cooper came to us and talked to us about the surface, how cold it would be, where to set up camp ect, and just like that we were stepping out into a desolate, icy, landscape. When we headed outside, it was a relatively warm day, only THREE degrees Fahrenheit below freezing! We started moving toward the area where the motion sensors had been tripped. When we reached it, we set up our tent, and our storage locker. We settled down for a long time, ready for some quiet observing. However, the quiet didn’t last long, because Quinn and Luke got into one of their famous debates about classic rock. “Are you crazy!?” yelled Quinn, “‘Rio’ is Obviously the better song!!”. “You’re the crazy one!” retorted Luke, “I mean, are you deaf? No offense Spencer, but ‘I Love Rock n’ Roll’ is Clearly superior!!”. They went on and on about a saxophone solo, and Joan Jett. Eventually, I remembered I had packed a portable chess game, and popped out to the storage locker to get it. On the way out, my foot snagged on the guy wire, popping the stake out of the ground. I didn’t notice it at the time, as I was so focused on getting the chess game. I returned to the tent with the chess game, grateful for the warmth.
The next night, it was especially windy. We were running low on propane, so I decided to pop out to the storage locker, something I had done many times before. As I stepped into the locker, the door locked behind me. Oh, no, I thought. Then the locker shook, tumbled, and blew over. Something hit me on the head - probably the empty can of propane I had set down yesterday. Then I blacked out.
When I came to, I was warm - a rare occurrence, and I was not wearing my coat. I was laying on something soft - again, another rarity. I looked around in surprise. I was in a well-organized cave, with shelves on the walls, a large bed, which I was laying on, a spinning station, and a workbench, with a very cute - was it a giant slug? - wearing a red and green sweater sitting in front of it. The slug was humming merrily, and a book was floating in front of it as it worked on a project. “Capacitor C2 to pad 4,” muttered the slug. I yelped when I noticed it. The slug had no hands, and was apparently telekinetic. One of the slug’s eyestalks looked at me. “Hello!” the slug declared, with an accent I couldn’t quite place. It sounded a bit like a Franco-Italian accent. “I am Larry the slug. Who are you?” I screamed in complete and utter panic, “No, no, NO! This can’t be happening! I must have died and gone to the land of slugs!” In hindsight, I realize this was hysteria based on lack of food and sleep. “No, you are not dead. You were inside a storage locker. You really shouldn’t leave the key in the lock, but it turned out to be good for you.” Larry declared calmly, like finding and rescuing a person was an ordinary everyday occurrence. “Sorry, am I rambling?” Larry the slug inquired. “No, but this is a lot to take in at once. Can you explain from the beginning?” “Well, I woke up after getting my recommended two hours of sleep.” That might be a problem, I thought. “Then I went around to look for new things. I do this once a week. Well, at position ” Here the slug rattled off a long string of letters and numbers, interspersed with dashes. “I found a storage locker, and you were in it. What is your name?” Larry was bursting with energy. “I’m Jesse Miller. Also, what was with the letters and numbers? And, are you telekinetic? Third, what is your tragic origin story?” “Okay, one question at a time. First, give me a bit.” Larry proceeded to pull out a large map. The middle had locations numbered from 0 to some very, very large numbers. There were little markers in the shape of houses, and the edges were marked with numbers and letters. Larry began, “Well, the first number is the nearest house. For 26 years, I have been exploring, and setting up houses. This is my main house. Each house is one day’s travel apart. The second number is the latitude, and the letters are a code for the longitude.” Larry paused for a bit. “Second, yes, I am a telekinetic slug.” This, too, was said as if it was completely ordinary to be a telekinetic slug. Well, it was normal for Larry. Larry sighed. “Third, you are a very good guesser. Once, I was known as Dr. Larry Williams.” *** “Well, it's another beautiful day in the icebox,” Quinn muttered, and stretched as she crawled out of her sleeping bag. She looked around. The gauge on the propane heater was empty again. That was weird, especially considering Jesse had just replaced the tank of propane, hadn't she? It was especially concerning because there was no noise coming from Jesse’s tent, and she was usually an early riser. It was likely not a big deal, but Quinn pulled on several layers anyway, and climbed out of the tent, just to make sure. When she looked over at the storage locker she could see that it had been knocked over and was lying on its back. Quinn dashed over to the locker, not knowing what to expect, but never in a million years could she have anticipated what she saw next. Coming out of the locker was a trail of an odd substance, but even more distressing than that was the fact that the only thing in there other than supplies, was Jesse’s jacket. *** The slug paused, lost in old memories. He sighed. “I worked for the Franco-Italian government. I was only told what I needed to know. I worked on seeding clouds and making rain. My team’s research was going to save so many lives! Droughts would be no more. Parched deserts would become fertile farmland. Until one fateful day.” “You found out that your discoveries were being militarized, and would be used to cause countless deaths?” I interjected. “Right again!” Larry exclaimed, “How on earth could you know?” I explained how Dr. Cooper had taught us about the truth of the Ice Age, and what had really happened. Larry became visibly excited upon hearing this, “Megan?!” he shouted, “Oh well, Of course! Of course it’s Megan!”. He sighed and lowered his voice, “How I miss her, she had such an astonishing mind, and we would talk for hours about the latest scientific discoveries.” Larry kept talking about his past with Dr. Cooper, and the discovery they had made that changed the course of history forever.
“LUKE! Luke, get Spencer! Jesse’s gone, come look at this,” Quinn shouted from the overturned storage locker. A few moments later Luke ran over with Spencer just behind him, “What do you mean she’s gone?” he asked, confused. “I mean she’s gone! There is nothing left here but her warmest jacket and this weird goo,” Quinn replied. Suddenly, Spencer started dragging her to the tent, signing, “Wherever she is, there is no chance of finding her if you freeze to death”. Quinn sighed and followed him, she hadn’t expected to be outside for long, and while she had put on some protection from the cold it was not nearly enough for the sub-zero environment. After getting to the tent they started discussing what their next steps were. First, a sample needed to be taken of the substance around the locker. Then, they needed to get permission from Dr. Cooper to find Jesse. Spencer and Luke went out to get a sample of the weird goo trail while Quinn radioed in to request the ability to search for Jesse. As the radio crackled to life, Dr.Cooper’s voice rang out, “Flash”, “Thunder” Quinn replied. “Hello Quinn '' said Dr.Cooper, “Did you find what triggered the sensors?”, Quinn responded, “Well, no, not exactly”. She went on to explain what had happened, and their plan to go find Jesse. “Well,” sighed Dr.Cooper, “I can’t say I’m surprised something like this happened considering the circumstances, but this is rather quickly.'' After a brief pause she said, “You four have proven yourselves responsible enough that I will let you look for her, but you only have one day. If you don’t find her by then, you let us handle it, okay?”, “Yes ma'am, we will do our best,” Quinn said. “I’m sure you will”, Dr. Cooper replied as the room fizzled back into silence. Sinking in her chair, Quinn’s mind was filled with questions, but more than questions, a curiosity, an anxious excitement, and a crippling fear.
Chapter 5 Larry was talking about his history with Dr.Cooper when he suddenly paused, “While I refer to myself as a ‘slug’ I am, a bit more biologically complicated. I figured I would give you the opportunity to know more before I go on.” Jesse replied, “I am quite curious, so please elaborate!”. Larry explained how when the prototype exploded he had been near another one of the experiments. The basic function of the creation was to regulate someone’s temperature by temporarily modifying the body, The only problem was keeping the changes temporary. The sudden rise in temperature caused by the damaged prototype exploding caused the other machine to act, and in order to preserve his life it turned him into the ‘slug’ he is now. “When the prototype exploded, it sent a power surge through the wiring, and it was just enough to partially start the conversion process. But, it wasn’t enough to activate the reversal sequence before the power failed.” Larry declared. “And so, I am a slug, forever. Unless we can reconstruct the machine, I will be a slug.” Jesse sympathized with Larry. “What would you need?” Jesse inquired. “The device was built around a crystal of metatarthanine, a rare mineral found in…?
PPL FOR REFERENCE: Jesse Miller (main), Luke Thorne, Quinn and Spencer (deaf-mute) Lawrence