SSSD - Ro helps Marit

“You got this,” Alison tells Ro, giving her a pat on the back.

“OK,” Ro replies readily. She’s a little nervous, but she seems all right.

Marit might not be the most polished individual, but she doesn’t seem mean-spirited. She’d have to be a monster to be mean to Ro. Marit’s smile is patient, and maybe a little disappointed.

Alison sidles up to Julie.

“Big plans today?” she asks.

“We will read,” Julie replies in English.

Alison frowns. “Read?”

Twenty minutes later she’s in Julie’s lab, and that’s exactly what they’re doing. The Norwegians do all their work on beefy Thinkpad rigs with extra monitors. They have their own database and some kind of office program that reminds Alison of Microsoft Teams, but it isn’t Microsoft Teams. The science team talks all day in the group chat from the comfort of their desks.

Everyone except Linda.

These monitors aren’t great for reading, but they aren’t about to print out all these huge PDFs. These are papers published by the Antarctic Digital Magnetic Anomaly Map Project. It’s a slog. Alison has to learn about near-surface magnetic surveys and how to interpret them. At least the papers are in English. Julie has instructed her to read the abstracts and conclusions and set aside any papers dealing with the zone containing the Outpost.

Julie is doing the same thing. The work is incredibly tedious. Alison’s eyes are sandy and she’s wishing for **** after only half an hour. This has to have something to do with the weird things they’ve found in the ice, but Julie doesn’t seem to want to explain the details. Maybe she’s protecting the information. Or maybe it hasn’t occurred to her that Alison is in the dark. Either way, Alison does as she’s told and tries to stay attentive. Strong Norwegian coffee helps.

Julie’s affect is changing. She’s getting tense. It becomes sufficiently noticeable that Alison stops, looks across the desk at her, and taps her finger to get her attention.

“Yes?”

“You OK?” Alison asks.

Frowning, Julie glances back at her other monitor, where she has the group chat. Alison has also noticed that it’s a bit sedate today. She can’t read any of it, of course, but there aren’t many new messages. And there are none from Niv. That’s unusual; she’s usually a chatterbox.

Before Julie can say anything, Golda opens the door and leans into the lab.

She speaks to Julie in Norwegian. Alison patiently observes the brief exchange, which results in both of them looking at her.

She feels a touch of anxiety. “This is about me? Whatever it is, I didn’t do it.”

“Captain Hansen is ill,” Julie says carefully. “Dr. Nordrum must perform a task. We do not allow anyone to…” She hesitates, searching for the right word. “Go alone? Will you go with her?”

Alison takes that in. A lot of context is missing, but it seems like a straightforward request.

“I mean, sure. Is Niv OK?”

“Yes,” Golda says from the doorway. “She will be fine.”

Golda and Julie exchange another look. There’s an undercurrent of worry here that Alison doesn’t like, but it’s not as though they’d send her to do anything dangerous. The Outpost is short staffed to begin with. Alison doesn’t resent being used as a warm body for safety purposes. It’s logical.

Half an hour later she’s in a snowcat with Signe. It’s just the two of them this time, and she has to admit that she didn’t expect to spend quite so much time out on the ice in this internship. Although it does make sense; there are computers back in the real world. The writing and collating for this project is happening in Oslo. This team of scientists is here to monitor and maintain equipment while collecting samples.

What about Linda, though? Alison doubts that she’s going to get a straight answer about that from Signe. Signe might be the most approachable member of the science team, but she’s also the one who seems most dependable. It’s not her towering height and powerful body, it’s her bearing. The others seem like calm, rational people, but even calm, rational people can lose their cool. Signe, though? Probably not. And she will be the last person to share secrets with a newly-arrived American intern.

“It’s the Americans,” Signe says as she starts the snowcat. “And don’t worry about this,” she adds, patting the dashboard. “Marit serviced it first today.”

“That’s reassuring. What Americans?”

Signe hands over the map then pushes the vehicle forward. They rumble out into the white. Alison takes a deep breath and swallows her anxiety about what happened yesterday. She considers the map, where a spot is marked. It means nothing to her. She has no idea where the Outpost is in relation to this spot.

“There is an American lab here.” Signe keeps her eyes on her driving as she reaches out to tap the map.

“Is it close?”

“Thirty kilometers,” Signe says, tracing a line on the map, which Alison is finally figuring out.

“We have to go through this pass. Or I guess we could go around. But that would be an extra two hours.”

“On a clear day, we take the pass,” Signe says, pointing up. Makes sense. “We…” she begins, then stops. Alison’s getting used to this. The blonde is trying to figure out how to say something in English. “We speak to the Americans once every three days by radio.”

Right. That’s normal; all the stations in this region communicate with each other. They aren’t working together, but there’s a solidary born of necessity in places like this. They aren’t gossiping, just checking up on each other as a matter of procedure. The crew of one station can show up in an emergency long before anyone from the real world can.

“That was yesterday. They did not respond,” Signe explains.

Alison takes that in and reflects back on the way that Golda came to Julie’s lab. It fits. Normally, they would send Niv to check on the Americans. With Niv not feeling well, it falls to Signe. And Alison is along so that Signe isn’t by herself. Good. Alison likes it when things make sense.

“We’re making sure they’re OK?”

“Yes.”

They have a little drive ahead of them. It’s the same situation as last time, only Alison is alone with Signe. She already knows what she wants to do: take this opportunity to try to charm this magnificent woman. What would the alternative be? Signe is a consummate professional. She also has a warm, fun side. Will she want to listen to the playful chatter of a cute, American coed? Or will she be more impressed by a more serious-minded approach?

Should Alison lean into her fun CCL side? Or her thoughtful environmental science side?