Polar Meltdown (6 page)

CHAPTER
SEVEN

“Now what are we going to do?” asked Ben desperately. “We'll never survive out here in a snowstorm.”

“We have to take shelter,” said Zoe. “Remember what Amaguq said about snow holes? We need to make one – now!”

“The ground looks raised over there.” Ben pointed into the distance. “There might be enough snow to dig into.”

“It's hard to see anything!” shouted Zoe, struggling to walk against the rising strength of the wind, which howled around them and tugged at their clothes.

At last they reached the banked-up snow and dropped to their knees, the wind blasting into their faces.

“Perfect!” yelled Ben. “It's facing away from the wind!”

“I wish
we
were!” Zoe yelled back.

They clawed blindly at the snow.

“It's falling too fast to clear!” called Ben.

“Use your RAT as a spade!” The children were soon scooping great shovelfuls of snow away with the front end of the boards.

At last they'd scooped out a space just big enough to crawl into. They took off their goggles and lay huddled together in their sleeping bags, listening to the wind roaring outside. Zoe pulled a torch out of her backpack. She shone its beam at the entrance to their shelter. It lit the snowflakes that were driving past the entrance. The storm was at its height.

“It's unbelievable,” said Ben. “We've seen snowstorms like this on television, but I never realised how bad it would be to land up in the middle of one.”

“It's going to delay our search,” said Zoe. “Those poor cubs.”

“It could go on for hours.” Ben sighed. “We'll have to make the best of it. How about some provisions? I'm hungry.”

“You're always hungry,” laughed Zoe, wriggling round to put her hand into her brother's backpack. “If you get your elbow out of my stomach, I might be able to reach the food.”

“Not easy!” Ben shifted painfully. “Now I'm sitting on the RAT's motor.”

The children soon had their high-energy fruit bars unwrapped. They sat and munched in silence. Outside it was as dark as night now, and the snow was piling up at the hole's entrance. Strange noises rose up above the whine of the wind.

“That's the ice floe creaking,” said Zoe. “It moves all the time and this storm's making it worse.” She scooped some snow into her glove and sucked at it. “No shortage of drink here.”

Ben yawned and rubbed his eyes. “I'm going to get a bit of sleep,” he told Zoe. “Jet lag. Wake me up when the storm's over.”

Zoe nodded. Ben always suffered more than she did from the time changes when they went on their missions. She knew she wouldn't sleep anyway. Her mind was too busy picturing the shivering bear cubs alone in their den. She wondered how they'd ever get to them in time. Any tracks the mother polar bear or fisherman had left would be covered in fresh snow. So would the den…

Zoe's breathing was quickening and her thoughts were suddenly tumbling about.

She had a weird feeling of confusion. She turned to Ben and was horrified to see that his lips were blue – and yet when she touched his skin it was warm. What was happening?

She shook her brother hard. She was relieved to see he was breathing, but he wouldn't stir. Her muddled brain tried to work out what was going on. She had to get a grip on herself, but she felt so light-headed! She took a handful of snow and rubbed it in her face to wake herself up.

She flashed the torch around. Where was the entrance to their shelter? It had vanished. Was she having a nightmare? No, that was silly, she was awake.

And now the tiny bit of Zoe's brain that was still working had the answer. The storm had sealed them in. They were trapped in a tomb of snow. If the hole had gone, then no air was getting in. They were being starved of oxygen. That explained why she felt so strange. And that was why Ben wouldn't wake up.

Zoe knew that if she didn't do something straight away they were going to die! But all she wanted to do was close her eyes and sleep.

“Stay awake!” she muttered to herself, pinching her cheeks hard, hoping the pain would keep her focused.

She started to scrape at the covered entrance, but the snow was thick and she could feel her strength draining away. She was gasping now from lack of air as she clawed desperately for a way out.

Then, just when she thought she couldn't dig any more, the snow fell away and her gloved hand broke through the wall. With the last of her strength, Zoe heaved herself up to the small gap and took great welcome gulps of freezing air. She felt her brain slowly come back to life. She twisted round to Ben.

He was pale and still. Zoe's heart almost stopped. Was she too late?

CHAPTER
EIGHT

“Wake up, Ben!” Zoe tugged at her brother's jacket and managed to haul him towards the small blast of fresh, freezing air. His head lolled forwards and he didn't stir.

“Ben!” sobbed Zoe in desperation. She rubbed hard on his back. Then she shook him. But nothing was working.

Desperately she took a handful of snow and shoved it into his face.

Ben gave a faint groan and his eyelids fluttered. “Gerroff!” he mumbled.

Zoe didn't think she'd ever been happier! She got another handful of snow.

“Cold!” muttered Ben, trying to turn his head away.

“Breathe deeply,” insisted Zoe, slapping his cheeks. “You lost consciousness.”

Gradually, Ben came round. To Zoe's relief his skin began to look pinker, although his eyes were still heavy and he slumped back against the wall of the snow hole. She thrust an energy bar into his hand and watched him slowly chew it.

“What happened?” Ben said groggily.

“Our entrance got covered over with snow and we'd forgotten to make an air hole,” answered Zoe. “Amaguq said it was really important.”

“I bet polar bears remember to do that when they build a den.” Ben grinned weakly.

“We must start searching for the cubs' den as soon as you feel ready,” said Zoe. “I can't hear the wind anymore.”

Ben dug at the entrance until it was wide enough for him to see through. “It's dark out there!” he said. “We must have been here hours.”

Zoe checked her BUG. “It's eight in the evening.”

“It's stopped snowing,” Ben reported. “Let's go.”

They pulled their goggles back on, broke out of their shelter and stood in the dark landscape. The snow clouds had gone as quickly as they'd come. A pale moon shone, making the sky an inky blue. The children switched on small flashlights that were stitched into the front of their balaclavas.

“Visibility OK,” grinned Ben. A light flashed on his BUG screen. “We're close to where the attack happened,” he said. “The den shouldn't be too far away.” He pressed a key and an arrow flashed on the screen. “Follow me.”

The children jumped on to their RATs and sped off across the new, powdery snow, stopping every now and then to check the direction.

“It looks like the ground's moving up ahead,” said Zoe at last, slowing down her RAT.

Ben peered forwards. “That's the sea,” he exclaimed. “It's the floating ice that you can see moving. Good old BUG, it hasn't let us down. We're on the spur.”

“It's a lot wider than I expected,” said Zoe looking around. “I can't see the water on the other side.”

They jumped off their boards, folded them and put them back in their backpacks. Ben tapped some keys. “I've set it to look for the thickest snow banks,” he said. “That's sure to be where the den is.”

“Time for thermal imaging.” Zoe pressed the logo at the side of her snow goggles. At once the bottom half of the lenses became cloudy. As she looked at Ben, she could see his top half clearly but his legs showed up as a purple, yellow and orange glow. “With luck we'll pick up the cubs' body heat.”

If they're still alive
, she thought to herself.

“There's a long ridge of snow twenty metres along the spur from here,” said Ben, clicking his goggles into thermal mode as well. “Let's start our search there.”

Reaching the ridge, they moved slowly along, staring intently through the bottom half of their goggles, but there was no sign of the glowing shape of a warm, living body.

“They're not here,” said Ben as they reached the end. He tapped at one key and then another on his BUG. “That's strange. I can't seem to update this map. The screen seems to have stuck.”

“Mine's stuck too,” said Zoe in surprise.

“Do you think it's too cold for them?” She pressed the hot key that would put them in touch with Wild Headquarters. “I'll ask Uncle Stephen.” She gave the BUG a shake. “No, that's not working either. This is scary, Ben. How will we find our kayaks again or contact HQ?”

“It's strange,” said Ben. “Surely Uncle Stephen would have adapted our BUGs for these conditions. We'll just have to carry on our search the hard way and worry about the rest later.” He scanned the snowy ground as far as his light shone for likely den sites.

“The blizzard hasn't helped things,” said Zoe. “The snow's covered any tracks.”

“Let's look for another ridge,” suggested Ben. “The den has to be somewhere on this spur of ice.”

They trudged across the snow until a high bank came into view.

“Look!” gasped Zoe, pointing at a small hole. “Can you see it? My goggles have picked up something living in there.”

“The image is about the right size for a cub,” said Ben in excitement.

“Wait,” Zoe warned him. “That's not a very big entrance. I don't think a polar bear would fit…”

Too late. Ben had stuck his hand in.

There was a snarl and he leapt back.

“Yow!” he gasped. “I nearly got bitten.”

A small white snout appeared at the opening. Sharp teeth and bright eyes gleamed in their lamps.

“It's an Arctic fox,” said Zoe, as the terrified animal shot into the darkness. “This is hopeless.” She sighed. “How are we going to find the ridges to search without our BUGs?”