When you do that in a coal-powered locomotive, you’ll be almost immediately attacked by one large cloud of burning smoke. I’ve travelled enough in my life, though not very far, to know that. Door, gust of wind, blinding smoke, the usual. This time, however, nothing at all, no smoke nor blinding. Even weirder, the air smelled slightly as peppermint. Ursula went outside and, afraid that she was going to fall into the tracks, I followed her.
—Yes, there’s food here— she said—.
—The peppermint?
—No, something else…
She began tapping the side of the tender, the smooth metallic surface until she got next to the ladder that went up. She pulled one of the metal rungs and a secret panel slid, revealing the entrance to a large and well illuminated indoor garden with white marble floors, Greek columns, and a fountain surrounded by sculptures. The place reminded me of one tea room only for magical beings in the East End, owned by my aunt Rhea. Perhaps I should write her soon, I haven’t heard much from her since this whole ordeal started.
—Oh, so this is the dining car— I said, looking around—, where is the food though?
—Better yet, where is the coal to make the train work?
As to answer both questions, a hidden door on the other side of the garden opened. Professor Linde came from it, cleaning black grease from his hands with a disgusting handkerchief. He seemed unfazed by the place, and didn’t realise we were there until he almost crashed with us. With a wide smile and adjusting his overall, explained to us that the train moved via a new magical-electric engine he had been developed before turning to work to the Base. And the people of the board had shipped it to do this tram and convert the coal-car into a place where to relax and get food and drinks.
Ursula had bolted mid-conversation and was ordering food from one of the tables, which appeared in a puff of smoke.
—Besides we are doing great timing— he said, whipping sweat with the handkerchief and taint his forehead with grease—. We are going ten times faster than the usual speed, which turns the days of travel into one night.
—To where? — I asked.
—Terra Nova Research Base, obviously— seeing I didn’t know where that was, he coughed and added—. In the South Pole. It’s in the manual, in the History part. I though everyone knew about it by now.
He pulled out a pocket watch from his overall. Though useful, those things always gave me an uneasy feeling; the Academy was filled with clocks of all kinds, but these were the ones which disturbed me. Reminded me of the “Tell-tale heart”, beating/ticking underneath the surface. But I digress. Wilbur excused himself and left to get a few things from his suitcase, while I went to sat with Ursula.
The trip was slowed due to a block of ice on the tracks. I saw Wilbur going out the train with a large glass bottle connected to a nozzle. After I saw the orange glow of the fire, I realise that thing was not just a bottle, but a prototype for a portable flamethrower. The thing melted the block of ice in a few seconds, being the stopping and reactivation of the train what really caused the delay. The eighteen hours it took us to go from Point Nemo all the way to Amundsen Station on Antarctica, despite the aforementioned delay, went smoothly. By the early hours of the following morning, we were back in the exterior, stopping at the end of the tracks.
The voice of Mr. Athenida ushered us outside, saying to leave our luggage there.
We did.
I committed the stupid idea of going out just dressed by heavy clothing and a woollen hat. When I put my foot outside, hearing the crunch of the snow, it came to my mind the large list of failed explorations to the final earthly frontier; the most infamous one was that of which the RAIN-Falcon Company took half of its name, the Falcon-Scott expedition. They died, from hunger and the freezing cold, so it was a pleasant thought as we walked to the inside of the station.
Besides the large building marked as “Amundsen Station” there was…nothing. Endless white and reflective ice, but no other places, no buildings, no streets, no depot, nor anything that could be mistaken by the endlessly mentioned Base. By the point when a few of us thought about going back to the train, the last person had descended; with a whistle, the entire machine began to move backwards, going back into the opening of the tunnel. With no other option, we decided to go in the inside of the building of Pueblo Deco design.
—So— Ursula’s voice trailed on and off—, where’s the base?
—Hidden somewhere out there, I suppose— Dr. Tang seemed to be colder than I was, even though she had several more layers of clothing and was holding Mystic like a handwarmer—. On the manual said the place was under the third largest cloaking spell in the world. It wouldn’t be safe for the artefacts if the Base was out in the open.
—Neither would be to us— Iggy said.
She was right, but her words caused an uneasy feeling in all who heard her. Almost every academic and magical being in the world would know about the existence of the Base by now. It had been weeks since the announcement was published in newspapers everywhere, though it didn’t say where it was. If the place was out in the open, it would have been a beacon to every deranged mind who thought of stealing one of the artefacts, that said “Here, stole from us!”.
—I’m sure someone will come soon— Mrs. Fletcher said, trying to keep her family close—.
The place was heated from large fireplaces and radiators, but the openness to a large floor up was sucking most of the warmth. We waited, on the benches, and kept waiting. About an hour went by, and a shiver in my spine let me know that, unless something was to happen soon, we would begin to hear a cacophony of sneezes and coughs. We were mostly clumped in our different departments, using the liaisons as a makeshift Parliament to decide what should we do.
—I guess we are fine until we need food— Ortiz made a small flame appear in the marble floor—. Which would be in a couple hours.
—If this is some sort of plan by Daedalus to strand an entire generation of the greatest minds of the world in a place where they can’t use their powers, he’s doing a bang-up job— Iggy complained—. I’m not even concerned about myself, but we have children and elders here.
—If you are saying the latter about us, we can take care of ourselves. Thank you— Professor Linde and Dr. Tang shared a bitter look—. If I could dismantle the bowler that provides for the radiator, I could craft a steam-powered car.
—And while you are getting lost out there, the rest of us can freeze to death— Ortiz complained, while, unsuccessfully, trying to uncork a whisky bottle—. I say we try to create communication with the mainland.
—You are thinking on the North Pole— I said—. From here the closest thing would be the “Lighthouse at the End of the World”, which as an artefact would be at the base now. Haven’t you read the manual at all?
—No, I was busy.
—What could you be doing besides of, you know, your bloody job!? Marvellous.
Okay. I’ll admit it wasn’t the most helpful thing to arguing in the middle of a situation like that.
I’ll admit it if he eventually admits he only got the job due to casting an ownership spell on the Mask of Tutankhamun. Since that is not going to happen, I’ll move on. Our bickering was interrupted by the voice of Mr. Athenida, coming from the balcony to the upper floor. We looked up, and he was there, not just his voice; seemed to had travelled with us and was waiting for a moment to make an appropriate entrance.
—Does everybody hear me? Good. I’m sorry for the delay, but we were finishing the road to the base, and it took us a couple hours more than we thought.
There is something funny in a man with a three-piece suit, a silver cane, and a hardhat, though I can’t put my finger in what. I don’t think the man ever lifted a shovel in his life, I wasn’t going to say something about it, but still. He disappeared and appeared in the doors on the other side of the building from which we came in, and the crowd followed him back outside. So, did we, and I cursed not having put on my boots before exiting the train.
In what could only be defined as a frozen car park, there were ten twenty-people shuttle buses, the ones used to carry people to the factories. The buses marked “Retrieval Department” were two of those further away from the exit, between those marked as “Archive City” and “Support”. My group went in our bus, and waited for someone to drive it.
—Mystic, sit— said Dr. Tang, sitting next to me. The small dog looked at her for a second, but went almost immediately to the empty seat across the hallway, where he stood looking at the window—. He hasn’t seen snow in a long time, I’m so sorry.
That was all she said, before falling asleep on her own chin. She not even woke up when Mystic began barking at the falling snow, nor the time when it ran to the window trying to catch his reflection.
I would gladly die inside the Base, only if that meant that I wouldn’t have to do the whole ride back to wherever the artefact we need to retrieve are. After crossing from England to America, to Point Nemo and Antarctica, if I were to count the time spent travelling, it would be almost a month in trains and the ship. It was one of the most comfortable ways to travel, yes, but it was still an awful long time doing it.
When we were all on our seats, the omnibus began to move without chauffeur. The buses formed two lines on the road, and went on their way for a couple of minutes. We were on a straight long road that lead to nowhere.
Since I was by the window, I could see the glimpse of a ten-foot pole. Shining red in the middle of the snow and on the side of the road. I also saw Mr. Athenida pulling the upper half of his body out of the window of the bus before ours. He wielded his cane as he was playing cricket and, while the thing was glowing in a silvery blue, hit as hard as he could the pole; all of this with the buses speeding up as fast as they could. I heard a chime inside my head and, as Dr. Tang woke up in a jump, I wasn’t the only one.
Then we saw the Base.
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