The W-TRX 300 vibracore drill had been working the compact ice for an hour.
At seventy-nine degrees north latitude, in mid-February, the sun still hadn’t made up its mind to return. There was a low, indirect light for a few hours a day; the rest was a blue dusk that never became real darkness or real morning.
Outside the containers the temperature hovered around minus twenty-eight, and the wind drove it lower.
It wasn’t a place you came to by chance.
Reaching Aurora Nord Base took two flights, a snowmobile, and a permit that HelixCrest SA had obtained by presenting the project as research into the composition of ancient permafrost.
That was true, in part.
Like almost everything to do with Stein, it was true in part.
