Gray spent most of his first day familiarizing himself with the facility after his tour ended. After packing things away, he stepped outside to see the other areas he was allowed to be in.
Despite the night sky, it was still morning near the base. Gray had forgotten about the polar nights in Antarctica. It would be like this till September. He wanted to know the layout of the base, remember the safety procedures, and meet the rest of the staff. The remaining time, he would just relax. The trip was exhausting.
The facility itself was about what he expected from the brochure. Evan showed him all the rooms he was allowed to see. Every exterior door had warning signs beside it reminding staff to check the daily weather, carry a radio, log every time they leave and enter.
Gray quickly realized that everyone took those rules seriously.
Evan explained that the weather was extreme so they made sure to set up the rules. Thankfully they were just setting up for now. With it being night most of the time and strong winds, it was impossible to do their research.
Gray paid attention. But, most of his focus was on how he would be allowed outside. Sneak out? No, if he got caught, he would get in big trouble and it might affect his recommendation later. That was plan B. For now he had to think of a Plan A.
The staff was small enough that introductions did not take long. There were a few researchers, a couple graduate students, a communications operator, a couple of technicians responsible for maintaining the equipment, kitchen staff, and FrostBITE himself. Some people were there for the first time while others had been rotating through the facility for years.
Most seemed surprised that a middle school student had volunteered to come all the way out there.
Gray received a few questions about Japan, his school, and how he ended up joining the program, Gray explained it was a program at his school. They asked why he chose Antarctica of all places.
"I like the cold." It was a simple reply.
"Well, you might get more than you bargained for here." Evan laughed.
"Hopefully, that's the case." Gray smiled.
One woman managing supply records became noticeably happier when Evan mentioned that Gray would be assisting with administrative work.
"You know how to use spreadsheets?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Wonderful."
She immediately went back to work.
Gray watched her for a second before continuing after Evan.
By lunchtime, he had already memorized most of the important parts of the facility. It wasn't difficult. Everything was labeled and there was a map in most areas.
The dining hall was slightly larger than he expected, although that did not mean much considering the size of everything else. Several long tables occupied the center of the room, with the serving area along one wall and a handwritten menu posted nearby.
Gray picked up a tray and paused when he saw the food.
There was pasta with a thick meat sauce, warm bread, butter, and what looked like just a pot of warm soup. There were also a few pizzas laid out. Dessert was just ice cream with a tupperware of cookies sitting on the counter next to it.
It was considerably heavier than what Gray normally ate for lunch.
Evan noticed him looking over the options while loading his own plate.
"You'll get used to the food."
Gray picked up a piece of bread.
"Lots of carbs, lots of fat, and a decent amount of protein. People working outside burn through calories pretty quickly, especially when the weather gets bad. Make sure you eat plenty. Especially since you're still growing." Evan reminded him.
Gray remembered reading something similar in the information packet his school had given him. The body needed more energy to maintain itself in extreme cold, especially when someone was performing physical work for hours at a time. Meals at these facilities were always heavy so you would have enough energy to stay warm and work.
"The menu changes," Evan continued. "We get pasta, stews, curries, pizza, baked potatoes, vegetables and fruit when we have it, plenty of bread, and some nice desserts. Breakfast usually has oatmeal, eggs, toast, bacon, and they have a waffle maker as well.
"Wow."
Gray put some pasta and potatoes on his tray before taking a piece of bread.
Evan added a generous amount of butter to his own.
"You'll understand the butter eventually."
Gray gave him a questioning look.
"Give it a few weeks."
They found seats near the middle of the dining hall. A few members of the staff were already eating, while others came and went depending on their schedules. FrostBITE sat farther down the room speaking with one of the technicians while eating a plate considerably larger than everyone else's.
Gray took his first bite of the pasta and was pleasantly surprised.
It was actually good.
He had expected the food at an isolated facility to be mostly canned or bland, but whoever handled the kitchen clearly knew what they were doing. The bread was still warm, the soup was filling, and the dessert was just ice cream.
Evan noticed his reaction.
"Better than you expected?"
"A little."
"That's usually everyone's reaction. Food matters more here than people think. There's not exactly a restaurant down the street if dinner sucks."
One of the technicians sitting across from them glanced up. "I can't believe I am saying this, but I am actually craving some vegetables and fruit.."
"A few more weeks, you can be patient, haha." another staff member corrected without looking away from his meal.
He ate more than he originally did. After the trip and the hours spent walking around the facility, he was hungrier than he realized. By the time he reached the pudding, he understood why the meals were so heavy.
The conversation around the room stayed fairly casual. Most of it involved equipment, upcoming maintenance, weather conditions, and a shipment that had apparently been delayed longer than expected. Gray listened without interrupting. He did not understand all of it yet, but he picked up enough to realize how dependent the facility was on planning. Something as simple as a missing replacement part could become a serious problem when the parts had to be sent in from the mainland.
After finishing most of his meal, Gray looked toward one of the reinforced windows.
Nothing outside had changed since he arrived.
It was still dark.
The facility lights illuminated the snow immediately surrounding the buildings, but beyond that there was very little to see. It was almost pitch black.
"How long does it stay dark here?" he asked.
A woman sitting nearby looked up from her coffee. Gray remembered her name was Mara. She worked with the equipment maintenance team and this was her 5th rotation to this facility.
Mara leaned back slightly. "We're still in Antarctic winter. It'll be closer to October. You'll start noticing more twilight first. The sky around the horizon gets brighter for longer, and eventually the sun actually makes it above the horizon again. The exact timing depends on where you are, but down here the transition takes a while."
Evan nodded. "And after that the days keep getting longer until you eventually get the polar summer. Then it's bright for a few months straight.
Gray considered that for a moment. "That sounds annoying."
"It is the first time. But trust me, summer is way better."
Mara laughed quietly. Follow the clocks and the meal schedule and you will be fine. Don't worry, we turn the lights off so it feels like night.
Gray looked once more toward the dark window.
Gray finished the rest of his dessert before standing with his tray. The food had been surprisingly good, and he understood now why the serving portions were generous. If the cold forced everyone to burn more energy simply by doing their jobs, there was no reason to be stingy with meals.
Evan stood a moment later. "Already finished?"
"Yeah."
They returned their trays and left the dining hall.
"Well, that's mostly everything. It looks like you will fit in fine here.
—-----
The next few days passed without much excitement.
Gray learned his responsibilities quickly. Most of the work involved organizing supply records, entering maintenance reports into the facility's system, checking inventory lists against older files, and sorting through documents that had accumulated before he arrived. Occasionally, someone would hand him a stack of handwritten notes and ask him to digitize the information.
It was easy work.
The placement had sounded more involved when the school described it, but Gray soon learned from one of the assistants that it was still one of the quieter periods of the year. Most of the facility's larger research projects had not properly started yet. The polar nights made it difficult to work, it was extremely cold, and frequent high winds made their field studies difficult and dangerous. The research teams still monitored equipment and collected whatever information they could remotely, but most of the longer field operations were scheduled for later, when Antarctica moved closer toward spring and eventually the summer.
Until then, there wouldn't be as much work.
Gray did not mind.
He finished whatever work he was given and finished it as fast as possible. It wasn't much since he was just a student.
On his third day, Mara came over to check a set of supply records she had asked him to organize. She stood beside Gray's desk for several minutes, scrolling through the completed file while he worked on something else.
"You already finished this?"
Gray glanced over. "Yes."
She read through it.
Mara stared at the screen for another moment before looking at Gray.
"It all looks good now. Nice work."
Gray returned his attention to his computer. "Thanks."
"That should be most of what's needed. Go ahead and take a break if you need to."
By the fourth day, most of the staff had already gotten used to Gray's presence. There weren't too many questions and work was back to a normal rhythm. Gray preferred it that way.
It gave him more free time than he expected.
There was only one problem.
He still had not been allowed outside.
Gray understood why. Every exterior trip was logged, and nobody went beyond the immediate facility grounds without a reason. The weather had also been bad since his arrival. Wind regularly struck the walls hard enough for Gray to hear it from his room, and the reports posted near communications showed temperatures of −90°C.
It was great.
Since his arrival, he hasn't been allowed to leave. He thought back to ways he could go. But the only option he kept coming back to was sneaking out. But it was nigh impossible without causing unnecessary trouble for the workers. He just gritted his teeth and waited.
That finally changed several more days into his stay.
Gray was sitting near Mara's desk, finishing up his work, when FrostBITE entered the main workspace with a radio in one hand and his goggles resting on top of his head.
"Got a problem," FrostBITE announced.
Several people looked up.
One of the technicians immediately sighed. "Is it the generator again?"
"Not this time."
"Fuel line?"
"Nope"
"Thank goodness…"
FrostBITE pointed at him. "That's the spirit."
He walked farther into the room and placed the radio on a desk. "Two cargo drones went down about six kilometers northeast of here. They were bringing in equipment from one of the storage sites."
Mara turned away from her monitor. "Both of them got damaged?"
"Looks like the wind pushed the first one off course. The second one unfortunately had the same fate.."
"Any hazardous material?"
"No. Mostly equipment. Just some things we requested to get sent over."
Mara relaxed slightly.
FrostBITE continued, "Nothing dangerous by itself, but we can't leave it sitting out there. All those parts could get damaged if we leave it too long. And If anything gets scattered around, the local wildlife could be affected by it. I'd rather collect everything before the weather gets worse."
Gray stopped typing and looked up. There was an excited look in his eye. Was this his chance?
FrostBITE glanced around the room. "I'm taking a snowmobile out to pick it up and one of you is coming so take your pick.
Nobody answered. They had clearly done this before and it was horrid. FrostBITE had a quirk that let him stay resistant in the cold, but no one else had something like that.
One of the staff members suddenly became very interested in his coffee.Everyone looked away. They all knew how it was outside.
Mara looked at FrostBITE. "Can we wait it out a bit for the wind to cease?"
"Unfortunately, no."
FrostBITE shrugged. "I don't blame. I only need an extra pair of hands. It'll make loading the equipment faster."
"I would like to go please."
The room became quiet.
FrostBITE turned.
Gray was standing with his arm raised.
Mara stared at him in surprise. "Absolutely not. Also, you don't have to raise your hand."
Gray looked at her. "He asked for someone." He did put his arm down though.
"I know that, but you're just a kid. We're not going to let you out there."
"I am not a kid."
"You're only 14"
FrostBITE looked at Gray carefully..
Another technician leaned back in his chair. "Kid, you've been here less than a week. Going to a different building outside is one thing, but six kilometers out in this weather is different."
Gray glanced toward FrostBITE. "It's just a trip to pick some stuff up right? It's not even that dangerous."
FrostBITE pondered before answering. "Dangerous enough if you go alone."
"Then I'll go." Gray said resolutely.
Mara was stunned. In the last few days, he seemed easygoing, but now he was so serious about it. "You really want to go that badly?"
"Yes."
There was no hesitation in his answer.
"I have resistance to cold too. I am the best help here. Please allow me to join you." Gray asked again.
Everyone knew about his quirk by now. His school records listed it, and FrostBITE had already seen that Gray wore far fewer layers than the average person around the facility.
Mara pointed toward him. "Okay, but on one condition."
"What is it?" Gray questioned.
"You're going to wear the full gear."
Gray hesitated.
Mara immediately narrowed her eyes.
"Fine, I'll wear it."
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but if he does that, its okay with me."
FrostBITE finally stepped in. "I don't mind."
Mara turned toward him.
FrostBITE's expression had become slightly more serious. "We're not doing a patrol. We're collecting two damaged drones and coming straight back. The weather's rough, but if it gets too bad, I will return him and go myself.
Gray nodded.
Mara still did not look convinced.
FrostBITE continued, "it'll be fine."
Gray said nothing.
Mara slowly looked toward him.
Gray kept his face neutral.
"You make sure to listen to FrostBITE and do everything he says okay?" she asked.
"Yes, Ma'am." Gray said with a mock salute.
Mara rolled her eyes for a second. "Great."
FrostBITE laughed. "Don't worry, I'll keep him alive. He's so small, I could probably tuck him inside my coat."
The rest of the staff laughed.
Twenty minutes later, Gray was outside. Excited. He looked like he was about to jump for joy. The wind was heavy, but it wasn't much to him.
Mara had made sure he wore proper exterior gear regardless of how unnecessary he thought most of it was. Gray had an insulated outer coat, protective goggles, gloves, boots, and plenty of thermal clothing underneath. He started to feel warm already. He was trying his best to rein in his habit of taking off his clothes. This was going to be rough.
FrostBITE, meanwhile, wore the same simple heavy coat Gray had seen him in when they first met. He had his goggles on. "Wow, its windy."
The snowmobile's engine came alive beneath them. FrostBITE sat in front while Gray climbed onto the rear seat and secured himself behind him. A small storage sled had been attached to the back of the snowmobile for the equipment.
FrostBITE looked over his shoulder. "Comfortable?"
"Too warm."
FrostBITE laughed
"Alright then lets get going."
They started moving.
The facility quickly fell behind them as FrostBITE guided the snowmobile across the Antarctic landscape. Its headlights illuminated the snow ahead, while marker lights from the base slowly became smaller behind them.
The wind was much stronger away from the buildings.
Gray felt it immediately. It struck his clothes from the side and pushed against his body whenever FrostBITE changed direction. Snow moved constantly across the surface as their vehicle tore through it.
FrostBITE kept both hands firmly on the controls.
"This weather is considered bad even here," he yelled back over the loud engine and wind.
Gray raised his voice. "Really?"
"Yeah, it's usually a little tamer than this."
"Is that bad?"
FrostBITE pointed toward the darkness ahead. "No, we should be okay. And nothing beats that view at night." He said, urging Gray to look up.
It still took his breath away. A pale green band stretched across the darkness above them, faint at first, then slowly brightening as it spread. More color followed behind it, shifting across the sky in wide curtains of green with hints of blue near the edges. The aurora moved slowly, folding and stretching over the frozen landscape while the snow below reflected just enough light to make the entire area light up.
There were no streets, buildings, or landmarks beyond the occasional marker placed by the facility. Just snow, and the beautiful natural lights created by the world.
"Nice right?" FrostBITE asked.
Gray couldn't see it, but he was sure that FrostBITE was smiling.
—
A few kilometers later, they were almost at their destination.
He understood the warnings better now.
If someone became lost out here without a radio or transport, there was very little to guide them back.
FrostBITE continued speaking as they traveled. "The drones normally make these supply runs without much trouble. Saves fuel and saves us from sending people out every time someone needs a replacement sensor. But sometimes this happens."
"What happened to these?"
"Still checking. Could've been wind. Could've been ice interfering with something. Could've just malfunctioned."
Gray nodded.
"The important part is getting everything out," FrostBITE added. "This whole place works because people try to disturb as little as possible. If one of our machines breaks, we clean it up. If something leaks, we deal with it. If equipment ends up somewhere animals travel through, we remove it. That's the rules. We try to keep it as serene here as possible. "
Gray remembered FrostBITE mentioning that when he first arrived.
Protecting wildlife from problems caused by people.
It was a strange kind of hero work compared to what Gray was used to seeing in Japan, but he understood it. Nobody was going to cheer FrostBITE for picking broken machinery out of the snow. There would not be cameras waiting when they returned or newspaper headlines about the rescue.
It still needed to be done.
Gray flexed his fingers inside his gloves.
He felt fine.
FrostBITE glanced over his shoulder.
"You doing alright back there?"
Yeah
FrostBITE faced forward again, although Gray could see him shaking his head slightly.
"Huh."
Gray looked out into the darkness again.
The snowmobile continued deeper.