The Laptev Virus

“That’s right. And like I said, Riesigoil is only one of many players up there. A few days ago the team, a small group of men, apparently went out to take some ice core samples of an area we were looking into. Routine stuff. Now, when ice core samples are taken, there is a fairly strict procedure that must be adhered to. We share the data with major research organizations that are investigating climate change and in general trying to decipher how the world looked millions of years ago. In order to preserve the ice core samples, they are wrapped carefully as soon as they emerge, and maintained at a temperature of -15°C. It’s all standard procedure, you understand.”

“Yes,” said Oscar, pressing his flat lips together.

“The samples are then transported back to the barracks where there are labs set up for analysis. Samples are normally kept hermetically sealed, isolated from human contact or from contact with the atmosphere because the investigative teams want to also be able to study environmental and atmospheric conditions that were present on earth when these ice layers were first formed, and these parameters cannot be assessed if the samples get contaminated.”

“That’s right. I remember studying that a long time ago,” said Oscar with a wink. They often joked about how long ago college had been.

“It was something about how ice layers formed as the snow fell, year after year, accumulating and trapping small bubbles of air and anything that was present in the air at the time.”

“Yes,” said Angela. “And besides the actual chemical makeup of the air, including how much carbon dioxide, methane and other gasses it had, scientists can also discover what else was floating around in the atmosphere, including ash, pollen and even microorganisms. After thousands of years of continually adding blanket upon blanket of snow and ice, these layers became more and more compact, sinking deeper and deeper. This sample these men took that day, though, was from the permafrost, which is a thick layer of soil that has not thawed in thousands of years. It was from deep down, so we know it’s old, but it wasn’t just ice, which is pretty much sterile.”

“And something went wrong?” asked Oscar.

Angela nodded gravely and crossed her legs. Something had gone terribly wrong. Pandemonium had struck that remote little corner of the world and lives had been lost. That is what had brought her to this precipitous visit with her old friend.

“Bingo. As a safety precaution, Riesigoil, and pretty much every exploration company that I know of, employs a bear hazer—a sharpshooter with a modified shotgun that holds tranquilizer darts—to protect the team, just in case there is unwelcome company you know. Polar bears aren’t exactly the friendliest creatures around,” she said with a wry smile. “This particular team was just four men, and they had come by helicopter to the site. Of course, helicopter pilots always check the weather carefully before making a flight, and according to the log books we found, the forecast had been acceptable. They knew that there was a storm on the way, but they felt certain that they could get back to base camp before it arrived. And they did manage to do just that. But they experienced a series of unfortunate events.”

Angela consulted her notes, wanting to be sure that she did not omit any details. It was important to her company to secure Oscar’s promise to help immediately, and she needed to impress upon him the seriousness and precariousness of the situation.

“First, not one, but two bears showed up. Usually polar bears, especially the males, are solitary creatures and you rarely, if ever, see two at a time. Maybe it was the fact that it was the beginning of summer and so the ice was melting. Maybe the bears were hungrier after the winter—I don’t know. The fact is that while the bear hazer was dealing with the first one, the second one got too close to the group and managed to scare the men before the hazer got both bears tranquilized. According to the pilot’s notes, a guy named Evan Shapiro, the bear hazer had ample opportunity and should have taken the bears out before they got that close to the team. The hazer, a guy by the name of Max Maldonado, obviously disagrees with Shapiro’s report. Max is a big hunter and did not think that there was any risk, but in any case, I would say this was their first mistake.”

“Wow, you never really hear of polar bear attacks. That’s pretty scary.”

“Yes, well, I can’t even imagine. Anyway, the reason this is important is because since the team came under a perceived and immediate threat, they lost focus of what they were doing with the ice core sample that they were just removing from the well, and before they could get it properly wrapped, they dropped it and it shattered on the ice. This turned out to be the second mistake.”

Oscar grimaced.