Antarctica

Chapter Two

Jack Shaw entered his office and closed the door behind him. He wearily tugged off his thick gloves and tossed them on his desk, and then took off his heavy coat and hung it on a hook on the wall. Under that, he wore a gray sweatshirt and a long-sleeved thermal undershirt. He wore sturdy workman’s pants over two layers of long johns. Shaw felt that his main priority, both personally as well as professionally, was keeping the cold at bay, and in his opinion, the more layers the better.

Shaw hated the cold. Absolutely hated it. In his lowest moments, he wondered if accepting a position to manage a facility in the coldest place on Earth was a subconscious cry for help. Or maybe it was some kind of death wish. Or maybe he just hated himself and felt that he deserved to be punished.

His wife Anabel was dead eight years now. It seemed so much longer than that though, decades longer. They had been married for ten years, and that period of time had flown by in the blink of an eye. But the time since her death dragged on interminably. Shaw tried his best not to think about her too much. Not because it made him sad, but because it made him angry.

His current position was a direct result of her sudden death. If she had not died, then Shaw would never have agreed to come to Antarctica. They would be living somewhere in England, or maybe Ireland, where Anabel’s family was from. He probably would have resigned his position with Umbrella and found a new career elsewhere. Maybe he would be a different man now, a happy man.

He sat down and then frowned to himself, reaching down to his hip. Clipped to his belt underneath his shirt was a leather holster, which he unfastened and set inside one of the desk drawers. The holster contained his personal service revolver from the war, which he had kept all these years and still carried on his person most of the time. If asked about it, he would say that he liked to be prepared, which was true up to a point. But he carried it here in Antarctica for more specific reasons.

With a sigh, he looked at the stack of messages, notes, and paperwork that covered his desk. His job was a constant race to deal with each problem and crisis before another one popped up. Broken equipment, construction delays, supply shortages, conflict between coworkers, all manner of issues related to the intense cold, the list of problems was never ending. He wondered if having Alexander and his wife on site would solve some of his problems or just create even more.

Veronica was destined to be a thorn in his side. He could already predict that she would nag at him constantly about staffing and equipment issues. But hopefully he could push most of those problems onto Alexander. She was his wife, after all, let him deal with her.

As if on cue, there was a sharp knock on the door and it opened swiftly to reveal Alexander Ashford. He was grinning in that way he always did. Sometimes it struck Shaw as the mindless grin of a simpleton. Alexander was definitely not a fool – he was, Shaw had to admit, one of the smartest men he had ever known – but there was a naive optimism about Alexander, a hopefulness in the face of adversity that could be charming and persuasive at times, but reckless and extremely annoying at others.

“Jack,” Alexander said smoothly, entering the office without waiting to be invited in. He came over and took a seat in one of the available chairs.

Shaw leaned back and folded his hands over his stomach. “Alexander. I take it Veronica’s at her meeting?”

“Yes, indeed. She’s not wasting any time.”

“I hope she doesn’t expect the team to immediately start work on a bunch of new experiments by the end of the day. I don’t think they’re quite ready for that yet.”

Alexander chuckled at that. “She does, absolutely. But no, today she just wants to take their measure. Talk to them, figure out their quality, and all that.”

“Well, I’m not a scientist,” Shaw said, “but they all seem like good workers to me.”

“Yes, indeed. It’s quite an international team we’ve assembled,” Alexander said. “Brits, a Swiss, Argentinians, Americans.”

“Our mechanical engineer is a Frenchman,” Shaw replied, nodding. “Pierre Le Marchand. I assume you remember him. He worked with Hargrove’s team at the lab in Sheffield.”

“Ah, yes, of course. He’s a good fellow.”

Shaw added, “I admit, I had hoped more of our team from London would have transferred here.”

“I wish that as well,” Alexander said with a sigh. “And believe me, I’ve tried to persuade them. But no one else was willing to sign on, even with the bonuses we offered. I suppose it takes a certain kind of man to travel all the way to the bottom of the world to do the work we do.”

“I think we’re all a little bit crazy,” Shaw said.

Alexander nodded, not taking offense at the comment. Shaw had always been the kind of man to speak his mind without reservation, and Alexander knew that.

“Well, you’re not alone in that belief,” Alexander said. For once, his voice lacked his trademark enthusiasm. “Some of the other board members think this is folly. I’ve had to leverage much of my family’s influence to get this project off the ground.”

“I know,” Shaw said.

“That’s why it’s so vital to get the real work started. We need to show them that this facility is worth their investment.” Alexander leaned forward and set his elbows on his knees, clasping his hands together in a posture almost like prayer. “So I really need to know, Jack. Is everything truly on schedule? I’ve read the reports, of course, but I need to hear it from you directly. Do you think the project is doing well? What kinds of problems have you run into?”

Shaw took a moment to shuffle some papers on his desk, thinking about how to reply. Maybe he would let Alexander sweat a bit. He finally shrugged and said, “Under the circumstances, things are going about as well as anyone could expect. I can’t really say we’ve had any major problems. The main challenge here is simply the cold. I mentioned the heating system in the main lab already. That will have to be replaced with something more efficient. But doing construction in these temperatures adds a whole new level of difficulty. We’re trying to work in some of the harshest conditions on Earth.”

“Have you had any injuries?”

“Thankfully, no. Nothing major, at least. But we’ve had some close calls. Everyone here has to undergo special training, but people still make mistakes. And speaking of that, you and Veronica will have to complete the training as well, as soon as possible.”

“Of course, of course,’ Alexander nodded. “Tomorrow should be fine.”

“Anyway,” Shaw said, “the work is proceeding well. Better than I would have thought when I first came here.”

Alexander leaned back in his chair again, breathing our a sigh of relief. “Good, that’s good,” he said, “I’m glad to hear it. What about the upcoming projects? Do you have any concerns or do you foresee any problems?”

At this point, Shaw figured it was time to address the real issue at stake. The “elephant in the room,” to use an American colloquialism. He knew, just as Alexander and Veronica knew, that when they discussed challenges or difficulties, they were not talking about supply problems or maintenance issues. The problem – even more fundamental than dealing with the cold – was the reason they were here in Antarctica in the first place.

“The vault,” Shaw said simply. “We have to connect it to the secondary lab. If we keep to our current schedule, that will be sometime early next year. And that, Alexander, will be a problem.”

Alexander scratched at his cheek. It was his nervous habit when he was thinking about something that made him uncomfortable. He looked away, seemingly lost in thought, and then tapped his knuckled against the arm of the chair. “I haven’t looked closely at the security clearances,” he said, seemingly changing the subject. “I feel like Veronica would be better suited to deal with that. But right now, exactly how many of the scientists here have been informed about the Progenitor? I presume Aubrey knows, at the very least.”

“Just two so far. Aubrey, and a man named Gerald Clancy. I don’t think you’ve met him.”

“No, but I’ve heard of him. He was promoted at the London facility soon after I left.”

“Yes, he was actually one of the scientists who picked up where you left off. He had already begun studying the virus before he came here.”

Alexander sighed again, a brief look of displeasure crossing his face. For his own peculiar reasons, Alexander preferred to use the virus’s official name when talking about it. He never directly referred to it as a virus, as if speaking the word out loud would make it more true. It was like he held out hope that with further study, they might determine that the Progenitor wasn’t a virus after all, and could be safely reclassified as something less dangerous.

It was poor form for a scientist of Alexander’s caliber to be so obstinate in the face of such obvious facts, but Shaw supposed that he understood Alexander’s reluctance. He had trouble accepting it at first as well. But not anymore, not once he had seen what the virus could do. Now he viewed the Progenitor as not just a virus, but as The Virus, with capital letters.

The Progenitor was an extremely rare and deadly virus, and the entire Antarctica facility had been built for the express purpose of studying it, although the Umbrella Corporation would never admit to such a thing, since it had never formally revealed the existence of the Progenitor at all. Building here had been a deliberate choice, in order to provide a secure and isolated location to study the Progenitor, in case one of the employees here was ever infected and spread it outside the facility. Such an event was something Umbrella was very determined to prevent, and if it couldn’t prevent it, then it wanted to make sure it could at least be covered up.

Most of the workers here had no knowledge of it. At the moment, the only a handful of people at the lab had the requisite security clearance: Shaw, Alexander, Veronica, Aubrey, and Clancy. A dozen or so other high-ranking scientists back in England knew about the Progenitor, since they were the first team to start studying it, and of course the board members at Umbrella knew. Other than that, it was a closely-guarded secret.

A secret that, once research began in earnest here at the lab, would certainly start to spread. Shaw did not have to outline the difficulties to Alexander, since he was already well aware. The existence of the Progenitor was not something they could afford to become public knowledge, for a number of reasons. Keeping information about the Progenitor contained within this facility would be their primary objective, even more important than keeping out the cold.

“Well, things should proceed more smoothly now that you’re here,” Shaw said. “How long do you and Veronica intend to stay on site? It was my understanding that you would be here at least until we shut down for the winter.”

Alexander ran a hand through his hair and gave Shaw a bit of a smile. “I’m afraid you’ll have to deal with us a bit longer than that, old chap. It’s my intention to transfer my work here entirely. Veronica and I are looking into purchasing some property in Argentina to serve as our private residence, but we’ll stay here at the lab for the majority of the year.”

“You’re not returning to England?” Shaw asked, legitimately surprised.

“I suppose we might go back in a year or two,” Alexander said noncommitally, “but it’s such a damn long trip, you know. I’ve made the trip three times now in the past five years, and I’m certainly not looking forward to it again.”

Shaw considered this. It had never occurred to him to move to Argentina, it was almost unthinkable. His home was England, and he was very much looking forward to returning there soon for his yearly sabbatical from work. If Alexander was actually moving closer to the lab permanently, he was even more dedicated to the project than Shaw had realized.

“Well,” Shaw said after a pause, “we do shut down for the winter, you know. In about three months, we’ll only have an hour or two of daylight each day, and the temperatures drop even lower. Nobody stays here during that time. As for me, I’m going back to England for two months.”

“I understand,” Alexander said. “I don’t expect anyone to stay here year-round, not yet at least. Once research ramps up and we increase our staff, then maybe we can see about keeping the lab running all winter. I suppose Veronica and I will spend some time moving into our new home.”

“Where are you going to live?”

“We’re looking at Rio Gallegos for now. But actually, there’s a little island off the coast that I’m looking into purchasing.”

Alexander gave Shaw a knowing shrug, a wordless little apology for acknowledging his family’s wealth. Shaw didn’t mind. He’d known Alexander long enough to accept that the two of them were from different worlds. Alexander didn’t flaunt his wealth, and he was self-aware enough to know that purchasing an entire island was not something a normal person could ever do. In fact, if he had been talking to someone else, he would probably not have brought it up.

Still, Shaw thought it was a bit extravagant. “An island?” he said.

“The Argentinian government owns it, but they put it up for sale last year. Wonderful location, about forty kilometers south of Rio Gallegos, and only twenty kilometers from the mainland.” Alexander smiled and had that ambitious look in his eye again. “I’m thinking we could built a nice house with an attached science lab for us to work at some of the time, if we don’t feel like traveling down here. And of course, Veronica and I intend to have children, you know, so that way we can be with our children there and still continue our research.”

“Well, I guess Ashford Island does have a certain ring to it,” Shaw quipped.

Alexander laughed at that. “Indeed, it does, haha! I guess we’ll have to talk to the government about changing it. Their local name for it is Isla Fuerte de Roca. Rock Fort Island.”

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