Astrid Maxxim and the Antarctic Expedition Read online

  “You really do need to make them faster,” said Mrs. Bauer. “I’m on the waiting list for a hoverbike. Max ordered me a lovely red one. Do you think I could be on a hoverbike ad?”

  “I’d love to see you on a hoverbike ad,” said Astrid, thinking of the current ads featuring her cousin Gloria.

  “Me too,” agreed Christopher. “Do you think they could make you up like your character in Invasion of the Robo-Girls?”

  “Astrid, I like the way you think,” said Mr. Bauer. “You and I will have to talk more in the coming weeks. I can see us becoming very valuable to one another.”

  “I agree,” said Astrid. “I have a question though. If you’re buying Maxxim stock and others are too, then why is the stock price going down.”

  “Somebody is selling,” said Mr. Bauer. “They’re not selling just a few shares either. They’ve dumped millions of shares in the past few weeks.”

  “Do you think you could find out who it is?” wondered Astrid.

  “I can try.”

  Chapter Seven: Down Under

  Maxwell Bauer’s chauffeur delivered Astrid and Christopher to the airport in plenty of time for them to make their midnight flight to Melbourne Australia. They went through the lengthy ticketing and security procedures, neither of which they were used to, since they usually traveled in Maxxim company aircraft. Stepping aboard the Boeing 747, they were shown to their seats in first class by the flight attendant.

  “This is nice,” said Christopher, leaning back in the plush seat and swiveling to look out the window next to him.

  “Boeing makes a good plane,” said Astrid. “I really would like to build something to compete with them and with Airbus, but lately Maxxim has been stuck at the small end of the market.”

  “Are you trying to take over the company?” Christopher asked, turning toward her.

  “No,” Astrid replied. “No, not really. Well, maybe. Somebody’s planning a takeover. They’ve been manipulating the stock to force the price down. I may have to do something about it.”

  “What about your mom? You can’t kick her out as CEO.”

  “I wouldn’t do that,” said Astrid. “Not unless I really had to.”

  “It would make for some awkward dinner conversation, I imagine,” he said.

  “I bet you’re right,” laughed the girl inventor.

  After a smooth takeoff, the flight attendants served a late-night snack, which Astrid and Christopher ate while watching some YouTube clips on their tablets. Afterwards, Christopher curled up with a blanket in his chair and went to sleep. Astrid read two more chapters of her book on business, before following his example. She slept soundly and for just a moment didn’t remember where she was when Christopher shook her awake.

  “Time for breakfast,” he told her. “You can have an omelet or french toast.”

  “Tell them French toast for me please,” said Astrid. “I’m going to visit the ladies room.”

  When she returned, she found her meal waiting on the foldout table. There were two slices of toast, cut in half, and two decidedly grey sausage links, along with a prepackaged tub of syrup.

  “How is it?” she asked Christopher, seeing that he had eaten a few bites already.

  “About like you’d expect.”

  “Can I get you anything else?” asked the male flight attendant, leaning over her.

  “Do you have any butter?”

  “Of course.” The young man walked back toward the midship, returning and dropping several little plastic packets next to Astrid’s plate, before continuing on his way.

  “That’s not butter,” said Astrid, holding the packet up so that Christopher could see it. “It’s got a picture of corn on it.”

  “Don’t eat it,” he advised. “The syrup is okay though.”

  After breakfast, they watched Princess Mononoke, which was both Astrid’s and Christopher’s favorite movie. Then she curled up for another nap, as he listened to music. Just after noon, they were served lunch, which was moderately better than breakfast, since it included some green vegetables. Astrid spent the last few hours of the trip reading.

  The plane touched down at 12:30 local time. The flight had been over fifteen hours, but they had gained six of them back due to the time zones. Waiting at the gate for them was a familiar face. It was Paige Leibowitz. The twenty-eight year old woman with a strong nose and bright eyes that were almost overshadowed by her massive waves of curly brown hair was in charge of Maxxim worldwide construction projects.

  “Hi Paige,” said Astrid, giving her a big hug. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

  “I was lucky to be in town today,” replied Paige. “We’ve been doing some work near Seymour. That’s north of here. When I got word you were flying in, I thought I’d meet you myself and get you to your hotel.”

  “That was awfully nice.”

  “Well, you’re only going to be in town for a day, right? I’m familiar enough to help you see any of the sights around here.”

  “I imagine we’re going to want to rest for a while,” said Astrid.

  “Speak for yourself,” said Christopher. “I want to get a look at some of Australia, especially the animal life. I may never get another chance to be here.”

  “I’ll tell you what. Let me make a couple of calls.” The brunette talked on her cell phone as the three of them made their way to the luggage claim. “My friend Barney runs a day tour to Phillip Island. We can leave right from here. I’ll have my assistant take your luggage to the hotel and get you all checked in. I’ll get you there by about 10:00 tonight. You can sleep in if you want in the morning, or if you’re up to it, we can see some of the sights in the city.”

  “They have cool wildlife at Phillip Island?” asked Christopher.

  “Oh, you won’t be disappointed,” promised Paige.

  Barney turned out to be an Australian man who ferried paying customers to Phillip Island each day in a very large and very well outfitted speedboat. Astrid and Christopher got up close and personal with koalas and kangaroos in the island’s wildlife preserve, and then watched fur seals and sea birds from a beautiful rock formation the locals call the Nobbies. That evening, they enjoyed a light dinner while watching the penguins parade up Summerland Beach after a day of fishing. As soon as they were back in the boat for their return to Melbourne, Christopher fell asleep in his chair. And by the time they reached their hotel, Astrid’s eyes were drooping as well.

  Astrid was so tired when she said goodnight to Paige and then to Christopher, that she hardly noticed her room at all. She paid it a bit more attention when she got up. It was a nice three-room suite, with a king-sized bed. In the morning, after popping out of bed and taking a shower, the girl inventor checked her phone for messages, finding one from the construction chief.

  “Hi Paige,” said Astrid, calling her back.

  “Good morning. I didn’t know if you were going to be able to get up this early.”

  “It’s what… nine here?” said Astrid, checking little digital alarm clock by the bed.

  “Do you want to do some more of the local color?” asked Paige. “We can look around town for a couple of hours before you have to get to the airport.”

  “Sure.”

  “All right. I’ll meet you in the lobby in twenty minutes.”

  When Astrid knocked on the room across the hallway, where Christopher had spent the night, a bleary-eyed boy opened the door and peered out.

  “There’s more to see,” she said.

  “I’m going to beg off, Astrid. I’m just too tired.”

  “You sure? You can sleep on the flight down.”

  “No, you go ahead,” he replied.

  When Astrid took the elevator down to the lobby, she found Paige already waiting for her. Taking her by the hand, the woman led her out to a private car, introducing her driver as Jake. Over the next two hours, they saw as much of the city of Melbourne as was humanly possible. They had breakfast in the vibrant suburb of St. Kilda, and v
isited the Shrine of Remembrance. Astrid would have loved to spend more time at the Royal Botanical Gardens, but Paige insisted that no young lady could stop in the city without browsing the shops on Swan Street. They returned to the hotel with barely enough time to pick up Christopher and make it to the airport on time.

  “Are you sure this is the right plane?” asked Christopher when they reached their gate.

  “This is it,” said Astrid.

  The plane awaiting them was not another huge 747, but a medium-sized corporate jet. Astrid had expected this. Though commercial flights left Australia for Antarctica once or twice a month during the summer, it was winter here in the southern hemisphere. Besides, they weren’t headed to Australian territory, but France’s Adelie Land.

  “Will this plane be able to make it all the way to Antarctica?” asked Christopher.

  “No problem,” Astrid assured him. “You can recognize the Dassault Falcon 900 by its distinctive tri-jet configuration. The 900LX which we have here— you see the blended winglets— has a range of 5,520 miles.”

  They walked down the boarding ramp to the plane’s open hatch, where a smiling young flight attendant awaited them.

  “What about the weather?”

  “I’m sure it will be fine,” said Astrid.

  “We have an excellent radar system,” said the flight attendant. “We also keep in contact with Dumont du’Urville, the station in Adelie Land. If the weather is bad, particularly if there are high winds, we just have to turn around and come back.”

  “How often does that happen?” asked Christopher.

  “About one out of three trips,” she replied. “You two find a couple of seats and we’ll get started shortly. If you need anything after we get started, let me know. We can have lunch whenever you get hungry. I’ve got sandwiches and hot cocoa in the galley.”

  “Are we the only passengers?” Christopher peered into the plane’s cabin.

  “The only ones,” she confirmed. “It’s a charter flight. Not many people want to visit the bottom of the world in winter. Summer’s bad enough.”

  Chapter Eight: The First Day of Winter

  It was a six-hour flight, the first half of which was quite boring. During the second half, they encountered quite a bit of turbulence. Even Astrid was forced to admit it was a fairly rough ride, and Christopher deposited part of his sandwich and cocoa into an airsickness bag. At last the copilot walked back to speak with them. She was a tall blond woman with short spiky hair.

  “Time to get into your gear,” she said in a thick Aussie accent. “We land and stay on the ground just long enough to get you and your luggage unloaded. Then we turn around and we’re off. Too cold to stick around.”

  The flight attendant invited Astrid into the curtained galley to change, while Christopher did so in the aisle by their seats. Their cold weather gear was three layers thick. The core foundation was a pair of high-tech synthetic long johns: comfortable, breathable, and treated with an antibiotic material. The middle layer was a fleece shirt and thick pants made of moleskin, which despite the name was a type of cotton and not the skin of a rodent. Next was a down-filled jacket and then a pair of thin synthetic gloves, along with a hood that covered the neck. By the time Astrid had all of this on, she was so warm she thought she might pass out, but she still had an entire layer still to go. She felt the plane begin its descent as she stuffed herself into a synthetic insulated polar parka, lined with fur and matching synthetic insulated pants, along with thick waterproof mittens and a pair of gigantic insulated boots.

  When Astrid returned to her seat, she could hardly bend her body enough to sit down. As it was, she took the aisle seat across from Christopher because there was no way that they could both fit in the same row.

  The jet aircraft bounced and slid as it landed on the runway of smoothed ice. But at last it came to a stop, and as soon as it did, the hatch just behind the cockpit was opened. The two teens from Maxxim city were ushered to the doorway, where they looked out into the darkness to see a massive tractor, covered in huge lights, rolling across the ice and snow toward them. It came to a stop right next to the plane and a set of four steps was raised up to the bottom of the hatch.

  “You two take care not to freeze,” said the flight attendant as first Astrid and then Christopher climbed down the steps.

  A figure just as wrapped up as they were awaited them on a metal walkway that led around the cab of the huge tractor. With a wave, this person led them to the cab door and guided them inside. There was a seat in front for the driver and in the rear, two bench seats, facing toward each other. Astrid and Christopher sat down on the bench seats as the door slammed shut.

  “Hey guys!” said a cheerful voice from beneath the layers of fur and insulation. “Let me pull this buggy back out of the way so they can take off.

  The great tractor rumbled and growled as it was backed about fifty yards from the aircraft, which had never stopped its engines. The plane turned quickly around, and with a throaty whine, shot down the runway and off into the darkness.

  “Welcome to the Antarctic Circle,” said the tractor driver. “We had about twelve minutes of daylight today, but you missed it.”

  “Are you Australian?” asked Christopher.

  “No, I’m a Brit. I’m here working with the Frenchies. Melanie Kincaid.” She stepped around the seat and shook hands with both of them. “You cold yet?”

  “Actually, I feel pretty comfortable,” said Astrid.

  “Not bad in here. Still, we don’t want to get stuck and have to walk home.”

  The cab door opened and another figure climbed in.

  “Bonjour,” said the newcomer.

  “This is Nathan,” said Melanie, pulling her outer hood back to reveal from forehead to chin a pretty, freckled face.

  “Nathan Oliver,” he said, sticking out his hand.

  “This is Christopher Harris,” said Astrid, “and I’m Astrid Maxxim.”

  “So, it really is you,” said Melanie. “We heard you were coming, but we didn’t quite believe it really.”

  “Why not?” wondered Astrid.

  “Come on,” said Nathan. “Let’s get them back to the station.”

  Climbing back into the driver’s seat, Melanie threw the tractor into gear and turned it around. It was a ride of only three hundred yards or so back to the station, which consisted of four medium-sized buildings and one large one. The latter turned out to be a vehicle hanger, into which the tractor was driven. The four parka-clad travelers climbed down a metal ladder from the vehicle cab to the cement floor. Nathan ran over to throw a switch, which caused the huge barn door to close.

  The big hanger held three of the massive tractors and several snowmobiles, which looked ridiculously tiny sitting next to them. The four exited out a small side door and walked down a trail of packed snow, banked higher than their shoulders on either side, to another door. Inside was a warm room, lined with lockers, much bigger than the lockers at Rachel Carson High School.

  “Strip off your top layer and stow it in your locker,” said Melanie, pointing to two of the metal cabinets. “There’s a lock and key in there. Lock ‘em up and don’t lose the key. Those clothes are literally the difference between life and death here.”

  “You guys are lucky,” continued Melanie, after the outerwear was stowed. She led the two Maxxim City youths down a narrow hallway lined with doors. “You get your own rooms. During the summer, this place gets pretty busy, but right now we only have a few winter researchers.”

  She opened the door revealing a small room with triple bunk beds on either side. At the far end of the room were six lockers of the same kind as those located in the entry, and just to the left of the door was a small desk and chair.

  “Christopher, you can bunk in here. I’ll get you some bed linen. Astrid, you’ll be in the next room over.”

  “We really didn’t expect to stay too long,” said Astrid. “Do you know when… oh my gosh! What about our luggage?”

/>   “Don’t worry. Nathan is getting it off the tractor now. He unloaded it from the plane while I was unloading you.”

  “That’s good. I’m glad somebody was thinking about it. So, I was about to say that we expected to be picked up by Dr. Feuillée pretty soon.”

  “It’s probably going to be at least the day after tomorrow,” said Melanie.

  “How come?”

  “Dr. Feuillée’s ship is out at the edge of the ice. It’s a couple of hundred miles away. The weather’s okay here, but it’s not too good there at the moment. His message said the chopper might be grounded till Friday. With any luck, they can fly in and scoop you guys up then, before the weather closes in at either location.”

  “I guess I forgot how huge Antarctica is. It just seemed like you guys would be pretty close together.”

  “It’s big alright. Imagine we were in New York. Then the American base would be about where Los Angeles is. Dr. Feuillée would be in Chicago… or I guess actually somewhere in Canada. You get the idea. Anyway, while you’re here, you can take a look at what we’re working on.” They left Christopher in his room and Melanie led Astrid to the next door. “Here you go, kiddo.”

  Astrid walked across the room and placed her hand against the far wall. It was colder than the inside of her refrigerator at home.

  “It felt pretty good when we first came in from outside,” she said. “But now, I’m starting to feel cold, even with all these clothes on.”

  “It’ll get worse,” said Melanie. “After all, today is only the first day of winter.”

  “And here I was still thinking of it as the first day of summer,” the girl inventor thought to herself.

  Chapter Nine: Life in Adelie Land