Read Online Apocalypse Weird: Reversal (Polar Wyrd Book 1) by Jennifer Ellis - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Jennifer Ellis
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menthol,” she said fiercely. “Surely I didn’t imagine that.”
Soren was silent for a few seconds. “Vincent always used menthol on his back. He broke it in a falling incident in Antarctica in 1993. He was doing a seven summits research expedition. Never fully recovered.”
Somehow the confirmation that the real Vincent used menthol made Vincent’s unexplained presence on Ellesmere all the more creepy.
“How is Vincent Robinson here in the Arctic?”
“I don’t know, Sash.” There was something in his voice again. Something he wasn’t telling her. She wondered about the Marina that Vincent had referenced, who she was, who she had been to Soren. Or if Marina was just a fragment of Vincent’s obviously somewhat addled mind.
“If you know him, and you believe he was actually there, why did we leave him behind then? Why didn’t we look for him? He was hurt.”
“Because I don’t think he was actually there anymore. He didn’t answer our calls.”
“So he just disappeared? Into thin air?” Sasha’s own voice sounded rather papery and thin. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“When I was down in that stinking pit, and after I had hauled myself out, when I couldn’t hear you, I didn’t hear the planes, I heard something else.”
“What?”
“Penguins. I heard Adelie penguins.”
Chapter 5 – Back Into the Light
“So…we’re at the South Pole now?” If Sasha thought her voice sounded thin and papery before, it was nothing compared to how it sounded now.
“No, I don’t think so. Obviously we’re still in the Arctic Polar Station, which is in the Arctic, I think. But I think the two regions are connected somehow.”
“Like what, through a wormhole? A crater? Vincent and the penguins came through the crater?” Sasha’s voice bubbled with borderline hysterical laughter. Being completely blind seemed like the least of their problems now. “Is that why the GPS was all screwed up? Vincent said his was too.”
She heard Soren’s exhale of breath over the wind outside. He must be leaning closer to her. She wished that he would just extend his hand and touch her—somewhere, anywhere. In the absence of the comforting connections associated with sight—Soren’s little smiles, the crinkling of the skin around his eyes, the intensity of his gaze—her yearning for touch as an anchor had escalated.
As if sensing her need, or responding to needs of his own, Soren inched forward until their kneecaps were grazing.
“I don’t know. You know Edie and Cal were up here investigating the auroras and changes in magnetic north. Earth’s magnetic field has been weakening for centuries. Some scientists believe that indicates we are heading into a period of geomagnetic reversal, where the poles will flip and the South Pole becomes the magnetic north. The poles have flipped in the past, and it’s believed that when they do, it occurs quickly. Not this quickly though, and there was expected to be a period of instability in which the earth’s magnetism would be all over the place. Anyway, that wouldn’t explain the GPS problems, unless changes in magnetism were also affecting satellite orbits, which is possible if the field weakened dramatically. It’s believed that during a period of geomagnetic reversal in which the magnetism of the earth is at its weakest, Earth could be vulnerable to solar flares and solar wind. That might explain our blindness and the GPS. Nothing explains Vincent, the crater, and the penguins, though.”
“Maybe Vincent was part of a rescue mission. He was on one of the military jets and he jumped with a parachute and hit his head, and that’s why he’s confused,” Sasha said.
Soren’s exhale came in the form of a chuckle this time. “Vincent is almost eighty, so I doubt he’d be their first choice for a rescue party. I hope he’s okay, but it’s all too inexplicable. I don’t think he could really have been here. I believe you heard him, and smelled him. But
Soren was silent for a few seconds. “Vincent always used menthol on his back. He broke it in a falling incident in Antarctica in 1993. He was doing a seven summits research expedition. Never fully recovered.”
Somehow the confirmation that the real Vincent used menthol made Vincent’s unexplained presence on Ellesmere all the more creepy.
“How is Vincent Robinson here in the Arctic?”
“I don’t know, Sash.” There was something in his voice again. Something he wasn’t telling her. She wondered about the Marina that Vincent had referenced, who she was, who she had been to Soren. Or if Marina was just a fragment of Vincent’s obviously somewhat addled mind.
“If you know him, and you believe he was actually there, why did we leave him behind then? Why didn’t we look for him? He was hurt.”
“Because I don’t think he was actually there anymore. He didn’t answer our calls.”
“So he just disappeared? Into thin air?” Sasha’s own voice sounded rather papery and thin. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“When I was down in that stinking pit, and after I had hauled myself out, when I couldn’t hear you, I didn’t hear the planes, I heard something else.”
“What?”
“Penguins. I heard Adelie penguins.”
Chapter 5 – Back Into the Light
“So…we’re at the South Pole now?” If Sasha thought her voice sounded thin and papery before, it was nothing compared to how it sounded now.
“No, I don’t think so. Obviously we’re still in the Arctic Polar Station, which is in the Arctic, I think. But I think the two regions are connected somehow.”
“Like what, through a wormhole? A crater? Vincent and the penguins came through the crater?” Sasha’s voice bubbled with borderline hysterical laughter. Being completely blind seemed like the least of their problems now. “Is that why the GPS was all screwed up? Vincent said his was too.”
She heard Soren’s exhale of breath over the wind outside. He must be leaning closer to her. She wished that he would just extend his hand and touch her—somewhere, anywhere. In the absence of the comforting connections associated with sight—Soren’s little smiles, the crinkling of the skin around his eyes, the intensity of his gaze—her yearning for touch as an anchor had escalated.
As if sensing her need, or responding to needs of his own, Soren inched forward until their kneecaps were grazing.
“I don’t know. You know Edie and Cal were up here investigating the auroras and changes in magnetic north. Earth’s magnetic field has been weakening for centuries. Some scientists believe that indicates we are heading into a period of geomagnetic reversal, where the poles will flip and the South Pole becomes the magnetic north. The poles have flipped in the past, and it’s believed that when they do, it occurs quickly. Not this quickly though, and there was expected to be a period of instability in which the earth’s magnetism would be all over the place. Anyway, that wouldn’t explain the GPS problems, unless changes in magnetism were also affecting satellite orbits, which is possible if the field weakened dramatically. It’s believed that during a period of geomagnetic reversal in which the magnetism of the earth is at its weakest, Earth could be vulnerable to solar flares and solar wind. That might explain our blindness and the GPS. Nothing explains Vincent, the crater, and the penguins, though.”
“Maybe Vincent was part of a rescue mission. He was on one of the military jets and he jumped with a parachute and hit his head, and that’s why he’s confused,” Sasha said.
Soren’s exhale came in the form of a chuckle this time. “Vincent is almost eighty, so I doubt he’d be their first choice for a rescue party. I hope he’s okay, but it’s all too inexplicable. I don’t think he could really have been here. I believe you heard him, and smelled him. But
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