Polar Yeti And The Beasts Of Prehistory (2 page)

Gina bit her bottom lip and she was silent for moment. She took a quick look at her husband and then she nodded. “We’ll do it.”

Chapter 2

After helping Jun-Tuk make the preparations to have his daughter cremated, Gina and Henry were back in their hotel room. Gina had just finished contacting everyone who had accompanied them to Argentina to let them know that they needed to prepare for one last trip to Antarctica in the morning. Most of the people were hoping to return home rather than engage in another fruitless trip to the frozen wasteland but Gina promised them that this trip would be a success.

When she finally hung up the phone, she found Henry staring at her. She sighed. “Don’t start with me, Henry. Just don’t start. This is the best lead that we have had since we got here.”

Henry sat down on their bed. “Look, I will admit the fact that he speaks ancient Incan is promising, but isn’t possible that he is just an Incan descendant who lives in some remote area?”

Gina shrugged. “There are no recorded pockets of Incan descendants in this area. Even if that’s all that he is, at least that would be a find of some significance to justify our expedition here. Right now, we have nothing to show for it. Not to mention the fact that his clothing is similar to the accounts that we have from sailors who have sighted the lost tribe.”

Henry shook his head. “His story sounds crazy though. I mean come on, a lost tribe is one thing, but an actual Yeti? I mean even if you want to take a big leap and believe that Yetis exist, wouldn’t they be in Nepal?”

Gina smiled. “It’s a difficult translation and Yeti is the closest word that we have. First of all, I doubt it’s an actual Yeti. A much more likely explanation is that there is a less civilized tribe who dress in the skins of animals in order to get Jun-Tuk’s tribe to give them young women of a breeding age. Throughout history, tribes of people have taken women from other groups of people in order to diversify their breeding populations. If that’s true, how great would it be to find two lost tribes? The people back at Princeton would fund expeditions for the next decade if that was the case.”

Henry’s voice took on a serious tone. “Okay, let’s say there is another lost tribe of vicious wild-men. Did you see the wound on that girl? It looked like a walrus ran her through with its tusks. If this supposed second tribe exists as well, are we really prepared to deal with encountering a hostile tribe? I mean traveling across Antarctica is dangerous enough without encountering a tribe of killers. Not to mention the fact that Jun-Tuk talked about other dangerous animals living there.”

Gina grabbed her husband’s hand. “Henry, we have hunting rifles and shotguns if things get really bad.”

Henry backed away from his wife in surprise. “Killing a rogue polar bear or something is one thing, but what about your suggested hostile tribe? Are you saying that you are willing to kill another human being just to save our careers?”

Gina shook her head. “God no. I am sure that if this is a primitive tribe, simply firing a few shots into the ground will scare them off. If they have never seen firearms before then a simple example of what we can do will frighten them. Jun-Tuk himself has said that his people avoid the modern world out of fear of our technology. Surely a less advanced tribe would be even more scared of us than Jun-Tuk’s people.” She wrapped her arms around her husband. “Henry, this is the break that we have been looking for. It’s probably the last chance on Earth to study a culture that has evolved completely on its own without interaction with other civilizations. We’ll be fine. There is nothing that we are going to run into down there that we are not prepared for. We have a team of over forty people including grad students, guides, mountaineers, and don’t forget we have those hunters, Gordon and Rodgers. Even if there is a giant Yeti down there, they can more than handle it.“

Henry nodded as he considered all of Gina’s reasons for taking a chance on this last trip to Antarctica. Gina pushed him back onto the bed as she delivered the final reason for him to accept the expedition. “Besides, it’s really cold down there and I am going to need someone to keep me warm.”

The next morning, Gina was standing on the docks as she was taking inventory of the supplies that were being loaded onto the ship by her team. They had insulated tents, extra coats, thermal pants, goggles, face masks, insulated sleeping bags and portable heaters to deal with the cold. Gina checked off several snowmobiles, several large Sno-Cats, and even two teams of dog sleds in case of an emergency where their technology did not work. They also had four mobile barracks. One of the barracks served as a mobile lab. It was equipped with all of the materials that they would need to carry out an anthropological study. The lab barracks also contained the team’s polar expedition gear, such as tents and heavy coats. The last part of the barracks contained an area where the hunters stored their weapons. The second barracks was split into two halves. The first half contained a small kitchen that stored the team’s food. The other half of the second barracks contained several showers and restrooms. The final two barracks were set up to be sleeping quarters for the male and female team members. Each barracks would be towed to the campsite by one of the Sno-Cats.

Next, Gina moved onto the food. They had plenty of canned food and bottled water to use during their journey. If worst came to worst, they had enough supplies to the last them for five weeks until a rescue team arrived.

Once Gina was sure that they had everything they would need to make the journey, she started reviewing the materials that she needed to document whatever they found. She inventoried sample bags, cameras, notebooks, tablets, flares, and excavation materials just in case they needed to dig something out of the snow. She took special care to note that the dynamite they had for excavation was properly stored in order to ensure that it would not accidentally explode.

She did not directly check the specialist materials herself. She let the specialists in each field make their own inventory and then had them review it with her. The two hunters, Tony Gordon and Sam Rogers, were the first team of specialists to approach her. Tony Gordon was a tall, well-built man in his mid-twenties. He reviewed about a dozen shotguns and rifles that he was bringing aboard. Gina, Henry, and a few others had been given basic training and practice with these weapons. He also had a series of handguns that only he and Rodgers were cleared to utilize.

Sam Rodgers was much older than Gordon. He was in his fifties, balding, and he had a bit of a beer gut starting to form over what was once a well-conditioned body. While Gordon handled the firearms, Rodgers handled the other weapons. Rodgers had been on several hunting expeditions to the North Pole and Alaska. He had contended that on more than one occasion, he had seen firearms freeze up under sub-zero conditions. He insisted that he bring several crossbows and large hunting knives with him that he could count on. Only Rodgers, Gina, and Gordon were cleared to utilize the crossbows.

While Rodgers was an expert in his field, he was also the type of person who thought that he should be in charge of every situation that the team encountered. On several occasions, Gina and Rodgers had arguments over how the team should proceed when faced with an obstacle. Gina did not appreciate Rodgers questioning her authority in front of the rest of team and she made that clear to him at the expense of the hunter’s pride. While Rodgers did not like taking orders from anyone, Gina felt that he was particularly frustrated that he was taking orders from a woman. After several of their arguments, Gina heard Rodgers walking way and muttering things like, “Stupid broad.” Or “Probably her time of the month.”

While Gina did not care for Rodgers personally, she could not argue with his capabilities in the field. Gina and Henry had hypothesized that if there was a lost tribe in Antarctica, they would most likely rely on seals for food, fuel, and clothing. Seals were the only large animals that humans could hunt that would supply them with the resources they would require to meet their basic needs for survival. Based on this idea, Gina had decided to follow local seal populations in hopes that they would lead the team to the lost tribe. At first, the team was only able to locate beaches where the seals had landed but not the seals themselves. Still from the evidence that the seals had left behind, Rodgers had been able to determine the size of each seal group and the direction that the seals had traveled after they had left the beach.

Gina had decided to only follow seal groups that were large enough to sustain a tribe that had a population of at least five hundred people. Rodgers had been able to locate each seal group that Gina had suggested to follow. So far none of the seal groups had led them to any evidence of a lost tribe but that was not Rodgers’ fault. He had found the seals with little trouble. So while Gina was disgusted by Rodgers, she tolerated him because he was extremely efficient at his job.

After she had finished reviewing the hunters’ supplies with them, her next task was to check on the medical supplies. Dana Summers was the ship’s doctor. Like Gina, Dana was in her mid-thirties and tall with an athletic build. Outside of Henry, Dana was the only other person on the ship that Gina looked at as a friend. There were other young women on board the ship, but they were all there in the capacity of graduate students. Those women were Gina’s responsibility. They were not her friends. Unlike the students, Dana was Gina’s professional equal and as the ship’s doctor, she also bore numerous responsibilities. Being on equal footing allowed the two women to converse with and confide in each other. Gina truly felt that Dana’s friendship was one of the things that helped her to maintain her sanity during their expeditions.

Aside from being a good friend, Dana was also an excellent doctor. She was fully prepared for any emergency that could arise during their trip to Antarctica. Dana had supplies for everything from stomach viruses and the flu to injuries that could occur out on the ice. Dana also had numerous methods stored to deal with the threats posed by frostbite on a trip into sub-zero temperatures. In a worst case scenario, Dana had the necessary materials to amputate a finger or toe that had suffered such a severe case of frostbite that it needed to be removed in order to prevent infection to the rest of the body.

Gina boarded the ship and went to the medical bay to complete the final check of the medical supplies with Dana. The university required Gina to send a complete list of medical supplies to them before they would wire the money to ship’s captain in order for him to set sail. Gina opened the door to the medical bay to see Gordon standing shirtless in front of Dana. Gordon turned around and gave a Gina a good look at his huge biceps, bulging pectoral muscles, and six-pack abs.

Gina quickly turned around and apologized, “I’m sorry. I should have knocked before I entered.”

Gordon replied in his usual calm tone, “No apology necessary, Doctor Murella. I was just finishing up with my mandatory physical.” He turned back toward Dana. “Is there anything else that you need from me, Doctor Summers?”

Dana shook her head. “No, as usual you are the picture of perfect health, Mister Gordon.”

Gordon started putting his shirt back on. “Thanks, Doctor Summers.” The young hunter turned to leave the room. He nodded at Gina as he walked by her. “Have a good day, Doctor Murella.”

Gina smiled at the well-built hunter. “You too, Gordon.” When the hunter had left the room, Gina quickly refocused on her purpose for coming to the medical bay. “Okay Dana, I know that you have everything ready to go. So just run over the medical checklist so that I can send a copy back to Princeton to prove to them that everything is on order.” Dana walked over to Gina and then led her around the medical bay as the two women checked off everything on Princeton’s mandatory medical supply list.

After Dana had finished reviewing her supply list with Gina, the young doctor turned to her friend. “This is both our best shot and our last shot at finding a lost tribe, isn’t it?”

Gina nodded. “That is a yes on both accounts. Princeton won’t continue to fund us if we don’t come up with hard evidence of the lost tribe on this trip to Antarctica.” Gina’s voice softened slightly as she switched from her role as Dana’s team leader to the role of her friend. “It also means that it’s the best and last chance you will have to make a move on a certain strong and silent young hunter.”

Dana’s face quickly turned red. “You know that just because I said that Gordon was hot doesn’t mean I want to date him or anything. I just happened to think that he is attractive.”

Gina smiled at her friend and shrugged. “I am just saying, you don’t want to look back at this trip and regret what might have been if you had made a move. Besides, on top of being hot, he seems like a pretty good guy.” Gina turned and walked away. “You are not afraid to go on a trip across the world to one of coldest and deadliest place on Earth. You can perform emergency surgery on a glacier without blinking an eye, but when it comes to making a move on a guy you don’t have the guts to do it?”

Gina turned and left the room. “One more thing to think about, you know that if I had never asked Henry out we would both probably still be single at this time. Sometimes, you just have to woman up and go after what you want.” Gina left the room as Dana stood looking at her friend with a smile on her face.

With everyone and everything else on board the ship for the expedition, the only remaining person that Gina needed was Jun-Tuk himself. Early in the morning, Gina had arranged for a taxi to pick up Jun-Tuk and first to take him to the city morgue where he could pick up his daughter’s ashes. Once Jun-Tuk had his daughter’s ashes, the taxi was to bring him to the ship. Gina figured that the trip should have taken about an hour. She looked down at her watch to see that it had now been two-and-a-half hours since the taxi had picked up Jun-Tuk. Gina sighed and then reminded herself that while this trip was a career move for her, for Jun-Tuk it was a trip where he would be taking his daughter to her final resting place. At the same time, he was also trying to change the entire spiritual beliefs of his people. Once Gina had considered how difficult both of those tasks would be for anyone, she decided that she could be patient with Jun-Tuk if he needed extra time to prepare himself for this journey.