“Headquarters”

As Jacque walked into the site all of the men turned to face him. 

“Did you find anything, sir?” Winston asked.

“Nothing worth expending our energy on extracting I’m afraid,” Jacques replied with a tight-lipped smile.

The men nodded in approval. Headquarters had agreed to send out a newly developed drill bit, that was quoted to be 20x the strength of their original drill bit.

Jacques could barely keep his eyes open but he wanted to finish examining all the pieces of the object. A lot of the sketches were of the landscape. He even found one that resembled the open water he had stumbled upon earlier. Others were sketches of wildlife. Wildlife he had never seen before. Some roamed above land and others he assumed must be of the water. There were sketches of rock formations, a mountainous landscape, and something that looked like a volcano. How could a volcano exist amidst the most frigid, inhabitable land on earth? Many of the other pieces were filled with countless scribbles of words. However, they stopped teaching individuals how to write and read he believed around 100 years ago. His father told him there used to be buildings dedicated just to teaching individuals about the workings of the world. Even buildings dedicated to housing objects just like the one he held in his hands. He had no means of deciphering the object and as far as he was concerned no individual he could confide in to help him.

The next day the crew went out to begin the drill process. The new drill bit proved to be successful and the crew was able to drill a hole deep enough through the ice. However, when they went to pour the cement to seal the hole it immediately froze and cracked. Without the seal they wouldn’t be able to begin extraction. The crew was also set to leave in two weeks with the next crew jetting in due to the harsh environment of Antarctica.

“I can’t believe headquarters didn’t think about the translation from the drilling process in the Dakotas to the drilling process here, in the coldest place on Earth,” Tuck said with a bite as the wind broke through his voice.

“Why should they care about us, we are just resources,” Jacques yelled back through the wind.

Tuck walked over to Jacques. “We are not just resourcers,” Tuck said shoving his finger into Jacques's chest with each word. “This is our task and you’re our lead, now act like it,” Tuck said and turned to head back to his post. 

“Men, it’s time to head in. There is nothing left for us to do. I have already contacted headquarters,” Jacques yelled out to the crew. 

“What about inspections?” Yosef inquired.

“There’s no need,” Jacques said as he turned to leave and head back to the site. The crew followed his lead.