Nora Varn's Arc

Chapter 5 of 5

Nora watched the meltwater creep up the survey marker. It had risen four centimeters in the last twenty minutes. The warm front wasn't slowing. She knelt and pressed her hand against the ice where the artifact waited below, feeling the vibration of water moving through hidden channels. She hauled the grappling tower to the edge of the drilling site, metal tines scraping against ice. The collectors had left it behind when they retreated to higher ground an hour ago. The rope was frozen stiff, but the winch mechanism still turned. She anchored the base with drilling spikes and fed the rope down into the flooded chamber. At eighteen meters, it went slack. The artifact was down there, submerged now, but still reachable if she moved fast. Nora clipped her harness to the line and descended. The water was darker than she expected, clouded with sediment from the melting walls. She pulled her headlamp closer and swept the beam across the chamber floor. There — a pale curve breaking the surface of the rising water. The bone mask stared up at her, eye sockets filling with meltwater, carved patterns disappearing beneath the flood. She grabbed it with both hands and pulled. It came free with a sound like breaking ice. She surfaced with the mask pressed against her chest, water streaming from the carved bone. The gauge pole at the chamber entrance showed the water had risen another six centimeters while she was below. The artifact was safe now, pulled from the ice that had held it for centuries. But the altar was still down there, sinking deeper with every minute. She had what she came for. The greater discovery would have to wait.