The Laptev Virus

Back in the barracks, the men doffed their outerwear and dried off. A few minutes later Evan radioed mission control to report the incident, as Riesigoil protocol dictated.

“Two bears? That’s highly unusual,” said the static-filled voice of their supervisor.

She said something else after that, but after a few seconds of loud crackling sounds, the connection was lost. The storm that had been brewing on the horizon for the last several hours, growing ever larger and darker, now sank its fangs into the land. For two solid days the incessant winds howled and hail and snow pelted relentlessly on the tin roof of the small barracks, sounding as if the Arctic was waging a war with them, shelling their camp mercilessly.

No one could go outside. Communication satellites were blocked by the thick, impenetrable gray clouds. No one could reach the outside world. No one could hear their cries for help. No one would ever forget the horror of the events that occurred inside.

CHAPTER 2

“We are still in the early stages of exploring the area,” said Angela. She registered Oscar’s inquisitive look and decided it would be best to start from the beginning.

“Before oil is pumped, there’s quite a long process, which can take several years. One of the first steps is to take ice core samples, ascertain conditions, and analyze all of the geological data to try to find the areas which are most conducive to supplying oil. There are lots of other steps too, especially in the Arctic. We have to make sure that we are analyzing the environment and taking measures to protect it. We’ve got to make sure that we can contain and clean up any spills and that we’re not looking to drill in an area that turns out to be the one and only breeding ground for some rare Arctic bird or something.”

Although Angela had not visited with Oscar in several years, their friendship went back to their college days. They had lived in the same dorm, albeit on separate floors, and their roommates had dated. They had since kept in touch, through their mutual friends, and had both ended up in Houston. Oscar had married, divorced, and married again. Angela did not know his second wife, but she had maintained her connection to him through occasional phone calls, and now she felt comfortable sitting in his large office and telling her story as it ought to be told.

“After we take the ice core samples, we dig exploratory wells to see if there is any oil there, then we examine its quality and measure how extensive the oil field seems to be. Sometimes the oil is embedded in rocks. It’s as if the rocks were giant sponges and the oil was trapped in all the spaces in between. In order to get the rocks to release the oil, we have to resort to different techniques such as using dynamite to get it to pool and then flow into the well bore… but, all of that’s beside the point for this discussion. What’s important here is that our team was only beginning to assess the area and make initial estimates of where and how deep to drill.”

Oscar nodded and took a sip of his coffee, and as he did so, Angela’s eyes were drawn to his thin lips. It was almost as if he didn’t have lips at all, like a Muppet. And then there was his unibrow. She had to avert her eyes to keep from smiling as she remembered how all those years ago he had reminded her of Bert from Sesame Street. He had a long, thin face, already balding in his early twenties. Fortunately, in his older age he had gained a little weight and grown a goatee, both of which certainly helped attenuate the resemblance.

Angela forced herself to think about something else. She was here on pressing business. And Oscar was a busy man, after all. He was president of the Houston branch of the University of Texas, and she appreciated the fact that he was not rushing her.

“As I’m sure you can imagine, much of the Arctic has been portioned or claimed by different countries and companies. So we were in an area that our company owns, up in the Laptev Bay area. We had a small group of workers there, maybe fifteen people. All of them were experienced, mind you. There was a barracks that we built for the team. This part of the world is basically inaccessible for nine months of the year, so we get our teams out there as soon as we possibly can in late May, and they work for three solid months, living in the barracks, weathering any storms that may spring up. At the end of August we pull them out.”

Oscar pulled at his chin with its ring of mostly gray hair, thinking. He reached for the map of the Arctic that Angela had brought to the meeting and searched. “So they were right about here,” he said, now pointing with his finger. It was on the northern border of Siberia. “I don’t know much about oil and gas exploration, but of course everyone knows that Siberia has a lot of these natural resources.”