The USS Peary slowly made its way through the Arctic ice. At the moment, all hands were on deck. Intel indicated that an icebreaker from the Chinese Navy was in the area. Both nations, plus Russia, were increasing their strategic presence in the Arctic. There was a vast fortune of oil hidden under the ocean. And over the years, the ice kept getting thinner. Less persistent. How ironic that climate change was making it all the more possible to extract the largest untapped pocket of oil.
Chris and Andrea were standing next to each other, staring at the ice. It was freezing. It felt like the wind cut down to the bone. But this was the job. The researchers were the top American experts on distributed radio networks. In this instance, the US Government had hired them to estimate where China would be installing its communications network. China was ahead of the US in building the support equipment needed for a long-term presence in the Arctic. The icebreaker they were pursuing was out installing buried 5G arrays with omnidirectional antennas above the ice and a clever phased array below the ice to connect each station. Once installed, China would own communication in the Arctic and its industry (and military) would profit.
Every so often, Chris and Andrea would see a deformity in the ice and hold up a red flag. This was the signal to stop the ship. A crew would go down to investigate whether the disturbance in the ice was man-made. In this instance, it was a sure thing. They could see the screw pattern of a 2-foot borehole. Chris held up his flag and felt the diesel generators wind down. The ship ground to a halt against the ice. The ringing in Chris's ears reminded him how loud ice operations were. The ship constantly pushing against and breaking ice. It was really only when you stopped that you realized how noisy it had been. For this one, he and Andrea would go down with the team to inspect the hole. If it had an array in it, they'd hoist it up and take it. Finders, keepers - or something like that.
Fourty-five minutes into the hoist operation, Andrea stood amazed at the array that the Navy team was pulling from the ice. She knew that China had made huge advances in 5G, but what she was seeing was at least a decade in the future. It looked like Chinese researchers solved technology issues that her colleagues at the National Lab had spent every waking day attempting to understand. Capturing this array would leap-frog that research for them and they'd owe her a good bottle of something.
After the Navy crew with the array was back onboard, Chris and Andrea stood over the borehole looking down into the Arctic Ocean. It was sinking in for both of them what they had just been a part of. Not only were they involved in what would surely be called an act of war by the Chinese government, but they were going to catapult wireless communications research in the US. Of course, the military would be pleased. But the ramifications would be felt across every industry! Every consumer! Once it was declassified, their names would be on the Wikipedia page that explained how America caught up in the technology race.
These thoughts were a lot for Chris to process. His brain became quite loud with what this moment meant for his future. But also, it was just loud. Very loud. Like ice breaking...Chris and Andrea turned around with horror on their face as their ship left them. They were being left alone in the Arctic on an ice sheet. The Navy had forgotten about them. Their (future) Wikipedia pages were quickly being re-written in a more tragic tone. At this point, it was 10PM and Chris could barely make out the shape of the ship in the evening twilight. They would have to spend the night on the ice and would figure out what to do in the morning. More than likely, they would shrug at each other, lay down, and freeze to death.
A few hours later, they started that process by discussing the lack of options they had. It was hard to talk through the shivering, but the sentiment was "We have no supplies and no way to communicate." So they sat on the ice and the blood started to leave their extremities and pool in their core. Their bodies were doing their best to keep their vital functions going. But it was cold and it wouldn't be long now. Thoughts of panic, grief, acceptance, sadness, anger, and numbness clouded Andrea's mind. She was yelling at herself internally. Even though she'd done everything right, this was somehow her fault. Her busy (and cold) brain started to get really loud. Even though she couldn't feel anything in her legs or arms, she felt the ice shake under her. She looked up and saw it: a huge red ship. The Navy had come back for them. But why did they change the name of the boat? And why was its new name written in Mandarin?
**notes:
I wrote this in very short choppy sentences to highlight the manic, anxious, panicked feeling of the situation. Reading it back, that gets old. But ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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