Eve of the Emperor Penguin (3 page)

“Forty million years!”
said Jack. “So what time have we gone back to? A million years ago? A thousand years ago?”

“I don’t know,” said Annie. “But I’ll take a picture of them for my family project. They look like a little family, don’t they?” She pulled her camera out of her pocket and aimed it at the penguins. “Smile, everyone.”

As Annie took a picture, a shadow moved over the ice. The penguins squawked loudly and clustered together.

Jack and Annie looked up. The shadow
belonged to a giant bird circling above them. The bird was brownish gray with a long beak. It let out an eerie cry.

“What is that?” Annie asked with alarm.

“I’ll look it up,” said Jack. He flipped through the pages of their book to find a photo. “Here!” He read quickly:

“Oh, no!” cried Annie.

Jack looked up. The petrel was diving toward the penguins. It hit the smallest one with its wing and swooped back into the air.

The penguin squawked and waddled away from the group. The petrel spread its wide wings and dove again.

“NO!” Annie cried.

The petrel swooped away but circled back toward them.

Jack dropped the book and scooped up a handful of snow to make a snowball. Before he could throw it, the petrel attacked again. Jack leapt toward the small penguin. He fell on his knees and threw his arms around the fluffy little body.

Annie charged at the petrel. “Go! Get out of here!” she yelled, waving her arms.

The petrel cawed, then rose high into the sky and disappeared over the ice cliff.

Jack let go of the small penguin and stood up. The penguin peeped and waggled its head at Jack.

Jack laughed. “You’re welcome,” he said. “Now go back to your family. Go—”

He shooed the penguin back to the group. “All of you guys, back in the water now. You’ll be safer there. Go, go.”

The penguins squawked and flapped their wings as if saying good-bye. Then they waddled across the icy shore, taking quick, tiny steps toward the sea. One after another, they dove between cracks in the ice until they all disappeared.

“Bye, guys,” said Annie.

HONK!

“What’s that?” said Jack.

HONK!

“It sounds like some kind of horn,” said Annie.

“That’s weird,” said Jack.

“It’s coming from over there,” said Annie.

Jack picked up their book and followed Annie up the side of an icy slope. The metal spikes on his boots dug into the ice and kept him from slipping. When he and Annie reached the top, they looked down.

“Oh, man,” said Jack. “We haven’t gone back in time at all!”

I
n the icy field below the slope were yellow, brown, and green buildings; telephone poles; metal pipes; and storage tanks. Tractors and bulldozers moved along gravel roads. It looked like a small town.

HONK!
The sound came from a red bus with gigantic wheels that was parked nearby.

“What
is
this place?” asked Annie.

Jack looked in their book and found a photo that looked like the scene below. The caption read:
McMurdo Station.
Jack read the paragraph under the photo:

HONK!

Jack looked up. He saw four people come out of a yellow building and start toward the bus. They were all bundled in red parkas with hoods, goggles, and masks. They carried backpacks and camera bags.

“They must be researchers,” said Jack.

“Let’s go talk to them,” said Annie.

“We can’t,” said Jack. “They’ll ask why two kids are traveling alone in Antarctica.”

“Maybe they won’t know we’re kids,” said Annie. “If we put our goggles and masks back on, we’ll look just like them, only shorter. They’ll think we’re short grown-ups.”

“Uh … I don’t think so,” said Jack.

Just then someone jumped off the bus. “Hi,
folks!” a woman shouted to the four researchers. “I’m Nancy—your bus driver and guide today!”

Nancy caught sight of Jack and Annie. She waved her arms at them. “Hello!” she called. “Are you two part of the group going up to the volcano?” She pointed toward a mountain looming in the distance.

“Did you hear that?” Jack said to Annie. “A volcano!” He cupped his gloved hands around his mouth. “Yes!” he shouted back in his deepest voice. “We’re coming!”

“We are?” Annie asked with surprise.

“A
volcano
—get it?” said Jack. “A volcano is ‘a burning mountain’!”

“Oh, right!” said Annie. “Like in the rhyme—the burning mountain! Got it!”

“Quick, cover up your face!” said Jack.

Jack and Annie covered their eyes with their goggles and pulled up their face masks. Then they started walking toward the bus.

“Try not to talk to anyone unless we have to,”
Jack said quickly. “And if we do, talk in a really deep voice.”

“No problem,” Annie croaked in a really deep voice.

“Um … maybe you shouldn’t talk at all,” said Jack.

“Hurry!” Nancy called to them.

“Coming!” Jack shouted in his deepest voice, and they started running across the snow.

By the time Jack and Annie arrived at the bus, everyone but Nancy had climbed aboard. “Good. You made it just in time!” Nancy said. “Follow me!” She bounded up the steep steps of the red bus and sat in the driver’s seat.

Without a word, Jack and Annie climbed on after Nancy. Walking down the aisle, Jack glanced at the others in the group. A couple of them nodded and he nodded back. Everyone was hidden behind goggles, ski masks, and bulky parkas. Jack couldn’t tell anyone’s age, or even whether they were male or female.

Jack and Annie sat a few rows behind the others. Jack took off his backpack and put it at his feet.

“All set?” Nancy asked, looking in the bus mirror.

Jack and Annie nodded.

Nancy closed the door and started the engine. As the bus’s giant wheels moved slowly over the gravel road, Jack looked out the window.

The sun shone brightly on the wide, snowy fields. Glittering ice crystals blew in the wind. All the world around them seemed to be sparkling.

“How’s everyone doing?” Nancy called over her shoulder. “Are you all happy campers?”

Everyone, including Jack and Annie, nodded.

“Good. I like travelers who don’t complain!” Nancy joked.

So far, so good,
Jack thought. No one seemed to suspect they were kids.

“We have a short ride,” said Nancy. “But enough time for you all to introduce yourselves to
me. I’m Nancy Tyler, and I work here in Antarctica as a guide, a bus driver, and a flight mechanic.”

“Cool,” whispered Annie.

“I know you all come from different countries as researchers and journalists,” said Nancy. “Start from the front and tell me who you are.”

The woman in front pulled down her face mask. “I’m Lucy Banks,” she said. “I’m an American, and I’m a space scientist. I’m writing a paper on the use of robots on the crater of Mount Erebus. Hopefully this will help our work on Mars someday.”

Oh, brother,
thought Jack.
What can we say? That we’re Jack and Annie from Frog Creek and we’ve come to Antarctica to find the fourth secret of happiness to save Merlin the magician in Camelot?

“Wonderful, Lucy!” Nancy said. “Antarctica is as similar to Mars as any place you can find on earth. Next?”

“Ali Khan, biologist from Turkey,” said the man sitting behind Lucy Banks. “I’m researching heat-resistant bacteria in the crater of Mount Erebus.”

Quick, think!
thought Jack.

“Very good!” said Nancy. “Next?”

“Tony Sars from Sydney, Australia,” another man said. “I’m a travel writer for the
Sydney Morning Herald.”
He held up a notebook.

“Good!” said Nancy.

Yes!
thought Jack. He yanked off a glove and pulled his notebook and a pencil out of his backpack.

“Kim Lee,” said the woman sitting behind Tony. “I’m a photographer for a Korean magazine.”

“Great,” said Nancy. “And my friends in the back?”

Without taking off his mask, Jack shouted in a deep voice,
“Frog Creek Times,
USA!” He held up his notebook. “Story about Antarctica. She’s … uh …”

Annie held up her camera. “His photographer!” she called in a deep voice.

“Excellent!” said Nancy. “A great group! We’ll hear more introductions later. Now, I know you’ve all heard this before, but I have to tell you again. It is very important to remember the rules here in Antarctica.”

Jack opened his notebook and got ready to write down the rules.

“Never rush,” said Nancy. “You should always think about where you’re going and what you’re doing.”

Jack scribbled:

“Never walk on snow and ice fields alone,” said Nancy. “In many places beneath the snow, there are deep, hidden cracks in the ice.”

Jack wrote: