An unusual assignment...
Kai sat on his bed in his Pimlico flat. The sun streamed between the towers across the river and onto his pale, sharp face. His TAB whirred gently to itself as his boss, bearded and wizened, appeared in the corner of his blog. Kai sighed. It was a bad assignment month. EU elections had passed in June. He would be in Washington for Empire Day in August. July was a slow time for the blogsphere. The EBBC had ringfenced all the good stories already. "Maybe," he mused "I should go into newsforecasting instead?"
His boss' avatar cleared his throat noisily, the 'Editor - Cyprus DeLong' tab flashing red to try and grab his distracted Blogist's attention. Kai snapped back into focus. It didn't look to be good news. DeLong was on edge, pupils wide as he chewed on a SharpUp mephcake.
"Hello Cyprus", Kai said lazily in a dry, bored voice, "What am I doing this time? Barrier workers in Greenwich? Nitrate farmers in Morocco? Hopefuls for the Havana Olympics?"
"Look," replied Cyprus, his normally deep voice cracking from the miaow, "I know my last few jobs for you haven't been brilliant"
"You can say that again," Interrupted Kai, "I'm Europe's Number One Blogist. EBBC is still offering a postion in their Pre-Break Division."
"But," said Cyprus hastily, "If you'd let me finish, I've got a proper assignment for you this time, a long one. It's for Artemis. They're offering almost a hundred thousand Euros."
"How long is long?" asked Kai, his interested suddenly peaking.
"Three months, or thereabouts. It depends on the weather."
"Oh am I going far? You're not sending me to that Virgin orbiting resort again are you? I couldn't spend three months with low gravity showers."
"Oh no, nothing like that. Besides, Accounting weren't too keen on your expenses last time we sent you offworld."
"Come on then, what's this new amazing assignment you have lined up for me?"
"Ah!" said Cyprus smiling. That was Kai's weakness. His curiosity always hooked him in the end. Kai watched his boss on the semi-transparent TAB screen. He appeared to be unfolding something, swearing occassionally, taking great care not to rip it.
"A paper map?" inquired Kai. "How archane! Am I going looking for treasure?" Cyrpus gave him a simpering look and held the map up for him to see. It was clearly Antarctica. Kai's mood fell. Antarctica, in July. Long days, no sleep, and a bitterly cold Winter. He knew a Blogist up in New Edinburgh who had been to the Halley Station a few Summers ago. She said it had got as low as two centigrade. He shivered at the thought. But there was something different about the map Cyprus was holding. Slightly off from the middle was a brown shaded area, maybe only a few hundred miles across and half that top to bottom.
"This," began Cyprus, a little more excitedly now that mephcake was kicking in, "Is the newest map of Antarctica. That's why it hasn't been digitised yet. Believe it or not, most governments still prefer official documents on paper. Stupid I know. This brown bit here is Dominion. You haven't heard of it yet. Not many people have. It's too low on the Pole to see from Virgin One. The Climate Coalition has spent billions of Ameros covering it up. Basically these are the highlands of Antartica, and the ice has been melting a lot more rapidly than the UN has been telling us."
"So, what's so exciting about that" asked Kai, steadily becoming more intrigued.
Cyprus knew he had him caught up in his own curiosity. He continued, "Well as you well know the EU, Russia, China and Australia have all been vastly increasing their research into the Antarctic recently. We've been told it's for Climate Change purposes. But a PFI operating way down there leaked to us today that it's not for environmental presentation at all. The EU and UN have been bending the truth. They're mining the Antarctic!"
Kai sat up, his eyes wide, "So you're telling me that not only have the governments been lying to us, but they want me to break the news? Why?"
"Well, after the piece you wrote on the nitrate farmers in the Sahara, knocking down all the myths about eco-system harm, I think they want you to go there and do the same thing. Not let the EBBC go in with guns blazing decrying them as planet killers. But a well respected Blogist spending some time there, seeing what's going on, and reporting back to the Blogsphere. Then people can make up their own minds."
Kai sat for a long time. His boss waited patiently, his fingers strumming the desk, venting some of the pent up energy. After what seemed minutes Kai spoke. "Alright. I'll go. If, and only if, you can guarantee to make my fee up to a hundred thousand, and I am there only three months. I don't want to spend more than that in three degrees. I'd perish."
"Deal!" exclaimed Cyprus, "I knew I'd get you on board. An Exat will take you from Ebbsfleet airport to Buenos Aires. From there you'll be getting a PanAmerican Union mail plane to Port Stanley and then a transfer to Carver, the newest town in Dominion. You should be there by about mid-day tomorrow. The Exat leaves at 5.8."
"How do I get the feeling you knew I'd go" said Kai, smiling a little at his own predictability. Cyprus said nothing, a pale violet mephcake stained grin on his face as he signed off. Kair sighed and got up, sweeping up random clothes and gadgets into his bag. "An unusual assignment indeed" he thought, throwing his TAB into his case.
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