An Iron Sea pt. 5

The three of them made their way to the front door of the medical center and stepped outside. Sure enough, as the nurse had said, a large group of chest high, white penguins was waddling across the ice road through the station. Multitudes of the birds made their way around buildings and parked vehicles, one solid mob on the move.

“Huh,” Maxwell remarked.

Their calls filled the station. These were not the regular squawks of a normal penguin. Rather, they were whistle-like, one small phonetic phrase repeated over and over. “Tekeli-li. Tekeli-li.” It was a haunting cry, sounding more like what a mourner would say than a bird.

Dr. Claireborne stared at the sight with a dumb expression, his arms hanging limp. “Where are they coming from?”

“Who knows?” the nurse replied. “They just started rolling in about five minutes ago. It doesn’t look like they’ll be stopping anytime soon. They just keep coming.”

The two men looked off towards the hills behind McMurdo. Rows of penguins were coming in from the interior of the continent. Their long, pallid rows trailed off into the murky twilight.

Other station residents were now turning out to see this strange sight. Some laughed, some were uneasy, but most simply stood there dumbfounded as the birds passed along. Mr. Hocker made his way over to where Dr. Claireborne and Maxwell stood with the nurse. For a moment, he simply stood there with them, saying nothing, simply watching the penguins.

“Ain’t it something,” Hocker finally remarked. Claireborne and Maxwell could only nod. The activist walked forward, towards one of the rows of birds. They did not seem to mind his presence, being focused on heading towards the sea. Maxwell began to walk after them, following them on their course.

“What are you doing?” Dr. Claireborne asked.

“See where they’re going,” Maxwell replied.

The doctor followed after the activist. Together the two of them followed the penguins through McMurdo Station at a near run. At last, the endless mob reached the sea, and there they entered it. The entire throng was swimming across the bay, towards the glacier on the other side.

“What do you make of it, doctor?” Maxwell asked, gasping for breath.

“I...I think it’s a remarkable phenomenon,” Dr. Claireborne replied. “But nothing more.”

“What of Denise’s condition?”

“What of it? This is an avian occurrence. What her body is undergoing is not reminiscent of an avian form. The two events are unrelated.”

Maxwell simply shrugged his shoulders. “Whatever you say. You are the doctor, after all.”

Dr. Claireborne gave no response to this, but simply began to walk back towards the medical center. Maxwell followed in his wake. The cries of the penguins serenaded them as they returned.

“What bird calls like that?” Maxwell asked.

“How should I know? I’m the doctor.”

When the two returned to the nurse and Mr. Hocker, they found that Dan McGuire was also there. There was a look of subtle horror on the face of the dive master. He held his hand over his mouth, like a woman who has just seen some awfully offending sight.

“Mr. McGuire,” Dr. Claireborne said. “What is troubling you?”


Dan ran his hand through his hair. “I’ve read about these things before.”

“Read about what?” Mr. Hocker asked. “The penguins?”

Dan nodded. “Well, where at?” Dr. Claireborne asked.

He sighed. “At the Mountains of Madness, by H.P. Lovecraft.”

“I’m afraid I’m not familiar with that bit of literature,” Dr. Claireborne said.

“Me either,” Maxwell confessed.

“I wouldn’t expect you to be, doctor,” Dan said. “You would call it pulp horror, a cheap story with no purpose. It’s about an Antarctic expedition that finds a lost alien city. Tall, white penguins lived in the bowels of the city.”

“That’s not wholly remarkable,” Dr. Claireborne said. “An interesting coincidence, though, to be sure.”

Dan shook his head. “That’s not it though. There was a sound in that story, repeated in various places over and over, heard in the piping of the wind, spoken from an inhuman throat, screamed by a man gone mad. ‘Tekeli-li, Tekeli-li.’”

Those present paused, then looked at the white horde that was beginning to trickle off. “That is a coincidence,” Dr. Claireborne said, his voice taunt with a tugging realization.

Dan nodded. “A problematic one, perhaps.”

“Why is that?” Maxwell asked.

“Let’s just say that I hope this is all that was true about that story,” Dan said. “If not, then we are truly in trouble.”

“What do you mean?” Maxwell asked again. But Dan would not say anything more.

At last, the endless avian horde seemed to die away in the slowly brightening twilight. Residents of the base stared off after them, watching them go down to the water and fade away.

“What a sight,” Mr. Hocker said, shaking his head. “What a sight.”

“Sure was,” Maxwell said. The others did not say anything. The penguin experts on base were scrambling after the horde, trying to record some little bit of this new species before it slipped away.

The doctor took Maxwell by the arm and turned him towards the medical center. The activist nodded and followed after him. Both were silent until they were away from the other three people.

“What do you think?” Maxwell finally asked.

“What do I think? You’ve already asked me that. My position has not changed in the past few minutes. Mr. McGuire’s observation did nothing for it.”

“But down to that one detail,” Maxwell said. “Surely that means something.”

“Like what?” Maxwell was silent. “Be prepared to show your work, Mr. Valentine. That’s an elementary procedure in scientific matters.”

Maxwell stopped and looked hard at Dr. Claireborne. “You’re all about science, aren’t you?”

Dr. Claireborne stopped and nodded. “Yes I am. Science is the one dependable thing in this world. Human nature and emotion are chaotic things. Only the logic that comes with the scientific method can allow anyone to live properly.”

“So, you don’t believe in things like love?”

Dr. Claireborne paused. “I believe in things like attraction for the survival of the species.”

“So that’s a no.” Dr. Claireborne nodded and walked on. “But how can humanity survive if there’s no love?” Maxwell asked as he hurried after the doctor.

“How is this conversation related to our current predicament?” Dr. Claireborne asked. “I’m asking myself more important questions, such as ‘How shall we determine what exactly happened to Ms. Patterson?’” The activist stopped and glowered, but said nothing. “Control yourself, Mr. Valentine. You’ll get a lot farther with people.”

“I get along with people just fine,” Maxwell said.

“I’m sure you do. In the meantime, we may need to involve one more person in discerning Ms. Patterson’s new condition.”

“Why?” Maxwell asked warily.

“Colton Danforth, a marine mammalogist. He’s trustworthy enough that I would risk asking him to examine Ms. Patterson with us, and have him withhold our findings and reverse the condition.”

“Oh, sure. I’d bet he’d just love to get his hands on her. Probably dissect her the first time we turned our backs.”

“Calm down, Mr. Valentine,” Dr. Claireborne said. “He won’t. He’s more of a behavior specialist in any case. However, I’m hoping that at least a rudimentary knowledge of cetacean biology will help our case.”

There were a few moments of silence as Maxwell looked back off at the medical center. “Fine. Let’s go then.”

“We’ll take one of those snowmobiles,” Dr. Claireborne said, pointing over at a couple that were parked in front of the center. The two of them unhitched the machine and started it up. The doctor took the driver’s seat, and Maxwell sat down behind him. With a rumble from the motor they took off through McMurdo, to find Colton Danforth.