Chapter 7
Daniel
We fixed our hair, and I tucked my shirt in before jogging down the corridor. I checked my watch. It was near midnight. My head was still swimming with the rush of adrenaline, dopamine, and oxytocin—the potent combination making me feel high without a drop of any drug in my system.
When I pushed through the lounge door, I found the entire station already assembled inside, all the couches and chairs taken, the low hum of conversation filling the room.
I spotted Garrett near the far wall with two empty chairs beside him and steered us over. He looked at me, then at Reed, and raised one slow eyebrow. I nodded at him, blushing like a teenager, but he let me get away without commenting on it, just giving me a nod.
Reed was immediately pulled into conversation with Theo about cupcakes.
I caught the words cardamom and not enough frosting.
I had no idea Reed had such a sweet tooth, but I planned to act on it later.
Chairs scraped against the floor as people shifted and turned, overlapping voices bouncing off the low ceiling.
It didn’t look like anyone else had any idea what was going on either.
Across the room, I watched August Dempsey, our station chief, with curiosity.
He stood near the bar with a radio handset pressed to his ear.
Beside him, Jessica Gallagher, our principal investigator—aka the lead scientist who oversaw all the research conducted at the station—leaned in close.
The two of them conferred in tones too low to carry.
August cleared his throat, and the room settled. “Thanks for coming in on short notice.” He set the radio handset on the bar and looked around the room. “I know this is unusual. I’ll get straight to it.”
He had everyone’s attention. “About forty minutes ago, we received a call from a field team operating out of sector seven, roughly ninety kilometers southeast. They’ve got an unusual situation.
” He paused. “The team was on a research vessel conducting a whale study when they came across a pod of dolphins. These dolphins circled their vessel repeatedly until the team decided to follow them. The dolphins led the vessel to an iceberg.”
A ripple of whispers spread through the room.
I cleared my throat. “This sounds like something that has been documented before.” Several heads nodded. For Reed’s benefit I explained. “There is precedent for this. Dolphins have been documented responding to the distress vocalizations of other species before.”
“Your encyclopedic knowledge is impressive, Doc.” August smiled. “Here’s where it gets interesting. On that iceberg, as the vessel approached, they spotted a single penguin.”
Viktor sat up straight. “A penguin?”
August nodded.
“What kind of penguin?”
“The team thinks it’s a single Adélie. A highly unusual sighting. It’s away from any known colony. So I asked twice because I knew you would want to know.”
A murmur moved through the room. Everyone had heard about the lost mama penguin from Viktor’s research.
Losing wildlife was nothing new, but Viktor’s penguin couple, Blue 47 and 48, was special.
My roommate had formed a bond with the male bird, Blue 47.
The news of the bird losing his mate had hit us all in some way.
“Oh my god.” Viktor put his hands on his head.
The room broke into discussions. I caught fragments from every direction. Someone said the words interference protocol. Someone else said coordinated interspecies response.
Reed leaned toward me. “What’s interference protocol?”
“We’re not supposed to intervene with wildlife,” I said quietly. “Standard Antarctic policy. Under Article 3 of the Environmental Protocol, we are not permitted to take any action that interferes with Antarctic wildlife or alters their natural behavior.”
“But this is different. This is about helping them, right?” Reed asked.
“I know. The rule here is no interference, even when the intent is to help.”
He looked aghast.
August raised a hand, and the room quieted again.
“I know what you’re all thinking. And yes, this sits in a grey area. Which is why we’re all here and not just me making a call.”
He picked up the radio. “Nate, you still with us?”
The handset crackled. A voice came through, thin with static. “Still here, August.”
Beside me, Garrett suddenly went unnaturally still. I looked up at him, but he was staring straight ahead at the radio set.
“You’re on speaker, Nate. We have a whole team of brilliant scientists and tech personnel here. Tell them what you told me.”
There was a beat of static. “Hey guys, so I know this is a tricky topic. I’m a whale researcher, not a penguin biologist, so I won’t pretend I know better.
But this is bizarre. That bird is up there and won’t leave.
There is nothing keeping it there. It can jump.
The iceberg is gigantic, and I am not sure how it got on top of it. ”
“Hi Nate, Viktor here. I am a penguinologist. Is the bird moving?”
“Yes. We have been tracking it. It looks healthy. Alert. Moving. It keeps crying out to us and to the sky. The dolphins are here too, circling the berg.”
Garrett turned to me. “Do you know his last name?”
“Whose? Nate’s?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“Uh, no. Why?”
“Just something…” Garrett rose from his seat and walked over to August. I watched him with curiosity as he conferred with the chief in a low voice.
“The iceberg is completely vertical on all sides, so we can’t dock. But we did manage to get close to its base, and that’s the actual reason I am calling,” Nate continued. “We can hear a roar-like sound coming from the center of the berg.”
I glanced at Reed. He shrugged. Yeah, this was an interesting situation.
“Roar?” August frowned.
“Well, not a roar. But it’s… like a sound produced by many.”
“What are you saying?” August asked.
“Honestly, we aren’t sure. We can’t see anything except that lone penguin on top. There’s no way for us to get a visual. But… we think there are more birds or animals trapped inside.”
The room went very quiet.
“Nate, how’s the weather looking?” Jessica asked.
“Ahh… yes, that’s another issue,” Nate answered. “There’s some weather acting up here. You’ve got roughly two hours before the next front moves in. If anything is going to happen, it needs to happen inside that window.”
“Nate,” August spoke into the handset. “Give us a few minutes to discuss this.”
“Copy that. On standby.”
A debate broke out. The ethics of interference clashed with the ethics of wildlife preservation. While I listened to the men and women around me, I quickly calculated the logistics: the location was ninety kilometers out, which meant the Zodiacs would take four to five hours.
What we had was a lucky break. We had a pilot among us.
A chopper ready to fly. I turned to face Reed; now I just needed to convince him.
When our eyes met, I felt a strong sense of déjà vu.
A long time ago—what felt like a lifetime ago—I had locked eyes with him just like this, before a wordless exchange took place.
We had both been without a partner, and out of that, the unlikeliest of all bonds had formed: the quiet doctor who co-piloted in a war zone and the daredevil pilot who held his patients’ hands to calm them down before surgery.
Reed smiled, a soft smile meant just for me, and dipped his head in answer to my unasked question. I didn’t have to convince him of anything. Just as it had been, we were in perfect synchronization. He bumped my shoulder and murmured, “Just like old times, Prince?”
I found myself answering without conscious thought. “Unfortunately so, Bigfoot.”
Reed’s face lit up. I rolled my eyes and lifted my hand to get August’s attention.
“Dr. Park?” He raised his voice to carry it over the din. “Did you have a suggestion, sir?”
“Yes.” I cleared my throat and fixed the sleeves of my white shirt.
“I think it’s safe to say this is a most unusual situation, and while I am not one of the scientists involved in field research, I am worried about the narrow time window.
A Zodiac, even if we were to leave right now and ride through the night, would take at least four, if not five, hours, and that’s assuming we don’t encounter too much floating ice.
” I smoothed down my sleeve with the tip of a finger.
“I think we’re all with you, Dr. Park. Are you suggesting we intervene?” Jessica asked me.
“Yes. There is precedent. In 1976, a team intervened to save a school of sperm whales caught in an oil spill. In the aftermath, the global scientific community supported the team’s decision to act.”
I paused to gauge the room’s reaction. I knew I was using the power I had: the respect and faith people placed in me as the station doctor.
What I saw gave me courage. No one looked mortified or in disagreement with what I had laid out so far.
Viktor’s expression, though, was the biggest reason for me to keep going.
He was pleading with me through his eyes.
As a penguinologist, he was the one in the most pain in the room.
“Do you have a plan?” she asked.
“I do. I propose we fly out to them. Reed and I. For those of you who don’t know, he is the pilot who did the medevac for Viktor and Sam. His chopper is sitting outside. It will take us…” I glanced at Reed with a raised eyebrow.
“Sixty-five minutes tops,” he replied.
“Right. An hour to reach them.”
“Wouldn’t someone else… sorry, Dr. Park, no offense meant, but you’re a physician, and this seems like a dangerous situation. The weather may deteriorate if what Nate thinks comes true.” August raised both palms, facing up. “Again, no offense, I was just—”
“Doctor Park here is the best candidate,” Reed drawled.
Several pairs of eyebrows flew high. I groaned internally. This man had the most annoying habit of talking about me as if I were a superhero instead of the loner doctor who liked hiding in the most remote workplace on earth.
August shifted on his feet. “Uhh, Mr. Harmon, I’ve come to know you both are… well, umm, married.”
“You have come to know correctly.” Reed spread his legs wider and crossed his arms, his eyes twinkling. He just loved attention. The smug asshole.
“Well, then you may be a tad biased, Pilot Harmon?” someone teased, and there were several answering snickers, though not unkind.
“Fair point.” Reed nodded. “If he did not have more experience in dangerous missions than probably all of you combined, I would concede your rebuttal. I make no secret that I think Doctor Park is a perfect man.” Reed winked at me.
I felt my face go up in flames.
“What you may not know is that he is an ex-military field surgeon. He has had to plunge his hand inside a man’s open chest cavity to keep the heart beating while simultaneously giving instructions to the rest of us. And he did all that in a calm tone, his hands steady. Many times over.”
I heard several gasps and murmurs. Reed drawled on. “I’m here today because this man here is the bravest one I’ve ever met.” He looked so proud that I couldn’t even be mad at him.
“Daniel? Our Daniel?” Theo, our chef, looked thunderstruck.
“Well, my Daniel, if you don’t mind.” Reed snaked a heavy arm around my shoulder and pulled me close as if I wasn’t already embarrassed enough.
Theo laughed. Grant joined the discussion enthusiastically. “And just to prove why his assessment matters, did you guys know Reed has several Guinness World Records to his name? He is the only one to have landed a chopper on Mount Everest.”
“That’s damn impressive,” August said.
“Thank you. So yes, to the good folks of Waypoint Station…” Reed turned his head, looking around the room. “Let me reiterate that your doctor is the best man you could fly with into a storm or a rescue.”