The Power of Five Oblivion

“Everything has gone wrong. But that’s why I’ve got to do this. If we run away and hide, what then? We’re on a dying planet. The Old Ones have ruined everything.” He glanced one last time at the letter. “Right now, this is the only hope we have left. Scott may be lying, in which case it’s all over. They’ve won. But you know him. Do you really think he would deliver me to them? Isn’t there just a tiny chance that he has changed his mind and wants to help? I don’t think we can ignore him. I think I have to hear what he has to say.”
    “No,” Scarlett said. There were tears in her eyes. “You can’t go, Matt. What if he’s lying? What if they manage to capture you?”
    “Fight another day,” Lohan said. “Do not go to this place. Do not put yourself in the lion’s den.”
    Cain was the only person in the tent who seemed to think differently. “We can give you full support,” he said. “You can stay in radio contact the whole time and I can have a rapid response team standing by in skimmers.”
    “I think it’s worth a chance,” Matt said. He had decided. “I’m going.”
    Scarlett groaned and Lohan looked away but Matt ignored them. Cain walked over to the table and pulled out a map showing the coastline around Oblivion. The man called Omar sat in his chair, his expression blank.
    “Wait a minute,” Richard said. He turned to Matt. “I don’t understand why you’re making this decision but I’m not going to let you go there alone. If you’re heading off to this Skua Bay or whatever it’s called, I’m coming with you.”
    “Richard…”
    “No. There’s no argument. I started this adventure with you and I’m going to finish it with you, however it turns out.”
    “Scott wanted me to come alone.”
    “Scott knows me. If he sees me with you, he’s not going to be surprised. But just for once I’m putting my foot down, Matt. Either you let me come with you or you don’t go at all.”
    “Then we’ll go together,” Matt said, and at that moment Richard got the impression that he had known it would happen this way all along and that he had actually been waiting for him to make his stand. He already knew that Matt had changed. But right then he felt as if the two of them were complete strangers. It was as if everything they had been through together had somehow been left behind.
    “I’m going to assign Lieutenant Greyson to ferry you to the beach,” Cain said. “If you want to be there by midnight, you should leave now. It’s going to take a while to get down the cliff and onto the Zodiac.”
    Matt nodded. Richard was standing next to him, silent and pale. Scarlett looked shocked.
    “OK,” Matt said. “Let’s go.”

FIFTY-ONE
    The Zodiac was a high-performance Rigid Inflatable Boat, or RIB, made of black rubber with a powerful 110 horsepower engine. It was waiting for Matt and Richard as they climbed down to the beach, following the intricate network of paths and staircases that had been cut into the side of the ice cliff. A handful of marines were waiting for them at the bottom. The beach was a thin strip of black shingle carried there by the movement of the glacier. The water was calm tonight, the waves lapping tamely at their feet.
    They climbed in and set off, Matt sitting at the front, Richard in the middle, Lieutenant Greyson standing at the back. It was a quarter to twelve but the sun was still out behind the cloud, hovering somewhere over the horizon, and the surface of the water was more steel-like than ever. As Richard looked up towards the ice field of Oblivion, it occurred to him, almost for the first time, that he was in one of the most extraordinary places on earth: Antarctica. Travellers – explorers – had been drawn here for hundreds of years, losing themselves in the endless reaches of this vast, unspoilt wilderness. Even the light was like nothing he had seen before. And yet he looked on it with dread. He hated being here and would rather have been anywhere else.
    They motored gently between two icebergs; huge, irregular blocks drifting silently, without purpose. In the distance, Richard could see the frigate, lying at anchor, surrounded by a ragtag collection of vessels that seemed to cling together as if afraid of the water around them. It was intensely cold. Although there was no wind, he could feel the chill cutting into him, reaching to his very bones. Apart from the splutter of the engine, everything was silent. He looked for any