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Dr.
Flores. He was a prominent marine biologist. He spoke with a very faint French
accent, which Georgina found quite appealing. He was quiet and soft spoken, the
quintessential intellectual, while his wife Amy was more of a social butterfly.
She knew almost everyone on board and had clearly taken Georgina under her
wing.
    “You feeling better?” enquired Taj. She
nodded. “Yes, thanks to Amy here and her magic pills.”
    “Told you it wouldn’t last long,” Amy
smiled at her. She turned to her husband.
    “So what were you boys discussing?”
    “Amphipods” said Taj.
    At Georgina’s blank stare Claude
explained, “The Antarctic amphipod is a crustacean endemic to the Antarctic
Peninsular. This is the only place in the world where it’s found.”
    “We’re going to get some samples at
Deception Island,” Taj told them. “Claude has bought his diving gear.”
    Georgina stared at them as if they were
mad. “You’re going diving in this freezing water? Is that safe?”
    “As long as they’re adequately
protected, they should be fine,” Amy told her. Georgina looked dubious. “Is
that our first landing?” she asked Taj.
    He studied her pale face. “You coming?”
he asked her.
    She nodded. “Yes, if no one objects. I
thought perhaps it would be better to accompany you on the shoots rather than
have formal interviews.”
    Taj paused long enough to stare at her.
“I usually work alone,” he said.
    Uh-oh, Don obviously hadn’t had a chance
to talk to Taj yet. She soldiered bravely on, “Yes, I know, but I just thought
it might be easier this way. You didn’t seem too keen on the interviews.”
    “And you didn’t seem too keen on the
excursions,” he countered dryly. She blushed. “I know, but I realised that was
a little short sighed of me. After all, how often does one get to go to
Antarctica?”
    Amy smiled at her and said
encouragingly, “You are quite right. It would be a shame not to come on the
excursions, there’s so much to see.”
    Taj scowled and Georgina pretended not
to notice. She turned to Claude, “So tell me more about where you find this
endemic amphipod?” Claude warmed to his subject and Taj, despite a lot of
pointed looks in her direction, didn’t have a chance to talk her out of her
suggestion to accompany him on the excursions.  
    “Don, I know you’re in there!”
    Don opened the door and gave his friend
a grin. “What’s up?”
    “You busy? I need to talk to you.” Taj
peered into the room and saw papers scattered all over the bed and the tiny
desk.
    “Kind of. I’m planning our itinerary. I
wanted to go through it with you guys later.”
    “Sure, no problem. Listen, did you talk
to Georgina this evening?” asked Taj, watching Don closely.
    Don avoided his friend’s gaze. “Why, did
she say something?”
    “I knew it!” Taj exploded. “I knew it
was you who’d put that insane idea into her head about accompanying me on the
excursions.”
    “It’s not that insane?” Don said
defensively.
    Taj stared at him. “Are you trying to ruin this trip for me?”
    “Will you calm down?” ordered Don, “Yes
I suggested it to her. But hear me out okay. It might just be the best idea
I’ve ever had.”
    Taj calmed down somewhat and glared at
his friend. “I doubt it, but go on.”
    “She mentioned to me that you’d been
avoiding her.” Taj had the grace to look guilty.
    “I thought as much,” Don remarked wryly.
“So I gave her some good advice.”
    “Your good advice was for her to keep me
company?” Taj scoffed. “You know I can’t work with other people around, unless
they’re part of my crew.”
    “Then let her be part of your crew.”
    “You are not serious?” Taj asked. “She
doesn’t know anything about photography. Even she admitted her holiday photos
sucked.”
    “She’s a bright girl. She can learn. She
can hold the light metre for you.”
    Taj rolled his eyes. “Give me a break.”
    Don said reasonably, “Think about it?
How far