Read The Project 02 - The Lance for Free Online

in the expanding science of environmental studies. Hans had an engaging, open face, hazel eyes and fair hair. He'd let his beard grow over the last few months, the reddish color hinting at his Viking ancestry. In a month he was going back to Germany to marry his childhood sweetheart, Heidi. Life was good for Hans.
    He'd dressed in high brown laced boots, sturdy pants over insulated underwear, two shirts and an open red jacket. He wore a fur lined hat with flap ears tied up on top. Antarctic weather could change to fury in an instant, even in the warmer months.
    He'd checked out a Sno-Cat and persuaded Otto Bremen, the head of the station and the chief geophysicist, to go inland with him to the mountains of the Fenriskjeften , the "Jaw of Fenris," named for the giant, ravenous wolf of Norse myth. It was still largely unexplored territory.
    Bremen was older, in his early fifties. He was stocky, shorter than Hans. His face was round and jolly, which made him a favorite for playing Kris Kringle at Christmas time. He had tufted eyebrows turning white over blue eyes and silver-rimmed bifocals set slightly askew on his large ears. He wore an insulated yellow parka with a German flag stitched on the shoulder and sturdy boots and pants.
    They pulled out of the garage cavern hollowed from the ice beneath the station and headed toward the mountains. The heater in the high cab of the Tucker Sno-Cat was on low in the fine weather. Hans cracked a window for fresh air. The Tucker was one of three identical vehicles donated to the station by Eric Reinhardt, a wealthy American businessman of German descent.
    The big Allison diesel engine rumbled in a contented drone. They headed over the snow and ice toward the mountains an hour away. With two 60 gallon tanks, a closed cab and plenty of storage, the Tucker was like a Rolls Royce in this part of the world.
    Bremen tinkered with another Reinhardt gift, an experimental device using ultra sound technology to detect mineral deposits. The Fenris Mountains would provide a good field test. No one had ever found much in the Antarctic ice, only a little iron and some copper. None of it promised commercial development. Besides, the Antarctic treaties prevented any kind of serious mining operations.
    The big Sno-Cat closed on the mountains and Hans turned parallel to the front of the range , looking for anything unusual in the melting ice and snow. After ten minutes the mineral seeking device began to beep.
    " Something ahead," Otto said. "According to this, no more than three of four hundred meters." He consulted a chart. "High density iron, copper, the readings are going crazy."
    " Look there!" Hans pointed through the windshield.
    He slowed and brought the Tucker to a halt. On the side of one of the jagged peaks, ice and snow had broken loose in the spring thaw. A gray, regular outline was visible against the dark rock.
    " What the hell is that?" Hans let the engine idle.
    " I don't know. It looks man made. That's where the readings come from."
    " I don't remember anything about a station or camp here."
    S tations were often abandoned in the Antarctic. Both men were familiar with the history of the region. Neither had ever heard of anything in this area.
    They climbed down from the cab and walked to the mountain wall. Two wide doors of rusting steel, each twelve feet high, were set into the rock. Ice and snow blocked the lower part of the doors.
    Excitement filled both men.
    "What do you think?" Otto said. "Can we get in?"
    " Maybe we can push the debris aside."
    " Let's try it."
    The Sno-Cat was equipped with a heavy blade used to groom the station runway for supply planes. Otto and Hans climbed back into the cab. Hans engaged the four speed transmission and brought the Tucker around to the doors. He lowered the blade and began working. In twenty minutes, the way was clear.
    The two men stood before the doors. There was a large, U-shaped handle on each one.
    "They have to open in." Hans rubbed his