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Pyramiden

By

David Thompson

A Synopsis

 

This is an adventure story with an element of science fiction, based on a youth expedition to Svalbard, a remote archipelago in the high arctic, governed by Norway, but subject to a 24 country agreement, including Russia and Great Britain.

 

An expedition of around 30 young explorers (aged around 15) and their leaders sets off from the UK for Longyearbyen, the capital of Svalbard, 400 miles north of the northernmost point of the Norwegian mainland. Svalbard is, at once, remote, hostile, beautiful, dangerous and fascinating. It is home to 1500 people and an equal number of polar bears.

 

The expedition arrives in March when the islands are at their coldest and their best. The sea all around is frozen solid and travel by skidoo and ski is easy and fun. The weather is mostly clear and sunny and the scenery is spectacular, but sudden snow storms can transform the landscape. Polar bears are a potential threat as they leave their dens and progress to the sea ice to feed on seal. Humans are fair game.

 

The training phase is completed and the adventure begins in earnest. Anna, Matt, Sam and three of their leaders make a skidoo trip to Pyramiden, a deserted Russian mining town in the middle of the snowy wastes. Strange things happen and they become embroiled in a supposed plot between a Russian scientist and an alien civilisation he has been in contact with for the last fifteen years. Anna escapes and raises the alarm, whilst her friends are held captive.

 

Ultimately, a small international taskforce is assembled to resolve the situation and save the hostages. One of the leaders provides an unexpected link between the expedition and the installation at Pyramiden, where the incumbent scientist has gone quietly mad.

 

The pact between the scientist and the alien ‘invaders’ is exposed as a fraud, but the twists and turns of the final chapters throw the scenario open to question. Is Alexander mad or is he telling the truth?

 

The story ends, with a further twist, as the expedition flies out of Longyear airport.

 

PYRAMIDEN 10- THE TRAPPER

 

Andy took his turn with the skis. He was relieved by the lack of effort required to push them forward compared with wading knee-deep through the snow on foot. The skis made a gentle swishing sound as they glided over the snow, whilst Roger’s feet sank in at every step.

They stopped to check the GPS, then continued as before. They were retracing their steps without deviation and were pleased with their progress. “Roger, stop a minute.” Roger stopped. “Can you hear something?”

“No”.

“Listen”.

“Yes, very faintly. Does it sound like a skidoo to you?”

“Yes. Maybe it’s the guy who left Pyramiden in such a hurry before us. He went up Billefjorden towards Longyear, thinking that was the way we’d gone, now he’s come this way looking for us.”

“He must know his way around. It’s difficult to tell if it’s following or coming towards us. It could be someone from base camp, wondering why we haven’t turned up yet”.

“You might be right but I’d be surprised because I told them we’d stay overnight in Pyramiden if it was too late to return. It’s unlikely they’d start to worry about us until at least this time tomorrow”.

“Andy, look, can you see the headlight, it’s coming towards us. It’s coming from the direction of base camp, not Pyramiden”.

They both started waving frantically, trying to attract the driver’s attention. He was approaching at speed and saw them just in time. They realised he had spotted them when he turned down the throttle and crawled slowly towards them. He stopped, lifted his visor and called to them. “Hello!” he shouted. “Are you alright?” “Hi, yes we’re fine”. The word fine did not adequately describe their situation, but it would do for the time being. It was difficult to see his face even with his visor raised but he had clearly not come from Pyramiden.

The man looked down at their feet and noticed only one of them had skis. “You are walking? Don’t you have a scooter?”

“We had an accident. Lost the skidoo down a hole.” As a precaution, Andy spared him a more elaborate explanation.

“Where are you going? Maybe I can give you a lift”. They described the route they had intended taking to reach base camp. The man removed a large glove and shook each of them by the hand. “I am Yury. I have a hut nearby. It is getting late. Stay with me tonight and I will take you to your camp tomorrow”. Reluctant at first, they agreed to his plan and loaded their gear on to the trailer behind his skidoo. Andy sat behind Yury and Roger sat on the rucsacs. Yury turned his machine around and they continued down the valley. Andy took little notice of the route they took, mainly because it was difficult to see anything through the blizzard. Roger clung on to the trailer as they bounced along.

They had been driving for no more than forty five minutes before the skidoo slowed down to a halt beside a small squat wooden hut with a smoking chimney. Andy and Roger were quite relieved to find a friendly face and were looking forward to the relative comfort of the hut. They had been hoping to reach base camp so that they could allay possible fears about their safety and catch up on the whereabouts of the others.

The hut was warm and welcoming. It was cramped but comfortable and the walls were decorated with furs and antlers and old photographs of the area. The heat came from a wood burning stove that also provided cooking facilities. Yury took a large kettle from the hob and made three cups of coffee. He handed one each to Andy and Roger and invited them to sit down.

They talked for an hour or so. It transpired that Yury was a trapper who had chosen a solitary existence in the frozen wastes of Svalbard following a long career in the Russian army. He had never married and had no surviving family except some distant relatives he felt little affection for. The solitude suited him. He had his army pension and could visit Longyear to buy provisions, fuel and so on. He also paid regular visits to the Russian settlement of Barentsburg where he had friends. He traded in animal furs to supplement his meagre income and had become quite proficient at trapping and skinning wild mammals. In the summer he collected goose down, which fetched a high price.

Andy and Roger told him about the expedition and their plan to explore Dickson Land. Yury was interested to know if they had been to Pyramiden. They were careful not to tell him too much, after all they hardly knew him. Although they were prepared to trust him, he could be in league with their erstwhile captors. They simply described the derelict buildings and the abandoned mine workings. “Did you meetanyone? I understand that a small number of workers still live there just to keep the mine open”.

“No, we saw no one”, Roger replied. Yury smiled and changed the subject.

“We must eat. Would you like seal? I also have some dried reindeer, but not much in the way of fresh vegetables”. The pair replied that anything would be most welcome after their journey. They offered him the few edible things they had and he took them gratefully, examining each item carefully.

After their meal, Yury dug out a bottle of Russian vodka and placed it on the table. They each had a small glassful. Andy coughed as he put the glass to his lips. “Down in one”, Yury chided, and he demonstrated. Andy and Roger followed suit. The warmth of the spirit pervaded their bodies and relaxed their tired limbs.

The evening wore on and fatigue overtook them. They retrieved their things from the trailer, unfurled their sleeping bags and laid them on the wooden floor. Yury spread some large furs over the floorboards, including reindeer and polar bear. These proved far better than the foam mats they were used to.

The fire in the stove died down and the hut grew cold. The wind chased flurries of snow around the outside walls and piled the stuff up against the door and the windows. The muffled sound of the blizzard raging through the cold dark night added to the feeling of comfort and wellbeing inside Andy’s snug sleeping bag. He slept well. Roger lay awake for a while thinking about his family at home and his job in the outdoor centre in North Wales. He thought of Vicki and Anna, Sam and Matt and wondered where there were. It should not have taken them more than a few hours to reach Longyear. They would either be there or at base camp right now. Then, it occurred to him that the skidoo that had sped off from Pyramiden down Billet]orden might have been following Vicki and the others, not he and Andy. He must mention this to Andy in the morning.

The next day dawned dull but calm. Yury was up first. He waited for them to stir and then offered them hot black coffee. “I hope you slept well. We will leave after breakfast. Take your time.” There was a large radio set in the corner of the room, but it was apparently out of action and in need of repair. Yury was due to visit Longyear for some spare parts. It would have been useful to link up with the expedition morning roundup, Andy thought. Yury relied on his radio to make contact with fellow trappers and friends and listen in on news and weather reports. Although he was isolated, he need never be truly alone.

Breakfast was a large bowl of porridge, followed by biscuits with jam and more coffee. Yury was a very generous host. Roger complained of a slight headache and took two tablets from his first aid kit. Yury gave him a wry smile but Roger insisted that his condition had nothing to do with the vodka the night before. The sleeping bags were rolled up and stuffed into rucsacs together with the other bits and pieces they had taken out in the hut. Various layers of outdoor clothing were applied and the three men walked through the main door into what promised to be a fme day.

It was almost midday, much later than they had intended to start. They were loading Yury’s trailer when they heard the sound of a skidoo in the distance. They turned in the direction of the sound and watched as two headlights approached through the lowmist that clung to the floor of the valley. When they were close enough to see the drivers, Andy and Roger both recognised the uniforms at once. They turned to Yury. He seemed to recognise them as well. “Gentlemen, I think alternative transport has arrived”, he said without emotion. Andy and Roger were speechless as they mounted the machines and were driven off at high speed.

 On the way back to Pyramiden, they passed what looked like a seal lying on the ice in the middle distance close to an area of open water. A little further on, they saw a polar bear making its way down Billefjorden in the direction of the seal. Andy hoped the seal would get away in time...