Oxygen

04:32 am

13 November, 2014

Yang Research Centre, Antartica

To say that right at that moment Stephanie Yang was cold, it would be a serious under-statement. She was freezing. Standing in the middle of Antartica she was certain that in the time it would take to reach dawn, she would be frozen over, buried under a large amount of snow and ice.

However, despite the harsh temperatures and massive winds, Stephanie was incredibly happy. Even ecstatic maybe. Right before her, covered under fifty feet of packed ice was quite possibly her biggest discovery yet. If she was right, it could be the best scientific find in history.

"I don't understand, Steph." A voice yelled to her from behind. She turned to her navigator almost immediately behind her, rugged up so tight that his bright blue eyes were barely visible. "Why are we drilling right now? Can't we wait for morning? There's no light, we don't have the appropropriate equipment and we're all dead tired. There could be an accident."

"I've already explained to everyone. They understand." She replied, stuffing her frozen hands under her armpits to try and keep them warm ... er.

"Well obviously not. I still don't know." He replied, yelling against the wind.

Stephanie sighed, her breath coming out white and frosty and she realized she wouldn't be able to say anything properly if they were standing out there. Motioning for him to follow her back to the 'trailer', she trudged through the snow trusting that her comrades would continue working on their digging.

Opening the door into the 'trailer', Stephanie entered first before closing the door behind both of them, the wind and cold dying down when the 'trailer' was secured. She turned the heater up high and blew on her hands before collapsing onto one of the chairs in the research centre's control room.

"What don't you get James? Tell me. I don't know why you didn't hear me talking about it before. I told the whole team." Stephanie told him sternly in the way that only a boss could.

"Steph, if you don't remember, I was talking to your father on the phone about our research and expedition. For you, might I add. May I ask why you're not talking to the man who created this entire project? The one who gave you the money and supplies you need?" James asked.

"No, you can't. I have some very important business going on outside which needs supervision. You have two minutes with me." She commanded.

"Tell me, what's going on."

"Three hours ago, Keilan and I were surveying the area, checking to see if everything was alright. The routine we've done for the past six weeks. This time though, there was a crack in the ice. Keilan spotted it and studied it. There was a gas leaking out of it. Not oxygen, something different."

"What was it?" James asked, frowning as he sat down across from her.

"I got a sample and took it back to the lab in here. For some reason, both Keilan and I thought that it was too important to send back to headquarters and wait a year. We found something remarkable when we ran it through the computers database of elements and all known substances. The computer didn't know what it was." Stephanie continued.

"What!?"

"It was entirely new. Never heard of before. This gas - it has never existed before in history. A new element. The amount we collected wasn't enough so I decided that we should drill down, approximately 50 feet. This could be the break we've been waiting for. The thing that will send us home and get us - hell, the Nobel Peace Prize even!"

The door to the 'trailer' slammed open and three heavily clad people came in, snow resting on their shoulders. Stephanie shot up and faced her workers, however, they were speaking before she could even ask a question.

"We've found it. 20 feet down and we reached a ginormous cavern that disappears into darkness. Our flashlights couldn't reach the bottom. Who knows how deep it is."

"Well, we're going to find out." Stephanie replied, running towards the equipment room before she'd even finished speaking.

------------------------------------------

Stephanie's breath was loud in her ears as she was lowered into the massive cavern that had been hidden for so long beneath the icy ground. The breather across her mouth continued to pump oxygen into her lungs, the device being used in case the gas they had found was deadly or even slightly poisonous.

"Testing, testing. One, two, three." A voice yelled close to her head, almost making her jump. The little earpiece attached to her ear was keeping her connected with the rest of her team above.

"I can hear you Connie. No need to be so loud." Steph replied, looking back up the hole.

"Sorry." Connie said and it was as if she could even feel her cringe. "How's it going down there?"

"Good. I can't see much at the moment but I'll turn on my flashlight and get a better look when I reach the bottom. I think though, this gas is clear. It doesn't have any particular kind of colour and there's no audible sound. It's almost similar to oxygen."

"Oxygen?" Connie asked.

"Yeah."

There was a sharp intake of breath from Connie before the rope Stephanie was holding on to began to rise back up. "Stephanie, I'm so sorry."

"What's going on?" Steph commanded but there was no answer.

"Answer me Connie. I'm your boss." She continued, louder this time. She kept her cool though, as she knew that becoming scared or afraid would just put her in even more of a perilous position.

"Your ... your breather isn't working. It just cut out suddenly. The ... the batteries died." Connie told her.

"What if ..." There was a long moment of silene before Stephanie began to talk. She stopped again. There was a pause on the other end of the line as Connie waited for her to continue talking.

"What if what?" Connie said.

"This new gas. We don't know anything about it. It could literally be anything. It could have different colours, it could taste different or even feel a certain way but it's so close to oxygen. It hasn't affected me in any way ... yet. Keilan must've before inhaled it before when we found the split in the ice. He's fine as well. What if, this new gas, is actually a different kind of oxygen? One that isn't harmful to us."

"Harmful? We need oxygen. It's what keeps us alive."

"No. The thing we need most is killing us. A few friends of mine back in England have discovered the oxygen is actually deadly to us. It just takes around 80 years to kill us, depending upon the strength of your immune system. Human's were never meant to die."

"Do you think it could be a substitute? A different option?" Was the reply in a hushed tone. She could tell that her second-in-command was beginning to understand the possible importance of this discovery.

"Maybe. We'll need to take a better look at it when we get back to main headquarters but ... If I'm right. If this 'gas' could save us all. Well, this could quite possibly change the future."