Seeds for Time

Raj thinks that today is the worst, saddest and most disappointing day that he has ever lived through. But for the moment, he is still alive and is about to execute the final mission of the Project. It is the late part of the warm season for the Antarctic region, with a full sun filled sky to assist Raj’s journey to the vault. He shifts the sled into travel mode.

He follows the raider’s tracks for a while until he nears the glacier’s base. Raj veers the sled to the west towards the worn path up the glacier. He has before dared a few trips to the vault by crossing over the glacier. The path is dangerous due to the rapidly melting ice. The fast changing conditions have created threatening cracks and crevices, some of from which a fall would be fatal. But each time he has traveled this path he has shaved off thirty to forty minutes of his travel time. He knows that he needs to be careful, but he makes haste anyway. He must make it to the vault before the raiders reach it.

Being outside in this open wasteland helps Raj feel a bit lighter, not as closed in and panicky. His thoughts and emotions have been in high gear since he came back from the last time trip mission. The land and sky help him find his center again. The bitter wind stinging against his face, delights him. This one last time to make this trip is all that matters at the moment.

His thoughts drift over the memories of his lost friends. The last few years of plagues and severe weather events have taken many. Everyone has lost someone. Now he has lost thirteen more, and they are the last friends he will ever know. He loves them all. He weeps as he drives. The tears are cold on his face and will freeze by the time he reaches the vault. He doesn’t wipe them away though, for they are for his friends.

Sweet Samantha. She held on to get him back. He owes her so much. Several times through the years Raj attempted to direct their relationship from being more than scientific colleagues and midnight lovers. But she always declined and chose to live independent.

Her strong will and inner strength, he has both admired and hated. Sometimes her stubbornness was cute and charming. Raj smiles at a memory, and sometimes her bullheadedness just pissed him off. He grieves over all of those memories now.

He is much higher on the glacier. He has reached a flat area that is allowing for a much smoother ride. He begins to play a scene in his head. He reaches the vault ahead of the raiders and secures it. He abides his time for a few days until the raiders are gone. The truth is, he doesn’t believe they are equipped to make a stand out in the bitter cold for very long.

Raj entertains his scene. After securing the last seeds deposit at the vault, with a fully charged power sled, he travels back to the base. He prepares graves for each of his team members. Once buried, he opens a bottle of scotch that he finds in the Director’s room. Well, he hopes the bottle is still there.

The terrain in front of him is jagged, broken and melted and he slows the sled’s velocity. It doesn’t look safe to travel upon. He directs the sled eastward, closer to the edge of the glacier. Not an ideal path to travel, but smoother and safer than the west lane.

Raj returns to his scene of his friend’s memorial. He will listen to his friend’s playlist and drink enough scotch to require ten hours of sleep. He will celebrate them all. The sadness over takes him as he suddenly realizes, “And then I will be alone. Until the end.”

The sadness blurs his eyes, he shakes his head and realizes where he is at and what he is doing. He is driving to the vault to secure it. Did he just doze off? He shakes off his imaginary scene and concentrates on the terrain ahead. His nose is bleeding.

Up ahead on the path, something moves. A flicker of ice shards and powder fly up from the path. The echo of gun fire reaches his ears and he slows the sled. He looks to the east and down the side of the glacier. The raiders are there. They have spotted him driving close to the edge, and at least one of them is shooting at him. The others are not. His calculating mind tells him that means they only have one gun that can reach this far. That improves Raj’s chances but still, he positions the sled in a western direction away from the edge, becoming less of a target.

As he speeds away he feels the sharp tear in his back before he hears the echo of the shot. A bullet has pierced him. “Damn!” Raj shouts, “Not now!” The bullet entered him in the middle of his back, missing the spine and exiting against the metal suitcase. He heard the “clink” and felt the vibration of the case. He knows he is losing blood but still believes he can complete the trip. He continues to direct the sled westward away from the line of fire.

His calculating mind is working out the factors of his current predicament. His emotional state and physical body are working on handling the pain and loss of blood. Raj slows the sled, he now knows he can reach the vault before the raiders. But he is starting to feel weak and tired. He concentrates on his breathing, trying to find a rhythm, a balance, slow and steady, a drum beat to lead him home.

The terrain is becoming more jagged and uneven, Raj is struggling to keep the sled upright. The burning wounds in his back and gut are slowly becoming numb. The extreme cold temperatures help in strange ways. He has some difficulty drawing in full breaths now, and the throbbing has returned to the lower part of his head.

In spite of his weakened state, his attention is sharp and focused on his surroundings. He slows the sled enough to allow his eyes the opportunity to scan the area. He sees traces of his sled tracks up higher and to the west.

He maneuvers the sled in the direction of the old tracks, because he remembers this part of the path. Just on the other side of the next raised ice hill, the path to the bottom of the glacier is fairly smooth. The seed vault is only a half a kilometer away from the glacier’s base from there. “Almost home,” Raj says aloud.

As he reaches the pinnacle of the ice hill, he stops the sled to decide his safest path down. His view of the descending terrain causes him great concern. Many cracks and crevices are present which had not been here during the last trip he made over the glacier.

This shelf of the glacier is not its highest point. The main glacier is still several kilometers tall. The area Raj is traveling over is only a half of a kilometer in height. He looks over several of the crevices in front of him and they appear to be deep, very deep. He starts the sled and begins to descend carefully, very carefully.

The pain in Raj’s head is increasing and he slows the sled even more. His vision blurs and he stops the sled to rub his eyes. He shakes his head and coughs to clear his throat, and then he vomits. He is becoming weaker and rest his head against sled. After a few minutes he recovers enough to straighten back up into a riding position. There is bloody vomit of the front of his jacket.

He views the path down and puts the sled into motion. Suddenly behind him, the ice gives way. A new crack is opening. He speeds up to avoid falling in the crack. Too late does he sees the next crevice in his pathway, he is almost upon it. He has to make a split second decision, slow down and veer to the side or speed up and try to jump the opening in the ice. He chooses the later.

The velocity of the sled is fast enough to clear the crevice. Raj’s skill at directing the sled over the crevice is well enough to bring success. The sled clears the crevice and slams hard into the ice on the other side. The ice opens with another crack and gives way, the ice beneath the sled begins breaking apart. On the journey down Raj is separated from the vehicle. In the present time zone, the fall occurs in only a few seconds, but to Raj, it is the journey of his life time.

The pain of the collision is blinding but Raj pulls his head in against his chest, attempting to roll with gravity’s pull. He wraps his arms tight around the metal case. Down into the crevice his body bounces, slides and bumps against the ice stumps and spikes, which are quickly filling the place where his body is falling.

The jagged ice rips and tears into his clothing and flesh. Each new wound sends a flash of colorful pain to his brain. His head strikes hard against a wall of ice and he loses his sense of direction. Is he falling down or up?

Raj suffers a head wound again. The back of his head feels wet and cold. He forgets he is falling and thinks of his favorite t-shirt. It’s faded and worn and fits just right. The front screen print on his favorite, red t-shirt is faded as well, but he thinks it looks cool, kind of gangster like. It is the outline of an hourglass. He hopes he is wearing it underneath his mission gear.

He cannot remember which year he is traveling to this time. His thoughts are becoming confusing, so he doesn’t concentrate on them. He sets his focus on his favorite t-shirt. That thought is fading now and everything is becoming dark. Silence falls. Raj stops.

Down at the bottom of the crevice, the body of Raj Patel lies. It is twisted, mangled and broken and turning the surrounding ice red, as his life fluids leak out. Deep down in the glacier’s crevice, Raj Patel still holds tightly the metal suitcase filled with seeds. The cold winds and elements will eventually mummify the body but its arms will still be clamped in a death grip, around the gift that is intended for the future. He has carried the case to a place of preservation, and he will continue to hold it for all of time. Mission accomplished.