IC - Chapter Five - Onto The Ice

[Dave Syrinx]

From top of the shelf John surveys the Australian whaler from the vicinity of Adelaide. Trying to get bearings to where the entrance to the mess hall could be he makes his way towards the main structure of the iced deck. Holding a safety rope tied to a iced railing. As he gets close to the entrance he says to the others accompanying him, "Time for a picture, Jack?" John puts down his gear in front of the door and kneels by the pack and awaits the others to huddle up. The swarming icy snow flakes whip his chin as he tries a smile.

[Raiko]

On the deck of the SS Walleroo

SS Walleroo Layout

Wallaroo.png (127.04 KiB) Viewed 1178 times

John climbs aboard the Walleroo just forward of the mid-ships superstructure, and begins leading the others aft. The superstructure, where the bridge, mess and most of the cabins will be located is still intact, but everything aft of that has either been destroyed by the apparent boiler explosion, or is completely encased within the iceberg.

The forward deck of the ship is weathered and warped by the pressures of the ice and everything is covered in a layer of guano and rime.

Ahead of them as they approach the superstructure the explorers can see several bodies laid out on the deck outside the cabins in two neat rows, they look to be frozen solid and in several cases the remains are completely covered by ice. Turlow grimly mutters a prayer as they approach the bodies.

[Decrepit]

Feeling ghoulish, Jack takes some pictures of the deck and the bodies. He'd seen plenty of dead bodies in his day, and he would have thought the war would've inured him to queasiness about seeing them. But something about the way these were laid out made his heart sink.

[Dave Syrinx]

Passing Jack, John walks towards the cargo holds, to see if there are any means of gaining access to see what she was carrying.

[Steerpike]

McRaven grimaces slightly as Jack takes pictures of the dead crewmen.
"Why would they leave dead outside?"

[amarriner]

Isugtag walks up to the bodies and kneels down beside the closest one. It's certainly not the first time he's seen a frozen corpse, but that doesn't make it any more pleasant. He can't help but wonder the same thing McRaven does, and why they'd be lined up like this? Who lined them up? It's probably not likely that whoever it was would dutifully lie down at the end of the line to pass away so there has to be another body somewhere ...

[Dave Syrinx]

"Either someone took them outside to avoid getting infected by something they have...But then I would have burned them, or thrown them overboard." John thinks for a moment. "It could be a warning to trespassers." With even more resolve he closes in on the cargo holds. (If someone went through this much fuss to deter others from getting on board - what were they hiding?)

[Steerpike]

"Well whatever the reason, I'm pretty sure we'll find more...I think we should get to the bridge and find the Captains cabin...if we're lucky he may have kept a detailed log"

McRaven looks aft and then up at the ice encrusted superstructure of the bridge.

"Come on guys, at least moving around will keep us warm, then we can see what happened to these poor bastards"

[Ghost_1971]

"I think it's most likely, that the last survivors lined them up outside like this, just to preserve the bodies, and so they didn't have to look at them. Probably there are other remains inside somewhere." says Callum.

He follows Bill and the others to the bridge...

[Henrik]

Olof continues watching the boarding party from afar.

OOC: How much detail can I make out with a pair of binoculars? I do not know the magnifying strength of these things.

[OrionUK]

James, relieved that he made it to the deck with no mis-hap, stops in his tracks when he sees the lines of bodies. He knew the expedition would be dangerous but having lost 2 of his colleagues during the storm & seeing bodies laid out like that just brings it home even more luckily, having the sense of adventure that he has, James doesn't let the grim discovery let him waiver for long.

"Probably a good idea McRaven" James agree's and heads over in the direction that his team mate has started walking off in.

[amarriner]

Isugtag pauses just a moment longer by the stacked bodies. What the others say is probably true, but something just seems wrong to him still. Nothing he can quite put his finger on, but it bothers him just the same. Finally he stands up and makes his way towards the bridge and his companions.

[Dave Syrinx]

John sees the others team up at the bridge construct. He halts his trail towards the cargo holds. "We´ll leave these for later, then." He keeps om steady feet as he joins up with the others. As he glances at the Gabrielle he waves to Olof by the railing.

[Raiko]

From closer up, it is apparent that a few of the bodies have had limbs torn off, probably during the boiler explosion.

McRaven and Callum lead the others up the outside stairs to the bridge deck, there is a heavy build-up of ice over the bridge door, this will take some shifting...

OOC:

Spoiler:

Up to three of you can attempt to clear the ice at once.

*****

On the bridge deck of the Gabrielle Olof can see the boarding party make their way aft along the main deck, they pause to examine something then walk a little way forward again, taking stairs up to the bridge deck.

He can still see them, but he’ll loose sight as soon as they enter the bridge.

[amarriner]

Isugtag begins clearing the ice from the bridge door. The work is hard, but he's enjoying it. It takes his mind of the gruesome sight of the bodies.

[Dave Syrinx]

John uses the climbing axe to clear a patch on the opposite side of Isugtag. "Hopefully the inside is less iced..."

[Henrik]

As Olof sees how the boarding party disappears into the whaler, he will go indoors and warm himself, getting a book and reading about the geology of Antarctica.

[Steerpike]

McRaven watches Isugtag and John hack away at the ice...he'd help but its crowded round the door and it would be too easy for someone to get in the way of a pick. Instead he takes to stamping his feet up and down every now and then, in an effort to keep warm while watching his companions work away at the ice.

[Dave Syrinx]

As he´s hacked away with the pick axe, creating a couple of pockets, where the iced door meets the door frame , John pours salt in the holes and takes a step back. Watching as the salt eats its way to the corroded metal door. "Save your strength mate, we just wait a sec!" John looks at Isugtag for comfirmation.
---------------------------------
After a few minutes of regaining strength he lays a last hand the door, clearing off the last slush from the frame connecting to the door´s face.

[Raiko]

The salt does the trick and soon John and Isugtag have got bridge door open. Unfortunately the bridge itself is quite bare, stripped of any useful equipment or information.

A set of stairs leads down from the bridge back to the deck below; the captain’s cabin is probably very close to the bottom of the stairs. It’s very dark down there, but fortunately several flashlights have been brought along.

****************

Back on the Gabrielle, Olof, Kitt and Graves have now lost sight of all the boarding party; there is little that they can do now but wait.