Page 124 of Under Story

Silas nods. He knows Kenji from their walks.

Laurel says, “The ground that Papa and I came from is very far away.”

Silas looks at her solemnly. “Want to see.”

Laurel swallows. “You do?”

“Want to go to the place with the Pokémon.”

“Oh.” When she laughs, a tear spills over. “Is that the only reason?”

“Want to go with you,” Silas adds, sliding down under the coats.

“Oh, honey.” Laurel ducks below them, too, and wraps her arms around him. “Papa and I will never leave you. Wherever you go, I’ll go, my love. And wherever you’ll be, I’ll be.”

As she touches her forehead to his, her doubts about tomorrow dissipate. How can she choose not to try? Laurel is Silas’s mother. She must give him every chance to survive.

—

For most of the twenty-first century, McMurdo Station was comprised of sixteen sleek, high-tech buildings. In the 2030s, though, the US divested from Antarctic research. To recover expensive materials, the buildings were dismantled and replaced by low-tech, prefabricated units: the McMurdo Laurel knew.

Today, rubble lines the roads, and fuel tanks loll in the dirt. Still, she’s moved to see it, five years later: the Big Reds and cryptic signage; the peeling, bright blue paint. Someone has dragged a couch onto the snow and sits there, reading.

Only the Arc is missing.

The Astralis passengers stand in a huddle. Harry Cooke checks his watch; the travel influencer sets up her tripod. Laurel finds herself standing next to Pippa, who says, “I like your hat.”

“Oh,” says Laurel. “Thank you.”

They’ve never spoken before. The hat is red and white, with a pom-pom on top.

A crew member blows a whistle. The group walks toward the Chalet. This is where Laurel and Eli will diverge: he and Silas will tour McMurdo, and she will set out on her own.

“All right?” Eli murmurs.

She nods. His face is gaunt. When he opens his mouth, Laurel knows that he will give her an out and shakes her head to stop him. She kisses him, and he puts his hand to the back of her head. She understands that he is thanking her, and that he is afraid.

“Hey, buddy,” she says, crouching to Silas’s eye level. “How much do I love you?”

Silas leans into her. “Bigger than the world.”

It was what Pete used to tell Laurel. He signed his emails to her BTTW.

—

Laurel knows better than to stop and think. She hefts her backpack and case to the coffeehouse. On the Astralis, she sent a message to Louis with her arrival time, but he didn’t respond. She prepares herself for the fact that he may not be there—but as the Quonset hut comes into view, she sees him by the door. Approaching from the side, she taps his shoulder. He hesitates, looking cross, before he puts his arms around her.

“You’ve become a hugger,” she says, laughing. The Astralis’s chief mate glances over while herding a straggler from the pier. “Now act professional. I told them I’m meeting a colleague.”

“Let’s get to work,” says Louis, loudly.

He opens the door to the coffeehouse. She lugs the case inside. Sleds are affixed to the ceiling, and the wooden walls are warmed by lamplight. While they share a pot of coffee, Louis updates her on old gossip and new storylines. The cadence of his voice is a comfort. Laurel didn’t know how much she’s missed them, Louis One and Two both.

“I’m sorry that I never wrote,” she says. “So much has happened since I left the station.”

Louis turns his mug in his hands. “I heard you were on TV. I figured you’d gotten too posh.”

“Absolutely not.” After Laurel and Kwame’s article was published, word spread to the media, and they appeared on Good Morning America. “They didn’t even fly us out. The whole thing happened over Zoom.”