Frozen Earth

Snow, ice and terrible cold engulfed the world in a perpetual blizzard. Then slowly, crushing all before them, the glaciers came to reclaim their long lost empire. And even the might of man with his mastery of the atom could not stand against them for long.

Until the early twenty first century man believed, in his folly, that he had subdued the earth completely and had not hastened to spread his seed beyond the confines of a single world. Now; his ongoing existence is in grave doubt.

The old ‘temperate’ zones are emptying, the population fleeing between the tropics, where the infrastructure is least equipped to support them. War has already erupted over the warmer, habitable land and its limited resources. Millions are dying and within a few years; civilisation as we know it may be gone for good. The life of man will have come full circle; reverting to a simple, more primordial state. Day to day survival is the only concern now in the minds of men. Science is grinding to a halt, worse may be to come; much of the knowledge gained over thousands of years could be lost. But there is always hope. For in a few isolated places, things are different.




Dan was eighteen and if there’s one thing he disliked in the world today it was the cold. Actually dislike was far too feeble a word for it. He hated the cold. It got everywhere; no matter how warmly he wrapped himself up it would seep through his clothes like an intruder slowly numbing every part of his body. And snow, he wasn’t too keen on that stuff either. His dad sometimes joked saying he should be grateful. Ha! Dan didn’t find it very funny. He said around the time Dan had been born people had been very concerned the world was heating up. The atmosphere had been pumped full of man’s gaseous waste products for over a century and consequently, the warmth from the sun was radiated too slowly back into space. It was called the green house effect. Dan allowed himself to fantasize about a huge green house poised above the earth heating him with welcome rays.

But that was before the solar catastrophe. Astronomers had started talking about the sun spot cycle and how it had entered a new phase. Less than five years later it became world news as mean global temperatures fell by a full four degrees. The year after that; the average global temperatures were down eight degrees. The year after that winter seemed to last all year long.

Dan’s family had been one of the lucky ones. Born in the relatively rich, developed country of the United Kingdom; shelters had been built and stocked with food so whole communities could survive the worst months of the long winter underground. His family had been amongst the ones selected to live in the Kentish Shelter. Many had not. When the inhabitants of Kent warren; as they called it, emerged after their first full winter underground, ten years after the new solar cycle had started, they found no one on the surface was left alive.

A great deal of the population had fled the country looking for warmer climes. Ironically the countries that had previously been a source of many refugees, like the poorest countries of Asia and Africa had become the desired destination for many westerners. Not much was known of this time, the media had by this time fled either underground or abroad like everyone else. Some said war had engulfed the overburdened warmer countries as more and more foreigners flooded in. Some saw that nuclear weapons had even been used. Others said that they had all died of hunger. Most people did not have time for the luxury of thoughts beyond how they were to survive the next winter.

This is the world of snow and ice that Dan had grown up in. He could remember no other, save in his earliest, foggiest memories and in the stories he read whilst cooped up underground during the long winter months. And yet he longed for the summer and for the sun to shine on his face and bring the real warmth of yesteryear, not the weak rays it produced today. They were barely enough to penetrate the perpetual grey blanket of cloud that lay overhead like a shroud.

Just put one foot in front of the other; that’s all I can do, he told himself. Trudge, trudge through the virgin snow. At the height of summer; late July, the snow was only a few inches deep: thin enough for him to travel without snow shoes. He’d even managed to work up a sweat as he progressed through the outskirts of what had been the great city of London; it would soon freeze on his body he thought if I lessen my pace. So he pushed on towards the spike of man made metal that thrust into the sky, his goal. Most of the buildings were gone now, collapsed under tonnes of snow but here and there some architecture remained; testament to the golden age of man. Soon everything would be gone, he thought. It was like the planet was being wiped clean of infection, a few tenacious microbes like he still hung onto a reduced existence, but for how long? Every year it was harder to gather enough supplies to survive the winter. And every year their numbers dwindled.

Upon emerging from Kent warren this year they had been unable to contact any of their neighbours. It was standard procedure to establish radio contact with the nearest Warrens once the snows had receded and co-ordinate efforts to gather supplies. But none had responded. The general consensus was that the radio masts had been damaged. So here he was, trudging towards this metal monstrosity. The tower housed Satellite Navigation equipment and it was hoped that Dan, with his knowledge of technical matters would be able to contact an orbiting satellite. This could be used to send an amplified signal to the other warrens. Dan also was hoping it could relay some pictures down and give him a birds eye view of what was going on in the world. He wondered why no one else had had this idea.

Eventually he reached the base of the tower. Initially he could not find the door, but once he circled its base once he found it; half submerged behind a snowdrift. In the middle of winter Dan estimated that over half this tower would be under the snow. He scooped up shovelfuls of snow until he could get access to the door handle; and with all his might he pulled it. Nothing happened. It was stuck fast. The handle hadn’t even moved, it must be frozen fast. Dan bent over to examine it. Hopefully now that the snow was cleared away it would melt so he could get in.

Whilst he was still bent over, examining the lock, Dan saw something move in his peripheral vision. He straightened and turned quickly but he could see nothing; just a vast white openness with the occasional dilapidated building. Dan was about to dismiss it when he noticed something very strange. Ever since he could remember the wind had blown from the frozen north, he had read that it was due to the convection currents set up in the atmosphere by the cooling of the earth. But the snow drift covering the door was on the south side of the tower. By rights it should be clear of snow. Dan checked the position of the sun, a hazy blob dimmed behind the constant cloud. Yes he was definitely standing on the south side of the tower. He looked around himself again. He was now quite afraid. Not a few born of panic or paranoia, but a much more serious kind of fear. The fear born of knowledge and understanding.

Dan could still not see anything, just barren white snow that went on forever. Turning back to the door he renewed his efforts to open it. Taking a claw hammer from his belt Dan tapped lightly on the handle and was rewarded. Once the snow had been removed the ice in the mechanism had begun to melt and with a little patience the handle moved down. Pulling the door open with a grunt of effort Dan peered up into the darkness. A spiral staircase lead up into the tower.

A throaty growl broke the silence. The hairs on Dan’s neck stood up and he held himself rigid. Slowly he turned, his hand gripping his claw hammer tightly. In front of him stood a snow leopard. Its feral eyes were fixed on Dan, long teeth gleaming as bright as the snow. It was crouched, muscles bunched ready to pounce on him.

Dan knew he was no match for the leopard, it could tear him limb from limb! But the door stood ajar behind him, if only he could live long enough to get through it! The great cat was totally still, its huge eyes staring into Dan’s.

Without warning Dan slung his hammer as hard as he could into the Cat’s face. It was far faster than him, of course and swiped it away with one disdainful paw. But it gave Dan the time he needed. Dan fell backwards through the door and twisting round, sprinted up the stairs.

To be continued…..