Freck had a question, "Is it just ice and snow where we's goin'?"

"Just endless miles of ice stretching the entire continent and deeper than core sample drills reach." Gee replied.

"How're we gonna land the plane without slippin' all over the place?"

"Did you know that the first aircraft to land at the pole was one just like this? It was a DC-3."

"You've got to be kidding!" I was shocked. It didn't occur to me right until that very moment that this big heavy airplane was gonna hafta land on ice. What if we broke through? What if we started slidin' and didn't stop? I couldn't imagine any way of landin' this hunk of metal that warn't disastrous.

"Take a few deep breaths Wishes." Gee advised me. "Aircraft like Ol' Grizz have been landing at the pole for over 25 years. It is unlikely that we will be the first to crash, especially with Captain Hoskins at the controls. Bobcat has safely landed at the Pole dozens of times."

"Well that's a relief," I said, but my insides was still creepy-crawlin' with the heebie-jeebies.

Freck asked, "Are we gonna stay in an igloo or sumpin'?"

Gee salamander-laughed, which sounds a lot like a cross between a loud sneeze and a snort. "That thought never occurred to me." (Sneeze/snort). Would you...(sneeze/snort) like to stay in an igloo?

"I don't like that idea at all. Sleepin' in a house made of ice cubes has gotta be colder than a frog's butt in winter."

"The good news Freck, is that the Top-of-the-World Keepers have a secret base of operations. It is stocked with food, drinking water, fuel for Ol' Grizz, warm clothing, beds, and electric heat for our comfort. Cookie will take charge of the kitchen. Traci and Robert (not Bob) will be with us to attend to any medical needs."

"What about the rest of the crew Bobcat, Sam, and Sandy? What will they do?"

"That will be decided on a daily basis as we make our search plans. We want to trace Admiral Byrd's flight, but it bound to be a real challenge. There is not a clear path to follow. It is like we have a waterlogged treasure map with smeared ink. Only small tantalizing bits are legible. In his log he wrote about trouble with the instrumentation. This is an excerpt from his diary: 'Both magnetic and gyro compasses beginning to gyrate and wobble. We are unable to hold our heading by instrumentation. Take bearing with sun compass yet all seems well. The controls are seemingly slow to respond and have sluggish quality but there is no indication or actual icing.'

"Other airplanes flying over the poles have reported odd electromagnetic interference. The kingdom's floaters are completely useless. We have tried, but they just go dead, like a battery that is out of juice. Keepers, Russians, Scandinavians, and many others have over flown, traveled by dog sleds, chugged along in snow cats, raced around in snowmobiles and everything else you can imagine to locate the entrance to hollow earth, but all have failed. Because of magnetic troubles, no one is able with any degree of accuracy even report back the routes they took. For all we know the poles may not have been crisscrossed by searchers at all. They may have just travelled the same old paths over and over again."

"And they expect us to find sumpin' no one else can. How're we goin' ta do that?" Freck was obviously exasperated.

I was too. Warn't it better for us to stay in Burns and help with rebuildin' than goin' ta a frozen wasteland on a stupid wild goose chase? I recalled that Grandma Chrys said we had the right ta decline a quest. "Freck, I'm thinkin' maybe we should go home. What do ya think?"

"Well," she said, "I don't like quittin', but it doesn't look like we've got a chance of findin' a flea on a buffalo. Maybe even less. But the Keepers are real anxious for us to try." It looked like Freck was gonna chew right through her bottom lip.

"Here's the thing," I mind-thought, "they musta already tried everythin' they could, but it didn't work. They wouldn'tive sent us if we warn't the last hope. Even still, I don't wanna waste a month, or more freezin' our tails off , and go back empty handed. What good would that do?"

"Wishes, stop bitin' your fingernails!"

(Dang I didn't know I was doing that.)

Freck kept on, "We could go back but we've never given up on anythin' yet. And . . . ever'time we've faced doom we's managed ta come out okay. We kissed the head of the Whistlin' Salamander, ain't that supposed to give us good luck for life? It'd be like spittin' in the face of good fortune if'n we didn't trust it ta work."

"True," I said, and spat a fingernail out on the floor. I don't normally bite my nails, but this has got me so danged flummoxed I didn't realize what I was doin'."

"You ain't forgot about our cigam abilities, have you?"

"What do you mean Freck?"

"I'm pretty sure we ain't done with cooperative cigam. When you, me, and Gee link up we do 'mazing things. Maybe that is why Grandma Chrys sent us out together. Let's give it a week. If'n we ain't made any headway by then, we can ask Gee to create a mind-mesh with us and the high council. What'd ya think?"

"I just had an idea. If the problem everyone encounters is caused by electromagnetic disturbances there must be a way to neutralize it."

"Wishes you are a genius." She gave me a hug and a peck on the cheek. It wasn't half bad.

"Okay," I stammered, "how the heck does that make me a genius?"

"Your notion gives us a startin' place. Maybe other people have had that same thought, but couldn't figure a way ta do it. I'm just sure that if we read up on it, and talk it over with Gee, we'll come up with sumpin'."

We spent the rest of the flight snuggled into our shock absorbing travel cocoons wearin' our noise silencin' headphones. If ya gotta fly in a piston driven DC-3, this is the way ta do it. The crew might be used to the shake, rattle, and roll, but not me.

◽️◽️◽️

I was amazed. Ol' Grizz landed smoothly. As far as I could tell, we didn't slip an inch. Once down, we turned right, and taxied toward the side of a hill. It was pretty bumpy like ridin' a bike over a fresh plowed field. When we got ta the hill the plane didn't stop. Great Gardiner! The captain was gonna crash us! I grabbed the arm rests, held my breath, and squoozed 'em for dear life waitin' for the expected crunch. Huh? There warn't no collision. "What the heck happened?"

Gee answered, "It is okay kids. The hillside only appears solid. The Keepers use a projector system to create the illusion of a snow covered hill. The hill is real, but it is hollowed out. That is why we did not crash."

"Projector . . .huh . . . ya mean like in a movie house?"

"It is the same principle. It is different in that it works in both daylight and in the dark. You could walk right up to the opening, reach out to touch it, expecting a frozen hillside right until your hand passes through it."

Freck jumped in, "Hey, that's nifty. I gotta get me one of them projectors. I'd set it up inside the doorway to my bedroom. Anyone passin' by would see a perfectly tidy room with a made-up bed, even if it was really a hot holy mess."

Gee did one of his sneeze/snort laughs.

"Maybe it could work in school too," I said. "What if ya didn't wanna be there, or ya got real sleepy? Ya could turn on the projector thingy and the teacher wouldn't know ya was gone."

Freck gave me one of them Oh Brother looks. It's something girls learn to do and boys not as much. They fold their arms over their chests, look over their shoulder, tilt their heads down, roll their eyes, and crook their mouths. Sometimes they tsk, tsk too. If ya get one of them looks, it means they think you're dumber than a box o' spit. "Wishes," she clucked, "that couldn't work. Not in a million, zillion years."

"Why not?"

"'Cuz silly, what if'n the teacher asked ya a question? You'd be found out for sure."

"Golly Freck, I didn't think of that. Teachers don't much like tricks played on 'em. If they found out there'd be heck ta pay; that's for darn sure. But what about you? Ain't ya thinkin' of trickin' your daddy? Wouldn't he get mad?"

"Sure would, and that's why I wouldn't do it even if'n I could."

"But you just said . . .?"

She jumped in b'fore I finished. "What girls say, and what they actually do are often two completely different things. Haven't ya figured it out yet?"

She had me there. I mumbled, "Guess not . . . but ain't that a lie?"

"No," she said with a lift of her chin, "everyone knows women get to change our minds. It's a rule that's written down somewheres."

"What if a guy changes his mind?"

"Oh Wishes . . .don't ya know that's not allowed?"

Gee salamander-laughed and said, "You had better give it up Wishes. It's a battle you can never win. There is male logic, and there is female logic. They are not the same. There has never been a male winner in that game, because from the girl's perspective it is okay to change the rules. They reserve the right, but if you change the rules, you will pay dearly,"

"That doesn't make no sense at all." I said.

Gee said, "And that is the point in a nutshell. Live and learn."

I still didn't get it.

◽️◽️◽️

We exited through the back of the plane. This hanger was really big. There was 'nuff room ta hold at least four more the size of Ol' Grizz. There ta meet us was a crowd of excited Keepers. It warn't everyday that they got to see Gee (the Whistlin' Salamander) and his celebrated students, Wishes and Freck. I guess it didn't matter where we go, Keepers already know 'bout us, and our adventures. It was kind'a nice, but what if our mission failed? Would they still be as eager to see us then, or would the shine be stripped from our armor?"

A Keeper stepped forward. He introduced himself as Frank, the Grand Keeper of the Top-of-the-World Kingdom. Freck couldn't hold back a giggle, "Really, your name is Frank?"

Grand Keeper Frank smiled and said, "I get that all the time. My parents were Topside for a long stretch. They loved the singing of Frank Sinatra, so they named me after him. It could have been worse, they might have chosen Bing. Bing is not a name it is a sound. If Frank bothers you, just call me FS."