A few days later, the Arctic Truck was arriving at the coast of the white continent. It stopped for a few minutes before adjusting its trajectory. In the car, a feminine voice could be heard:
"Don't you have something better than a paper map and a compass to help with directions?"
In response, a disdainful male voice that was a bit deep said:
"No way I'm using anything that can be connected if it can be avoided. Who knows when a voyeuristic pervert will want to get a look at you?"
"But most of the best tools nowadays are high-tech and have the option of being connected to all kinds of networks."
"Yes, and it brings many conveniences. But you won't know when someone is looking at you sharpening your tool or a cucumber through your computer, or through your phone if you prefer doing it in the toilet."
"Is that what you do?"
Offended, with the calm tone of the feminine voice making the comment all the more of a critical hit, the male voice cried:
"Miss, are you really amnesiac?"
While looking at the small smile in the corner of Estrella lips brought by the banter, Lucas happily stopped the car less than one hundred meters from the meeting point.
"4.5 days to get to the place, 2 days to get things done and 4 days to come back. Now we just need to wait for our taxi. He is late."
As he frowned at the end of his statement, Estrella also frowned:
"Why the discrepancy in the round trip duration?"
Lucas stopped smiling but didn't retreat into his usual indifference. He was just reminded of the tragic state she was in for his second time seeing her. In a low voice, he replied:
"When I chanced upon you, you were not just simply wounded. The wounds were made with a knife thus by a human being. Worse yet, you were placed like a bait in the middle of what could be likened to an improvised minefield. I saved you, but it took a bit of time."
Seeing her turn her away from him and stay quiet with a somewhat vacant gaze, he summarized that her circumstances she learned part of must have made her depressed so he tried to lighten the atmosphere:
"Hey, Helen, don't be all depressive on me. Look, how about I help you kill that depression before it settles down?"
"And how will you do that?"
Happy that she was responding, even if with a monotonous voice, he smiled:
"Of course with an atomic bomb. It's the goto way to kill impunately, a surefire way for not being held accountable for the casualties. With it, we will be thorough in resolving your little depression. What say you?"
In response he got a smile, a true one this time. Content with a job well done in chasing the bad weather away, he got out, stretched a bit and took a deep relaxing breath. Looking at his passenger that didn't seem interested in coming down, he asked:
"Not coming down to stretch a little and take a walk?"
"Not interested."
His lips twitched at her flat voice.
'You are lucky that I'm interested in you, making me care about your mental state and your mood.'
"I think you should, on the contrary."
She looked at him questioningly, at least that's what he deciphered.
"What healed you, did more than just that. You should try to get a feel and adapt to the changes it caused."
She seemed to think a bit before she came down and came close to him.
"You never explained how you healed me."
Looking at the sea with a distant gaze, he replied:
"A new era is coming. I'm at the forefront so I helped you start running too, before the beginning of the race."
She looked at him, and he couldn't help but remark that she was quite tall, a bit more than the almost 170 cm from before the baptism. And, her eyes seemed capable of making the conversation for her, like now when they seemed to saying 'I got the words, but the meaning was sh*t. Speak human language.'
Helpless, he could only try to be explicit:
"I was told that in the coming period, the world will inject new nutrients into the world. I don't know how, nor the changes it will bring. What I know however is that I touched upon the brewing nutrient, so I became different. Using myself as the medium, I helped you do the same so you too became different. Now it's up to you to manage what changed in you."
After a few breaths, Helen asked:
"Who told you about it?"
"Nobody important?"
While the dismissive answer certainly didn't satisfy her, she didn't pursue the questioning. They both stayed silent as they looked at the cold waters further away.
"I'm going to look at the penguins, you coming?" Lucas proposed suddenly.
"Why?"
"Why what? Why go look at the penguins or why invite you?"
"The penguins."
"Well, I don't know when I will be able to come back to sightsee but, with the taxi late, I can do it now. Either way, he will see the car so he will recognize it and wait. I just wonder if he made an interesting decision."
Not caring if his companion, temporary or not, understood the end of his statement, he took his backpack from the car and locked the latter while leaving the windows open.
'Always allow air to circulate.'
Nodding to himself, he thought of his research before coming to the south pole, determined a direction and started walking.
Helen was a bit stunned at the development. Along the way, apart from some moments of silence, Lucas was quite nice to her, trying to make her smile sometimes. But now, he seemed to change suddenly leaving her unaccustomed.
She just didn't know, with all Lucas had been through early in life when he didn't have a mature view to guide him yet and lacked a solid guidance toward a certain life's philosophy, while he managed to find some happiness in life, mostly by allowing himself to enjoy somethings, a certain emptiness was always there, making him indifferent for the most part and sometimes, making him brood about no particular subject.
An introvert feeling more at peace in his mind, away from the pain and sufferings.
Choosing to follow him, not like she had a better choice, Estrella Helen Specter and Lucas "Ghost" Specter started leaving footprints with their steps muffled by the soft snow, each with their personal story and going forward to what hopefully might become a common story, with each finding support in the other after allowing themselves to bond with life.