The main party had improvised while we were stuck with the helicopters on the other side of the island. Using the ships supply boat (like a small military landing craft) they had managed to stock our first 'Team Rat' beach depot, with bait and fuel, ready for the aerial drop.
We flew in with style, arriving like the delayed cavalry finally charging over the hill (the vast iced snow dome of the Shackleton Gap) to see set before us on the beach a Herculean task in progress. We witnessed a gravel beach made smooth with massive sheets of plywood up which a huge 2 wheel trailer, looking for all the world like a chariot from Ben Hur, being pushed by the team ratters, the trailer brimming with pods and fuel. The pods weighed about 500kg and the fuel barrels about 200kg.
Normally the helicopters would be used to sling these loads off the ship to our temporary depots by the shore. In our enfored absence the team had improvised and now looked like slave extras from some religious epic film or Gladiator perhaps, bent under the lash as they forced the giant trolley up the beach, struggling with the weight and slope.
They took 2 days to unload what the 3 choppers would have done in 2 hours flying.
All around were the fabulous peaks of King Haakon bay. The depot was laid at a romantically named area called Peggotty Bluff. An unforgettable location to strain sinews for two days!
We aviators had simply floated down like sky gods over this scene of blood sweat and tears, in our winged chariots. Despite their exhaustion our teammates greeted us with great shouts and whoops of delight. No doubt that 2-wheeled massive trailer had become something of a chariot of torment to them. Here we were at last with our steely machines and shining smiles, ready to leap up into action.
…. And action we gave them. The next morning at a new location we zigzagged over the cold blue water, blades cutting the air in a frenzy of load lifting from the back of the ship where the team again worked hard to keep up with the incessant swooping and hauling of their noisy mini sky cranes.
We were an attacking task force, from the air this time. Ecological warriors. Time bandits ready to roll back the damage caused by invasive alien creatures marauding like pirates, on a primitive magical treasure island.
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