Loki hadn't finished reading when I parked near the whaling station in Bouvet Island.The windshield only shows the blinding rays of snow flying out of the cloudy sky; usually,Bouvet Island has light snow in which anyone can walk through and see through when it is coming down.I know my way around to the main base after a year working on that island so fortunately nature's fury could not send me the wrong way.

"We're here." I said, taking the keys out of the ignition.

Loki held up his index finger still engrossed into the paper.

"James Patterson didn't write that report." I said,jokingly. Loki puts his hand down on the arm rest. "Maybe the actual person will get recognition one day for making an addicting report."

Loki ignored my reply as his eyes--they stood out in the white scenery, pretty bright--were going this way and that. He hadn't moved his seating position for countless house. I realized then that my attempt at humor had fallen flat right into an ugly coal.

"So much for trying." I muttered to myself, turning off the radio.

Humor is not in my best skills.

Why not turn the heat off on Loki?

Brilliant, it'll take long for him to notice that I am gone.

That is if he forgets I told him to get out after getting Bouvet Island style prepared.

I unbuckle myself then reach over to the backseat and grab a big gray coat with brown fur around the hood. So much for being prepared on an island left into perpetual winter. I take the coat back into the front seat. I take my hot red high heels off then toss them into the back seat. I put my feet into long winter boots set alongside the two floorbased parts for accelerating and stopping. I take out a hat from the hood and put it on my head. I get two gloves out of the large coat pockets then put them on, put on ear muffs for my exposed ears, and get on the big warm coat. I wrapped a scarf around my neck for extra caution; no one wants a neck-freeze-bite.

I've been doing this for a year.

I put the keys into the left hand coat pocket, next, I open the door.

Well that soon alerted Loki to what he had been ignoring. Loki glances up off the paper towards the windshield. The surprise on his face is kind of unique in the history of 'Teenage gods' not really written down in a book.Not many people have the chances to meet a teenage god.

Well, my story is different.

Loki's expression turned into dread as he saw the pouring snow masking whatever is in the distance.

"No wonder you had a bad sun tan." Loki said. I open the driver side door hearing the wind's unusual chilly sound. "You were over layered."

I step out of the car pretending not to hear.

I shifted towards Loki's direction mustering my best serious look.

"Loki; ass out of the car." I said.

Loki looks so defensive in a way that makes him look cute.

"Its so white out there," Loki said. "And cold looking might I add."

"Don't be a chicken," I said. "Gods can withstand the cold. There's no excuse being a god!"

"Fine." Loki said, defeated.

I shut the driver's side door then take the keys out of the pocket and twirl the center metal item around my fingers.

"But I am not done reading this report written by Major Alan Schaefer!" Loki shouts back.

I flip the keys in my hand. After all those hours of driving I've become a sort of a night bird.Actually I kind of cheated by sleeping for a couple hours with the car on Autopilot mode--Loki had been reading intently at that time--on the way to Bouvet Island.My boots crunched in the snow.A dark feeling grew in my gut in a way that could easy out match a paranormal gut feeling in a imaginary stage of boxing.

Fifteen minutes after I got out and headed my way to the base--built across from the abandoned whaling station--I heard even more bigger crunching. The sound of these crunching made me think of bad dress shoes going bad in the heavy big fluffy snow.I pressed on the red button on the black device activating the protection-concealer-hibernation.

Several years ago there was a discovery of a unique alien nest in SouthEast Asia.There was quite a fuss between the nations what to do about it--surprisingly The Philippines recoiled at the thought of sending in civilians to check out the next--for a couple days. Those couple days were deadly to those who bothered going; that resulted in the deaths of a hundred people.Even in those deadly days there was a group of survivors who managed to somehow get these son of a gun aliens dead.Funny thing is The Philippines couldn't stop its own people from being curious as to what had discovered by a Janitor.

They dubbed the alien as 'Xenomorph'.

"Have you ever come across one of these Xenomorphs?" Loki asks.

"Nope." I said, but then I pause. I had to give it some thought about the idea never meeting one face to face. "Well, if you count remains."

"Uh huh," Loki said. "You call them Xenomorphs and you have not seen these fabled aliens for yourself! How can they be real when they sound to be made out of mortal imagination?"

I shook my head continuing my walk.

"Tell that to the survivors." I said.

"Survivors?" Loki repeats, puzzled.

"You skipped a page." I said.

"But there was not any mention of survivors." Loki said.

"Did you just stare at one page and think about how to pick apart these aliens to be fiction?" I ask.

"No." Loki said. "I read...some pages."

"You must be a bad liar or be a bad page skipper." I said.

"I am not a page skipper." Loki denies.

"You missed a couple pages." I said. "That says it all."

I had to yank my boots out of the snow as we approached closer and closer to the outrageously tall door to gray snow covered building. Even with an argument in hand about skipping pages Loki is the one who insists I am wrong and he is the one who is absolutely right. Well, if only that were true. The door looks short and chubby because of the really tall snow levels.Usually when there is not that much snow there isn't a short chubby door that has a couple walking platforms for each snow level it is currently outside.

"You're wrong." Loki said.

Loki goes past me--coatless!--with skin such a gentle color blue I almost thought he was Paul Bunyan's friend ox 'Babe' and Loki's eyes glowing red as a wet rose. I decided not to reply figuring it would only end up into a confusing argument knowing Loki. I swear the stories about Loki's arguments I told Polly had cracked her up much to my horror.

"He's such a Rapidash." I mutter to myself. Really, Loki is like a shiny Rapidash bred for winter just without magic but capable of plowing through hard snow. It is like Loki is on fire, really, that's how it seems to me.

I kept up the slow pace taking my sweet time to get each boot out of the snow slowly becoming heavy to get through by each step. Fortunately the abandoned whaling station is much easier to walk around. I've been complaining to Fred about there needing an instant teleporting device just so I wouldn't have to waste so much energy walking in hard snow.

When I finally got to the door, Loki is leaning against the right hand tight corner glaring at the security camera.I knock on the door three times with heavy thuds. A blue panel appeared beside the handle requesting for the password.

"Everything needs passwords to get in anywhere." Loki complains.

"And paperwork." I added. I lower myself to the blue panel. "The password is Manila; 5,5,1998."

"Password accepted." The machine went.

The door opens on its own.

"May 5th 1998," Loki said as I straighten up. "Why a date?"

"It's not the date that matters," I said. "It is fear of forgetting our worst nightmare."

I walk into the room brushing off what remains of snow that landed on my shoulder.

___ ___

"How long is this elevator going to continue?" Loki asks.

"Five more minutes." I said, calmly.

Loki sharply glares over towards me in the meanest way possible.

"You said that five minutes ago." Loki said, sounding angry and frustrated.

I look down to the bar graph item similar to a screen near the elevator doors.

"That's because we do have five minutes left." I said.

"There is no we." Loki said.

I have a short lived laugh at his reply.

"As there is two people in this room; you're wrong." I said,holding up two of my fingers. "Smart-ass."

Loki gawks at me.

"Is that what you do for the entire hour before you do work?" Loki asks. "Stand there and think?"

Much as he amused me that really wasn't true.

"No," I said. "I read.Helps the time go faster."

"And you didn't bring a book this time." Loki said, hissing at 'this time' in a way best compared to him accusing me of being a spy for Russia.We all know how ludicrous that is; me, being a spy, for a nation: with restricted internet.

I sigh then point to the side of my head.

"That's because it is all in here." I said,tapping on my temple.

The elevator finally stopped.

"Finally!" Loki said.

The door opened to reveal a sleek, pretty,and pristine lab.

"What the Muspelheim leaves this room clean so well?" Loki asks.

I went through the door snickering.

"Cleaning up after ourselves, smart-ass." I said.

I've long since gone to believe Muspelheim meant Hell in Norse Mythology.

"Can you stop saying my ass is smart?" Loki asks.

"Not until you're grown up." I said. "And what is Muspelheim?"

"You can call it a literal hell." Loki said. So I am right, I thought walking down the hall in black high heels. All the coatware are in the first floor in a cubby huge enough for me. "And then there is Helheim in Niflheim. Helheim is the underworld realm. Niflheim is where life goes back to in the end."

"So helheim is hell?" I ask, puzzled.

Loki shrugs.

Loki, actually, just shrugged.

"If you think of it that way." Loki said.

I rub my forehead using my right hand.

"...Oh my god you're confusing." I said, shaking my head and then take my hand off my forehead.

Ron and Fred are over the table observing a long wide black shield like park that is not a shield.They still sat in their seats.

"Hey Emily." Ron and Fred said at once staring at the part--that we all agreed on calling the black scale--still confusing to biology and science.

"You know, the black scale is not going to move." I said as Fred handed Ron a wrapped up BLT.

"It moved." Fred said.

"By an inch." Ron adds,unwrapping the BLT.

"By the way," Fred starts to say.

"There's already a hole." Ron finishes for Fred. Ron has an Australian accent, big muscles, a little blonde mustache growing, and wild blonde hair that should belong to a cowboy in Night at The Museum. "Came up while you were getting beauty sleep. We didn't make it, matey."

Ron takes out a bite from the BLT--miraculously not making a mess--and chewed with his mouth closed. I swear the law of gravity gives Ron an exception because every cheeseburger related product never ceases to make a mess while being eaten.Ron is the neat-freak kind of man; in a good way.

"Are these two twins?" Loki asks.

"No." Fred and Ron said.

"They're just really good buddies." I said,with a slight nervous laugh. "Guys,are you serious about the hole?"

Ron points over to the not-living-metal-long-engine hood black thing.

"It moved before the blast came in." Ron said.

"From outer space," Fred said. "The defining blast of circle fans came from the stars a few hours ago."

"So you're saying this thing moved right before it happened?" I ask, finding it odd.

Loki came over to the side of the table and looks down towards the black shield item. It seemed as though he was going to start a imaginary glaring contest with Fred,Ron, and the black alien shield. Ron held up a black remote towards the mobile gigantic and very neat projection board set up in front of the right hand wall right across.

A blue blazing blast shot through the sky burning away pieces of a building--well, actually, a very neat half of a circular is missing from the side--right in the way to the area where the heat bloom is coming from. The solid wall disappeared shortly after the blue blast had mysteriously went away. My jaw went slack and the shock I felt right then is strange. Strange because something likes this--other than surviving bombings, chasing a guy through comic-con, and getting a flying advanced car--is what an average human is not fortunate to see every day. Loki didn't pay any attention to the screen.

The screen turned black and went away into whiteness blending into the projection board.

"See?" Ron said, after gulping down what he had chewed. "We're not lying about that sort of deal!"

"This is too surreal." I said.

"You didn't look over to the whaling station, Emily." Ron said.

"No?" I said. Ron takes another bite out of the BLT. "Walking through the snow is one thing but tugging your boots out of the heavy snow is a task that requires complete focus and attention."

"You need new boots." Fred said.

"No," I said. "I don't. These pair do quite fine."

"They do fine in American Winter." Ron said. "This is Bouvet Island Snow!" Loki had made a little field of ice to shield himself from any breadcrumbs or any sort of mess that tossed off the BLT that is being waved from side to side. "Not snirt, not fluffy snow,and light snow."

"Snirt." Loki repeats.

"Yeah, snirt." Ron said.

"I thought I heard you say 'shirts'." Loki said.

Fred burst out laughing and his face turned a tomato red.

"What?" Loki said, clueless. "What's so funny about a whole island of shirts making it hard to walk through."

I resisted a very well known urge to laugh at Loki.

"Loki, imagine yourself doing that." I said. "But wearing poor boots adjusted to easy-going air."

"I don't get it." Loki said.

Fred walks away and his laughter echoes down the hall.

"I was giving an example." I said. Ron dropped his BLT into a trash can; he must have lost his appetite. "Apparently kids like you don't understand comparing examples."

"Yes, they do." Loki said.

"...Matey, have you heard of Autism and Aspergers?" Ron asks.

"No," Loki said. "What is it?"

"You're the defining rocket about them, just,..." Ron put his elbow on the counter bending his fingers forward. "More able to control yourself, lets say,without needing medicine."

"You don't need medicine to control yourself." Loki said.

"There are some people who do." Ron said.

"Such as?" Loki asks.

"People with Multiple Personality Disorder,people who panic too much,people who have a real condition involving involuntary laughter, paranoid people, people with injuries," Ron lists. "It is a disability."

"But why medicine?" Loki asks.

Ron stares point blank at Loki, in all seriousness asides,with a raised eyebrow.

"Now here's my question," Ron said. "Are you a blonde?"

Loki frowns, etching his right eyebrow forwards--well, more like hunched really--leaving the other eyebrow in place.

"I do not have yellow hair." Loki said. "You see my hair color is black."

"There are some who are color blind in this room." Ron said.

I stare at Ron in shock, because; one, he's never told me anything about his ordinary day to day life self--even though I've worked with him for a couple months--back at home.I felt so shocked but now it made sense why he mistaken my hair to be black on the second day I turned up for work.

"What color is my hair to you?" Loki asks.

"Blonde." Ron said.

"I don't have blonde hair." Loki said.

"Color blind, matey." Ron said.

"Stop calling me 'matey'," Loki said. "You are not a pirate!"

"What is there to call you?" Ron asks. "Aussies don't have any 'genius' nicknames for fellows such as you."

"Call me Loki." Loki said.

"Ikol?" Ron asks.

"No, Loki." Loki said.

"Okay, Ikol." Ron said.

I had my attention on the black shield.

"Stop being stubborn," Loki said, in a demanding tone. "And call me by my birth name."

"Right, Ikol." Ron said.

The black shield seem to budge during the argument between an Aussie and Frost Giant. If anyone were to tell Ron to stop call them 'matey' he would go ahead and dub them by their name spelled backwards; always. Even when greeting them. Lets say he did that to me for awhile until I apologized.

I picked up the black shield--for the first time in several months--using my hands.

It had been found during the initial beginning digging into the wall that lasted for a couple days until a annoying snow storm set in. That item is one of many that had been found in the search.So we've been studying the found material to see what it could be while the other people suppose to come were getting their training in for this one trip.

Underneath the black shield is a row of technology related parts entangled by some other related machinery.I turn to the right then walk away from the ensuing argument down the hall.I feel around the raised up elevated area feeling a familiar shape.

A familiar shape that didn't just come from Earth environment but somewhere else. I felt R and the big G alongside each other. Could it be possible?, I thought taking the black shield into the sink and turn on the water facet. I squirt some soap into it then grab a sponge then go after the mysterious top layer--not the backside--until I could tell there is a prominent evidence of 'RG' together. I clean the raised bumpy edgers until there were evidence of metal with hints of rock.

Rock Giant?,I thought, Rock Giants have been here too.

But that doesn't make sense when there is technology below.

I turn it over looking to the backside.

I cleared my throat and a little sigh came out.

This used to be some relevant piece of Rock Giant culture and been twisted into some other use. I saw what seemed to be a pair of long gray metal legs similar to a robot spider hooked in below. Thud,thud, thud went Fred's boots along the floor. Fred's boots are significantly different to American Boots as they were made in some nation that slips out of my mind.

"Hey big Em!" Fred said, his face clear of any redness. "What'cha washing?"

"Uh, the big alien thing." I said, holding it up.

Fred tilts his head.

"What the hell is that underneath it?" Fred asks.

"I don't know." I said.

"That look on your face tells me otherwise." Fred said.

"Well, my face is wrong." I said.

"I've known you for a year," Fred said, coming closer. "You only make that expression when you have an idea what something is."

"I realized there's two initials 'RG'." I said, pointing to the top. "RacingGirl."

Fred stood there, thinking, for what seemed to be hours. Reality set in that Fred has been standing for five minutes.Fred's face turns into a 'wait, I am forgetting about something important' that really can't be written into a book. Hell I believe that James Patterson would find it hard to describe Fred's reactions to everything.