I don’t know if you can hear this, but we’re transmitting on our last battery. We have no more power for our transmitter or for any of our equipment. The entire station has been buried in what we fear may be four or five hundred feet of snow and ice. Only a small portion of the station is still intact, and our collective body heat is all that keeps us from freezing. The face of the glacier began crumbling two days ago and we started collecting our supplies to attempt an escape before large portions of ice fell near the camp. Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time, and we believe the section called Maria’s Node is the one that broke off yesterday and collapsed alongside the camp, with a great deal of additional snow and ice. Judging from the signals we were able to receive before the generators quit, we feel there are now probably several hundred feet of glacial rubble above us. Please give our families our best and if it’s possible to send a rescue party, that would be great. Of course we realize the chances of that are not very good. And even if you sent a rescue party it would take a very long time to dig down to us. And we have no spare oxygen in this part of the camp. So, from all of us here at the research station, it’s been great, and have a nice day. Signing off: Team One.
[Note: This is a stand-alone fragment from another story, “The Beginning,” first published in the Brain Frieze collection.]