By the second day, the Sea Gets Real,
the ship hit rough waters.
Really rough.
The kind where gravity forgets its job and everyone's lunch attempts escape.
Alice clutched the rail, her alien stomach now in open rebellion.
"I swear this ocean hates me. I'm allergic to waves."
Finch, green-faced but proud, announced,
"I read that humans use ginger for sea sickness. So I tried ginger tea."
He held up an empty cup.
"Then ginger biscuits. Then ginger shampoo."
Stanley just blinked.
"You drank... shampoo?"
Finch nodded solemnly.
"Not on purpose."
Down below deck, Santy was panicking at the radar.
"Uh… guys? We've got a blip. It's… following us."
Magira rushed over.
"Is it a human vessel?"
Santy squinted.
"Worse. It's a whale.
Possibly judging us."
The blip passed after twenty tense minutes and one near-mutiny when Stanley suggested communicating with it telepathically.
The cruise was nearing Antarctica
The air grew colder, the skies greyer, and the icebergs grew more… judgmental.
Magnet, peering out from the deck, pointed.
"Look! Icebergs! Giant cold potato-chips!"
Alice, wrapping herself in three blankets and a heating cloak, grunted,
"They look more like cold death."
Captain Roberto appeared with a thermos and no expression.
"Ice is moody this time of year.
It gets territorial."
Finch, shaking with cold, whined,
"I think my kneecaps are trying to file for individual citizenship.
I can't feel anything below my elbows."
Stanley, now wearing four layers of human thermal wear, gave a thumbs up.
"I read somewhere that cold improves brain function.
This is our chance, Finch!"
Finch deadpanned,
"Your IQ might just hit room temperature."
Finally, on the fourth day, as the sun peeked above the icy plains, the continent of Antarctica loomed ahead like a silent, frozen kingdom.
The ship docked at a small outcrop used occasionally by researchers. The Elixr team disembarked under the cover of fog and science mumbo-jumbo ("We're here to count the emotional reactions of penguins to climate change").
Once clear of human sight, they activated their camouflaged drone-haulers to drag equipment across the tundra.
Magira, leading the line like an arctic general, shouted,
"Forward! No falling behind!
Unless it's into a warm coffee cup!"
Santy was busy trying to keep the portable reactor from freezing, while Alice Fox struggled to keep her boots from swallowing her legs.
Alice yelled,
"Why is snow so dramatic!
It's like walking through vanilla pudding!"
Magnet, giggling, slid past her on a hover-sled.
"Best. Planet. Ever."
Finch tripped over a penguin.
"WHY IS THIS CREATURE STARING INTO MY SOUL."
Stanley bent to help him up.
"Maybe it knows what you did on the ship."
They finally reached a sheltered area near the Ross Ice Shelf. The view was breathtaking—silent white plains,
endless horizon,
no cameras,
no satellites nearby.
Santy grinned.
"This... this is it. Our fortress of frostitude."
Magira, raising her gloved fist, declared,
"Let this be the birth of Elixr's Earth Headquarters.
Let our legacy be carved in snow... and possibly avoid frostbite!"
After days of snowy silence, near-freezing their antennae off, dodging scientists and suspicious seals, the Elixr team finally set foot on a remote, glacial plain far from any station.
The team cheered (weakly, because cold), and began setting up the shimmering, heat-shielded dome that would become their new home.
Just as the base lights flickered on, Finch pointed at a penguin waddling dangerously close.
"Commander," he said seriously,
"I think we have our first neighbor.
Should we bake a cake or call security?"
Alice Fox sighed.
"Just don't let it near the reactor.
Last time we gave wildlife access to tech,
it hacked the food printer."
Magnet, tapping away at the console, grinned.
"Well, if the penguins join us, at least they're better than Stanley at night watch."
Stanley crossed his arms.
"Joke's on you. I've been practicing penguin dialect."
They stared at him.
He chirped.
The penguin blinked and walked away.
And so, the Elixr team made their strange little home at the bottom of the world.
Hidden from Nilgiris,
hidden from the world,
and completely at the mercy of snowstorms, confused penguins, and
Finch's creative cooking.
Their mission had only just begun—but at least, for now, they had shelter, secrecy, and the joy of knowing they were the weirdest thing in Antarctica.
"This... is perfect," Magira declared.
"No humans.
No networks.
No Nilgiris."
"And no decent snacks," Finch muttered, teeth chattering.
They quickly erected their HQ—an invisible dome-shaped base that blended into the snow. Inside, it had heating, power systems, coffee brewers (thank Alice), and a secret command console named Barry.
Magira stood at the center, a proud grin on his face.
"Let this be our home base on Earth.
Let the Elixr mission begin.
And if Nilgiris dares to find us... let's hope he brings a jacket."
Everyone laughed.
Even Barry beeped in approval.