"Can you hear me through this thing?" asked Jove.
He was inside Termina's entrance chamber, bundled up in his snow wear, with the addition of the Bluetooth headset and stretchy scarf that his mother had insisted would be necessary in the whipping, subzero wind.
"I can hear you, Jove," said Kira.
"Same," said Aster. "You have a nice radio voice, darling."
"Thanks," he said. "So how is this going to work?"
"Eve, I want you to do a lap around the station," said Kira. "Look for Ryan or any sign of him, though it's unlikely that the snowmobile tracks will be visible unless he arrived within the past hour."
"Gladly." Eve bent forward into a stretch, rubbing her knee while still in the posture.
"Jove," said Kira. "You and Aster will first make your way to the shed. It's going to be a challenge to get the door open. Be sure to clear the snow out of the way in front of it first."
"Got it," said Jove.
"There should be five or six snowmobiles inside if Ryan has made it back, but more likely there will be four. The ones that Eve and Aster arrived on along with my own, and a backup snowmobile which still needs some repair."
"So there aren't actually enough vehicles on hand currently for all of us to leave if we wanted to?" asked Aster. "Is that what I'm hearing?"
"There would be no reason for all of us to leave," said Kira. "I certainly have no intention of abandoning my work. Within the shed, you'll find snow rakes for clearing the solar panels.
"Aster, you should stay in the shed. There's a circuit that runs to the block heaters used to warm the snowmobiles which needs to be reset whenever the power goes out due to the way the station was originally wired. I'll walk you through how to do it while Jove clears off the solar panels."
"That sounds doable, I suppose," said Aster.
"Are all of you ready?" asked Kira.
The three of them confirmed that they were.
"If you get lost outside, don't panic," said Kira. "Just talk to me and I'll help you get recentered."
Jove stepped toward the door. It took some shouldering to get open completely, ice crunching as the emergency power finally took over and did the rest of the work. The wind was whipping with an eerie whistle, stirring up enough of a flurry to make it hard to see much even though it wasn't actively snowing.
"See you guys in a few," said Eve. She clicked into her skis and pushed off, seeming to pick up speed immediately despite the ground only having the slightest hint of a slope.
"I expected it to be darker outside," said Aster, her voice seeming to echo through Jove hearing it both in person and through the headset. "Shall we, darling?"
Jove offered her the crook of his elbow. "Allow me to lead the way."
It was interesting having his aunt on his arm, but it served a practical purpose. The swirling snow was enough of a veil to make it easy for either of them to get lost if they wandered off even just a few feet.
The two of them walked in tandem, Jove leading the way by half a step. He was fairly sure he remembered where the shed and solar panels had been, but he couldn't see them at first, not until they'd walked so far out as to leave behind Termina's main buildings in their tiny bubble of visibility.
"I can't see anything," said Aster. "The wind keeps whipping into my eyes."
"The shed is right in front of us." He set a hand on her hip, steadying her as she made to walk into a nearby snow drift. "It's going to take some work to get the door open."
A foot or so of snow had built up in the way of where the door would be opening into. Jove got down on all fours, digging it with his hands like a dog trying to get under a fence. Aster dropped down to help.
They cleared away enough of the snow that they could finally see the outline of the shed door. It refused to open when he tried it, the handle so frozen it wouldn't even turn. Jove dug his feet into the snow and leaned sideways, trying to find some leverage. Nothing budged.
"This isn't going to work," he grunted, frustration seeping into his voice. "It's like it's welded shut."
"Relax, darling," Aster's voice purred in his ear. "Now, let's think. Could we find something that might help nearby?"
Jove straightened and looked around. The swirling snow made everything a hazy blur. "I somehow doubt it."
"What if we try putting some muscle into it?" Aster stepped forward, rubbing her hands together. "Combining our efforts, maybe?"
She tried to take hold of the door's handle, but it wasn't large enough for both of them to get a grip. Her idea was solid, however.
"Here," he said. "Get in front of me."
He shifted her into place, touching her waist to press her forward enough so that he could still reach around on either side. The movement was unexpectedly intimate, even with their bulky outer layers dulling the contact.
"You know, I appreciate it when a man knows how to take charge," said Aster, voice edging into flirtation.
"You're both on an open channel," said Kira, flatly.
"I'm just teasing him," said Aster. "Ready, Jove?"
She might have just been teasing, but the tension it had stirred up was certainly real enough. Jove pressed tight against her, grabbing her wrists while she grabbed the handle. Their bodies were pressed together as snugly as two teenagers dirty dancing.
"Ready. On three. One, two…"
They both pulled with all their strength, primed by the urgency of the situation. The door flung open with such immediacy that it almost seemed to mock them. Jove fell backward with a decent amount of momentum, his aunt still in between his arms as they hit the ground in a tangle of limbs.
"What was that?" asked Kira. "Are you both okay?"
Aster started laughing, rolling to briefly straddle Jove as she started to get up. "Just took a bit of a tumble, sis. Don't worry. We're no worse for wear. Right, Jovian?"
Aster's chuckling faded as she caught sight of Jove's eyes. Her expression softened, a hint of concern replacing the teasing glint in her eyes.
"Good to go," he said. "The snow broke our fall."
It was true enough. Physically, he was fine, but mentally, he was far too aware of her. He offered her a hand as he stood to his feet, helping her up. The awkwardness between them was almost tangible in the frigid air.
"This is so exhilarating!" said Eve over the headset, her voice muffled by whipping wind. "I realize this is a serious situation, but I am having so much fucking fun right now."
"So am I," said Aster, playfully dusting snow off Jove's shoulders.
"Focus on looking for Ryan, Eve," came Kira's voice, a hint of dry amusement in her tone. "Aster, Jove, it sounds like the door is open. Look for the snow rakes and the circuit box.
Aster let her hand linger on Jove's shoulder as he dusted himself off, the touch charged despite the heavy layers between them. Jove met her gaze, a mixture of confusion and a spark of something he couldn't quite name swirling in her eyes.
"Well, that was certainly one way to get inside," Aster said, breaking the silence with a forced lightness. Her gaze swept around the shed, deliberately avoiding his. "Let's follow your mother's orders and make ourselves useful."
"Well, I suppose since we're already here," he said, with feigned exhaustion.
The snowmobiles, massive and gleaming under a thin layer of frost, were the most prominent feature within the shed. Jove moved toward one instinctively, gloved hand tracing a line across cold metal.
"Over there," said Aster.
She pointed toward the far wall, breaking him from his reverie. The snow rakes leaned in a neatly organized row, their telescoping handles promising a challenge for their gloved hands once they were outside again.
He nodded, turning back to locate the circuit box. As he scanned the walls, his eyes landed on a stack of tools, a hefty crowbar resting on top.
"I'm taking this with us," he muttered, more to himself than Aster. "Might come in handy the next time we need to deal with a frozen door.
She walked over, a slight sway in her hips that caught his attention despite his determination to look anywhere but at her. "Always good to have the option."
She slowly bent over to pick up one of the snow rakes, showing off her butt for a full second or two, still curvaceous and taut even through thick snow wear. A ghost of a smile played on her lips as she came back to standing.
Jove felt a disconcerting mix of danger and desire manifesting within him like static electricity at rest. He couldn't deny that there was something about his Aunt Aster's tone and teasing that he found exciting — too exciting, maybe.
"Right. Well, the circuit box should be around here somewhere..."
He deliberately turned away, pretending to search the walls, the image of Aster as she'd straddled him still dancing through his mind. He wasn't sure he'd ever forget the feeling of her thighs on either side of him, the way her perfect lips had formed that playful smirk.
"It should be on the far wall," said Kira. "Eve? How are you doing?"
"Excellent," said Eve, over the headset. "Haven't found anything yet. I'm going to do one more lap slightly further out."
"If you haven't seen anything so far, I doubt Ryan is near Termina," said Kira, with a surprising amount of distress in her voice. "This is a mess. Just get back to the station."
"Relax, Mother, I will," said Eve. "After one more lap."
Jove expected his mom to immediately shut her down, but she stayed oddly quiet. Control had always been his mother's default reaction to these sorts of situations, even back when his father had been alive. Turner hadn't been a pushover, but his mother had always been the one calling the shots in tense moments.
"Jove and Aster," said Kira. "How are things going?"
"We found the snow rakes and circuit box," said Jove.
"Good. Aster, I'll walk you through resetting the circuit once Jove has the solar panels clear."
"You know I'm not incredibly techie, sis," said Aster.
"It's just a single switch to reset and it's labelled," said Kira. "Trust me. Even you can do it."
Jove saw Aster's mouth pinch sideways with annoyance. He gave her a thumbs up and a smile as he carried one of the snow rakes through the door. He'd forgotten just how windy it was outside and had to picture Termina's exterior layout in his head to approximate the direction the solar panels were in.
Clearing them off was energy intensive, but easy. The snow rake pulled sections of powder off in neat little avalanches that landed against the ground with satisfyingly quiet womp noises.
There were four panels, each about the size of his apartment common area in square footage. The last one had a small section of ice in the corner that took him a few minutes to knock loose, but he managed it and felt a thrill of victory.
"Solar panel clear," said Jove.
"Head back to the shed and you and Aster can walk to the station together," said Kira.
"I'll start off in that direction, too," said Eve. "Don't think I'm going to… oh fuck!"
There was a shout and some loud scraping noises. Jove's hands tightened around the snow rake.
"Eve?" he said. "Eve!"