"I wasn't aware that we'd be camping on the ice overnight," said Aster.
Jovian stood alongside his aunt, with Eve on the other side of Aster, as Kira outlined their journey. She finished tucking away a much larger tent than the one he and Eve had shared before their feud into the gear sled.
"It will let us take our time and hopefully catch more fish," said Kira. "The entire point of this outing is to put ourselves in a good position for the next few weeks, or possibly few months, if we're lucky."
"Do we have enough gas?" asked Jove. "Eve and I were running extremely low during our trip to Port Sirius."
"We should, for now, at least," said his mother. "There were two more jerry cans with the emergency power generator in the station's storage. The lake we're heading to is to the southeast, about two hours away. Far enough to justify making it an overnight trip."
"Are we going to be fishing for the entire time, or can I bring my skis?" asked Eve.
A petulant part of Jove wanted to bring up her knee right then and there in front of his mother, but he buried the urge. She had dirt of her own she could fling right back at him, given that she was aware of him and Aster.
"I won't stop you from bringing them, but I can't promise you'll have much time to put them to use." Kira ran a hand through her hair with a sigh. "We have two insulated tents, and two portable propane heaters which should, in theory, keep them warm. It's not just for comfort's sake. The holes we'll be fishing through are going to want to freeze up on us."
"That usually happens even when ice fishing in normal weather," said Jove. "We'll just have to deal with it."
"I'm leaving two gear sleds completely empty, and we'll use them to haul our catch back," said his mother. "The convenience of the cold is that the fish will be perfectly fresh when they freeze, and we'll be in no real rush to get them back here."
"What about the ice drones?" asked Aster. "Or the other survivors in Port Sirius? What happens if we run into them in the middle of the journey?"
Jove felt a sinking feeling in his gut, aware of his gear sled, the gun he'd stashed away on it. Even though Aster had asked the question, it felt like he was the one who needed an answer. Would he be able to shoot someone again if it came to it?
"We'll handle any encounters as they happen," said Kira, with a nod. "Antarctica is pretty spacious. More than likely, we don't see anything on the way there or back other than ice and snow."
Nobody said anything for a few seconds.
"Well, Aster?" said Kira. "If you want to stay here at the station, you're more than welcome to."
"I didn't say I wouldn't go!" snapped Aster. "I just need a minute to consider it. Jove… you have the most experience with fishing. Is it usually fun?"
"Yeah, for the most part." He shrugged, feeling the pull of old memories with his father on the water. "Boring but fun. You have to be in the right state of mind for it."
He remembered how peaceful it'd often been, sitting and waiting and not doing much of anything other than chatting with his dad and enjoying the outdoors. Peaceful was the word he would have picked to describe it. He felt a pang of sadness as he thought about his dad again, suddenly missing him fiercely.
They put on their winter gear in the entrance chamber and dragged the gear sleds out along with them. The ice drone Andromeda had briefly occupied was charging next to the snowmobiles. Kira fiddled with its controls for a moment, and the drone stirred to life with a mechanical hum.
"I can lead the way if you would like, Director Faremont," said the drone, in Andromeda's voice. "My internal map has detailed knowledge of the route."
"That would be helpful," said Kira.
"Is that actually you, Andromeda?" asked Eve. "I didn't think the ice drones were still networked to the station."
"It is me, but a copy of me," said Andromeda. "Once we arrive back, my memories will be transferred back into the version of my model still within the station, and this ice drone will be returned to its default programming."
"That's a little unnerving," muttered Jove.
"From a human perspective, I can see how it might be," said Andromeda. "It is the most efficient means of preserving my continuity. There is no need for two separate but extremely similar versions of my mind to be in operation at once without reason."
"How very practical," said Kira, seeming to genuinely mean it.
They set off once they'd gotten the snowmobiles started. Jove had forgotten how much he enjoyed the simple act of riding a snowmobile, especially across the generally flat landscape of Antarctica.
As far as he could tell, Eve had made a similar discovery. The two of them began jockeying for position as the first behind the ice drone. It felt like a microcosm of their earlier, pointless argument, a vertimon battle on the snow.
He pulled in close behind her at one point as she zigzagged intentionally to keep him from having an angle to pass. Eve rose up in her saddle, butt briefly jutting out into his face.
Even with snow pants on, it was still a frustratingly glorious butt. Eve was so used to having her way with everything, from dating to her career, even how their mother had, at least historically, so often sided with her.
Maybe she needed a proper taste of humble pie. Jove shifted right as she was turning to go around a snow drift and managed to pull even. They glanced at each other, making eye contact for a breathless instant.
That was it. He would beat her in vertimon and outride her and leave her frustrated and begging for her little brother to let her get off the second place podium. He was sick of holding back on Eve. He would let her have it.
She pulled ahead of him again and, as much as he wanted to get straight back to the plan, her butt was faintly hypnotic from his current viewpoint.