Chapters 46-50 Summary

Rachel, Michael, Corky, and Norah have left the habisphere and are tethered together. Michael feels uneasy because it is pitch black; the katabatic wind is at eighty knots, and the Milne Ice Shelf is on a slight downgrade towards the ocean. Norah lights a flare and sticks it in the ice. The four are two hundred and fifty yards from the habisphere, and there is a straight line of flares lighting their way back. Rachel sees the flame of one flare disappear for a moment and then reappear. Norah is untying the tarp to set up the Ground Penetrating Radar she is going to use to show if there is saltwater in the glacier. The GPR will take a cross section of the ice and create a printout that will show saltwater ice as a shadow. Norah aligns herself with the...