Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident

Author	Eoin Colfer
Country	Ireland
Language	English
Series	Artemis Fowl series
Genre(s)	Children's, Fantasy novel
Publisher	Hyperion Books
Publication date	May 2002
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	277 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN	ISBN 0786808551 (first edition, hardback)
Preceded by	Artemis Fowl
Followed by	Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code

Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident (now Artemis Fowl and the Arctic Incident) is the second book in the Artemis Fowl series written by Irish author Eoin Colfer.

Summary

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The book starts off with the sinking of the Fowl Star, by the Russian Mafiya. The Fowl Star was being used by Artemis Fowl I to trade with Russia after the disintegration of the former Soviet Union. Meanwhile, Artemis is attending boarding school in accordance with his mother's wishes, and irritating the counselors due to his knowledge of psychology. During a counseling session, Butler calls him to say that they received a message concerning the Fowl Star. At the same time, Holly Short and a sprite named Chix Verbil run into two goblins during a LEP stakeout. The goblins were armed with illegal softnose lasers. Doing a flyby at the time, Chix is shot in the wing, but Holly saves him, and chases down the goblins, stunning one and chasing the other into a chute. They get locked in when the doors close, signifying that a flare is coming. Holly shoots out coolant canisters on the ceiling above her to protect herself from the heat. When the LEP arrive, she claims that the goblins had been using the abandoned chute to receive shipments of human alkaline batteries, which they used to power the softnoses. She suspects that Artemis Fowl II has been supplying the goblins with the batteries, therefore goes to bring him in for interrogation by the LEP. While leaving the school, Butler shows Artemis a video file on a laptop, with a man against a snowy background, and the words "Hello, son" written in Russian on a sign around his neck. The e-mail was made untraceable, so Artemis and Butler head for Fowl Manor to get supplies for the journey to Russia. At Fowl Manor, they encounter Holly, and are forced into going with her. Holly manages to take Artemis and Butler down to Police Plaza in Haven, but their innocence is proven, with the use of a Retimager. Artemis requests help in his father's rescue. Commander Root allows Holly to assist Fowl, on the condition that Butler helps them find the human who had been helping the goblins. We are told that Briar Cudgeon is masterminding this, and is using a mesmerized Parisian to supply the B'wa Kell with batteries. Butler finds the man, only to discover that he had been mesmerized and did not know anything about the goblins, but not knowing the link between him and Cudgeon. Upon return, Foaly announces that he had traced the e-mail sent to Artemis, and found the location and sender.

US cover for the Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident

Briar is co-heading the B'wa Kell with Foaly's technological rival, Opal Koboi, head of Koboi Laboratories, manufacturer of most of the LEP's equipment. Everything made by Koboi and sent to the LEP is specially modified to go offline when a signal is broadcasted from the dish on top of Koboi Labs. Foaly dislikes Koboi, saying that it's not right for one company to make all of the LEP's equipment. Battery matter solved, Artemis, Butler, Holly, and Root travel to the Arctic to rescue Artemis Sr. On their way, they're ambushed by a B'wa Kell hit squad, sent by Cudgeon. The group hides beneath an overhang when their weapons don't fire, but the goblins collapse the overhang, resulting in the death of their lieutenant). Artemis and Holly make it out, but Butler is knocked out and Root is trapped under there. Holly quickly comes up with a plan; Root straps Butler and himself to Butler's moonbelt (something that reduces the weight of anything attached to it by 1/6, used by Butler because he was wearing so many weapons), and shoots out a piton dart. Holly and Artemis climb aboard the nearby Mayak Chemical Train, and its movement is sufficient enough to pull Root and Butler out from under the drift (the goblins are gone because one of them shot his mates down to get promotion). Artemis crawls up the side of the carriage, goes through the sunroof, and melts the door lock with acid so Holly can pull Julius and Butler in. However, just as she's pulling them in, a bump in the tracks causes the door to slam shut, and Holly loses her trigger finger. Meanwhile, down below, war has broken out between the LEPrecon and the B'wa Kell. Koboi has knocked out LEP weapons and communications. Foaly is busy finding the owner of a partial fingerprint found on a shuttle made for the goblins. The last name remaining after the others have been eliminated is Briar Cudgeon. Foaly was doing this while Briar was talking with him, and Cudgeon reveals his plan to Foaly, including that Koboi wired Foaly's Operations Booth into a remote, so that nothing can happen unless Cudgeon presses the button. Later, Cudgeon communicates with Foaly via the plasma screens, and Foaly records it using the camera on Artemis's laptop. He then text-messages Artemis's phone using the laptop. Back in the Arctic, Artemis and Co. manage to get off the train without further incident, but Holly has been drained of magic and is unable to reattach her trigger finger. Artemis discovers that Holly has an acorn in a sealed capsule around her neck. He uses it to complete the power-restoring Ritual for her. They regroup in the Arctic shuttleport, and Artemis's phone receives Foaly's text message, so they now know who's behind the plot. Root remarks that they could use Mulch Diggums in a time like this (only dwarf to break into the labs and live), but they can't, because he's dead. Holly claims that Mulch is in Los Angeles. (Foaly had a theory, which he didn't tell Root because he doesn't like theories, only concrete proof._ Mulch is in fact in L.A., living under the pseudonym of Lance Digger and building up a collection of stolen Oscars. He's returning from his final nab, Best Actress, when he sees Artemis in his room. He dives down the clay-filled chimney connecting all the fireplaces in that wall, only to be apprehended by Holly. He agrees to the deal offered to him by Root ( If you help us you get a 2 days' head start. If you don't help us, then you get several centuries in Howler's Peak, a goblin prison), and shows a way to get into Koboi Labs. They fly the shuttle through a fissure in a chute wall and end up in the foundations of the labs, dug by Mulch and his cousin. Because solid titanium rods would be too expensive, they hollowed one, and filled it up with sewage, which turned into clay during the 100 or so years it was in there. Mulch tunnels through the rod, so Butler, Root, and Holly can get through, leaving Artemis in the shuttle. The B'wa Kell made it to Police Plaza, and Briar has everyone believing it's Foaly's fault. Briar attempts to "negotiate", and is taken to Koboi Labs, where the other goblins are staging an assault, to divert suspicion from Opal. Coincidentially, our heroes are in there now. While meditating, Artemis hears groaning from Mulch. He climbs through the rod, and learns that Mulch has blockage in his gut, which he removes using dwarf reflexology just in time to incapicate a goblin coming by.When Artemis asks Mulch how he got out when he broke in, Mulch says he left in the LEP uniform he came in. Artemis thinks there should be another way to the headquarters and decides to try the plasma feed for the DNA cannons, currently turned off. He makes it to the sanctum, and sees Foaly on a monitor, who tells him to put him on all screens and plays the recorded conversation he had with Briar, revealing that he would return weapons control to the LEP, and eliminate the goblin threat. The three goblin generals get really angry, and are about to shoot Cudgeon, when he reactivates the DNA cannons, programmed to shoot goblins. Butler, Holly, and Root make it to the inner sanctum, but Butler sees that Cudgeon has captured Artemis. He breaks down the door, and Artemis's phone rings. After listening to it for a few seconds, he tosses it to Opal, who hears that Briar's going to make her have a "tragic accident". She attacks Briar, he gets flung into the plasma feed, and is fried by a million radioactive tendrils. His remote is electrocuted as well, returning control of the Operations Booth to Foaly. He eliminates the goblins in Police Plaza, and Artemis can now rescue his father (if you're wondering where Mulch is, he's taking his two-day head start). After saving the fairies, Fowl travels with Holly and Root to Murmansk to rescue his father. He deceives the captors of his father by pretending to shoot his father (using a fairy invention to make it look convincing), and getting them out of the way by telling them that the ransom money is in a case lighted up with a flare. However, Artemis Senior is accidentally pushed into the freezing water of Murmansk by a Russian, and Holly has to dive into the water to save him. Fairies hate cold and radiation, but she manages to rescue and heal Artemis' father, who they deposit at a hospital in Helsinki. The story ends with Artemis back in his private school talking to a psychologist. Artemis is waiting for a phone call from Helsinki confirming his father's condition. The man, the same one from the beginning, asks if Artemis has declared anyone an equal. Thinking of Butler, Holly, and his father, he remarks, "Yes, I believe I have."

Secret Message

For an unknown reason, the publisher of the US edition of this book chose to remove this code. For the UK and other countries, each page had a set of symbols along the bottom. Using the guide on www.artemisfowl.co.uk, this can be translated. From scratch, the code, written in Centaurian, can be deciphered because in the book there is a translation on Foaly's computer screen for the following poem:

Fairy creatures, heed this warning,

On Earth, the human era is dawning.

So hide, fairy, lest you be found,

And make a home beneath the ground.

Eoin Colfer writes prior to this passage that it is an "illuminated Centaurian manuscript" from "The Scrolls of Capalla". The code is slightly easier to translate than Gnommish because many of the symbols look similar to their English counterparts. It can be read fluently once familiar, and is more like a recognisable font than a language. The final message is as follows:

Congratulations Human. If you have cracked this code then you are more intelligent than most of your species. This is a message from the Fairy People.

We are seeking out our allies among the Mud Men. Though most Humans are dullwitted creatures there are exceptions. You for example. The reason for your intelligence is that you have Fairy ancestors. Do you feel different from those around you? Are your ears a bit pointier than most? Is your tongue long enough to touch your nose? Do you dream of flying? Have you ever thought that you do not belong among the Mud Men? That is because you have Fairy blood in your veins.

So young Mud Fairy I have a mission for you. As one of the People it is your duty to protect the Earth from those who would destroy it. You must become one of a new race of Mud men who love this planet as much as the Fairy Folk. There is one simple rule. Use only what you need and use it wisely. Do this and the Earth will survive. Go now and begin your quest. I shall repeat this message for those Humans whose Fairy intelligence is buried a bit deeper than yours.

The same message is then repeated, up until "Do you feel different from those around you?" In the republication of the book, the Centaurian code is changed to the Gnommish cypher used in the first book. One of these Goblins is named Niall, after Eoin Colfer's brother. Through the book, this Goblin is mentioned several times, and each time it is spelt differently. First, the original Irish spelling, Niall, as Colfer's brother spells it, then Nyal, then Nyle.