Destination Vostok

Ever since she was a young girl, Samantha Bloodworth had been fascinated by the exploits of the explorers who conquered the South Pole. After the death of her parents, she went to live with her Grandmama Lu, who taught Sam to believe in herself. Sam becomes a journalist and enjoys a career that allows her to report on the scientific achievements of the day. One day her magazine, the Digital Science Times, offers her an extraordinary adventure–one she is not sure she has the courage to take–to journey to Antarctica and report on the research being done there by a group of scientists at the coldest place on the planet. Vostok. Vostok sits atop an extraordinary geologic feature. Three thousand feet below the ice is a subterranean fresh water lake. The team assembled at Vostok are drilling into the lake, which has not been exposed to the earth’s atmosphere for millions of years. Their goal is to test the drilling equipment and protect the water in the lake from any contamination. Sam travels to Vostok with the help of the Air Force and Navy. During her travels she meets two extraordinary pilots named Malcom Dupcheck, (Navy), and Gevin Scott, (Air Force). Sam develops feelings for Gevin who unfortunately must spend most of his time in New Zealand while he waits for weather to clear. At Vostok an explosion causes the underground command station to collapse, trapping the scientists 3,000 feet under the ice. Sam had been higher up in the command station filing a story with her magazine using a very high tech little robot named PEDRO who is actually a robonaut – a unique type of robot designed for use in outer space and the rigors of Antarctica. PEDRO can only save the scientists using the station’s computer system which was fried during the volcanic activity. Now Sam and PEDRO must first try to reach the surface, then walk across Antarctica until they can get to a location where PEDRO can find an uplink and call for help. Malcolm Dupcheck flies to Vostok and discovers the base in ruin. Soon he and his crew are stranded. Dupcheck and his copilot Weasel set off on foot, following the path left by Sam and PEDRO through the snow. Malcolm and Weasel are lost in the storm trying to locate Sam. Together they must survive all the errors than Antarctica can throw at them.