Russian Federation, year unknown
Kleng!
“Who is it!?”
The voice echoed deep in the cold taiga forest, near a port on the Arctic Ocean in Siberia, far from the outside world. A lone inspector patrolled the port, holding a dead fluorescent lamp.
“It’s so dark.”-The inspector reached into his pocket in annoyance-“What idiot would come out here at this time of day? And even if it was a thief, couldn’t he find a better time? Let this old man out in this weather.”
The old man grumbled, then pulled out a new battery, replaced it in the fluorescent lamp, threw the dead one into the snow and turned it back on.
But…it didn’t work much. The fluorescent lights were completely blocked by centimeter-thick snowballs, so thick that it was hard to see half a meter in the almost windless sky, making it hard to distinguish a grizzly bear from a log cabin, but fortunately there were no grizzlies here, only polar bears.
The only light left in the darkness was the North Star, the last star still shining in the sky. The rest was pitch black, cold and ominously gloomy.
The old steward's feet were freezing from the ice. If it weren't for that damned noise, he would have been warm and cozy in his log cabin by now:
"If I catch him, he's dead to me. If I'm imagining things, I should bang my head against the wall. Damn it."
Being a steward near the Arctic Ocean is a cold and boring job. The only requirement of the job was not to let anyone steal the ship during the winter. “No idiot would take the train from Yakursk to Northern Siberia to steal any ship in the winter” - that was what the old inspector thought before signing the contract - “I will work there to enjoy my old life”.
And then things happened.
Unfortunately for him, right now there is no chance to regret that decision anymore.
Kleng!
Another noise, a metallic sound, there was definitely something out there.
“Stop there! I have a gun!”
The gun had actually been left in the cabin, the old man said that only in the hope that if the thief heard it, he would be scared and retreat away from the scene. Actually going back now to get the gun would be a shame, and besides, the damn thief might have already pulled the anchor by that time.
The inspector stood still, ready to “draw his gun”, then moved silently.
The quiet sound of the night really made him shiver a little.
“Uhh…do I need this?”
Suddenly, a voice came from behind the falling snow, hoarse, hard to distinguish male or female, old or young, maybe not even Russian because the old man couldn’t catch a word. But most of all, the thief spoke loudly, loud enough to be heard from a distance, as if he wanted to confirm his presence.
“Idiot.”
Stopping for a moment to get his bearings, the old steward turned his feet to one side, walking towards the dock. In this weather, he was the one with the better sense of direction, not the thief.
Taking half a minute to locate the echoe direction, the thief was definitely at the docks, struggling to untie the mooring rope, and even more certain that he was just a rookie, if he dared to speak so loudly while stealing.
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If so, then there was no need to worry, it would take a long time for that inexperienced guy to untie that cold freezing rope from the mooring.
Anyway, his hands were quite cold. After beating the thief up, he had to press his hand against the coffee pot at home-
“Huh?”
Why did the snow suddenly stop falling?
The snowstorm suddenly became smaller and then stopped, all in less than 10 seconds, as if the Snow Queen was tired she turned off the snowy weather and rested. Something like when you turn off the TV, it shuts down immediately.
But how could that be for snow?
This phenomenon had never happened to the old steward in his entire life, even though he had lived for more than 60 years. This was a strange occurrence, he was sure that there would be a news bulletin tomorrow about this-
“Hey!”
Amidst the snowflakes, an LED light shone on the farthest sailboat from the beach, without having to confirm, it was definitely the thief. The stealer himself was standing on the top of the mast, both hands holding a rope pulled the sail to pop out of the reel. He was about to sail the ship away:
“Damn it- oh damn!”
Hearing the noise, the thief turned his face to look at the steward, then pulled out something resembling a dagger. Ducking down for a few seconds to aim, he used all of his strength to jump down and cut off the rope connecting the sailboat to the dock.
Skkk
In a moment of silence between both sides, the boat began to slide on the ice and into the water at a speed that was hard to believe it was just a simple wooden boat. Seeing this, the old steward panicked and ran toward the ship, at the same time gaining momentum, hoping to jump onto the sailboat before it went too far…
Suddenly, a green light flashed from the sky in the corner of his eye
“Huh?”
It’s Aurora Borealis, the phenomenon that occurs when solar flares make contact with the earth’s magnetosphere, creating a magnificent light scene at the North Pole, which can be seen in Russia, Canada, Finland, America or anywhere the radiation flare reaches.
That phenomenon is happening right in front of the old steward, he has seen it dozens of times in his life, living in Russia, who hasn’t seen this?
Except it didn't look like an aurora at all:
“What the hell is going on?
The aurora he saw behaved differently from the ones he had ever seen in his life.
Rather, it was not one aurora, but dozens of them gathered together to form a giant mass of light shining in the sky.
The light rays from the core of the auroras shone down on the ground, melting all the ice and snow in its path, shining on the old shipmaster's face, making it abnormally hot. Frightened, he knelt down, unable to lift his feet and ran, as if the end of the world had come.
“This was absurd, utterly absurd, how could an inanimate light behave against the laws of nature like what he is seeing at this very moment?”
He stood there, rooted to the spot, asking himself that very question. It was not until another sound struck his mind that he woke up from his fear, it was the sound of a ship leaving the port:
"Hey!" “Is he crazy?”
“He” is the wrong pronoun to be used here. The long, disheveled hair and the small figure, from a distance you could tell it was a girl, a child at that.
Anyway, the thief didn’t seem to stop and in contrast, might even be accelerating. The wind suddenly picked up, fiercely, pushing the sail and along with it, the stern of the boat closer to the aurora, which was weakening on its own.
“Dammit.”
The old man used all his strength to push himself up, staggered towards the wooden hut. He had a landline there, he needed to report this phenomenon immediately, take some pictures with his Soviet-era camera if they didn’t believe him, and then call the navy to come and catch the ship and the thief on it, if the navy were willing to help him.
“Tsk”-he took a breath after entering the house, panting, shaking off the snow that had accumulated on his coat and leather shoes. The phone was right there, he ran to it and dialed. 863 240-93-91, he pressed the call button, but it didn't work.
"Ah"
He looks out.
There was a piece of abandoned wire and a pair of pruning shears.
**
The light from the aurora gradually faded, leaving only a faint green tint.
The wind that had pushed the boat here suddenly stopped blowing.
On the sail, the thief lit a fire with a match, then threw it into the sky with all the strength she could gather for the moment. This match will be the light to a new adventure, one that is far away from any place in the world, further than even the Arctic.
“Here we go.”
Less than a second later, the aurora returned her light with a blinding flash that swept down, engulfing the boat and its only crew member.
Both disappeared into the night.
