Frozen Solid

AUTHOR’S NOTE

The construction of this novel’s dark atmosphere required certain modifications to real life at Pole. Food, amenities, and Polies themselves all suffered somewhat in the translation. Let me acknowledge at the outset that those who toil at the bottom of the world are for the most part competent, companionable, and sane.

That said, it is a hellish environment that can exact extreme tolls from both body and mind. Murders and mayhem are not common, but neither have they been absent. One source of inspiration for this novel was the mysterious 2000 death of scientist Dr. Rodney Marks. For reasons unclear, to this day U.S. agencies have stonewalled New Zealand police attempts to investigate. NZP senior sergeant Grant Wormald said several years ago, “I am not entirely satisfied that all relevant information and reports have been disclosed to the New Zealand police or the coroner.” In January 2007, a document pried loose with the Freedom of Information Act stated that “diplomatic heat was brought to bear on the NZ inquiry.” The case remains open to this day, with an interesting coda for those inclined to conspiracy theories: one of the few Polies in a position to know what really happened disappeared, also mysteriously, at night from a ship in polar waters not long after Marks died.

There is no disputing the fact that the South Pole station is awash in good liquor (and, according to more than a few, other mood enhancers) that fuel Thing Nights and more. One Polie noted, “There is an unbelievable amount of alcohol down here. Pallets of booze were flown in.” And while all is usually calm on the southern front, things do happen. In 2008, two intoxicated Polies brawled over a woman. One suffered a broken jaw and both were summarily flown out — sans jobs. It’s safe to say that lesser disputes which don’t break bones (and get people fired on the spot) are more common and less publicized.

And while some of this novel’s elements required poetic license — in reality, cellphones cannot be used at Pole — the novel’s central theme, overpopulation, required none. Though a solution to the crisis would ameliorate the planet’s biggest threats — climate change, global warming, environmental degradation, water shortages, famines — overpopulation goes largely unaddressed in the public square. Because population control involves white-hot issues like contraception, abortion, and sterilization — voluntary or otherwise — it has become virtually a taboo topic for politicians, scientists, and major media. For those who wish to know more, one rational take on the topic is 2052: A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years, by Dr. Jorgen Randers, a professor at the BI Norwegian Business School.

Frozen Solid is, of course, a work of fiction, but the science is very much grounded in reality. It examines what would happen if highly capable vigilante scientists decided to solve overpopulation on their own, with means available today. Though it hasn’t happened, a pathogen (meaning a conjoined bacterium and virus) like Triage is certainly possible. Hallie Leland cites one example of research in this area and it is very real, conducted by Dr. Vincent Fischetti and Dr. Raymond Schuch at Rockefeller University. They confirmed that the survival of the deadly anthrax bacterium, Bacillus anthracis, “is directed and shaped by the DNA of bacteria-infecting viruses.” The bacterium provides a home for the virus, which in turn prolongs anthrax’s life and directs its actions — classic symbiosis. Would it be impossible for scientists to reverse-engineer that kind of relationship, for good or evil? To me, the answer seems obvious. In fact, though my research didn’t uncover an extant microbial “depopulator,” I would not be a bit surprised if one were flourishing in government or private-sector labs — maybe in both.