Chapter 10

 Dear Debbie,

I am sorry you had to leave before the expedition had even left Reykjavik. Our caution was well founded though; the eruption of Bárðarbunga has now grounded all aeroplanes. Yours was one of the last flights permitted to leave.

Despite your absence we had to press on. You were very much missed though, particularly by me, and I am eager to share the news of the expedition with you.

Shortly after you departed, Arnar, Latur and I joined forces with a small team of mining engineers from the Geothermal Institute. We drove the trucks as close as we could to the second entrance to Vindahellir, arriving late in the afternoon just as the first winter flurries were falling. Our weather window appeared to be closing already.

With temperatures dropping, and the wind howling louder than a hungry Latur, we carried the equipment the remainder of the way to the entrance. An alcove just inside proved the most comfortable place to camp. Here, the warm breeze from the cave’s depths kept the worst of the snow at bay.

We spent the first day transporting equipment to the site of the neckerite, though Arnar, whose dislike of lava tubes shows no signs of abating, remained near the entrance to ‘coordinate matters’.

When we returned to the surface, Arnar was irked that we had exceeded our agreed time underground. Much to his irritation, this began to happen daily. On recalibrating our watches, we realised that they were losing time each day. Something in or around the neckerite was causing the effect.

It was already known that the neckerite was hard, but we did not know whether it was brittle, so great care was required in the use of explosives. The engineers spent several days drilling shot holes and carefully directing precision charges to break up the bedrock around it.

I was of limited use in this phase of the operation, though I assisted with spoil removal where I could. During this time I found what appeared to be a lichen-like growth covering the curved surface of one of the pieces of rock that had originally been facing the neckerite. I took a sample, which I have passed onto Heiða Þórsdóttir, a friend in the biology department.

The day after the last of the charges had been detonated, we returned to find that a large lump of rock containing the crystal had cleaved away from the wall. The crystal appeared as pristine as ever, exhibiting not a single scratch on its exposed surface. And so began the laborious process of hauling the neckerite, still partially encased in rock, towards the entrance, by various combinations of chains, pulleys and logs on the ground.

Meanwhile the weather outside was worsening, and we returned to camp each day to look out onto an increasingly wintry valley. It was a race against mounting snowfall to retrieve the sample while the route down the valley remained passable. Even Arnar was forced underground to help.

Finally, several days later than planned, we recovered the sample to Reykjavik. I will make arrangements to send it to you as soon as possible, but the eruption of Bárðarbunga means it will be a long journey by sea, via the Faroe Islands, Denmark, and finally Newcastle. I only wish that I could accompany the crystal myself.

With my best wishes,

Björn