"You're a good pilot," said Lunch, loosening her grip on the retaining ring she'd been clutching at when she took off.
<br />
"We could have gone to the North Pole without the part," said C17 with a grin. "You didn't get airsick when you came here, did you?"
<br />
She gave him a withering look. "It wasn't much fun, did you have to clamp me under your arm like a sack of flour?"
<br />
"I could have put both arms around your waist, or even higher ..."
<br />
He already had the barrel of a rifle in front of his nose. "Any other wishes, you pervert ...?"<br />
Instead of an answer, the helicopter suddenly lowered its nose and leaned slightly to one side.
<br />
“Be careful!” The rifle fell from her hands and clattered to the ground somewhere while her finger clutched the handle.
<br />
"Ts, ts," said C17 reproachfully. "You don't talk to the pilot during the flight and certainly not threaten him with a weapon, or do you want to kill us both. Besides, I was just making a stupid joke, don't you have any sense of humor?"
<br />
"At least not as weird as you!" Snapped Lunch without letting go of the grip. "You just did that on purpose, right?"
<br />
"Who knows," grinned C17 with a wink. "Grab the radar and tell me if I'm flying properly or if I need to stay more northwest."
<br />
Lunch took a few deep breaths, then released the grip, stooped and fished the radar out of her backpack. Pressed one, two, three times, the point was up north again."No, the direction is right. Will it take us a long time?"
<br />
"In any case, longer than if I had flown myself," replied C17. "Enjoy the scenery, it will get monotonous pretty soon."
<br />
He was right. After a good three hours of flight time, the green below them slowly turned brownish-yellow, then gray and a little later dirty white. Now just one click was enough to bring the flashing point onto the radar. "We should be pretty close to him now," Lunch said. "Can you land anywhere here?"
<br />
"I'll try it!"
<br />
The old ice blanket didn't look particularly reliable, but since it had been in place for decades, C17 risked landing.
<br />
The runners crunched against the cracked ice. The two inmates held their breath. It lasted. No gap opened up to swallow the helicopter.
<br />
"We'd better put on some of Maron's warm clothes," Lunch suggested. "It must be twenty degrees below zero out there."<br />
They opened the sack and everyone found warm pants and several woolly soft sweaters in them. They slipped into the matching clothes, put on the thermal boots and suits that were lying further back in a box and wrapped up like Christmas ham they walked out into the cold. The radar was almost impossible to hold with the thick mittens. In the icy air, every breath hung like a frozen cloud of mist in front of her face. She narrowed her eyes so that she could see anything in the weak light of the onset of dusk. "A little more to the left, I think."
<br />
"Show me!", He leaned over her shoulder from behind and held up a light stick that he had found in the helicopter over the radar. "Yes, that's right."
<br />
He turned in that direction, but there was nothing there, not even rocks or bumps. "Finally we have to dig this thing up," he sighed.
<br />
Step by step they groped their way to the relevant point."Here ... yes, it should be around here," said C17, kneeling down and waving the light stick over the surface of the ice.
<br />
"Maybe we should just wait for daylight," Lunch suggested, rubbing her hands. "If we stand around here for a long time, my nose will freeze and I'll get one, ha ... haaaa ... not now ... haatschiiiii!"
<br />
C17 jumped up and actually he looked into the gentle face of the tame lunch. "What am I doing here?" She asked, puzzled. "Do you know it?"
<br />
C17 rubbed his nose. "Ummm ... I'm looking for something and you, that means the blonde lunch was so nice to help me with it."
<br />
"Oh, is that that?" She asked, holding the radar out to him. "Because I can't do anything with such technical things."
<br />
"Not quite, it's a search tool," he explained, removing the radar from her. "Today it's too late to continue. We'll get the tent and heat cell out of the helicopter and wait for tomorrow. Okay?"<br />
It wasn't long before the extremely practical tent was up. The heat cell proved to be a lifesaver and they were able to peel off the thermal suits before crawling into the sleeping bags. "Shouldn't I cook something else?" Asked Lunch doubtfully. "You must be hungry."
<br />
"It'll work. We should save as much energy as possible and ideally sleep straight away," he said firmly. "As soon as we're back in a warmer area, you can cook us a feast, okay?"
<br />
"As you mean ...", Lunch didn't sound particularly convinced, probably because her stomach was empty too. He switched off the light stick and it became completely dark in the tent. Closing his eyes tightly, he listened to Lunch's breath. At first unevenly, they soon became deeper and calmer. She fell asleep. Outside the cold wind whistled around the tent, but inside it was a bearable 15 degrees. The energy display of the cube-shaped heat cell glowed green and C17 also slipped calmly into sleep.<br />
The next morning the smell of hot coffee woke him up. Lunch had placed a pot of water with instant coffee powder on the scorching center of the heat cell. "How nice, you're already awake," she laughed at him and poured the cup full. "Here, that makes you warm and cheerful."
<br />
"Where did you get the water and coffee from?" He wondered.
<br />
"Everything from the plane," she said, holding out a basket of rusks and dried apples. "It's nothing special, but it's better than a hole in the stomach."
<br />
Somewhat astonished at her independence and grateful, C17 took the mug with the coffee and drank it in small sips. Ahh ... nothing was better in the cold than a hot drink.
<br />
"If you want to freshen up, Bulma has set up a small washroom in the helicopter. This is really a luxury version of a helicopter!"
<br />
"Later," said C17, holding out the mug. "Can I have more?"<br />
Three cups of coffee and numerous biscuits later, C17 dismantled the tent. They both now wore special glasses, because otherwise the glaring sunlight would have been unbearable in this environment.
<br />
After the helicopter was ready for departure, C17 resumed the search for the dragon ball. Despite the bright light, the ice was opaque and there was no trace of the orange ball. There was only one thing left.
<br />
He asked Lunch to wait a safe distance and then sent a couple of charges of energy to the relevant spot in the ice. It cracked and crunched, hissed and steamed and then it flashed orange in the sun. Unimpressed by its energy, the orange ball lay in a pool of meltwater at the bottom of the ice crater. Satisfied, C17 fished him out before the water could freeze again.
<br />
"C17!"
<br />
He turned around. A chasm opened up in the ice just below the helicopter before his terrified eyes. One runner still had a hold, the other was already hanging in the void.But worst of all, lunch was attached to this very skid. The helicopter leaned towards the gap and threatened to tip over into it for good. Lunch screamed with all her might and in agony clung to the very device that would bury and crush her in the event of an impact ...
<br />
<br />
End of the 3rd part
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