Eve of the Emperor Penguin Read Online Free

put on a set of headphones. “Headphones on, everyone! They’re under your seats,” she said. “They’ll protect your ears from the chopper noise, and also serve as a radio so I can talk to you.”
    Everyone reached under their seats and took out headphones. Jack and Annie pulled off their hoods. Without taking off their goggles or face masks, they placed the headphones over their ears. The thick pads muffled the sounds around them.
    Jack heard Nancy’s voice over his headphones: “Testing, one, two, three. Can everyone hear me?”
    Everyone nodded.
    “Okay, Pete, take us to Mount Erebus!”
    Pete the pilot started the helicopter. Even with his headphones on, Jack heard the roaring of the engine and the spinning of the blades. He held his breath as the chopper trembled and lifted off the ice and snow.
    The helicopter shook and tilted. Then it buzzed forward through the blue sky.
    Annie aimed her camera out the window and took pictures. The Korean photographer did the same, and the Australian journalist scribbled in his notebook.
    Jack was too excited to take notes now.
This is great,
he thought.
All the words in the rhyme are coming true.
As they flew toward the burning mountain of ice and snow, he tried to remember what words came next. He slipped the rhyme out of his pocket and read:
    … you must go

To a burning mountain of ice and snow

On wheels, by air, then all fall down …

    “All fall down”? Wait a minute. What does
that
mean?
thought Jack.
Does that mean the chopper falls down? Do we fall out of the chopper?
    As these thoughts swirled through Jack’s mind, Annie turned and gave him a thumbs-up.
    Jack didn’t want to scare her, so he nodded and shoved the rhyme back in his pocket. He watched anxiously out the window as the chopper approached a bright orange-red circle on top of Mount Erebus.
    “Below is one of the world’s most famous lava lakes,” said Nancy over the headphones.
    The chopper hovered motionless above the crater of the volcano. The lava lake bubbled and boiled. “That burning lava is miles deep,” said Nancy. “Its temperature is over seventeen hundred degrees Fahrenheit. Can you guys on this side see okay? Pete?”
    Pete tilted the helicopter to one side and then the other. Everyone but Jack oohed and aahed. Kim Lee and Annie took pictures.
    Go!
thought Jack.
Before we all fall down!
    “Okay, Pete, that’s great,” said Nancy. “Let’s land at the lower field camp now!”
    The helicopter tilted upright and began moving down the side of the volcanic mountain. Jack saw a small orange building sticking up from the snow. Colorful snowmobiles were parked near it.
    Moments later, the chopper touched down onto the slope. It rocked and shuddered, then came to a stop.
Whew,
thought Jack. They’d landed without falling from the sky into a burning lava lake. But then what could “all fall down” in the rhyme mean?
    “Stay seated till the blades come to a
complete
stop!” said Nancy.
    Everyone remained in their seats with their seat belts and headphones on.
    “As you know, we’ll be driving our snowmobiles up to the summit,” said Nancy. “Driving a snowmobile can be very dangerous on these steep, icy slopes. Please remember everything youlearned in your snowmobile training yesterday.”
    As the others nodded, Annie nodded, too. Jack nudged her. They’d never had any training with snowmobiles!
    “Another warning,” said Nancy. “I know you’ve also been training this week to prevent altitude sickness. But still—it can be very dangerous. So please let me know if you feel any symptoms.”
    Altitude sickness?
Jack wondered. He pulled off his glove again and opened up his backpack. He took out the research book and looked up
altitude sickness
in the index. He turned to the right page and read:
    Altitude sickness, also known as mountain sickness
,
is caused by a lack of oxygen at great heights. Symptoms include headaches, dizziness, and shortness of breath. Climbers traveling