Monster of Ellesmere Island

Chapter 1

Taken from the journal pages of Joad Ackerman

It's so cold here. When I say cold I mean it is immensely colder here than what most people can even imagine. If I had to describe the way that I am feeling at the moment I'd describe myself as feeling very groggy. The subzero temperatures, that we experience every time we step outside of the "comfort" of the base, take a lot of energy out of a person.

The MSRS is located near the small settlement of Alert which is located in the northernmost territory of Nunavut, Canada. Meaning that, other than Alert, there is not another town or settlement for thousands of miles. Also, since The MSRS is to the Southwest of Alert, it remains the northernmost settlement in the world.

To describe the trip here I would say that it was time-consuming at best, but full of arctic scenery that is mostly untouched by mankind. After receiving clearance we departed from our borders and flew to Iqaluit: the capital of the Canadian territory of Nunavut. Where we refueled the aircraft before our departure to Alert.

When we arrived we were greeted on the runway by a soldier of the Canadian Armed Forces stationed at The CFS Alert. He introduced himself as Robert Norton and he seemed to have spoken to our commander beforehand. He wore a camouflage military uniform with brown gloves on his hands and a green military issued knit hat on his head. After conversing with him, I realized that he bore a noticeable Canadian tongue.

He directed us to our transportation vehicle that brought us to our destination: The Martian Scientific Research Station, located 30 miles Southwest of the settlement, Alert.
The research station was originally a safe haven for scientists to study the habitats of the animals that are native to the area and how they react to the extreme temperatures. Most importantly, it was founded to better understand how humans can potentially colonize the Martian surface. Scientists wanted to better understand how well crops and humans would react and thrive inside a vessel that is surrounded by subzero temperatures, which are closer to that of the temperatures on Mars.

After a few months of studying the landscape of the area, the scientists discovered ancient lava tubes located just a few miles away from the research station. Our sources tell us that the scientists speculated that the lava tubes had not been active for thousands of centuries and were probably formed in the early days of the Earth's formation.

This information wouldn't be out of the ordinary if the polar bear habitats native to this area had not been affected so drastically. The scientists that were studying the area speculated that the polar bear population was declining here due to the pollution in the atmosphere and human beings that have been for years now. But, those are just two tributaries of a much larger problem.

Everything changed a few months ago when scientists discovered the remains of a mauled polar bear just a few miles north of the facility. The remains were found to be eaten by a creature with a mouth much larger than any land animal known to man. Which is a cause for concern.
Our commanding officer instructed us to keep a journal in order to document our experiences while on this top-secret mission. She says that everything that we write while we're here will be on a need to know basis. So our families will not be able to read these journals. Which is probably a good thing.

All of the scientists at this research facility are American citizens. So, when the scientists informed the American government of their findings we were deployed here to help aid and protect the scientists against a potential threat.

Our unit was given minimal information until we arrived at the base of operations.

So, It wasn't until we were taking statements from the scientists that we learned the true nature of the situation.