The Oracle

An insight

"Good morning, guys." I say faking excitement

They all look at me surprised.

"Look who's in a good mood today. Who's the lucky guy?" says Trace lifting a pen from under his desk.

"Shut up, Trace."

He thinks he's so funny.

" Guess whos' going on a death trip, guys?"

"Girl, tell me you did not take that job?" asks Lara, a little bit worried

"It's crazy, right? I knew it! Jesus... where's Criss?"

"He's out, said he'll be back in five. Let's talk about this, Jane." Lara insists

She's an amazing woman, over 45, raised two kids by herself. Her husband cheated and became aggressive so she took the kids and left. Just like that. Her courage is admirable. I've never pictured myself as a mother or even married for that matter. It's just me and my lovely dog for now. At least it's not a cat alright? Big plus.

 "I'm seriously concerned, Siberia is no joke. The temperatures drop so low that people can't even leave their houses and if they somehow decide to do it, they end up dead."

I can see the concern in her eyes. She's right. It is dangerous and not only that, I'm supposed to meet an unknown person which adds up to the danger.

"I know, Lara but what if it's true? What if we could prevent a disaster?"

"Love, if it's a religious war, my history knowledge tells me you can't prevent it from happening. There's nothing stronger than a man's belief. We all have our own Truth to fight for".

She's interrupted by Criss entering the station

"Where have you been?" I ask

He seems annoyed and in a rush

"Follow me, Jane."

I follow him into his office

"So I did some digging and it seems that I'm obligated by law to let Homeland Security know about this since it's about a terrorist attack."

"Oh wait, are we actually taking this seriously right now? We don't even know if this is true, Criss."

"You're right, but we could face legal action if they find out. We're supposed to let them investigate this thing."

"They won't find out. I'll go check if the intel it's true and you can decide afterward what you want to do."

he pauses for a while.

"You're going...?"

"I guess, I am."

I really hope I live to feel the regret of this decision.  

Criss nods satisfied by my decision but he looks worried still.

"I'll ask Trace to check for flights and buy you a roundtrip ticket." he says sounding slightly exhausted.

"Yeah and Criss... don't worry I'll get to the bottom of this without bringing prejudice to the station."

"What if I'm making a mistake by sending you there? This could get really dangerous fast."

He's not wrong but isn't that our job anyway?

"This is our job, Criss. It's what we do, to let the world know the truth. We're always at risk, but that's exactly what we signed up for. We'll deliver the truth at any cost."

He looks at me somehow proud and smirks

"Now that's the Jane I remember, did the thought of cold winter sparked a fire in you?"

There he is, back to his asshole self.

"See you soon, Criss."

As I turn to leave the office he signals me to wait. Picks up his phone and dials a number. 

"Hey, Alexei. I'm sending someone over there. I need you to grab a car and meet her at the airport. I'll transfer you to Trace to give you all the details of the flight."

Well, at least someone is waiting for me there.

"Alexei works in the weather department at a news station in Yakutsk. You'll fly to Moscow and from Moscow to Yakutsk, that's one of the closest cities to Oymyakon. He'll wait for you in Yakutsk and you'll have to drive 900 km more to get to Oymyakon. 

"Sounds like a fun road trip." I say rolling my eyes

He stays silent, lost in his thoughts.

"It's fine Criss, I'll be fine."

I tried to be as convincing as I could, but actually believing it was pretty difficult for me too.

"Alexei will fill you in on how things work there, but the first thing you should do when you debark is to buy a prepaid sim card so we can keep in touch."

"Will do. Can I go now? I can't wait to see my life flashing before my eyes."

I don't think he found that funny but if something saved me all my life it was my terrible sense of humor.

"Trace! Plane ticket for Jane. ASAP." He yells from behind his desk

Trace is startled by this and starts typing fast on his computer

"Have a good trip, Jane. Stay safe."

I leave the office and stop at Traces' desk. Trace is a driven, ambitious man. Sightly self-absorbed. Always looking sharp. He carries a comb with him on every job to make sure his beautiful blonde hair looks perfect. He used to model when he was younger, I guess that makes some sense. Our team is far from perfect, but somehow we manage to stand by each other no matter what.

I bend over to see on his computer the hours for the flight.

"You can't stay away from me can you, Jane" he says

I roll my eyes and ignore him. He laughs

"Alright, so you'll embark tomorrow at 11 AM for Moscow. You need to get there in time for your flight to Yakutsk, the last one leaves at 9 pm, you'll get there in time to check in to your hotel. Alexei will book a room for you. The whole trip takes around 20 hours.

That sounds less exhausting than it will actually be but if this could be a chance for our station to finally pull through after all these years of mediocracy why not try it.

"Fine, wish me luck." I say without sharing any more of my doubts and fears.

Lara comes and gives me a long hug.

"Please, be careful dear. We'll pray for your safety."

"Pray? Who said anything about praying?" Trace intervenes with his lack of belief in any type of deity.

I'm not sure what to believe in but if there is something out there, IT wants me to go through with this.

Lara gives Trace a judgmental look. I should leave before this turns into a religious argument.

"See you soon, guys."

"Hey, Jane..." I hear Pauls' voice

"Take this with you"

He hands me a small camera.

"I'm sure you'll find something interesting to photograph."

"Thank you, Paul!"

I take the camera, put it in my bag and exit the station. I should let miss Owen know that I'll be missing for a while. Oh, poor Hopi...