Snow crunched underfoot as Sarah and Emily hiked along a narrow ridge overlooking a frozen inlet. The horizon stretched endlessly, painted in shades of blue and silver. A pair of bald eagles soared overhead, their cries slicing through the crisp air.
"Seven days of night," Sarah murmured, pulling her scarf tighter. "It feels like the moon forgot to go to sleep."
Emily adjusted her goggles, the frost clinging to her lashes. "It’s surreal. It’s like walking through someone else’s dream."
They had been in Barrow, Alaska for a week now—collecting atmospheric data, mapping glacial cracks, and working with indigenous scientists on traditional ecological knowledge. Their days blurred into midnight blue, with no true daylight in sight. Yet the land pulsed with life.
Inside the Arctic dome lab,
