Considering where they were going, and what would probably happen to them, Eli had a surprisingly good feeling about this assignment. He had been sent to all kinds of hell-holes in the East with poor equipment and impoverished crews. In one of his notebooks there was a list titled, “Everything That Has Gone Wrong” detailing the various mishaps that he had endured over the years. There were day-one engine failures, mountainous treks where the only trained mountaineer broke their leg, fear-induced mutinies, hasty tribunals followed by botched executions, moisture ruining all of the good paper, and two expeditions that had ended with him as the sole survivor. There were 56 more items on the list, but only three of them had happened again on this trip— so far. Him and another member couldn’t see eye-to-eye on who was really in charge, but there was a piece of paper somewhere that said Eli had “complete authority”. He had packed the wrong kind of clothing for the environment; the original plan had been to go during the summer, but he had decided to push it back to early winter, so that was on him. And less than a day into the journey, one member of the crew had already killed themselves. 

Thankfully it wasn’t a specialist, just one of the six laborers they had picked up to help with setting up camp and running the vessel. And the other five were the kind who focused more on the newly available loft and increased rations instead of their dead comrade. That was good, it was too early to have something lowering morale. And the method chosen wasn’t too traumatizing either. To begin with, Eli was already desensitized to suicides after witnessing people jump into alligator-infested water, or just off of buildings. He had even been the one to walk into a cabin with a newly-hanging corpse in it. However, he had never seen this exact method before, and now he was the one ruminating on it.

Long ago, the people up here had discovered that the easiest, and least messy, way to end their lives was by freezing to death in their sleep. This person, apparently his nickname was “Center-brace”, had gone outside last night with nothing but his undergarments and laid down in the newly fallen snow. He did look like he was sleeping when he died, and he appeared to be at peace, more so than some of the poison victims. The body had been found by “Splint” as she went out to take a morning piss. She had continued to take her piss, then went back into her tent and calmly announced that they had a “sleeper” to deal with once they had all woken up properly. At least this is what Eli had deduced from what he heard and the line of footprints going to and from the tree-line; there were a few extra prints around the body from when she had identified who it was. 

In between striking the camp-site, members of the crew had gone to the body and payed their respects. They had stood at the feet of the corpse, shifted uncomfortably, muttered something, taken a drink from whatever was in their personal flask, and gone back to work. Eli had gone up with “Cone” to fulfill his obligation to the departed. How was the administrator going to talk his way through this? He saw Cone nervously side-eying him. Like any good merchant, he knew to look away and wait until someone else started the conversation. 

“Can we bury him? With the ground frozen and everything?” Eli asked while looking at the corpse.

“We can heat spades with the engine and get him under, but it’ll take time… An extra hour, at least.” Cone said. None of this was actually about funerary rites. Eli needed to see how he responded to the death of a crew-member. Depressed? Bitter? Embarrassed that this had happened under his watch?

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“Did he leave a note or anything?” Eli asked.

“No. I asked his mates, he hadn’t told them anything or given some kind of a will. They don’t even know what he would have wanted.” Another side-eye from Cone.

“How would they not know what he wanted? They were on the same crew.” Eli said.

“From what I gather, Center-Brace was a new addition to this crew from another clan.”

“What do you mean ‘from what you gather’? These are the people that you brought on.” Eli said.

“It’s not like I hand-picked them. Do you…” Cone paused.

“One, my best people normally work on larger vessels and in larger groups. Two, this is their busy season, so it’s not like I could get them for a contract like this.” Cone said. It didn’t sound like he even knew what he was insinuating about this contract. Disdain? Fear?

“This isn’t about me not getting ‘the best’, and I didn’t ask you for it. All I wanted was people who were reliable, and you told me you’d find those people. But it appears that not even you know what you ended up with.” Eli said with a sweeping motion that included the man in the snow. Cone bit his lip and stared at Eli. Behind those brown eyes and obviously frustrated countenance, there was the man that Eli needed for this job: someone who knew to admit fault and failure rather than being indignant.

“I apologize… I assumed that this kind of thing would have been noticed by someone else. We should move out.” Cone said as he turned back to the ship. Eli lingered for a bit longer.

“You know I’m not mad… I just… can you just assure me that no one else is gonna do something like this… or worse?” He asked. 

Cone smiled as he climbed up the ladder. Their gunner, who was helping to secure the packed tents looked up at the corpse. Her and the pilot were the only people who hadn’t gone out to look at the body. Even the guide had gone out and left a carved trinket in the man’s frozen hand. 

“We gon’ bury ‘im?” She asked as she jumped down to the walkway. Normally, she took the time to fully enunciate her sentences, but those times weren’t when she was working, or eating. Because of his experience working with the people North of the Delta, Eli was her unofficial translator. Cone looked to him for guidance. Someone else answered.

“If someone chooses to sleep in the snow, then that is where they lie… undisturbed. We forsake his body as he has forsaken the living.” One of the crew said from his perch on the bow. Eli hadn’t learned his name yet, probably something derivative of heavy industry. 

“Very well then, let’s be on our way.” Eli said, leaving Center-Brace to whatever birds or… other things were out there. That was the other good thing about this mission, nothing felt hidden up here. This was the planes: just hills, shrubs, stands of trees, and prairies for miles. And the trees weren’t terribly thick like the woods he was used to, besides, it didn’t even smell that bad. Maybe that was just the cold masking his senses. The intense cold and snow were the only new things. Relatively speaking, this land appeared innocent. Then again, if that really was the case, he wouldn’t have been sent up here.