But why had Richard left him behind?
As crazed as he was, I doubt Richard would deliberately leave Keller stranded on the ice—his intentions were good, and, according to Kate, his biggest enemy had always been himself. And maybe that was it—maybe he was still, at that moment, trying to prove himself a hero. To redeem himself for everything he thought he’d done wrong on this trip, to make up for every argument he’d had with his wife.
We know that two Australis passengers were found alone in a Zodiac—We were stranded on the ice; we would’ve been goners. But after he got us in the boat, he wouldn’t take us to shore. Said he had to keep looking for someone—and this is when I think things took a turn.
Richard had heard them somehow—two women, calling for help. At first he shook it off, knowing he had to wait for Keller, or thinking it was just the wind, the sounds of birds overhead—but soon he realized that they were human voices, and he turned to see their small figures through the fog, waving their arms, shouting at him.
Richard would yell out to Keller, who by then was too far away to hear—and, having heard the desperation in their voices, would decide to save the women, then return for Keller.
He would start up the Zodiac, but it would prove far more difficult to pilot than he’d anticipated. It changes direction easily, and he would have trouble keeping his arm steady. With each bump into a wedge of ice, he would lose his balance, each time taking another precious few seconds to regain it.
He would look up to see if he was making progress. He wasn’t. He was driving and driving, and yet these two women didn’t seem any closer. Turning around, he could still see Keller against the white of the ice. Be right back, he would promise. Richard would wish, suddenly, that he hadn’t left him there.
But the two women stranded on the ice would be closer now, closer to him than Keller, and he would see that their floe was teetering dangerously in the wind. He had no choice but to save them first, and then return to Keller.
This we learned from the women: Richard approached the ice floe, slamming into it and struggling to keep the boat adjacent to the edge of the floe. The women managed to scramble into the Zodiac just as the ice began to tumble and crack beneath them. They were cold, shivering uncontrollably. They’d been in a damaged lifeboat that had capsized amid the crushing ice, and they’d been fortunate to have clambered onto ice instead of falling into the water. They’d been separated from the other eight passengers with them. Two, they knew, had managed to climb onto another wedge of ice, but they’d been soaked through and had likely succumbed to hypothermia. The others, they suspected, had probably drowned.
Do you have any blankets? one of them asked.
Richard shook his head, turning the boat around and heading back to where he came from, back to Keller.
Thank God you saw us, the woman said. I don’t know how much more time we had on that ice. Where are you taking us?
I don’t know, Richard said, peering into the mist.
The woman looked around, confused. Where are we going, then?
I have to pick up someone.
Where?
He’s just over there.
But by then Richard could no longer see Keller—the women both said no one was there. Richard seemed to panic; he had a hard time catching his breath. They said he kept trying to get closer, skirting around the edge of the ice as if this person might appear by magic.
One of the women asked: Are you sure there’s someone out here?
I saw you, didn’t I? Richard barked.
Okay, okay, she said. She opened a storage hutch in the Zodiac and found a blanket, which the women spread across their shoulders. They huddled close together, becoming more and more worried about Richard’s increasingly freakish -behavior.
Who are you looking for? the other woman asked, watching Richard strain to see across the ice ahead. Again Richard didn’t answer, and a few moments later he began to shake, the spastic movements of his hand on the steering post causing the Zodiac to lurch and hiccup in the water.
Hello! Richard screamed out into the fog. Hello!
There was no answer.
He never said Keller’s name.
Help me, Richard said, but when one of the women stood and tried to take over the steering post, Richard shook her off, losing control of the Zodiac again. He stumbled as they hit a large sheet of ice, tumbling out of the boat and falling hard onto the ice.
The women screamed, and one of them leaned over the side, reaching for Richard, while the other tried desperately to control the Zodiac, to keep it against the ice.
But Richard didn’t want to get back into the boat. Be right back, he told them, pointing ahead. He’s just over there.