‘Good. Then don’t take any risks, and stay safe.’

‘Risk is our business – and our hobby!’ said Onvaan cheerily.

The captain was unimpressed, but kept any further comments to himself. Instead he led the way to the ship’s tender, a bright orange thirty-foot rigid inflatable boat. Onvaan and Stapper boarded, then the RIB was lowered into the water and the pair set out, Onvaan at the tiller.

Bekker looked towards the cave. The waters were dotted with growlers, relatively small hunks of ice that nevertheless could weigh as much as a car. As with all icebergs, most of their mass was hidden beneath the surface, seemingly innocuous pieces becoming potentially shipwrecking obstacles. ‘Watch out for the ice, okay?’ he said into a walkie-talkie.

The retreating Stapper made a show of scanning the sea. ‘Ice? Ice? Oh, that ice,’ he said, gasping at the berg.

‘Funny. Okay, see what’s in there.’

Bekker watched the boat weave around the bobbing growlers towards the cave mouth, then he and Havman returned to the bridge. ‘What’s it like?’ the South African asked as the RIB slipped into the shadows.

The reply was surprisingly distorted considering the short range, a crackle behind Stapper’s words. ‘Everything is blue, very beautiful.’

‘Can you see the thing in the ice?’

‘A bad choice of words if you have seen the movies I have!’ The Dutchman laughed. ‘We are coming out of the entrance tunnel . . .’

A long silence. ‘Wim? Are you still there?’ asked Bekker, concerned.

The reply was prefaced by another laugh – but one of nervous disbelief rather than humour. ‘Yes, yes, we are here. And so is, ah . . . You know we were joking about a UFO?’

‘Yes?’

‘I think . . . that is what we have found.’

The silence this time was on Bekker’s part. ‘Are you joking?’ he finally managed.

‘No, no, I’m not! It’s inside the ice, stuck in the cave wall. It is metal, and . . . big. As big as a plane. I am not kidding you,’ Stapper added, pre-emptively.

‘It really does look like a UFO,’ Onvaan added in the background.

‘It’s hard to tell exactly, but I’d say about . . . a third of it is out of the ice?’ Stapper went on. ‘It’s at an angle. There are windows near the front. They look like eyes.’

Bekker practically heard the shiver in the other man’s voice as he realised what he had just said. ‘Can you get to it?’

‘Yeah, yeah. The cliff climb looks easy— Oh!’

Both Havman and Bekker flinched. ‘What is it?’ demanded the captain.

‘I see a way in! There is a hatch in the side.’

‘We can reach it, no problem,’ said Onvaan.