Ice Quake

Ho ho ho.

Very funny, Reed. This really couldn't wait?

Sorry, Wallace. Colonel's orders--

to do with that tremor we had yesterday.

You know that I got the children's Christmas club today?

I don't like this any more than you do. I still have Christmas shopping to do.

Yeah, well, if I'm not back in town by 10:00,

there's gonna be a lot of teary-eyed toddlers wondering where Santa is.

Relax, this won't take long.

You could take off the beard, you know.

It keeps my face warm.

- (bells jangling) - (chattering)

Here he comes.

Oh, well, about time.

- Good morning. - Good morning.

Something's burning, Mom.

Michael!

Woman over radio: Over 5,000 square miles,

Iarger than the state of Connecticut,

collapsed this Christmas morning, setting off alarm bells

in governments across the northern hemisphere.

The collapse of the ice shelf was the biggest in recorded history

and occurred with such force

that initial reports indicated an earthquake had struck...

Here you go, sweetheart.

Oh, boy, flapjacks.

Hey, watch him. There's food out.

Go, Yeti, get away.

Where's your father? Is he coming down?

Woman: Moments ago we were informed...

Wife: Michael, come on!

...interrupted his holiday to coordinate the effort,

dispatching a search-and-rescue operation...

Yeti, down. Go.

- Sorry. - Finally.

Sorry, sorry, sorry. Hey.

- Hey, Dad. - Hey, how are you?

Good.

You're still not dressed.

Did you see there was an ice-shelf collapse in Russia last night?

Yeah. Do you see that the toast is burning?

- Ooh. - (Yeti barks)

Ooh, that's hot.

You didn't burn the bacon, did you?

No, of course not.

Good.

- (phone chimes) - Mmm. Looks good.

That's weird.

What?

The subsurface temperature just dropped three degrees.

The atmospheric temperature hasn't changed at all.

How's that possible?

I don't know. Atmospheric temperature drop

always precedes a subsurface temperature drop.

Wallace: What was that?

It just dropped two more degrees.

The subsurface temperature can't drop that fast.

There must be something wrong with the equipment.

There's some kind of movement down here.

Oh, my God.

Reed: I think we ought to get off this mountain now.

I couldn't agree more.

Reed?

My God.

- (wind hissing) - (sign creaking)

Woman: Whoa.

Can I have dinner at Andrea's?

Tia, it's Christmas Eve.

Your mother's making her traditional seafood dinner.

But it'll be more fun at Andrea's. Her cousins will be there.

And they have a Christmas tree.

Your daughter does raise a good point. Why is it we don't have a tree, Michael?

Shane had hockey practice last weekend,

and Tia, um...

I don't know. Where were you last weekend?

- Andrea's. - Mother: Mmm.

Wasn't that the same day you were called in to the base?

- Wow, an earthquake. - Tia: What's going on?

Just a tremor. It'll stop in a moment.

Shane: This is so cool.

That's the second one in two days.

Yeah, I'll check in with the base after breakfast to see what's going on,

- see if they know anything about it. - Oh, no, you don't.

It's your day off, Michael.

Emily, I'm the Corps' senior geologist.

I have to check in on something like this.

Oh, you mean call in?

Yeah, call-- I didn't say call in?

- No. - Okay. I meant to say call in.

- Okay. - Okay.

So why is it that you need four people to buy a tree?

It's tradition.

Dad, we did it once. That's not a tradition.

All right, you know what? Forget it.

I'll just do it myself. In fact, you know what I'm gonna do?

I'm gonna go up the mountain, I'm gonna find a real Christmas tree,

and I'm gonna chop it down with my own two hands.

I'm gonna use 'em like axes.

That's tradition.

All right, you two, get dressed. We're going with him.

- Cool! - Do we have to? It's freezing outside.

Hey, this family needs a tree and we're not going to let your father go alone.

- lt'll be fun. - (Yeti barks)

Man over loudspeaker: All personnel are reminded

that access is restricted to the South Gate during the holiday season.

Operations. Ram speaking.

Ram, it's Michael. How big was that tremor that just hit?

Oh, hey, Mike. Uh, 4.0 just like yesterday.

Is there any connection with that ice-shelf collapse in Russia?

I'm not at liberty to discuss that right now.

Ram, what are you talking about? Is there a connection or not?

- Ahem. - Hold on, someone wants to speak to you.

Mr. Webster, I thought this was your day off.

It is, sir. But as we've just had another tremor,

I thought I should find out what we know about the ice-shelf collapse in Russia.

Hughes: That's what I like about you, Michael-- gut instinct.

So is there a connection?

Something disturbing has occurred. Can you come in for a briefing?

Like you said, sir, it's my day off.

I think my family would kill me.

Is there any way that you can brief me now?

Not on the phone. What I have to tell you is classified.

- Classified? - Just come in, Michael.

You're gonna want to hear this.

You geek. You don't need to pack all that.

We're only going to cut down a tree.

I'm an explorer. An explorer is always prepared.

Hi.

Got enough layers on there, sport?

I'm surprised you're even able to move.

Yeah, you look like a big puffball.

Don't listen to them. You're my mighty explorer.

- (Yeti barks) - Michael: Hey, Em?

Can I talk to you?

Something's come up. I gotta stop by the base.

It's for one hour.

The colonel's got to brief me on something classified.

- It has to do with the tremors. - There's always something.

And now you're going to work on Christmas Eve.

I will go for one hour. Okay?

I'll drop you and the kids off downtown. You can finish your Christmas shopping

and then I will pick you up and we'll go get that tree.

I promise.

One hour means one hour.

Yes.

- Hey. - Merry Christmas.

Go on in, Mr. Webster.

(indistinct speaking over speakers)

- Oh! - Whoa!

- Sorry, Jamie. - Merry Christmas to you, too, Michael.

Oh, what's the visibility like up on Mount Phaeton?

I want to take the family up there for a hike.

It's mixed. Just be sure to be back before nightfall.

There's a storm coming in tonight.

Hey, merry Christmas.

- (static) - (man speaking Russian)

- (static increases) - (man shouting in Russian)

Man with Russian accent: Please send help!

That was a communication intercepted

from a Russian outpost in their arctic region

as it broke apart at 0900 yesterday.

Just a few hours before the ice shelf broke.

Exactly. So our orders are to determine if this was a natural disaster

or if the Russians intentionally detonated something

to bolster their claims to new arctic regions.

So the tremors we've been feeling are shock waves.

What time did the first one hit us yesterday?

1500.

- That's odd. - What?

Well, the timing of the first shock wave.

That Russian outpost is only a few thousand miles from here.

We should have felt that sooner.

What do we have on today's tremor?

It just so happens that Reed and Wallace

were on the mountain this morning collecting data.

As soon as they check in, we'll know more.

Okay, good.

Well, contact me when we have that and then we'll get this thing sorted out.

- Thank you, sir. - Right.

- Merry Christmas, Tommy. - Tommy: Merry Christmas, Michael.

Carolers: в™Є Joy to the world... в™Є

So how'd the shopping go?

It was a disaster. They didn't have Tia's shoes.

They didn't have any shoes.

So wait a minute--

since when do we shop for our own Christmas presents?

Since that dress you bought me last year