Stay:The Last Dog in Antarctica by Jesse Blackadder Page A

out.’
    The Squirrel vibrated and then suddenly Stay felt the machine rising into the air. She wished she could see out! It would have been incredible to see Davis Station from the air. With all her might she willed Nuts to turn around and free her from the mailbag, but he didn’t seem to hear her thoughts. The helicopter rose higher and higher, then accelerated away from Davis and towards Mawson.
    The flight settled into a steady hum, with a few bumps to keep things interesting. Stay could feel the coins rattling and vibrating inside her. There weren’t as many of them as she’d accumulated on the ship, and she began to worry. If she did make it out to BechervaiseIsland with Chills, how would she raise any money for the Guide Dogs?
    Perhaps it had been a mistake to stay in Antarctica at all. She really should have gone home on the ship with the Boss. She’d have been well and truly back in Hobart by now, spending her days and nights chained up outside a supermarket, willing people to put money inside her.
    Stay sighed. Put like that, her old life didn’t sound exciting. It sounded well behaved, the way a Labrador’s life should. It sounded like what Jet would have done.
    Then she thought harder. Hadn’t Jet said something about adventures? And of course, he’d get to go on lots. Guide Dogs went everywhere with their owners, he’d told her. They went all sorts of places where no other dogs were allowed — on the bus, in restaurants, to the movies, to school: anywhere their owners needed to be. Other dogs were often left at home by themselves all day, Jet had said. Guide Dogs never were.
    Stay felt a stab of homesickness. She missed having someone to talk to. Jet had been a great friend, though they’d only known each other a short time. He’d understood her.
    The helicopter tilted, jolting Stay from her thoughts, and she felt it begin to drop. It was dizzying. The littlemachine felt like it was plummeting to the earth at full speed, nose first.
    Stay felt a rush of terror. Was she going to be killed in a helicopter accident? She could hear the wind screaming past the windows and they seemed to be going faster and faster.
    She tensed, waiting for the impact.

Chapter 19
    The helicopter swooped up out of its dive so suddenly that Stay felt dizzy. It levelled, hovered and then gently touched down. She heard Nuts turn the engine off and the rotors slowly stop spinning. The second Squirrel landed nearby a few seconds later.
    Nuts chuckled. ‘Ah, I love having no passengers.’
    Stay wondered if they’d arrived at Mawson. No matter what Kaboom thought, she couldn’t stand being hidden in the mailbag and missing out on seeing everything. With all her might she willed Nuts to open the bag. This time he seemed to respond to her thoughts.
    ‘Now I wonder what Kaboom is sending her boyfriend,’ he murmured. She felt his hand on the bag, moving along her back and up to her head.
    ‘No way!’ Nuts said. ‘Stay, is that you?’
    He ripped open the bag, pulling it back from Stay’s head, and gave a yelp that sounded quite dog-like.‘Cool!’ he said, and grinned at her. ‘A famous passenger! Dux will be spewing when he finds out you’ve gone.’
    Stay looked outside to see Mawson Station, but all she could see was snow stretching in every direction and a few rocks. Where are we?
    ‘Hey, dude, we’re at Beaver Lake refuelling depot,’ Nuts said. ‘The Squirrels need a drink to get all the way to Mawson. I’ll just fill up. Stay here.’ He laughed again. ‘Stay, stay here.’
    Very funny, Stay thought as he got out of the helicopter. She could see him heading over to a pile of fuel drums half buried in the snow and after some fiddling around he dragged a fuel hose back over to the Squirrel. He pumped the fuel into the tank with a hand lever. When it was full, he pulled out the hose and took it over to the other helicopter. Stay could hear him laughing with Stretch and saw them looking over at her. When the