After an argument turns deadly on an isolated outpost, three interns are left trying to cover up their murder.
They won’t have to worry about a cover-up for long, though.
The next morning, the victim is back, alive, and doesn’t remember anything.
It’s considered a miracle.
Until it starts to seem like whatever brought him back isn’t quite done.
Symon’s Wake is a fast-paced psychological thriller with social and cosmic horror elements. Currently seeking publication.
Katie is a young, anxious woman who decides (somewhat impulsively) to go on a two-month abroad trip to a remote research internship, staffing a satellite base in Antarctica. Gentle but hesitant, she ends up complicit when an argument turns deadly and she witnesses the death of her coworker.
Wracked with guilt, she decides to lay low until the internship is over. That is, until she finds the “dead” coworker alive the next morning, sitting at the kitchen table.
Symon is a strange, eccentric man with an interest in science and world religions. He’s reclusive, and awake at all hours of the night, but seems ultimately harmless and even kind of friendly.
When Joe makes fun of him about his most recent religious fascination, he reacts erratically and defensively. The two of them get into a fight, a knife is pulled, and Symon is killed.
Somehow, though, he doesn’t stay dead. And things only keep getting stranger after his return.
Joe is a graduate student left in charge of a remote research outpost after their official supervisor breaks her leg and has to be taken back to the main base to heal.
A mechanical engineer as well as an experienced mechanic, who enjoys working with machines and spends a lot of his day out in the garage.
His self-righteous and aggressive tendencies quickly cause him trouble after, spurred by gossip, he tries to intimidate another coworker and it escalates into a deadly fight.
It’s a miracle when the coworker comes back alive and doesn’t even seem to remember the murder. It seems like he’s gotten off scot-free. That is, until he starts having these really strange dreams…
Mila is a peppy, friendly girl who immediately takes a liking to Katie, being the only two girls working on the same research internship.
Unfortunately, she also has a penchant for gossip, and is not above making everyone else look bad in order to make others like her more.
After her distorted gossip leads to a fight that leads to a murder, Mila takes charge and convinces the others not to call for help, fearing her role in the event.
The next morning, however, her plans are thrown into chaos when the victim is found alive and calm, the gash on his throat still visible.
FLOORPLAN
The story takes place almost entirely within a closed setting, that being a satellite base 3 hours away from a larger one on the Getz ice shelf in Antarctica. Initially, their supervisor, Angela Sonnenschein, watches over them, but only a week into the program she breaks her leg on the ice and has to be sent back to the main base. Joe, a graduate student who’s worked closely with Angela before the trip, is left in charge.
The base can be split into two main halves, dubbed by those that live there as the “North Side” and the “South Side”. The “North Side” points towards the coastline, and hosts all their monitoring equipment, their radio, and a large storage room. The “South Side” holds all of their rooms, the kitchen and living room, the bathroom and laundry.
Fun Fact!
The first time Schwarzchild University hosted this project, they brought on 6 interns rather than 4. This means that some of those tiny rooms used to host bunk beds before the program was downsized!