Deep Freeze, by Peter Morford

He was quite comfortable really, wrapped up like a space man; double- glazed goggles, moon boots in a temperature of minus 30 degrees centigrade.  At first it was silent and totally dark, but after a while he could hear a background hum, almost like tinnitus and, here and there, see tiny glimmers of light.  Otherwise, dark cold and quiet.

     His instructions were clear. “Do not move around – it could be dangerous. Rest. Even sleep. Save your energy.”

     He lowered himself to the hard floor and leaned against the wall. Perhaps he did doze.  He wasn’t sure. There was a rumbling and he knew the machines were moving. He might have imagined it, but he thought he could see a greater moving darkness; hear a faint hissing; see a tiny light snuffed behind a moving object.

   After a few minutes all was near-silence again. He was beginning to wonder if he was hearing and seeing things which weren’t there. He had no idea of the time. That was part of the experiment. Nothing happened until it all started again. Longer this time.

      He looked up to the roof, fifty metres above him.  The cold was reaching him now and it was an effort to control his shivering. He heaved himself up, stretched and swung his arms. Performed three perilous crouches.  “Don’t move around – it’s dangerous.”

        It shouldn’t be long, he thought. 

   More movement. He could see better now. Although the glimmers were like a fob-light seen from 100 metres he was aware now of what was going on. Around him, 24,000 tons of frozen food, stacked 24 pallets high.  Eight automatic cranes shuffling the stock, ready to find and despatch 240 pallets an hour to the trucks waiting in the collection bay. He may have dozed again.

       He felt a gentle kick on his shoulder. A man with a light in his hat gestured to him. His muffled voice said, “Congratulations.  You’ve made it. Come with me. You’ve earned your breakfast.”

      They passed through two sets of airlock doors into the dazzling light and oppressive heat of the control room.

            “It never ceases to amaze me the things people do to raise money for charity,” the manager said.