The Aleutians Illusion

…Among the Western Aleutian Islands; Present Day…

“See the Russian government’s hypersonic missiles coming yet,” Halona Hansen, Maka Chee’s immediate supervisor, joked upon catching the young grad student checking for something with her binoculars once again.

Maka chuckled a bit with the slightest of annoyance, as she pulled down her binoculars. “Sorry, Ms. Hansen, but I’m certain I saw some lights on that clumping of land…” Maka raised her binoculars to her eyes, yet again. “But that patch is so small we can’t really call them islands.”

This time, Halona stopped what she was doing and actually took time to consider the long, shallow berg of a tiny island that was a few miles out from their island’s shore. Deep in the background of the expansive natural scenery were a few other islands of the Aleutian chain of big bergs of land that arced southward between the United States and Russia, just north of the Pacific Ocean.

The two women worked for a small ecological company, EcoService. They were, conversely, eco-scientists cleaning up various local environs, but using more natural “equipment”–such as sped-up breakdown of some chemicals via applied enzymes, to even old-fashioned picking up litter with trash bags. Some in Alaska called EcoService glorified eco-janitors…

“Didn’t you say your grandmother claims she’s never seen this island before, until recently,” Halona asked as she put away the last of their cleaning supplies into their van.

Maka was already nodding at Halona’s question before responding. “Yeah…old-school Alaskan Native. Runs deep in our family and she said my uncles and aunts also don’t remember anything about that island from the Chee family…after I clock out with Eco’ I’m going over.”

The Gen-Xer gave her young assistant a look. “You think that’s wise, Maka? Don’t forget about the geopolitics we’re in these days…how do you know it’s not Russian government agents spying on this end of America?”

Maka gave a sarcastic chuckle. “Ms. Hansen, they have hacking for that these days! I’ll be fine…probably just some litter that tourists left behind…”

Maka closed the back-double door to the company’s van. They were done for the day, so Halona knew she couldn’t keep Maka from her planned excursion, but she did not like the idea one bit!

“I’d go with you, but I’ve already made a commitment to watch my grandkids. My kids wouldn’t understand the change in schedule! How about I call Sesi and see it he can–“

“–I appreciate what you’re trying to do, Ms. Hansen. But I’m not that young! Don’t worry, I’ll livestream it from my phone–kind of like one of those paranormal investigation groups you and I talk about!”

That did not assuage her boss. Halona began shaking her head. “I’m sorry, Maka. I’m pulling the Listen to Your Elders-card on this one…I’m serious. Please don’t let me text your parents about this.”

Now it was Maka who gave a disapproving look! She thought for a bit. “Alright, I’ll call Uki, then.”

The barest of a smile was then found on Halona’s face. Despite the immense geography of Alaska, especially out in the Aleutians, much of society of the state was still mostly a small-town aspect to it. Halona knew Uki and felt she could trust the relatively precocious friend.

The two women did their last look-over of their client’s property that they had just cleaned. Satisfied of the results of their work, Halona and Maka boarded the work van and vacated the client’s land.