Ten days.
Ten long days of trekking about 20 miles each day, and - thankfully - Catherine’s transformation appeared to have ceased. Though she knew full well she was far from clear from danger.
Yes, she was maybe two days from Base Camp, and yes, she had kept her samples safe so there was something to be salvaged, and yes, she was still fundamentally Catherine. But, there was no escaping the fact that physically, she resembled a cross between a Polar Bear and Human.
Her limbs and torso proportional to a regular human’s, and still had dexterity in the digits on her hands and feet. But the thick coating of fur (white next to the snow and ice), the long muzzle, the round ears on the top of her head, along with the claws were all that of a polar bear.
And while it was true that her new form had given her the physical strength and endurance to haul the entirety of her equipment herself on the sled (and until her last meal, the slain sled dogs), explaining her new state to her colleagues without them panicking and shooting her was still something she was trying to work out.
Outside of keeping her coat, boots and scarf on to provide a visual clue that there was something very different about her, along with her hauling the sled, she lacked any real idea as to what she would say to them, if she even had the chance.
And even that had its problems. The thick fur was that good at trapping body heat, that when she had the coat on, she quickly threatened to overheat, and so for the last eight days, had been forced to make do without that piece to keep up her pace.
Furthermore, said pace combined with lack of support for her larger breasts resulted in their bouncing a fair deal as she fought to keep up her pace, and over time, they would force her to stop and rest when they began to hurt.
It was during her latest rest that the first signs of help appeared. While resting on the sled, the coat back on for now and her legs under a thick blanket practicing her speech, working to make it legible for when she’d need it, that she spotted something.
“Safe. Rough. Trim. Lego.” Each word spoken slowly, working out the growl, if not the rumbling tone.
To Catherine’s left, a noise reached her sharper ears picked up the unmistakable sound of an engine being worked. Her eyes making out the sight of a tracked vehicle moving slowly, parallel to her sled. Her colleagues!
“HHHHEEEEEYYYYRRRGGHH!!” Without thinking, she called out to them, standing and waving her arms frantically, desperately trying to catch their attention.
She persisted for several more moments before realising that they were probably too far away from her to notice. Not unless she tried a more dramatic(?) means of catching their notice.
Hurriedly running her massive pawed hands through her supplies, she gripped something that could do it. A flare gun, with two rounds already loaded. Pointing it up and ahead of where they were going, and fired the first shot.
The dark red stream shrieked into the sky, contrasting sharply with blue sky and white ground, with clear weather helping with visibility. Moments later and Catherine knew they must have seen it as she saw them slow to a halt, most likely determining where it came from.
Which she helped by firing the second shot in the same direction, only at a higher angle. Not even a minute later and they were turning, towards the source of the distress flares. Towards her. Now she could relax for a moment, with help on the way.
Only for her to remember that she was still not-quite-human-looking anymore. That made her jump, realising she’d sent them her way and still not knowing what to do when they actually reached her, and how they’d react. But, it was too late now. All she could do, was settle back down on the sled, and hope they’d give her a chance to explain what had happened.
Which would be any minute, as she could make out their faces now, and almost certainly they could see hers in turn.