Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident
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| Author | Eoin Colfer |
|---|---|
| Country | Ireland |
| Language | English |
| Series | Artemis Fowl |
| Genre(s) | Children's literature, Fantasy literature |
| Publisher | |
| Released | |
| Preceded by | Artemis Fowl |
| Followed by | Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code |
Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident is the second book in the Artemis Fowl series written by Irish author Eoin Colfer.
[edit] The plot
Having successfully restored his family fortune, thirteen-year-old criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl then begins the search for his father, Artemis Senior, who supposedly drowned on a ship (called the Fowl Star) carrying 250,000 cans of cola to Russia – one of his few legitimate enterprises.
Meanwhile, Holly discovers that goblins had been using an abandoned chute to received shipments of human batteries and that they had modified soft-nose lasers which required batteries. She suspects that Artemis has been supplying the goblins with the batteries and goes to investigate.
After a bit of convincing, Commander Root allows Holly to assist Fowl, on the condition that Butler helps them find the human who had been helping the goblins. He finds the person only to discover that he had been mesmerized and did not know anything about the goblins. Commander Root, Holly, Butler, and Artemis then go to the Arctic to try and rescue his father. They are ambushed by a goblin hit squad and narrowly escape.
Meanwhile, down below, war has broken out between the LEPrecon and Opal Koboi, Foaly's evil rival. Koboi, whose company Koboi Labs manufactures most of the LEP's equipment, has designed everything so that she can remotely sabotage it and render the LEP useless. Meanwhile, she has recruited a goblin criminal group called the B'wa Kell to assist her. She plans to take over the entire world with the assistance of Briar Cudgeon, a former LEP officer who was discharged following the Fowl incident, but her plot soon fails when Fowl and his accomplices reveal Cudgeon's true intentions.
After saving the fairies, Fowl travels with Holly and Root to Murmansk to rescue his father. He deceives the captors of his father by pretending to shoot his father, and getting them out of the way by telling them that the ransom money is in a case lighted up with a flare. However, Artemis Senior falls into the freezing water of Murmansk and Holly has to dive into the water to save him. She manages to rescue Artemis' father, although his leg has been cut off.
The story ends with Artemis in his private school talking to a psychologist. Artemis is waiting for a phone call from Helsinki confirming his father's condition.
[edit] Secret Message
NB - For an unknown reason, the publisher of the US edition of this book chose to remove this code.
For the UK, and other countries, each page had a set of symbols along the bottom. Using the guide on www.artemisfowl.co.uk, this can be translated. From scratch, the code, written in Centaurian, can be deciphered because in the book there is a translation on Foaly's computer screen for the following poem:
- Fairy creatures, heed this warning,
- On Earth, the human era is dawning.
- So hide, fairy, lest you be found,
- And make a home beneath the ground.
Eoin Colfer writes prior to this passage that it is an "illuminated Centaurian manuscript" from "The Scrolls of Capalla". The code is slightly easier to translate than Gnommish because many of the symbols look similar to their English counterparts. It can be read fluently once familiar, and is more like a recognisable font than a language.
The final message is as follows:
- Congratulations Human. If you have cracked this code then you are more intelligent than most of your species. This is a message from the Fairy People.
- We are seeking out our allies among the Mud Men. Though most Humans are dullwitted creatures there are exceptions. You for example. The reason for your intelligence is that you have Fairy ancestors. Do you feel different from those around you? Are your ears a bit pointier than most? Is your tongue long enough to touch your nose? Do you dream of flying? Have you ever thought that you do not belong among the Mud Men? That is because you have Fairy blood in your veins.
- So young Mud Fairy I have a mission for you. As one of the People it is your duty to protect the Earth from those who would destroy it. You must become one of a new race of Mud men who love this planet as much as the Fairy Folk. There is one simple rule. Use only what you need and use it wisely. Do this and the Earth will survive. Go now and begin your quest. I shall repeat this message for those Humans whose Fairy intelligence is buried a bit deeper than yours.
The same message is then repeated.
In the republication of the book, the Centurian code is changed to the Gnommish cypher used in the first book.
