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Title Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident

Author	Eoin Colfer
Country	Ireland
Language	English
Series	Artemis Fowl series
Genre(s)	Children's, Fantasy novel
Publisher	Hyperion Books
Released	May 2002
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	277 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN	ISBN 0786808551 (first edition, hardback)
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.

In Murmisk, two men working for the Russian Mafiya shoot down the Fowl Star, but the person torpedoing it aims for the wrong place, and the ship sank slowly, so they need to search for survivors in the sub-zero water. After a long time, they find one, barely alive. Expensive things are in his wallet and pockets, and after finding the man's name the two excitedly call their boss - very dangerous, as he usually kills the bearers of bad news. We are not told the captive's name, though.

Two years later, Artemis is attending boarding school in accordance with his mother's wishes, and driving the guidance counsellors and psychologists bonkers. After distressing one by pointing out that a family heirloom is a clever fake, Artemis is surprised to learn that he currently regards no one (alive, as Archimedes and Albert Einstein are dead) as an equal. In the middle of this, Butler calls him to say that they received a message concerning the Fowl Star.

Meanwhile, while on a stakeout, Holly Short and a sprite named Chix Verbil run into two goblins armed with lasers, part of the B'wa Kell triad. Doing a flyby at the time, Chix is shot down in the wing, a sprite's largest organ. Holly saves his life, so Chix now owes her something (this will be important in the fourth book), and Holly chases down the goblins, stunning one and chasing the other into a chute. They get locked out when the doors close, signifying that a flare is coming, and the goblin attempts to fly up using wings. Needless to say, the goblin is cooked, but Holly shoots out coolant canisters on the ceiling above her, protecting her from the heat. When the LEP arrives, she claims that the goblins had been using the abandoned chute to receive shipments of human batteries (due to a crate of batteries blasted open during the chase) and the way they had modified the soft-nose lasers they're using to receive batteries. She suspects that Artemis has been supplying the goblins with the batteries (because goblins have been scientifically proven to be dumb, and they couldn't come up with that idea) and goes to bring him in for interrogation.

While leaving the school, Butler shows Artemis a video file on a laptop, with a man against a snowy background, and the words "Hello, son" written in Russian on a sign around his neck. The e-mail was made untraceable, so Artemis and Butler head for Fowl Manor to get supplies for the journey to Russia. At Fowl Manor, they encounter Holly, and are forced into going with her.

Holly manages to take Artemis and Butler down to Haven, but their innocence is proven. Artemis requests help in his father's rescue while down there, even if it's just transportation. 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. We are told that Briar Cudgeon is masterminding this, and is using a mesmerized Parisian to supply the B'wa Kell with batteries. Butler finds the man, only to discover that he had been mesmerized and did not know anything about the goblins, but not knowing the link between him and Cudgeon. Upon return, Foaly announces that he had traced the e-mail sent to Artemis, and found the location and sender.

Briar is co-heading the B'wa Kell with Foaly's technological rival, Opal Koboi, head of Koboi labs, manufacturer of most of the LEP's equipment. Everything made by Koboi and sent to the LEP is specially modified to go offline when a signal is broadcasted from the dish on top of Koboi Labs. Foaly dislikes Koboi, saying that it's not right for one company to make all of the LEP's equipment.

Battery matter solved, Artemis, Butler, Holly, and Root travel to the Arctic to rescue Artemis Sr. On their way, they're ambushed by a B'wa Kell hit squad, sent by Cudgeon. Two of them are ironically named similarly to the author's brothers, Nial corresponds to Nyall, D'nall to Denol. The group hides beneath an overhang when their weapons don't fire ("Sabotage," announces Artemis), but the goblins shoot the snow above them, causing the overhang to collapse. Artemis and Holly make it out, but Butler is knocked out and Root is trapped under there. Holly quickly comes up with a plan; Root straps Butler and himself to Butler's moonbelt (something that reduces the weight of anything attached to it by 1/6, used by Butler because he was wearing so many weapons), and shoots out a piton dart. Holly and Artemis climb aboard the nearby Mayak Chemical Train, and its movement is sufficient enough to pull Root and Butler out from under the drift (the goblins are gone because one of them shot his mates down to get promotion). Artemis crawls up the side of the carriage, goes through the sunroof, and melts the door lock with acid so Holly can pull Julius and Butler in. However, just as she's pulling them in, a bump in the tracks causes the door to slam shut, and Holly loses her trigger finger, which pokes Root in the eye.

Meanwhile, down below, war has broken out between the LEPrecon and the B'wa Kell. Koboi has knocked out LEP weapons and communications. Foaly is busy finding the owner of a partial fingerprint found on a shuttle made for the goblins. The last name remaining after the others have been eliminated is Briar Cudgeon. Foaly was doing this while Briar was talking with him, and Cudgeon reveals his plan to Foaly, including that Koboi wired Foaly's Operations Booth into a remote, so that nothing can happen unless Cudgeon presses the button. Later, Cudgeon communicates with Foaly via the plasma screens, and Foaly records it using the camera on Artemis's laptop. He then text messages Artemis's phone using the laptop.

Back in the Arctic, Artemis and Co. manage to get off the train without further incident, but Holly has been drained of magic and is unable to reattach her trigger finger. Artemis discovers that Holly has an acorn in a sealed capsule around her neck. He uses it to complete the power-restoring Ritual for her. After she is healed, getting her finger reattached, Artemis asks if she's okay. She replies "I think so," and punches Artemis in the face. They regroup in the Arctic shuttleport, and Artemis's phone receives Foaly's text message, so they now know who's behind the plot. Root remarks that they could use Mulch Diggums in a time like this (only fairy to break into the labs and live), but they can't, because he's dead. Holly claims that Mulch is in Los Angeles. Foaly had a theory, due to A., the gold Holly brought back from her ransom fund was a few dozen bars too short; B., Mulch's life signs had seemed like a rabbit's in his supposed death; and C., a tracker revealed the same approximate amount of stolen gold was in a penthouse in L.A. They didn't tell Root because he doesn't like theories, only concrete proof.

Mulch is in fact in L.A., building up a collection of stolen Oscars. He's returning from his final nab, Best Actress, when he sees Artemis in his room. He dives down the clay-filled chimney connecting all the fireplaces in that wall, only to be apprehended by Holly. He agrees to the deal offered to him by Root ( If you help us you get a 2 days' head start. If you don't help us, then you get several centuries in Howler's Peak, a goblin prison), and shows a way to get into Koboi Labs. They fly the shuttle through a not-always-there fissure (it expands and contracts due to heat), and end up in the foundations of the labs, dug by Mulch and his cousin. Because solid titanium rods would be too expensive, they hollowed one, and filled it up with garbage. Because that was 100 or so years ago, now that garbage is clay. Mulch tunnels through the rod, so Butler, Root, and Holly can get through, leaving Artemis in the shuttle.

The B'wa Kell made it to Police Plaza, and Briar has everyone believing it's Foaly's fault. Briar attempts to "negotiate", and is taken to Koboi Labs, where the other goblins are staging an assault, to divert suspicion from Opal. Coincidentially, our heroes are in there now.

While meditating, Artemis hears groaning from Mulch. He climbs through the rod, and learns that Mulch has blockage in his gut. Mulch asks Artemis to remove it, via dwarf reflexology (every part of the foot relates to another part of the body), when a goblin comes and sticks his gun in Artemis's forehead. Artemis removes the block, and the goblin takes the full brunt of Mulch's recyclings. When Artemis asks Mulch how he got out when he broke in, Mulch says he left in the LEP uniform he came in. Artemis thinks there should be another way to the headquarters. He thinks he'll try the plasma feed for the DNA cannons (if the computer doesn't recognize you, you're dead), as they're turned off. Mulch opens the hatch, using dwarf hair, and Artemis climbs in, using an LEP helmet to breathe. He makes it to the sanctum, opens the hatch, and flops out. He sees Foaly on a monitor, and Foaly tells him to put him on all screens. Foaly plays the recorded conversation he had with Briar, revealing that he would return weapons control to the LEP, and eliminate the goblin threat. The three goblin generals get really angry, and are about to shoot Cudgeon, when he reactivates the DNA cannons, programmed to shoot goblins.

Butler, Holly, and Root make it to the inner sanctum, but Butler sees that Cudgeon has captured Artemis. He breaks down the door, but he doesn't see a way to rescue Artemis, and there's nothing he can do about it. Then Artemis's phone rings. After listening to it for a few seconds, he tosses it to Opal, who hears that Briar's going to make her have a tragic accident. She attacks Briar, he gets flung into the plasma feed, and is fried by a million radioactive tendrils. His remote is electrocuted as well, returning control of the Operations Booth to Foaly. He eliminates the goblins in Police Plaza, and Artemis can now rescue his father (if you're wondering where Mulch is, he's taking his two-day head start).

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 (using a fairy invention to make it look convincing), 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 is accidentally pushed into the freezing water of Murmansk by a Russian, and Holly has to dive into the water to save him. Fairies hate cold, some so much that they won't eat ice cream, and they hate radiation even more. But she manages to rescue and heal Artemis' father. They deposit him at a hospital in Helsinki.

The story ends with Artemis back in his private school talking to a psychologist. Artemis is waiting for a phone call from Helsinki confirming his father's condition. The man, the same one from the beginning, asks if Artemis has declared anyone an equal. Thinking of Butler, Holly, and his father, he remarks, "Yes, I believe I have."

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, up until "Do you feel different from those around you?"

In the republication of the book, the Centurian code is changed to the Gnommish cypher used in the first book.

In this book, a goblin triad is sent to kill Artemis, Butler, Holly and Commander Root as they travel through the Artic Circle to save Artemis's father. One of these Goblins is named Niall, after Eoin Colfers brother. Through the book, this Goblin is mentioned several times, and each time it is spelt differently. First, the original Irish spelling, Niall, as Colfer's brother spells it, then Nyal, then Nyle.

v • d • e Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl
Books:	Main Series: Artemis Fowl | The Arctic Incident | The Eternity Code | The Opal Deception | The Lost Colony | Book 6 (title unknown) Related Books: The Seventh Dwarf | The Artemis Fowl Files
Film:	Artemis Fowl
Characters
Characters:	Artemis Fowl | Butler | Juliet Butler | Foaly | Holly Short | Julius Root | Mulch Diggums | Minerva Paradizo | N°1 | Arno Blunt | Billy Kong | Briar Cudgeon | The Brill Brothers | Doodah Day | Jon Spiro | Leon Abbot | Opal Koboi | Scalene | Angeline Fowl | Ark Sool | Artemis Fowl, Sr. | Caballine | Chix Verbil | Grub Kelp | Jerbal Argon | Qwan | Qweffor | Trouble Kelp | Vinyáya
Groups
Organisations:	Lower Elements Police | LEPrecon | LEPretrieval | LEPtraffic | Section Eight | Fission Chips | B'wa Kell | Phonetix | Russian Mafiya
Types of Fairies:	Elves | Dwarves | Trolls | Goblins | Centaurs | Sprites | Pixies | Demons | Warlocks
Locations:	Fowl Manor | Police Plaza | Haven | Tara | Fowl Star | Spiro Needle | Hybras