He isn't allowed to interfere. But when he found the tiny animal, alone and freezing, the rule book went out the window.Dr. Aris Thorne is a man who loves the cold. For six months a year, he lives at a remote Arctic research station, studying climate change's effect on the tundra. His life is governed by data, and by the primary rule of wildlife biology: observe, but never, ever interfere.He was on his way back from checking a weather sensor, the snow crunching under his boots, when he saw a small flicker of white against the ice. It wasn't a snowdrift. It was a tiny Arctic fox, curled into a tight ball, its body shivering violently.He knelt. The fox was so weak it couldn't even lift its head. It was a juvenile, starving, and its ribs stuck out like a tiny cage. Aris knew the cold, hard truth: this is how nature works. The weak don't survive. His training told him to walk away.He stood there for a full minute, the wind whipping his face. He thought of the data, the rules, the ethics.
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