Beneath the Dark Ice

Twelve

Monica had them all on the lower cave floor within twenty minutes. The area was a cavern junction system where many caves fed into the large lower cathedral where they now stood. Alex moved them briskly out of the open area of the cavern floor and to the south. His equipment told him he was now nearly a mile under the rock and ice and this was as low as he was prepared to go.

Alex ordered Mike to scout further down the main cave to provide forward cover and some initial recon for any further Hendsen party clues. He didn’t expect to find anyone alive, especially not Lieutenant Johnson. He knew a HAWC would only release his gun when he was dead, and even then under protest. Against his better judgment, he allowed Matt Kerns to accompany Mike so he could satisfy his curiosity in regards to any archaeological artifacts in the lower caves. However, he told the young archaeologist that the HAWC was authorised to shoot him if he disobeyed his instructions.

“Phew, it’s getting hot now,” said Margaret Anderson, wiping a sheen of perspiration from her cheeks and forehead.

“Not really,” said Monica. “Heating up, sure, but it’s still only about forty degrees down here. Unfortunately, our suits are thermally lined and we weren’t expecting anything much above freezing.”

“Well, it feels like a hundred degrees in this suit. We didn’t bring a lot of water and with the low humidity and unexpected heat, fluid loss is going to start to be a problem.” The medic was right; Alex knew he needed to watch the liquid consumption.

Over to the side of the group, Alex watched Silex wrench a sheet of clear material from a flat electronic device he had set up on the floor of the cave basin. He balled it up and threw it angrily into the dark. He watched as Monica put her hands on her hips and glared at him with an ill-disguised contempt for his defilement of the pristine cave environment. Silex typed furiously onto a miniaturised keyboard, all the while shaking his head at the results on the small screen.

Alex noticed Aimee standing slightly back from the lead scientist. She was watching him with a look of concern on her face and he walked silently over to join her. “What’s his problem?”

“That device is Silex’s own design — the supposed next generation of stratigraphic imaging technologies. Where most stratigraphs give you an interpretation of the different densities and morphologies of the stone and can highlight petroleum beds, they still have a high degree of uncertainty. Dr. Silex thinks he has solved the uncertainty equation by generating high-resolution seismic images using a form of spectral decomposition. Theoretically, if there’s an oil reservoir, it’ll be displayed in 3D with colour-coded rock morphologies, depth and even the reservoir target boundaries — degree of uncertainty: point zero zero one five.” Aimee could see some of the jargon was being lost on Alex, so she broke it down further.

“Have you ever seen an ultrasound picture? Well, imagine that grainy, black-and-white image sitting next to a high-resolution colour photograph. According to Dr. Silex, that will be the clarity differential.”

“Looks like there are still a few bugs.” Alex nodded at Silex who again screwed up another piece of the clear film paper and squeezed it in his fist.

Aimee looked up at Alex and nodded slightly. “Maybe. Mining and oil exploration is a multi-trillion-dollar business; that device could be worth billions. He really needs a successful field test.” She shook her head and her eyes softened slightly. “I can’t help him. I can determine the purity of any reservoir, its approximate biological decomposition age and even calculate its potential yield. But we’ve got to find it first. That’s Dr. Silex’s job.”

Alex looked back at Silex in time to see him throw another ball of paper into the gloom. This time Monica set her jaw and headed towards him. Alex groaned and excused himself from Aimee. He moved quickly to head Monica off.

Alex and Monica arrived at the same time Silex was pulling another sheet of paper from his imager. He looked up, and as Alex expected only saw the HAWC’s large frame. He came quickly to his feet.

“We need to get deeper, Captain.”

“I’m sorry, Dr. Silex, we’re around a mile down; that’s as deep as I feel we can safely go. Might not feel like it but we’ve been travelling for eight hours. It’s going to take us longer to return as that gentle slope we felt coming down won’t feel so easy on the way back up, especially now that we’re all tired.”

Silex had been screwing up the film paper he had in his hand and Monica was determined to make sure he didn’t throw this one into the cave system. She opened her mouth to speak but was dismissed with a curt “piss off.” Silex turned back to Alex, hastily unfolding the paper and holding it in front of his face. The coloured swirls and numbers meant nothing to him.

“Look, water. All I’m reading is stupid fucking water. We are standing on top of some sort of bloody great lake or underground sea. I need to take readings from a different position to validate my calculations or this trip has been a complete waste of time and money. Your instructions were to follow my commands. This is the priority, Captain; we can set aside another few hours for that.”

Alex noticed that the two medics had wandered closer, their attention caught by the scientist’s rising tone. Margaret Anderson had opened the collar of her suit and was very flushed in the face and Bruno was now wearing her backpack, trying to lighten her load. He was also sweating into the dark rubberised clothing and both had their eyes on Alex. Margaret’s expression was pained and he could tell she wanted to start the ascent.

“Dr. Silex, we’re performing one final sweep of the south cave for Johnson and the Hendsen party then we’ll be immediately returning to the surface.” Alex would have rested them all night here and then started the climb out, but he wanted to be away from the open basin before the others arrived. Alex could see the relief on the face of everyone except Silex, whose expression turned from one of officiousness to angry disbelief.

“Oh no, no. If we need to go lower, we’ll go lower. We will have hours to spare before the helicopter arrives and my tests have international importance. Captain, if we return to the surface and I tell them that you pulled us out before I could complete my tests, and that you did so against my wishes, what do you think your superiors will say? Let’s see, disobeying my orders, no idea on the whereabouts of the Hendsen party and you have lost one of your own men. Is this your first command, Captain Hunter?” Silex pursed his lips and his expression changed again to one of self-importance.

Alex stared hard into the scientist’s face, causing him to back up a step. Alex wasn’t trying to intimidate the smaller man, but to observe the changing heat patterns on his skin and his pupil dilation. In the gloom, Silex’s eyes should have been large dark discs, not the pinpoints he was seeing. This man was becoming hostile and was clearly under a lot of stress — surely there’d be other opportunities to test his device? Strange, thought Alex, he’s hiding something.

Alex kept his eyes on the man. He was trying to decide how best to respond without further inflaming him when Silex took another step to the side to look past him at Aimee who was standing with her arms folded and watching from a few paces away.

“Tell him, Dr. Weir, Aimee. Tell him how we are probably only a few miles away from one of the greatest oil discoveries in the last fifty years and we just need to position our equipment in a better geometry to improve the spatial images.” Silex looked back at Alex, his eyes wide around their tiny pupils.

Inaudible to everyone else, Alex heard Aimee groan quietly at being dragged in and expected to take sides. “It’s possible, Adrian; however, you can feel the heat now as well. We must be very close to some form of geothermic activity, and the likelihood of finding oil or gas occurring near a superheated environment is extremely low. Probably best to head back up and take some broader satellite images.”

Silex rounded on her with his mouth hanging open in disbelief. He stepped in close and spoke to her as if to a small child. “Dr. Weir, you know damn well that the heat could be the result of a single volcanic vent and that a large volume petroleum deposit can easily exist shielded by a solid layer of shale. My spectral scanners can detect deposits several miles down and a mile in all directions, provided this idiot soldier is able to get me to a solid, stable position away from this fucking water source.”

“Excuse me, sir, we need to start moving into the main south cave. You may find an area that is more promising for your testing. Would you like my men to assist you in repacking?” As far as Alex was concerned the scientific part of this mission was concluding, but he needed to have the scientist maintain an air of civility to his men and the other team members — there could be no conflicts within the party. Cave environments could be extremely dangerous and Alex had a sense that this one was going to test them all before they arrived back at the surface.

Silex shook his head at Alex, and taking Aimee by the arm started to lead her away from the HAWC and the other watching team members. “Aimee, please, what are you doing listening to that army imbecile? He’s obviously out of his depth. I recommended to Major Hammerson before we left that we needed more scientific personnel on this expedition, not a bunch of dimwitted Neanderthal soldiers.”

Aimee looked at him. “Dr. Silex, I don’t know what your problem with the rest of the team is, but I sure as hell don’t have the same passion for field testing your new device as you do. The surficial liquid originally identified by Tom must have been that enormous body of water you’ve been reading. Wrong call, as it happens. This expedition is just about over; the risks are becoming too great.”

Silex grabbed Aimee’s sleeve, his voice lowering and developing a pleading inflection. “Look Aimee, please, if we prove the existence of petroleum or natural gas deposits in the near area with my new imager we won’t need to be making basic wage with the fucking military anymore. I wasn’t going to tell you this, but I’ve been approached by Texegen — they want to buy out my patent. I can make you an advisor, or a minority partner; you’ll never have to work again. I need your support here, please, Aimee.” He was now holding her forearm with both his hands and was squeezing her skin underneath the cave suit as if to milk approval from her.

Alex was standing ten feet away with his back turned but his sensitive hearing allowed him to catch every nuance of the conversation. He felt like wringing the scientist’s neck; the U.S. government funded all of Silex’s research and should have first rights to any inventions and downstream discoveries. Alex shook his head and wondered what the man was like before greed and self-interest became his prime motives. He’d let the Hammer deal with him on their return. He turned and watched Aimee gently tug her arm free and respond to him.

“No, thank you, Dr. Silex. I don’t think that sounds legal and besides, staying here any longer may just be putting us all in danger.”

“Bullshit. You don’t have to agree with everything that side of beef says, you know. I really don’t understand you; for an intelligent woman you’re acting more like a lovesick teenager. You’re making wrong decisions, Dr. Weir; maybe you just aren’t as smart as Tom and I thought you were.” Silex spun away before Aimee could respond.

Aimee stood stunned in the darkness. Disgust and anger flared briefly, and then just as quickly morphed into pity. But it wasn’t the kind of pity that made her want to help Silex or offer assistance; more the sort of pity one feels when seeing a scorpion trapped in a spider’s web. Sad, but dangerous and repellent, and best to just avoid it altogether. At least she now knew why he had volunteered to come to the Antarctic and why he was pushing Alex and his team so hard to take them all further into the caves. Texegen was a trillion-dollar oil and gas conglomerate and had approached her at GBR several times, mostly just for job offers, but sometimes with much more clandestine propositions to buy raw data and research material. They had a lot of money to spend and she bet they had already spent some on Silex.

He’s going to be unbearable on the way back to the surface, she thought, and made a mental note to stay away from him. She’d stay close to Alex. She looked across to where he was standing and caught him looking at her; he smiled and then looked away. That’s much better to look at, she thought. She hoped Silex didn’t push him anymore as she could tell Alex was trying hard to be patient and firm with the scientist. A few times she had seen the HAWC leader’s face darken and his jaws compress as though he was biting back some sharp thought or action and only just managed to keep it locked away. She really hoped Silex was smart enough to see it as well.

Borshov sent his two Krofskoya comrades over the jerry-bridge first. Not that he thought it was likely to be booby-trapped as there was no way that Captain Hunter could know he was being pursued. Nevertheless, he hadn’t lived this long by making assumptions.

They couldn’t be more than an hour behind them now. Their orders were to retrieve all scientific data, eliminate all mission members and make it look as if a natural disaster had befallen them. Borshov and his team must complete their mission and be gone before the American helicopter returned. Otherwise, they would be left to find their own way back.

“Wow, oh wow,” Matt was bouncing from wall to wall deciphering more of the ancient glyphs carved into the stone. “Qwotoan flies, or maybe flees, from us while we are protected by the mighty Kinich Ahau; he was the god of the sun. Hmm, this bit’s interesting. ‘No more does he call to us with our fallen warriors.’ Wonder what that means… maybe I’m translating it all wrong. Ahh, I need more time.”

“Yeah, but does it say what this Qwotoan is? Could it still be around, and have taken Johnson?” Mike was talking over his shoulder to Matt as he continued to scan the further recesses of the cave.

“Nope. I think it’s just an old legend about one of the gods these Aztlans had. They probably had gods for everything — the sun, wind, rain, disease, harvesting, fire. There is definitely a race overlap here; some of these glyph symbols representing gods are the same in Mayan and these others are almost Olmec. Every time I think I’ve got it, I look at the next symbol and it skips away on me. But there is obviously a clue here that I just can’t draw out yet, it’s nearly…”

Matt turned to look at Mike and froze. Mike had his gun to his shoulder and was intently watching a figure glide towards him out of the darkness. Matt could feel the hair on his head rise as the soundless figure drifted towards them. “Lieutenant Johnson,” he said, “is that you?”

Alex sniffed; he was sure he could detect a faint ocean smell. Yes, definitely salt. He closed his eyes and for a brief moment was back on his favourite Australian beach with warm sun bathing his face, rather than cloistered in the dark beneath millions of tons of rock and ice.

The warm sun vanished with the sound of running feet. Alex heard someone returning from the south cave long before anyone else and he moved quickly into an intercept position. On seeing Alex moving with purpose, the other HAWCs immediately went into a flanking defence to his left and right.

Matt burst out of the black cave and rushed to Alex; his eyes were wide and rolling like a startled horse. It was clear the young man was frightened. Alex grabbed him by the shoulders and gave him a slight shake to focus him. Matt sucked in a few deep breaths and exhaled the words in a rush.

“It’s Mike, he’s being attacked by Johnson. He won’t let go of him.”

“Tank, with me.” Alex disappeared into the cave darkness like a wraith, moving at a speed no normal human could. He arrived in seconds to the sound of muffled grunts and boots skidding on dry stone. Mike was being dragged into the shadows, disappearing into the gloom, seemingly held tight in his missing comrade’s embrace.

Alex’s mind worked hard to understand what he was seeing. The figure holding Mike looked to Alex like his missing HAWC, however, there was no warmth emanating from the body and he was glistening like he was drenched in something wet or slimy. The Johnson thing’s face was expressionless; Alex thought it should have registered something just from the exertion of dragging a 200-pound man as if he was nothing more than a child.

Tank appeared beside Alex and on seeing his older brother in trouble, charged. He grabbed hold of Mike, and then Johnson, trying to drag them apart. Tank’s eyes watered from the stinging putrid stench as his hand became stuck to the figure and he too was pulled off his feet and dragged towards the cave depths. Alex watched as realisation dawned on Tank’s face — it wasn’t Johnson; it wasn’t even human.

Tank was a big man, and Alex didn’t think that anyone other than himself could have resisted the force of his attack. At that moment Alex saw the cord — a thick, fleshy umbilical tether protruding from Johnson’s back. The two men were being reeled in, like hooked fish on the end of a line.

Alex raised his gun and fired a continuous stream of ball bearing — sized compressed air projectiles that quickly cut through the cord. The air around them exploded with wet thrashing sounds and filled with the acrid smell of ammonia. Mike, Tank and the Johnson thing fell to the ground, and from deep within the bowels of the earth came a deep pounding and sloshing. The cord quickly withdrew, gushing a purple-black liquid as it disappeared into the cold depths of the cave.

“What the fuck was that!” yelled Tank as he lifted his brother away from the cave floor.

Mike was covered in a stinking jelly-like substance and had suffered deep lacerations and puncture wounds. The Johnson thing had released its sticky grip after being severed from the main creature and now lay deflating at their feet. In seconds it was nothing more than a six-foot long fleshy pad, almost colourless, with sucker protuberances. Lining the inside of the pad at the centre of the suckers were extendable tusks that accounted for Mike’s wounds. He hadn’t just been glued to the creature; he had been hooked to it as well.

Alex could feel his heart hammering in his chest; something horrendous lived in these caves and had been snatching people — the Hendsen party, Johnson, and it had tried to take Mike. He couldn’t imagine what the result would have been if it had attacked while everyone was here; he would have lost them all in a mad panic into half a dozen separate pitch-black caves. He sucked in a deep breath and helped the big HAWC pull his brother up off the cave floor.

“Tank, get him back to the medics, double time.”

It had not felt agony for countless generations. Its lifespan was measured in thousands of years, but it was not immortal; it could feel pain. Others of its kind had challenged it for dominance of its world and vicious fights were common. The deep cliffs and caves had echoed with the sound of the titans’ warring. Now its bleeding would attract the other giants; some creatures much like it, and some vastly different.

Its kind had encountered the warm bloods before and its deep racial memories had always shown them to be food; never had they been able to hurt it. There was no fear; it knew it would regenerate quickly in the warm, dark salty waters below the earth. However, its hunger was not yet sated, and now it felt something else it had not felt for centuries — anger.