Zodiac Station

Twenty-nine

First, we checked the logbook again. It had been a busy morning, last Saturday, but not so busy you’d lose track. A few lines down from when Hagger left, there was Quam, signing to go check a seal colony at Nansen Bay. Out: 11:30. In: 14:00.

‘Enough time to get to the Helbreen, if he had the helicopter.’

I found Jensen in the mess, helping the others get ready for Thing Night. With so much time on their hands, they’d really gone to town. Someone had taken a bucket of dry ice from one of the labs to make fog, which they were testing out. They’d even made a cardboard cut-out of the Thing himself and painted it nice and lifelike, seven feet tall and green skin. It looked a lot like a recycled Frankenstein’s monster.

‘You think Quam will make us watch the John Carpenter version?’ I heard Fridge say. Several people laughed like they’d been thinking the same thing.

I guess you’ve seen The Thing, Captain? The John Carpenter one from the early eighties, probably. It’s about a badass alien that crash-lands in Antarctica. It eats the staff at a science station one by one, then takes their shape, so you can never tell who to trust. But it’s a remake. The original was an old Howard Hawks black and white movie, and that one’s set in the Arctic.

There’s also a crappy remake from a few years back, but no one cares about that. To be honest, I prefer the John Carpenter one. It’s in colour, the effects are better, you get Kurt Russell, and snow looks like snow whatever caption they put on the screen. They filmed it in Alaska, for Chrissakes. But saying that at Zodiac is like coming to Fenway Park in a Yankee cap. They take it seriously. Thing Night’s the biggest party of the year, and it’s got to be the Arctic Thing.

I circled the room slowly so I wouldn’t look like I was targeting Jensen. By the fireplace, I found Greta up a ladder hanging a tinfoil spaceship from the ceiling.

‘The Internet’s down,’ I told her.

She nodded. ‘You can go out and fix it.’

I took a look at the weather readout on the monitor in the corner. The wind speed clocked in at a hundred kilometres an hour. Not a good time to go crawling around rooftops.

‘I’m good. I have my emergency porno stash.’

I moved on. Jensen was in the corner, surrounded by the female students. He was an attractive guy: surfer looks, sexy accent and a cool occupation. The closest thing to a rock star we had at Zodiac.

‘Kennedy wants a word,’ I said cheerfully. ‘Something to do with Trond.’

He looked sad to be dragged off, but he didn’t argue. I followed him out, slow enough so I didn’t look like I was following him, and came into the medical room just in time to hear Jensen saying, ‘Bob said something about Trond?’

‘Trond’s fine.’ I stepped in and closed the door. ‘Tell us about Quam.’

Jensen moved for the door. I leaned against it and crossed my arms over my chest.

‘That day Hagger died. You were flying Ash around looking for polar bears.’

Jensen looked from me to Kennedy, like a man who’s heard footsteps in a dark alley. ‘That’d be right.’

‘And you left Ash at Vitangelsk for a couple of hours.’

‘Yeah, I told you. What—’

‘Where’d you go?’

‘Checking fuel caches.’

It was what he’d said last time. I didn’t really think about it then; I should have seen the lie right away.

‘How much does one of those fuel drums weigh? Three hundred and some pounds? Lot of weight for one man to cart around.’

He didn’t say anything. Like all pilots, he was cocky as hell, but not then.

‘You came back here and picked up Quam.’ I didn’t make it a question. ‘You flew him to the Helbreen to speak with Hagger. The only thing I want to know is, did you help him push Hagger in the crevasse, or did he do it himself?’

‘That’s absurd.’

‘Then why don’t you tell us something that makes sense?’

No answer. He looked at me, and he looked at Kennedy. He ran his fingers back through his hair. I just kept staring at him.

‘What do you want me to say?’

‘We just need to get it clear,’ said Kennedy. Irish accent: he was made to be the good cop. He offered Jensen a breath mint. Nice touch.

‘Quam called in straight after I dropped Ash. He wanted to find Hagger on the Helbreen. I took him up and they had a conversation.’

‘Did you hear what they said?’

‘I stayed in the helicopter.’

‘And afterwards?’

‘Quam came back. I brought him home. Then I went to pick up Ash.’

‘Was Hagger alive when Quam left?’

Jensen sucked on the mint. ‘I don’t know.’

‘Did you see him?’

‘Look, I had plenty to do. If I’d known Hagger wouldn’t come back, I’d have paid more attention. Taken a picture or something.’

‘So you didn’t see Hagger alive after Quam had finished?’ Kennedy said.

Jensen looked between us again — trapped. ‘To be honest? I can’t say a hundred per cent.’

‘But you’re not certain you did see him?’

He shook his head.

‘Then why didn’t you say anything?’

‘Soon as we knew what happened — when Greta called in — Quam got me into his office. He said he knew it was awkward, but he didn’t want to explain himself because it would start rumours. He said that if the truth came out, why he had to go, that it would make Hagger look bad, and he didn’t want anyone speaking ill of the dead.’

‘Anything else?’

‘He said if I said anything, he’d get a new pilot.’

‘How did he seem when you flew back? In himself, I mean?’ That was Kennedy.

‘Tense. But that wasn’t unusual. You know how Quam is.’

‘The stick’s so far up his ass it almost comes out his mouth,’ I agreed.

Jensen risked a smile. ‘You could say.’

‘Nothing else?’

He thought about it some. ‘Nothing. If there had been, I’m sure I’d have said something.’

‘I’m sure you would have.’

‘I mean, I knew it was suspicious.’

‘Of course.’

‘I’m not even sure I didn’t see Hagger still there. When we left. I might have done. That’s why I wouldn’t have said anything.’

I could see his conscience rewriting history. I wouldn’t get anything else reliable from him. I stepped aside from the door.

‘That’s helpful, thanks.’

Jensen almost tore off the handle he was so happy to escape. Then he paused, troubled.

‘You really think Quam could’ve …?’

I shook my head and smiled. ‘Not at all.’

‘But he must have done it.’ Kennedy barely waited until the door was shut. ‘Everything fits.’

I could have punched his fat face. ‘Shut up,’ I told him. ‘If this is right, you think we want to be talking about it ten feet from Quam’s office?’

Kennedy flushed. ‘Is anywhere safe?’

I looked at my watch. ‘It’s nine p.m.’

‘Is that relevant?’

‘Let’s go get a mag reading.’

The mag hut is maybe a hundred-yard walk. It took us ten minutes to get dressed; by the end of it, we looked like spacemen. Hat, hood, goggles, face mask. We didn’t take rifles. We couldn’t have brought them in the mag hut, and if we put them down we’d never find them again. I figured polar bears are too smart to be out in a storm like that.

I checked the weather screen by the door. The temperature was -40˚. The wind speed read zero, which was a lie. I could hear it through the door, howling like a dog.

‘It busted the anemometer.’

‘That’s encouraging.’ Kennedy pulled up his face mask so it covered his nose a bit more. ‘Shall we?’

I opened the door. You remember the scene in Alien where she blows the monster out of the airlock into outer space? It was like that. The wind roared like it was sucking the life off of the planet. Damn near carried us away before we got down the steps. Ice crystals peppered my goggles. I thought I’d covered up pretty good, but the wind cut through cracks I didn’t know I’d left. Fine snow filled the inside of my goggles and froze my eyeballs.

We roped ourselves together and followed the flag line towards the mag hut. In theory, it was daylight; in practice, you could barely see the next marker. When I looked back to check Kennedy was still with me, I saw the lights on the Platform glowing, blurry pools that looked a million miles away.

You’re in the Coast Guard, Captain, so maybe you’ve seen a man go overboard in a storm. That’s how it felt. The noise, the force, the feeling your body is fighting every second just to stay in place, forget moving forward. Sometimes you’d be walking across scoured ice; the next, knee-deep in a snowdrift. Without the flag line, we could have kept walking till we hit the North Pole.

It was just as well we didn’t bring the rifles. I never saw the perimeter, just the mag hut like a dark shadow in the storm. We wrestled the door open and collapsed inside.

‘What do you have to do to get some privacy around here?’ I was shouting, still tuned to the storm. Not that anyone would hear.

Kennedy pulled off his hat, and shook the snow off his suit. ‘Jesus.’

I took the readings while he warmed his hands and stamped his feet.

‘One thing I don’t understand,’ said Kennedy.

‘That’s an understatement.’

‘If it’s been Quam all along, why did he ask me to find out who was telling our secrets? I mean, he might have thought I wasn’t up to much, wouldn’t get anywhere, but still. He didn’t have to say anything.’

I didn’t know what he was talking about. ‘What secrets?’

‘The climate data, the person who was spilling beans to DAR-X. Remember, I told you in Vitangelsk? It was Quam who wanted me to find out who it was.’ He clapped his hands together and winced. ‘Maybe it was just as well I didn’t. That must have been what did for Hagger.’

I almost laughed. Fuck-a-doodle-doo. We’d all been running around chasing our tails.

‘I don’t think this has anything to do with DAR-X,’ I said carefully. ‘Or with our data. It’s bigger than that.’

How much to tell him? ‘There’s a secret facility by Vitangelsk, inside Mine Eight. Some kind of Russian military radar.’

Kennedy stared at me like I’d announced I was Jesus Christ. ‘How do you know that?’

‘I can’t tell you.’

‘You sound like Danny.’

‘This isn’t some crazy conspiracy theory. That guy who chased you at Vitangelsk — did you make him up?’

Kennedy puffed out his cheeks, then blew a long breath like a puff of smoke. It made me want a cigarette. And I quit three years ago.

‘I thought DAR-X were running it,’ I continued. ‘Now I’m certain there’s someone here at Zodiac.’

‘Francis Quam.’

‘That’s the way it looks,’ I agreed.

‘So what about Hagger?’

‘I haven’t figured him out yet,’ I admitted. ‘Either he was part of it and threatened to expose Quam, or he found out something he shouldn’t have. Either way, Quam got shot of him.’

‘That explains the notebooks,’ Kennedy said.

‘What notebooks?’

‘On Tuesday, when we went to the cabin. Do you remember that I looked in the stove? I didn’t tell you then, but what I found was the charred remains of Hagger’s notebooks. Someone took them there to get rid of them.’

‘Any idea who?’

‘I looked in the field log. Everyone comes and goes, but no one’s been to the cabin. Or admitted to it. I’m afraid that doesn’t do us much good.’

I thought through my list of names, all the lines connecting them.

‘How do you think Tom Anderson fits?’

‘Quam didn’t want him here,’ said Kennedy thoughtfully. ‘He and Hagger had the most tremendous row about it last week.’

I gave him a stern look. ‘Were you spying?’

Kennedy squirmed. ‘I couldn’t help overhearing.’

‘Forget it. I heard it too.’ The whole base had heard it. ‘So Hagger knew something. Quam thought he might tell Anderson, so he tried to stop Anderson coming here. When that didn’t work out, he killed Hagger.’

‘That explains why Hagger was up on the glacier near Vitangelsk when he should have been working on sea ice. But what about the faked data?’

My brain was working overtime, like I’d drunk three cups of coffee on top of a NoDoz. ‘How’s this? Hagger and Quam were in this together, working for the Russians. Hagger faked his data so he would get the funding to come to Zodiac. But he did it in a dumb way, and someone figured it out. Quam got pissed off, because Hagger had drawn suspicion on them; he went up to the Helbreen to bitch Hagger out. Someone lost their temper, there was shoving, and Hagger bit the dust.’

‘So what do we do now? Confront Quam?’

‘We don’t have enough evidence.’

‘But Jensen—’

‘Proves nothing. Quam can bluff that out. You have any idea how dangerous he is? If he thinks we’ve figured him out, he’ll disappear us down the nearest ravine.’ I flexed my fingers. Even inside the mittens, they’d begun to go numb. ‘We need proof.’

‘How?’

I grinned. ‘I’ll break into his office tonight.’

Kennedy looked unhappy, but it was only a mild case of morals. Hell, it’s not even breaking in if there isn’t a lock.

‘And you keep an eye on Anderson. Either he’s one unlucky son of a bitch — or he’s more dangerous than we can imagine.’

I turned for the door. ‘Let’s get back to the Platform. It’s too fucking cold out here.’

Outside, the storm hadn’t died down any. The second I opened the door, I got a face full of ice. We were straight into the wind now, and it cut right through to the bone. Forget the flag line, or the lights on the Platform. The visibility was so bad I could barely see Doc six feet in front of me. I had to hope like hell he could see where he was going.

It felt like it took for ever. At first, I assumed it was the wind and the cold and hating every second. But even then, we should have made it eventually. Looking ahead, I couldn’t even see the Platform lights.

I tugged on the rope. Doc stopped and waited for me to catch him up.

‘Are we going the right way?’ I had to pull aside his hood and put my mouth almost against his ear so he could hear me over the roar of the wind.

He shrugged, and pointed to the marker post just in front of him. Still on track.

OK. We went on, heads down, faces frozen, not even bothering to wipe off the snow that gathered in the creases on our coats. I started to think about all the guys who went out in the snow and nearly died, Victorian explorers who thought a tweed suit and a pocket watch were all you needed for polar expeditions. Was this how they died? Walking on, bent lower and lower, until finally they collapsed face first and never got up? Not one of my life’s ambitions.

The rope went tight so fast it almost knocked me on my ass. Before I could wonder what the hell Doc was playing at, I was being pulled forward, jogging over the ice in a crab run I couldn’t control.

I didn’t know what was happening, but I knew I had to stop it before we both got killed. I kicked my heels into the snow, trying to get a hold. Couldn’t. The rope pulled me on, my feet skidding over the snow like I was skiing. Ahead, through the chaos in the air, I could see a dark scar cutting across the ground, and the rope dropping into it.

The gulch. The crack at the edge of the glacier. I could just about see some of the warning poles whipping about in the storm. How the hell did we get here?

It was too close. The rope wasn’t long enough, and I was going too fast. I pulled off my mittens and reached for the knot around my waist, scrabbling to undo it. Kennedy was screwed either way, but maybe I could save myself.

With so much tension, the knot was never going to come undone. Normally, I carry a penknife in my pants pocket, but I’d taken it out to go to the mag hut. I was fucked. I wondered whether if I landed on top of Kennedy, he’d break my fall.

You know what saved me? The wind. An Arctic storm blowing fifty knots in your face is one hell of a brake. It slowed me down enough that I could dig my heels into the snow. I leaned back almost forty-five degrees. The wind, Kennedy’s weight on the rope, friction and gravity came into perfect equilibrium. I was weightless.

I’d stopped.

Then the hard work began. Inch by inch, I hauled myself back. The first three steps almost broke my back; each time I lifted my foot, I thought I’d lose it completely and go right over the edge. But it got easier. Once he stopped falling, Kennedy’d managed to get his feet against the ice wall to brace himself. As I pulled, he was able to walk up, taking some of the weight. The wind kept pushing me, so hard that when Kennedy finally made it up I lost my balance and sat down hard on a bare sheet of ice.

The rope went slack. A dark figure staggered out of the storm, covered all over in snow like fucking Bigfoot. He crouched beside me.

‘That’s the last time I let you go first,’ I shouted at him.

He shook his head. ‘I followed the flag line.’

He was right. I’d seen it too, the red poles every ten feet, all the way from the mag hut.

‘Someone moved the poles.’ It was the only explanation. Someone had actually tried to kill us. It was a hell of a thought.

If he thinks we’ve figured him out, he’ll disappear us down the nearest ravine. Christ, I didn’t mean it that literally.

And if I didn’t get off my ass and out of that storm soon, he’d have succeeded. My hands were already ice, and God knows where I’d dropped my gloves. They were probably halfway to Siberia by now. Pulling out Kennedy had cost me most of my strength: even in my ECW gear, I couldn’t stop shivering. In those conditions, that gives you less than five minutes.

I stuck my hands in my coat pockets. At least it kept the wind off of them. Kennedy put his arm around me, and together we stumbled our way back along the flag line. If it led straight from the mag hut to the gulch, I had a pretty good idea where the Platform ought to be. Soon, off to our right, I saw a dim glow. We broke towards it. The lights got brighter. Now I could see the steel legs, rigid in the chaos. Best goddam sight I ever saw in my life.

I just managed to get up the stairs, kick the bar to open the door and fall inside the vestibule. I couldn’t even get my gear off. Kennedy had to unzip me and pull off my coat. His hands were shaking almost as bad as mine.

‘Jesus,’ he said. ‘Did someone just try to kill us?’

‘Look on the bright side.’ Hunched over on the bench, I looked around the boot room. A few of the other coats were still wet with melted snow: Quam’s, Greta’s and Fridge’s. Anderson’s wasn’t there at all. A lot of people to be out on a shitty night like that.

‘At least if they’re trying to kill us, we have to be on the right track.’