Below Zero

15 OUTPOST ZERO, ANTARCTICA ^NOW

The four of them stood in The Hub, staring at the closed door leading to the North Tunnel.

‘That thing was going to kill Zak.’ May moved close to her brother and did something that surprised him – she put both arms around him and hugged him. ‘We need to get out of here.’

She held him so tight Zak could hardly breathe, but he didn’t object because he could feel her trembling. She needed the hug more than he did. When she broke away, he saw her black eyeliner was smudged and the colour had drained from her face.

‘You’re right,’ Dad said. ‘But if— Wait.’ He stopped. ‘Why didn’t we think of this before? There are rules in place to protect data on the base; emails, documents, CCTV recordings… everything’s uploaded to the servers and to Head Office in Switzerland—’

‘Yes,’ Mum interrupted, ‘But we can’t access any of the systems and we can’t get in touch with Head Office. It’s not as if we haven’t tried.’

‘But there’s something else,’ Dad said. ‘Every day, the base uploads a back-up copy of the data on to an independent system. Something that isn’t connected to the main systems. ViBac.’

‘ViBac?’ Zak asked.

‘The Virtually Indestructible Back-up System,’ Mum said. ‘That thing is fireproof, waterproof, able to withstand extreme cold; it’s… well, it’s virtually indestructible.’

‘So?’ May said. ‘How will that help?’

‘So there might be something on there that can tell us what happened. Everything gets uploaded to it. Everything.’

‘They keep it here.’ Dad went to the far wall and tapped the map still stuck there. ‘It’s no more than a hundred metres. We’ll be fine.’

Zak came closer to study the map. From a door at the back of The Hub, an open walkway crossed the ice at an angle between the North and East Tunnels. It led to a building labelled as ‘Refuge’. There was also a set of steps at the far end, like a fire escape leading down to the ice.

‘Some of the buildings are kept separate,’ Dad said. ‘In case anything happens to the rest of the base.’

‘Like what?’

‘Fire. That kind of thing. Refuge is basically a last resort. A self-contained area that isn’t directly connected to the base.’

‘Last resort?’ May said. ‘So maybe that’s where everyone went? Dima too?’

‘Maybe,’ Dad agreed. ‘Apart from Storage and Power, there’s nowhere else they could be.’

‘And you’re sure it’s no more than a hundred metres?’ Zak asked. ‘It’s proper freezing out there.’

‘Then we’d better wrap up,’ Mum told him.

Zak pulled on his gloves, secured his hood and tightened the scarf across his mouth in preparation for the sub-zero conditions outside. While the others finished doing the same, he pressed his face against the small window in the top of the door and peered out along the walkway. ‘Still windy out there,’ he said.

‘Let’s just get it done.’ May kept glancing at the door to the North Tunnel a few paces to her left. ‘Right now, anywhere feels better than here.’

‘Everyone ready?’ Dad pulled on his goggles and looked back at them.

‘No,’ Zak and May said in unison.

Dad hit the button and when the door swished open, wind rushed into The Hub.

‘Keep hold of the railing,’ Dad said. ‘I’ll go first, then Zak, then May. Evelyn, you bring up the rear.’

‘Right behind you, little brother.’ May’s mouth was hidden beneath her scarf so her words came out muffled. ‘Try to stay on your feet.’

‘And you.’ Zak stepped out on to the walkway and peered down at the ice several metres below.

‘Keep going,’ May told him. ‘Don’t stop.’

Exposed to the intense cold, Zak held tight to the railing and followed Dad. The walkway groaned and creaked under their feet. The wind was still strong, but the worst of it had passed, and in the hazy glow from the base lights, Zak could see the structures of Outpost Zero and the immediate land around them.

To his left was the North Tunnel – blue on the outside as well as the inside – and the red Drone Bay at the end of it. It looked bigger than it had seemed when he was inside, and there was something unreal about it, like it was a model, or a special effect from a movie. Ahead, Refuge was also red. Close to the buildings the base lights reflected from the icy white landscape, creating a cocoon for Outpost Zero, but further away the light faded to a crushing darkness. The kind of darkness that inspired fear.

Zak had known they were isolated, but for the first time since arriving, he could actually see how isolated they were. And now it felt more intense. Heavier. Like it was weighing down on him.

May tapped him on the shoulder. ‘All right?’ She showed him a gloved thumbs-up, so he returned the gesture.

Before they reached the end of the walkway, they passed a set of steps on the right, leading back down to the ice, then a few seconds more and they were there, at the door to one of the last places Dima and the others might be. Dad hit the button on the door and went into Refuge, switching on the lights. He pushed back his hood and pulled the scarf and goggles away from his face. ‘It’s this way.’

They filed along a short corridor, passing a couple of storerooms filled with cans and boxes, and a tiny room with a single bed pushed against the wall.

‘Here it is.’ Dad went into a small version of the Communications room – complete with computers and keyboards and radio equipment. All the screens were blank.

Dad moved the chair and tapped a bright orange box under the desk. ‘Meet ViBac.’

ViBac was made of metal and looked heavy. It was about the size of a two-drawer filing cabinet, and had no buttons or lights on it, just a single USB-C port. It took Mum a matter of seconds to connect it to a laptop that was on the desk, and after a short wait, an icon for the ViBac appeared on screen. Mum double-clicked. As simple as that, and a window popped open on the laptop, with a list of folders. Right at the bottom of the list was a single video file.

‘That was yesterday.’ Zak pointed at the screen. ‘Open that one.’

Mum clicked the file and the screen went black. A timecode appeared in the top left corner with the date from two days ago. After a couple of seconds, an image came into focus and Zak watched as the camera swept around The Hub.

It was different. The room he knew was deserted and bloodstained, like something out of a bad dream, but on-screen it actually looked normal – like it was a half-decent place to hang out. There was a hubbub of voices in the background and the occasional clacking sound. As the camera swept the room, Zak saw that the sound was coming from a game of pool between a man and a woman. They were both dressed in blue tracksuits, each with a white stripe running down the right side. Their names were printed on the chest, but the image wasn’t good enough for Zak to read them. A boy, sixteen or seventeen years old, with his hair cut short like a soldier’s, was leaning against the table, drinking from a can of Coke. He was also wearing a blue tracksuit.

‘Nice outfits,’ May muttered.

When the camera focused on the boy, he lowered the can and said, ‘Get lost, Diaz. You should be long gone by now.’

‘They just can’t bear to leave us.’ Someone spoke off-camera, and the operator – Diaz, Zak guessed – swivelled round, taking in more of The Hub.

There were other people there; sitting at the tables, chatting, eating. A couple of teenagers were lounging on the L-shaped sofa playing a video game.

The camera settled on a woman standing in the kitchen, stirring a hot drink. ‘You need to go,’ she said. ‘Twenty-four hours outside the bowl, remember? The sooner you leave, the sooner you get back. Magpie’s waiting.’

‘That’s Commander Miller.’ Dad pointed at the woman on screen. ‘Diaz and someone else must be on their way out of the bowl for a collection trip. It’s standard stuff – everyone has to learn to survive in the MRV for a twenty-four-hour period, as if they’re going out to collect samples on Mars. “Out of the bowl” means outside this area – the base is in a kind of a bowl, but there’s one shallow side where you can get up and out.’

‘And who’s Magpie?’ Zak asked.

‘Not who,’ Dad replied. ‘What. “Magpie” is what they call the MRV. It’s a scientist joke. Magpies are supposed to like collecting stuff.’

Scientist humour. Yeah, ha ha.

The camera panned further round until it focused on a middle-aged, fair-haired man with a close-cut beard. He was dressed in ECW gear, and standing by the front door of The Hub. The camera zoomed in on the name printed on the chest of his jacket.

Peters.

‘You all set to go, Prof?’ Diaz spoke with an Australian accent but her voice was muffled. Peters gave her a thumbs-up, and she turned the camera on herself. Zak saw a close-up of it reflected in the tinted lenses of her goggles. ‘Oh. Wait a minute.’ The camera pointed at the floor for a few seconds, then raised to focus on Diaz’s face. No goggles this time. ‘Here I am!’

Zak was surprised to see that Diaz was the girl from the photos in the living quarters. He guessed she was about fourteen, with olive skin, short dark hair, and eyes that twinkled when she spoke. He couldn’t imagine why anyone that age would want to be involved in something like the Exodus Project, but she appeared to be enjoying herself, smiling and waggling her eyebrows at the camera. ‘Sofia Diaz reporting for duty,’ she said. ‘And they told me I’d never amount to anything. Well, look at me now, Mr Allen, I’m part of a mission. And guess what, sucker? I’m going to Mars. My only regret is that you poor Earthlings are going to have to manage without me. Later, losers!’

‘Scan forward,’ Dad said, so Mum moved the slider along the bottom of the screen.

In fast-forward, Zak saw a shot of the Magpie on the ice and a stack of gear piled beside it. It was dark and there were pools of light spilling out from the base, flooding across the ice. A brief blink and the gear was gone, and Peters was climbing aboard the Magpie. After a sweeping shot of The Hub, the video blinked again and Mum let it play.

‘Looks small from here.’ It was Sofia Diaz again.

The screen was mostly dark apart from a fuzzy light in the centre, towards the bottom. When the camera focused, the fuzzy light sharpened and separated into a number of small lights.

‘That’s Outpost Zero,’ Dad said. ‘She’s filming the base from way out on the ice.’

The camera lingered on the lights. ‘A few more weeks and we won’t even be able to get a plane in here,’ Diaz said. ‘Imagine that. It’ll be so cold, the fuel will turn to gel. We could be on our own for months.’

‘Wait.’ May reached forward and paused the video. ‘Did she just say they won’t be able to get a plane in here?’

‘Don’t worry,’ Dad reassured her. ‘We’ll be long gone by then.’

‘But you never said anything about that. You never said anything about not being able to leave.’ May put back her head like she was trying to stay calm. ‘Ugh. This just gets better and better.’

‘We’re going to be fine,’ Mum told her. ‘We still have weeks before it’ll be that cold. Please. Panicking won’t help. Let’s just watch this and find out what we can, shall we?’

‘And on the bright side,’ Zak said. ‘If we get stuck here, you won’t have to go back to school. Just think – no more Vanessa Morton-Chandler.’

May looked at Zak like she was about to lose it, but finally she took a deep breath and nodded slowly. ‘All right. Just play the video.’

Mum tapped the pause button and the screen jerked back into life.

Feels like we’re a million miles from anywhere,’ Diaz said, and Zak thought there was something comforting about her slow and considered accent.

‘We will be when we’re up there.’ It was the first time Zak had heard Peters’ voice. He sounded like he was from Scandinavia.

The image tilted to reveal a clear sky filled with more stars than Zak thought possible. ‘You think there’s anyone else up there? I don’t mean on Mars – that’s just Spiders building us a base – I mean further out.’

‘Do you?’ Peters asked.

‘I dunno. I reckon there could be. But I’m starting to wonder what we’ve got down here.’ The camera swivelled, showing a glimpse of Peters as it swept around to take in the view of the icy desert. ‘You know, since those guys from BioMesa turned up, I’ve—’

‘We were told not to ask about that,’ Peters said. ‘To not talk about it. If we do, it could jeopardize the whole project.’

‘They’re doing something out at The Chasm.’ Sofia ignored Peters. ‘I’ve seen it.’

‘You’ve seen it?’

‘Yeah. I reckon they’re taking the Spiders out there and lowering them in. Doing something they shouldn’t.’

‘I don’t want to know.’

‘Don’t you? You don’t want to know they’re using the Spiders to drill core samples from way down? You don’t want to know they found something under the ice? And I mean deep under the ice. You’re a scientist, I thought you’d be interested…’

‘Found something?’ The camera swung back and focused on Peters’ face. ‘Something like what?’

‘Some kind of bug. Doc Blair’s been looking at the core I gave him, and the thing I found inside it. An insect. Something—’

‘Stop. Not on camera.’ Peters leant forward, his hand looming over the lens. There was a fumbling sound as the image blurred and flicked to a first-person view of a drive across the ice, the inside of the Magpie jolting about. Another flick and the image switched to a shot of two people walking away from the camera.

Dad leant over and paused the video. ‘BioMesa? What were they doing here? And what were they doing with our Spiders?’ He took off his glasses and rubbed his nose before putting them back on. ‘Sounds like she’s talking about those things we found in the lab. Those insects, or whatever they are.’

‘Insects deep under the ice?’ Mum said. ‘That no one has ever found before? How could—’

‘Just play the video,’ May said. ‘Then we’ll find out.’

When Dad unpaused it, Sofia and Peters continued walking away from camera. They used a small drill to put a hole in the ice, then waved to camera before coming back. For a few long seconds, the lens remained pointed at the spot until Sofia said, ‘Fire in the hole.’

There was a loud crack and a plume of ice shot into the air where they had been standing.

‘They’re blowing stuff up?’ Zak asked.

‘Small controlled explosions,’ Dad said. ‘It’s all part of the collection process.’

Mum scanned the video forwards and more events passed in jerking, twitchy movements as Sofia and Peters went about the business of collecting samples to bring back to base. There was loads of footage like that until a sudden change made Mum stop and let the movie play at normal speed.

The screen was now filled with an image of Sofia’s face. Her eyebrows were drawn together, her lips were tight, and her eyes were narrowed.

‘OK.’ She swallowed. ‘My name is Sofia Diaz. From Australia. I’m the daughter of Professor Rosita Diaz and Professor Eco Diaz. The cameraman is Professor Valter Peters, from Sweden.’

‘Norway. I’m from Norway.’

The camera turned around briefly to show Peters’ concerned face, and Zak leant away from the screen as if expecting something bad to happen.

‘Umm…’ Sofia took a deep breath as soon as the camera was on her again. ‘We might have some kind of problem. We’re not sure, it could be nothing, but we checked in with Outpost Zero before bedding down – like we’re supposed to – and Commander Miller said there were issues with power at the base. Outside comms not responding, lights and heat going off. Could be the weather but Mac was working on getting it fixed. Thing is, we tried to report in this morning and there’s no answer. Radio’s working fine, there’s just no answer. It’s…’ Sofia shook her head and her frown deepened. ‘Storm picked up a right shocker in the night and she’s been going for more than four hours now. We’re getting worried so we’re going to cut our trip short, come back into the bowl. Prof Peters… Sorry, Professor Peters and I are heading back to Outpost Zero now. We’re a couple of hours out, maybe more in this weather, so we should be there by…’ She checked her watch, ‘… sometime after midday.’ She stared into the lens for a while longer before her eyes shifted and she nodded to her cameraman. ‘OK?’

There was a brief blink and the screen was filled with an image of The Hub’s interior. It was in total darkness except for the piercing white light mounted on the camera. On the top left of the screen, the timecode indicated the video was filmed about twenty-two hours ago.

‘This isn’t right,’ Peters said as the camera panned around the room, illuminating and casting shadow. ‘Not right at all.’

The last time Zak had seen The Hub on screen it had been filled with people, but now it looked exactly as he knew it. Like the ship in his book – the Mary Celeste. Everybody was gone, and he could hear the storm raging in the background.

‘We’ve checked every module.’ Peters spoke to the camera. ‘But there’s no sign of them. Nothing. Power’s down; no light or heat. I don’t—’

‘Hey, what about the tracker?’ The camera panned round to focus on Sofia’s face. ‘We can find them with that.’

‘Good thinking.’

‘That’s why we couldn’t find it,’ Mum said.

The video blinked again, and they were inside the Control room. Sofia was standing in front of the bank of computer screens, holding something the size of a smartphone. She stared right through the screen at Zak. ‘Peters thinks we should keep recording. We don’t know what the hell is going on here and, ugh, this is ridiculous, it feels like I’m in a horror movie or something. You ever see the one where the guys are isolated in—’

‘Stick to what is important. The tracker.’

Sofia sighed and lowered her eyes. ‘Look, we’re going to keep rolling on this because we don’t know what we’re going to find, and we don’t know what’s going to happen, so…’ She focused on the device in her hand. The camera moved closer, bringing the device into shot, and Sofia used her thumb to switch it on.

‘The tracker,’ Dad said.

The device came to life, and a satellite image popped into view. Mostly it was white, with a few patches of grey dotted here and there. Illuminated grid lines criss-crossed the image. Sofia pinch-zoomed in until the base came into view, the separate buildings clearly visible against the ice and snow. A second later, a collection of blue markers lit up, clustered together in one place.

‘We found ’em,’ Sofia said.

‘That’s all of them.’ Peters focused the camera on the list of names beside the map. ‘My family, your family… everyone. But what are they doing out there?’

‘I dunno. Some kind of meeting?’ Sofia looked at the camera. ‘I guess we’d better go and find out.’