Below Zero

20 OUTPOST ZERO, ANTARCTICA ^{22 HOURS AGO}

At the bottom of the steps, Sofia grabbed the guide rope and forged on towards the landing strip. It was impossible to see more than an arm’s length in front of her, so the rope was her lifeline. Without it, she and Peters would lose their way; probably freeze to death a stone’s throw from The Hub.

When Storage was lost in the storm behind them, Sofia stopped and leant close to Peters’ ear. ‘Give me the scanner.’

‘What happened in there? What’s going on?’

‘Just give me the scanner!’ Sofia had defeated her panic, but she could see Peters was still battling with his. ‘Quick!’ She reached for his pocket, but he pushed her hand away and fumbled for it himself.

She took it from him, brushed ice crystals from the screen and squinted at the steady blue glow of the trackers on the satellite map. ‘They’ve gone back to where they were,’ she shouted. ‘Come on, let’s get out of this weather. And don’t lose that camera.’ She stuffed the tracker into her pocket.

As she battled through the storm, Sofia kept an eye on Peters and considered her options. Their priority had to be ViBac. It was essential they upload the video footage so if anything happened to them, there would be a record of this. Somebody would come looking for them, and they’d need to know what had happened here. After that, she had to call for help, so their best bet was to head to Refuge. Once there, they could—

‘There’s something out there!’

Peters’ words sent a surge of adrenaline washing through her veins, and she turned to see him standing a few paces behind her. He was pointing the camera along the landing strip to their right.

Sofia wiped her goggles but all she could see was the swirling frenzy of particles in the wind.

‘Something’s moving.’ Peters kept the camera pointed into the storm. ‘Something big.’

‘I don’t see anything.’ But as she said it, a darkness moved in the white-out. A large, grey shadow, shifting from left to right across her limited field of vision. And, barely audible over the storm, came the strange tick-tack-tick-tack of metal striking ice.

‘You see it?’ Peters called. ‘You hear it?’

‘I…’ Sofia wiped her goggles again, wondering if it had been her imagination, a trick of the blizzard, but the shape moved again. This time it grew larger, becoming darker as if it were approaching. ‘Keep moving.’ She fought hard to hide the fear in her voice. ‘Keep moving.’ She wanted to stay strong for Peters. It was her job to stay strong. ‘Just keep—’

The shadow surged forward, exploding from the blizzard like a shark erupting from the foamy sea. Sofia had never liked the erratic movements of the Spiders. The way their legs stuttered; the way their arms jerked when they swapped attachments, but when the Spider came at them out of the storm, it was different. The jerky movements were replaced by smooth, fluid motion. This thing wasn’t like a robot now: it looked as if it were alive, and it came with the speed of an unstoppable juggernaut: a mass of scuttling legs and reaching arms.

When Sofia first realized what it was, she thought there was no way it was going to stop. It was going to trample right through them, crush them into the ice. But it did stop. In the blink of an eye, it came to a halt, centimetres from where Peters was standing.

Peters was too shocked to do anything more than stare in horror, camera still pointed at the Spider which leant forward as if it were inspecting him.

Sofia knew she had to do something, so she raised the rock collector she had taken from the Magpie, and swung it as hard as she could. There was a crunch when it connected with the Spider. The impact of metal on metal jolted her arm, and rattled her teeth.

Taken by surprise, the Spider paused only for a heartbeat before it struck. With an unnatural pounce, it extended one of its arms and snatched hold of the rock collector as Sofia swung it a second time. It tore the tool from her hands, jerking her forward so she tumbled face down on the ice.

The Spider’s other arm shot out and grabbed Peters around the bicep.

Peters screamed, dropping the camera, and the bug scuttled backwards, dragging him away into the storm.