The Thing: from the Depths of Hell

by V Bertolaccini

  He was unsure if they could survive there the night! They had no proper food or cover, and the temperature was dropping dramatically and none of them had adapted to the environment.

  He wondered if they got lost if they could find the ice station there! The place was very hidden away! It was lucky they had seen it from the air and knew the direction.

  He even wondered if it was the people from the ice station actually firing on them! If they had not known of their arrival and the situation there was worse than stated they could believe that they were being attacked!

  He considered the region and what must be one of the most desolate regions of the world. They had not seen anyone since they had flown over the Antarctic sea, and was sure planes even avoided flying there.

  What was staggering was that they were taking on so many soldiers! What did they actually intend to do? They surely could not expect to kill the entire group of soldiers, and if they had been informed about them they would have realized how trained they were! Yet could they be trying to scare them away? Yet that was absurd also, as they would have to go there! There was no where else out there to go to!

  The mission now seemed flawed! Why had they not brought far more soldiers and more powerful weapons? The soldiers were shooting away unable to hit anything and their hidden enemy was ignoring it!

  Yet they had put together a good team of everyone needed to carry out the mission at the ice station, and if they had landed next to it as planned nothing would have gone wrong! He wondered if it had been the captain of the plane who had landed them there or if it had been a mistake as it had looked at the time?

  The adventure brought him back to life after such a long length of inactivity and lack of anything of interest. At times he still could not believe that there was anything out in such a desolate region, and that anything worthwhile existed there!

  It was winter and deep snow shrouded everything around them, and he realized again that they would have to camp there. And having not slept outdoors in winter he gasped at sleeping in such thick cold snow, and considered if they would find his remains there one day, and wonder why they had done it. There had been accounts in history of vast drops in temperature and entire groups of soldiers and others being found frozen solid and dead! What if temperatures hit far lower than had been recorded, with there being no recorded proof or witnesses left alive!

  The snow landscape was untouched by humans everywhere, and at times empty and hollow with no sound, and had a deep haunting silence that he had only heard before in thick winter snow landscapes. It reminded him of another world! An empty lost world absence of life with faint mists surrounding regions.

  What was shocking was how easily they had trapped them, and he was unsure if they even knew how they could avoid any large amount of deaths. If only they had taken a small landing airplane, and kept it there, but they could not have traveled there with the amount of soldiers and at that distance!

  There was nothing to recognize anywhere, and he watched some of the men attempt to use communication devices to the ice station, and when they failed they tried to see if there was anything to pick up on it!

  Another problem was that they had experienced a long exhausting day and had got more exhausted wading through the deep snow, and a peculiarity he noticed was a distant hum, similar to a distant engine whirling, out at an unknown place, and it started to drive him insane trying to identify it.

  It was no surprise that Commander Craven eventually made them blast them with as many well aimed rounds to force some form of reaction, but they seemed to ignore it, and he knew that they would have to hit them with something or force them away!

  It was incredible when thick snow piled down, and he knew that they could use it as it was virtually impossible to see through in the dark, and he realized he had a thermal weapon sight in his equipment and he used it to see what he could find through the darkness and blizzard! Yet they were too good at hiding!

  “What are we going to do ...?” one of men finally spluttered, fighting for air, furious that they had been put in a situation.

  Commander Craven stopped checking their weapons and showed how annoyed he was at his reply and at the way things were going, and walked towards him.

  “We better agree to something ...” he shouted, giving glances about at things and realizing the mess of his expedition, and decided not to continue.

  “Where can we go?” a soldier named Reeves continued, who was near Weaver, and Weaver had become close to as he was his most trusted person as he had been able to check him out more than anyone else there, which he had done before the mission, as he checked them all as much as possible to find out anything that he should know, and he had checked for the people that he could most depend on.

  “Well I’ve an idea!” Weaver forced himself to reply, seeing that nothing was going to happen, and watched Commander Craven gasp and look like he knew something about him, and he realized that even though he could know something that he was still reacting to what had happened with his damaged parachute and his way of saving himself.

  “Do you think we should attack them then!” Commander Craven answered firmly.

  “I’ve been monitoring them with my thermal weapon sight!” he swiftly replied. “None of them show themselves! So I reckon we could easily surprise some of them!”

  “Good idea! But dangerous! You have to wade through that bloody blizzard and not be seen! Can you do it then?”

  “Yes!” he answered. “Anyone want to join me? We can’t stay here all night!”

  Weaver was surprised that nobody but Reeves agreed with carrying it out, and he realized that they never thought much of the idea! Yet he did see their point and that he would only be able to get one or two, and risk putting them in further danger. Yet deep down he really wanted to know who was there, and capture one and question him.

  “So you’re going?” Commander Craven laughed.

  “Yes!” he replied firmly, and started fixing himself up and preparing himself, and watched their blank faces examining him.

  Once he and Reeves were ready he examined the region around his front and they rushed out and sneaked along regions that they would be unseen in.

  He wondered why they had stopped firing anyway. Yet he realized they had probably realized that they were well armed and capable of killing them! How could they attack and beat them with them being so heavily armed? Then as he properly examined the area around where they were he realized that they were capable of attacking them at places that they were not hidden in.

  He was still barely able to realize what the outcome of such a situation could be!

  Reeves removed his communicator and established contact with Commander Craven and they moved on faster, and as they approached the place where the nearest of the gunmen had been he realized that he could not believe that this case could be solved easily. He just knew something would stop him getting any information from the gunmen if they captured them! This mission seemed to be going to be the worst and hardest!

  He thought of the earlier battle and the death of the soldier near him and how ruthlessly they had attacked. He had never fully realized how desolate, deadly, and beyond civilization the Antarctic was, and how far from any help it was. If anything serous happened they could not get help! He wondered if a war took place there if they could handle it.

  When they finally reached where the gunmen were he hid and examined the place and found it empty, and they moved in and checked for anything, and he barely found part of a footstep, which gave him no information.

  They gave the information back to Commander Craven and continued to the other locations, going from one to another, checking for clues, until they had checked every hidden location, and they informed the others and they joined them.

  Now all they needed to do was get to the ice station without getting shot, and they decided to use the darkness and blizzard and go sideways and move there from another direction!

  Chapter 4


  The Secret Ice Station

  The next big surprise they discovered was that the ice station was covered over by deep snow, which they had spent many hours hunting for in the dark and heavy blizzard.

  Once they found the entrance they started digging it out the snow, and Weaver was confused and bewildered again! How could they enter it, and he wondered how they managed to survive being suffocated! Surely places bringing in air would be blocked by deep snow! Yet he recalled seeing places that had melted the snow with heat, which were camouflaged and unrecognizable and looked part of the landscape, where they surely drew in air supplies. He examined one and realized it was virtual impossible to enter and it was taking in air.

  It was incredible that such a place could exist in such an environment, and he spotted one of the soldiers had found something and he sensed that it was the way in! They thought only of survival and getting in!

  The soldier showed them a communicator device covered in ice and snow and then large entrance doors that they uncovered.

  Weaver realized that there had to be at least another entrance where they took in and kept large objects and vehicles.

  Commander Craven was soon arguing with someone inside of his identity, and that they were expected, which he attempted to clarify, and Weaver realized that some of the scientists had arrived and that they sounded different, and the scientists realized the soldiers had clearly been out in the Antarctic blizzard a long time. They also sounded as though they had not had any proper communications with the outside in a long time!

  They finally put a soldier in command in the ice station on and Commander Craven identified himself and they sent out some soldiers to get them.

  Weaver could not blame them for being precautious after all the mysterious deaths there, and them being trapped out there, and with the gunmen being there! And he wondered if they were actually at war with each other, for some reason that they had not mentioned and that they had made it confidential?

  Reeves repeatedly tapped the solid metal entrance trying to measure its thickness, and realized that it was abnormally thick, and Weaver realized that the entrance had recently been fitted and had replaced a smaller weaker entrance, and he noticed someone had been trying to gain entrance to it or the earlier entrance!

  Weaver realized one main point and that the gunmen had to have a base somewhere, but he was unsure if it was faraway or nearby, and he knew that it could be a major clue to finding them!

  Surely when it was light and the blizzard stopped they would leave footprints near there!

  The entrance was slowly opened by two scientists and two soldiers from inside and Weaver gasped at the warm comforting air and the effect it had as it caressed his body, and he immediately rushed in with the other soldiers, and marched in through a long corridor going downwards, wondering what it would be like staying in such an ice station.

  As he moved in at the front of the others he saw that there was better lighting further in and he felt delighted that he would soon be able to rest and be inside and away from the severe cold and blizzard, and be actually exploring an ancient ice station and doing his job that he was there for.

  He wondered what the real people and conditions there were mainly like and if they were peculiar with being in such a place, as he had seen elsewhere. Yet the other places were old places and people living in harsh environments without any proper heating or comforts. He realized more than ever how much he had enjoyed exploring hidden secrets and places, and basically the unknown and unexplored, and he examined long corridors, untouched rooms, looking for evidence of anything.

  He wondered what being on another world like it would be like, like being on the moon wearing spacesuits and what it would be like to be the first humans to visit another world! What would it actually be like? What would the surprises be? Could they grow food and create and find all their needs?

  What magnificent wonders would exist there? Would people eventually start changing and altering to the environment?

  At one floor below the ground long corridors went out to a incredible distance that astounded them, as the size was at least quarter of a mile in length with corridors and rooms all along them, with spiral stairs going downwards to the other floors, and their group explored them as they went along.

  Weaver realized immediately that the place would be hard to explore and there may be far more people there than they had estimated, and he realized that the plans that he had seen of it had been wrong for some reason!

  He sensed other things of danger and mysteries existed there from the scientists they met and the confirmations from the soldiers there! The soldiers were far different from them, and normal soldiers! He could not tell if they were carefree from being there or from having avoided doing anything and being confronted with any action. But they were glad to see them and have help arrive, and they did believe that they could be killed there!

  They were taken along a corridor to a long line of sleeping accommodations to stay in with toilets and other needs, and Weaver took a room next to Commander Craven, and Reeves took a room next to him, and they started moving into their accommodations and unpacking their stuff, and Weaver examined his room and was glad to see that it had electricity and heating and other needs, and could be locked and had a key.

  Their presence seemed to cause confusion amongst many of the scientists, who could not believe that they had arrived, and they came along the corridor to see and check them out in their rooms.

  Some of the scientists started arguing with each other about things he could not grasp, and they stopped themselves mentioning things that were confidential!

  The things that started to confuse him were what they were all actually working on there! What were they doing out there in such a large expensive place? There were no indications of anything!

  He had expected there to be less of everything, and them just occupying a more normal structure! He wondered if they were funding vast amounts of useless and expensive science research, and if the place should have been closed?

  Perhaps they were monitoring the environment for things like global warming? Could they be supplying much needed information about vast amounts of things, as well as looking after the military ice station? Though they could be working on highly confidential research that the military wished to be more hidden!

  Chapter 5

  The Extraordinary Encounter

  Weaver was ecstatic with getting a good meal in the dinner room, with all the others there, resting into comfortable seats, with the scientists and soldiers from there giving them information everywhere, and things were looking up and he realized that his mission there could be a success.

  “I know most of this place like the back of my hand!” one of the scientists claimed, and Weaver realized that he was working his way up to asking them what they knew about the place, and found on their trip there.

  Suddenly a scientist leaped up knocking the whole table over, making soup fly over Weaver, and his heart leapt when he saw a figure entering the room in a form of spacesuit, which shifted out from the darkness outside the door, and one of the soldiers that had arrived with Weaver reached for his gun and kept his hand there and ready!

  The scientists out of the way from the figure as it shifted slowly and strangely in, like in slow motion, and some rushed out the door behind it, and they all stared at the spacesuit figure and Weaver wondered what the hell they were taking about! It was as though the scientists there believed that it was supernatural or something, which he could not ever recall hearing before! What could possibly make such scientists react in such a way?

  They all watched the strange figure move in engrossed at what the outcome would be! It shifted around lifelessly and he watched it pick up a seat and sit opposite him, and he watched shocked faces of the remaining scientists! Their reactions were incredible to him, and he still could not explain anything!

  There was something strange going on and as though he was missing something! Something that
he could not grasp, and he watched Commander Craven and his shocked reactions! It was like there was something there that should not be there!

  He could not place it and he realized that they needed more rest and sleep, and to get use to the strange environment.

  Weaver studied the spacesuit faceplate and could not see through the darkness inside, and the figure never reacted and just sat, like a robot, and he examined the suit it was wearing with amazement as he had not seen anything like it! It was far more advanced than he had seen before! It looked like something from the future!

  “We’ll have to check it!” Reeves stated to him, after many minutes of intense silence, to unsaid questions.

  It surprised him that he, such a logical soldier, and after all that he had been through over the past days could refer to it in the way he had, and he wondered what he thought it actually was!

  “Who could it be?” one of the other soldiers asked loudly, confused.

  “He’s not one of us!” another finally stated.

  “That’s a good one!” Weaver replied, considered a way to get them to give their fantasies. “Who or what could it be?”

  “He must have something to say if he traveled here!” one of the scientists quickly replied, confusing him further.

  “It might be one of the killers of your scientists and soldiers here?” Reeves stated firmly.

  Weaver watched them all become aware of the further danger, and start to think of ways of protecting themselves.

  “What does it want?” the scientist replied first. “That’s the question! Why does it want to meet us here? It could easily have kept itself hidden!”

  Weaver had a shudder rush up his spine!

  “What actually are we talking about?” one of the silent soldiers asked, who had sat out of the way, and he moved over to it, getting ready to do something, and was immediately stopped by Commander Craven.