Attacked Beneath Antarctica

by Dave Robinson

  The burst of energy didn't last long. Her vision narrowed; she sucked in deep unsatisfying breaths of the thin air. Vic's boots felt like they had been dipped in lead. It was all she could do to keep her balance. Keeping her direction from the wind was impossible; it was all she could do to keep the light in sight.

  Vic took another step, and almost stumbled. Pain shot up from her ankle and she fell to her knees on the ice. As she tried to struggle to her feet, she saw it.

  She was standing on the edge of a crater in the ice. She didn't know how she could have missed it but there was a flight of stairs not ten feet away leading downwards.

  Doc's airship lay two hundred feet below, throwing light on the walls of the crater. The front searchlight picked out a small building at the very center. It was dark, no, it was black. The building was so black it sucked in every lumen the searchlight could throw without even a shadow.

  “Doc,” she croaked. “We've found it.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Into the Ice

  Climbing down the steps had almost done them in. In the end Doc had to carry Ming all the way down, and Vic had barely made it on her own. She'd actually waved him off twice when he tried to help, and then staggered across the ice. No sooner had they reached the crater floor than she took Ming from him with a fire in her eye that told him not to argue.

  It felt warmer at the bottom, if fifty below could be considered warm. Doc took a breath, letting that distinct part of his mind note that it was thicker than it should be. It wasn't a lot, but it felt more like five thousand feet than ten. Something to worry about later.

  The crater floor was new and smooth, not quite like an ice rink but not as worn as the field above, either. He found his strides lengthening as he got closer to the middle. Something about the building drew his attention, the way it sucked the light from the searchlight into a pool of blackness.

  None of the others seemed to notice as they stumbled across the ice. Gus and Kehla had gravitated together in the same way as Vic and Ming, though they were moving faster than the two women.

  Doc forced his eyes away from curves he couldn't see but knew had to be there and hurried towards the airship. The crater felt like a different world from the ice sheet above, sheltered from the wind and brightly lit. The walls glistened, splashing the beams everywhere.

  Once past the building, Doc saw that the ramp was down and breathed a sigh of relief. He may have felt better than his companions looked, but he had not been looking forward to trying to climb up to the emergency entrance.

  Entering the shadow of the airship, he saw the hatch at the top of the ramp was shut.

  The wheel spun easily under his hand, and he stepped back to open the entrance. A wave of heat hit him so hard his knees buckled. No sooner had he taken a breath than he was instantly drenched with sweat, soaking his underwear.

  Inside the airship, everything looked normal. The lights were on low, and the rumble of the auxiliary generator soothed his ears.

  Doc stepped down the companionway and started removing layers. First the parka, and then his boots and outer pants. Intellectually, he knew it was barely above freezing, but it was still over a hundred degrees warmer than it had been out on the ice sheet.

  A moment later, everyone was aboard and Vic was dogging the hatch behind them. She turned back towards the group, and then her eyes rolled up and she slid down to the deck.

  “Quick, help me get her clothes off before she overheats.” Ming hobbled over towards her lover, and started ripping at the fastenings that held the garment together.

  Doc moved her aside gently, passing her to Kehla's waiting arms and took over with Vic. Beneath her parka she was freezing, with a deep whole body cold. Her left side was the worst. Ming had done the best she could repairing the parka, but it had still let out more heat than the others. It was a miracle Vic had lasted as long as she had.

  #

  Two hours later they were gathered in the wardroom with mugs of hot tea in their hands. Even Gus had traded in his customary fine china for a larger mug. Vic was wrapped up in blankets on the small couch, with Ming hovering over her despite her own injuries.

  “Okay, we made it to the airship,” Vic said, “so now what?”

  “Now we see what happened to Gilly and the Hansen expedition, of course,” Gus replied mildly. He slurped some of his tea. “We are at the bottom of the world; we may as well get what we came for.”

  “And how do we do that?” Ming parked herself beside Vic.

  Doc coughed. “Well, that building in the middle of the ice reminds me of what I saw back at Hansen's camp. I expect there's a connection.”

  “What did you see back there?” Vic asked, before dissolving into a fit of coughing. “You did a pretty good job of keeping the rest of us out of that one hut.”

  “The same kind of architecture as that building out there, but laid out as if it was underwater. I'd almost think it was built by or for those creatures we found at Hansen's base camp.”

  Vic rubbed her arm. “You think there's a connection?”

  “I think there's enough evidence to justify looking for one.” Doc sipped his own tea. “Something drew Gilly here, and he's not on the airship. Something also drew Hansen away from his base camp. This entire continent is almost completely empty, so I find any coincidence a little suspicious.”

  “You've got a point.” Vic grinned.

  “So tomorrow, I think Kehla and I'll take a look at that building and see what we can find out.”

  “Just you and Kehla?” Vic and Gus said simultaneously.

  “Yes, just me and Kehla.” Doc let his glance fall across the others. “None of the rest of you are in any shape to go exploring right now.”

  #

  It would have been first light almost anywhere else in the world when Doc led the way back down the ramp into the cold. He was unarmed, but Kehla had insisted on visiting the gun case before leaving the airship and had one of her heavy pistols tucked inside her parka.

  “After what we saw in the ship, there's no way I'm going out unarmed unless I have to.” She dared him to say no with her eyes.

  Doc had taken one look at her expression and decided it wasn't worth arguing with her when she had that look going. He'd seen what happened when Gus tried to change her mind once it was made up.

  He was in fresh winter gear, complete with an electrical heating system. The fuel cell apparatus added twenty pounds between his shoulders, but the warmth was worth it, especially for his hands. Kehla was similarly equipped, though the bump on her shoulders was less noticeable.

  Instead of a gun, Doc had a heavy flashlight in one hand and a staff in the other. At about seven feet long with a spike on one end and a hook on the other he figured it was more practical than carrying a weapon out here on the ice. Ice crunched under his feet, the studs in his boot soles providing extra traction.

  The building in front of them was small and innocuous looking. Its blackness drank the light, hiding any surface details from a casual inspection. The few details he could make out were that it was about ten or twelve feet high and maybe fifteen or twenty feet across at the most. He couldn't see any windows among the shadows, but a tongue of ice showed him a possible way in.

  Even the shadows in the doorway seemed to suck the photons right out of the air. All he could really see was the ice sheet. Kehla's footsteps echoed behind him as her own boots dug into the ice.

  The opening was larger than he expected, just short of seven feet high and about five wide. It almost reminded him of the Archonate moon base where he had grown up. It was the proportions, they weren't the same as the ones he remembered, but they weren't normal for those on Earth either. Now that he was in the doorway, he could see the walls sinking into the ice, and then seem to come together in a curve below the surface. This wasn't a door, it was a hatch, and on the side of the building at that.

  Motioning to Kehla to follow more closely, he stepped through the entrance.

  Th
ey were in a small chamber, ten or twelve feet in diameter with a curved floor and a ceiling to match. The air tasted dry, with just a hint of metal and salt. There was a touch of dead seaweed as well, but only the faintest hint.

  “What's that?” Kehla asked as the doorway sealed behind them with a clunk.

  “I'm not sure.”

  Two seconds later, the floor fell out from under them.

  Zero-G. Doc swallowed as his inner ear started doing cartwheels. “Curl up and be ready to roll.”

  Doc followed his own advice, floating in midair. He kept swallowing as the pressure built. They were going way down.

  #

  Vic was sitting in the pilot's seat of the airship, running her fingers over the controls. She wanted to fly, to get above the ice and clouds so she could see the Sun. She flipped the cover back over the engine start button resolutely. No point leaving herself the temptation.

  Something caught her attention as she leaned back in the chair. It was just as she had left it. Gilly was at least four inches taller than her, but he either hadn't adjusted the seat or he'd put it back when he landed.

  She shook her head and turned her attention back outside. The two flashlights winked out as Doc and Kehla made their way into the structure. Vic smacked the console, she wanted to be the one out there, not Kehla.

  Just then, the structure disappeared.

  Vic slammed her right palm onto the emergency alarm. “Ming! Gus!”

  Bells echoed through the airship, followed by the thud of Gus's feet. Vic cut off the alarm just as the gorilla rushed into the cabin.

  “What's happening?”

  Wordlessly, she swiveled around and pointed at the hole in the middle of the crater.

  #

  After about twenty seconds of free fall, the floor came up and smashed into him. Doc rolled with the impact, simultaneously estimating the acceleration at about two gees. Twisting around on the floor, he managed to catch Kehla's eye. She was flat on her back, her chest heaving slowly. He smiled reassuringly, and was glad to see her wink in response. The curve of the floor had them pressed together under the acceleration.

  After what his brain told him was roughly another twenty seconds, and his back said was somewhat longer, the extra weight dropped away.

  Doc was the first to his feet, shaking his head to clear it.

  “Where are we?” Kehla scrambled slowly to her own feet, and looked around.

  Doc shrugged. “About two and a half miles down, I think.”

  “Two and a half miles? Are you sure?” Kehla checked the pocket that held her gun.

  “Not entirely, but that's what the numbers work out to.”

  Before they had time to discuss things any further, the wall slid open with the hiss of inrushing air. A rounded hallway stretched out before them, limned in a pale green light that flickered like cold flame. The light was cold, but the tunnel wasn't. In fact, it was barely below freezing. Doc quickly started removing layers, motioning to Kehla to do the same.

  “You get me alone and now you want me taking my clothes off?” Kehla grinned evilly, but followed his lead. “I do have a husband, you know.”

  Doc shook his head. “I was at your wedding.”

  The gorilla sighed and shook her own head in return. “I was just trying to make light of the situation. You certainly can be oblivious at times.”

  Doc wrapped his outer clothing in a neat bundle, and then picked up his staff. “I'll go first; you can cover me with that hand cannon of yours if you are worried.”

  “Yes Doc,” she said seriously, and immediately ruined the effect with a broad wink.

  The tunnel in front of them was made from some form of black stone, possibly obsidian. Unlike most obsidian, though, it was smoothly curved as if formed in a solid piece. The green flames were bright enough that to show the tunnel extended at least a hundred yards in front of them, but not bright enough to show any detail beyond fifty or sixty feet. Everything except the air had a feeling of age, at least thousands if not millions of years.

  A breeze wafted towards them from somewhere ahead. Doc took a deep breath; it was heavy with moisture and smelled of seaweed. The only thing missing was the taste of salt.

  “Do you smell that?” Kehla asked.

  Doc nodded. “I think there's open water ahead.”

  “All the way down here?” She shone her flashlight around as if looking for the water.

  “Subglacial lakes are actually pretty common.” He stopped to let her catch up. “There aren't many in the northern hemisphere, but I know there are quite a few down here.”

  “You're the expert.”

  “I had a good teacher.”

  “I wouldn't know, Gus never told me anything about your childhood.” Kehla shrugged. “I know your parents are dead, but that's about it.”

  “It's a long story,” Doc replied, “but my childhood was unlike anyone's on this planet.”

  She raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything, although Doc could see the wheels turning in her head.

  Doc hefted his walking stick, and set out again. Despite the smoothness and curve, the stone offered surprisingly good footing. They had made it about a hundred feet from the chamber when something thunked behind him.

  Doc whirled just in time to see the doorway roll closed, too fast for even him to reach it. A faint vibration shook the walls and then faded into nothingness. They were trapped two and a half miles below the ice.

  For a moment, they just stood there, the weight of the situation pressing on Doc's shoulders like the icecap itself. After a long breath, he turned and walked slowly back to the doorway. The wall was smooth, drinking in the green light like a pool at midnight. Doc ran his fingers over the glassy rock, feeling for a switch or lever, but there was nothing. It was as if the wall had always been there.

  “Now what?” There was a catch in Kehla's voice.

  “Now we look for another way out.” Doc projected confidence. “If there is a way down, there is a way up.”

  Kehla nodded slowly. “I've never seen anything like this place before.”

  “Neither have I.”

  Doc made his way slowly to where he had dropped his outside gear. The tunnels felt old, perfectly smooth as if worn by eternities of use. He ran a hand through the flames; they were cool to the touch, with a faint tingle as he passed through them. There was nothing on the wall to show the source, they just leaped out of the smooth obsidian.

  Whatever it was, it clearly was neither human nor dinosaur construction, but what was it? Doc shrugged and pushed the thought aside; without evidence, it would not get them out of here.

  After about fifty yards they came across an opening. A four-foot shaft angled upwards at about forty degrees to the right. A line of green flame led upwards into the darkness.

  “Is that the way up?”

  Doc shook his head. “I don't think so, it's not cold enough to lead to the surface.”

  “Then let's keep going.” Kehla bared her teeth. “I don't like it in here.”

  This time, Kehla took the lead her pistol in one massive hand and flashlight in the other. Doc followed a little distance behind with his staff in one hand and clothing in the other. Despite her short legs, she kept up a quick pace. As they moved, her footsteps echoed through the tunnels the soles slapping on the stone.

  They had gone about another hundred yards by Doc's best reckoning and the smell was growing stronger. A cool breeze wafted upwards from small openings in the floor.

  A sound caught his ear, as if one of Kehla's steps had doubled.

  “Stop,” he called. “Did you hear that?”

  “Hear what?” she replied over her shoulder.

  Something slapped Doc in the middle of his back and bowled him over. Kehla screamed. Doc rolled with the impact and back to his feet, swinging his staff in a semi-circular arc. Kehla's pistol boomed, the heavy shot reverberating in the confined space as her attacker's head exploded. Dozens of octopus headed creatures like the one th
ey had found in the boat filled the tunnel both ahead and behind them.

  They were surrounded.

  #

  Vic hated waiting. The structure had reappeared about twenty minutes after it had disappeared, but there was no sign of Doc or Kehla. She had wanted to go out there the moment the structure reappeared, but both Ming and Gus had told her no. The gorilla had finally threatened to sit on her if she didn't give it a little time before examining the building. She had held off for two hours, before finally gearing up and going out there on her own.

  It was easy enough to follow their footsteps in the loose ice on the surface. A pistol weighed heavily in her pocket, but it was a comforting weight. Like Doc, she had a staff, and she used it to probe ahead of her. A heavily insulated wire trailed behind her, running up her back to a set of earphones underneath her hood. The whole thing was powered by the same fuel cell as her heating apparatus.

  “Be careful,” Gus's static-laden voice buzzed in her ears.

  “I will,” she snapped back.

  As she walked, Vic scanned the ice in front of her, keeping her eyes averted from the structure as much as she could. Its black surface sucked the light from her eyes, sending a shiver up her back every time she looked at it. The whole thing felt subtly wrong, as if the walls shouldn't meet at the corners but did anyway. Trying to make sense of it gave her a headache.

  Once she reached the structure, Vic started to pace the perimeter. It fit the edge as if it were frozen in place. Even though she knew it had just recently reappeared, she couldn't tell that it hadn't been there since the ice had first frozen.

  She made it halfway around the structure, and turned to retrace her steps so that her wire wouldn't get caught. As she turned, she glanced upwards towards the edge of the crater. Something looked different, but she couldn't quite figure out what.