by Jesse Wilson
“Yeah, I think so,” he replied and looked away as she revealed more of herself, looking instead towards the metal container.
“So what is it? And why do you need a crypto-mechanic specialist like me?” Bob finally asked, wanting to get to the point.
“We have an extraterrestrial in there, or at least we think so,” Alex said to them with a big smile. “We estimate the capsule to be over thirty-three million years old and it’s still running.” Bob’s eyes grew wide; that was literally impossible by all standards. “Alien, maybe, but this looks oddly familiar,” Heather said and squinted at it as she took off the bright orange snow gear and threw it on a box beside her. “Back in the 1960s, a kid’s television show held a publicity stunt. They’d take designs of aliens and ‘shoot them into space’ to be preserved forever,” she said to them as she walked forward, “Captain Bolt and the Rockets, I believe the show was called. I’ve seen episodes of it late at night on the retro channel; cheesy as hell, actually, but it has a certain charm to it. They actually shot three capsules and they achieved low orbit and, what goes up must come down,” she said to them.
“What!” Alex was stunned. Mahar was just as shocked as he heard her story.
“You mean this could be some stupid Cold War-era kid’s show publicity stunt?” Alex said, actually growing angry at this whole thing. Bob kept a straight face.
“No, come on, guys. Don’t be silly; I just made that all up to mess with you, but what makes you think it’s an alien?” she asked them. The both of them tried to keep their excitement contained.
“Look for yourself. There is a window on the other side,” Mahar said to her, still calming down after that story she told. Heather made her way to the trailer, climbed up on it, and approached the cylinder. She walked around, and saw the window.
“Oh my, you’ve got to see this, Bob; they weren’t kidding,” she said and took a step back.
Bob was finishing removing the bright orange suit as he heard this and climbed up to take a look. He saw the reptile’s face looking back at him, and all the words were sucked right out of him.
“Well, let’s open it up right away so we can get a better look at it. Why did you two wait?” Heather asked them and walked back to the edge facing them.
“Biological hazards. Anything in there might still be alive, and besides, we checked for seams, and it seems to be a complete structure. We need to cut it open.” Alex said the scientific reasoning, but didn’t tell anyone he was sure that if it unthawed, it’d come to life just like in every single movie ever.
“Well, we’ll be careful, but we need to get to work on this thing as soon as we can. I understand winter is coming and no one wants to be here then,” Bob added to the urgency.
“Yeah, you said it, but does anyone have any cutting tools? And let’s get this thing off the trailer so we can get a medical table for the specimen, too,” Heather said to them.
“Yeah, I can get Harry to move this thing; it’s still all strapped in so it shouldn’t be too hard. Where do you want it at?” Mahar asked them, looking around for a good place to work.
“I’ll go get Harry; you get a table that we can use,” Alex said and walked off.
“Yeah, any table will do. It needs wheels and I’d estimate about six feet long at least. We don’t know how much ice this guy is standing on,” Yalta said to them and went to get a table they could use.
Heather looked passed the lizard thing and could swear she saw something else in the ice behind it, some kind of formless shape. But she figured it was something to do with the bad lighting of the place they were in, and no one else seemed to notice it either.
Alex was walking down a hall and he passed the mess hall. Harry was sitting there eating some kind of a sandwich, so he opened the door and walked in.
“They’re here, and it’s time to open the package,” Alex said to him. Harry sighed, finishing his sandwich.
“You know, I still think it’s a bad idea, but opening it shouldn’t be a problem. When I was loading it, there was a switch on the bottom of the thing. I assume that’s how you open it,” Harry replied.
“And why didn’t you tell me this before?” Alex asked him.
“Well, you didn’t ask, but I’ll be there in a minute,” Harry replied. He was more than a little nervous about this.
He wasn’t the boss; all he was here for was to do what he was told and have a nice paycheck when he went home. Alex left the room. Harry stood up, threw away the wrapping, and followed him out.
Mahar had already returned with a long table on wheels as Alex and Harry came back.
“Harry here says the bottom has a switch on it. He thinks it’s a release valve. The entity inside is still frozen solid as best as I can tell, so we should only need gloves getting it out and on the table,” Alex said.
Mahar pointed at the thick black gloves he had laying on the table, enough for all of them, and smiled.
Chapter Six
“Great. Then we can begin,” Alex said as they put their gloves on. Harry was already behind the controls, carefully lifting the container off the trailer and towards the table. Heather looked underneath the thing, and sure enough, there was a black lever. It looked like all you had to do was pull it and that’d be all there was to it.
“We won’t know which way this opens, so at the first sign of movement, get the table over where it needs to be,” Heather said as the container was lowered further.
“No problem,” Bob replied, getting anxious about what was coming next. Soon, the thing was level with the table, and Bob crouched under it.
“Well, let’s do this,” Alex said. Bob took hold of the lever, pulling it straight down. There was a soft click, then a hiss as white mist began to pour out of the capsule. He got out from under it in a hurry. Mahar had set the table in front of the window, assuming that this is the side where it would open, and he was right.
The door slowly swung open and revealed the alien’s reptile-like body covered in in what appeared to be body armor.
“Alright, all together now, let’s carefully set it on the table and try not to break any pieces off,” Bob said to them.
“It looks like he has some kind of a weapon on his wrist too,” Alex noticed at first glance.
“That could be anything. Let’s get this over with,” Mahar said as the four of them grabbed the arms and legs. Surprisingly, it was not frozen to the container. It only took a few minutes to set it on the table.
Bob was able to peel his eyes off of the alien long enough to notice that there was something else in the container. He saw a dark shape in the wall of ice, and it didn’t look nearly as friendly.
“Heather, will you pull the lever again and shut the door for us?” Bob asked with worry in his voice. Something about it didn’t feel right,
“Yeah, I got it,” she replied to him and reached under again to pull the lever. The door closed silently. Harry waited until Heather was out of the way before lowering it to the floor. Once he did, his eyes were firmly on the lizard man too.
“Once it unthaws, we can do a full autopsy on it to see what it’s made of,” Mahar said, almost too eagerly.
“Yeah, unthaws. That’ll be fun,” Alex agreed halfheartedly, looking away.
Chapter Seven
“We need to call someone about this; surely the government should be aware of what we have here, right?” Heather asked, but the men looked at her like she was crazy as she suggested it.
“Once we get the feds involved, we’ll all disappear. I’ve seen the X-files and other shows like it,” Bob said in a hurry, fully believing in the evil of the government.
“Right, and I suppose you think Lizzy here is going to wake up once the temperature goes up too?” she asked in a surprised huff.
“No, of course not,” Alex replied at once, doing his best to say that with a straight face.
“Well, I think it will because we don’t know if this capsule kept it alive and iced up or just frozen and dead,” H
arry said, shutting off the main control to the winch. Harry raised a valid point, surprisingly.
“Fine, we’ll keep it in Storage Locker B until we’re sure,” Alex said, relieved that someone else said what he didn’t want to say out loud himself.
“Bob, Mahar, will you be so kind as to wheel our guest into Locker B so we can wait and see what happens?” Alex asked with a smile.
“Sure, I’d like a tour of the place anyway,” Bob said, and the two of them started to wheel their newest guest off.
“Guys, cover it up, will you?” Alex reminded them as they walked off. Bob pulled a tarp off of a snow cat and threw it over the alien.
“Thanks, Alex,” Bob said and was truly thankful for the reminder.
“An alien in our little base. It’s the beginning of a brand new era on planet Earth,” Alex said and crossed his arms. “Join me for supper in one of the best cafés in the icebox of the world?” he asked Heather and smiled.
“Well, I thought you’d never ask. I’m starving,” she replied with a smile as the two of them walked away.
Bob and Mahar wheeled the frozen lizard man down a hall, thankful they didn’t meet anyone along the way.
“And here we are, Locker B,” Mahar said to him, even though there was no clear indication that this actually was anything of the sort. Bob just nodded in agreement. The doctor opened the door, and the two of them wheeled it into the room.
“There; it’ll be safe in here, I suppose,” he said as he let go of the table.
“Safe? You mean no one is going to randomly walk in here and see this thing just laying here and wonder what it is? Well, great,” Bob replied to him with a great amount of sarcasm.
“Trust me, it’ll be fine, but even if we have this thing here, I am curious about what else is in the capsule, don’t tell me you didn’t see it?” Mahar asked. Bob couldn’t forget about that dark thing in the ice.
“Yeah, but let’s deal with one thing at a time. I think we should wait before exploring that one,” Bob suggested nervously because he still had a bad feeling about it. “Alright, well, anyway let’s get you two into your room. It’s not much but it’s all we could carve out,” Mahar said, changing the subject in a hurry.
“Thanks, we don’t need too much anyway. We can handle it,” Bob replied and was already moving towards the door.
“Yep, let’s get out of here and let this thing thaw out a little bit. The temperature is still low enough where it won’t decay, at least I hope,” Mahar said, but wasn’t exactly sure on that fact.
“We’ll check in on it tomorrow, but tonight we need to catch up; it’s been too long after all,” Mahar said.
“Yeah, we do, it should be fun,” Bob said, but he had always hated catch-up talk. His life wasn’t that particularly interesting overall, and when anyone asked him what was up, he always had the same answer: not much.
Bob did not lead an exciting life. This was how he liked it, and this alien business threatened to change everything. Mahar closed and locked the door behind them.
“Knowing Alex, he’s trying to hit on Heather by inviting her to the mess hall. I will bet you five bucks that’s where they are,” Bob said to Mahar.
“Sorry, I like my money, we both know you’re right,” he replied and shook his head slightly.
In Storage Locker B, seconds after the two left, the visitor lay on the cold metal slab when on his right arm, a red light began to flash.
“Suspended animation revival procedure in process. Estimated time to completion: four yiu,” it said in a hushed electronic voice in Xule’s native language. The computer on his arm injected him with four small needles, putting nano machines into his blood stream. Xule’s body immediately began to react to the injection on a cellular level as the tiny machines began the process of bringing him out of suspended animation.
Chapter Eight
Heather and Alex were right where Bob knew they would be when they walked in. “I can’t leave you alone for a minute, can I?” Bob asked Heather and she laughed just a little bit.
“Well, of course you know I planned it out that way. I needed some alone time with your wife to work my magic and all,” Alex replied before she could.
“The food isn’t bad, but his game needs some work. If I had to hear about ice cores with three-million-year-old bubbles in them anymore, I was going to lose my mind,” she replied. Alex just lowered his head in defeat.
“Oh, ice cores. Alex here loves those things,” Mahar said, even though that was what he was here to study. Everything had its limit of interest when passion became a job. An awkward silence descended on them, and through the metal walls, the howling wind could be heard. Just listening to it was enough to send a chill through them.
“So, the shadowy thing beneath the ice in the capsule, what do you think is in there?” Mahar asked, finally breaking the short silence.
“I have no idea, but it looked dark. If it’s okay with the rest of you, I say we leave that thing where it is. One alien is enough for me,” Alex said to them.
“You know, I agree; maybe the world isn’t ready for the mysterious black shape in the ice just yet. One world-breaking, shattering discovery at a time,” Bob agreed in a hurry.
“Boys, you’re just afraid of the unknown. We’re scientists; we’re supposed to dive in head first to the unknown so we can figure it out,” Heather replied to both of them, not believing it was turning out this way.
“Sometimes the unknown is very bad, like, remember when they discovered Ebola. Nothing good came out of that,” Alex said trying to reinforce his point.
“The way I remember it, Ebola discovered us, not the other way around,” Mahar suggested to them.
“Yeah, but either way, if we treat every discovery as a potential disaster, we’ll never get anywhere. Once we are done with the lizard, we can start on the other thing,” Heather said to them and finished her sandwich.
She knew they wouldn’t be able to resist the call of the unknown for very long. Mahar walked to the refrigerator and pulled out a sandwich.
“Fine, but I get to look first when we do,” he said to them.
“Deal,” Alex replied, still unnaturally nervous about the whole thing.
“Hello, everyone, this is Base Operator Five informing everybody that the generator six is still frozen solid. This means another early night for all of us and another night of power conservation. Sorry for the inconveniences this might cause, but we are ten minutes out until nightfall, so please prepare accordingly,” a female voice with a thick accent came over the intercom with no warning at all, causing Bob and Heather to be startled by the sudden interruption.
“Base Operator Number Five?” Heather asked no one in particular.
“Oh, that’s Shelia, she’s a glorified secretary who thinks she is the say all, be all rule enforcer of the base, but really, I think it’s just a title that she gave herself; why number five, nobody knows,” Mahar answered her and was annoyed, but at least the intrusion allowed him enough time to finish his food.
“Maybe, but she is right, generator six has been a pain the past week, and we’ve had to conserve power on the main systems overnight, until we get it fixed. We should just do as she asks,” Alex reluctantly agreed with the announcer.
“She just sounds annoying already. We won’t have to meet her, will we?” Bob asked them, but no one knew the answer to that.
“I’m sure she’ll make her presence known tomorrow to you. Just to let you know who’s in charge if nothing else,” Alex said and rolled his eyes as he said it.
“Well good, I’ll look forward to that encounter,” Bob replied. No one liked talking to the boss, especially if she was practically self-appointed.
“Well, I’ll lead you two to your room, if you want to call it that,” Mahar said to them and opened the door.
“And I will see you tomorrow. Get some rest because we have a big day ahead of us,” Alex said as he left the room.
Chapter Nine
Ma
har lead Bob and Heather to a room that was obviously a storage locker converted into living quarters.
“Home at last,” Bob said and looked around the place. It was the smallest thing he’d ever lived in.
“It’s not much, but at least you won’t freeze…maybe,” Mahar replied to him with a smile. “See you in the morning. It doesn’t get too dark here in the summer, but we blocked out the light as best we could.” Mahar pointed at the window.
“Oh, right. I’m sure I’ll be fine. See you in the morning,” Heather replied to him and Mahar backed out, closing the door behind him. Bob looked at his watch and it was still set to the time he had when he got on the plane. He didn’t know what time it was and that was also weird.
“I get the top bunk,” she yelled out and climbed the ladder in an instant.
“The ice spiders will get you first then,” Bob said as he walked to the window and looked outside. It was still bright outside; it was weird.
“Bob, what is an ice spider?” she asked him.
“Oh, you know, a spider made out of ice that eats people. Typical Antarctic predator,” he replied and couldn’t help but smile about it.
“No need to worry then; I’m way too hot to be affected by those buggers,” she responded and couldn’t help but laugh about it. He smiled, but then wondered if ice spiders were a real thing, somewhere.
“I’m just going to set my alarm for six hours from now. I have no idea what time it is and six hours should be good enough, right?” Bob asked her.
“Should be plenty of time,” she replied to him.
“Alright niners, lights out in two minutes; it’s nine at night, bedtime for the day shifters. I’ll talk to you all bright and early tomorrow morning,” Sheila said over the intercom and made them both jump again.
“Dear God that’s going to get annoying,” Bob said and started to look at the speakers to see if there was a way to disconnect it.