With a blast of blue flame, the sphere broke orbit and pushed into Earth’s atmosphere. It couldn’t feel the heat created by the friction of Earth’s atmosphere on its thick outer skin. Even if it could, the pain wouldn’t compare to the rage its artificial intelligence felt for the five beings it had been ordered to destroy. It would strike the humans down, using the environment against them as it was designed to do. And for its glorious attack, it would be rewarded with death. Like a stinging bee, it would fulfill its single purpose in life: defense of the clan. After so many years waiting and searching, it would be free to cease functioning.
A burst of cold air extinguished the flames as the black orb entered the lower atmosphere. Its speed increased as it descended from far above, dropping down on its unaware prey. The circuits buzzed with electric excitement, the orb’s hatred burning, overloading every system in preparation for its final deadly service.
☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼
A thick haze of luminous snow spun through the air behind the snowmobile, which Steve had gunned, full throttle. The bitter wind stung his face through the thick scarf he had wrapped around his nose and mouth. Nicole’s arms, tight around his waist, gave him warmth, enough to give him hope. Paul was gone. In the blink of an eye.
Steve felt his eyes grow wet and his vision blur as tears began to well up again. Unable to wipe the freezing wetness away, Steve mentally changed the subject. He focused on the task at hand. Eddy had taken off, by himself—a desperate gamble to throw off the creatures pursuing them. Steve tried to imagine what they might look like, aliens from another planet. His mind rattled through the possibilities.
He knew they had a physical presence. He’d seen enough science fiction in his lifetime and Buck was always talking about aliens, so he knew that some believed aliens might just be conscious energy. Steve didn’t like that idea, but unless conscious energy could become physical, breathing, speaking humanoids, these Ferox were not that kind of alien. Then there was the realm of the microscopic. Who was to say that microorganisms couldn’t evolve into intelligent beings? Steve knew that if this were the case, the human race would be doomed. He’d seen a television special that showed how our best efforts over the years had wiped out several microscopic terrors, but then how new ones rose from the primordial stew every day, and the ones humans didn’t eradicate mutated or grew resistant to even the toughest antibiotics. It struck Steve that in a way, the human race was already under attack from the microscopic realm. The tiny invaders had been waging war for thousands of years. He wondered how long the current stalemate would last.
But what the team now faced was the stuff of nightmares. Physical creatures that were stronger, smarter and capable of amazing physical feats had invaded the Earth thousands of years ago, plotting the demise of the human race. Steve’s mind raced with the ramifications of such information. Since the beginning of time, people had a sense that the evil they were capable of was not how they were meant to be. Steve would never tell anyone, but he grew up going to church and even spent a good deal of time going to Sunday school. He knew all about Noah, Adam and Eve and Jesus. And he had also been acutely aware of the presence of evil in the world. But unlike some people, evil just seemed so normal to Steve. He watched the news without feeling angry about the car bombings, fires and murders. They were bad things that happened to other people—not part of his life. And humanity brings these things on themselves, he used to think. We made the atom bomb, we created biological weapons, bullets and hand grenades, and landmines filled with seven hundred metal balls so that when they explode anyone within a certain radius is turned into hamburger. We did all that. The human race did that, and what right do we have to whine about it all the time?
But now he knew better. What they taught him in church was true. There was an evil in the world of men that influenced us. True, left to our own devices, we probably would have succumbed to evil…but maybe not. All the wars, all the death and suffering that swarmed across the planet on a daily basis might have never been. It was the Ferox who promoted evil in the world. It was the Ferox who inspired man to hate, to kill and to create weapons that made people afraid. The Ferox were to blame for it all. And ultimately, the bastard beasts from another planet were responsible for Paul’s death.
“Slow down!” Nicole’s voice broke through Steve’s flurry of thoughts.
Steve eased up on the throttle and looked back. The Sno-Cat was small in the distance. Steve slowed down even more and turned to face Nicole. “Sorry about that. I was just lost in thought.”
“You want me to drive?”
“Maybe.”
“Cause, you know, I’m not ready to die yet. Especially on a snowmobile.”
Steve could see Nicole’s smiling eyes behind her goggles. “I’ll be more careful.”
Steve was locked on her eyes, the only part of her flesh he could see, but so beautiful, so captivating.
“Time to start being more careful!” Nicole shouted.
Steve turned around, facing forward, and swerved to the right, narrowly avoiding a chunk of ice that would have flipped them over. “Sorry,” Steve said, feeling very stupid. But if he had to die looking into those eyes, so be it. He gazed ahead, checked the ice for obstructions and saw none. He slowed the snowmobile so that it was crawling along. If they hit anything now they would either climb over it or jolt to a halt. Either case was acceptable—he had to see those eyes one more time. They gave him hope.
Steve turned around, his heartbeat quickening—then he felt the frustration of something calling his attention away from Nicole’s eyes, and at the same time, the uneasy twist of nerves that came with seeing an object in the sky.
Steve looked up, away from Nicole’s face, not wanting to believe what he was seeing.
“What?” Nicole asked. “Did we lose the others?”
Steve stopped the snowmobile without moving his eyes away from the distant object.
“What is it?” Nicole asked as she began to turn around, following Steve’s eyes into the distance.
“In the sky,” Steve said.
Nicole’s eyes locked on the object and she let out a small gasp. A single black object was descending behind the Sno-Cat. But it was impossible to tell if it was close and small or far away and large. Nicole slung her backpack off and placed it on the ground. She pulled her camcorder out, flipped on the power and opened the LCD viewfinder. Steve peered over her shoulder and watched as she found the black speck, zoomed in and focused. They could see a single black sphere rocketing down from above.
“Oh no,” Steve said.
“Didn’t that guy, Artuke or whatever, tell us about these things?”
Steve dug into his pocket and removed the portable GPS communicator. He took in their position and realized that with their current route of travel, they were still two miles out from their objective. Steve cursed under his breath as he pushed the button on the side of the communicator.
“Guys, this is Steve. You better start hauling ass back there. We got company.”
☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼
Eve flinched as Steve’s voice broke the silence. No one had said a word. She was sure that each of them was thinking the same things. What was going to happen next? Would Eddy survive alone? Would any of them survive? The tone in Steve’s voice told her they might receive an answer to one of those questions very soon.
She took the communicator, which was resting between the two front seats, and pushed the button. “Say again, Steve. Did you say we had company?”
“Hell, yes!” Steve’s voice came back. “Turn around and take a look for yourself.”
Eve turned to Kevin, who was in the backseat. He spun around and looked out the back window. Nothing but snow. “I don’t see anything back there.”
Eve spoke in the communicator. “We don’t see anything.”
“Look up!” Steve shot back.
Kevin looked out the back again, but this time let his eyes wander up, toward the deep blue sky, which was empty e
xcept for one small aberration. Kevin jumped back away from the window. “Speed up!” He shouted at Norwood, who was beginning to sweat.
“This thing can’t go any faster!” he shouted back.
“What is it?” Eve asked.
“A black sphere,” Kevin said, as his mind tumbled through the myriad of scenarios that now faced them. These things had the power to alter nature. Artuke claimed that just one of these things had created the wave of snow that decimated the dig site and killed dozens of people.
Eve was coming to the same conclusion. “This is going to be bad.” She held the communicator as she looked out the front window. They were approaching Steve and Nicole now, who were still stopped on the ice. “Steve, get the hell out of here, now!”
Through the windshield she could see Steve and Nicole climbing on the snowmobile. She heard the rev of the snowmobile’s throttle as they passed Steve and Nicole in the Cat.
“Here it comes!” Kevin shouted from the back.
“What’s it doing?”
“Nothing. Just flying at us. It looks like it’s going to hit the ice.”
Maybe it’s malfunctioning,” Norwood added as he watched the sphere approaching in the side view mirror.
Kevin shuffled from one side of the backseat to the other, hoping for a better view. He gasped as the sphere dove into the ice, sending up a plume of snow. “It’s in the ice. What’s it doing in the—” Kevin froze, unsure if what he was seeing was real. The ice opened up behind them. A giant fissure, like the parting of the Red Sea, split directly behind them.
“It’s opening the ice. It’s opening the ice and coming straight up behind us! Turn right! Brian, turn right!”
“I hear you!” Norwood yelled, as he yanked the wheel to the right.
Kevin rolled across the seat, slamming against the inner wall of the Cat. Eve was pulled hard by the turn and held tight by her seatbelt. She raised the communicator to her lips as the air was pushed from her lungs. “Steve! Make a hard right! Now! Turn right!”
As the centrifugal force of the violent turn wore off, Eve was able to straighten herself enough to take a look out the driver’s side window. What she saw made her insides churn with fear. The crack in the ice, now far to the side, was neck and neck with Steve and Nicole. Even worse was something she hadn’t noticed before—the ocean. Off to the left, maybe four hundred yards out, was a sparkling blue expanse of water, the Arctic Ocean. Eve realized at once that if Steve and Nicole were on the left side of the crevice, by the time it was done, they would be stuck adrift on a massive iceberg created by the sphere. There would be no way for them to escape.
☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼
Steve eyed the black sphere with steely resolve. Nicole was screaming something in his ear, but he was so focused on getting ahead of the obsidian orb carving the ice up like a Thanksgiving Day turkey that he didn’t hear a word of it. He pushed the snowmobile for all it was worth and began making ground. He knew he had to get on the other side of it. He’d been watching the ocean growing larger out to their left but never saw any significance in it until now. As though a gust of wind had pushed them forward, the sphere fell behind. Or had it slowed on purpose? There wasn’t time to think about it and Steve took the one chance he knew he’d get.
With a quick jerk of the handle bars, Steve and Nicole lunged to the right. But as they crossed in front of the orb, it sped up with incredible energy and ate away the ice beneath their tread. The ice opened up beneath them and Steve felt his stomach rise like he had just dropped into a rollercoaster ride. As they toppled downward, Steve was able to twist around. He wanted to look death in the eye. He thought it would be a bone jarring experience, a quick snap of the spine or crush of the skull. But what he saw below made him shiver. This would be no ordinary death, no quick release. He was going to freeze to death and drown at the same time.
Steve and Nicole hit the water at the same time. The snowmobile landed five feet away, but Steve wished it had landed on his head and killed him faster. Steve’s breath shot out of his lungs as the cutting cold tore through his clothes and attacked his skin. He felt the weight of his waterlogged jacket and pants pulling him down. He saw the shimmering ceiling of water fading away as he was pulled into the freezing deep.
So this is how it’s going to end, then?
Movement to Steve’s right caught his attention. Nicole was thrashing as she sank beside him. Nicole! Steve discarded his clothing, shedding his jacket and boots faster than a schoolboy who needed to pee. When he felt buoyant enough, he reached out and grasped Nicole’s hand. She turned to him. Her beautiful eyes looked sick. He pulled at her clothes and was able to get her jacket off. Then he hammered at the water, heading for the surface.
Water sprayed into the air as Steve and Nicole burst onto the surface, gasping for air, screaming in agony and shaking with cold. Steve knew they’d be dead in under two minutes now. If only—
Whack! A rope landed in the water between them, followed by a voice. “Grab the rope!” It was Norwood. “I’m going to start the Cat and pull you out!” Norwood’s head disappeared from the top of the icy crevice.
Steve allowed himself the briefest smile before his teeth started to chatter. They were going to be all right; really cold, but they would survive. “Grab the rope,” Steve said to Nicole, as she struggled to stay above the water.
A surge of adrenaline filled Steve’s blood vessels and he felt warmth course through his body. He took hold of the rope and pulled himself out of the water. He dug his feet into the frozen ice wall, held onto the rope with one hand and extended his shaking free hand to Nicole. “Take my hand. I’ll pull you out.”
Nicole reached for Steve’s hand but came up short. As soon as she stopped using it to tread water, she began to sink. “I can’t do it!”
“Kick hard with your legs!” Steve shouted. “And use one hand on the rope!”
“I can’t!” Nicole broke into tears. “Just leave me here.”
“I’m not going to do that!”
As Steve stretched his body out, extending his hand to Nicole, he ignored the shouts form above. He assumed they were shouting encouraging things to Nicole. But he was struck by a single word. He wasn’t sure who yelled it. Could have been Kevin. Could have been Eve. It was almost as though the word was suddenly implanted in his mind—killer. His chilled mind filled in the blanks as the water rose to his left.
At first he thought it might be a submarine, rising out of the ocean depths to save them. But the gleaming white spot, which always looked like an enormous eye to him, told him that this black missile wasn’t man-made.
The massive orca surged out of the water, mouth wide, teeth gleaming. It descended on Nicole and clamped its jaw over her head. The water sloshed for a moment then became still. The whale was gone as quick as it had come, and Nicole was gone with it. She was dead before she even knew there was a threat.
Steve’s body trembled with fright and cold. His feet loosened on the ice and he slid back into the water. He wanted to die. First Paul…now Nicole…
Please, God, take me, too.
Steve couldn’t feel the cold anymore. He couldn’t feel his body. And his mind was numb, too, almost beyond reason. The water began to creep up around his neck, squeezing the breath from his throat, stinging his skin. As he prepared to embrace his fate, his body stopped moving.
With all his strength, Steve looked up to see what had snagged his hand. He squinted up at the bright sky and focused his vision on a face. Kevin was hanging from the rope, just above him. He saw Kevin slide down into the water and thought he felt something wrap around his waist. He wasn’t sure, though. Maybe the killer whale had come back and bitten him in half.
Steve became aware of Kevin’s presence again, only much closer—face-to-face. Steve smiled dumbly as his mind began to cloud over. “Hey Buck… What are you doing here?”
“Saving your life,” Kevin said.
Steve was struck by how strong Kevin seemed. It was a new side to
the man he’d never seen before, aside from the digital battlefield. Steve smiled. “Cool.”
Then someone turned out the lights in Steve’s mind and everything turned dark.
21
THE ICE CAVE
The fire kept the living room of the cabin at a toasty seventy degrees, but other rooms in the multifunctional dwelling could chill Mary to the bone if she stayed put too long, such as the communications room. She shivered as she held the CB to her mouth. “Mammoth dig site, this is Base Camp Alpha. Do you copy? Over.”
Mary sat still, listening to nothing but static. She put the CB down and rubbed her hands together. With no response forthcoming, Mary picked up the CB again. “Dig site, this is Mary. Will someone pick up the damn line. Over.”
No response. Just the static hiss of dead air.
Mary put the CB down, stood and stretched. She entered a long hallway, still cold, but not as chilled as the communications room. Every step forward brought the warmth of the living room as she neared it. She could smell the sweet smell of warm pine. Her hand grasped the door handle—it was gloriously warm.
The door slammed behind Mary as she flung herself into the living room and bounded toward the fire, over which hung a massive moose head. Reclining in a brown leather chair, Sam moved a book away from his eyes and looked at Mary over his spectacles. “Any word?”
Raising the Past Page 19