2

by James Phelan

  The snowcat catapulted across the ground, finally coming to a slowing stop, sliding on its side and digging into the ice until it had cut deep enough.

  Sam didn’t pause for a second. As soon as the snowcat ground to a halt, he made for the rear cargo door, punching the release button. As the ramp hissed open, he unclipped a snow bike and threw his leg over to kickstart the lever and turn over the engine. He pulled on snow goggles and a heavy snowsuit from the rack and tied it around his waist. There was no time to put it on now.

  The door ahead opened. He revved hard and shot out into the snow.

  The other two snowcats had stopped ahead. Sam didn’t bother waiting to see if they turned around to give chase. He sped up, heading away from the scene.

  I wish I could rescue you now, Lora, but the odds just aren’t on my side.

  I know this is what you’d want me to do.

  I’ll come back for you, I promise.

  He knew that she’d understand—in fact, he knew that she’d be mad if he didn’t take the chance to make a run for it. Sam grit his teeth and kept the bike speeding along, the chill wind biting into his face. He didn’t know if the other vehicles had bikes also, so he wanted to put as much distance between him and them as possible.

  Any head start is a good head start.

  He followed the tracks of the snowcats back toward Crawley Station.

  Eva and the others are there—and I’m betting they’re in danger too.

  The weather beat Sam to it. A bank of clouds, coming from over the mountains to the east, brought an eerie calm for a few minutes. But then the snow started, and it soon became so intense that he could barely see his feet on the bike let alone the tracks in the snow.

  He checked his watch.

  Two and a half hours until the superstorm hits.

  Maybe this is just a front that will pass.

  He slowed the bike to a crawl. He tried to make out the deep tracks left by the heavy snowcats, but they’d now been wiped away.

  I can’t go on, not in this. I could get lost forever.

  Sam stopped the bike. He was on flat terrain, the snow already up to his ankles as he got off and pulled on his snowsuit.

  Well, I can’t see where I’m going—but at least they can’t follow me in this.

  The back of the bike had a small pack strapped to it. He used the ice axe and his gloved hands to dig into the snow to shield himself from the worst of the freezing wind.

  I’m going to have to wait out the worst of it. Soon as I get a bit of a clear patch, I’ll head off again. He dug a ditch to hunker down into.

  Least we’re all in the same boat—Alex won’t be finding any Gear in this weather.

  19

  EVA

  Eva walked swiftly down the corridor, cringing as she waited for someone to call out. But the footsteps behind her died away and she realized it must just have been one of the other personnel moving around the base. But as she continued to walk, she heard more noises up ahead.

  I’ll do a circuit of the whole building—go back the other way.

  A man came out of a room ahead of her. He looked at Eva and seemed a little surprised, either by the fact that he hadn’t seen her before, or that she herself seemed spooked.

  Eva smiled, forcing herself to appear calm and at ease, and passed by him, taking the first turn to the left. It was one of the interconnecting corridors, linking the three rings of the main buildings. She walked through the habitat ring and did not pause, just kept going, frantically trying to work out what to do.

  They’ve got to be Stella’s Agents. They must have gotten here just before us.

  And they’ve got Arianna and Gabriella!

  And that means Sam and Lora are in danger too. I have to get word to them.

  But how? I can’t go back to the communications room—they’ll be there, waiting for me.

  Eva entered the inner pod, glancing at the sign above the double doors: MESS HALL.

  She pushed through the doors and came into the kitchen and dining room, a space big enough for maybe fifty personnel to sit and eat.

  Now there were only two people seated across the room, casually watching a small television screen while playing chess. They noticed Eva. She smiled a nervous smile. They didn’t smile back.

  Are they station crew, or Stella’s Agents? How do I know?

  Eva walked slowly over to the kitchen counter and started making a drink. The two guys were silent at their game, stealing glances at her. They even moved their little TV screen so that she couldn’t see what was on it.

  Maybe this is what happens when you spend too long down here in the snow and ice—you become secretive, wary of outsiders.

  Should I approach them? Maybe talk to them, act like I’m on a break, see how they respond? Ask if they know of any backup communications equipment in here so that I can get some kind of warning to Sam and Lora?

  Though she couldn’t put her finger on why exactly, Eva felt that she had to sit near them. Maybe to find out what they were watching. She took her hot chocolate and a magazine and sat at a booth table behind them. As she went by, she saw the monitor. They were watching somewhere outside, the image white on white with little contrast. They had a radio on the counter between them too, like the sort the police use to communicate. Neither of the guys had looked at her.

  Maybe I’m reading too much into all this. I should ask them if they’ve seen Gabriella and Arianna.

  She flipped through the magazine, gathering her resolve. Then she heard the radio crackle and a voice said, “Going Stealth. Taking care of the—”

  The radio went dead, like it was turned off.

  A heavy weight settled in Eva’s stomach.

  Going Stealth.

  So these guys are rogue Agents too.

  Taking care of the … what?

  What do I do now?

  One of the guys stood up and sauntered over to the kitchen bench.

  Eva picked up her mug and began to walk toward the door at the far side of the mess hall.

  Go through the habitat and the work rings, and from there I can get to the exit at the ice runway and the machinery huts.

  There must be a radio in one of the spare snowcats. Contact Jedi, warn Sam and Lora.

  As she walked to the door, Eva glanced back over her shoulder to realize in horror that the two guys were closing in on her fast!

  Eva threw her scalding hot drink at one and he reeled back.

  The other lunged at her but she sidestepped and used his forward momentum to flip him onto his back. He slammed into the corner of one of the metal tables and landed with a thud, out cold.

  With one swift movement she grabbed the other Agent, who was still staggering, rubbing his eyes, and pulled him into a choke hold until he too passed out.

  Straining and heaving for breath, Eva dragged them, one by one, to a walk-in pantry in the kitchen. She lay them down inside, then she closed the door and wedged a chair under the handle.

  “That’ll buy me some time,” she said. She zigzagged through the scattered tables and chairs to pick up their radio before she raced from the room.

  Eva moved quickly through the habitat to the tech ring. Before her was an airlock, one of the four positioned at the points of the compass, the only ways in and out of the base. This was the lock that led to the airstrip and outside pods.

  Without a second thought, Eva entered the airlock.

  20

  XAVIER

  “Ah, didn’t you say we had no time to lose?” Xavier whispered to his father.

  “Yes,” Dr. Dark said. “Just a moment, in a minute. The pyramids are not going anywhere.”

  “This guy’s lost it …” Cody whispered to Maria.

  Xavier shot Cody a look that showed he’d heard the comment and that he didn’t appreciate it. But it was hard to dispute. His father was always dressed immaculately, always appeared so calm and measured, in control.

  The man he saw standing before them now had clearl
y been obsessing over something for days, to the point of not bothering to shower, or change clothes, or even eat.

  “And then—bam!” Dr. Dark said, pacing the room in front of the assembled last 13 and Phoebe. “It hit me!” He fell silent—there was something he was thinking about. His eyes focused off in the distance. He was either deep in thought or he’d drawn a blank on what to say next.

  Maybe my dad has lost it? Working for too many days without sleep.

  Sleep deprivation can make people seem crazy, right?

  The world’s foremost expert dream psychologist certainly looked like he hadn’t dreamed in a long, long time. For the first time in his life, Xavier was worried for his father’s health and mental state.

  I should never have let him leave me in London after we got back from the Ukraine. I should have come here with him, watched over him.

  He’s all I’ve got now, we should stick together.

  “Kader always said that this location, right here,” Dr. Dark tapped his feet on the stone floor to signify he meant the house they were in, “was vital to his research. Vital! And so, I bought it for him almost twenty years ago, and the good doctor has been doing his research not just from here, but about here, ever since.”

  “Wait,” Xavier said. “This place—this building, is important? To the race?”

  “Oh, yes,” Dr. Dark said, life returning to his eyes as though a veil of weariness had been lifted. “This, son, you will have to see for yourself.”

  Xavier had been in the two basement levels before. Originally built for storage, they were packed floor to ceiling with boxes of notes and artifacts that Dr. Kader had collected during his many years of research.

  There was barely enough room to move between the stacks and piles of crates and Zara tripped into his back at one point, causing them all to tread more warily and move things out of their way. His father, Xavier saw, moved through the mayhem like he’d done it a million times.

  “Dad …” Xavier said, following Dr. Dark down the seemingly never-ending path through the stored artifacts. “You went through all of these boxes?”

  “Oh, these? Yes,” Dr. Dark said, stopping and looking around as though seeing it all for the first time. “You see, I knew it was in here somewhere. I’d seen it before, years ago. I’ll never forget it. And when I dreamed that it was what we needed, I went there, searching for it. A needle in a haystack—a scrap in a notebook, a tiny piece of paper that was somewhere …”

  “What was it?” Phoebe asked, trying to help him focus. Xavier could see the obvious concern etched on her face.

  “A diagram,” Dr. Dark replied. “A map, of sorts. Yes, a map. So many maps here. So many to sort through. Hundreds, thousands! But this one was different. Want to see it?”

  Xavier nodded.

  Dr. Dark pulled a small piece of paper from his shirt pocket. It was creased and yellowed with age.

  “Kader made this and showed it to me years ago, Xavier,” Dr. Dark said. “He made it but I don’t think even he realized the significance.”

  “What is it?” Xavier asked. They were all crowded around, trying to make sense of what looked like the world’s biggest maze.

  “A map,” Dr. Dark said, matter-of-fact.

  “Dad, you’ve said that,” Xavier said, his hand on his father’s. “But a map of what, and where?”

  “Oh, right, of course, you don’t know,” Dr. Dark said, his eyes turning to the old steel door at the end of the sub-basement.

  Xavier knew the door, he’d seen it hundreds of times. But he’d never been through it. Dangerous—very dangerous, Ahmed had always told him. When pressed, he had said it led to a water cistern under the street, that the area had once used as its water well. Xavier had always wondered if there was more to it.

  “Stars falling underground …” Dr. Dark said quietly.

  “Sorry?” Xavier asked. “Dad, what did you say?”

  “Stars. The stars are falling …”

  “Dad—when did you last sleep?”

  “Sleep?” He took Xavier by the shoulders and looked into his eyes. “Xavier—there’s no time to sleep, not now!”

  “The stars?” Xavier said to his father in an even tone. “And the moon? Is this about the thirteenth moon?”

  “Thirteen, yes … unlucky for all sorts of reasons, mainly to hide the significance, so that we would not think about it.”

  Dr. Dark turned from the group and walked down to the door. Xavier looked to the others. Their faces betrayed expressions of varying degrees of concern and confusion.

  Xavier signalled for them to stay put, then he joined his father at the end of the basement.

  It was just him and his dad, standing by the door.

  “Dad …”

  Dr. Dark turned to face Xavier.

  “You need rest. You’re tired.”

  Dr. Dark nodded. “You’re right. But we’re here now, so close. We can be the ones, son. In a few short days, we can be at the Dream Gate, do you understand? My whole life, I’ve waited for this. My father’s whole life. Entire generations of Darks.”

  “I know,” Xavier said. “Tell me—what do you mean about the stars? What’s that map? What’s beyond that door?”

  “Well …” Dr. Dark said, looking from his son to the door as he said, “We’ll have to go under the pyramids to show you.”

  21

  SAM

  Sam took shelter in his makeshift snow cave. It certainly wasn’t warm, but the wind was blocked out and his own warmth was trapped around him.

  Man, I’m so tired. What’s with me?

  Well, I guess I haven’t had a good night’s sleep since … huh. A while.

  Gotta stay awake.

  He opened his backpack, which had been packed by Jabari on the flight there. He rifled through the contents—one flashlight and a head-mounted flashlight, which he was now wearing, an ice axe for digging and climbing. There were two ration packs, each a plastic bag the size of a couple of house bricks stacked together.

  He cracked one open. It contained packets of food in smaller plastic bags. He ate cheese and crackers, a fruit bar and then drank a juice. He pushed his backpack to the entrance of his little dug-out to form a door, and rolled onto his back, the hood of his snowsuit a warm pillow. He checked his watch.

  Just over two hours until the storm hits in full.

  Feels like the wind’s dying down ahead of the storm.

  I’ll give it another ten minutes and start moving again.

  Just a little rest.

  Sam closed his eyes against the wind and the cold.

  SAM’S NIGHTMARE

  I am in an apartment. I stand at a floor-to-ceiling window, the whole wall made up of thick glass. I look out at the view. I see a big city, unrecognizable yet familiar, like it is made up of parts of the cities I’ve visited these past months. The sun is setting.

  “See it?” Eva says.

  I look to my left and see that she’s standing next to me. She’s looking up at the sky. I look too. I see the sunlight reflecting off something. An aircraft, but an odd one …

  A blimp.

  With an electronic sign.

  I squint to read it, shielding the sun from my eyes.

  Thanks, Sam—you’re our hero!

  A picture of my face fills the screen.

  Sam saved us! flashes up the next slogan.

  Now it shows a picture of me in action.

  Thank you, Sam!

  A picture of me as a kid.

  Great.

  “What’s that about?” I ask.

  “You did it,” Eva says. “It’s over.”

  “Did it?”

  “Won the race.”

  “Oh.” I look again at the sign. “We did it. Thirteen of us together, right?”

  “If you say so.”

  I look to Eva. “What?” I ask.

  She looks past me, over my shoulder.

  I turn. Alex is there.

  “Hey!” I say. “I was looking
for you.” I pause. “Not here though. I needed to find you …”

  Alex remains silent, then he faces the window.

  “I’m not here,” Alex says.

  “Figured as much,” I reply. The three of us stand there, the remains of the daylight a warm orange glow against our faces. “But I need to find you. Fast. There’s a storm coming. And, well, you know … the usual bad guys.”

  “Then look for me,” Alex says. “Can’t be hard.”

  “Ah, it is hard. I’m trying.”

  “Are you?”

  “I think so.”

  “Then you’re looking in the wrong place. We’re in the future. You need to look in the now.”

  “Easier said than done …”

  Alex points. “What do you see out here?”

  I lean forward, searching.

  “Sometimes you have to fall,” Alex says, “before you can really get to where you need to be.”

  “I know,” I say.

  “Then fall.”

  “Where?”

  “With us,” Eva says.

  The glass gives way, simply vanishes, and the three of us, holding hands, fall through the air toward the ground below.

  I’ve never felt so free.

  But this is not where I’m meant to be. What’s Alex really telling me? Where is he?

  I hit the ground, I close my eyes and drift …

  SAM

  Sam was jolted awake by something moving.

  Oh no! How long have I been asleep?

  There was a rumbling sound. It wasn’t him moving, it was the ground.

  He knelt up to get free of his snow shelter but the snow was frozen in place. He kicked at it and used his small ice axe to smash his way through. The sky was grey, but there was water too.

  Water?

  He scrambled onto his hands and knees and got to his feet. He slung his backpack over his shoulder and gazed at the view. Before him was the ocean. It was a long, long way down. But it was slowly getting closer.

  I’m standing right on the edge of an ice shelf.

  A very tall ice shelf.

  And it’s carving off the continent in a massive, slow-moving avalanche!