Ice Rift (32 page)

LUCY AWOKE TO PITCH blackness.

She scrambled about for her torch, found it, switched it on and shut her eyes to block out the stark light blinding her. She placed a hand over the beam to dull it and opened her eyes to let them slowly adjust. Her eyes followed the light she directed around the room. She was in one of the crew's cabins, but had no memory of how she got here.

Pain shot through her skull when she climbed to her feet. She tenderly felt the lump on her head. A glance at her fingers revealed them absent of blood. The torch beam settled on the door as she wondered how long she'd been unconscious. She shivered. Her cold weather clothes were gone. She wondered who would've done such a thing.

When she approached the door, she staggered to the side. It felt like the floor had moved. The memory of a similar sensation appeared in her thoughts. She had been aboard a cruise ship at the time. She reached the door and pressed the button and was surprised when it failed to slide open. She pressed it repeatedly, but still the door remained closed.

Panic started to make itself known.

She pounded a fist on the door. It sounded loud within the confines of the cabin and she hoped it was the same outside. She wondered where the others were. Certain they would be worried and frantically searching for her, she banged on the door again and shouted, “Is anyone there? I'm locked in and can't get out!”

Moments passed without any sign she'd been heard.

She knocked harder and shouted louder. “Help me! Please help me someone!”

No one came.

She began to cry.

A noise outside in the corridor gave her hope. She placed an ear against the door. “Is someone there?”

The Hunter followed the sound.

It paused outside the room the noise had emanated from. It pressed the button, but the door didn't open. It stared at the door when something spoke from inside.

It scraped its claws down the door.

A metallic squeal filled the room. Lucy backed away from the door.

Something outside screeched.

Lucy shook with terror and screamed.

*****

Jane and Jack exited the main hut and glanced at the blue sky. The blizzard had lasted three more days before it subsided. Jane had contacted NASA to add to the information Scott had already told them. Already finding it hard to believe a monster existed, NASA at first found the discovery of an entombed spaceship just as hard to comprehend. It was the team's photographs and video footage that had finally convinced them it was real.

NASA had wasted no time in making preparations for a salvage attempt. Because the ship was so large, they knew they'd be unable to save it, but in the limited time available they were set upon salvaging as much of its technology as possible before it slipped into the ocean. NASA, the Navy and the Army had joined forces to this end. A taskforce was already on its way.

Jane and Jack walked to the edge of the Ice Rift Base Camp and glanced at the helicopters speeding out to sea, part of the Navy SEAL recognizance team Scott had persuaded NASA to send, and who would now try and board the ship through the tunnel Haax had used to escape from the ship.

“I don't envy them their task ahead. Setting foot aboard that spaceship again is something I never want to do,” said Jane.

Jack agreed. It was a nightmare he wanted to forget. “They've been warned about the monsters onboard and have no doubt ignored the Antarctic treaty concerning weapons and are equipped with the appropriate firepower to handle any they encounter, but like you, if I never set foot aboard an alien spaceship again, I'll be happy.”

The helicopter became a speck in the sky.

Jane pulled a piece of paper from her pocket.

Jack looked at her with concern. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

Jane nodded. “It's time.” She unfolded the much read letter and scanned the words a final time.

Hello my darling,

That you are reading this means I'm no longer with you, something I can't even imagine as I write this letter. It is the most difficult thing I have ever written, because I keep crying, knowing that if you are reading this, I will not be there to comfort you. Sadness overwhelms me and tears are flowing down my face. It will also mean that I never had time to show you how much I really love you.

I want you to know our time together was the most wonderful and enjoyable time in my life and I thank you for showing me what true love is. Each time we kissed I could feel your love for m. It was a magical sensation, and I hope you felt my love also. You were the reasons for my smile and my happiness. You have shown me so much love and I want you to know how much you mean to me. You are my whole world and I love you with all my heart.

I wanted to be with you for the rest of my life, my darling, but it wasn’t to be. But until you find another to love― something I will be upset about if you don't― I shall always be with you, in your brightest day and your darkest night. When a soft breeze fans your cheek, it shall be my breath; when you smile for no reason, it shall be my spirit passing by. Please, Jane, do not mourn me for long. You have your whole life before you. Look to the future and all the joys a loving relationship can bring. You deserve to be loved and to love. So when you do find someone, don't let the thought of me hold you back. It is not a betrayal, but something I wish for you with all my heart. When you have found this wonderful person waiting for you to come into his life, then release me and I will gladly journey on knowing you have found the love and happiness we shared. Until that day I will always be looking over you to make sure you're safe.

Goodbye my love, I will never stop loving you,

Kyle

After wiping away her tears, she kissed the letter and held it up. The paper fluttered. Though she knew it was the wind that tried to pull it from her grasp, she imagined Kyle was responsible, happy she'd found another and his approval for her happiness. “Goodbye, Kyle.” She released the letter.

The wind bore it into the air and sped it away.

Jack placed a comforting arm around her.

She turned to him. “You can kiss me now.”

They kissed.

When their lips parted, Jack stared into her eyes. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I think I am.” She slipped a gloved hand into his and gazed around the base camp. “I've had enough of the cold and ice for a while.”

Jack sighed. “I know what you mean. Sun, sand and cocktails really sound inviting.”

“Now the expedition has been cut short and once we've been debriefed, we'll be heading for New Zealand, so how about we make a holiday of it. Find a nice beach and relax for a few days.”

Jack smiled at her. “That sounds perfect.”

Hand in hand they walked back to the hut.

*****

The spaceship computer detected the danger the ship and its cargo were in. Following its protocols, in a last desperate attempt to save the precious cargo, it awoke the creatures from their long hibernation and released them into the ship.

The End of Ice Rift

Extracts from

ICE RIFT - SALVAGE

The helicopter swooped down and hovered close to the ledge of ice at the end of the ice tunnel the scientists and Haax had used to escape from the ship. A seven-man SEAL team jumped onto the ice and aimed their weapons along the tunnel.

One man placed a rigid plastic case on the ice and opened it. He quickly assembled and powered up the drone. He took a step back and using the control pad he raised the drone into the air and spun it around. He stared at the image of his team caught in the drone's camera in the small screen attached to the remote control.

“You set, Fitch,” asked Hanson, the squadron's leader.

Fitch nodded.

Hanson spoke into his mike. “Are you receiving the feed, control?”

The men sitting around the screen in the control room aboard the ship stationed a short distance from the large berg, stared at the screens showing feeds from the team's helmet cams and the drone.

“All crisp and clear,” replied Casper. “Send it in.”

Every eye in the room followed the drone's progress through the tunnel. Its bright light reflected off the tube of ice as it sped along and then emerged into a large room, the hanger. The men gasped at the group of spacecraft caught in the drone's light.

“They must be the shuttlecraft the scientists mentioned,” said Cruikshank. “The technology aboard that craft will advance us hundreds of years. We have to get it.”

“I agree,” said Mason, peering at the craft the drone flew around. “If all we manage to salvage is one of them, the mission will be a success.”

They watched the drone move away from the craft and fly around one of the larger transport ships and then hover in front of a large door.

Casper raised an arm and pointed at the door. “If the power's still on and the door opens, we'll have access to the cargo bay and the hundreds of crates the scientists mentioned that are stored there.”

“Okay, obviously we want them all and as many of the shuttle craft we can salvage before the berg flips or releases its hold on the spaceship, so we'll make them our priority." said Cruikshank. “Send the team in to see if the door opens, if not we'll arrange the equipment needed to burn through it.”

“According to the scientists, if nothing's changed, the cargo bay will be free of monster,” said Mason. “But warn the team not to enter the next room until it's been gassed. That's the domain of those killer insects and however heavily armed they are they won't stand a chance against thousands of things so small and deadly.”

Casper relayed the instructions to the team.

The drone flew over to the ice tunnel and watched the six men approach. Fitch walked slower at the rear as he continued controlling the drone.

The drone spun when a shriek pierced the silence. It moved across the room and searched for the thing that had made the noise.

Hanson halted the team and stared at the hangar entrance a few yards away and the darkness within.

Ramirez glanced at his team mates. “What in hell's name was that?”

Sawyer smiled at his nervous companion and tapped his assault rifle. “Does it matter?”

Ramirez shrugged. “Suppose not.”

“It must be one of those alien monsters the scientist encountered,” said Hanson. “They survived with little more than their wits; with the firepower we're carrying the aliens don't stand a chance.” He directed his gaze ahead. “Keep together and your eyes peeled. Kill anything that moves that isn't us. It is technology we're after, not live alien specimens.” He led the men forward.

The men in the control stared at the drone's screen when the shriek rang out. They had also reached the same conclusion, that one of the alien monsters had been responsible.

“The scientists said the hanger was free of monsters,” stated Mason.

“Well it doesn't seem to be now,” said Cruikshank. “The stress put on the large vessel when the ice broke free might have damaged parts of the ship, allowing the things aboard access to parts of the ship they were unable to reach before.”

The men concentrated on the screens as Mason turned his head and looked at the drone operator.

“You see anything, Fitch?”

Fitch shook his head. “But that doesn't mean something's not in there waiting.”

“Stay here and keep searching. You see anything, you be sure to let us know,” Mason ordered.

Fitch nodded.

Mason led his team forward.

They entered the hangar and roamed their weapons around the large space as they crossed the room. The lights fixed to their weapons wandered over the shuttlecraft they moved between.

The men in the control room were glued to the screens.

Terrifying shrieks rang out.

A monstrous form filled the screen from Ramirez's camera feed. A glimpse of teeth and then the screen went black.

Gunfire echoed through the room.

Mason's feed showed a monster being riddled with bullets. It flopped to the floor. Mason spun as something shrieked close by. Claws ripped at his face. He fell to the ground firing. The weapon was knocked from his hand by the monster that straddled his chest. He died when the monster ripped out his throat.

The drone spun and rushed to the team.

One monster lay dead, but more attacked the men.

Sawyer shot one that leapt at him in the shoulder. The monster shrieked and knocked Sawyer to the ground. Its teeth ripped at the man's chest. Blood sprayed. Sawyer died.

The remaining men screamed when monsters leapt from the darkness and overpowered them. Blood pooled on the hangar floor.

Fitch ran back along the ice tunnel.

Silence.

The shocked men in the control room stared at the team's corpses being feasted upon by the Hunter monsters.

“Fuck!” cussed Cruikshank. “Prepare another team. Warn them about the monsters and send them in. I want that technology and by god I'm going to get it if I have to sacrifice every man aboard this ship.