O-Negative: Extinction (20 page)

Joe sat down and poured Florence a glass of water and then handed it to her when she'd finished her rant.  "My name is Joe.  I do have a geology degree and yes I used to be in the Army.  It was however a long time ago and it's purely coincidental that Bobby Sanderson who I was in Iraq with has been posted to Rothera.  Until a few days ago we hadn't spoken in some years.  As to everything else I know little more than you do and the little I do know I've promised to keep my mouth shut about for the time being".

Florence didn't look much happier and the tension lines around her eyes tightened when he declined to provide any more information.  "Well can you at least reassure me that whatever's going on there's no danger to Halley and the 56 non-military personnel I'm responsible for here?"

Joe paused.  He didn't want to alarm Florence and he'd promised Major Sanderson not to say anything about what happened on the plateaux.  At the same time he was his own man and under no obligation to follow 'orders'.  He looked Florence right in the eyes.  "I can't do that Florence".

Joe could see she was shocked.  She sat down "You can't do what?  You can't reassure me about the team's safety? Jesus Joe if things are that bad why aren't we evacuating - is it the Russians? Have they gone a bit North Polely on us and planted a flag in the centre of Antarctica?"

Joe shrugged. "I have no idea but I don’t think it’s the Russians.  With regards to evacuation you know that’s not my call.  I'm sure if the proper authorities feel it’s warranted you'll be the first to know.  Interesting that the resupply ship hasn't left yet thought isn't it?"

"Are you telling me it’s been told to stay here in case we need to evacuate?"

"I'm not telling you anything I'm just pointing out that it's still here".

"Joe you're being deliberately obtuse.  I have to say I've discovered more about you in the last 24 hours than I have in the last 4 months."  She paused and then gave him a different type of look – a look he’d seen on the faces of the women he dated many times before.  "Listen Joe you and me….it’s been a wonderful distraction…. but I think we should probably cool things for a bit while whatever's going on sorts itself out".

Joe gave her a wry smile.  "Florence I know.  It's been good to escape the realities of life a bit but even here on the most desolate place on earth reality has a tendency to catch up with you.  Friends?"

Florence nodded and gave him a sympathetic smile. "Friends it is.  I don't think I quite realised what I was getting myself into with you Dr, or should I say
Captain,
Harper.  Now in your role as
Captain
Harper what would you suggest I do tell my staff?”

"I'm still only a senior geologist Florence and just so you're quite clear I do care about you and all the staff here on station.  I am still under your authority.  However as you’re asking I might suggest that people are stopped from going out overnight for the time being and don't wander too far from base."

"Done.  But what about getting them ready to evacuate if the order comes through?"

"My experience is that if you start down that role you’ll just give people more time to panic; sometimes a bit of panic’s warranted but for now I think the best thing is to keep things as low key as you can."

"Jesus Joe how can you be so calm.  This is throwing my life into total chaos."

Joe knew why but he wasn't going to tell Florence that his calmness was directly correlated to the fact that compared to his near death experience a few days ago everything else paled into insignificance.  He'd said something non-consequential to Florence and then excused himself leaving Florence to keep the rest of the staff as reassured as she could.

That had been two days ago.  Any calmness that Joe had possessed was long gone.  There was an unmistakeable aura of tension permeating the station and this combined with the restrictions on movement outside had led to one of two unsightly scuffles between normally placid colleagues.  Peter Jackson a committed Christian and Joe’s roommate had come off worse when he discovered three of the operations guys using the station’s small interdenominational chapel as the base for an all-day poker game.  Having consumed several bottles of Michael Chapman’s home brew they hadn’t received his commands ‘to  leave God’s house of worship immediately’ as well as he might have hoped. Joe had found him nursing a sore jaw and a slowly blackening eye back in their tiny bedroom. 

While Joe was reflecting over the last few days Dominic came into the lab “Joe you got a moment?”

“Sure, what’s on your mind?”

Dominic beckoned him out in the corridor implying a need to talk without being over heard by the other staff members using the lab.  Joe got up and joined him in the corridor.

Keeping his voice low Dominic said. “Thought you might want to see this”.  He passed Joe a printout from the secure terminal he’d been monitoring for the last few days in Florence’s office.  Joe read through it.  It seemed like the Americans had brought a couple of warships into Antarctic waters and had established a joint base of operations on the Falklands with the British.

“Does this mean what I think it does Dominic?” 

“Well I’d defer to your judgment but I imagine it means some sort of larger force is going to be dispatched to find out what’s happened to the central bases and to ascertain what that black spot is on the satellite image.”

Joe replied. “I think that’s a pretty shit idea.  Didn’t they see the video footage?”

Dominic pulled a face. “I imagine that video footage has been kept pretty hush hush.  But yes I’m sure a number of people higher up the food chain have seen it.  But as I said a few days ago they haven’t experienced it themselves.  None of this has been helped by the fact that the Russians just landed a sizeable contingent on East Antarctica.  They’re claiming the comms black out is part of some American covert ops experiment.  They got all uppity when they realised that the American’s have had a large presence of Raytheon contractors based at McMurdo for several months.  Raytheon don’t just do defence contracting and though the Americans have assured everyone that they are simply a facilities improvement team the Russians don’t like the smell of it”.

“Great if we never see another silver creature again we could still be in the middle of bloody war zone because the Americans and the Russians don’t trust one other.  Any word on evacuation of Halley and the other research stations?”

“Nope.  Nobody wants to admit there may be an issue when nobody’s really sure whether or not there is an issue or not”.

“Typical Yes Prime Minister’s Stuff” Joe said.  “So when are the Americans going to plough in?”

“Best guess would be sometime today or tomorrow.  They’ll probably avoid planes given previous flights have simply vanished from radar.  I’d imagine they’ll go in with some choppers and some Navy Seals”.

“Pity those poor buggers”.

“err yeah about that the American’s have asked the British if they wouldn’t mind sending a couple of people along who may have some familiarity with the terrain and circumstances……..”

“You’re fucking kidding me Dominic.  You mean us?  They’re asking us to go along with them?  I’d rather drink my own vomit…”

“You say that Joe but you may have to either that or find yourself back in Blighty on an academic black list.  Major Sanderson told me to tell you that the BAS are considering whether or not to withdraw your research funding given they were unaware of your military employment.”

“I haven’t been employed by the Army for almost 10 sodding years?”

“Look Joe I know that.  Major Sanderson knows that but reading between the lines I get the impression that if you don’t agree to go he’ll let the inference you’ve retained an ‘association’ with the UK Army continue.”

“This is outrageous Dominic he’s bloody blackmailing me into going and if I say no he’s going to make out I was some sort of undercover intelligence officer planted within the BAS – though what a spy would be doing in the middle of fucking nowhere I don’t know? I don’t think anyone’s going to believe that?”

“Well your Chief Executive seems to be a bit of a believer.  The BAS is bawling for blood back in London and the Army is in the process of considering whether or not to hand you up on a platter.”

“Fuck it no way I’m going back to these pissing games, I’m not going to let Bobby fing Sanderson blackmail me into doing this.  You can tell Fuck Knuckles to shove his threat right back up his jacksie”.

“Ok Joe I’ll feed that back to him…perhaps using slightly different language but before I do he told me that if you still weren’t convinced he asked me to say two words to you…Al Waleed?”

Joe paused.  He said nothing but his face hardened and for the first time Dominic saw that Joe wasn’t quite as harmless as he looked.  His face had sharpened in a way that implied danger that was almost certainly terminal in nature.  Within a moment it was gone and Joe’s face shifted back into his normal look but his eyes retained a supressed but ever present seething anger.  “Al Waleed. What a complete and utter shit”.  He sat down.  “Fine.  If that’s how he wants it you can go back to Sanderson and tell him I’ll go.  But two can play at that game and you tell him if I hear the words Al Waleed again - assuming I ever get back alive from this nightmare - I’ll personally run in a deposition to General Cartwright listing everything I know about Al Waleed and you can be damn sure it won’t match up with the previous report we filed”.

Dominic nodded.  “I’ll tell him Joe.”  Not wishing to push Joe any further he turned to leave but then turned back and said.  “I’m sorry Joe.  I can’t say that I’m happy about going back myself.  I’m still not sleeping properly and if I’m honest I’d much rather sit this one out”.  Joe looked at him blankly for a moment lost in his own thoughts before waving Dominic out and returning to staring at his computer screen.

The morning meeting with his team had buoyed his spirits somewhat.  The tide of public opinion against the current administration and in particularly the President’s personal approval rating seemed to be turning more and more in their favour.  The majority of the national press based in the East and West Coast was still as supportive as they normally were of the liberal politics and policies coming out of the White House but the clippings he was seeing coming out of the regional newspapers in the south this week were increasingly polemic. 

Where before the traditional issues had been about crime, the local economic climate and college football mixed in with a few dramatic or humorous local news stories the focus seemed to have changed over the last few days.  There seems to be a plethora of stories about how the ‘Northern and Western’ states were benefitting from the current administration’s policies at the expense of ‘Southern and Central States’.  The use of the term ‘Northern’ was a real throw back to Civil War type language – definitively incendiary.  He’d just read in the Georgia times that apparently the number of houses flying the confederate flag had increased threefold since the Democrat administration had come to power.  The flag even being seen outside Black and Hispanic community housing, the flag being linked less to white supremacy and more to the ‘Southernness’ of the inhabitants views. 

The Mississippi news had a four page spread outlining in great detail how corporation tax from Southern Companies and natural resource revenues from oil and gas resources located in the south were being used to fund the social and health programmes for urban communities in the ‘north and west’.  The Baton Rouge News highlighted recent defence cuts that had cost 2,000 jobs in Louisiana.  It looked to him like someone was deliberately pushing a campaign to highlight these issues, someone who knew how to poke was doing an effective if perhaps a little unsubtle job at getting people’s backs up.

Even his team were surprised at the venom directed at the administration.

Greg stated that the coverage gave the impression that “The South was in the mood for a revolution.” And questioned whether “the Democrats realise the depth of feeling that’s being brought to the surface with all these articles.  I suspect they’re going to get an unexpected kicking in the mid-terms.  I can see 3 or 4 more Republican congressmen getting into previously safe Democrat seats.”

Megan had also noticed it reading from the Florida Times “The incumbent Republican Mayor of Miami Rob Ford has lost his party nomination vote to the previously unknown council man Roger Fernandez.  The Cuban exile community appears to have voted en mass for Mr Fernandez and along with the retirees and disenfranchised white working class Mayor Ford’s core support seemed to vanish overnight.”

He agreed these were all positive signs.  “Looks like President Thomas may well be a one term President which we should all be grateful for.  It also strengthens my own hand in terms of raising re-election funds.  Maybe I should begin to highlight some of these points in my own speeches and media briefings?”

Greg was all for it.  “Definitely David if you can become a voice in Washington for the unheard masses we should see your marginal lead at the last election turn into something much more comfortable - which will give you a shot at being asked to serve in a Republican administration in 3 years times”.

After the staff meeting, and a day meeting with key constituents who had been invited up to Washington for a chat and tour of Capitol Hill his spirits had been lifted quite considerably.  However the sense of normalcy he had begun to feel during the day vanished abruptly when a call came through on his cell while he was attending an important Republican fundraising dinner in the evening.  ‘Unknown number’.  His heartbeat, perhaps rather irrationally, went up at seeing these words on his phone.  He excused himself from the conversation he was having with a techno-industrialist from Dallas and moved to a quieter part of the banqueting suite.

“David Mitchell”.

“Congressman Mitchell its Colonel Richardson”

“Ahh Colonel good to hear from you”.  Somewhat of an exaggeration he thought.

There was no further small talk from the business like Colonel “Congressman I’ve taken a call from Mr Lynch at the Nex group.  He told me he’s been unable to get hold of Congressman Wyatt and suggested that you might be the best person to convene a meeting of the homeland security committee”.

He felt a surge of anger at the presumption underlying the request that he was some sort of errand boy and so answered uncommittedly “Ummhh well we have a meeting scheduled for Thursday.  Maybe that would be a good time for Mr Lynch to provide additional briefing to the committee, perhaps in a closed session following the main business?”

“Mr Lynch seemed quite keen on the briefing being sooner rather than later Sir.  He said he’d be free to meet this evening at twenty one hundred hours in the same place as before”.

He almost told Colonel Richardson that the world didn’t resolve around Mr Lynch and that it would be impossible for him and the other congressman on the committee to be able to drop everything and meet with him that evening.  Nevertheless he swallowed his anger “Look you can tell Mr Lynch I don’t know what you think it is that congressmen do but it’s currently seven o’clock in the evening.  I’m here with the party faithful along with a number of fellow representatives and am not really in a position to excuse myself and I doubt they will be either.”

“As you say Congressman but I note that my boss and Mr Lynch will be briefing the president and the general staff in precisely half an hour.  I would have thought your committee might be interested in what they had to say?”

“Your boss is briefing the President?  Fine tell Lynch I’ll do what I can but can you make it quite clear that this is a serious inconvenience?”

“Will do sir.” And at that the line went dead.

Jesus he thought ‘what a sociopath’ it was like talking with Charles Manson but without the charming personality.  He took a glass of champagne from a passing waiter and quaffed it in a single gulp.  So much for pressing the flesh and getting his face about amongst the people he’d need to smooch up to.  He spotted Andrew Harper across the room and moved to join the conversation.

“Gentleman, Andrew, good to see you all.  I hope you’re enjoying the free drinks”.  There was polite laughter all round.  “Now I hate to do this to you all but I need a quick word with Andrew here.  Andrew do you have a minute?”  Andrew Harper looked annoyed at being asked to remove himself from the conversation but politely acquiesced and removed himself from the group. 

When they’d moved away a reasonable distance Andrew sniped “David much as I enjoy your company I’d rather not talk shop with a fellow congressman this evening especially when we’re surrounded by the movers and shakers.”

“I understand Andrew and I feel the same way, unfortunately I’ve just taken a call from an associate of Mr Lynch’s asking me to convene a meeting of the committee at nine o’clock this evening.”

“Is this some sort of joke David? The committee already has a published schedule, a very busy schedule as I recall, this is a completely unreasonable request.  Civil Servants are supposed to work for us not the other way round.  Is this more of that Antarctica nonsense?”

He looked uncomfortable at Andrew’s obvious ire “Couldn’t agree more Andrew but the President and the general staff are getting another briefing on the apparently escalating situation in Antarctica and it’s all but been suggested that we also need to be as fully appraised as them re what’s happening”.

“This is highly annoying he’d better have something vitally important to say or I’m going to rip him to pieces, who else is going?”

“Well at the moment no one I was hoping I could split the list of committee members with you and we’d call half each to see if we can get them to attend?”

“Great now I’m missing the highest profile Republican reception of the year to act as a fucking secretary.  Fine I’ll do the other Republicans you can have the joy of talking to the Democrats I know how much you love chatting with them”.

He sighed knowing as Andrew did that most of the Republicans were probably already at the reception and so would be much easier to get hold of.  “Thanks Andrew you’re a real pal” he said with a heavy dose of sarcasm.  “I guess I’ll see you later”.

“I’m promising nothing David but I’ll speak to the others and make a decision when I know how many of them are prepared to ruin their evening to get another briefing from the Man from Uncle”.

“Ok well I’d better find a quieter room.”  At this he exited the reception and decided to stroll down to his own office located in the bowels of Capitol Hill.  When he got there none of his staff were there other than Greg.

“What the hell are you doing here David shouldn’t you be laughing uproariously at some politically incorrect joke from a Nebraskan businessman?”

“Yes I should but I need to convene the homeland security committee.”

“What for tomorrow that’s a bit of short notice no?”

“I wish it were for tomorrow but no for this evening and I’ve got the job of contacting all the Democrats.”

“This evening, what’s going on that’s so important that you need to get a briefing this evening?”

“To be honest with you Greg I can’t really say but there’s some big shit storm going on about Antarctica and though this sounds way out of our remit apparently it might have some bearing on national security so we’re having a briefing following the one that the President’s getting right now”.

“Antarctica Gods hardly a pressing issue, is this the Russians rattling their sabres again?”

He hesitated slightly, he didn’t want to mislead Greg but neither did he want to be the source of any leak that Greg in good faith might think it would be good to utilise to embarrass the Democratic administration. “Err yes probably.  May well just be a storm in a teacup it’s just highly annoying that it’s happening tonight.  Listen can you call Megan and tell her not to bother coming over to wow the crowd?  She was going to join me after eight o’clock.  I need to get on with calling those bloody Democrats to ruin their evening as much as my own”.  With that he moved into his office, shut the door and began flicking through his rolladeck as he picked up the phone.

__________________________________________________

As he expected not all the Democrats were in a position to turn up.  Some thought it was a wild goose chase of the first order and had told him as much, others were genuinely concerned but had already returned to their respective constituencies given it was a Friday evening and so would be unable to get to Washington in time.  He also suspected some had chosen not to attend because they were being called by a young upstart Republican.  A number of them said if it was that serious then they were sure the President and his team would be in touch directly.  In the end the Democrat congresswoman Marlene George from Virginia had turned up - her family were based in Richmond and so she hadn’t yet left the office when he called.  On the Republican side he and most of his other colleagues were present in the same out of the way committee room they’d used for the last briefing.  The corridor on this occasion had been completely deserted and the lights had been off, only coming on when he’d walked under them.  Dead on nine o’clock Andrew Harper and Tripp Wyatt turned up looking put out.  Andrew addressed him as he walked in.  “So where’s our agent extraordinaire David.  I hope this isn’t going to be a colossal waste of our time?”

As if by magic Mr Lynch appeared in the doorway.  “The agent extraordinaire is now present and correct” he said dryly moving forwards into the room shutting the door behind him.  “Shall we take our seats?”

As David and the others climbed the 4 steps on to the podium Mr Lynch took his traditional seat on the chair behind the desk facing them.

Andrew Harper was first out of the blocks.  “Right ok Mr Lynch let’s hear it as I for one don’t want to be here a moment longer than necessary and I suspect none of the rest of my colleagues do either.  Has a massive meteorite landed causing untold damage to an area no one gives a monkeys about, has a Russian submarine surfaced in the middle of one of our scientific stations? Or have Aliens invaded Antarctica?”

“At this stage we do not believe the Russians are involved Congressman.  All the communication transcripts we’ve intercepted and decoded suggest they are as mystified as we are at the appearance of a strange structure at the South Pole.  Similarly they do not have the immediate resources in place to be able to ascertain the nature of the threat, if it is a threat.  And by threat I do mean a ‘clear and present danger’.  It is my job to inform you that the British have reported losing an entire SAS team which was sent to investigate by air and the ground based mission by a platoon of Royal marines has also experienced a significant loss of life attempting to reach the Amundsen base.   I have only recently returned from my own mission to the British base at Halley where I spoke to the survivors from the overland trip – a Marine Lieutenant and an ex SAS Captain turned scientist who was their guide.  They both reported the wholesale slaughter of their colleagues by strange metallic creatures who’s nature and design neither of them had encountered previously.  Neither I might add seemed the type to make up such a story but you never know.  In addition they brought back video evidence, which has been passed to our high command and has convinced General Carter enough that he’s ordered the Seal teams we sent to the Falklands to proceed to the centre of the continent and get our own intell on what’s happening”.  He paused.  “Still want to get back to your reception congressman?”