O-Negative: Extinction (21 page)

Andrew Harper sat back in his chair while Marlene George leaned forwards.  “I’m sorry Mr Lynch but this all sounds like high fantasy.  And even if it’s true what impact is this going to have here.  I know it sounds serious but we are after all 10,000 miles from Antarctica?”

“Well Madame Congresswoman at the moment we just don’t know.  We’re hoping the Seal team will give us a bit more to go on but I’d note the President is concerned enough to have given approval for the use of Cruise Missiles should the Seal teams be compromised.  There is a distinct feeling of nervousness amongst our present leadership.  Apparently every earth facing satellite with the ability to see what’s going on down on the ground is ‘malfunctioning’ - perhaps even more worrying is that our outward facing satellites and space telescopes are also currently out of operation.  Before they stopped working a number of them had been tracking a series of meteorites or comets, which according to the data analysed so far the next two will enter the Earth’s atmosphere in a couple of days’ time.  The rest a few days after that.”

He came in at this point “Mr Lynch are you saying that we have had a first contact?”

“At the moment we don’t know but there is mounting evidence that something has landed in Antarctica and appears to be attacking anything that gets too close.  The concern from a national security perspective is that it might be a reasonable assumption that these remaining ‘meteorites’ could hit or land in much more populated areas – which could result in catastrophic loss of life.”

He couldn’t help himself “I don’t mind saying this Mr Lynch but you’re beginning to scare the shit out of me”.  He looked around at his colleagues most of whose faces seemed to have paled at Lynch’s words.

It was Trip who was the first to recover.  “Mr Lynch you said the President and General Staff have been briefed on this, do we have a plan for what to do if such a worse case situation does arise and we find ourselves dealing with an ‘alien’ host on our soil?”

“We have plans that can be adapted.  At the moment these are being dusted off.  Nevertheless key military bases are being put on high alert and in some cases may end up going into lock down.”

“And the media?  How on earth is this going to be handled?  There’s going to be panic when this gets out?”

“At the moment the line is that the Russians are expanding operations in Antarctica and we are responding accordingly including by increasing our military presence in the region.  When we know more I believe the White House’s team will bring into play a number of recent policies and procedures which were drawn up under the approval of this committee relating to emergency powers and responses.  Now gentlemen that’s all I have at this time.  I would remind you that this information remains highly sensitive – please do not reveal this information to anyone.  Including your closest loved ones.  We still don’t have final confirmation on a number of the elements we’ve discussed.  Who knows, it could all be explained by solar flares or such like.  However I doubt it and therefore it’s my job and the job of my colleagues to make sure continuation of government.  With that in mind I’d remind you that all of you are on emergency transfer lists where in a case of something more directly threatening taking place you will be transferred to a secure location by the military.”

“Great a bunker in Virginia.  That will be a hoot I’m sure” said Andrew Harper.

Mr Lynch without any further ceremony wished them all “a good evening” and left the committee room. 

The remaining Representatives began talking loudly and nervously with one another before leaving in some haste to return back to their homes. 

Tripp Wyatt passed by him sitting as he was in silence.  “I’ll give it a day or two before the information leaks David.  You might want to think about where you want to be when it does.  I’d imagine there’s going to be a huge upsurge in social unrest.  The crazies will definitely be out in force”.

“You’re probably right Trip.  This doesn’t sound good at all, I’m just trying to absorb what we’ve all just heard.  I haven’t made up my mind whether to be absolutely terrified or stoically optimistic that things aren’t quite as bad as he’s suggesting”.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this one David.  I’m going to go and spend some time with my family, I suggest you do the same”.

___________________________________________________

He’d hardly class Chad as family but given the nature of the news he’d been briefed on he eventually decided to get on the late night flight to Houston from Washington.  He called Chad on his arrival and Chad told him to come on over.

The house in Cinco Ranch looked as impenetrable as it had before but this time turning up in the dark it had a sinister look to it that would probably deter any but the most hardened criminal – if that’s what Chad was actually concerned about?  Elizabeth wasn’t in when he arrived so he was met by the housekeeper who had a gaunt angular face that brooked no nonsense.  She took his coat and bag, which she told him she’d put in his room, before indicating he should use the lift to go down to the ‘operations centre’. 

This time when he entered he noticed that every desk and every computer seemed to be occupied.  Chad was obviously well aware that something was up and had called in people from wherever they normally worked.  Chad took him into his office and offered him a whiskey.

“Looks to me David my boy that the situation in Antarctica seems to have deteriorated somewhat.  I’ve got people feeding me information from all over the general staff and they seem to be somewhat vexed.  Am I right?”

“Something is definitely going off Chad.  They’re talking about more meteorites landing and the Brits have been attacked when they got too close to the weird structure that’s turned up in the middle of the continent.  The army boys are about to send in the Seals and the Navy commanders have got the authority to use Cruise Missiles if they feel the need”.

Chad whistled “CMs hey.  They must be shitting their pants in Washington about this David.  I’d also be changing my trousers if I’d spent the last 25 years patting myself on the back about the end of the cold war and getting distracted with unwinnable wars in the Middle East.  Fortunately I haven’t and even as I can smell my own fear I can also sense an opportunity.  I think we might be able to benefit from the events occurring in the southern hemisphere.  Any idea where these other ‘meteorites’ are going to land?”.

“No idea yet.  All our tech seems to have packed up.  We’re running blind at the moment.” He paused to collect himself and took another prolonged sip from the tumbler in front of him.  “And exactly what sort of opportunity are you seeing here Chad?  Isn’t this a time to pull together?”

“Said just like a politician David but no in my opinion we shouldn’t be looking to pull together.  Listen it’s at times like this that opportunities that would previously have been unrealistic or unthinkable become possible.  We need strong leadership in a time of crisis and I just don’t believe we’re going to get this from President Thomas.  Even before this the South was hurting – who do you think will be left high and dry if something fifty times the size of New Orleans hits us.  I doubt very much it will be the Eastern and Western seaboard as this is where most of his voters live.  I hoping and praying that we won’t have to do anything at all but I was a good boy scout and a good Marine after that and I still remember the motto ‘Be prepared’.  So even if I don’t yet know how to capitalise on all this just yet when I see a gap in the fence my boy I’m going to shove my crowbar in it and pull with all my might.”

David wasn’t sure this sounded like a good idea but given he was sitting in a bunker basement in Houston with the man who pretty much owned him he didn’t feel like saying this.  Instead he said “Well  there is definitely a lack of leadership at present and given that Mr Lynch and his colleagues were unheard of till a couple of weeks ago I doubt very much the government’s got any recent plans in place for a truly nationwide emergency.”

“Exactly.  Now I’m guessing that some relatively sizeable amounts of money are going to be thrown around in Washington over the next few days and I’d appreciate it if you could use whatever contacts you have in the Department for Homeland Security and elsewhere to divert those resources Southwards.  The money doesn’t need to come into companies I control directly I just want as much of it as possible to get to the Southern States.  Also I’d like you to do a tour of the news studios.  I’m not looking for you to leak any information but I bet most of the media outlets would cut off an arm to get a face to face with you and Megan talking about your engagement and forthcoming nuptials hey?  Then once you’re on you’ll have a soap box with which to point out the current administrations failings…”

“Jesus Chad the last thing I want to do is tour the studios with Megan pretending to be supremely happy, I’m fucking worried about what the hell is going on.”

Chad’s expression hardened.  “David I’d say that you’ve benefitted quite considerably from our association no?  I’d hate for that association to become strained.  We’re in a potentially world changing situation.  You need to start thinking about who’s side you want to be on when the shit hits the fan and from what I can see that shit already started hitting.”

He could see that Chad was deadly serious.  He finished his drink.  “Well I guess the line ‘in for a cent in for a dollar’ springs to mind Chad.  So I guess I’ll get on with earning my dollar when I return tomorrow.”

“That’s my boy David now I think another drink’s in order don’t you?”

He and Dominic stood in their snow suits outside the departure lounge building.  The air was bitterly cold.  The dryness of it causing their breath to wheeze slightly as they exhaled.  Dominic was carrying his SLR80 and had strapped army webbing and a rucksack to his back.  Reluctantly he’d done the same but had refused to accept the offer of a rifle of his own.  He knew no weapon that he was currently trained to use was going to stop the metallic creatures.  Joe bore an expression of fatalistic acceptance.  He was even less certain of returning from this trip than he had the last.  Before he’d left the main building he’d gone and found Florence.  He’d told her that he and Dominic were going to be accompanying a second mission onto the plateaux this time led by the American’s.  He’d made it quite clear that she needed to get the station team ready to evacuate whether the order came through or not; and if she’d heard nothing 12 hours after they’d left to get everyone on the resupply ship and head to the Falklands.  He’d told her that if they saw any sort of bright lights on the horizon they were to drop everything and get on board the ship and cast off as it their lives depended on it.  Florence had maintained her composure to an extent after he’d told her all this and he got the impression that for the first time she’d really understood the danger they were currently in.  When they parted she’d leant over and kissed him deeply.  He could still feel the taste of her warm lips on his as he stood there staring out across the ice.

The vibration in the air was subtle at first but if you’d experienced it before you knew what it was.  Two or three minutes later he watched as 10 helicopters appeared on the horizon flying fast and low.  While 9 of the helicopters passed overhead the 10
th
landed drowning everything out above the sound of its rotors pushing the frigid air downwards.  The decibels of the whirr of the blades dropped momentarily after landing and they ran towards the sliding metal door that had been slid to one side.  Strong arms pulled them aboard, the door was slid shut and the helicopter took off again to follow behind its 9 dark and deadly looking siblings.

Putting headsets on to dampen the sound he and Dominic were integrated within the communication network on board the helicopter.  He grunted a non-descript greeting as they were welcomed on board as ‘Captain Harper and Lieutenant Taylor’.  The Seal greeting them was Captain Harkin.

“Good to have you aboard guys”.

“I understand you two ran into the unknown element a few days ago?  What can you tell us that wasn’t in your report?”

He let Dominic do the talking.  “There’s not much else to say Captain.  Best I can say is that whatever happens out here today don’t underestimate what you come across.  I don’t care what your bosses might say the creatures that destroyed my platoon are like nothing I’ve ever come across before….and if it is the Russians then they’ve managed to hide the development of an incredibly deadly and sophisticated unmanned weapon.  You and your men will need to be on your toes.  What are your orders sir?”

“Pretty standard.  Seek and evaluate.  If a threat is ascertained we’re to laser paint the target for the CMs and we’re to engage if engaged with.  We’re going to swing by and do a fly-by of Amundsen-Scott first and then proceed due east to see if we can ascertain what that black dot on the satellite image is.  Our unit will drop down if we see any sign of personnel at Amundsen while the rest move forward to the primary target.”

Dominic nodded to indicate he’d heard but said nothing further. 

He noted that the remainder of Captain Harkin’s team nodded to him when he glanced at them but no further conversation was offered.  He got the sense they weren’t too keen on having them accompany them.  The Seals were dressed in white winter warfare suits but unlike the rather uncomfortable and probably unsuited packs and webbing that he and Dominic were carrying the Seal team had much sleeker grey white backpacks which hugged the soldiers as if an extension of their suits.  He settled back into his moulded seat and shut his eyes.  As the now dead Corporal Johnson had previously indicated to him ‘sleep while you can’ as you never know when the next rest is coming.

He awoke to Captain Harkin’s voice. “Lock and load guys secondary target AS coming into view now”.  He was surprised they’d actually got so far without any problems – they’d lost comms on their snow track hundreds of miles from where they now were and they’d come across the downed place from Rothera not long after.  Dominic was obviously thinking the same as he pointing to a unit built into the side of the helicopter.  He could see various green lights flashing rapidly across one side of the casing that was labelled in large white letters EDS.  Dominic mouthed ‘Electronic Defense System’.  He was impressed that the system had managed to keep the helicopter from crashing.  He did however notice that the pilot, who was located 3 metres or so in front of him in a lowered forward position was fully occupied.  His co-pilot was also looking concerned.  Captain Harkin saw where he was looking and said “fly by wire system out. Pilot having to fly manually - he says something’s interfering with the electronic systems.  Its ok for flying forwards but if any manoeuvring’s required we’ll be up shit creek without a paddle.”  He acknowledged the Captain’s words and shifted in his seat so that he could see out of a corner of the front windscreen. “Have you tried making radio contact with the station?” he said.

“Yep nothing coming back but some sort of emergency long wave signal.  It’s enough for our helo to touch down and check it out.  The other teams will proceed to the primary target.”  As the shape of the modular helical structure of Amundsen Scott grew larger their helicopter began to drop behind the others.  He heard the radio in the pilot’s ear crackle slightly but the pilot ignored it as he focused on bringing the chopper down without the benefit of any of the sophisticated automated mechanisms he could normally rely on.  The nose of the helicopter veered heavily from side to side and at one point dropped precariously before the pilot brought the chopper down bumpily 50 metres from the main building.  Captain Harkin indicated to him and Dominic to stay with the chopper while he and his men jumped from the now open door and jogged towards the base.  The wind whipped into the cabin and he was half tempted to pull the door closed but knew the Americans would need every second if they had to return in a hurry – opening a helicopter door might be the difference between life and death.  Suddenly there was a flash of bright light and moments later the sound of several explosions.  He and Dominic both jumped down from the helicopter to look toward the East where the light and sound had come from.  A thin spiral of smoke rose from the horizon.  Captain Harkin came over the radio transmitting on all frequencies.  “Delta teams report over”.  There was no reply to his urgent retort.  Captain Harkin radioed the helo pilot telling him to boost their signal and contact the American forces out to sea.  Once the pilot confirmed he’d done what he could Captain Harkin radioed a terse statement “Contact with forward 9 lost over.  Delta 10 on ground at AS over.  Launch of CMs on our laser targeting requested over.  What the fuck is that…”

He moved away from the helicopter to see what Captain Harkin had spotted.  It was a sight he hadn’t wanted to see again.  Tens and tens of bright lights appearing on the horizon.  Dominic moved to stand beside him.  “Captain Harkin this is Lieutenant Taylor recommend immediate retreat over.  Those lights are exactly what we saw before the onset of the metallic creatures in my report sir over”.

“Understood Lieutenant but my orders are to check the base and I need to do that before withdrawing over”.

He saw that the Captain and his team had reached the door of the base which was hanging at a strange angle as if it had been removed and then someone had tried to mend it ineffectively.  As several of the Seal team ripped the door open and entered the complex Captain Harkin and 3 other Seals remained outside.  Dominic put his hand on his arm and pointed towards the direction of the bright lights which were now considerably closer than before “They’re not going to make it back in time Joe.  I think we know how this is going to end.  He unslung his rifle and opening his snow jacket pulled out a browning pistol which he offered to Joe.  He shook his head.  “I don’t think they’ll do any good Dominic”. 

They watched motionless as the lights swarmed towards them.  He thought about moving or running but in the end stood entirely still watching almost trance like as the mass of silvery reflections began solidifying into hundreds, thousands of individual metallic creatures acting as one deadly mass.  He saw Captain Harkin turn to face the tide screaming at his men to pull back to the helicopter; he saw the helicopter pilot try to rise off the ground and hover above the oncoming onslaught; he saw the metallic creatures form into a pillar 10 metres high and then latch on to the helicopter mid-air before it came crashing back down with a thump not yards from where they stood; he saw other creatures rush in through the open door and execute the pilot and co-pilot; he saw the creatures come within two feet of him and Dominic and then simply shift the course of their trajectory around them as they headed for the Seal team that was now desperately running towards them and the helicopter; he saw the soldiers disappear in a wave of silver as they desperately fired their weapons; he saw a branch of the metallic wave push towards the open door of the base enter it and then withdraw almost as quickly and join another group heading off to the north of their position.   Within seconds the only evidence of the metallic creatures were the prone bodies of the Seals – all with their throats neatly cut.

He saw Dominic sit down on the ice.  He sat down next to him.  No words were said.  There were no words to say.  Once again they’d walked into the storm and come out the other side.  The sun still shone.  The wind still blew.  The snow still fell.  He got up and pulled Dominic to his feet.  He pointed to the helicopter whose blades were still whirring, Dominic nodded and then striding towards it climbed aboard and shut off the engine that was powering the 20 foot blades turning incessantly above their heads.  The dull grey blades slowly came into focus as their speed reduced and eventually came to a stop.  The sudden quietness was piercing.  He waited for Dominic to return from the helicopter and then indicated they should move towards the station’s main building.  He looked worryingly at Dominic whose face was ashen “Its ok Joe I’m with it.  Just contemplating the meaning of life and all that…..”

“Yeah.  Understood.  I feel pretty numb and all that as well right now.  Fuck me another dead platoon I hope the Americans get the message after this fiasco.  Let’s get inside and take our bearings for a moment”. 

They walked towards the entrance but before they reached it the even more precariously attached door was pushed open from within.  Initially he thought one of the soldiers had survived as he and Dominic had but this was no soldier standing there on the edge of the steps.  It was a woman wearing jeans and a hooded top with the name of some American University on it.  She looked at them both and tentatively asked them in a soft American accent “Are you real?”

Both he and Dominic struggled to process both the appearance of the woman and the question on the back of what had just happened, but he answered with. “Yes we’re real.  Can we come in?”  The woman stood for a moment looking at them before shivering slightly in the cold.  She waved them towards her “Yes.  Yes of course come in come in please”.

He and Dominic climbed the steps and followed the woman into the main complex.  He pulled the broken door closed behind them – fastening it shut with a roughly made clasp that had been nailed to one side of the left hand wall.

The woman led them through a corridor almost identical in style width and height as that which he was familiar with at Halley station.  As he thought of Halley he had a suddenly spike of fear; why had he seen those creatures headed north instead of back east to where they came from?  He stopped.  Dominic stopped as well.  “What’s the matter Joe?”

“They headed north”

“What the creatures headed north?”

“Yeah north but they came from the East – why head north?”

“I don’t know but they also headed south as well.”

“Shit.  I think our metallic friends have decided to expand their zone of control.  How long has it been since we left Halley?”

“About 5 hours why?”

“I told Florence to evacuate everyone on to the resupply ship it they hadn’t heard from us in 12 hours.  I don’t think they’ve got 12 hours.”

Dominic looked concerned.  “You think the creatures are heading to Halley?”

“Not just Halley.  Probably to all the remaining bases.  Who knows perhaps even further? Probably because of those CM’s Captain Harkin was talking about.”

“CMs?”

“Cruise Missiles.  Probably launched from submarines near the coast. I suspect that may have pissed those creatures off somewhat.  I’m only guessing but I bet the Americans were under standing orders to launch if they lost contact with Captain Harkin and his team.  I just pray they used conventional warheads and not nuclear or we can kiss goodbye to Antarctica as a pristine unspoilt wilderness.”